Rethinking everyday products and how they’re made can open the door to transforming entire systems. In this conversation, Brianna Kilcullen, founder of Anact, a sustainable towel brand, joins host Erin Axelrod to explore how natural materials and supply chain innovation can move the textile industry toward a more regenerative future. Drawing on her experience in global apparel supply chains, Brianna shares what led her to build a brand rooted in circular design, transparency, and activism.

For full show notes, visit: https://www.lifteconomy.com/blog/brianna-kilcullen/

The LIFT Economy team is passionate about creating learning communities where we can put the skills and values we discuss on Next Economy Now into practice.

Learn more ➡️ https://www.lifteconomy.com/nextsteps

What if the real reason healthcare keeps getting more expensive isn’t doctors or patients, but a benefits system that is designed to reward overspending instead of better health outcomes? In this episode, healthcare entrepreneur Dave Chase, founder of Health Rosetta, joins host Kevin Bayuk to unpack what is wrong with U.S. healthcare and what needs to change to realign the system towards better outcomes.

For full show notes, visit: https://www.lifteconomy.com/blog/dave-chase/

The LIFT Economy team is passionate about creating learning communities where we can put the skills and values we discuss on Next Economy Now into practice.

Learn more ➡️ https://www.lifteconomy.com/nextsteps

What if waste isn’t an inevitable byproduct of modern life, but a design flaw we can solve? In this conversation, Tom Szaky, founder and CEO of TerraCycle, joins host Kevin Bayuk to explore how businesses can rethink waste and build systems that move us toward a circular economy. More than two decades ago, Tom founded TerraCycle with a mission focused on Eliminating the Idea of Waste®, growing the company from an early vermicompost venture into a global platform that recycles some of the world’s hardest-to-process materials.

For full show notes, visit: https://www.lifteconomy.com/blog/tom-szaky/

The LIFT Economy team is passionate about creating learning communities where we can put the skills and values we discuss on Next Economy Now into practice.

Learn more ➡️ https://www.lifteconomy.com/nextsteps

What if perpetual economic growth is part of the problem, not the solution? Feroz Khan explores how degrowth and disaster justice could guide a more sustainable and equitable future.

For full show notes, visit: https://www.lifteconomy.com/blog/feroz-khan/

The LIFT Economy team is passionate about creating learning communities where we can put the skills and values we discuss on Next Economy Now into practice.

Learn more ➡️ https://www.lifteconomy.com/nextsteps

What would it take for banks to move away from capital extraction and toward climate resilience, racial justice, and community wealth? Francis Janes, Senior Director of Industry Relations and Partnerships at Beneficial State Foundation, joins host Erin Axelrod to explore how banking can become a lever for social and environmental justice. Drawing on his work with banks and trade associations, Francis shares how mission-driven standards, corporate social responsibility, and stakeholder approaches can shift how capital is deployed in local economies.

For full show notes, visit: https://www.lifteconomy.com/blog/francis-janes/

This conversation with Dr. Lucía Alcalá explores how cultural values shape children’s autonomy, motivation, emotional development, and contributions to family life. Drawing from her research with Indigenous communities in Yucatán, she reveals what Western parenting norms overlook and how collaboration and reciprocity can transform family dynamics. The episode invites listeners to rethink childhood itself as part of a healthier, more regenerative economy.

View the show notes: https://www.lifteconomy.com/blog/2026/1/27/raising-collaborative-children-in-a-fragmented-economy-w-dr-luca-alcal

The LIFT Economy team is passionate about creating learning communities where we can put the skills and values we discuss on Next Economy Now into practice.

Learn more ➡️ https://www.lifteconomy.com/nextsteps

Zainab Salbi joins Next Economy Now to share her remarkable journey from founding Women for Women International to launching Daughters for Earth, a movement uplifting women-led climate solutions across the globe. She discusses the moral crisis of war, the urgency of biodiversity protection, and the unique contributions women bring to climate restoration. This episode explores the Hummingbird Effect and how each of us can play a meaningful role in healing our planet.

View the show notes: https://www.lifteconomy.com/blog/2026/1/13/earth-war-and-the-path-toward-regeneration-w-zainab-salbi

The LIFT Economy team is passionate about creating learning communities where we can put the skills and values we discuss on Next Economy Now into practice.

Learn more ➡️ https://www.lifteconomy.com/nextsteps

This episode challenges you to rethink the economy from the ground up. Solana Rice and Jeremie Greer of Liberation in a Generation break down why extraction and exclusion are not bugs but core features of our current system, and invite listeners into a bold vision of a liberation economy rooted in guarantees rather than scarcity. Through stories of gentrification, community-led policy making, and real experiments like social housing and guaranteed income, they offer a clear and hopeful framework for how economic power can be rebuilt within a generation.

View the show notes: https://www.lifteconomy.com/blog/building-a-liberation-economy-solana-rice-jeremie-greer

The LIFT Economy team is passionate about creating learning communities where we can put the skills and values we discuss on Next Economy Now into practice.

Learn more ➡️ https://www.lifteconomy.com/nextsteps