Episodes

Sept. 25, 2025

From Policy to Protest and Persistence: Dr Socorro Reyes:

From classroom to courtroom, from policy rooms to protest lines, Dr. Socorro Reyes has spent decades fighting for women's rights across Asia and beyond. In this captivating conversation, she reveals how personal experiences – watching her mother navigate a patriarchal household and later becoming a solo parent herself – laid the foundation for her feminist journey. Her insights challenge us to examine where our movements have flourished and fallen short - and how intergenerational feminism must ...
July 23, 2025

Lynn Gilbert, Documenting life's unseen layers: what we see and what is really there...

Lynn Gilbert, a celebrated documentary photographer and author, shares her extraordinary six-decade journey capturing often-unseen truths through her lens. A rich, moving and layered legacy: unusual photographs of children in the 1960s, portraits and unexpected stories from feminist icons, rarely seen interiors of traditional Turkish homes, iconic photographs of Denise Scott Brown and Louise Nevelson, and more. Lynn reveals how her diverse projects are connected by a singular vision: revealing w...
July 6, 2025

Stitch by Stitch, Word by Word: Grandmother Power in Action

Toya Algarin - an innovator, community organizer and educator, is the living embodiment of Grandmother Power, and the founder of Grandmothers4Literacy in Philadelphia. Toya says now that she’s a grandmother she’s walking in her purpose - and fighting for change: “when I get a seat at the table, I’m going to have a voice and speak for those who are not at the table!” Don’t miss hearing what she has to say, it will lift your spirits and inspire you… her voice and action is what we need to hear in ...
May 9, 2025

Radical imagination, healing, & nurturing Organizations with a Soul: Wisdom with Hope

What happens when we bring our whole hearts and selves to our activism? Hope Chigudu, a self-described "uncontainable feminist activist" encourages us not to leave our hearts at the gate of our organizations, to revel in radical imagination, bring love and healing to the work, share power, create orgranizations with a soul where we can work with purpose and joy, voice criticsm without fear, and flourish. I assure you - Hope's wisdom, honesty and insight will inspire, delight and ignite!...
March 17, 2025

Grandmothers for Gun Responsibility - Join the National Movement!

Join the Launch March 17th at 3pm ET and join Grandmothers for Gun Responsibility - just go to: https://thegrandmothers.org/ Margaret Heldring never imagined spending her retirement organizing to end gun violence. Yet following the Sandy Hook tragedy in 2012, Margaret - a retired psychologist - found herself leading what would become Grandmothers for Gun Responsibility—a movement that's redefining both how we approach gun safety and what it means to be an older woman activist in America today. ...
Dec. 14, 2024

Kira Gawenus: “Together this intergenerational partnership between the youth and elders has the power to turn the Convention [for the Rights of Older Persons] into a reality – to create a legacy of rights and respect for many generations to

Welcome! This is ilana Landsberg-Lewis, your host for the Wisdom at Work podcast: Elderwomen, Older women and Grandmothers on the Move! What follows is a special and exciting 10-part series... 'Age With Rights and Dignity' - 10 interviews in which we will hear from older and younger advocates from different corners of the world. These committed champions and advocates will share with us why they care about the rights of older persons, and what they are doing to help bring a new United Nations Co...
Dec. 14, 2024

Faith Young: “Any lack of protection of the human rights of older persons affects everyone else, so I hope more people will see that - and how interconnected everything is.”

Welcome! This is ilana Landsberg-Lewis, your host for the Wisdom at Work podcast: Elderwomen, Older women and Grandmothers on the Move! What follows is a special and exciting 10-part series... 'Age With Rights and Dignity' - 10 interviews in which we will hear from older and younger advocates from different corners of the world. These committed champions and advocates will share with us why they care about the rights of older persons, and what they are doing to help bring a new United Nations Co...
Dec. 10, 2024

Catherine Elise Dumont: It is very important that older people of the world have the opportunity to speak about their lives and the necessity and obligation of having an International Convention.

What follows is a special and exciting 10-part series... 'Age With Rights and Dignity' - 10 interviews in which we will hear from older and younger advocates from different corners of the world. These committed champions and advocates will share with us why they care about the rights of older persons, and what they are doing to help bring a new United Nations Convention on the rights of older persons into being - for you and me, no matter how old we are now!
Dec. 10, 2024

Moira Allan: It has been talked about for so long now - it really is high time that [a UN Convention] comes into being.

What follows is a special and exciting 10-part series... 'Age With Rights and Dignity' - 10 interviews in which we will hear from older and younger advocates from different corners of the world. These committed champions and advocates will share with us why they care about the rights of older persons, and what they are doing to help bring a new United Nations Convention on the rights of older persons into being - for you and me, no matter how old we are now!
Dec. 5, 2024

Frances Zainoeddin: "Do not go backward on the rights we gained as younger women! As we age we have to keep an eye on the future, and the continuum of rights from cradle to grave."

What follows is a special and exciting 10-part series... 'Age With Rights and Dignity' - 10 interviews in which we will hear from older and younger advocates from different corners of the world. These committed champions and advocates will share with us why they care about the rights of older persons, and what they are doing to help bring a new United Nations Convention on the rights of older persons into being - for you and me, no matter how old we are now!
Dec. 5, 2024

Margaret Young, Founder, Age Knowble: "The power is in the people, you and me... join the movement for a UN Convention on the Rights of Older Persons!"

What follows is a special and exciting 10-part series... 'Age With Rights and Dignity' - 10 interviews in which we will hear from older and younger advocates from different corners of the world. These committed champions and advocates will share with us why they care about the rights of older persons, and what they are doing to help bring a new United Nations Convention on the rights of older persons into being - for you and me, no matter how old we are now!
Dec. 4, 2024

Theresa Flavin: "Turning 65 and diagnosed with dimentia, you are ostrasized, dehumanized, institutionalized, homogenized, collateralized. None of those are compatible with human rights."

What follows is a special and exciting 10-part series... 'Age With Rights and Dignity' - 10 interviews in which we will hear from older and younger advocates from different corners of the world. These committed champions and advocates will share with us why they care about the rights of older persons, and what they are doing to help bring a new United Nations Convention on the rights of older persons into being - for you and me, no matter how old we are now!
Dec. 4, 2024

Vijay Naraidoo: "With a UN Convention for the rights of Older Persons comes dignity and respect, attacking ageism at its roots; and human rights will be a culture well embedded"

What follows is a special and exciting 10-part series... 'Age With Rights and Dignity' - 10 interviews in which we will hear from older and younger advocates from different corners of the world. These committed champions and advocates will share with us why they care about the rights of older persons, and what they are doing to help bring a new United Nations Convention on the rights of older persons into being - for you and me, no matter how old we are now!
Dec. 4, 2024

Nena Georgantzi: "Where change happens, is really on the ground... governments get involved in the Convention when they hear national actors, citizens...requesting it"

What follows is a special and exciting 10-part series... 'Age With Rights and Dignity' - 10 interviews in which we will hear from older and younger advocates from different corners of the world. These committed champions and advocates will share with us why they care about the rights of older persons, and what they are doing to help bring a new United Nations Convention on the rights of older persons into being - for you and me, no matter how old we are now!
Dec. 4, 2024

Jane Nyawira Miano: "I envisage a UN Convention that gives us a voice in decision making and human rights - a unique instrument for unique problems"

What follows is a special and exciting 10-part series... 'Age With Rights and Dignity' - 10 interviews in which we will hear from older and younger advocates from different corners of the world. These committed champions and advocates will share with us why they care about the rights of older persons, and what they are doing to help bring a new United Nations Convention on the rights of older persons into being - for you and me, no matter how old we are now!
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Dec. 4, 2024

Ferdoushi Begum: “A UN Convention will be a pledge with the legal force to ensure the dignity and entity of all older people"

What follows is a special and exciting 10-part series... 'Age With Rights and Dignity' - 10 interviews in which we will hear from older and younger advocates from different corners of the world. These committed champions and advocates will share with us why they care about the rights of older persons, and what they are doing to help bring a new United Nations Convention on the rights of older persons into being - for you and me, no matter how old we are now!
Oct. 6, 2024

A Leader amongst 23,000 Grandmothers!

A Leader amongst 23,000 Grandmothers! Jolly Babirukamu, affectionately known as Kaaka Jolly – is one of those leaders who brings light into the world – motivating and mobilizing with boundless energy and deep insights. She is a teacher, Grandmother of 30 grandchildren, and a leader amongst the community of 23,037 Grandmothers at Nyaka, Uganda (founded by visionary Twesigye Jackson Kaguri 23 years ago, first known to me as an early partner of the Stephen Lewis Foundation). Nyaka is a community-le...
Aug. 22, 2024

“Wherever you are on this journey… you are welcome!"

Three powerful voices: Rosalind Pollack Petchesky, Esther Farmer, and Pam Sporn. For decades they fought Israel's Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, defying dismissal and disrespect from the mainstream community. Now these elderwomen are chaining themselves to the White House fence and taking to the streets to protest the genocide. Their insights are poignant, fierce, challenging and often raucously funny! They are modeling grit, intelligence, compassion, and how to mobilize around the "horro...
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June 3, 2024

A Love Affair with CEDAW and Gender Equality: In Conversation with Alda Facio

Meet Alda Facio, a feminist activist, educator, creator and jurist whose work has influenced thinking about women's rights from Costa Rica to the United Nations. In this episode, Alda talks about her love affair with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and her 2 decades working with multitudes of women's human rights activists in the excellent Women's Human Rights Institute! Her pioneering efforts light the way to show us how the law can be har...
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May 28, 2024

Louise Lamothe - Reflections and resonance: from healing, to the dancing lens and bringing colour to colour-less spaces

Join me for an intimate conversation with Louise Lamothe, a Swampy Cree grandmother and great-grandmother, whose story is a testament to the healing journeys and deep insights older women and Indigenous ways of knowing and being have to teach us. There is so much to learn from Louise, as she shares stories of her work as a palliative care nurse around the world, integrating Indigenous practices to nurture spaces of compassion and reciprocity. Her profound wisdom on ceremony, connection, and resp...
May 5, 2024

Hendrica Okondo: Reflections on history, power and generations of feminist resilience

This week, I had the honour of sitting down with Hendrica Okondo, a natural storyteller who makes the phrase 'living memory' resonate, with profundity and humour! Hendrica paints a vivid picture of colonial Kenya and independence, with economic, cultural, human rights and scientific insights and learnings that challenge and delight. Her stories of the women in her family, her studies, and work through the years are not just heartwarming, but lessons in subtle and overt forms of power, and femini...
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March 24, 2024

Aundra Willis Carrasco: Writing the Untold Story of Her Brother's Place in History

When the echoes of jazz legends still rumbled through Cleveland, a determined young man named Winston Willis carved out a slice of American history. His remarkable sister, Aundra, joins me to share a riveting tale of triumph and tragedy, as she unveils the story of her brother's rise and fall in her new book: "Winston Willis: A Memoir". From the grooves of a vibrant jazz scene to the chilling grip of systemic racism, Aundra guides us through the heart of a metropolis where her brother soared to ...
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March 24, 2024

Without Grandmothers, what would our world look like today?!

Grandmothers on the Move – A Grandmother, a Leader, a Visionary, and a tireless advocate for people living with HIV & AIDS, Pfiriaeli Kiwia is the inspiring founder and program director of Kimara Peers Educators and Health Promoters in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Mama Kiwia brings the indefatigable grandmothers of sub-Saharan Africa at the heart of the response to the AIDS pandemic, raising millions of orphaned grandchildren, right into the room with us. Her insights and her story of turning person...
April 18, 2023

Dr. Paula Rochon: Women's Age Lab, A Global First!

Dr. Paula Rochon: Women's Age Lab - a Global First! Join me for a conversation with the founding Director of the truly necessary, innovative and exciting Women's Age Lab! The first and only centre of its kind in the world! Women’s Age Lab at Women's College Hospital in Toronto, Canada is a space dedicated to science-driven system and social change that will improve the lives of older women. A place focused on supporting the healthy aging of women by reimagining a system and society where olde...