Stop & Talk

Sparkle Barnes: Keeping the Door to Care Open

Sparkle Barnes is President and CEO of Health Center Partners of Southern California and its Family of Companies, where she leads a network supporting community health ce

Mario Ordóñez-Calderón: The Ocean as a Place of Belonging

Mario Ordóñez-Calderón is a Maya Indigenous leader, U.S. Navy veteran, surfer, and Founding Executive Director of Un Mar de Colores, an Indigenous-led nonprofit advancing

Alan Sorkin: The Power of Business Meets the Passion of Giving

Alan Sorkin is a nonprofit leader, mentor-coach, entrepreneur, and member of the Prebys Foundation Board. He co-founded and served as volunteer CEO of San Diego Social Ve

Novien Yarber: What Prebys Heard From Grantees

Dr. Novien Yarber is the Senior Learning Officer at Prebys Foundation, where he helps the foundation listen, reflect, and learn from its work with community partners. Kno

Dana Toppel: Housing, Hope, and Human Service

Dana Toppel is CEO of Jewish Family Service of San Diego, one of the region’s most established human services organizations. Founded more than 100 years ago, JFS continue

Erin Harkey: Arts, Culture, and a Healthy Democracy

Editor’s Note: This episode was recorded in April 2026, before the City of San Diego released its initial FY27 budget proposal. That proposal has since raised urgent ques

Jonathon Glus: Embracing San Diego as a Creative City

Editor’s Note: This episode was recorded in March 2026, before the City of San Diego released its initial FY27 budget proposal. That proposal has since raised urgent ques

Norma Chávez-Peterson: Courage, Community, and Defending Civil Liberties

Norma Chávez-Peterson is a longtime organizer and civil rights leader who serves as Executive Director of the ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties, one of the region’s l

Jay Buys: Profit, Purpose, and the Future of Business

Jay Buys is the founder and CEO of Visceral, a B Corp-certified creative agency that builds brands and websites exclusively for social change organizations. Working with

Laura Castañeda: Journalism, Trust, and Telling the Full Story of a Border Region

Laura Castañeda is a veteran journalist, educator, and community voice who has spent decades helping San Diego understand itself. Known for her work in television and pri

Gil Alvarado: Using All Our Resources to Benefit the Community

Gil Alvarado is the Chief Financial and Investment Officer (CFIO) of the Prebys Foundation, where he helps steward a $1.2 billion portfolio with an eye toward both strong

Walking Shield: Building Capacity and Honoring Tribal Self-Determination

Walking Shield has spent nearly four decades improving quality of life for Native communities across the United States—bridging sovereign tribal nations with philanthropy

Brandon Steppe: “Shoulder to Shoulder” Mentorship That Changes Lives

Brandon Steppe left a corporate career to start a recording studio in his garage—never imagining that a few persistent neighborhood kids would change his life. Those earl

Richard Tate: Health, Justice, and the Power of Voice

Richard Tate is the President and CEO of the California Wellness Foundation, where he leads with clarity, courage, and hope. A communications strategist turned first-time

Scott Lewis: Journalism, Democracy, and the Future of San Diego

Scott Lewis is CEO and Editor-in-Chief of Voice of San Diego, the pioneering nonprofit newsroom he helped build nearly two decades ago. What began as an experiment in fun

Sew Loka’s Claudia Rodriguez-Biezunski: Slow Fashion, Bold Stories

Claudia Rodriguez-Biezunski is the founder of Sew Loka, a community-driven textile art studio in San Diego’s Barrio Logan. A self-taught artist and entrepreneur, Claudia

Afira Arrastia-DeVries: Kids Are Not a Problem to Solve

Afira Arrastia-DeVries is the President and CEO of the Monarch School Project, the only K–12 public institution in the U.S. solely dedicated to educating unhoused student

Peter Ellsworth: Trust Begins With Listening

Peter Ellsworth is a longtime San Diegan, civic leader, and founding force in modern philanthropy. From his early days in law and healthcare to his visionary role at the

Mark Cafferty: Why Inclusive Growth Is Smart Business

Mark Cafferty is the President and CEO of the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation (EDC), where he leads with a mix of realism, resolve, and heart. In this

Molly Puryear: Dancing Toward Joy, Connection and Possibility

Molly Puryear is the Executive Director of Malashock Dance and a lifelong believer in the healing, connective power of movement. With infectious joy and deep conviction,