This special episode of the Heartwood Podcast explores the brotherhood created among members of The Easley Branch record label and their artistic expression. RaShad Eas, B God Body, and JS2000 discuss their use of music to overcome challenges and enhance their experience in university and professional settings. The members also speak to the equanimity they exude and the importance of their desire for more knowledge. Tune in and don’t miss out on this wisdom. 

They are joined by DJ Green as he films. 


The Branch Interview

in this episode, Irish theologian, storyteller, poet, conflict mediator, and host of the podcast Poetry Unbound Pádraig Ó Tuama speaks of the thrilling notion that “all language can do the work of delight or terror in us.” In this conversation, Leader’s Way hosts talk with Pádraig about  the complex relationship between poetry and prayer, the timeless wisdom of Meister Eckhart, and the delightful tradition of the Irish civil servant poet. Pádraig reads several of his poems throughout this episode and shares some of his own story, including his early call to the priesthood and its rejection by the Catholic Church.

Host: Brandon Nappi with Whitney Coe and Misty Krasawksi
Guest: Pádraig Ó Tuama
Production: Goodchild Media
Instagram: @theleadersway.podcast berkeleydivinity.yale.edu/podcast
You can support our work at https://tinyurl.com/support-transforming-leaders


61: Poetry by Heart with Pádraig Ó Tuama

In this episode, Michelle Snyder, author, therapist, leadership coach, and the executive director of Soul Shop, speaks directly to faith leaders about the importance of talking about and tending to suicide in our communities, and training for the work of suicide prevention. Michelle talks with Brandon, Whitney, and Misty about the moment we are in, in which isolation is growing and suicide is on the rise, but faith communities have something to offer.

*If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts or a crisis, please reach out immediately to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.

Host: Brandon Nappi with Whitney Coe and Misty Krasawksi
Guest: Michelle Snyder
Production: Goodchild Media
Instagram: @theleadersway.podcast berkeleydivinity.yale.edu/podcast
You can support our work at https://tinyurl.com/support-transforming-leaders



62: We Have To Talk About Suicide with Michelle Snyder

Welcome to WITHIN, a contemplative segment of The Leader's Way Podcast that explores the
convergence of mental health, art, and spirituality through authentic conversations across
traditions about personal and collective transformation. In this inaugural episode, Brandon talks
with Joanna Penn, an award-winning New York Times and USA Today bestselling author,
whose latest book, “Pilgrimage: Lessons Learned from Solo Walking Three Ancient Ways,”
explores the rich themes of spirituality, mental health, and personal transformation. Tune in for
a conversation about the power of walking, writing, and leaning into the call on our hearts.

Host: Brandon Nappi

Guest: Joanna Penn

Production: Goodchild Media

Instagram: @theleadersway.podcast berkeleydivinity.yale.edu/podcast

You can support our work at https://tinyurl.com/support-transforming-leaders

Surprised by Pilgrimage with Joanna Penn

A conversation with science writer Philip Ball about his new illustrated history of alchemy

Elixirs, Experiments, and the Birth of Modern Science

Hannah and Mark interview Jimmy Hatch, a recent Yale graduate and 26-year US military veteran who is the host of the new podcast, The Ivy League Insurgent. As a former Navy SEAL, Purple Heart recipient, and nonprofit founder, Jimmy became Yale’s oldest freshman at the age of 52. In their interview, Jimmy reflects on his remarkable story, the importance of connecting with those who are different, and how the humanities have shaped his understanding of what it means to be a “better human.”  

Interview with Jimmy Hatch ’24, The Ivy League Insurgent

We are growing in our understanding of the long-term effects trauma and moral injury can have on bodies and spirits, including those within our own congregations. In this important and tender episode, Brandon and Whitney talk with former Army Chaplain and Episcopal priest David Peters about the ways faith communities can lean on Jesus’s life story to respond with love and care to these wounds. David’s latest book, Post-Traumatic Jesus: Reading the Gospel with the Wounded, offers a portrait of Jesus as living and speaking into a world that was familiar with trauma, from war to oppression to political violence, and reading the Gospels through that lens can create space for healing.

Host: Brandon Nappi with Whitney Coe

Guest: David Peters

Production: Goodchild Media

Instagram: @theleadersway.podcast berkeleydivinity.yale.edu/podcast

You can support our work at https://tinyurl.com/support-transforming-leaders



64: Post-Traumatic Jesus: A Conversation with David Peters

In this episode, Joseph Ho discusses his book, Developing Mission: Photography, Filmmaking, and American Missionaries in Modern China with Chloë Starr. The conversation ranges from camera technology in the interwar years to the documentation of disease in mission hospitals and circulation of missionary films documenting Japanese war crimes. If the creation of new types of images (such as baptism photographs) changes how we see the self and other, the cultural exchange of transnational images also played a role in Sino-US relations.

Joseph W. Ho, Developing Mission: Photography, Filmmaking, and American Missionaries in Modern China

Poet and priest Spencer Reece joins Leader’s Way host Brandon Nappi for a moving conversation about the power of poetry as an act of remembrance, as a response to violence, and as a culture maker and culture keeper. Listen to Father Reece offer spontaneous recitation and remind us of the ways poetry can bring us closer to the Divine.   

Host: Brandon Nappi

Guest: Spencer Reece

Production: Goodchild Media

Instagram: @theleadersway.podcast berkeleydivinity.yale.edu/podcast

You can support our work at https://tinyurl.com/support-transforming-leaders


65: Poetry Holds Us Together with Spencer Reece

Dwight Zscheile is a professor of congregational mission and leadership at Luther Seminary, and his wife, Blair Pogue, is a priest and canon for vitality and innovation in the Episcopal Church in Minnesota. They join Leader’s Way host Brandon Nappi for a conversation about their joint passion for engaging the innovative ways the Church is renewing its commitment to community and communion by meeting people where they are.  Brandon talks with Dwight and Blair about their new book, Embracing the Mixed Ecology: Inherited and New Forms of Christian Community Flourishing Together, which unpacks the theological language of “mixed ecology,” and how this language can help us imagine what is possible in our church communities.

Host: Brandon Nappi

Guests: Dwight Zscheile and Blair Pogue

Production: Goodchild Media

Instagram: @theleadersway.podcast berkeleydivinity.yale.edu/podcast

You can support our work at https://tinyurl.com/support-transforming-leaders


Embracing the Mixed Ecology of the Church with Dwight Zscheile and Blair Pogue

HOLI Byte
Pulsars Nobel Prize (English)
Hands On Learning Initiative
Content: Gayathri Raman
Voice: Gayathri Raman
Introduction: Mayuri S Rao
Editing: Mayuri S Rao

Pulsars Nobel

HOLI Hands On Initiative

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