A few weeks back, we reached out to a group of CEOs and business leaders with a very big request: join Carrie and Alex Orfinger of the Washington Business Journal for an honest, on-the-record, uncomfortable conversation about the anti-racist commitments and statements we have made over the last twelve months, and assess our progress against those commitments. In our season two finale, we bring you that conversation.

Amira El-Gawly believes love is making a comeback at work, and she should know: she’s spent the better part of her career with a keen eye on her people, their relationships, and what leads to better results. This week she shares the hard work of bringing people together.

C.Marie Taylor’s company is Equity Through Action and through that organization, she leads leaders through active coaching, equity training, leadership development and recruitment focused on building equity into the very fabric of those with whom she works.

Marisa Forti’s entire career is based on pressing through obstacles for herself, and with those she trains. She uses the science of movement and the human body to set audacious goals and help her clients crush them. While the work Marisa does is at the elite level, we hope you take away a few key lessons from this episode.

Our guest today is a testament to that. Corey Briscoe serves as managing partner and chief operating officer for ABCD and Company. Their work is rooted in “event planning,” which might be true in practice, but in spirit it serves to minimize so much of the hard work of change Corey and his team have lead in the last year as their world shifted.

Jackie DeCarlo’s leadership is a model of adaptability. The COVID-19 crisis called on skills beyond those of daily operations. This week on the show, she joins us from the Manna Food Center administrative offices in Silver Spring, Maryland, to share the leadership lessons that helped her continue to press the organization forward.

Eric Meade is an award-winning author of two books (Reframing Poverty and Whole Mind Facilitation) and a nationally recognized facilitator who "stands outside of time" to help groups see their current issues in a longer-term perspective. This week, we reflect on history, how living in this time feels, and we touch on how the past can help prepare us for the future.

Dr. Robert Kelly serves as Vice President and Special Assistant to the President at Loyola University Maryland. As we catch up with Rob, he’s doing the deep work of reintroducing students to campus. He does so under the shadow of a pandemic and the baggage higher education carries with it from the last twenty years.

Carol Cone is an incredibly generous person. To hear her talk about what she does from day to day, she says her super power is connecting people, but that minimizes her story by a country mile. Here’s a woman who stands atop a bold mission. Welcome to Season 2 of Mission Forward.

For over two decades as publisher, Alex Orfinger worked to develop a strong identity for the region's business sector. After a brief stint away, he is now back at the publication as Market President and Publisher, leading the paper and doubling down on the city that he loves. In the face of great local and national challenges alike, he sees a role for the Journal.