#36 - Elizabeth Jere
"Come as a visitor, not as a spy." -Zambian proverb "Eliza" is better known as Beth Jere, who is cheered in her old Zambian village and the surrounding areas for good reason. She was the first American her village ever knew, ...
#35 - Mike Tidwell
As a young man, Mike Tidwell traveled halfway across the globe to teach rural Africans a potential new livelihood. As with most Peace Corps volunteers, he found himself on the receiving end of the most prominent lessons. Deca...
SP/FS Bonus: What About Russian Soft Power? (Dr. Michael Slobodchikoff)
Pro tip: If an adversarial country's primary rhetorical strategy is "What Aboutism," maybe don't give them so much ammunition... This special bonus episode of SP/FS features Troy University professor Michael Slobodchikoff, an...
#34 - Katherine Ntiamoah
Raised in a Ghanian-American family, Katherine Ntiamoah's parents instilled within her the idea that her only limits would be self-imposed. She took that to heart and has been expanding her limits throughout her life--with Am...
#33 - John Berry
"No human is more human than another human" -General Romeo Dallaire. John Berry's long overseas career, spanning the Peace Corps, USAID, and the United Nations, took him to nearly 100 countries, benefiting countless people. B...
PS4 - Ka Vang (Powerful Stories #4)
"Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced." - James Baldwin Ka Vang is a Hmong-American writer born in Laos and raised in Minnesota. Her work moves between memory and migration...
About the Host
Christopher Wurst
Christopher Wurst is the producer and host of the weekly podcast/radio program SoftPower/FulStories, which uses first-person narrative stories to highlight U.S. soft power efforts around the world for the past 60+ years. Previously, he served more than two decades as a U.S. diplomat, primarily as a cultural and press attaché, in seven countries across four continents—including Ireland, Italy, Slovenia, Zambia, India, Pakistan, and Guatemala. As the Senior Advisor for Innovation in the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Cultural and Educational Affairs, he produced and hosted the award-winning podcast 22.33, utilizing storytelling to convey the positive impact of international exchange programs. In 2013, he was nominated as the Cultural Expat of the Year in Slovenia; in 2008, his team won the Global PEPFAR Public Diplomacy Award. He also received numerous Meritorious and Superior Honor Awards. Before joining the Foreign Service, he taught high school history and literature in Minneapolis and South Africa. He was a guest writer for the TV comedy show Mystery Science Theater 3000, where he also made his national television debut as a Moleman from outer space. As a photographer, he has had exhibitions in four countries. He currently splits his time between the United States and Slovenia, where his wife, Kjara, is a choreographer. Rex, their beagle-Aussie mix and Good Trouble rally veteran, has chased sticks in 10 different countries.