How Stories Can Shift Culture – Melissa Jun Rowley, Author of "Beyond The Mic Drop: How Stories Can Shift Culture, Power & Policy"
Release Date: 06/02/2026
Electric Ladies Podcast - Women Leaders Discuss Careers, Trends, Technologies and Innovation in Energy, Climate, and Corporate Responsibility
“What are the stories that people can participate in and see themselves in? I think that's one of the keys that we can unlock when it comes to the whole climate narrative is telling stories that build the scaffolding blocks to a larger narrative that people want to be a part of, and we need to make it feel inevitable….The way that justice prevails, whether it's environmental justice or any kind of justice, I think it's that the leaders make it feel inevitable. And that's the climate movement's job. And I think we have every opportunity and ability to do that." Melissa Jun Rowley on...
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“While the word ‘climate’ may be politically charged for some, the need for affordable, reliable, and secure energy is something we can all agree on. Americans are calling for action, and as Members of Congress it’s our responsibility to deliver. If we want long-term solutions that address both our constituents' concerns and growing climate risks, we must work together to strengthen our energy and climate security with urgency.” As we in the U.S. commemorate Memorial Day this week and express gratitude for the sacrifice of thousands of servicemembers on behalf...
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“When you look at where families invest across the spectrum of sustainable and impact investing, climate is really at the forefront. They think about that because, look at our environment, look at the food supply… because of environmental issues. Not withstanding the tariffs too….These are issues that have to be segmented and families are doing the work and they're putting their capital in…(F)amilies really are more and more values aligning their investments, and there's a blurring (of the) line between philanthropy and catalytic investing so that they can invest in climate and...
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"Atlas Daughters is a social venture I launched that creates immersive travel experiences for mothers, grandmothers, and their children — bringing families directly to the NGO projects most worthy of investment and ripe for scale. We identify organizations with proven, high-impact work in areas like sustainability, biodiversity, climate, and global health, and we connect them to a community of female funders ready to help them grow." Amy Dorbusch on Electric Ladies Podcast Women invest, spend and donate differently than men do, and with the great wealth transfer putting trillions more money...
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“If you don't tell your stories, then no one will ever know, …Basically I just said, I think we should tell the positive stories and we should do it through the people…Let's actually just go and meet the people at all levels from the people that are involved in the projects and organizing them. Also the people that are participating in them and benefiting from them and find out what they say. How does this change your life? Is this actually happening? Did trees actually get planted? Did this well actually get plugged?." Stacey Solie on Electric Ladies Podcast Who are the regular...
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“We realized early on with our digital transformation that really what we're trying to do is digitize processes and …we really want to transform. But the people that own these business processes are stakeholders, they're in sales, they're in operations, they're in HR, finance, supply chain, so we needed them before we could get started on digitally architecting a solution. So… we take a senior leader from a function and ops or a business unit and ask them to be the business process leader…. and we match you to an IT leader who's also quite senior. So these are VP SVP roles and they're...
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“Try as best as you can not to be fear-driven. I think we are so driven by fear that we're never going to be enough, that we aren't going to contribute enough….(Y)ou actually are enough just as you are, right? Take this day, do what you can. Impact the people around you.…Become partners in your career with unlikely people, people who don't think like you, people who aren't doing the same career as you. You'll get a lot more joy out of, I think, your career because of the cross-pollination.” Dr. Katherine Gergen-Barnett on Electric Ladies Podcast This Earth Day, we want to share...
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“You see corporate procurement of clean energy, predominantly renewable energy, but there's fleet investments, there are efficiency improvements in buildings and on campuses underway….but it was a little different than what we'd seen in recent years. It wasn't just solar and wind. There was an interest in 24/7 reliable clean energy in particular by the tech industries, which won't surprise you, but things like nuclear, geothermal, other integrated technologies like solar and storage…So that's kind of an interesting set of dynamics because it's really diversifying the players in the...
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“If there are people who are willing to talk to you about it, the first thing you got to do is listen….I grew up in a very rural area and it's very conservative also. And when I go home, I don't talk about climate change. I do talk about what's going on with hunting season. 'Oh, there's no deer this year. Why do you think that is? Tell me about the rain'….It is again about that pivoting and you have to understand what's important to the people you're talking to… I might say, 'I just upgraded my mom's generator. It's great because with all the outages we're having out here, now she can...
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"What I knew about Carbon Credits having watched them for many years is that they're not always what they seem...So, Calyx Global was founded in 2021 to help companies navigate the space, to really understand….(i)t's a promise that somebody has reduced methane in that landfill or planted some trees thousands of miles away. So that's what Calyx Global is, we're a Carbon Credit Ratings Agency. But really what we're doing is, for every one of these assets, helping buyers understand what's underneath that, what the quality of that asset is. Donna Lee on Electric Ladies Podcast You've...
info_outline“What are the stories that people can participate in and see themselves in? I think that's one of the keys that we can unlock when it comes to the whole climate narrative is telling stories that build the scaffolding blocks to a larger narrative that people want to be a part of, and we need to make it feel inevitable….The way that justice prevails, whether it's environmental justice or any kind of justice, I think it's that the leaders make it feel inevitable. And that's the climate movement's job. And I think we have every opportunity and ability to do that."
Melissa Jun Rowley on Electric Ladies Podcast
The movements have been struggling to connect with people to communicate the vital messages about protecting the planet and its inhabitants. How can the climate and justice movements engage people again?
Listen to Melissa Jun Rowleg, author of "Beyond the Mic Drop: How Stories Can Shift Culture, Power & Policy" and communications expert and journalist in this fascinating conversation with Electric Ladies Podcast host Joan Michelson.
You’ll hear about:
● How stories and narratives work to engage people of all stripes.
● How emotion is key to connecting with people, helping them see themselves in the story
● Tips on how to develop and tell stories and tie them into a narrative campaign to drive a positive message for the planet and its inhabitants
● Plus, career advice, such as:
"You really need to start looking at yourself differently. You're looking at yourself as one thing, but your skills, your assets, your talents, your passion can be so many things to so many other people…Try to look outside yourself a bit.…It's very hard to see ourselves clearly, and I don't know if we ever really do…So, if you're able to, just talk to other people and say…'What do you see in my skillset and in my energy and in what I've accomplished so far and what I could do that maybe I'm not looking at?' Because it is so hard to see ourselves…(and) it's important to celebrate our wins." Melissa Jun Rowley on Electric Ladies Podcast
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You’ll also like:
· People Leveraging Carbon Markets to Save Their Land - with Stacey Solie, Documentary Producer of "From the Ground Up" - telling stories to show the power of carbon markets
· How To Talk 'Climate' To Keep People Safe - with Allison Agsten, USC Center for Climate Journalism & Communications
· How to Talk About Climate in a Polarized Culture - with Katharine Hayhoe, Ph.D., Climate Scientist, Professor at Texas Tech University and Chief Scientist at The Nature Conservancy
· Seek First to Understand - with Jennifer Hough, Advisor, TEDx Speaker, Author
· How Do We Talk About Climate? - with Jill Tidman, Executive Director of The Redford Center, nonprofit producing environmental documentaries and media
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