Guardian Gym: Nonprofit Jiu-Jitsu for All
Small & Gutsy: Nonprofit Stories with Heart
Release Date: 09/02/2025
Small & Gutsy Features TechTainment™, the Confluence of Entertainment, Technology & Law
Small & Gutsy: Nonprofit Stories with Heart
The conference is coming up on October 16th For more information and to purchase tickets to TechTainment™: Being a professor in the age of AI — particularly generative AI — is both exciting and deeply challenging. As educators, we recognize that technology is evolving at a pace with which, even seasoned technologists struggle to keep up. Students are increasingly tempted to let AI do the thinking for them, believing they’re being efficient when, in fact, they may be shortcutting the deeper learning process. Using AI tools like ChatGPT should not be about...
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Small & Gutsy Features MOOD, the Mental Well-being Tool for Tweens, Teens and All Who Love & Work with Them
Small & Gutsy: Nonprofit Stories with Heart
How many times have I wished I could take those negative thoughts out of my head, those thoughts projecting a future that may not actually happen? This doesn’t mean that we don’t prepare for the worst, but do we want to live in that state or space where it virtually eliminates being in the present/ our present? How can we enjoy anything if we are always thinking about what might be? Conversely, thinking about what might be from a positive standpoint might actually be soothing, and yet again, it takes us out of the present, which is the only place that can drive our actions, as it is all we...
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Guardian Gym: Nonprofit Jiu-Jitsu for All
Small & Gutsy: Nonprofit Stories with Heart
What happens when you mix the love of Jiu-Jitsu and the love for community? Guardian happens! This podcast recording offers insight into how learning to manage our emotions through martial arts, and specifically through Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu has its own magical ingredients with real and lasting impact. Guardian was founded by Ben Kovacs and Joel Lunenfeld in 2015, initially starting as a single academy in Oakland, California. The original gym supported over 1,000 youth across the Bay Area by providing mentorship, free training, and a welcoming community. From the outset, they envisioned...
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Small & Gutsy Features Helping Herders Rescue, a nonprofit podcasting story with heart
Small & Gutsy: Nonprofit Stories with Heart
In this nonprofit podcast story, I share about a personal experience and then tap into the beauty of matching rescueres with rescues! I am not sure who rescues whom! I don’t know about you, but I think about dog rescue as a really wonderful thing to do although it has its challenges; our dog, Molly is a rescue and I guess that she was not just abandoned, but abused, she probably had a set of puppies and we think was about 2 or 3 when we adopted her. I have never seen a dog eat as fast as Molly - you could feel the trauma in her frenzy as she inhaled her bowl of food - she’s only 12 lbs and...
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Small & Gutsy Features Grief Dialogues, a nonprofit podcast story with heart, depth and soul
Small & Gutsy: Nonprofit Stories with Heart
This podcasting story will resonate with anyone who is still living and wants to fully embrace life. There are plenty of words in the English language that are disdainful, hurtful, nasty, & downright awful, but there are two words that are unavoidable and from which we often run: death & dying - no one enjoys grief, sadness, or loss - those words are so dam final! When I was in social work school, I read Elizabeth Kubler-Ross’s book aptly titled On Death and Dying, seminal work at that time. Kubler-Ross introduced what is known as the 5 stages of grief: Denial, Anger,...
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Small & Gutsy 100th Episode of podcasting nonprofits and social enterprises
Small & Gutsy: Nonprofit Stories with Heart
It has been an honor and a privilege to host this nonprofit podcast to benefit nonprofits and social enterprises Our 100th episode is a montage of what our interviewees shared with us about their experience on Small & Gutsy, as well as some advice for those yet to be interviewed. We are grateful for the opportunity to have interviewed the most amazing organizations over the past 4 1/2 years and look forward to many more interviews, celebrating the work of smaller nonprofits and social enterprises. From Small & Gutsy to Big with Impact! www.smallandgutsy.org
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Small & Gutsy Features Young Mountain Tea Company
Small & Gutsy: Nonprofit Stories with Heart
Tea is one of the most widely consumed beverages in the world, second only to water. It comes in many varieties: black, green, white, oolong, and herbal. Tea is celebrated for its health benefits, from antioxidants to its calming effects, and it continues to play a major role in global culture and commerce. In recent decades, tea has experienced a revival in interest, with a growing market for specialty teas, such as artisanal blends, organic teas, and matcha. The modern-day global tea market is vast, and tea continues to evolve as both a daily beverage and a symbol of tradition, health, and...
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Small & Gutsy Features Tools for Peace
Small & Gutsy: Nonprofit Stories with Heart
Finding inner peace is a process that leads to a practice; there are important rituals that guide us in self-discovery. Derived from the Sanskrit word for “circle”, the Mandala is a spiritual and ritual symbol in Hinduism and Buddhism, representing the universe. It is a sacred art form that connects us to our inner selves and the world around us. Their profound wisdom and tranquil messages, serve as a powerful medium to contemplate and find peace within. Mandalas are typically circles with repeating symmetrical shapes, and are considered a sacred symbol. In Sanskrit, mandala translates to...
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Small & Gutsy features Dependable Youth Initiative Uganda
Small & Gutsy: Nonprofit Stories with Heart
Investing in youth and education aligns directly with Sustainable Development Goal # 4 (Quality Education) and indirectly fuels several others like Decent Work and Economic Growth (goal # 8) and Reduced Inequalities (goal # 10). This perspective reinforces how crucial it is to view sustainability as not just environmental, but deeply tied to social and economic development. It takes a village is a common expression, used by so many to essentially mean…we all need to lift one another up to attain the most robust society for long-term sustainability Lifting up any society often begins with...
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Small & Gutsy features International Mentoring Program, StL
Small & Gutsy: Nonprofit Stories with Heart
Two very smart women saw a pattern developing in their midwestern city of St. Louis, my hometown actually, after one attended a meet-up group organized by Susan Gobbo one of these smart women, who is Brazilian, and who experienced the loneliness of a trailing spouse, herself when she moved to St. Louis in 2008. Years later, she formed a meetup group for other foreign wives. Annie Schlafly, the other very smart woman, who is active in various community groups, heard about the meetup group through the St. Louis Mosaic Project, a regional initiative within the St. Louis Economic Development...
info_outlineWhat happens when you mix the love of Jiu-Jitsu and the love for community? Guardian happens! This podcast recording offers insight into how learning to manage our emotions through martial arts, and specifically through Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu has its own magical ingredients with real and lasting impact. Guardian was founded by Ben Kovacs and Joel Lunenfeld in 2015, initially starting as a single academy in Oakland, California. The original gym supported over 1,000 youth across the Bay Area by providing mentorship, free training, and a welcoming community. From the outset, they envisioned Guardian as more than just a physical space; they aimed for it to have a global impact. In 2020, they introduced the Guardian Scholarship. This initiative was designed to broaden their reach, offering support to children worldwide to engage in training. Leveraging their extensive network of friends and academy partners, they started integrating scholarships within their schools, ensuring that financial barriers would not prevent children from accessing their programs. Their goal is to enable more youth to experience the transformative benefits of Jiu-Jitsu. Ben is one of the founders of Guardian, where he has played a strong role in shaping the organization's branding and long-term strategy. His involvement in Jiu-Jitsu began in 2006 at Yamasaki Academy, and he earned a black belt in 2019. This experience inspired him to create a non-profit focused on making Jiu-Jitsu training accessible to all. Ben has a background in tech, having worked at Twitter, where he met Joel Lunenfeld, his co-founder. Both have been deeply committed to the sustainability & mission of Guardian.
For more information: www.guardiangym.org
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