Episodes
-
May Boeve talks with Maurice Mitchell, National Director of the Working Families Party, about the multiracial working-class insurgency reshaping American politics in real time. Together, May and Maurice unpack recent progressive victories from New York to Colorado, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and California, and what they reveal about a broader populist realignment already underway. Maurice also reflects on what movements need now: recruiting people into real work, becoming gracious winners, and building a bigger “we”.
Plus: Maurice shares how meditation helps him stay grounded, humble, and ready for the fight.
How We Build This is created and hosted by May Boeve
Producer: Phil Surkis
Theme music: ‘Within’, composed by Ruthie Dineen, and performed by Negative Press Project.
Instagram & Bluesky: @hwbtpod
Find us on Linkedin and Substack at How We Build this Pod.
Thank YOU for taking the time to tune in and helping build the movement!
-
May Boeve talks with Annie Leonard and Andre Carothers, longtime movement leaders and co-authors of the new critically acclaimed book, Protest: Respect It. Defend It. Use It. (Patagonia), about why protest remains one of democracy’s most essential tools, and why it is under such intense attack right now. Anne and Andre trace the idea behind the book: helping people see that the rights and freedoms many of us take for granted Together, they explore the rising threats to protest, from vilification and anti-protest laws to SLAPP suits, regulatory harassment, violence, and self-censorship, while also making the case that solidarity is what helps people stay brave.
Plus: reflections on The Story of Stuff, Rockwood Leadership Institute, worm composting, and the magic of getting a whole room to sing.
How We Build This is created and hosted by May Boeve
Producer: Phil Surkis
Theme music: ‘Within’, composed by Ruthie Dineen, and performed by Negative Press Project.
Instagram & Bluesky: @hwbtpod
Find us on Linkedin and Substack at How We Build this Pod.
Thank YOU for taking the time to tune in and helping build the movement!
-
Missing episodes?
-
May Boeve talks with Sudha Nandagopal, founder of Bend the Horizon, a strategy advising and consulting firm that works at the intersection of climate, narrative, philanthropy, and governance.
Sudha traces her path from immigrant rights organizing with Pramila Jayapal and OneAmerica to transforming Seattle’s approach to environmental justice by asking a deeper question: who decides what problems are worth solving?
The conversation lands on a powerful lesson for this moment: durable wins come from building with people from the start, practicing democracy locally, and creating the politics of possibility even in hard times.
Sudha's substack: Black Sheep Chronicles
How We Build This is created and hosted by May Boeve
Producer: Phil Surkis
Theme music: ‘Within’, composed by Ruthie Dineen, and performed by Negative Press Project.
Instagram & Bluesky: @hwbtpod
Find us on Linkedin and Substack at How We Build this Pod.
Thank YOU for taking the time to tune in and helping build the movement!
-
May Boeve talks with Natalie Foster, co-founder of the Economic Security Project and author of The Guarantee: Inside the Fight for America’s Next Economy, about what it would take to build an economy where everyone has a floor beneath them. Together, May and Natalie revisit the extraordinary policy openings of the pandemic, the unfinished promise of the Biden years, the affordability crisis, AI, inequality, and California politics. The conversation lands on “hope punk”: the audacious belief that no savior is coming, but communities can still build something better with compassion, wire, and a stubborn commitment to repair.
How We Build This is created and hosted by May Boeve
Producer: Phil Surkis
Theme music: ‘Within’, composed by Ruthie Dineen, and performed by Negative Press Project.
Instagram & Bluesky: @hwbtpod
can find us on Instagram and Bluesky at HWBT Pod, and on Linked in and Substack at How We Build this Pod.
Thank YOU for taking the time to tune in and helping build the movement!
-
May Boeve welcomes Ilana Berger, director of New York Caring Majority and Caring Majority Rising. Ilana shares how older and disabled New Yorkers, family caregivers, and home care workers came together to win major raises for home care workers, and why that victory still wasn’t enough. Together, May and Ilana dig into the fight against private equity’s takeover of New York home care, the mutual-aid “water cooler” spaces that helped people survive a broken system, and why care organizing is both deeply personal and politically transformative.
How We Build This is created and hosted by May Boeve
Producer: Phil Surkis
Theme music: ‘Within’, composed by Ruthie Dineen, and performed by Negative Press Project.
Instagram & Bluesky: @hwbtpod
can find us on Instagram and Bluesky at HWBT Pod, and on Linked in and Substack at How We Build this Pod.
Thank YOU for taking the time to tune in and helping build the movement!
-
In this first ever Movement Dispatch, May Boeve offers a rapid-fire look at the political moment, and what it means for movement building. From a federal investigation into the Southern Poverty Law Center to the growing influence of the Supreme Court of the United States “shadow docket,” May connects the dots between authoritarian tactics, fossil fuel industry power, and attacks on civil society. May closes with a clear call to action: stay engaged, connect the dots, and get involved in one of thousands of May Day actions happening across the country by checking out MAY DAY STRONG.
Dig Deeper:
The Inside Story of Five Days That Remade the Supreme Court Maya Wiley Statement on Southern Poverty Law Center Investigation Hungary’s election: a breakthrough – but not a simple winHow We Build This is created and hosted by May Boeve
Producer: Phil Surkis
Theme music: ‘Within’, composed by Ruthie Dineen, and performed by Negative Press Project.
Instagram & Bluesky: @hwbtpod
can find us on Instagram and Bluesky at HWBT Pod, and on Linked in and Substack at How We Build this Pod.
Thank YOU for taking the time to tune in and helping build the movement!
-
In this episode, May Boeve speaks with political scientist and author Hahrie Han, one of the leading scholars studying how movements actually build power. Drawing on her research, Hahrie challenges the idea that scale alone wins change, arguing instead that how we engage people determines whether movements succeed. They explore why quick, individual actions often fall short, how real power comes from relationships and collective capacity, and why so many people feel like consumers rather than participants in public life. From surprising lessons in faith communities to the urgent need for “democracy gyms,” this conversation offers a clear, grounded framework for turning outrage into lasting power.
How We Build This is created and hosted by May Boeve
Producer: Phil Surkis
Theme music: ‘Within’, composed by Ruthie Dineen, and performed by Negative Press Project.
Instagram & Bluesky: @hwbtpod
can find us on Instagram and Bluesky at HWBT Pod, and on Linked in and Substack at How We Build this Pod.
Thank YOU for taking the time to tune in and helping build the movement!
-
May Boeve sits down with Heather Cronk, longtime organizer and founder of Project 21:12, about her journey from deeply committed evangelical Christian and anti-abortion activist to queer progressive movement leader organizing against Christian nationalism.
Heather shares how a childhood in the South and years of rigid theology shaped her worldview, and then how community and lived experience slowly unraveled it. She reflects on the deconstruction process that led her out of evangelicalism, why so many people are leaving those spaces now, and how Project 21:12 is working to find, connect, and organize ex-evangelicals who often leave not just a church, but an entire social world behind.
Plus: Heather offers an unexpectedly practical hot tip for organizers who love a training plan but hate swimming. Skip the triathlon, try a biathlon!
Discover the archive of the The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
How We Build This is created and hosted by May Boeve
Producer: Phil Surkis
Theme music: ‘Within’, composed by Ruthie Dineen, and performed by Negative Press Project.
Instagram & Bluesky: @hwbtpod
can find us on Instagram and Bluesky at HWBT Pod, and on Linked in and Substack at How We Build this Pod.
Thank YOU for taking the time to tune in and helping build the movement!
-
May Boeve talks with Tomás Garduño, organizer, strategist, and author of The Fundamentals of Electoral Organizing, about what it takes to build real working-class political power. Tomás traces his path from the 1999 WTO protests in Seattle to leading electoral work with groups like Southwest Organizing Project and, now, with Many Hands, an incubated project of Addition focused on organizing in under-resourced, often-red congressional districts.
Together, they unpack a core tension in movement life: why so many organizers are skeptical of electoral politics. Their conversation explores how mass mobilization, canvassing, city council fights, and elections all fit together, not as competing strategies, but as different tools in the same toolbox.
Plus: a surprisingly useful hot tip on mold remediation!
How We Build This is created and hosted by May Boeve
Producer: Phil Surkis
Theme music: ‘Within’, composed by Ruthie Dineen, and performed by Negative Press Project.
Instagram & Bluesky: @hwbtpod
can find us on Instagram and Bluesky at HWBT Pod, and on Linked in and Substack at How We Build this Pod.
Thank YOU for taking the time to tune in and helping build the movement!
-
In this episode of How We Build This, May Boeve sits down with Chris Neff, a nationally respected labor leader, union builder, labor lawyer, and leadership coach. Neff unpacks how worker power actually gets built (and defended) in a moment of rising authoritarianism. She also traces her path from “seventies feminist troublemaker” to union leadership, sharing how she discovered the leverage of collective bargaining, and what it looks like to organize locally when federal protections are being dismantled.
Together, May and Chris dig into the labor movement’s role in resisting Trump era attacks, why institutions need cross-generational succession, and how changing who leads can transform an entire movement. They also explore the delicate (but essential) work of building solidarity between climate and labor.
How We Build This is created and hosted by May Boeve
Producer: Phil Surkis
Theme music: ‘Within’, composed by Ruthie Dineen, and performed by Negative Press Project.
Instagram & Bluesky: @hwbtpod
can find us on Instagram and Bluesky at HWBT Pod, and on Linked in and Substack at How We Build this Pod.
Thank YOU for taking the time to tune in and helping build the movement!
-
In our first-ever live taping at KALW Studios in San Francisco on January 29th, May Boeve sits down with “power couple” Heather Box and Julian Mocine-McQueen, co-founders of The Million Person Project and co-authors of How Your Story Sets You Free, for a funny, heartfelt deep dive into storytelling as a tool for movement building.
Heather and Julian unpack why so many leaders default to “facts and figures” when what actually brings people in is values, honesty, and a story that says the thing. They share how they got their start in organizing, how parenting and movement life collide, and how they coach people past “I don’t have a story” (or “my story is too much”) into real ownership.
Then May gets meta, revisiting the cringe (and power) of learning to be vulnerable on the podcast, sharing wins, regrets, and lessons from 15 years in the climate movement.
How We Build This is created and hosted by May Boeve
Producer: Phil Surkis
Theme music: ‘Within’, composed by Ruthie Dineen, and performed by Negative Press Project.
Instagram & Bluesky: @hwbtpod
can find us on Instagram and Bluesky at HWBT Pod, and on Linked in and Substack at How We Build this Pod.
Thank YOU for taking the time to tune in and helping build the movement!
-
In this special deep-dive, May Boeve sits down with Christiana Figueres to unpack one of the most important movement wins of our time: the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. Starting in the shadow of the Copenhagen failure, Christiana walks through how she rebuilt a demoralized system, beginning with her own mindset, and then inviting everyone else into a shared, winnable vision!
Along the way, she reveals the often invisible mechanics of progress: deep listening as a leadership practice, the power of “concentric circles” strategy, the Lioness network that helped women support each other and negotiate better, and why Paris had to be an incentivizing agreement rather than a punitive one.
How We Build This is created and hosted by May Boeve
Producer: Phil Surkis
Theme music: ‘Within’, composed by Ruthie Dineen, and performed by Negative Press Project.
Instagram & Bluesky: @hwbtpod
can find us on Instagram and Bluesky at HWBT Pod, and on Linked in and Substack at How We Build this Pod.
Thank YOU for taking the time to tune in and helping build the movement!
-
May Boeve sits down with two longtime movement builders (who also happen to be married), Miya Yoshitani and Danny Kennedy. Miya, co–executive director of the Movement Innovation Collaborative (MIC), shares how MIC is strengthening California’s people-power infrastructure: investing in regional power-building centers, experimenting with new organizing models, and building durable capacity beyond elections and one-off mobilizations. Danny, a clean energy entrepreneur and advisor, argues that organizing “solutions power” (solar + storage) is inseparable from movement work. He breaks down why distributed energy can shift both economics and political power.
Plus, the origin story of this power couple (that actually builds power!).
Finally, please stay until the end to hear a direct ask to support organizing in Minnesota as communities mobilize against ICE. A list of local groups to support can be found at : https://www.standwithminnesota.com
Mark your calendars for a Minnesota statewide shutdown on January 23rd. No school, no work, no shopping. ICE OUT.
How We Build This is created and hosted by May Boeve
Producer: Phil Surkis
Theme music: ‘Within’, composed by Ruthie Dineen, and performed by Negative Press Project.
Instagram & Bluesky: @hwbtpod
can find us on Instagram and Bluesky at HWBT Pod, and on Linked in and Substack at How We Build this Pod.
Thank YOU for taking the time to tune in and helping build the movement!
-
May Boeve talks with Cristina Jiménez Moreta, co-founder of United We Dream and author of Dreaming of Home, about what it means to build power when everything feels on the line. Cristina shares about the 2016 election-night moment that pushed her to write a book that turned out to be a letter of self-love, as well as a practical guide to organizing through fear. She also explores the vulnerable shift from being “the organizer” accountable to a community, to writing in her own voice. Plus: Cristina’s surprising “superpower”: planning a toddler birthday party that exhausts kids and delights parents!
How We Build This is created and hosted by May Boeve
Producer: Phil Surkis
Theme music: ‘Within’, composed by Ruthie Dineen, and performed by Negative Press Project.
Instagram & Bluesky: @hwbtpod
can find us on Instagram and Bluesky at HWBT Pod, and on Linked in and Substack at How We Build this Pod.
Thank YOU for taking the time to tune in and helping build the movement!
-
May Boeve welcomes Nisha Agarwal, The Executive Director of the Mental Hygiene Policy and Communications Office in the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in New York City, and a longtime movement lawyer-turned-policy leader. Agarwal shares about how transformative public policy gets built, and the behind-the-scenes story of IDNYC, the country's largest municipal identification program. She also opens up about surviving brain cancer and a stroke, alongside a clear-eyed critique of how race, class, and geography shape who gets to recover.
Plus Nisha’s “creation” hot tip: daydreaming!
How We Build This is created and hosted by May Boeve
Producer: Phil Surkis
Theme music: ‘Within’, composed by Ruthie Dineen, and performed by Negative Press Project.
Instagram & Bluesky: @hwbtpod
can find us on Instagram and Bluesky at HWBT Pod, and on Linked in and Substack at How We Build this Pod.
Thank YOU for taking the time to tune in and helping build the movement!
-
Host May Boeve sits down with organizer George Goehl to chart the shift from doom scrolling to a fighting stance, and how everyday people build real power. George traces his lineage from Alinsky-inspired community organizing to launching new projects today. He breaks down practical fundamentals: listen for widely and deeply felt issues, cut winnable demands, and develop leaders at every step. A grounded, hopeful handbook for turning momentum into wins.
How We Build This is created and hosted by May Boeve
Producer: Phil Surkis
Theme music: ‘Within’, composed by Ruthie Dineen, and performed by Negative Press Project.
Instagram & Bluesky: @hwbtpod
can find us on Instagram and Bluesky at HWBT Pod, and on Linked in and Substack at How We Build this Pod.
Thank YOU for taking the time to tune in and helping build the movement!
-
Host May Boeve talks with Alex T. Tom, the Executive Director for the Center for Empowered Politics and longtime leader in California. Tom shares about how Bay Area organizers prepared for ICE raids, and why prebuilt infrastructure, “pods,” and non-cooperation trainings, turned people power into concrete wins. Tom and Boeve discuss “movement utilities,” conflict mediation as capacity, and why understanding philanthropy and class is essential to durable organizing. Plus: parenting as political work, and what it means to “hug it out” as a dad while building a bigger tent.
-
Host May Boeve kicks off Season 2 of How We Build This with NY Times Bestselling Author and strategist, Heather McGhee for a timely post-election debrief. Heather explains why authenticity plus clear, repeatable policy wins volunteers and votes. She also revisits her book, The Sum of Us, to unpack “drained pool politics” and the real costs of zero-sum thinking. Together, May and Heather spotlight the organizing muscle behind big victories, from Working Families Party, to year round door-knocking.
How We Build This is created and hosted by May Boeve
Producer: Phil Surkis
Theme music: ‘Within’, composed by Ruthie Dineen, and performed by Negative Press Project.
Instagram & Bluesky: @hwbtpod
can find us on Instagram and Bluesky at HWBT Pod, and on Linked in and Substack at How We Build this Pod.
Thank YOU for taking the time to tune in and helping build the movement!
-
In this heartfelt episode of How We Build This, host May Boeve sits down with longtime organizer, photographer, and storyteller Shadia Fayne Wood. Together they trace Shadia’s path from youth climate activism to founding Survival Media Agency, a global network of movement storytellers capturing the tenacity and power of people fighting for climate justice. Shadia reflects on lessons from her grandmother, the importance of letting communities tell their own stories, and how love and generosity can sustain us in times of crisis.
How We Build This is created and hosted by May Boeve
Producer: Phil Surkis
Theme music: ‘Within’, composed by Ruthie Dineen, and performed by Negative Press Project.
Instagram & Bluesky: @hwbtpod
can find us on Instagram and Bluesky at HWBT Pod, and on Linked in and Substack at How We Build this Pod.
Thank YOU for taking the time to tune in and helping build the movement!
-
Organizer and facilitator Yotam Marom joins host May Boeve to unpack the living legacy of Occupy Wall Street. They trace the decade of uprisings that followed, why “feeling powerful” changes strategy, and how movements succeed when they choose priorities. Yotam shares lessons from the Wildfire Project, the role of storytelling and irreverence in mass moments, and why healthy groups run toward generative conflict to make real choices.
How We Build This is created and hosted by May Boeve
Producer: Phil Surkis
Theme music: ‘Within’, composed by Ruthie Dineen, and performed by Negative Press Project.
Instagram & Bluesky: @hwbtpod
can find us on Instagram and Bluesky at HWBT Pod, and on Linked in and Substack at How We Build this Pod.
Thank YOU for taking the time to tune in and helping build the movement!
- Show more
