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Hosted by Christopher Wurst · 🇺🇸 US · EN-US · 71 episodes
Established thought leaders with verified media credentials.
Epic weekly tales from every corner of the globe. Forget politics, academia, or the office, these are "soft, powerful stories" told by those who lived them. Is what happens in Kinshasa really important in Kansas? Should an Idahoan care about the problems of an Indonesian? (The answer is yes, but...) SP/FS gives the human story center stage. People can debate the virtues of global soft power, but no one--from Osaka to Omaha to Ouagadougou--can deny the magic of these encounters. Each episode begins and ends in the United States—with a foreign adventure in between.
Christopher Wurst hosts SoftPower/FulStories, a society show with 71 episodes published.
(This episode originally aired on October 31, 2025.) In case you missed it: Rev. Jen Butler served as CEO of Faith in Public Life from 2005 to 2022. Highlights of her work as CEO include mobilizing a multi-state faith st
The key to good diplomacy, according to Elizabeth Kennedy Trudeau, is showing up. And, as a very good diplomat, she always showed up. To places beautiful and places troubled. Places dangerous and places divided. Places i
(This episode originally aired on November 21, 2025.) In case you missed it: July 18th, 2026 marks Nelson Mandela’s 108th birthday and International Nelson Mandela Day. Aaron Williams headed USAID in South Africa, where
Sit back and enjoy this SP/FS collaboration with the Museum of the Peace Corps Experience, where we recreate a Peace Corps story slam, originally performed at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in 2025. Featured
Forget the idea of going "full circle," I feel like the life and career of Baktash Ahadi is doing laps. As an Afghan refugee, finding his way in the United States, the massive reverberations from 9/11 hit Baktash from al
(This episode originally aired on September 12, 2025.) In case you missed it: Betsy Small grew up aware of both her privileged place in the world and her family's rapid rise from poverty and persecution. Both left a mark
Dateline: 1 July 2026 July 1, 2025, marked the inglorious (and highly dubious) end of USAID. To mark its passing, we asked Sara Sullivan, a USAID alumna who has been speaking out from the very beginning of the end, to "T
On February 3, 2025, Elon Musk posted this on X: "We spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper. Could gone [ sic ] to some great parties. Did that instead." It's safe to say that no one needed Musk's savage i
"Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable." – Banksy Laura Migliorino is an artist and long-time art instructor based in Minneapolis. She has--from the beginning of her long career in art--believed in
"Anything worth doing is worth overdoing." - Tina Martin Picture the cheerfulness--and tendency to break into song--of 'The Sound of Music's' Maria or Mary Poppins. Transplant her to Tonga, one of the most isolated islan
Note: This is the second of a two-part episode. We strongly recommend you start with Part 1. John Limbert was among 66 Americans taken hostage in the U.S. Embassy in November 1979, and among 52 who were held 444 days--an
"For lust of knowing what should not be known, We make the golden journey to Samarkand." - James Elroy Flecker Throughout his life, Ambassador John Limbert kept returning to Iran. As a student, as a Peace Corps volunteer
As a young American girl living in Colombia, with little understanding of what it meant to be from the United States, Andrea Cristancho had a firsthand brush with grassroots U.S. soft power — and it may have changed her
As a young Peace Corps volunteer in Romania, Sean Cotter saw the reverence given to poets and philosophers and suspected he had found his people. But in the beginning, he couldn't even understand a child's spoken words.
"I am interested in what it takes to be the happy endings that our elders have been waiting for." --Kao Kalia Yang Award-winning author Kao Kalia Yang's voice has always been there, even though it wasn't always obvious.
Note: This is the second of a two-part episode. We strongly recommend you start with Part 1. Paul E. White's stories cannot be contained in a single episode. In fact, this is the second of a two-part episode in which nei
Paul E. White's stories cannot be contained in a single episode. In fact, this is the first of a two-part episode in which neither progresses past his very first assignment, in Laos in the 1960s. From there, he went on t
This is an episode about answering the call--whether it comes from a widowed father, a Maasai student, or a couple of guys named John F. Kennedy and Sargent Shriver. Diane Raleigh not only answered the call but also foun
"You can't help people from a distance." - Sergio Viera de Mello When it comes to overseas experiences, Keith Mines has seen a lot, from a remarkable set of vantage points: from LDS missionary work to active-duty assignm
If you are a six-foot-six white guy in Liberia, you are going to stick out--and Glenn Ivers did stand out. But, if you add to that infectious enthusiasm, humor, and maybe throw in a new soccer pitch, you might become unf
Mike Tidwell
Chesapeake Climate Action Network
1 appearance on this show
John Berry
security clearance attorney · Berry & Berry, PLLC
1 appearance on this show
Mark Ward
author of 'Authorized: The Use and Misuse of the King James Bible'
1 appearance on this show
Aaron Williams
Rehab Coordinator at UIC · Noi!se // Hilltop Rats
1 appearance on this show
Pamela White
Ambassador
1 appearance on this show
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SoftPower/FulStories is hosted by Christopher Wurst. The show is categorised under society (culture) and has published 71 episodes.
SoftPower/FulStories has published 71 episodes.
SoftPower/FulStories regularly covers society, culture, places. It sits in the society category, with a culture focus.
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