Interview
Rafael Espinal was just 26 when he became an elected official. For the next 10 years, he worked within the halls of government, first as a New York State Assemblymember and then as a New York City Councilmember, advocating for artists, independent workers, and underserved communities. He is now at the helm of the Freelancers Union, where he’s putting his experience to work growing the Freelance Isn’t Free movement across the country.

Interview
Brad Montague is an illustrator, speaker, picture book author, video creator, and all-around maker. He’s a self-proclaimed dreamer and doer. Above all, he’s a storyteller, “working to create a better world for kids with kids” through Montague Workshop, the creative studio he runs with his wife Kristi in Henderson, Tennessee.

Interview
Schessa Garbutt is the founder of the Inglewood–based design studio, Firebrand. An educator, lecturer, and published essayist (see: The Black Experience in Design anthology). Garbutt works at the intersection of co-design practices and making huge, mind-bending ideas and histories ring clear as a bell. Garbutt spoke with The Great Discontent about cultural memory as the foundation for their practice, the pains of delegating, and the strength of rooting in a local community.

Interview
When Earlonne Woods and Nigel Poor came up with the idea for Ear Hustle, the podcast they’ve hosted together since 2017, Earlonne was serving a prison sentence of 31 years to life—the result of California’s three-strikes law. The two met at San Quentin State Prison where Nigel, a lifelong artist and photographer, was volunteering in the media center. For 13 seasons, Earlonne and Nigel have been sharing the experiences of those living life on the inside.

Interview
“Everyone eats. There's so much beauty in realizing that humaneness and that oneness.” This is the ethos of Luke Zahm. The James Beard-nominated chef, host of the hit PBS show Wisconsin Foodie, and owner of the widely acclaimed Driftless Café in Viroqua, Wisconsin, believes food is a powerful force for connection.

Interview
Mira Nakashima has helmed Nakashima Woodworkers, now a 21-building complex and National Historic Landmark since her father's passing in 1990. As she writes in her new book, The Nakashima Process Book, each piece is “the culmination of much effort, a conscious simplification of design that allows the wood to tell its own story, modulated by an architect’s eye for proportions and structure.”

Interview
Yashas is a creative director and ambitious connector. He was also a self-described outsider for much of his life, and his path from Bangalore, India to New York City has been a winding one driven by sheer stubbornness and a keen instinct for creating community wherever he goes. Whether founding the hugely successful storytelling platform Untold or creating award-winning content for some of the largest organizations in the world—Samsung, Asian Paints, W Hotels, eBay, and the U.S. Army among others—he infuses all of his work with vibrant color, a love for human stories, and above all, a deep curiosity.

Interview
Ophelia Chong has had a long and storied career in photography, art, and creative direction that spans from magazines and music labels to film festivals and book publishing. When a family member’s medicinal marijuana use inspired her to dip her toes into the world of weed, Chong reacted to the racism she witnessed there by launching a successful stock photo agency dedicated to realistic portrayals of cannabis culture. That led to her current and most passionate pastime yet—helping others heal trauma and create their own visuals by studying and growing psychedelic plant medicine.

Interview
From pioneering ambient music and ever-evolving light paintings to innovating production styles, installations, and strategies of surrender, Brian Eno’s work occupies a rare space in this world with an imprint as deep as it is wide. Here, artist Beatie Wolfe talks with the polymath, pioneer, producer, philosopher, environmentalist, color conductor, and “toad in the hole” tosser.