Reimagining Wellness: From Product to Belonging

With Jordan Carroll

What if wellness isn’t something you buy — but something you experience through connection, identity, and community?

In this episode of Moving Forward, I sit down with wellness strategist and founder Jordan Carroll to explore what it really takes to build brands — and lives — rooted in meaning rather than metrics.

Jordan works with founders navigating uncertainty, growth, and rapid change. He challenges the dominant idea that a great product is enough. Instead, he believes trust, belonging, and human connection are what truly create lasting impact.

In our conversation, we explore:

• When wellness shifts from personal interest to personal mission

• Why leaders struggle with clarity in the middle of building

• What actually creates loyalty in today’s wellness space

• The tension between AI innovation and human connection

• When a brand becomes a community

• The power of founder-led authenticity

• One small shift you can make if you’re feeling stuck

At a time when technology is accelerating and attention is fragmented, people are craving something deeply human.

If you’re building something — or rebuilding yourself — this conversation will invite you to slow down and ask:

What kind of space am I creating… and who am I becoming inside it?

Press play if you’re ready to move forward toward wellness that feels human.Follow us on:

Instagram: @lluande1

Facebook: @Linda Unrath-Anderson

LinkedIn: @Linda Anderson

Music by Maksym_Dudchyk from Pixabay

Podcast produced by Ury Gonzalez

Designing Technology That Serves People

What happens when technology is designed not as an end goal, but as a way to reduce barriers and improve everyday life?

In this episode of Moving Forward: Conversations on Culture, Identity, Healing, and Hope, host Linda Anderson sits down with Brian Anderson, a leader working at the intersection of emerging technology, storytelling, and large-scale systems change.

Brian has spent more than two decades helping organizations turn innovation into real-world outcomes—bridging physical and digital spaces so systems become more inclusive, intuitive, and human-centered. He is currently leading a $150 million digital customer experience transformation at Metro, contributing to five consecutive quarters of over 90% customer satisfaction and recognition as American Public Transportation Association Agency of the Year.

But this conversation isn’t about technology alone. It’s about empathy, patience, and leadership—and what it takes to hold vision, execution, and values together when the stakes are high.

Drawing on experiences ranging from childhood curiosity with technology to leading complex, high-impact initiatives, Brian reflects on how innovation can unintentionally create barriers—and how inclusive design can reshape not just user experience, but organizational mindset.

Together, Linda and Brian explore:

• Why technology should serve people—not the other way around
  

• How early experiences shape values around innovation and empathy
  

• Why wayfinding and accessibility matter deeply, especially for people with disabilities
  

• How inclusive design influences culture, trust, and decision-making
  

• Using AI to reduce decision fatigue without replacing human judgment
  

• Where organizations are getting AI wrong—and what leaders need to slow down and reconsider
  

• Why storytelling is essential for leading large-scale transformation
  

• What it takes to build alignment and trust across silos and complex systems
  

• How patience, persistence, and partnership sustain change over time
  

Brian also shares what gives him hope as technology continues to evolve—and what moving forward means to him in this current season of leadership and life.

This episode is an invitation to pause and reflect on how technology shows up in our own work and lives—and to ask whether it is truly reducing friction, increasing access, and honoring the people it is meant to serve.

If this conversation resonated with you, please subscribe, rate, and share Moving Forward. Your listening and reflection help these conversations reach others who are navigating change with care and intention.

As you consider the systems you shape—organizations, teams, tools, or communities—where might you move beyond innovation for its own sake and begin designing more intentionally for humanity?

Follow us on:

Instagram: @lluande1

Facebook: @Linda Unrath-Anderson

LinkedIn: @Linda Anderson

Music by Maksym_Dudchyk from Pixabay

Podcast produced by Ury Gonzalez

Building a Future of Belonging—In Education and in Life

What does it truly mean to design spaces where everyone belongs—not just in theory, but in practice?

In this episode of Moving Forward: Conversations on Culture, Identity, Healing, and Hope, host Linda Anderson sits down with Loc Nguyen—educator, entrepreneur, author, and storyteller whose work centers on human potential and inclusive pathways, particularly for students with intellectual disabilities.

Loc’s journey spans military service, technology, nonprofit leadership, higher education, and the university classroom. Across every chapter of his life, one throughline remains clear: a deep commitment to challenging convention and reimagining what’s possible when we lead with humanity.

He is the author of The Miles We Chase, a powerful blend of memoir, narrative, and policy that explores family, hope, reciprocity, and our shared responsibility to build systems rooted in belonging. In this conversation, Loc reflects on how personal story shapes public systems—and how writing the book transformed his own understanding of what belonging really requires.

Together, Linda and Loc explore:

• The difference between access and true belonging—and where institutions often miss the mark
  

• What human flourishing looks like in classrooms grounded in connection and vulnerability
  

• Why stories are essential tools for systems change, and what happens when leadership ignores them
  

• The assumptions we hold about intelligence, success, and productivity—and why they need reimagining
  

• How educators and leaders can take meaningful steps toward inclusion, even when the work feels overwhelming
  

Loc also shares what gives him hope when the work feels heavy—and what “moving forward” means to him in this current chapter of life and leadership.

This episode is an invitation to slow down, listen deeply, and consider how belonging is not a soft ideal, but a responsibility, a design choice, and a daily practice.

Recommended Reading: The Miles We Chase: Building a Future of Belonging in Education and Life by Dr. Loc Nguyen

If this conversation resonated with you, please subscribe, rate, and share Moving Forward. Your listening and reflecting help these stories reach others who are also searching for healing, hope, and a way forward.

As you think about the spaces you shape—classrooms, teams, families, or communities—where might you move beyond access and begin intentionally designing for true belonging?

Follow us on:

Instagram: @lluande1

Facebook: @Linda Unrath-Anderson

LinkedIn: @Linda Anderson

Music by Maksym_Dudchyk from Pixabay

Podcast produced by Ury Gonzalez