Ideagen Global - Catalyze Magazine - June 2023

B Y I D E A G E N 

CATALYZE. 

June 2023 

June 

2023 

Edition 

PLUS 

Ideagen's Future 

Global Leaders 

Academy 

Alan Miller 

Founder 

News Literacy Project


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Academy 

Sharon Price John 

CEO 

Build-A-Bear Workshop

Susan Cotton 

Founder 

The Lily Project 


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Academy

Winston Chang 

CTO, Global Public Sector 

Snowflake 


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Academy


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Academy 

Georgette Boulegeris 

Grand President 

Daughters of Penelope

Jane Oates 

President 

WorkingNation 


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Academy


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Theodoros Bizakis 

Deputy Chief of Mission 

Greek Embassy to the 

United States


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Academy 

Samson Arega 

Regional Director, Sales, Marketing & 

Services 

Ethiopian Airlines

TABLE OF 

CONTENTS 

01 Alan Miller 

Founder, The News Literacy Project 

02 Sharon Price John 

CEO, Build-A-Bear Workshop 

03 

04 

05 

06 

07 

08 

Susan Cotton 

Founder, The Lily Project 

Winston Chang 

CTO of Global Global Public Sector, Snowflake 


Grand President, Daughters of Penelope 

Jane Oates 

President, WorkingNation 

Theodoros Bizakis 

Deputy Chief of Mission, Greek Embassy to the United States 

Samson Arega 

Regional Director, Sales, Marketing & Services, Ethiopian Airlines

T H E I M P A C T A N D I M P L E M E N T A T I O N 

O F T H E N E W S L I T E R A C Y P R O J E C T 

WITH ALAN MILLER, FOUNDER OF 

THE NEWS LITERACY PROJECT 

George Sifakis: Where have you seen your 

work have the greatest impact? 

News Lit. Project 

Alan Miller: Our greatest impact has been 

with the next generation, middle school, and 

high school students specifically. They are 

living in the most complex information 

ecosystem in history, one that they did not 

create and are not well equipped to navigate. 

They've got more good and credible 

information available to them literally at their 

fingertips than at any other time. But it's 

competing for their attention with 

exponentially more information that's not 

intended to inform in an accurate, fact-based, 

dispassionate, and contextual way but to 

persuade, sell, misinform, exploit, and 

inflame. So how do they navigate that 

landscape where they can sort the news from 

the noise, the credible, from the uncredible, 

and the actionable from the exorable? 

Alan: For the first dozen years, this was our 

sole focus. Now it remains a prime focus by 

reaching students through educators in every 

state in the country to empower them to do this 

in a way that is responsible, credible, and that 

really lifts their voices. I've seen through my 

experience in classrooms, anecdotes, and our 

data that this critical thinking skill is essential in 

the information age, and it is incredibly 

empowering and transformative for young 

people in particular. 

George: And the News Literacy Project works 

with so many communities across America to 

implement your solutions, specifically in course 

criteria. How does that all work? 

CATALYZE MAGAZINE | 1

A L A N M I L L E R & T H E N E W S L I T E R A C Y 

P R O J E C T C O N T I N U E D . . . 

Alan: This is such a broadly applicable skill that we've found we're able to work with history, 

social studies, government, English, humanities, and journalism teachers. It's also been used 

by many librarians. We have a virtual classroom we call "Checkology," which is highly 

adaptable and extremely engaging, and it can be integrated when educators teach about the 

First Amendment, press & politics, or when they're giving students skills to use primary 

sources and research. We've found that we can work both top-down and bottom-up. 

Educators have found us all across the country and all across the world, to use Checkology. 

We're working directly with more than three dozen school districts, including the largest 

districts in urban areas in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, but also in South Carolina, 

Texas, Alabama, and Indiana. We are rigorously non-partisan, and we've been able to work 

with teachers and districts in red states, purple states and blue states, urban areas, and rural 

areas to reach students throughout the country. 

Alan Miller & Ethiopian Ambassador Seleshi Bekele 

Ideagen CEO George Sifakis interviews Alan Miller 


T H E N E W S L I T E R A C Y P R O J E C T 

F I N A L 

George: I love that. Rigorously non-partisan. And so, you're well on your way to establishing 

the News Literacy Project across America. What's next for the international stage? 

Alan: When we created Checkology in 2016, it was really a domestic-based platform. It's in 

English, we had a lesson on the First Amendment, and most of the media examples we use are 

from the US. But what we found is that misinformation, disinformation, and conspiratorial 

thinking know no boundaries. This is an existential global challenge. We've seen educators 

using the platform in well over 100 countries, and we responded to that by creating a lesson on 

world press freedoms. We also created a lesson in English and Spanish, and we've done work 

throughout the world at conferences through professional development and webinars. We have a 

colleague based in Barcelona who handles our international work, and we are poised, if there 

was interest and support, to create a version of Checkology for other countries in other 

languages using journalists and media in those countries because we've seen that in places like 

Myanmar and India that disinformation can be used to incite ethnic violence and lead to 

tragedies and death. This is why it is a global need. 


REFLECTIONS 

FROM WRITING 

"STORIES & HEART" 

BY SHARON PRICE JOHN 

CEO 

BUILD-A-BEAR WORKSHOP 

Build-A-Bear 

George Sifakis: Last time we spoke, you 

were about to release your book, 'Stories & 

Heart.' Now that it's officially published, 

could you kindly share and reflect on the 

experience of writing this book? 

Sharon Price John: George, this was a 

crazy experience at a crazy time. When 

Forbes reached out, I was struggling with 

what I wanted to write about. I didn't want 

to write a traditional business book, and 

we found a real balance of exploring 

different stories that have happened to me 

throughout my life and how they've 

impacted me. We put it together in a bit of 

a construct that pushes the reader to reflect 

on their own lives and the moments that 

impacted them. What did you do with 

those moments, and how did they either 

move them forward or hold them back? 

Sharon: It's a postulation that it's not 

what happens in your life; it's the 

information and narratives you read 

that weave around all of these things 

that are either empowering or 

disempowering for people. I wanted to 

dismantle that and give people ways to 

reflect and think about setting goals, 

getting rid of some of this negative 

self-talk, or rethinking their objectives 

based on how they evolve in their lives 

and opening up their apertures for 

getting off the beaten path and trying 

the scenic route for a minute because 

you never know what could come 

from that. 


REFLECTIONS FROM "STORIES & 

HEART CONTINUED 

Sharon: We put this book together with a workbook inserted inside with lots of fun 

reflections on everything back to my childhood, but it's also a loose narrative of my 

business career through the trials and tribulations of being on Barbie at Mattel, being the 

head of the US toy division at Hasbro, and even some of the difficulties of the turnaround 

with Build-A-Bear and the retail apocalypse during Covid. I wrote this book during 

Covid because we signed the deal with Forbes right before it hit, and I stretched out the 

writing so I could reflect on that experience to find meaning in what we went through to 

get Build-A-Bear to an entirely new place during some of those difficult moments for 

everyone, particularly retail environments where 90% of our revenue stream was shut 

down because we closed down all of our stores across the globe in a 48 hour period in 

March of 2020. That takes a different kind of leadership team to maneuver, things like 

that. 

Looking back on it now, I think it was a remarkable experience and almost cathartic to 

capture that while it was going on, but the outcome has been humbling and amazing. 

We're on the bestsellers list in many categories, including business and mentoring, and 

I've been touched by some of the feedback and am so excited to have completed it and 

fought through it because it was not simple. 

"Stories & Heart" by 

Sharon Price John 

available now! 

Click the link below to learn more 


I D E A G E N G L O B A L 

P R E S E N T S 


GLOBAL 

ACCELERATION 

SUMMIT 

A S S E S S I N G T H E P R O G R E S S O F T H E U N 

S D G ' S A T T H E M I D W A Y P O I N T T O 2 0 2 3 

H O S T E D A T T H E E M B A S S Y O F E T H I O P I A 

N O W S T R E A M I N G O N I D E A G E N 

Ideagenglobal.com | Presented Globally by 


P I L L A R S O F T H E L I L Y 

P R O J E C T 

W I T H F O U N D E R , S U S A N C O T T O N 

The Lily Project 

Barb Quantaince: I know you care very 

much, not just about the work and the cause, 

but also how you do it. Can you name what 

you might consider the key principles in how 

the Lily project works? 

Susan Cotton: Yes, we call them our 

pillars. Our first pillar is that it's a 

grassroots-driven organization. In other 

words, the people closest to the problem 

have the best ideas on how to solve the 

problem. We've developed our design 

around the grassroots understanding, 

meaning that we are staffed with local 

nurses and people directly connected to the 

issue and the community itself. It's a very 

community-driven grassroots approach. The 

second principle is data-driven. It's kind of 

strange to say, but one of the beautiful parts 

about something like this is it's very easy to 

measure and understand the issue. 

Everything we did started from a point of 

being able to collect data and understand 

our impact at the individual and collective 

levels. 

Susan Cotton: Founder, The Lily Project 

Susan: We're proud to say that we're 

probably the first organization that 

developed a significant database able 

to be used and understand the actual 

extent of cervical cancer issues 

within remote and rural communities 

in Nicaragua. This also allowed us to 

understand the sexual health needs 

of women in these communities, and 

what we learned is that 50% of the 

women we were serving had their 

first child before the age of 17. We 

then assessed the level of 

understanding they had about their 

bodies and learned that the majority, 

something like 80% of the women, 

did not understand the relationship 

between their menstrual cycles and 

their fertility. 


P I L L A R S O F T H E L I L Y 

P R O J E C T C O N T I N U E D . . . 

Susan: So there's a lack of understanding and knowledge about how their body works, 

what their body is, and their ability to keep themselves healthy and make decisions 

such as, 'Do I want to have another child?' 'Do I want to have a child at 17?' All of that 

came together, I believe, because we really approached it from both a, 'Let's get into 

the culture, but let's really do it from a data perspective.' The third principle, which is 

something we always work through, is collaboration. This isn't anything one 

organization can solve on its own. It's building relationships with global organizations 

that have deep capabilities. It's building relationships with the local community, 

NGOs, and educational organizations and allowing us all to find a way to work 

together. Then, which we'll probably talk about in a little, we developed a sense of 

creative resilience working in communities like this during the pandemic and the 

disruptions around the civil unrest in Nicaragua. We learned what our plan was. You 

have to learn how to adapt and change to the environment you want in order to stay 

focused on your mission, but have resilience in your organization to understand that 

change is happening all the time. 


The Data Issue Across 

Sectors 

Winston Chang: CTO Global Public Sector, Snowflake 

George Sifakis: If I were to point to 

one specific project that inspired you 

and that you are so proud to have 

worked on, what would it be? 

Snowflake 

Winston Chang: We have been doing 

a lot of engagements, especially at 

my level, where I get the opportunity 

to engage with the executives and see 

where their strategy is moving. The 

law enforcement piece is 

phenomenal. The need to share data 

in such a way with the information 

needs we have in our country, that of 

a state municipality sharing data 

with a city or a state somewhere else, 

or even the federal government; that 

type of work has such an amazing 

mission. 

Being public sector, and the team 

that we have in the public sector for 

Snowflake, everyone is so missiondriven 

that it's a phenomenal ability 

to come out here and say, 'We've got 

this great technology, let us help your 

mission.' It's completely different 

than the commercial sector. 

Winston Chang:, Snowflake 

George: And at this point, I'd like to 

thank you for your service. You are a 

graduate of the US Military 

Academy at West Point. Thank you 

for that service. Thank you for your 

efforts on behalf of the United States 

on so many levels. Where do you see 

Snowflake's technologies applicable 

to the military? 


Winston Chang Continued... 

Winston: I'm going to let you in on a little secret. We look across all these 

organizations, whether it's big media marketing or finance; Capital One is one of 

our big customers. But when you break down the data problems, there's only a 

handful, and they're almost all the same across these major companies and the 

DOD. To give you a few examples, one is connecting the data. We build data 

silos. It's really hard. Anyone who's worked with data, especially in a large 

organization, knows how difficult this is. 

The second piece is doing the analytics and all the work needed to take advantage 

of the data at scale. But it's the same problem that marketing has. You've got 

millions upon millions of users and customers, and they have millions of data 

points you collect online or through your points of sale. That's not all that 

different from the DOD trying to figure out the millions of data points it collects 

to provide national security. 

George: Incredible, and thank you for simplifying that because it could be an 

overly complex description for something you described in seconds. That's why 

you're the CTO of Snowflake. 

George Sifakis interviews Winston Chang 

Winston & other Acceleration Summit Guests 


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Academy! 

Future Global Leaders Academy 

Presented by Ideagen® 

Hosted at Barnard, Columbia University in New York City, The 

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established in 2015 

Visit the Summer Discovery course page below to learn more 


THE IMPORTANCE OF A 

GRASSROOTS STRUCTURE 

WITH GEORGETTE BOULEGERIS: GRAND 

PRESIDENT, DAUGHTERS OF PENELOPE 

George Sifakis: As you look at the 

structure of The Daughters of Penelope, 

how does the grassroots structure 

position the organization for success? 

Daughters of Penelope 

Georgette Boulegeris: Grassroots is 

crucial; we are from the grassroots going 

up. I always say the most important title 

in this organization is that of sister, and 

everybody has that title who's a member. 


The grassroots are on the ground, talking to people, promoting the 

Daughters of Penelope, Hellenism, education, civic responsibility, and 

everything we stand for together. Interestingly enough, this year, many 

chapters and their members at the grassroots level are reaching out to 

each other and making connections between themselves, strengthening 

the foundation of the organization. When the foundation is strong, then 

the top shines even brighter. We need to have a strong foundation. I was 

raised on the four cornerstones of our foundation; service, education, 

family, and faith. If you have those four cornerstones in place, and a 

strong foundation, which is our membership, then the sky's the limit for 

what we can do and achieve, and it's come to fruition this year. 


GEORGETTE BOULEGERIS CONTINUED... 

George: It's so true, especially with your presidency. We've seen firsthand 

the incredible elements of leadership you've displayed to make the 

organization even more successful. I'd like to lead into the role of 

mentorship and leadership development within the organization. What is 

that role, and how does that take shape within the organization? 

Georgette: We have a junior order, The Maids of Athena, and this year we 

worked hand in hand with our young 20-year-old girls. Every time we've 

had an activity celebrating women, I made sure that the maids were there 

and had a chance to interact with women leaders to see what their potential 

is and what they can aspire to be. Role models are very important, and if 

you have a strong and positive role model, you have faith in yourself that 

you can achieve as much if not more. 

To cultivate leaders, that's the grassroots. We want them to start bringing 

in the new young executives. We're changing our traditions to engage 

young women professionals and inspire them to assimilate into the 

organization and hold on to these attributes of Hellenism, civic 

responsibility, and education so that the next generation can start 

mentoring the future. We are always looking for future leaders, cultivating 

them, encouraging them, and pointing out their strengths. Nobody's 

perfect, but everybody has their strengths, and with that, we want to 

cultivate that leadership to ensure these women realize they have a lot to 

contribute and a lot to gain through their contributions. 


G L O B A L 

The State of the 

American 

Workforce 

Jane Oates 

President 

WorkingNation 

WorkingNation 

Jane Oates 

George Sifakis: Describe the state of the American workforce today. 

Jane Oates: Well, I think the American workforce continues to be a leader in the 

world. It's amazing how agile they are, how so many adapted to job titles that didn't 

exist when they entered the workforce, and quite frankly, how they weathered the 

Covid situation when our workforce was completely shut down, except for essential 

workers. They've come back and rebuilt the economy in a very interesting way. 

I've said to you before, George, I think 2022 was the year of the American worker and 

when they got a voice and made important decisions about work-life balance. Where 

they really began to say what was important to them in terms of the work environment, 

not only the money, the money's always important, but benefits, flexibility, and also 

they were looking for purpose. Making sure that they were finding employment that 

gave their life meaning; that gave them a sense of satisfaction. That's how I felt in 2022, 

and I think 2023 has continued that trend. Workers are continuing to not only voice 

their preferences in terms of employers and job-like perks and benefits, but they've 

continued to be incredibly productive in the workforce. 

George: Incredible to hear, and I completely agree. In your opinion, what are you 

seeing as the biggest strengths and/or weaknesses at this moment? 


T H E S T A T E O F T H E A M E R I C A N 

W O R K F O R C E 

Jane: As I said, the resilience and agility of the American worker. For instance, 

someone who pre-COVID was working in the leisure and hospitality industry, that 

industry still has not come back in terms of the number of jobs to its pre-COVID 

level. We're still down 750,000 jobs in that sector. Those workers figured out how 

they could do other things. How they could identify their skills from the jobs they lost 

and transfer them to a sector that was building and adding jobs. That resilience and 

agility still is the thing that amazes me every day about the American worker in terms 

of challenges. 

I still think, as a country, we have a gigantic challenge when it comes to digital 

literacy. How do we not only do it better in our K-12 schools and higher education, 

but how do we incorporate digital learning styles and skills for adults already in the 

workforce? Because we know with the pace of change in technology, the 

implementations of technology, and the new software developments happening every 

day, you cannot thrive in this economy without those digital skills. 


Director of Product Marketing at Microsoft, 

Grace Clack, outlines the progress made from 

Microsoft's sustainability journey and the 

lessons learned to improve in 2023. 

 

By utilizing data to understand the impacts of 

their initiatives and developing partnerships 

with like-minded organizations, Microsoft's 

sustainability commitments are generating 

impact within communities and creating 

competitive advantages. 

Grace Clack 

Director of Product Marketing 

Microsoft 

To read Grace's full blog post, click the link below! 


PARTNERSHIPS & THE 

EVOLUTION OF DIPLOMACY 

WITH MINISTER-COUNSELLOR THEODOROS BIZAKIS, DEPUTY 

CHIEF OF MISSION, GREEK EMBASSY TO THE UNITED STATES 

Theodoros Bizakis (Left) & George Sifakis (Right) 

George Sifakis: How has diplomacy changed? How has the craft of diplomacy changed? 

From the beginning of your career to today? 

Theodoros Bizakis: I've been in the Foreign Service since 1994, so a lot of things have 

changed since then. I'd say that international cooperation has broadened both bilaterally 

and multilaterally. New technology is a very big weapon and tool in diplomacy 

nowadays. We all need to adjust and update our job according to what people need, 

which tools people use around the world, and how to tackle the new challenges that arise 

internationally. 

This is not just for the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but globally. Diplomacy is 

trying to find a way to work within the updated conditions we are living in. Diplomacy 

is trying to find solutions, and these need to be found through contemporary tools. 


PARTNERSHIPS & THE EVOLUTION 

OF DIPLOMACY CONTINUED... 

George: That's right. And as we look through the lens of the global goals of The United Nations, 

Goal 17 and partnerships are critical. I know you're an expert in building partnerships; that's 

what you do every day with the community, governments, etc. How effective and how important 

are partnerships to the work that you do? 

Minister Bizakis: I think partnerships are the number one issue we need to develop in 

diplomacy. We are working in a very globalized environment. No country can do anything alone, 

and we see this every day. We've seen that even now recently with the crisis in Sudan, Covid, 

and climate change. All countries need to talk to each other, find common points, find where 

they disagree, and find ways to create solutions to problems and issues. No global targets or 

goals can be achieved unless all countries, either bilaterally or through The United Nations 

forum, work together. 

George: There is a next generation of diplomats coming at us. What advice would you give to 

the next generation as they prepare to begin the journey that you've been on? 

Minister Bizakis: First off, the next generation of diplomats, or even broader leaders, need to 

start by following their dreams. They need to have dreams to pursue. Second, they need to study 

the data and the conditions around the world. They need to study, analyze, and try to get some 

conclusions and initiatives. Third, they need to be fearless. As I said before, they need to take 

initiative. Problems can be solved through traditional means, but they can also be solved through 

innovative solutions. This is something that young leaders need to be brave enough to propose or 

move forward. Even though sometimes this doesn't work, I think solutions can only be found 

through innovative ideas. 

Minister Bizakis, George Sifakis, Jean Accius, & Solomon 

Hailemichael 

Minister Bizakis in a group photo 


Ideagen Thanks the Embassy of Ethiopia 

For Hosting The Global Acceleration 

Summit! 


REPRESENTING & SUPPORTING THE 

ETHIOPIAN COMMUNITY 

SAMSON AREGA 

REGIONAL DIRECTOR, SALES, 

MARKETING & SERVICES 

ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES 

Ethiopian Airlines 

George Sifakis: How does Ethiopian 

Airlines represent and support the 

greater community of Ethiopia? 

Samson Arega: As you know, we 

always say that Ethiopian Airlines is 

literally bringing Ethiopia to various 

parts of The United States every day. 

We have ten flights out of here 

(Dulles International Airport) 

carrying between 500 to 600,000 

passengers, and overall we transport 

12.7 million passengers annually on 

average. As you can imagine, there is 

a huge Ethiopian community in the 

Washington DC area, including many 

small businesses owned and run by 

Ethiopians. Ethiopian Airlines is 

filling that logistics gap by providing 

supplies, trade items, and national 

food items, in addition to linking 

families and Ethiopians residing here 

in the US. We fly to over 89 countries 

and act as a brand ambassador for 

Ethiopia, so it's a flagship carrier of 

Ethiopian culture. It highlights not 

only Ethiopia but the entire African 

continent. 

Samson Arega, Ethiopian Airlines 

George: It sure is, and as we've 

emerged from Covid, how was 

Ethiopian Airlines impacted, and how 

did you adapt to these changes? 

Samson: It's very interesting talking 

about the situation during Covid and 

how we took advantage of the 

opportunities that Covid brought. It's 

worth mentioning that Ethiopian 

Airlines was one of only three airlines 

in the whole world to turn a profit 

during Covid. We took advantage and 

have been known to translate 

challenges into opportunities. During 

Covid, we had to diversify our 

aviation model. We have a strong 

cargo wing, a five-star hotel, one of 

the biggest MRO facilities on the 

African continent, and a huge 

aviation academy. So we strategized 

to capitalize on this diversified 

aviation model. 


REPRESENTING & SUPPORTING 

THE ETHIOPIAN COMMUNITY PT. 2 

Samson: We changed 25 passenger planes, 3%, to cargo planes to fill the gap created 

because of Covid challenges. We have an extensive network based on the countries we 

serve globally as the fourth biggest airline in the world, and we used that network to satisfy 

demand. We used our extensive personnel network, having a dedicated 17,000 employees, 

and in fact, every one of us took this as a national mission. We added 25 passenger planes, 

changed them to cargo, and flew them everywhere. In fact, we never fired a single staff 

member during Covid. 

During Covid, I was in Canada as a country manager. While everybody was experiencing 

layoffs, especially the big airlines like Air Canada and United, we were hiring. We 

operated 360 charter cargo planes, delivered PPE and urgently needed medical equipment 

to 80 countries, and operated 470 passenger charter flights repatriating over 65,000 

citizens. So we saw an opportunity during Covid, and we took advantage of the challenges 

it brought. 



Editor's Note 

Dear Friends and Colleagues, as we approach Summer 2023, 

there are numerous positive trends and advancements to be 

optimistic about. From breakthroughs in technology to 

inspiring advancements in sustainability, it's an exciting time. 

We are seeing communities come together in new ways with a 

renewed focus on changing the world. The world continues to 

evolve, with AI and virtual experiences becoming increasingly 

accessible and diverse, including the latest from ChatGPT and 

OpenAI. 

As we move into Summer, it's important to celebrate these 

advancements and continue to strive toward a brighter future. 

At Catalyze Magazine by Ideagen Global, we are thrilled to be 

a part of this positive movement and can't wait to share all the 

exciting developments with our readers for 2023 and into 2024! 

GEORGE SIFAKIS 

GEORGE SIFAKIS 

Editor-in-Chief & CEO 

-Ideagen 

CATALYZE MAGAZINE | 23 

DANIEL KERNS 

Senior Editor 

ALEXA SIFAKIS 

Publication Co-Editor 

Pictured Top to Bottom 

George Sifakis & Rawle Andrews Jr. 

Craig Cookson, ACC 

Nasdaq Board Times Square

Ideagen Global - Catalyze Magazine - June 2023

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