Contagious Culture

#185 | Leading with Heart: Resilience, Storytelling, and Impact with Claire Masikewich

In this episode of Contagious Culture, Kyle S. King sits down with Claire Masikewich, founder of the Strong Like Sloan Foundation, for a powerful conversation about purpose, adversity, storytelling, community, and turning pain into impact.
After her daughter Sloan was diagnosed with stage four cancer at five and a half years old, Claire’s life and work shifted. What started as a way to cope became a foundation raising money, awareness, and advocacy for pediatric cancer research.
Claire shares how her family navigated treatment, relapse, remission, and hope while building a nonprofit that has raised nearly $400,000 in less than three years. This episode is for nonprofit leaders, parents, founders, and changemakers who are trying to build something meaningful while carrying the weight of real life.
Episode Highlights
00:00 — Welcome to the Contagious Culture Podcast01:00 — Claire Masikewich’s background in marketing and communications02:30 — Sloan’s diagnosis and the start of Strong Like Sloan05:00 — Finding purpose without forcing purpose07:00 — The vision: a world where pediatric cancer is cured09:30 — Why nonprofits should focus on solving root problems12:00 — The challenge of funding pediatric cancer research14:30 — Raising nearly $400,000 through community and storytelling17:00 — How to tell powerful stories when the story is not your own19:00 — Turning adversity into action21:00 — “What if it all works out?”23:00 — What kept Claire going during the hardest seasons25:00 — The lesson of capability: we are stronger than we think27:00 — The role of community in survival and impact29:00 — Letting go of what you cannot control30:30 — Boundaries, balance, and learning to say no31:30 — Claire’s message to leaders and changemakers32:00 — Closing: What type of culture are you spreading?
Connect with Claire
Strong Like Sloan FoundationInstagram: @stronglikesloane
Claire MasikewichInstagram: @therealclairem
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#184 | Scaling Impact Without Losing Your Culture with Lauren Riley

In this episode of the Contagious Culture Podcast, Kyle King sits down with Lauren Riley, Executive Director of Gratitude Network, to talk about nonprofit leadership, culture, sustainability, and scaling impact.
Lauren shares why passion alone is not enough to grow an organization. Nonprofits need clear systems, aligned messaging, strong leadership, and a value proposition that everyone on the team can communicate.
Kyle and Lauren also discuss why values are not culture, why organizations cannot scale what is not sustainable, and how nonprofit leaders can build systems that outlast the founder or executive director.
Episode Highlights
00:00 — Introduction01:16 — What keeps Lauren’s fire burning02:00 — What Gratitude Network does03:10 — What nonprofits often get wrong04:44 — Building systems beyond the leader06:18 — Why behaviors define culture10:32 — Coaching, mentorship, and performance13:15 — Recovering from disruption and defeat15:48 — Moving beyond grants and donor dependency18:26 — Training your team to communicate value28:36 — Product, distribution, and financial sustainability30:03 — Closing reflections
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#183 |The Science of Gratitude, Healing, and Human Connection W/ Peggy DeLong

In this episode of the Contagious Culture Podcast, Kyle King sits down with Peggy Doherty DeLong, Psy.D., a psychologist, speaker, and educator who teaches practical tools for gratitude, well-being, and personal fulfillment.
Peggy shares how gratitude helped her through deep grief after losing her fiancé and father within weeks of each other. She explains the science behind gratitude, why it is most powerful on our hardest days, and how simple daily practices can improve our mental health, relationships, and sense of meaning.
 
Kyle and Peggy also discuss the power of handwritten notes, awe, nature, human connection, the PEACE Method, and how high achievers can redefine success without burning out.
Episode Highlights
00:00 — Introduction00:55 — Peggy’s story and work with gratitude02:35 — The science behind gratitude04:29 — Daily gratitude practices06:20 — The power of handwritten letters08:00 — Gratitude, simplicity, and emotional blocks10:21 — Starting the day with simple practices11:21 — Finding awe in everyday life13:14 — Nature, healing, and mental health15:00 — Man’s Search for Meaning and resilience16:48 — Defining meaning through connection17:16 — The PEACE Method20:08 — Redefining achievement21:36 — The three P’s: pleasure, present, purpose
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#182 | Clean Data, Clear Mission: How Smart Systems Fuel Nonprofit Impact

In this episode of Contagious Culture, Kyle sits down with nonprofit technology expert Christine Robertson to explore a topic that often gets overlooked, but quietly drives everything: data and systems.
With over 20 years of experience in the nonprofit space, Christine shares how organizations can better align their mission with the way they manage information, relationships, and internal processes. From her early days as a database manager to her work as a consultant, she’s seen firsthand how clean data isn’t just about organization it’s about trust, stewardship, and impact.
Together, they unpack what it really means to build a healthy data culture, why messy systems can hold organizations back, and how leaders can begin making simple shifts that lead to stronger relationships with supporters and more sustainable growth.
If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by your systems, unsure about your data, or curious how technology can better serve your mission, this conversation will challenge and equip you.
Because at the end of the day, behind every data point is a person and how you manage that information says everything about your culture.
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#181 | Start Where You Stand: The Truth About Power, Safety, and Women’s Rights

In this episode of the Contagious Culture Podcast, we sit down with Lina AbiRafeh, a global women’s rights leader, author, and humanitarian who has spent over 30 years working across more than 20 countries to advance equity, safety, and dignity for women.
This is a powerful and unfiltered conversation about what’s really happening in the world and what too many leaders are unwilling to say out loud. Lina challenges the idea that progress is happening fast enough and reframes the conversation around women’s rights by asking a deeper question: before we talk about equality, are women even safe?
We explore the realities of power, accountability, and systemic inequity, from conflict zones to corporate spaces and what it truly takes to move from awareness to action. Lina brings both urgency and clarity, pushing leaders to move beyond performative support and toward meaningful, sustained change.
This episode will challenge your perspective, stretch your thinking, and remind you that building a better world doesn’t start “out there” it starts exactly where you stand.
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#180 | How Denise Brown Is Redefining Support, Leadership, and the Caregiving Experience

Caregiving is one of the most universal and least understood, leadership experiences in our lives. And few people have shaped this space like Denise Brown.
In this powerful and deeply human conversation, Denise shares her 30+ year journey supporting family caregivers, from launching one of the first online caregiving communities in 1996 to building The Caregiving Years Training Academy. What started as personal experience has grown into a global movement to train, equip, and empower caregivers, coaches, and professionals to better support those doing the critical work of caring.
We explore the reality behind caregiving—the emotional weight, the systems people must navigate, and the truth that you can’t fix everything. Denise introduces her frameworks, including the Six Caregiving Stages, the Twelve Caregiving Fatigues, and the Nineteen Caregiving Systems, offering a new lens on what caregivers truly experience.
This episode also challenges leaders and organizations to rethink the workplace. With nearly 40% of employees serving as caregivers, Denise unpacks why caregiving is not just a personal issue, but a leadership, culture, and business priority.
At its core, this conversation is about presence, acceptance, and the power of listening. It’s about showing up when things are hard, leading with empathy, and creating systems that actually support people through life’s most demanding seasons.
If you’ve ever cared for someone, worked with someone who has, or led people through real-life challenges, this episode will stay with you.
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#179 | Building Learning That Makes People Feel Seen

In Episode 179 of the Contagious Culture Podcast, we sit down with Dr. Michelle Chanda Singh, known as the Disengagement Doctor, an award-winning educator and curriculum strategist who challenges how we think about learning, leadership, and belonging.
This conversation goes deeper than engagement strategies and gets to the root of the issue: disengagement isn’t a motivation problem, it’s often a design problem. Dr. Singh shares how many systems unintentionally push people into autopilot and survival mode, where compliance is rewarded, silence is normalized, and identity is left out of the learning experience.
Together, we explore how curriculum shapes culture, why voice and belonging matter more than ever, and what it takes to design environments that honor humanity while driving real impact.
If you lead people in any capacity, this episode will challenge what you’ve accepted and invite you to build something better.
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#178 | How Maddie Myers Connects Business, Community, and Culture in the Queen City

Charlotte runs on relationships, and few people understand that better than Maddie Myers, SVP and Director of Client and Community Relations at PNC.
In this energizing conversation, Maddie shares how she blends corporate strategy with authentic community impact across Charlotte and the Western Carolinas. From arts and culture to early childhood literacy, and from economic development to nonprofit leadership, she operates at the intersection of business growth and community good.
We explore the human side of corporate leadership and what meaningful sponsorship and partnership really look like. Maddie breaks down why early childhood and literacy are not just social priorities but economic ones, and how trust is built across corporate, civic, and nonprofit spaces. She also reflects on what it means to show up fully as a leader, a mom, and a neighbor.
Maddie’s journey from nonprofit fundraising to executive banking leadership proves that community work is business work, and that the strongest brands are built through service, presence, and purpose.
If you care about leadership, civic impact, or the future of Charlotte, this episode is for you.
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Learn More About the Contagious Culture Conference
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