Positivity Matters

Betsy Emmons — https://journalism.unl.edu/person/betsy-emmons/ | Associate Professor of Advertising & Public Relations, University of Nebraska–Lincoln | Sports PR & Promotion | Accredited in Public Relations (APR)
Betsy Emmons teaches sports media and public relations in the College of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, after more than two decades teaching at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama, and years in sports PR before that. The conversation runs from the fandom that led her into sport PR — “working in sports is so fun, and it is exactly all the joy that you think that it is” — to translating character strengths into kindness, to the one-on-one mentoring students name when they nominate her for teaching awards: “tell me what your dreams are, how can I help you?” And it lands on the journey she describes with striking honesty: an Enneagram 3’s reckoning with achievement — “achievers can be blind to the suffering around them” — and the future she has chosen: “If you’re going to move into a position of leadership, or a position of seniority or authority: always look, on the ladder, to people who were coming up, too — and lend them a hand.”
Betsy’s top VIA character strengths, as she shared them: Love of Learning, Humor, Hope, Curiosity, and Appreciation of Beauty & Excellence. Try the free VIA Survey of Character Strengths yourself: www.viacharacter.org
Follow Betsy’s work through the College of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln: https://journalism.unl.edu/person/betsy-emmons/
Recorded: Monday, October 5th, 2026

Omani Carson — www.linkedin.com/in/omanicarson
Founder and Chairman, Carson Group | Founder, Omya | Founder, Momentis Family Office | Co-founder, Dreamweaver Foundation | Author
Recorded on his first full day as Omani, the day after a judge signed his legal name change, this conversation meets Omani Carson at what he calls “a really proud time in my life.” He tells how the name Tate-Omani, “walking into a stiff wind,” was given to him, and how about a decade ago he made the shift from a life run on fear and scarcity to one led by love and abundance. He makes the case for going with your strengths (“If you work on your weaknesses, someday you’ll have a little stronger weakness”), shares the saying he and his wife Jeanie live by (“You haven’t lived until you do something nice for someone who never expected it, who can never repay you”), and walks through the exercise he teaches in his coaching work and at Omya: write your eulogy, then plan your years backward from it. The conversation opens mid-stream, without the usual introduction, and it closes on his final phrase: “Live every day like it’s your last. And most certainly, one day, you’ll be right.”
Omani also shares his own experience of psychedelic-assisted therapy and his views on it. Those views are his own, and nothing in the episode is medical advice.
Omani’s mission, as he shared it at the Do More Good Movement’s 2024 conference: “I can motivate others to live a more purpose filled life.” Strengths heard in that mission, as the host’s own inference and not a test result: Woo and Developer (CliftonStrengths).
Find your own strengths, free: www.viacharacter.org/character-strengths
Since this conversation: Omani joined the Do More Good Movement’s ROI of Why 2026 in Omaha on the panel “From Hustle to Whole.” Speaking at the Hustle Conference in Omaha on September 30, 2026, Jay Wilkinson described a transition under way in the movement and the bringing together of conferences, with Omani’s newer work in the plan. Jay’s talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3ubO9Ew4vc | ROI of Why 2027, April 19–21, Omaha: www.domoregood.com/roi-of-why-2027
Books mentioned (published as Ron Carson): Tested in the Trenches | The Sustainable Edge | Proven in the Trenches
Also mentioned: Secret Kindness Agents by Ferial Pearson
Recorded: Wednesday, January 22nd, 2025

Millie Heckler (https://millieheckler.com): Dancer | Choreographer | Singer-Songwriter | Movement Guide

Millie's mission, in her words, is to dance as much as she can and to create spaces where people can dance. She teaches hip-hop dance at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and is the founder of puSHErbody, a dance company and community initiative. Drawing on years of street dance, including dancing professionally with pioneer Rennie Harris, and her training at the Xuan Gong Fu Academy of Internal Martial Arts in Berlin, she talks about song — finding endless movement inside a structure — the dance battle as a way of pushing each other toward the best versions of ourselves, and the paradoxical truth that in order to find freedom, you need discipline.

Millie's top VIA Strengths (free insight: https://www.viacharacter.org/character-strengths): Spirituality • Gratitude • Honesty • Curiosity • Social Intelligence

Follow Millie on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/millieheckler/

Recorded: Friday, September 18th, 2026

Darci Gamerl: Oboist | English Hornist | Composer | Arts Leader 
Darci is one half of Bel Canto Duo 
Darci’s top VIA Strengths (free insight): Honesty • Spirituality • Judgement • Curiosity • Perspective
Recorded on August 13th, 2026 
"Taking Flight: The Eighth Wonder of the World" with the Bel Canto Duo • Saturday, August 29, 2026 • 2-4pm • Sheldon Museum of Art

David Shaw made a permission slip for you! 
David's VIA Strengths:
Creativity
Curiosity
Leadership
Love of Learning
Fairness
Self-Regulation
Love
Spirituality
Hope
Judgement
Recorded: August 5th, 2026