Episode 2:
Starfleet: Pension Fund

Makia Martin (00:04):

Welcome to The Light Ahead, a fiction podcast that investigates the question "What would 2030 look like if the USA had an economy that truly worked and cared for everyone?"

Makia Martin (00:19):

(singing)

Makia Martin (00:22):

The USA has an imagination gap when it comes to the economy, we generally think that we have to choose one "ism" or another, like capitalism or socialism, but the reality is: our options are as diverse as those who can dream them, because we continually create the economy every single day with our actions and choices.

Makia Martin (00:44):

This podcast is designed to help us all practice expanding our economic imaginations, to take us out of the "what is?" and help us dream what could be. A production of Avalon: Story and Beloved Economies, each episode was co-created by a Hollywood screenwriter and a change maker at the cutting edge of transforming our economy. For this project, we didn't ask them to tackle the question of "how?", but rather to dream, using the magic of storytelling to help us all imagine possible futures.

Makia Martin (01:21):

(singing)

Makia Martin (01:25):

I'm Makia, your guide as we venture into future timelines built with possibility, for this episode, prepare yourself for the phenomenon that is Star fleet pension fund, the futuristic TV sensation, sweeping the nation. We'll hear galactic battles, scheming villains, and brave heroes, all while learning about pension funds and hedge funds. During this space saga, we'll pull back the curtain to hear from the collaborators responsible for this visionary tale, Nat and Veronica Moonhill, This episodes, writers and directors, and Doctor Ashby Monk, a research faculty member at Stanford University and a member of a research center focused on design, governance, and management of some of the world's biggest investment organizations. For now, make sure your preconceptions are powered down and your mind is unlocked in the expansive position. This is Star Fleet Pension Fund

Speaker 3 (02:38):

Turmoil has engulfed the galactic economy, once again, in the aftermath of the intertellar trusts bust of the late 2020s there is a power vacuum and all parties are rushing to renegotiate the... [Crosstalk 00:02:53]

Speaker 4 (02:54):

What? I'm watching my show.

Speaker 5 (02:56):

Entertain me.

Speaker 4 (02:57):

Entertain yourself, meditate, journal, read a book.

Speaker 5 (03:02):

Barf.

Speaker 4 (03:02):

Stare at a wall.

Speaker 5 (03:03):

Barf!

Speaker 4 (03:04):

Or you could finally watch Space fleet pension 5,000 with me. I'm about to watch one of the most famous episodes.

Speaker 5 (03:11):

I don't care.

Speaker 4 (03:13):

All right, if you don't like it, I'll take over weeding the green roof for a year.

Speaker 5 (03:18):

Okay. Deal.

Speaker 4 (03:20):

Yes. Welcome aboard the Star ship pension 5,000.

Speaker 5 (03:23):

Oh God. I already regret this.

Speaker 4 (03:25):

Here we go.

Speaker 3 (03:26):

Contracts, amidst the chaos one rogue financial officer will...

Speaker 4 (03:32):

Skip.

Speaker 5 (03:33):

Don't I need to hear that?.

Speaker 4 (03:34):

Okay. Pension 5,000 equals good guys, Avery is the captain she's in charge of retirement funds for the entire earth. It's pretty self-explanatory, you just need a working understanding of pension fund investment strategies.

Speaker 5 (03:53):

Okay.

Captain CalPERS (03:53):

Ashby, I need you to run a quick analysis.

ASHBY (03:54):

Yes, captain.

Captain CalPERS (03:56):

Should I hit or stay?

ASHBY (03:57):

Why are you wasting my fast analytical powers to cheat at online poker?

Captain CalPERS (04:02):

It's only cheating if you get caught.

Speaker 8 (04:04):

Incoming transmission from accountability, officer Tidwell.

Captain CalPERS (04:08):

That's great. Tell them I'm busy color coding a spreadsheet or something. They love that

ASHBY (04:12):

Actually, Captain, in accordance with the Funding, Accountability and Responsibility Transparency Act of 2024 or FARTA. I am only permitted to block an accountability officers call in an extreme emergency.

Captain CalPERS (04:26):

Fine. How do I look? Accountable?

ASHBY (04:28):

I am not equipped to assess that.

Captain CalPERS (04:32):

Put Tidwell through.

Officer Tidwell (04:34):

Captain CalPERS.

Captain CalPERS (04:35):

Tidwell.

Officer Tidwell (04:36):

Only my friends call me Tidwell. You will address me as accountability officer Tidwell.

Captain CalPERS (04:42):

I'm hoping we can become friends, Tidwell.

Officer Tidwell (04:44):

Oh really? Then maybe you can explain why you've been taking meetings with ridiculous startup founders behind my back.

Captain CalPERS (04:51):

What?, What are you talking about?

Officer Tidwell (04:52):

I'm talking about Flop Face.

Captain CalPERS (04:54):

Oh, that? We just ran into each other on the recreation feed and had a casual little chit chat.

Captain CalPERS (05:01):

Tell me more about Flop face.

Speaker 10 (05:02):

It's a social network for species that breathe through facial flaps or possibly flip flops for your face. We're still brainstorming.

Captain CalPERS (05:09):

You are blowing my mind, my fund wants in I'll shoot over an investment memo right now.

Captain CalPERS (05:15):

I can explain.

Officer Tidwell (05:16):

You initiated an investment memo without consulting your accountability officer?

Captain CalPERS (05:20):

Okay. I took one meeting, it's not a big deal.

ASHBY (05:24):

One meeting? Then explain this.

Veronica Moonhill (05:27):

It's Luna's [poons 00:05:29] for your digital tuners.

Captain CalPERS (05:30):

I love it. I'll draw up a memo.

Speaker 12 (05:34):

How do you feel about Hovercrafts?

Captain CalPERS (05:35):

Oh, I love the hovercrafts.

Speaker 13 (05:39):

Have you ever wondered why there is no flops tangles on [inaudible 00:05:42]? Well, our company thinks there should be.

Captain CalPERS (05:44):

Yes, Yes. Yes.

Captain CalPERS (05:46):

How did you get all those recordings?

Officer Tidwell (05:48):

FARTA, the Fiscal Accountability and Responsibility...

Captain CalPERS (05:51):

I know what it stands for

Officer Tidwell (05:53):

To be franc, I'm furious, the financial for validity you favor so freely as fundamentally flawlessly for...

Speaker 8 (05:59):

Privacy established

Captain CalPERS (06:01):

Ashby. I hate FARTA, transparency is the worst!. How am I supposed to get anything done with Tidwell halfway up my worm hole?

ASHBY (06:09):

Welcome to the government sector, captain. You want to be in charge of a $60 trillion fund, the beneficiaries need to see exactly how you're managing their money. Tidwell is speaking on their behalf.

Captain CalPERS (06:20):

This flirting blows.

Officer Tidwell (06:22):

You are flirting with financial free funds foolishly floating frugality in the face of Florida.

Captain CalPERS (06:27):

Please use normal language.

Officer Tidwell (06:29):

You will not invest pension 5,000 funds in any of these ridiculous schemes. The beneficiaries want safe investments with guaranteed returns.

Captain CalPERS (06:38):

Look Tidwell, I was brought onto the pension 5,000 to be bold. That's why you hired me, remember? Synergy, innovation, other impressive sounding words. I believe we can use our fund to invest in world changing opportunities and ensure retirement security. I'm not just thinking about the grannies and grandpies, and gender nonconforming grandparents of today. I'm trying to create a better world for the grannies and grandpies and gender nonconforming grandparents of tomorrow.

ASHBY (07:08):

That sounds like corporate Nebula talk to me, CalPERS. It's my duty to protect the beneficiaries from charismatic hero types like you, who are more excited about face floppers than looking after their retirement funds. You're on thin ice captain CalPERS don't think I've forgotten where you came from, a shark never changes its stripes

Captain CalPERS (07:28):

Sharks don't have stripes.

Officer Tidwell (07:30):

Tiger sharks have stripes.

ASHBY (07:33):

Captain. Your immediate attention is necessary?

Makia Martin (07:45):

We'll be back to the story in just a minute, but first let's pause and take a moment to learn about some of the concepts in this episode, again, I'm sitting with Dr. Ashby Monk, a Stanford faculty member whose work is focused on the management of some of the world's biggest investment organizations. Ashby, what exactly is a hedge fund? And why do pension funds invest in hedge funds?

Ashby Monk (08:12):

A hedge fund is a professional money manager. So they're going to take investment capital, financial capital, and they're going to find opportunities in the world to invest assets, products, services, any number of things. So they're using other people's money to buy more of an asset so that they themselves have a higher risk exposure, and they generally, in theory, make high returns because the investment theory tells us that where you take higher risk and an investment you should get paid more with higher return. And that is why pension funds, especially in the United States, tend to invest in hedge funds. They have to pay the teachers, the firemen, the policemen, their pension at some point down the road, and so the pension funds are building a diversified portfolio of investments and they will often turn to these professional money managers. We call some venture capitalist, some private equity funds, these ones are hedge funds and the pension funds look to them to drive higher performance so they can meet their long term obligations.

Makia Martin (09:26):

And what are some of the major challenges with the current hedge fund pension fund relationship that this episode is addressing?

Ashby Monk (09:34):

These are organizations that can do things that seem magical. They can generate very high investment returns in areas of the market that seem like otherwise they should be efficient, but the hedge funds bring data, they bring analytics, they bring technology into what we in the industry literally call a black box and the black box has hidden in it, the magic of making investment returns. And so when you go to figure out how much to pay the hedge funds, the hedge funds control the facts, and they're going to tell you the facts they want. And that's ultimately what we're kind of getting to in this fun episode, which is: How do we level the playing field?, How do we get the pension funds to have the resources and their own technology, in this case, Ashby the robot, not me, Ashby, to hold the hedge funds accountable and truly unravel?, what it's magic and what is true value added performance.

ASHBY (10:38):

Captain, your immediate attention is necessary?

Captain CalPERS (10:50):

I'd love to keep talking about the shark thing, Tidwell, but I got to go now. Bye.

Officer Tidwell (10:54):

Accountability officer Tid-

Speaker 8 (10:56):

In coming hostile interference.

Captain CalPERS (10:59):

What the flirt is it?

ASHBY (11:00):

You've been knocked off course, seems like some type of fiscal tractable signature unknown.

Captain CalPERS (11:06):

Pull up a visual on the hostile ship. Sweet baby space Jesus, that's a hedge fund to transport. Zoom in on the logo, flirt!

ASHBY (11:16):

Is that...?

Captain CalPERS (11:18):

Load Star management LLC, my old job.

ASHBY (11:22):

Hostiles are requesting contact. Shall I establish a video feed?

Captain CalPERS (11:26):

No. If we engage, they'll automatically consider us in negotiations and negotiating with Load Star is a bad idea.

ASHBY (11:34):

Their request is rather persistent.

Captain CalPERS (11:37):

It always is. Quick, send out a cloaked drone fleet together [intel 00:11:42] .

ASHBY (11:41):

We lost our drone fleet in last quarter's budget cuts.

Captain CalPERS (11:44):

Flirt! Can you at least get a read on their current asset catalog?

ASHBY (11:48):

I'm attempting to, but their ship is cloaked in an extremely convoluted bureaucracy field.

Captain CalPERS (11:53):

Find a loophole.

ASHBY (11:54):

I'm trying.

Captain CalPERS (11:55):

[God flament 00:11:55], government tech is useless.

ASHBY (11:58):

I take offense to that, Avery. I'm one of the most advance-

Captain CalPERS (12:05):

Ashby?

Belfort (12:06):

I'm afraid your bot assistant is in violation of protocol. I've detained its consciousness for processing in Load Star's legal department.

Captain CalPERS (12:16):

Belfort?

Belfort (12:17):

Good to see you again, Avery.

Captain CalPERS (12:19):

I see you've been climbing the corporate ladder, junior branch manager boss hard.

Belfort (12:24):

It's actually senior assets commander boss hard now.

Captain CalPERS (12:28):

Well congrats on your promotion squid head. This call is terminated, bye bitch.

Belfort (12:34):

Hello? Sorry Avery. You can't terminate the call. I've overridden your telecommunication system. How's it feel to be on the receiving end of corporate tech, Captain CalPERS?

Captain CalPERS (12:45):

Flirt you.

Belfort (12:46):

Let the negotiations begin!

Speaker 8 (12:49):

Commencing negotiations.

Belfort (12:51):

No. I do not acknowledge commencement of negotiation.

Belfort (12:54):

Nice try, Avery, but you are in breach of contract. Load Star was not pleased when you ran off with one of their prime assets to join the so-called rebellion.

Captain CalPERS (13:04):

The pension 5,000 is a free agent. We're not obligated to do business with you.

Belfort (13:09):

We'll see about that. Deploy the legal drones!

Captain CalPERS (13:14):

Ship, deploy a legal defense bubble.

Speaker 8 (13:17):

Buffering.

Belfort (13:20):

You're working for the government sector now, captain, you don't have that type of quick deployment. You should never have left the corporate Nebula.

Speaker 8 (13:32):

Foreign entities detected.

Belfort (13:35):

Now, place Load Star back in the pension 5,000 investible asset catalog where it belongs, you can't divest from us, we have guaranteed returns. Guaranteed returns are not guaranteed.

Captain CalPERS (13:47):

I know all your tricks flirt face. You are nothing but a bunch of corporate vampires.

Belfort (13:51):

That's not what your accountability officer thinks.

Belfort (13:56):

Look at these projections.

Officer Tidwell (13:58):

Projections! This will really help our stability and prudence.

Belfort (14:02):

Good talk Tidles.

Officer Tidwell (14:05):

Agreed, Belfy

Belfort (14:07):

That's right. We have cute pet names for each other, that's how much synergy we're generating.

Captain CalPERS (14:13):

Tidwell's been talking to you behind my back? Transparency my wormhole.

Belfort (14:18):

You think you're a free agent, Avery, but you work for your beneficiaries now.

Captain CalPERS (14:23):

You're sick, Belfort. Load Star is corrupted to the core. Once I tell Tidwell what's in your stuff we don't want the public to know file. They'll never agree to your terms.

Belfort (14:33):

Are you forgetting the NDA chip Load Star implanted in your skull? If you try to divulge anything from the stuff we don't want the public to know file, your head will explode.

Captain CalPERS (14:45):

Flirt you squid head.

Belfort (14:48):

Yeah. That's what I thought, party mouth. It's over. You have 30 seconds to comply before my drones begin a forced extraction of all your resources, including oxygen.

Captain CalPERS (15:02):

I...

Belfort (15:03):

Oh, and while I got you here, this one last thing. Remember that baby you gave up for adoption back at the financial training academy?

Captain CalPERS (15:12):

How do you know about that?

Belfort (15:14):

Because it was me, I'm your son Avery.

Captain CalPERS (15:19):

What?!

Belfort (15:22):

Just kidding. I've always wanted to do that. Drones, commence extraction!

Speaker 8 (15:32):

Danger, hole breach imminent.

Belfort (15:36):

Avery. There's an opening in investor relations at Load Star, hand over the pension 5,000 and maybe I'll float your name.

Captain CalPERS (15:45):

Never!

Speaker 8 (15:47):

Hole breach detected, atmosphere compromised.

Captain CalPERS (15:53):

Air... Losing air.

Belfort (15:56):

Seven figures, Avery, private space port, no more accountability officers.

Speaker 8 (16:03):

Oxygen levels critical, atmosphere failure imminent.

Captain CalPERS (16:08):

Must reach emergency oxygen suit.

Belfort (16:13):

You're one of us, Avery, a shark never changes its stripes. I'm talking about a tiger shark. Obviously.

Speaker 8 (16:21):

Total systems failure in 10...

Speaker 8 (16:22):

9

Belfort (16:22):

Come home, Avery.

Speaker 8 (16:25):

8

Captain CalPERS (16:26):

Must break glass.

Speaker 8 (16:28):

7

Speaker 8 (16:29):

6

Belfort (16:30):

I'd be your boss [inaudible 00:16:33].

Speaker 8 (16:32):

5

Speaker 8 (16:32):

4

Captain CalPERS (16:34):

I rather die.

Speaker 8 (16:35):

3, 2, 1.

Captain CalPERS (16:43):

You really flirted up this time. Belfy, you're about to be made redundant.

Belfort (16:48):

How did you get that space suit on so fast? What are you doing?

Captain CalPERS (16:54):

You can't put this baby in a corner. Engage emergency exit hatch.

Speaker 8 (16:58):

Emergency hatch, engage.

Captain CalPERS (17:02):

Let's go Ashby

Makia Martin (17:07):

Nat and Veronica, this episodes writers and directors. What spoke to both of you about the relationship between the fairly technical concept of pension funds and the swashbuckling world of space? What were the parallels you wanted to highlight?

Veronica Moonhill (17:34):

Well, we felt we needed a way to translate something that happens inside computers and tied a lot of bureaucracy into something active. We thought that having these two spaceships that were holding all this money and trying to suck it across the universe would be an exciting way to activate what was happening, and also we thought that the tools that pension funds and hedge funds seem to have mirrored some of the fantastical ways sci-fi can fight. And that, that might help us bring this down to a level that felt very exciting to an audience to engage with. And to say, in the end, let's ask the questions about what all these things mean.

Veronica Moonhill (18:19):

And the other thing that we were excited about pointing out with captain CalPERS is that she is coming from the corporate Nebula and comes over to the government sector and is very frustrated by a lot of things, but something Ashby was talking to us about is that we need the people who come from the corporate world, who understand all the mechanisms that they have at their disposal to come in to these pension funds, the sovereign funds to the grants, to use those tools, those really more muscular or just ways of thinking, because even if the government sector doesn't have the tools, they might be able to use new different tools, which is what Ashby brings in, the character of Ashby, maybe the real Ashby too, I don't know.

Nat Moonhill (19:02):

We also just wanted to do a sci-fi.

Captain CalPERS (19:16):

Ashby, wake up, we're through the bureaucracy shield, come back online. Ashby!

ASHBY (19:22):

Systems ever made. Wait, why are we in free space powerlessly cleaning to the exterior of a hostile enemy vessel?

Captain CalPERS (19:29):

I don't know, I'm improvising.

ASHBY (19:30):

Humans are insane.

Captain CalPERS (19:32):

Ashby work with me. We've got to show Load Star for the steaming pile of squid they really are. Wait, is there anything in FARTA we can use?

ASHBY (19:43):

Yes. In the federal acquisition regulation clause, 52, 2 0 4 1 0 53 1...

Captain CalPERS (19:50):

What does it say?

ASHBY (19:52):

Pension funds have the right to access a full breakdown of hedge fund budgets.

Captain CalPERS (19:56):

That's it! How do we apply that clause?

ASHBY (19:58):

I need to connect to a stuff we don't want the public to know file port and run the contents through my legal jugging translator, but I don't have access to a schematic. How are we going to find one tiny top brick port on this huge ship?

Captain CalPERS (20:11):

I used to command this huge ship, Ashby. I know that port, hold on.

ASHBY (20:17):

Working, exerting effort, struggling.

Captain CalPERS (20:26):

There it is.

ASHBY (20:28):

Docking connection initializing, incoming call from accountability officer Tidwell. Remember I am permitted to decline a call during an extreme emergency. This definitely counts as that.

Captain CalPERS (20:41):

No. Put me through

Officer Tidwell (20:43):

Captain CalPERS. I-

Officer Tidwell (20:45):

Holy scream. What the Florida is going on?

Captain CalPERS (20:47):

Tidwell. I know you talked to Load Star behind my back.

Officer Tidwell (20:51):

I would never.

Captain CalPERS (20:53):

There's no time. I need to show you something, Ashby are you ready?

ASHBY (20:57):

Confirmed. Download complete, transmitting Load Star top secret files to officer Tidwell's feed.

Captain CalPERS (21:03):

Look. It's the contents of load Star's stuff we don't want the public to no file.

Officer Tidwell (21:08):

Oh my God. I've never seen something so disgusting. They're screwing us.

Captain CalPERS (21:13):

See Tidles, Belfy never had prudence in mind. He just wanted to suck all away, all the cash he could from the pension 5,000. And yes, I did hear about your stupid pet names and I'm totally not jealous.

Officer Tidwell (21:26):

I'm going to barf.

Captain CalPERS (21:27):

Hold it.

Officer Tidwell (21:28):

I have to tell the beneficiaries.

Captain CalPERS (21:30):

Post the files to the public feed, let everyone see load Star's dirty undies.

Officer Tidwell (21:35):

Uploading now and post.

Belfort (21:38):

This is unconscionable-

Captain CalPERS (21:42):

What's happening?

Officer Tidwell (21:43):

The beneficiaries are calling to cancel all negotiations with Load Star.

Captain CalPERS (21:47):

That's right. Can you feel the heat, Belfy?

Belfort (21:50):

No. My money

Captain CalPERS (21:55):

Take that, squid head, transparency is the best.

ASHBY (22:00):

That was a quick one 80

Officer Tidwell (22:03):

I've deployed a fleet of repair drones to the pension 5,000. You better get back aboard.

Captain CalPERS (22:08):

That was quick, Tidwell.

Officer Tidwell (22:10):

Not everything in the government sector is slow. If you just know the right strings to pull.

Captain CalPERS (22:14):

Ashby, get us back to the ship before this Belfy blows.

ASHBY (22:18):

Captain

Belfort (22:18):

No, you'll pay for this CalPERS!

Captain CalPERS (22:35):

Load star more like Explode Star

Speaker 8 (22:39):

Atmosphere recalibrate. This ship is feeling fly as flirt.

Captain CalPERS (22:43):

We did it accountability officer Tidwell.

Officer Tidwell (22:46):

Call me Tidwell.

Captain CalPERS (22:48):

How about Tidles?

Officer Tidwell (22:50):

[Heart 00:22:50] no.

Captain CalPERS (22:51):

I'm going to get you to come around to it.

ASHBY (22:53):

I've completed my analysis of captain CalPERS potential investment portfolio. It seems Flop Face is projected to have large financial margins and an impressive growth rate over time.

Officer Tidwell (23:03):

So Flop Face is a prudent investment after all.

Speaker 5 (23:06):

I think this is the beginning of a beautiful synergy. Now let's talk about getting some flaps tangles [on clue tank five 00:23:11]. Did you know there's a huge flap tangles shortage?

Speaker 4 (23:17):

So?

Speaker 5 (23:20):

I admit, that was amazing! I feel like I want to call my 401k and demand full financial transparency.

Speaker 4 (23:30):

Right?

Speaker 5 (23:32):

You want to watch another one?

Speaker 4 (23:34):

Flirt yeah.

Makia Martin (23:49):

To end this episode, let's hear from our collaborators one last time. Nat and Veronica, I'm curious, had either of you ever thought about the concepts of pensions hedge fund oversight or shareholder activism before working with Ashby on this episode?

Nat Moonhill (24:09):

Well, I personally have thought about it every single day of my entire life. No we hadn't, I don't think either of us had ever thought about this subject before and it was definitely a steep learning curve for us to even have a workable enough grasp on what Ashby does and thinks about and works on in order to make this episode.

Veronica Moonhill (24:37):

We had not been looking at the world through this lens of how money moves in this really big way. And then also in one of our conversations, Ashley was talking about how out of the top 400 richest people in America, 100 of them were financial advisors, who don't make or invent anything, and also this idea of the hedge funds as being people who are creating money for the pension funds but on top of that are just skimming off the fat constantly and that's just not being questioned because what they're doing is so encased in all this language that even Nat and I were like "what?, we can't understand" but if people and all the pension fund holders got up and said, "no, what is going on?" we actually do hold power in that space.

Makia Martin (25:27):

Ashby, it sounds like we still have a way to go to get to the type of pension and investment approach that exists in this future timeline. Often in finance, it feels like things are set in stone. Can we really change how these funds operate? What can any one of us do to bring that future closer?

Ashby Monk (25:49):

You can't change how these funds operate. Harvard management company announced it would divest from fossil fuels, that was a student led initiative, which followed university of California, where I was a consultant for a long time in 2020 divesting from fossil fuels. If you are someone passionate about big problems in the world, you can target these asset owners, you follow the money from the hedge funds, through the placement agents and the consultants, all the way back to somewhere. Do you know where that place is? That's the pension funds, it's $120 trillion sitting these organizations in endowments, in foundations, in sovereign funds.

Ashby Monk (26:33):

We call them pension funds in this fun podcast, but the reality is they're the base of capitalism. And if you want capitalism to function more effectively with more equality and sustainability and resilience, you go to the base and that's what's happening at Harvard right now, for a long time, the management company said "we're not going to pay attention to these students" and the students didn't give up. And then the president of the university says "guess what? We're listening to the students, we're going to divest from fossil fuels". So there is a path here, hopefully coming out of this podcast for a whole generation of activists to go be more serious and more proactive in engaging in the asset owners that are part of their community.

Makia Martin (27:21):

Thanks for listening. I hope you enjoyed your trip into the future and can now see The Light Ahead a little more clearly, The Light Ahead is a production of Avalon: Story and Beloved Economies. Based on six years of research in collaboration with over 100 groups across the USA, the Beloved Economies campaign is sharing stories, practices, tools, and tips to expand imaginations of what is possible for our economy. Avalon's story is a center of practice spacing Ketchum, Idaho to help birth the future of story by investigating two questions. What does story need to be to build us a bridge to a more beautiful future? And what does the business of story need to be to serve as a vehicle for the same?.

Makia Martin (28:13):

The Light Ahead is a Beloved Economies and Avalon: story production made in partnership with frequency media. I'm your host Makia Martin. The Light Ahead was co-created by Naomi McDougall Jones and Jess Rimington.

Makia Martin (28:29):

It is executive produced by Naomi McDougall Jones, who is also our show runner of Avalon's story, Joanna Cea and Jess Rimington of Beloved Economies and Michelle Corey of frequency media. it is produced by Lila Yomtoob and [Heidi Roodvoets 00:28:49]. And co-produced by Lauren Ressler and Sonia Sarkar of Beloved Economies.

Makia Martin (28:54):

The fictional portion of this episode was produced by Avalon: story written and directed by Nat and Veronica Moonhill. Based on conversations with, and the ideas of Dr. Ashby Monk of the global project center at Stanford university. Featuring performances by Noel S Berkeley, Katrina Davis, Nat Moonhill, Veronica Moonhill, Matt Standley and Madeline [Wise 00:29:25]. Production coordinated by Marley Newman. Sound designed by John Flores sound mix by Rick [Schnuck 00:29:32]. And our sound intern was Alan Lindsay. The non-fiction portion of this episode was produced by frequency media, with dialogue editing by Sydney Evans and mixing by Matthew Ernest Filler. Our theme music was written and performed by Alicia Key [Hall 00:29:49] , Jeffrey Archie, and B I G patty.

Makia Martin (29:53):

This podcast is available on Spotify, Apple podcast, Google podcast, and wherever podcasts are found.