How We Build This

How We Build This
Podcast Description
How We Build This is a podcast how we can take action in a time of rising authoritarianism and shrinking rights. Hosted by longtime climate and movement leader, May Boeve, each episode finds May in conversation with with organizers, activists, and changemakers as they try to make sense of how movements are born, and how they grow, and what we can do right now.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast explores themes of social justice, activism, and the dynamics of organizing in a time of authoritarianism, with specific episode topics such as the origins of Black Lives Matter, the impact of the Ferguson uprising, and the role of personal experiences in shaping movements. Each episode includes discussions on building power for marginalized communities and navigating political landscapes.

How We Build This is a podcast how we can take action in a time of rising authoritarianism and shrinking rights. Hosted by longtime climate and movement leader, May Boeve, each episode finds May in conversation with with organizers, activists, and changemakers as they try to make sense of how movements are born, and how they grow, and what we can do right now.
In this debut episode of How We Build This, host May Boeve is joined by Alicia Garza—co-creator of Black Lives Matter and one of the most influential movement architects of our time. Together, they talk about the origin stories behind BLM, what it really means to build people power, and the personal and political moments that shaped the movement. Alicia also shares unexpected reflections, from imagining a dream job naming nail polish with Rihanna, to unpacking the 2024 election. It’s a raw, hopeful, and necessary conversation about how movements rise, fall, evolve—and persist.
To dig deeper on topics discussed in this episode:
Alicia Garza’s book: The Purpose of Power
About “I believe Anita Hill”
About the Ferguson uprising
Heather McGhee’s book, The Sum of Us
How We Build This is created and hosted by May Boeve
Producer: Phil Surkis
Theme music: ‘Within’, composed by Ruthie Dineen, and performed by Negative Press Project.
Instagram & Bluesky: @hwbtpod
can find us on Instagram and Bluesky at HWBT Pod, and on Linked in and Substack at How We Build this Pod.
Thank YOU for taking the time to tune in and helping build the movement!

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