Healing Ecosystems — Denise M. Stilley's Activist Journey to Discover Our Shared Humanity and a Sustainable Way Forward

In this Inspirational People interview on the Share Life podcast, I'm speaking with Denise Marie Stilley! 

This is a unique interview because Denise and I met in high school in a TV tech class, where we produced a daily news show for the school called Eagle Eye News. Since then, we have not stayed in touch, but recently, I shared some footage from our class all those years ago, and we reconnected. After looking through Denise's social media profiles, I was impressed with the places she's been and the journey she trekked, so I invited her to share her story with us.

Enjoy the conversation below!

Discussion Highlights

• How storytelling and communications found Denise early in her life
• Denise's early trek into humanitarian work in Mexico, and the challenges she faced in the region
• Building trust with indigenous communities
• The cost and risk of a life of poverty
• Telling the story that should be told versus a story that is monetized and exploitative
• Purpose-driven creative work and speaking for those who cannot speak for themselves
• The connection between humanity and civilization in nature - and how Denise almost lost her life in the Amazon rainforest
• Extractivist and exploitative industries
• How our stewardship of the environment speaks to the character of the humanity that lives in it
• Facing and overcoming the dark underbelly of society - getting caught up in the message and losing the horror feeling
• Learning to survive the tragic reality of life and having a community of shared values
• The challenges of censorship in China
• The contrast between filming in a highly controlled environment versus filming in nature
• How the environmental conservation movement is riddled with archaic and unhelpful approaches
• The problem with save the planet messaging
• When does activism go too far?
• Donors enabling worldwide corruption
• Grievance and whistleblower mechanisms
• How the exposure of corruption in the conservation mission helped Denise pivot her approach and future into a more sustainable way forward
• Ways we can tell authentic stories without harming those involved
• How foundational systems undergird the types of things we want to see in society
• Awareness of our limitations and enforcing boundaries
• How taking breaks helps us do better work and prevents self-exploitation
• Mutual exploration in the hiring process
• Sheep and wolves - learning lessons from touching the hot stove
• Taking ownership of the change we seek
• What Denise would tell her 17-year-old self
• Test and hold onto what is good