This special bonus episode of SP/FS features Troy University professor Michael Slobodchikoff, an expert on US-Russia relations. He pays particular attention to Russia's soft power efforts. In this fascinating conversation, he shares the history and distinct differences between US and Russian soft power. Our conversation goes from the Soviet Union to the modern day, and how Russia's most significant achievement may actually be the US pressing pause on its own soft power efforts. (Updated to include the implications of the US war in Iran.)

SoftPower/FulStories uses first-person stories to explore why U.S. engagement in the world matters. Through conversations with diplomats, aid workers, Peace Corps volunteers, authors and artists, influencers, businesspeople, and more, SP/FS highlights how soft power and foreign aid and assistance strengthen America's security, prosperity, and global standing.

Raised in a Ghanian-American family, Katherine Ntihmoah's parents instilled within her the idea that her only limits would be self-imposed. She took that to heart and has been expanding her limits throughout her life--with Americorps, the U.S. State Department as a diplomat, and now at Indiana University's prestigious Hamilton-Lugar School of Global and International Studies, where she seeks to break down the limitations of the next generation of global leaders.

"Powerful Stories" is the Minnesota offshoot of SoftPower/FulStories, which uses first-person stories to explore why U.S. engagement in the world matters. Through conversations with diplomats, aid workers, Peace Corps volunteers, authors and artists, influencers, businesspeople, and more, SP/FS highlights how soft power and foreign aid and assistance strengthen America's security, prosperity, and global standing.

"No human is more human than another human" -General Romeo Dallaire.

John Berry's long overseas career, spanning the Peace Corps, USAID, and the United Nations, took him to nearly 100 countries, with positive benefits for countless people. But there's one country that looms over all the others. The one with the people he couldn't save. And the real ghosts of Rwanda follow him to this day.

SoftPower/FulStories uses first-person stories to explore why U.S. engagement in the world matters. Through conversations with diplomats, aid workers, Peace Corps volunteers, authors and artists, influencers, businesspeople, and more, SP/FS highlights how soft power and foreign aid and assistance strengthen America's security, prosperity, and global standing.

"Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced." - James Baldwin

Ka Vang was born in Laos and raised in Minnesota, in a world shaped by memory, migration, and the quiet weight of what is carried across generations. As a Hmong-American storyteller and journalist, she exposes her culture and her experiences so they may be seen. It is telling, then, that the current situation in Minnesota finds her hoping to become invisible, at least to those sowing hatred and chaos in the streets.

"Powerful Stories" is the Minnesota offshoot of SoftPower/FulStories, which uses first-person stories to explore why U.S. engagement in the world matters. Through conversations with diplomats, aid workers, Peace Corps volunteers, authors and artists, influencers, businesspeople, and more, SP/FS highlights how soft power and foreign aid and assistance strengthen America's security, prosperity, and global standing.

Less than 24 hours after he graduated from college, Paul Barker was on a plane, en route to Iran, where he would spend the next five years as a Peace Corps volunteer, immersed in Iranian culture and history. And though he followed that with three decades of international work, he remained--remains!--in the thrall of Iran. And he understands, more so than almost anyone, the scope of the cataclysm unfolding there. (Recorded on March 12, 2026.)

SoftPower/FulStories uses first-person stories to explore why U.S. engagement in the world matters. Through conversations with diplomats, aid workers, Peace Corps volunteers, authors and artists, influencers, businesspeople, and more, SP/FS highlights how soft power and foreign aid and assistance strengthen America's security, prosperity, and global standing.

John Dinkelman--or "Dink" as he is known to countless current and former U.S. Foreign Service Officers--is something of a legend. He spent nearly four decades serving his country as a diplomat--and now he serves those same diplomats as the President of the American Foreign Service Association (or AFSA). And, if there's a more caring and compassionate steward, I have not yet met them.

In difficult times, true leadership is priceless.

SoftPower/FulStories uses first-person stories to explore why U.S. engagement in the world matters. Through conversations with diplomats, aid workers, Peace Corps volunteers, authors and artists, influencers, businesspeople, and more, SP/FS highlights how soft power and foreign aid and assistance strengthen America's security, prosperity, and global standing.

As a child, growing up in South Minneapolis, Medaria Arradondo--or, "Rondo"-- was aware that the adults in his neighborhood were watching. They had the kids' backs, but their expectations were very high. Flash forward. After more than three decades with the Minneapolis Police Department, including as its Chief during the tumultuous period following the murder of George Floyd, Rondo's perspective has shifted in a subtle but powerful way. What motivates him now is that our children are watching. And, in order to do the right thing when it matters most, the seeds must be planted now.

"Powerful Stories" is the Minnesota offshoot of SoftPower/FulStories, which uses first-person stories to explore why U.S. engagement in the world matters. Through conversations with diplomats, aid workers, Peace Corps volunteers, authors and artists, influencers, businesspeople, and more, SP/FS highlights how soft power and foreign aid and assistance strengthen America's security, prosperity, and global standing.

Claire St. Amant left her beloved Texas to serve as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ukraine, halfway across the world. When she was finished, she was ready to return to Texas. But what she learned in between--in the classroom of the Peace Corps--were the skills that propelled her success as a reporter, then a producer on the television show 48 Hours, then as a podcast host and producer for Final Days on Earth (a true crime program that has us hooked), and now as an author. This week: From Texas to Tysmenytsya and back to Texas.

SoftPower/FulStories uses first-person stories to explore why U.S. engagement in the world matters. Through conversations with diplomats, aid workers, Peace Corps volunteers, authors and artists, influencers, businesspeople, and more, SP/FS highlights how soft power and foreign aid and assistance strengthen America's security, prosperity, and global standing.