Episodes

Sid Mofya , capital architect & band leader, has built a career helping founders, investors, and business leaders bridge capital and opportunity. For years, he led the Draper Venture Network, a 2.5-billion-dollar global allia...

Dr. Janine Lee is an award-winning Learning and Development Leader with 20 years of experience at Fortune 500 companies. In her business life, she focuses on organizational effectiveness, strategy and operations, digital tran...

Jessica speaks with Dr. Bree Rosenblum , Professor of Global Change Biology & Ampersand Cultivator. Bree is the Koshland Distinguished Chair for Innovative Teaching and Research at UC Berkeley, and her work has been featured ...

Jessica speaks with Emily J. Smith , a writer and tech professional based in Brooklyn, New York. Her debut novel, NOTHING SERIOUS, published by William Morrow (HarperCollins), is out now wherever you buy books. Emily studied ...

What happens when you refuse to choose just one path? On The Ampersand Manifesto, host Jessica Wan – executive coach & classical singer – sits down with “the most interesting people at the dinner party” – those who have made ...

Episode description : In our final episode of Season 3, Jessica speaks with Josh Willis, actor, improviser, filmmaker and occasional Elvis impersonator. Known to his friends and fans as Climate Elvis , he also has a secret id...

Jessica speaks with Susan Lieu , Vietnamese-American author, playwright, and performer. She's the creator of her theatrical solo show "140 LBS: How Beauty Killed My Mother," which received critical acclaim from LA Times, NPR,...

This week, Jessica talks with Stephen Kohler , leadership coach & singer-songwriter. Stephen is the Founder & CEO of Audira, where he brings a passion for people along with 25 years of extensive business experience within org...

Jessica interviews Christina Wallace , Storyteller & Entrepreneur. A self-described “human Venn diagram”, Christina has crafted a career at the intersection of business, technology, and the arts. She is currently a Senior Lec...

This week, Jessica talks with Jason Park : trumpeter, arts administrator, & chef. Jason has spent over 20 years working as a chef while also performing and teaching the trumpet. If you are in the classical music scene in the ...

This week, Jessica talks with Nieka Mamczak , Fitness Instructor, Nutrition Coach, & Sales Enablement Leader for tech companies. A lifelong athlete, she started playing soccer as an elementary school kid and played both socce...

This week, Jessica talks with Vidya Srinivasan – Product Leader, Speaker, D&I advocate, and Singer. Vidya works as a Principal Product Manager on the Trust & Safety team for Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram. Prior to that, ...

This week, Jessica talks with Don Seaver , psychiatrist & composer/songwriter. Don worked as a Medical Director for the San Francisco County Jail for 30 years, and he currently practices psychiatry with Kaiser Oakland. As a c...

With the Summer Olympics top of mind, Jessica talked with Christina Klinepeter – business executive, mom, and former athlete on Team USA for Karate. She trained for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics after a childhood spent in competiti...

Welcome back Dominic Lim, author, singer, and storyteller, to the show! We first talked to Dom back in Fall 2022, when he'd signed his two-book deal. We caught up with him again last summer when his debut novel All the Right ...

This week, Jessica welcomes guest Craig Perry, Recovery Advocate, Guitarist, & Firefighter . Craig earned his Masters of Music in Classical Guitar Performance from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He's described as a ...

Jessica speaks with Jenny Qi, poet, writer, & scientist . She is the author of Focal Point , winner of the 2020 Steel Toe Books Poetry Award. A freelance writer, her essays and poems have appeared in The New York Times, The A...

Jessica speaks with Scott Snibbe, new media artist, entrepreneur & meditation teacher . He is the author of the book How to Train a Happy Mind , and host of the Skeptic’s Path to Enlightenment podcast . Scott's interactive ar...

Jessica speaks with Pamela Mendoza Brasunas, People Ops Leader for early stage startups & Birth Doula . As a startup leader, Pamela creates and nurtures company culture for startups with an ambitious mission. She currently se...

Jessica speaks with Charles Chen, jazz pianist & software engineer & magician . Charles has performed in top venues such as Yoshi's and the San Jose Jazz Festival, and he won first place at the 2019 Jazz Search West competiti...

Jessica speaks with Dr. Maya Ackerman, a world-renowned researcher in generative AI and CEO & co-founder of WaveAI . A pioneer in the artificial intelligence field, Maya has been researching generative AI models for text, mus...

Jessica speaks with UC Berkeley Chancellor Rich Lyons, education leader & musician . At Cal, he has served as the Chief Innovation and Entrepreneurship Officer, and he was previously the dean of the Haas School of Business, w...

What fuels a multi-passionate life? In Season 3 of The Ampersand Manifesto, Jessica Wan, executive coach & classical singer , interviews people who, similarly, have led "dual lives" for decades and succeed in two or more comp...

Dominic Lim is back on the show this week! Dom is an author, singer, & storyteller . His debut novel All the Right Notes was named by Entertainment Weekly as one of the best new books of the summer. Dom is a member of the Wri...