It's All The Rage!

Our Cast

IT’S ALL THE RAGE! features personal stories of everyday Americans who recognize the extreme polarization impacting our daily lives and have chosen to take action to make a difference.

Featuring

Interwoven with the personal stories are in-depth interviews with leading experts from the fields of media, politics, and social science, offering critical insights and context that help illuminate the broader forces shaping our divisions—and the paths forward.

Our Experts

Featuring

Tami Pyfer

Mother of five and grandmother of sixteen, Tami Pyfer is a high-level Utah Republican appointee and long-time member of the Tabernacle Choir who is both alarmed and motivated by the toxic outrage in politics today. Instead of turning away from the discord, she is doing something about it. With her colleaugues Tim Shriver and Tom Rosshirt, Tami co-created the Dignity Index: an eight-point scale that scores speech along a continuum from contempt to dignity. Their goal? Inside ten years, “dignity” will be seen as a winning strategy in politics and policy-making, and how we treat each other will be seen as a mark of patriotism, a measure of our well-being, and a key indicator of the future.

We will watch as Tami takes the Dignity Index into some extremely conservative republican spaces around the country with surprising results.

Mónica Guzmán

Mónica Guzmán is Senior Fellow for Public Practice at Braver Angels, a nonprofit working to depolarize America; host of A Braver Way, a podcast that equips people with the tools they need to bridge the political divide in their everyday lives; founder and CEO of Reclaim Curiosity, an organization working to build a more curious world; and author of I Never Thought of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times.

Monica and her parents, who have diametrically opposed political views, have struggled to accept each other's political beliefs and find a way to talk about them productively. Yet through her work, they’ve found meaningful ways to stay connected despite their ideological divide.

Sarah McBride

Sarah McBride served in the Delaware State Senate until January 2021, where she championed bold, family-first policies that improved government for everyday people. Her leadership style—rooted in collaboration—brought together Republicans and progressive Democrats, small business owners and workers, advocates and policy experts alike. From health care reform to paid family leave, she built coalitions to get things done.

On November 5, 2024, Sarah was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, becoming the highest-ranking openly transgender elected official in American history. As she steps onto the national stage, the question remains: can she carry her bipartisan approach into an increasingly polarized Congress?

Wilk Wilkinson

Wilk Wilkinson is a husband, a father, a Christian conservative, and a proud truck driver. He grew up poor, mostly in rural towns around the upper Midwest, and he’s been working since he was 10 years-old.

As the host of his DERATE THE HATE podcast, Wilk believes strongly that we cannot control everything that happens to us in life, or in Washington DC., but we have the absolute responsibility to control how we will react to it. Civility does not require that we force our opinions on others, demand like mindedness, or hate those with whom we disagree. Instead, we simply need to see the humanity in all people despite our differences.

Our Experts

Melody Barnes

Melody Barnes is the founding executive director of the University of Virginia’s Karsh Institute of Democracy, where she leads the Institute on an action-oriented path to realizing the promise of democracy in both principle and practice.

Amanda Ripley

Amanda Ripley is a New York Times best-selling author, a Washington Post contributor and the author of High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out, the book that has inspired this project. In the wake of the profound response from her work, Ripley, along with renowned journalist Hélène Biandudi Hofer, founded Good Conflict, an organization that, through workshops and coaching, helps its clients listen and be heard in times of profound disagreement.

David French

David French is an opinion writer for The New York Times and former attorney. He served in the U.S. Army during the Iraq War, and he's a pro-life Christian who is a registered Republican.

Eboo Patel

Eboo Patel is a civic leader, speaker, and author advancing the notion that diversity is a treasure and cooperation across our difference is the key for everybody to thrive. Recognized as “one of America’s best leaders” by U.S. News and World Report, he is the Founder and President of Interfaith America, the nation’s leading interfaith organization.

Under his leadership, Interfaith America has grown into a $20 million-per-year organization that partners with governments, universities, businesses, and civic organizations to transform faith into a bridge of cooperation rather than a barrier of division.

Eboo’s impact extends to serving on President Obama’s Inaugural Faith Council, delivering hundreds of keynote addresses, and authoring five influential books, including We Need to Build: Field Notes for Diverse Democracy. A Rhodes Scholar and Ashoka Fellow, he earned a doctorate in the sociology of religion from Oxford University.

Wendy Suzuki

Dr. Wendy A. Suzuki is the Dean of NYU’s College of Arts & Science and a Professor of Neural Science and Psychology. She trained at UC Berkeley with brain-plasticity pioneer Marion Diamond, earned her Ph.D. at UC San Diego, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the NIH. A dynamic educator and mentor, she’s known for translating cutting-edge science into real-world impact for students and the broader community.

Peter T. Coleman, Ph.D.

Dr. Peter T. Coleman is a professor of psychology and education at Columbia University and a renowned expert on constructive conflict resolution, intractable conflict and sustaining peace. Dr. Coleman has authored or edited a dozen books, well over 100 scientific articles and chapters, is the recipient of various awards, and his work has been featured in media outlets such as The New York Times, The Guardian, Haaretz, Nature, Scientific American, PBS Newshour, and Harvard Business Review. His most recent book, The Way Out: How to Overcome Toxic Polarization (2021) was released by Columbia University Press.

Donna Hicks

Dr. Donna Hicks has worked extensively on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and as a member of the third party in numerous unofficial diplomatic efforts. In addition to her work in the Middle East, she co-facilitated encounters between victims and perpetrators of the Northern Irish conflict with Archbishop Desmond Tutu. She is the author of the book, Dignity: Its Essential Role in Resolving Conflict, published by Yale University Press.

Pádraig Ó Tuama

Irish poet and theologian, Pádraig Ó Tuama’s work centers around themes of language, power, conflict and religion. He is the author of several books of poetry and prose. Ó Tuama is also the host of the popular podcast Poetry Unbound, and the author of the collection, Poetry Unbound, an expansion on the podcast that offers reflections on fifty powerful poems.

Loretta J. Ross

Loretta J. Ross is an activist, professor, and public intellectual. In her five decades in the human rights movement, she’s deprogramed white supremacists, taught convicted rapists the principles of feminism, and organized the second-largest march on Washington (surpassed only by the 2017 Women’s March). A cofounder of the National Center for Human Rights Education and the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective, her many accolades and honors include a 2022 MacArthur Fellowship and a 2024 induction into the National Women’s Hall of Fame. Today, Ross is an associate professor at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, and is the founder of LoRossta Consulting, with which she runs “Calling In” training sessions online and for organizations around the country. Learn more: www.lorettajross.com

Maury Giles

Maury Giles is the Chief Executive Officer of Braver Angels, the nation’s largest grassroots movement dedicated to renewing America’s civic culture. Maury leads a growing national effort to inspire and equip Americans to practice courageous citizenship—learning to contend without contempt, rebuild trust, and solve problems across differences. Before his appointment as CEO, Maury served as a dedicated volunteer and moderator for five years, notably leading bipartisan legislative initiatives through Braver Politics. His transition from the "field" to the executive office reflects his commitment to scaling the tools of bridge-building to every corner of the country.

Judy Woodruff

Judy Woodruff is a senior correspondent and the former anchor and managing editor of the PBS News Hour. She has covered politics and other news for five decades at NBC, CNN and PBS.

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