Dennis Carradin has been on the ground at 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, Sandy Hook, and post-Columbine for 30 years — as a trauma therapist specializing in first responders and healthcare workers. In this conversation, he shares how a single encounter at a Dunkin' Donuts after Sandy Hook became the foundation of the Trauma Survivors Foundation: a national network now spanning 41 states, 2,800 trained therapists, and crisis care for over 5,000 first responders.

In this conversation, you'll learn:

✅ Why less than 500 of 225,000 licensed U.S. therapists specialize in first responders — and what TSF is doing about it
✅ How Dennis built a lean nonprofit that delivered 500,000 meals during COVID while keeping 128 restaurants from closing
✅ What nonprofit leaders must do right now as donations drop 27–35% across the board
✅ How TSF handles 2 AM crisis calls with a small team — and where the gaps still are
✅ What Dennis says directly to first responders who've been white-knuckling it alone

This episode is essential for nonprofit executives, healthcare leaders, and HR/People Ops professionals navigating funding pressure, team burnout, and the challenge of sustaining mission work in a leaner landscape.

👤 ABOUT DENNIS CARRADIN:
Dennis Carradin is a trauma therapist with 30 years of experience specializing in first responders, healthcare workers, and mass casualty events. He has responded to 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, Sandy Hook, post-Columbine, and disasters worldwide. He is the President and founder of the Trauma Survivors Foundation and serves as Clinical Director for Delaware's CSIM team.

🌐 Trauma Survivors Foundation: https://www.traumasurvivorsfoundation.org
🌐 Dennis's Website: https://www.denniscarradin.com

🎙️ ABOUT HART & HUSTLE:
Hart & Hustle brings you weekly conversations with mission-driven leaders solving real problems in healthcare, education, and community services. Every Tuesday, hosts Keenan Hart and Efrain sit down with nonprofit executives, operations directors, and innovators to uncover practical strategies you can implement in your organization.

Subscribe for weekly insights on nonprofit leadership, operations, and scaling mission impact.

🔗 CONNECT WITH US:
- FRANSiS™ Website: https://fransis.ai
- FRANSiS on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/fromfransis

Dianna Huddleston, VP of Community Partnerships at Aspire Indiana Health, breaks down how their organization serves 40,000 clients across 8 clinics—offering primary care, behavioral health, pharmacy, housing, and employment services all under one roof.

In this conversation, you'll learn:
✅ How Aspire's "no wrong door" same-day access model works in practice
✅ Why they opened pharmacies inside their clinics—and what changed for patients
✅ How they grew from 300 to 950 staff while navigating federal funding cuts
✅ What whole-person care actually looks like for underserved communities
✅ How leaders stay grounded when external pressure is at its highest

This episode is perfect for nonprofit executives and healthcare leaders looking to build more integrated, sustainable service models without turning anyone away.

👤 ABOUT DIANNA HUDDLESTON:
Dianna Huddleston is a licensed clinical social worker and VP of Community Partnerships at Aspire Indiana Health, where she has served for 12 years. A self-described "clinically trained unicorn," Dianna bridges the gap between frontline care and business leadership—connecting community partners to Aspire's integrated model and amplifying voices that often go unheard.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianna-huddleston
Aspire Indiana Health Website: https://aspireindiana.org

🎙️ ABOUT HART & HUSTLE:
Hart & Hustle brings you weekly conversations with mission-driven leaders solving real problems in healthcare, education, and community services. Every Tuesday, hosts Keenan Hart and Efrain sit down with nonprofit executives, operations directors, and innovators to uncover practical strategies you can implement in your organization.

Subscribe for weekly insights on nonprofit leadership, operations, and scaling mission impact.

🔗 CONNECT WITH US:
- FRANSiS™ Website: https://fransis.ai
- FRANSiS™ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fromfransis

Stephanie Vranich, VP of Outreach & Development at Volunteers of America Florida, breaks down how a $30M nonprofit serving 5,000+ Floridians each year raises funds, tells impact stories that actually move donors, and navigates the uncertainty of federal funding cuts—without losing momentum.

In this conversation, you'll learn:

✅ Why direct mail still drives donations (and how to make it impossible to ignore)
✅ The impact story framework that converts skeptical donors into loyal supporters
✅ How VOA Florida is diversifying revenue as federal grants grow more uncertain
✅ What "no money, no mission" really means—and why it changes how you lead
✅ How to build a fundraising culture when you're a team of three covering 60+ programs

This episode is perfect for nonprofit executive directors, development officers, and mission-driven leaders trying to sustain and grow their organizations during an uncertain funding environment.

👤 ABOUT STEPHANIE VRANICH:

Stephanie Vranich is the VP of Outreach & Development at Volunteers of America Florida, where she built the organization's outreach and development department from the ground up over 12 years. She oversees fundraising, marketing, and donor relations for a $30M organization serving thousands of Floridians experiencing homelessness, housing instability, and mental health challenges.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-vranich-9531623/
VOA Florida Website: https://www.voaflorida.org

🔗 Connect with October:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/october

🏥 Central Health: centralhealth.net
Community Care Clinic: communitycare.texas.org

October Ambrose went from certified nursing assistant to System VP of People Partnerships & Engagement at Central Health — the Travis County Hospital District serving uninsured and underinsured residents across Central Texas. In this conversation, she breaks down how authentic leadership, mentorship, and smart technology adoption are reshaping how mission-driven healthcare organizations build and retain their teams.

You'll learn:
✅ How AI transcription tools are giving healthcare providers more direct patient interaction — and what that means for your care team
✅ Why authenticity is October's #1 leadership value and how she instills it across a large health system
✅ How she navigated imposter syndrome as a Black woman in corporate healthcare — and when she finally "shifted back"
✅ Her mentorship model for developing the next generation of healthcare leaders
✅ Career advice for women of color stepping into rooms they weren't expected to occupy

This episode is perfect for nonprofit HR directors, healthcare operations leaders, and mission-driven executives who want to build cultures where people stay, grow, and lead.

Najla Wortham started at Rock Creek Foundation in 2007 as an employment consultant — boots on the ground, carving out jobs for individuals with disabilities. Eighteen years later, she's the President and CEO, making her the first African American woman to lead the organization in its 52-year history.

In this conversation, Najla breaks down exactly how Rock Creek builds leaders from within, how she navigated imposter syndrome at the executive level, and what her sustainability strategy looks like as federal Medicaid funding comes under pressure in 2026.

✅ Why "growing your own leaders" is Rock Creek's #1 cultural differentiator
✅ How to overcome imposter syndrome as a leader of color in nonprofit spaces
✅ Najla's 2026 strategy for reducing reliance on federal and state funding
✅ What it means to lead with vulnerability, transparency, and "fail forward" thinking
✅ Why the smartest person at the table is a warning sign, not an asset

This episode is essential for nonprofit Executive Directors and HR leaders building succession plans, navigating funding uncertainty, or leading organizations through culture change.

Chrystina Russell flew from Burundi to tell us what nonprofit leaders need to hear right now: how Village Health Works absorbed a $1.4 million USAID funding gap — and didn't blink.

In this conversation, you'll learn:
✅ How mission-driven organizations survive sudden federal funding cuts
✅ Why love alone isn't enough — you need love AND skill to serve vulnerable communities
✅ What leading from a resource-scarce environment teaches you about systems thinking
✅ The leadership philosophy behind a 20-year organization serving 200,000+ people

This episode is perfect for Executive Directors, nonprofit CEOs, and program leaders navigating funding uncertainty, staff burnout, and the pressure to do more with less.


📊 KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- The system is often the problem — not the people in it. Whether it's teacher burnout or nonprofit funding gaps, individual effort can't outrun broken structures.

- Love is necessary, but not sufficient. Serving vulnerable communities requires pairing genuine care with real, technical skill.

- Village Health Works serves 200,000+ people across 19 communities with 200 community health workers — and absorbed a $1.4M USAID gap without abandoning its mission.

- When peanut paste shipments stopped overnight, the team pivoted to growing their own — turning a crisis into community economic empowerment.

- Rest is resistance. Chrystina shares how Tricia Hersey's framework reshaped her leadership approach to sustainability.

👤 ABOUT CHRYSTINA RUSSELL:
Chrystina Russell is the Chief Strategy and Development Officer at Village Health Works, a 20-year-old community health organization in Burundi, East Africa. She began her career as a bilingual special education teacher in the Bronx, spent a decade as a teacher and principal in East Harlem, and transitioned into international development after building a track record of results in education innovation. She now leads fundraising and strategic development for an organization running a 200-bed hospital, secondary and primary schools, and community economic empowerment programs serving 200,000+ people.

🎙️ ABOUT HART & HUSTLE:
Hart & Hustle brings you weekly conversations with mission-driven leaders solving real problems in healthcare, education, and community services. Every Tuesday, hosts Keenan Hart and Efrain sit down with nonprofit executives, operations directors, and innovators to uncover practical strategies you can implement in your organization.

Josh Goldberg, CEO of Boulder Crest Foundation, shares his journey from corporate executive to suicidal crisis to leading an organization that served 43,000 people last year through post-traumatic growth programs.

In this raw conversation, you'll learn:
✅ The exact moment Josh realized he'd built "a false existence" despite external success
✅ How helping others became the path out of his own suicidal ideation
✅ The three-year wilderness period between crisis and clarity—and what he learned
✅ How Boulder Crest grew from serving 700 to 43,000 people annually without losing culture
✅ Why "unfuck yourself" became the turning point for sustainable service
✅ Scaling nonprofit impact from 35 to 86 staff while maintaining mission-driven culture

This episode is perfect for nonprofit leaders, executive directors, and mission-driven professionals navigating burnout, organizational growth, or questioning their own career path.

📊 KEY TAKEAWAYS:

- Scale without sacrifice: Boulder Crest grew from 700 to 43,000 people served annually while maintaining tight-knit culture through intentional PKC3 values (Passionate, Kind, Competence, Curiosity, Courage)

- The "unfuck yourself" principle: Sustainable service requires self-care first—Josh's daily routine of meditation, gratitude, and movement enables him to show up for 86 staff and 43,000 clients

- Post-traumatic growth over PTSD: Boulder Crest shifted the paradigm from pathologizing struggle to finding meaning in it, inspired by Viktor Frankl's "Man's Search for Meaning"

- Service as self-rescue: Josh's path out of suicidal crisis came through helping veteran families—proving that purpose can be found by stepping outside your own suffering

- The three-year rule: Major life pivots take 3 months to 3 years (Josh's mentor predicted this timeline with eerie accuracy)

- "Be a pilot light, not a firecracker": Civil rights leader John Lewis's wisdom on sustainable activism applies to nonprofit leadership—daily practices prevent burnout

👤 ABOUT JOSH GOLDBERG:

Josh Goldberg is the CEO of Boulder Crest Foundation, a nonprofit serving military veterans, first responders, and their families through post-traumatic growth programs. After a successful corporate career that left him in existential crisis, Josh pivoted to nonprofit leadership in 2014. Under his leadership, Boulder Crest has grown to operate four retreat centers (Virginia, Arizona, Texas, Wyoming) and serves over 43,000 people annually. Josh's personal journey from suicidal ideation to leading large-scale mission impact makes him a powerful voice on mental health, sustainable leadership, and organizational culture in the nonprofit sector.

Josh's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jmgoldberg55/
Boulder Crest Foundation: https://www.bouldercrest.org

What happens when a clinical mental health professional trades direct patient care for executive leadership—and discovers she can make an even bigger impact? In this powerful conversation, Caitlin Summers-Motta, VP of Business Development at First Children's Services, reveals the raw truth about mission-driven leadership in behavioral health.

In This Episode:

• Why waking up at 5:30 AM became Caitlin's secret weapon for maintaining balance between three kids and leading organizational growth
• The unexpected journey from clinical mental health counselor to executive strategist—and the imposter syndrome that came with it
• How COVID-19 changed the conversation around mental health (and why we still have work to do)
• The adoption story that transformed how Caitlin approaches family services
• Why she tells parents: "Put your oxygen mask on first" isn't just airplane advice—it's survival
• The truth about burnout in behavioral health that nobody talks about in job interviews
• How First Children's Services is tackling New Jersey's massive waitlists with innovative programs like "Bridge" for students with Level 2-3 autism

Key Insights: ✅ The mental health workforce crisis: Why talented professionals are leaving the field—and what organizations can do to stop the exodus ✅ Seasonal Affective Disorder is real: How weather impacts mental health and why it's okay to say "today's not a good day" ✅ The power of saying "I'm not okay": Breaking down the walls that keep people from asking for help ✅ AI in behavioral health: When ChatGPT can help—and when you absolutely need a human professional ✅ Collaboration over competition: Why behavioral health organizations need to work together, not against each other

Perfect For: Nonprofit leaders, behavioral health professionals, parents navigating special needs services, anyone interested in mission-driven innovation, and leaders struggling with imposter syndrome.

Guest Bio: Caitlin Summers-Motta is the VP of Business Development at First Children's Services, where she's spent nearly 10 years building programs that serve youth and families across New Jersey and Pennsylvania. From autism clinics to school refusal programs, Caitlin bridges the gap between clinical excellence and strategic growth—proving you can be both a mission-driven professional and an exceptional parent.

🎧 Subscribe to Hart & Hustle for more conversations with mission-based leaders who are transforming how nonprofits and healthcare organizations serve their communities.

Topics: #BehavioralHealth #MentalHealth #NonprofitLeadership #AutismServices #MissionDriven #WorkLifeBalance #ImposterSyndrome #PediatricCare #NewJersey #ExecutiveLeadership

Episode Length: ~45 minutes

Hart & Hustle is hosted by Efrain Lozada and explores the intersection of leadership, innovation, and human-centered technology in mission-based organizations.