"Each of us has much more to offer than the worst thing we’ve done," says Alexander McLean, an activist and attorney who has been working in prisons since he was 18. McLean, founder of the African Prisons Project, shares the inspiring story of a former prisoner named Susan and gives his Brief but Spectacular take on the power of law in the hands of the poor.

Growing up, Georgina Kleege hated Helen Keller; she saw the famous author and activist as a reproach to her own experience as a young blind woman. But she found a new way to relate to Keller later on, writing her a book of letters. Kleege, a lecturer at University of California, Berkeley, offers her Brief but Spectacular take on blindness.

Women are routinely asked and expected to modify how they speak in order to not come across as too direct or harsh, says journalist Ann Friedman. But in pursuing her life’s work, she’s found greater confidence in her professional voice, and that her personal interests resonate with the female followers of the podcast she co-hosts with her best friend.

TV great Dick Cavett credits comedian Jack Paar with providing his talk-show hosting philosophy: Make it a conversation. Cavett offers his Brief but Spectacular take on his career.