(Podcast) Balancing Professional and Personal

By Gavin Leonard and Matt Ryan, February 9, 2009

• Comment Now
• Email
• Print
• Reprints
• Share

When We’re Not Working Episode 11: Two young Rust Belt organizers share tips on balancing professional and personal commitments.

Click To Play

Finding balance – is it a sign of maturity or selling out? Matt and Gavin talk about how they've grown over the years, what they use as their balance barometers, and indulge in a "time capsule" for their future selves.

In addition to Wiretap, get all future "When We're Not Working" podcasts and learn more about Matt and Gavin, at our blog -- http://whenwerenotworking.wordpress.com -- and please email us at whenwerenotworking@gmail.com. What topic should we cover? Whom should we invite as our guest? Your feedback would be greatly appreciated!

Gavin Leonard (left) is the State Director for Ohio's Center for Progressive Leadership, based in Cincinnati. He is a co-founder, current board member and former executive director of Elementz - a local hip hop-based youth center. Gavin is a frequent contributor to WireTap, and he serves on the boards of the League of Young Voters, Wiretap Magazine, and the All-Ages Movement Project.

Matt Ryan (right) is the Cincinnati City Director of the Service Employees International Union Local 3. After organizing with SEIU in Chicago and Pittsburgh, he lead a successful three-year Justice for Janitors campaign in Cincinnati. The organizing drive secured living wages and healthcare for the first time for over 1,500 office cleaners. Matt grew up in St. Louis, Missouri and graduated from Grinnell College. Currently, he is an executive board member of the Cincinnati Central Labor Council and Hamilton County Democratic Party.