In this conversation, we go deep with Crystal Street — Naropa Institute graduate, journalist, photographer, and bridge-builder between the frontline of crypto and the ethics we desperately need in tech. From whistleblowing in corporate Web2 to building decentralized communities in Web3, Crystal brings lived experience, clarity, and a healthy dose of "enough is enough" to our exploration of how technology can serve people, not extract from them.

We talk endings and beginnings:

• Ending: extractive systems that consume our time, attention, and sovereignty.
• Beginning: a return to open, transparent, community-led tech — the promise of Web1 reborn through Web3.

Along the way, we dig into:

• Why Web2's top-down hierarchies break inside blockchain's organic ecosystems.
• Hyperlocal currencies and cooperative governance as lifelines when old systems fail.
• Smart contracts — why lawyers side-eye them, and when they're worth fighting for.
• How DAOs like JournalDAO are reimagining journalism from the "basement of the casino."
• What voting on-chain could mean for real democracy.
• The quiet crisis of Gen X in the job market, and why bridges between generations matter now more than ever.

Crystal also shares a raw look at the current labor reality — the silent suffering behind the job hunt, the collapse of safety nets, and why reinvention is both a necessity and a skill set we cannot afford to lose.

This episode is for anyone who:

• Wants to understand Web3 without the crypto bro haze.
• Feels the strain of extractive work systems.
• Wonder how local communities can take back power from centralized platforms.
• Believes transparency and participation should be baked into the systems that shape our lives.

Find Crystal:

Twitter/X: @CrystalDStreet

Podcast: The Human Layer

Brought to you by:

• Humma — Empathetic AI™ made by and for the community.
• Bast.ai — Building the trust layer for our AI infrastructure.

Listen, subscribe, share — your support keeps these conversations going.

Welcome back to And We Feel Fine—the radically honest podcast about what’s ending, what’s beginning, and how we build systems of care, not conquest.

In this episode, co-hosts Beth Rudden and Katie Smith flip the script on self-care—from something commodified and individual to something collective, powerful, and deeply structural.

We unpack why real rest is not separate from leadership—it's at the heart of it. From neurodivergent rhythms to exit strategies for grind culture, we explore what it looks like to plan your breakdown, build rituals instead of routines, and stop treating exhaustion like proof of worth.

This one’s for anyone who’s held it all together for too long—and is ready to build something better.

🔍 Topics We Cover:

• Why “always on” leadership is a dead end
• How neurodivergent and queer folks model new ways to rest and reset
• What the engagement economy steals from us (and how we reclaim it)
• The link between self-care, collective care, and actual system change
• Stories of dance parties, breakdowns, and radical boundary-setting

🕰️ Timestamps:

00:00 – When leaders need to fall apart (and why that’s healthy)

05:00 – Neurodivergence, burnout, and boundaries at work

13:00 – “Always on” tech and the addiction economy

20:00 – Redesigning the workplace for psychological safety

32:30 – Building culture with rest, rituals, and care at the center

💥 Sponsors:

⁠Bast.ai⁠ — Explainable, transparent AI that keeps your data yours.
⁠Humma.AI⁠— Empathetic AI™ that starts with consent builds with community and delivers cultural relevance at scale.

🗣️ Join the conversation:

✔️ Subscribe for more radically honest talk on society, culture, technology and AI

💬 How do you build in breaks, joy, or boundaries? Tell us in the comments

❤️ Like if you’re ready for a new model of leadership

🔔 Hit the bell so you never miss a new episode

📬 Want deeper dives and behind-the-scenes posts?⁠ andwefeelfine.substack.com

Welcome back to And We Feel Fine, where each week we ask what’s ending, what’s beginning—and what it means to build with care.

In this episode, Katie Smith and Beth Rudden sit down with Pacific tech leader Julia Pahina for a radically honest conversation about the intersections of technology, culture, and systems change.

We talk:

• Why ancestral wisdom and relational intelligence belong in AI
• How to name capitalism and white supremacy in tech spaces
• What it means to “walk out” of harmful systems and create new ones
• The invisible labor of systems change—and the trust it requires
• Data sovereignty, trauma-informed design, and the power of community-led innovation

Julia shares her journey from surviving deep trauma to building systems change across Aotearoa and beyond—explaining why digital futures need care, not conquest.

📍 Follow Julia @lifeofjuliapahina

🔗 Learn more at Wolfe and Fibre Fale

This episode is brought to you by:

🧠 Bast.ai — for trusted, explainable AI

💬 Humma.AI — building Empathetic AI™ rooted in consent and community

🎤 About the Hosts

Beth Rudden (she/her) is the CEO of Bast.ai, a global data scientist and expert in trustworthy, explainable AI rooted in anthropology and care.

Katie Smith (they/them) is the CEO of Humma.AI, a privacy-first AI company that redefines technology through empathy and consent.

👍 Like, comment, and subscribe.

💬 What systems are you walking away from—and what are you building in their place?