Living as a trans person in America comes with its share of challenges, which are sometimes even life-threatening. But some say it can also open up access to incredible freedom. What lessons can we all learn from people who’ve transitioned and transformed? Alok Vaid-Menon is a comedian and writer with remarkable patience and compassion for everyone and their inner journey – even the people sending them hate and death threats. “I am trying to look in their face and say ‘I want you to live,’” they say in a documentary short about them titled “Alok.” Artist and filmmaker Alex Hedison got to know Alok while directing the film, which she took to the Sundance Film Festival. The two reunite on stage at the 2024 Aspen Ideas Festival for a conversation about confronting our fears and defying the boxes we find ourselves in.

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The rapid development of the Covid-19 vaccine and the ramp-up of manufacturing and global distribution were unprecedented feats of medical coordination. But those on the inside say it could have gone even smoother and faster, and if we implement the lessons learned we’ll be in much better shape if another pandemic hits. Unfortunately, most global leaders seem to want to just move on and prioritize other issues, according to Adar Poonawalla, the CEO of vaccine company Serum Institute of India. His firm is one of the only family-owned medical manufacturers, and they were able to scale up production dramatically to help provide the Covid vaccine to people in developing and lower-income countries at an affordable cost. He talks with author and journalist Michael Lewis at the 2024 Aspen Ideas Festival about what it was like to have such a pivotal role in a global health crisis and what it would take to keep facilities like his ready to jump into action again.

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It’s a tough time to try and express the complexity of life honestly. Writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie doesn’t shy away from truth-telling and believes we should all step up and do more of it. She thinks there’s more of a political “middle” in the general public than is generally represented in media, and she keeps that group in mind in her work. An essayist, poet and novelist, Adichie published her first novel in 12 years, “Dream Count,” on March 4, 2025. Last summer, she joined podcast host Kelly Corrigan of “Kelly Corrigan Wonders” on stage for the closing session of the 2024 Aspen Ideas Festival. The two meandered through polarization, cancel culture, grief and parental love in a heartfelt conversation.

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Few working technology reporters have been around as long as Kara Swisher. The start of her career coincided with the emergence of the internet, and she’s interviewed almost all of the major tech players between then and now. She’s still known today for making billionaire founders sweat in the hot seat. But she’s not just a technology critic, she’s also an ardent cheerleader. As she explains in her memoir, “Burn Book: A Tech Love Story,” and in this episode, her tough questions aim to be in service of better technology and a better world. The co-founder and CEO of Airbnb, Brian Chesky, interviews Swisher at the 2024 Aspen Ideas Festival in June about her book and her latest thoughts on this often-controversial sector. “Burn Book” was released in paperback with a new afterward on March 4, 2025.

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Creativity is as intrinsic to our species as any of our basic instincts, says Debbie Millman, designer and curator. But for millions of people in the United States, the ability to create has been thwarted. This basic human need, as important as love and shelter, Millman says, isn’t available for people serving time at the nearly 2,000 correctional facilities across America. In this discussion, moderated by Millman, a group of artists and activists share how they’re working to bring creative outlets to people who are incarcerated. Turns out ushering creativity into these dark and lonely spaces not only increases hope for the incarcerated, it makes our country safer. Common, a hip hop artist and actor, launched the nonprofits Imagine Justice and the Common Ground Foundation. Hank Willis Thomas is a conceptual artist who co-founded For Freedoms. Claudia Peña is an artist and founding co-director of the Center for Justice at UCLA. Michael Murphy is an architect, artist, educator, and writer. This talk was recorded at the 2024 Aspen Ideas Festival.

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The entertainment industry has had to pivot and refresh time and again to adapt to constant changes in format, business models and attention spans. Somehow, producer Brian Grazer has been able to keep up. The storyteller, who has received multiple nominations and wins at the Oscars, Emmys and Golden Globes, manages to find what people connect with and turn it into a hit – and he does this over and over. In this talk from the 2024 Aspen Ideas Festival, Grazer and the entertainment leader and former Disney CEO Michael Eisner discuss what makes something work and how to go from an idea to winning content. Grazer shares the sometimes unconventional rules and guidelines that have served him well over the past 40 years while making classics like “Apollo 13” and “A Beautiful Mind.”

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Advances in medicine and healthy living mean that more and more people will live to be 100. But just because their bodies can last doesn’t mean their bank accounts will keep up. Retirement, and especially a long retirement, takes careful planning and sophisticated financial literacy. It’s impossible to know what the future economic world will look like, but accounting for the unexpected and finding good guidance is essential. In this talk sponsored by Aspen Institute supporter Prudential Financial, two financial planning experts lay out the options for saving later in life and spread the word on the importance of preparation. Penny Pennington is the managing partner of Edward Jones and Rob Falzon is the vice chair of Prudential. Barron’s economic reporter Megan Leonhardt moderates the conversation.

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In the early days of cable television, there wasn’t a single network aimed at Black audiences. Sheila Johnson and her husband at the time saw an opening, and put all their hopes, efforts and money into co-founding Black Entertainment Television. The gamble paid off and the channel grew to become an influential and successful part of culture and television history. But behind the glitter, Johnson’s marriage was difficult and degrading and she lost track of herself and her dreams. In her memoir “Walk Through Fire,” Johnson shares what those tough times were like, and how she found her way back to her power. She emerged to create Salamander Collection, a luxury hotel and resort company, and became the only African American woman to own part of three professional sports teams. And, she found love again. Johnson tells her story on stage at the 2024 Aspen Ideas Festival to Kelly Corrigan, host of the podcast “Kelly Corrigan Wonders.”

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Owning a professional sports team is not for the faint of heart. Results are volatile and wins and losses come with the strong emotions of a city’s fan base. But it’s a sound investment for the right type of business leader, and the value of professional teams has been steadily rising over the past several years. Two legendary owners with very different backgrounds meet for this conversation about what it’s like to have a major stake in the game. Alex Rodriguez wrapped up an incredible career in major league baseball in 2016, after playing for 22 years. He’s gone on to found the investment firm A-Rod Corp. and recently bought a stake in the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves and WNBA’s Lynx. David Rubenstein is a businessman, lawyer and co-founder of The Carlyle Group private equity firm. In 2024, he became the principal owner of the Baltimore Orioles, his hometown MLB team. Businessman Gregg Lemkau, co-CEO of the merchant bank BDT and MSD Partners, moderates the conversation.

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Looking around and experiencing the suffering and injustice in the world can make it difficult to believe that happiness exists. But the Judeo-Christian tradition teaches that it’s sinful to succumb to despair, and we have a responsibility to ourselves and others to try and find our way through dark times. On the other hand, when you avoid suffering, you avoid meaning, and therefore, you avoid happiness, says professor and author Arthur Brooks. One of the great secrets of happiness, he says, is unhappiness. Spiritual and intellectual leaders may have a lot to offer us about building our lives into something better and more meaningful, and Brooks joins writer Pico Iyer for this encore conversation, from the 2022 Aspen Ideas Festival, about navigating the complex waters of making healthy life choices. Drawing on the teachings of the Dalai Lama and many other religious practitioners, Brooks and Iyer wind through loss and emptiness, opportunity and purpose, and biology and psychology. Each thread brings them back to the ongoing challenge of taking control of one’s mental state and landing at a destination full of life and intention. In a stroke of odd serendipity, Iyer’s latest book, “Aflame: Learning From Silence,” about narrowly escaping a 1990 California wildfire, came out in mid-January just after the Los Angeles fires. He touches on that experience in this talk.

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