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Rad Ops - The Podcast

Sha Grogan-Brown & Yashna Padamsee

In a time where social justice organizations are under attack, we bring you Rad Ops (that stands for Radical Operations), a dialogue-based tool that supports organizations assessing and discussing the possibilities and limitations of putting liberatory values into practice.

Many organizations are in turmoil as they pivot to meet this moment. Rad Ops is a multimedia series offering principles, guiding questions, and tools that organizations can use to identify ways they can and cannot practice liberatory values in this unjust world.

The Rad Ops podcast is one component of a project designed for social justice organizations looking to strengthen their resilience. This project seeks to inspire people in Left movement organizations to get real with each other about what their organization can and can’t do, and make collective agreements about how they will act together when unable to fully practice their liberatory values. If people in movement organizations regularly dialogue with each other in courageous, creative, and collaborative ways, then their relationships and political visions will strengthen existing organizations and outlast both internal conflict and external opposition.

Podcast co-hosts Yashna Maya Padamsee and Sha Grogan-Brown together bring over 40 years of movement operations experience they draw from to facilitate these conversations.

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  • 13 episodes
  • Avg 36 min
  • English
  • S1 · E8
    April 15 · 1 hr 9 min

    Life Cycle of Organizations w/Raquel Laviña

    The Rad Ops Podcast is one component of a dialogue-based tool that supports organizations assessing and discussing the possibilities and limitations of putting liberatory values into practice. Each guest will share their Rad Ops lineages, their expertise on today’s pressing operations questions and leave listeners with resources and discussion questions to take back to your teams. In this closing episode of season one, we take on the tough topic of the Life Cycle of Organizations with our gue

  • S1 · E7
    April 13 · 1 hr 7 min

    Culture of Care w/Adaku Utah

    The Rad Ops Podcast is one component of a dialogue-based tool that supports organizations assessing and discussing the possibilities and limitations of putting liberatory values into practice. Each guest will share their Rad Ops lineages, their expertise on today’s pressing operations questions and leave listeners with resources and discussion questions to take back to your teams. In this episode we talk about Culture of Care with our guest, Adaku Utah, Director of Movement Building Programs

  • S1 · E6
    April 8 · 54 min

    Resource Mobilization w/Allison Budschalow

    The Rad Ops Podcast is one component of a dialogue-based tool that supports organizations assessing and discussing the possibilities and limitations of putting liberatory values into practice. Each guest will share their Rad Ops lineages, their expertise on today’s pressing operations questions and leave listeners with resources and discussion questions to take back to your teams. In this episode we talk about Resource Mobilization with our guest, Allison Budschalow, Consulting Partner at Dra

  • S1 · E5
    April 6 · 58 min

    Role of Assistants w/Felicia Martinez

    The Rad Ops Podcast is one component of a dialogue-based tool that supports organizations assessing and discussing the possibilities and limitations of putting liberatory values into practice. Each guest will share their Rad Ops lineages, their expertise on today’s pressing operations questions and leave listeners with resources and discussion questions to take back to your teams. In this episode we talk about the Role of Assistants (and so much more) with our guest, Felicia Martinez, freelan

  • April 1 · 41 min

    Human Resources w/Tara Shuai Ellison

    The Rad Ops Podcast is one component of a dialogue-based tool that supports organizations assessing and discussing the possibilities and limitations of putting liberatory values into practice. Each guest will share their Rad Ops lineages, their expertise on today’s pressing operations questions and leave listeners with resources and discussion questions to take back to your teams. In this episode we talk about Human Resources with our guest, Tara Shuai Ellison, Founder of Shuai Strategies and

  • S1 · E3
    March 30 · 48 min

    Non-Compliance w/Roberto Tijerina

    The Rad Ops Podcast is one component of a dialogue-based tool that supports organizations assessing and discussing the possibilities and limitations of putting liberatory values into practice. Each guest will share their Rad Ops lineages, their expertise on today’s pressing operations questions and leave listeners with resources and discussion questions to take back to your teams. In this episode we talk about Non-Compliance with our guest, Roberto Tijerina, Organizer Journeyman/Popular Educa

  • S1 · E2
    March 25 · 41 min

    Who We Are: History, Framework, and Origin Stories w/Denise Perry

    The Rad Ops Podcast is one component of a dialogue-based tool that supports organizations assessing and discussing the possibilities and limitations of putting liberatory values into practice. Each guest will share their Rad Ops lineages, their expertise on today’s pressing operations questions and leave listeners with resources and discussion questions to take back to your teams. In this origins episode, we flipped the script, and guest Denise Perry interviews co-hosts Yashna Maya Padamsee a

  • S1 · E1
    March 23 · 50 min

    Safety & Security w/Che Johnson-Long

    The Rad Ops Podcast is one component of a dialogue-based tool that supports organizations assessing and discussing the possibilities and limitations of putting liberatory values into practice. Each guest will share their Rad Ops lineages, their expertise on today’s pressing operations questions and leave listeners with resources and discussion questions to take back to your teams. In this episode we talk about Safety and Security with our guest, Che Johnson-Long, Community Safety Director at

  • #4
    Nov 13, 2025 · 10 min

    Dear Rad Ops: Pivoting Budgets, w/ Nat Smith

    In this episode, Sha Grogan-Brown talks with guest Nat Smith, Finance & Development Director with House of gg and facilitator with A Bookkeeping Cooperative to offer advice to organizations needing to make major pivots to their budgets. In these wild times, many organizations are needing to revisit their organizational budget, either due to loss of funding, pivoting their work for rapid response moments, taking a strategic pause to tend to internal tensions and challenges, among other reasons

  • #3
    Nov 11, 2025 · 12 min

    Dear Rad Ops: Fear vs Risk Assessments, w/ Che Johnson-Long

    In this episode, Yashna Maya Padamsee talks with guest Che Johnson-Long, Community Safety Director at Vision Change Win, about how we can be making grounded risk assessments in these times of escalated fear. We’re in a moment where there is a chance that fear can lead our planning and decision making. It is a particularly escalated and scary time. And this time is calling for us to do clear organizational risk assessments and find, create, or improve upon operational scaffolding to meet the r

  • S1 · E1
    Nov 6, 2025 · 9 min

    Dear Rad Ops: Multi-Entity Infrastructure, w/ Le Tim Ly

    In this episode, Sha Grogan-Brown talks with guest Le Tim Ly, Chief Operating Officer of Center for Empowered Politics about how building “multi-entity infrastructure” can improve the resilience of organizations. While the Left faces many crises in these times, underpinning everything is the vulnerability of the operations and infrastructure of our organizations. So many groups have chosen to establish non-profit organizations as the entity for their organizing, and now this administration is

  • S1 · E1
    Nov 4, 2025 · 10 min

    Dear Rad Ops – Why Rad Ops?

    In a time where social justice organizations are under attack, we bring you Dear Rad Ops, a mini series advice vlog about live questions on the minds of movement operations workers. In this introductory episode, co-hosts Yashna Maya Padamsee and Sha Grogan-Brown discuss their own Rad Ops movement operations experience, and the lineages they draw from in their work to run liberatory organizations in an unjust world.  Resources from this episode Explore the Rad Ops Resources page Dis

  • Oct 27, 2025 · 3 min

    Welcome to Rad Ops

    In a time where social justice organizations are under attack, we bring you Rad Ops (that stands for Radical Operations), a dialogue-based tool that supports organizations assessing and discussing the possibilities and limitations of putting liberatory values into practice.  Many organizations are in turmoil as they pivot to meet this moment. Rad Ops is a multimedia series offering principles, guiding questions, and tools that organizations can use to identify ways they can and cannot practic

Showing 1–13 of 13 episodes