We live in the most connected era in history — and one of the loneliest. Connected Conversations, hosted by Elena Petrova, is the show about the art and science of human connection.
Each week, Elena sits down with psychologists, technologists, community builders, cultural translators, and frontline practitioners to explore how we reach each other — through language, culture, body language, and human-centered technology — and how we build the communities that give our lives meaning.
Everyone Saw Her. Nobody Said Hello. | Evelyn Chumbow
She was nine years old, a few miles from the U.S. Capitol, and everyone could see her. Nobody said hello.
In this episode of Connected Conversations, Elena Petrova sits down with Evelyn Chumbow, a survivor of child labor trafficking and Advocacy and Survivor Leadership Director at the Human Trafficking Legal Center. Evelyn was brought from Cameroon with the promise of school and forced instead into unpaid domestic labor in a Maryland home, while neighbors, a bus driver, and a firefighter looked past it.
They talk about why modern slavery hides in plain sight, the firefighter who called what he saw a cultural norm, why sharing a language doesn't earn a survivor's trust, how survivors are asked to tell their stories unpaid, and why economic stability is the foundation of freedom. Plus Evelyn answers the question we ask every guest: what conversation do more people need to be having right now?
Content note: this conversation includes descriptions of child abuse and trauma. National Human Trafficking Hotline: 1-888-373-7888 or text 233733. In crisis: call or text 988.
Hosted by Elena Petrova. Connected Conversations is produced by Ad Astra, Inc.
30 Sept 2026
You Don't Have a Community. You Have an Audience!
Most leaders say they're building a community. Most of them are building an audience.
In this episode of Connected Conversations, recorded in Denver, Elena Petrova sits down with Sam Swindler of Sword and Spark, and James Pelz of Stack to draw the line that almost everyone blurs. An audience is people you talk at. A network is people you trade with. A community is people who show up for each other, on the good days and the hard ones, and who get to change where the whole thing is going.
Sam and James make the case that belonging can't be manufactured. It has to be built, through curiosity, shared purpose, participation, and trust, and then maintained, because community carries a cost most organizations never budget for. And as AI gets better at making us feel connected, they ask what happens when the feeling is all we're left with.
In this episode:
Why belonging shows up on the ordinary and hard days, not the highlight reel
Audience, network, community: the difference, and where leaders get it wrong
The four conditions of belonging, and why curiosity is the one that unlocks the rest
What James learned from 45 minutes across a political divide at a buffet table
Why people buy on feeling first, and call it the smart choice later
Community's maintenance cost, and why you can't set it and forget it
How AI can scratch the itch for connection while leaving us connected to nothing
Plus both guests answer the question we ask everyone: what conversation do more people need to be having right now?
Tell us in the comments: are you building a community, or an audience?
Subscribe wherever you listen. YouTube and Spotify are the main homes; Apple Podcasts and Amazon Music also carry the show.
Hosted by Elena Petrova. Connected Conversations is produced by Ad Astra, Inc.
23 Sept 2026
Who Is This System Actually Built For? | Camilla Halford
She was eight years old, handed back a test covered in corrections, and told that her dyslexia was her reason to be better than everyone else, because she would have to work harder for it. She didn't have the words for why that felt wrong until years later.
In this clip from Connected Conversations, Camilla Halford, founder of Artega and co-founder of The Homing Call, traces a line from that classroom to the question she now asks of everything: who is this system actually built for? Her argument is that education is structured to rank rather than to help people succeed, because a system with winners requires losers. From there she follows the same logic into housing, and then into payments, where she draws a distinction most of us have never stopped to notice. Cash is a private agreement between two people. A card payment is not.
In this clip:
- The classroom moment that made her start questioning systems
- Why she says a system built to rank people is built for some of them to fail
- The overlooked difference between paying with cash and paying by card
- What your spending reveals about you, and who benefits from knowing it
Watch the full episode with Camilla Halford for the village we lost, the origin of the five-day week, and where a leader starts rebuilding community on purpose.A note on historical context: Camilla discusses how the Netherlands' population registration system contributed to the high death toll among Dutch Jews during the Holocaust, the highest proportion in Western Europe. Historians treat registration as one of several significant factors.
Hosted by Elena Petrova. Connected Conversations is produced by Ad Astra, Inc.
Who has been a guest on Connected Conversations
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
Facundo Armas
Joe Callahan
Elena Maugere
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
4.0 / 5
4 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
8 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 51 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
82
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
51
Contact Connected Conversations
Guest appearances
Books guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Questions about Connected Conversations
Who hosts Connected Conversations?
Elena Petrova host the show. Published by Elena Petrova.
How often do new episodes come out?
The show publishes weekly, based on its RSS feed.
Does Connected Conversations take guests?
Yes. Guests have been identified in episode analyses.
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