On Location - Coastside Edition

About On Location - Coastside Edition

How do we bring our world to a better place — not back to where we were, but forward, to somewhere better? This podcast is an experiment in building a better future – through enabling informed conversations, recognizing interconnections and an abundance mindset, and supporting smarter, more sustainable public investments. Drawing on my background in local and state-level public education policy as well as the global biomedical industry (and as a parent of two!), I aim to bring you real stories from remarkable people working to make a difference. Each episode is grounded in place and purpose, offering insight, inspiration, and maybe even a little entertainment—all with the hope of creating a world worth passing on.

Publisher

Sophia Layne

Category

news · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

8 Jul 2025

Latest episode

13 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

20 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   13 Oct 2026

   Ballots and beers (Part 2 of 2) – a nonpartisan Coastside ballot explainer

   Grab a beverage of your choice – beer, coffee, water, whatever – and join host Sophia Layne with special guests Lenny Mendonca and Margie Gater as they help you make sense of what’s on the voluminous ballots that have arrived in California’s San Mateo County Coastside mailboxes. In Part 1, they walk through statewide items on your ballot – from offices you may never have heard of before to more propositions than you might want to count. In Part 2, you’ll hear them do the same for stuff on our ballots from local, county, and Bay Area-wide measures and offices. Spoiler alert – there’s more to it than city council and the hotly contested Measure Q. Both episodes include quick tips if you’re feeling overwhelmed or otherwise unsure where to start with all this. Whether you ripped open your mail-in/drop off ballot with confidence the minute it arrived in your mailbox, or put it on the tall ‘to do’ pile that only seems to get bigger these days, these two episodes are for you. Still hungry for more? Check out the Bright Now Media Substack for a full list of resources to fulfill your heart’s desire as you prepare to fill in those little ovals with your blue or black pen. https://brightnowmedia.substack.com/p/ballots-and-beers (https://brightnowmedia.substack.com/p/ballots-and-beers) Note: Despite the multitude of offices, propositions, and measures discussed in these episodes, we missed a few! For more info on San Mateo County Measure V and the election of several judgeships on this ballot, see also the Bright Now Media Substack. About our guests and host Lenny Mendonca is former Chief Economic Advisor to the Governor of California, Senior Partner Emeritus at McKinsey, and a member of many non-profit and other boards, including currently with Coastside News Group and formerly with Common Cause. He is also co-owner of Half Moon Bay Brewing Company. For the November 2026 general election, he has endorsed Ben Allen for California Insurance Commissioner, John Pimentel for CA Board of Equalization District 2, Mary Beth Alexander for Cabrillo USD Trustee Area E, and Robert Brownstone for Half Moon Bay City Council District 1, as well as California Propositions 2 and 3, and Half Moon Bay Measure Q; he has opposed California Propositions 39 and 40. Margie Gater is a board member with the League of Women Voters of North/Central San Mateo County, a former marketing consultant, as well as an avid tennis player and connoisseur of brewed beverages. She has no public endorsement for the November 2026 general election. Sophia Layne is a public advocate, nature lover, long-time Coastsider, and mom. She's a former director at Genentech, has served as President of the Cabrillo USD Board, and with county- and statewide public education advocacy organizations including as President of the San Mateo County School Boards Association and a Legislative Committee Member of the the California School Boards Association. For the November 2026 general election, she has endorsed Richard Barrera for CA Superintendent of Instruction, and Mary Beth Alexander and Lizet Cortes for Cabrillo USD, Trustee Areas E and C, respectively. All are long-time Coastsiders.

2. 

   13 Oct 2026

   Ballots and beers (Part 1 of 2) – a nonpartisan Coastside ballot explainer

   Grab a beverage of your choice – beer, coffee, water, whatever – and join host Sophia Layne with special guests Lenny Mendonca and Margie Gater as they help you make sense of what’s on the voluminous ballots that have arrived in California’s San Mateo County Coastside mailboxes. In Part 1, they walk through statewide items on your ballot – from offices you may never have heard of before to more propositions than you might want to count. In Part 2, you’ll hear them do the same for stuff on our ballots from local, county, and Bay Area-wide measures and offices. Spoiler alert – there’s more to it than city council and the hotly contested Measure Q. Both episodes include quick tips if you’re feeling overwhelmed or otherwise unsure where to start with all this. Whether you ripped open your mail-in/drop off ballot with confidence the minute it arrived in your mailbox, or put it on the tall ‘to do’ pile that only seems to get bigger these days, these two episodes are for you. Still hungry for more? Check out the Bright Now Media Substack for a full list of resources to fulfill your heart’s desire as you prepare to fill in those little ovals with your blue or black pen. https://brightnowmedia.substack.com/p/ballots-and-beers (https://brightnowmedia.substack.com/p/ballots-and-beers) Note: Despite the multitude of offices, propositions, and measures discussed in these episodes, we missed a few! For more info on San Mateo County Measure V and the election of several judgeships on this ballot, see also the Bright Now Media Substack. About our guests and host Lenny Mendonca is former Chief Economic Advisor to the Governor of California, Senior Partner Emeritus at McKinsey, and a member of many non-profit and other boards, including currently with Coastside News Group and formerly with Common Cause. He is also co-owner of Half Moon Bay Brewing Company. For the November 2026 general election, he has endorsed Ben Allen for California Insurance Commissioner, John Pimentel for CA Board of Equalization District 2, Mary Beth Alexander for Cabrillo USD Trustee Area E, and Robert Brownstone for Half Moon Bay City Council District 1, as well as California Propositions 2 and 3, and Half Moon Bay Measure Q; he has opposed California Propositions 39 and 40. Margie Gater is a board member with the League of Women Voters of North/Central San Mateo County, a former marketing consultant, as well as an avid tennis player and connoisseur of brewed beverages. She has no public endorsement for the November 2026 general election. Sophia Layne is a public advocate, nature lover, long-time Coastsider, and mom. She's a former director at Genentech, has served as President of the Cabrillo USD Board, and with county- and statewide public education advocacy organizations including as President of the San Mateo County School Boards Association and a Legislative Committee Member of the the California School Boards Association. For the November 2026 general election, she has endorsed Richard Barrera for CA Superintendent of Instruction, and Mary Beth Alexander and Lizet Cortes for Cabrillo USD, Trustee Areas E and C, respectively. All are long-time Coastsiders.

3. 

   13 Aug 2026

   Free to Learn - Bringing Community College Home to the Coast

   Host Sophia Layne takes a walk through downtown Half Moon Bay with Lisa Petrides, starting at the new College of San Mateo Coastside campus at the corner of Mill and Purissima Streets, for a conversation about how free community college came to San Mateo County, the years of community partnership that made a Coastside campus possible, and what it means to build a "learning city" in a small town. Along the way, the two talk about growing up Greek-American, the role artificial intelligence should (and shouldn't) play in education, and Lisa's vision for turning the whole Coastside — its businesses, its library, its construction sites — into a living classroom. Lisa Petrides, Ph.D., is a trustee on the San Mateo County Community College District (SMCCCD) Board of Trustees, representing Area 1, which includes the Coastside and a number of Peninsula communities. She is the founder and CEO of the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education (ISKME), a Half Moon Bay–based education nonprofit, and the creator of OER Commons, an award-winning digital library of open educational resources. A former faculty member at Columbia University's Teachers College, she holds a Ph.D. in Education Policy from Stanford. On the SMCCCD Board, she has been a driving force behind the district's free tuition program and the new College of San Mateo Coastside campus. Sophia Layne is a public advocate, nature lover, long-time Coastsider, and mom. She's a former medical affairs director in the biomedical industry and has served on her local school board and with county- and statewide public education advocacy organizations.

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Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

1 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

1 ratings

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