Marjorie Kelly has been interviewed for TV and radio and has been a guest on several podcasts focused on employee ownership, growing a democratic economy and systems change. She has also delivered numerous keynotes for a variety of progressive conferences and and occasionally teaches classes on emerging social architectures for a new economy. Below are selected TV, radio, and podcast interviews as well as keynote addresses and panel discussions that feature Kelly and her work promoting system change: moving from an extractive economy that serves the few to one that is democratically controlled and benefits workers, communities, and the planet.
Radio and Podcasts: Selected Interviews
Scene on Radio. Capitalism, Episode 12: “Reimagined Economies” (September 18, 2024, 63 min). The Capitalism series wraps up with a visit to Mondragon and a California indigenous land trust, the principles of a regenerative/democratic economy, and some final comments from Marjorie Kelly on the dangers of profit maximization.
Scene on Radio. Capitalism, Episode 11: “Better Capitalism?” (September 4, 2024, 50 min). Can capitalism be reformed to produce a more equitable and sustainable future? Kelly joins John Fullerton and others discussing capitalism’s fatal flaw: the maximization of profit.
Scene on Radio, Capitalism, Episode 7: Gilded Age 2.0. (July 31, 2024; 58 min). After 40 years of neoliberalism, most Americans of every political stripe agree that the economy is “rigged” in favor of corporations and the wealthy. But we may not know the half of it. Host John Biewen, with co-host Ellen McGirt. Interviews with Nancy MacLean, Edward Balleisen, Brad DeLong, Marjorie Kelly, and Oren Cass.
Bioneers. Community Wealth Building Podcast Series, Episode 2: From Wealth Supremacy to Community Wealth Building: Models for Democraticizing the Economy. Hosted by Laura Flanders (August 23, 2024, 28 min) and featuring Marjorie Kelly, along with Democracy Collaborative colleague Neil McInroy.
Freakonomics Radio. Should Companies Be Owned by Their Employees? (May 8, 2024; 47 min) Private equity is rapacious. Yet a handful of PE firms are sharing equity with frontline workers. Is this helping to expand employee ownership, or is it only helping to burnish the image of private equity? Marjorie provides the counter narrative to enthusiastic KKR senior partner Pete Stavros.
Next Economy Now. Marjorie Kelly: Imagining the Next System of Capital (March 26, 2024; 48 min). Host Ryan Honeyman asks Majorie, is it possible to create an effective economic system where life is at the center? The expansive conversation challenges the “win-win” ethos that suggests that sustainability and equity can live side-by-side with market-based returns.
A Public Affair, with Esty Dinur (WORT, Madison, WI; 35 min). How the Extractive Economy Drives Today’s Crises. Marjorie Kelly joins host Esty Dinur to talk about the dangers of an extractive economy, and how it is at the root of everything from the climate crisis to the corruption of democracy. Together, Kelly and Dinur envision what a non-extractive economic structure might look like.
The Mindful Marketplace with Joel Skene. Neighborhood Economics: Crafting an Economy of Care Beyond Corporate Greed (February 15, 2024; 48 min). Host Joel Skene and Marjorie explore a world where wealth doesn’t rule, but serves all of society. After taking a look at the perilous waters of wealth’s impact on our natural resources and social divisions, they move on to discuss worker-owned businesses pioneering the “democratic economy.”
Laura Flanders Show. Deadly Capitalism: How Wealth Supremacy Is Killing Us (February 4, 2023; 26 min). Marjorie returns to the Laura Flanders Show to discuss why it is that despite all the amazing “alternatives” created in the form of land trusts, coops, ESOPs, credit unions, and so on, the work to transform the economy seems to be losing ground.
WBAI New York Leonard Lopate at Large. Marjorie Kelly on Marjorie Kelly (December 2023; 36 min). Host Leonard Lopate and Marjorie discuss “the problem that we still aren’t talking about”–an economic system designed for the wealthy– as well as the solution–a democratic economy.
Solidarity Hall (36 min). Hosts Elias Crim and Elizabeth Garlow talk with Marjorie about the capital bias at the core of our economic system, how to delegitimize it, and how to imagine and grow a democratic economy.
Radio Ecoshock: Wealth Supremacy vs. Climate Doom (November 15, 2023; 60 min). Host Alex Smith explores with Marjorie how the wealth machine for the 1 percent is behind the destruction of the planet.
The Exchange. Siouxland Public Media (November 17, 2023; 16 min). Marjorie speaks with host Mary Hartnett about the extractive economy and the dangers of a society that is half democratic and half plutocratic.
The Analysis News. “Wealth Supremacy vs. The Democractic Economy” (November 9, 2023; 34 min). Marjorie Kelly speaks with Colin Bruce Anthes about the core myths that entrench “wealth supremacy,” and how these myths must be challenged if we are to reinvent our economy through democratized ownership.
All Together Now, with Host Eleanor LeCain. (October 26, 2023; 3 min). In this hour-long interview, Marjorie and Eleanor explore community wealth building and what the Biden administration can do to build an economy that works for all. Listen to the full interivew.
Yes! Presents: Rising Up with Sonali. “Wealth Supremacy” and How to Build a Democratic Economy (October 17, 2023; 22 min). Sonali speaks with Marjorie about the extractive economy, the need for a great ownership transition, and how to build a movement for a democratic economy.
The Climate Pod: Ending Wealth Supremacy (October 4, 2023; 48 min). Marjorie talks with co-hosts Brock & Ty Benefield about the need to delegitimize the myths of extractive capitalism to lay the groundwork for the transformative change necessary to address the climate emergency.
Two Worlds, One Country. Moving Beyond Capitalism with Marjorie Kelly (October 9, 2023; 30 min). Marjorie talks with host Anthony Flaccovento about the structure of capitalism, how we can do better, and whether we can really democraticize the economy.
Chasing Finanical Equality. The Climate and Finance Emergency are One Emergency (September 26, 2023; 44 min). Marjorie talks with host Kane Jackson about how the multiple global crises we face are directly related to a financial system that considers “no amount of profit ever enough.”
Impact Alpha: What Is Wealth Supremacy, How Does It Drive Crises, and What Can Be Done about It? (September 2024; 25 min). In this podcast, Marjorie speaks with editor and CEO David Bank about how impact investors can challenge assumptions about profit maximization and help build a democratic economy.
Aspen Institute (September 12, 2023; 65 min). Maureen Conway, vice president at The Aspen Institute and leader of the Economic Opportunities Program, talks with Marjorie Kelly about wealth bias and how this system of bias prevents us from solving problems of economic opportunity that plague our nation.
Laura Flanders Show: Catastrophic Capitalism in 2023 (September 10, 2023; 25 min). Marjorie Kelly discusses Wealth Supremacy and how the extractive economy is driving today’s ecological, social and political crises, with Laura Flanders and Edgar Villanueva.
Laura Flanders Show: How to Make a Democratic Economy (October 16, 2019; 25 min) On this episode of the Laura Flanders Show, Marjorie and Ted Howard discuss their newly released book, The Making of a Democratic Economy.
Next Economy Now: Democratizing the Economy from the Ground Up (August 2018; 40 min) In this interview with Lift Economy partner Ryan Honeyman, Marjorie discusses the election of Trump and its correlation with the economic challenges faced in Appalachia and rust belt states as well as The Democracy Collaborative’s work supporting Native American businesses and what listeners can do to support rural economic development.
The ESOP Podcast (June 15, 2021)
Episodes 155: Interview with Marjorie Kelly,
Part I
In this interview, Kelly makes the case for creating a robust investment ecosystem to catalyze more employee ownership conversions. To hear Part II of this interview, go to Episode 156.
The ESOP Podcast (April 12, 2021)
Episode 146: Social Capital Partners & Taylor Guitars Financing
On January 11, 2021, in a video for employees, Taylor Guitars announced that it had transitioned to 100 percent employee ownership. An agreement that could be called the NAFTA of employee ownership, it is majority funded by Canada’s Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan, with additional capital from Social Capital Partners, and establishes the first US-based Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) for Mexican workers. In this episode of the ESOP podcast Marjorie and Jon Shell of Social Capital Partners talk with host Bret Keisling.
Aspen Institute (November 2016)
How do you design an economy for broad-based prosperity, for good jobs, for family financial security? That’s an economy with broad-based ownership and community control, says Marjorie Kelly.
Keynotes and Webinars
Kelly has delivered keynote addresses for Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE); the New Economics Foundation in London; the Annual FEASTA Lecture in Dublin, Ireland, for the Foundation for the Economics of Sustainability; and the Green Party of Sweden. Other keynotes have included the University of Wisconsin Business and Human Rights Series, the Net Impact Annual Spring Forum at the University of Washington, the Alliance for Democracy Convention, the Hope in Action Conference, the Society for Business Ethics, the Sustainable Business Symposium at the University of Oregon, the Hamline Dialogues at Hamline University, the Association for Moral Education, the Midwest Progressive Elected Officials Network, and others.
Deep Transformation Network. Wealth Supremacy: Decoding the Operating System of Global Capitalism. A Conversation with Jeremy Lent (May 2024; 90 min). A live interactive conversation uncovering the operating system underlying our world today, the history of colonialism and white supremacy that engendered modern global capitalism, and what’s required to break the trance.
Women’s Way. From Extraction to Equity –Tackling Wealth Supremacy (January 2024; 90 min). Diane Cornman-Levy, chief disruptor of Women’s Way, talks with Marjorie about the intersection of wealth supremacy and the gender wealth gap. Presentation cosponsored by the Free Library of Philadelphia and also available in Spanish.
Where I Went Wrong: Marjorie Kelly on Why Advancing Ethical Business Isn’t Enough. A webinar moderated by Nathan Schneider and hosted by the Media Economies Design Lab at the University of Colorado Boulder (October 30, 2023; 60 min). In this conversation with Nathan Schneider, Kelly looks back at her own career, where she went wrong, and what can be done to build a movement for a new economic system.
EcoCiv Dialogues: The Next Economy (April 30, 2020; 60 min) The coronavirus pandemic revealed the deep failures of our global economic order are being revealed. Is this the end of the neoliberal era? What will the economy look like after COVID-19? Marjorie joins Kate Raworth (Doughnut Economics), Stewart Wallis (Wellbeing Economy Alliance), David Korten (Living Economies Forum), Gunna Jung (Economic Advisor to Seoul Metropolitan Government) to discuss these weighty questions.
Who Owns Vermont?, Keynote Address, New Economy Week, October 15, 2014, Montpelier, VT
In her keynote address for New Economy Week, Kelly explained that there are two primary kinds of ownership: EXTRACTIVE, which seeks to extract maximum profits, and GENERATIVE, which is life serving. Generative ownership models are profit-making but not profit-maximizing. You can read about Kelly’s address and the discussion that followed in notes from the event and this story from Vermont Digger. Also, you can watch this video of a panel discussion moderated by Kelly.
From the Fringe to the Leading Edge: Generative Design Goes to Scale, Business Alliance for Local Living Economies, May 2012, Grand Rapids, MI
From the Fringe to the Leading Edge: Generative Design Goes to Scale May 17, 2012, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Classes and Lectures
Kelly has delivered presentations at universities, including Cornell University, the University of North Carolina, Harvard, Macalester College, Scripps College, Boston College, Colorado State University, Hawaii Pacific University, and many others. With Peter Barnes she taught a course at Schumacher College in England entitled “Can the Earth Survive Capitalism? Exploring Sustainable Economic Models.” With Fritjof Capra she taught a four-day residential program at Schumacher called “Business and Sustainability: From Complexity to Responsibility,” looking at systems thinking and its lessons for creating organizations that mirror life’s adaptability and creativity.
Kelly served as Visiting Scholar at Ohio Wesleyan University and was the Jean Kohr Visiting Lecturer at Hood College. At Dharma Field Zen Center in Minneapolis, Kelly taught classes on “A Zen Approach to Building a Just Economy” and “Dogen and Right Livelihood.”
If you need a headshot of Marjorie Kelly to publicize a speaking event, please download the photo to the left.