Joshua T. Berglan:

Ladies and gentlemen and the misfits who refuse to be categorized, welcome to The World's Mayor Experience. I'm your host Joshua T. Berglan. For the new listeners, let me give you the lay of the land. We do not do small talk here. We do real talk. We strip away the corporate veneer and the media spin to get to the marrow of the human experience.

I stand here as a man who has battled dissociative identity disorder and who navigates the world on the autism spectrum. But today you're going to see something else. You might see me shaking. It's not just in my hands—it's in my neck, my head, and my entire body. You might hear the struggle in my speech. These are not just tremors. This is my body reacting to the world in a way that most people cannot possibly imagine. I feel every frequency. It is painful. It is exhausting. It is a daily battle to even hold or talk into a microphone. But I refuse to hide it. These are not my weaknesses. These are my credentials.

Because when you have been broken by the system and when you feel the weight of the world literally vibrating in your bones, you learn to build something better. We talk a lot on this show about shadow prisons—the cages society puts us in. Usually those prisons are labels. You are a creative, so you can't be technical. You're a woman, so you can't work on engines. You are middle-aged, so you can't start a military career. But what happens when someone takes a sledgehammer to those labels?

If you're looking for answers, whether it's about breaking labels, mental health, or media sovereignty, I have curated thousands of free resources for you. The best way to find them is to use my custom search engine called The Archives, built right into my platform at joshuatberglan.com or theworldsmayor.com.

For those of you who are done consuming and are ready to start creating, if you want to build a brand that is cancellation-proof and a legacy that outlives you, I invite you to work with me. As the Omni-Media Architect, I help visionaries weaponize their story to serve the world.

But today—today we are speaking with a woman who fixes narratives in the boardroom and fixes F-16 fighter jets on the flight line. My guest today is a living contradiction to the status quo. She's a global strategic communications leader who has spent 20 years shaping narratives across five continents. She founded the Betancourt Group where she translates complex science from climate change to bioengineering into stories that humanize the data.

But her resume has a plot twist that people rarely see. From 2015 to 2017, she walked into the aftermath of a plague. She served in Sierra Leone during the tail end of the Ebola crisis, leading communications for the country's first energy revolution. She sold hope in a place recovering from isolation.

And then at the age of 38, when most people are settling down, she decided to enlist. She serves in the United States Air Force Reserve as an Aerospace Propulsion Technician. That means she gets her hands greasy maintaining the engines of F-16 fighter jets. She is a scuba diver, a mother, and a believer in big bold moves.

Please help me welcome the woman who operates in high-stakes environments, whether it's a policy meeting or a flight deck. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Angela Betancourt.

Angela Betancourt:

Thank you so much for that introduction. It's an honor to be here. I'm grateful to be here. I'm doing great. I'm feeling even better that I get to be here with you.

Joshua T. Berglan:

On this broadcast, we don't do small talk. We do real talk. I have some questions for you designed to move from your time in Sierra Leone to the technical precision of the Air Force and finally your vision for the future of our planet. But before we get into the interrogation, I have to ask you the question that sets the frequency for this entire broadcast. Angela, what are you grateful for today and why?

Angela Betancourt:

I'm grateful for a couple of things today. Grateful for strong coffee this morning. I make very strong coffee and I'm grateful for that. I'm a toddler mom as you mentioned, and it's been a day. So I'm grateful for the strong coffee. And then I'm also grateful to be here and to meet you. Truly I am. Because today was just a day of a lot of work, this and that, getting the week rolling. Mondays. And then to be able to join you here—this has been a highlight of the day.

Joshua T. Berglan:

Let's start with the contrast. You run a PR firm which is about perception and nuance, but you also fix F-16 engines which is about binary mechanics—it works or it doesn't. How does the systems thinking required to fix a jet engine inform the way you fix a broken corporate narrative?

Angela Betancourt:

What an incredible question. No one's ever asked me that. I have to say that yes, on the surface they are two different things. But one, I love the challenge. I love being able to know that in my civilian job, I can really think about these storytellings and narratives and complex things that you can't grab. They're not tangible. Results are not immediate. And there's something to be said about that kind of thinking and strategy.

And when I'm wearing my rubber gloves and I'm in my uniform doing this work that is very binary, it's a completely different type of challenge. But both of them mean that I have to be very focused on the task at hand.

Just like working with a client that has a lot of things going on—these big stories they need to tell, the values they're trying to express to their audience—there's a lot of focus and strategy that needs to go into that. And the same is true working on these engines. We're never working on the entire engine at the same time. We're tackling one area, fixing one particular thing. We're focused on that and troubleshooting that.

So in many ways that feels a little bit like PR. I'm not tackling an entire industry at the same time. I'm with one client who has a specific mission who wants to translate a certain story to their audience, and we're focused on that particular narrative.

It might not make sense to a lot of people, but in my brain these are the synergies. I'm focused on the task at hand. I'm thinking about the bigger picture because what you do in the moment does ripple into the bigger space. If this bolt is not tightened here, you bet it's going to have an impact on something on the other side of the engine. We're focused on what we need to do with the big picture in mind.

Joshua T. Berglan:

You enlisted in the Air Force Reserve at 38. Society tells women and men that by nearly 40, our identity is set in stone. That to me is a shadow prison. What was the specific moment or trigger that made you say, "I need to wear the uniform" at a time when others are planning their retirement?

Angela Betancourt:

I'm so passionate about this topic. I just take a hammer to all of that. It does not apply to me and everyone should believe that it does not apply to them as well. These are fake things that are created to limit people. I don't know who's creating it. We just all grow up and hear about it. It's just this narrative that's been going around. I don't know where it started. But I just don't pay any attention to that whatsoever.

I'm a very big fan of "this age is the new that age." 30 is the new 20. 60 is the new 40. Yes, it is. 100%. You are the age that you feel.

I enlisted in August of 2020. I had already come back from Sierra Leone. I'd finished grad school. COVID came and lockdown came. I was in this place in my life where I was heavily reflecting, like many of us were during lockdown. Because what else was going on?

I kept thinking about what does this all mean in my life. I had just come back from two years in this very high-intensity environment, then jumped right into a master's degree immediately after that. That program was amazing—it took us all around the world. Then I was just sitting there in my living room by myself wondering, "I need to do something big. I need to do something bold. I'm ready for the next big challenge."

The work I did in Sierra Leone alongside so many wonderful people was so rewarding. I was thinking about how I can serve my country. What can I do for my country? All throughout high school and my childhood, I volunteered for a lot of organizations—Habitat for Humanity, a lot of things. Being of service is really part of my childhood.

Sitting there in my living room that afternoon, I was thinking, "What can I do that's going to have an impact and challenge me while also giving me the opportunity to serve, while also giving me the opportunity to learn more and be a leader I've always envisioned myself being?"

I started speaking to a recruiter, asking a million questions. I spoke to one of my really good friends who's in the Space Force—he's a chief master sergeant now—and he said, "You should do it. You would be amazing at it." I said, "Well, I'm 37. I feel like I'm a little bit old." And he was like, "No, no, no. You're fine. Forget all of that. If you want to do it, do it."

And I did. August 5th of 2020, I signed the dotted line and made my oath to protect the Constitution of the United States. Fun fact, I was one of the few people ever to be sworn in virtually because we were not able to meet in person during COVID. It was literally one of the best decisions I ever made in my life.

On January 12th of 2021, I went off to boot camp. 38-year-old me went off to boot camp. I was one of 42 women and I was older than my drill sergeant. I was the oldest woman in my whole group—including older than the lady that was screaming in my face.

There was a young lady whose mom was my age. She said to me at one point, "I want to be like you when I grow up." I graduated boot camp with honors. I came in fourth in fitness. I was running circles around these 22-year-olds, doing more push-ups than I ever thought possible in my entire life. And I left there with a tremendous amount of pride that I did that. I did that.

Joshua T. Berglan:

You mentioned operating in high-stakes environments. An engine failure costs lives. A PR failure costs reputation. Which pressure feels heavier to you? The physical risk or the reputational risk?

Angela Betancourt:

Physical, always. Reputation is extremely important, but it doesn't matter if you're severely injured or something like this.

When I'm doing my military days, I'm still very much a rookie in my space. There are people in my shop that have been doing this for much longer than me. Their expertise is just something I admire so much. I have so much to learn still. I love learning, so it's wonderful to be surrounded by people in my shop that are just brilliant. They can close their eyes and just know the engine so well. That's what I aspire to.

From the very beginning, from your training, you learn immediately what the risks are and why it's important to really learn your craft and become a subject matter expert. Because something can go wrong and it can cost a pilot's life. It can cost other people's lives if a plane comes down on your house or something. From day one, you learn how important the work you do is. I don't take that for granted. It's very important work and I take it extremely seriously. People's lives are on the line.

And when I think about PR work and reputational risk—what's interesting is the physical pressure is a lot more pressure because if something goes wrong, your reputation is gone anyway. I was reading about the Concord flight and thinking about what happened to all of those people that made these critical errors. That's reputational damage right there. So yeah, the physical pressure is 100% the most important.

Joshua T. Berglan:

You arrived in Sierra Leone while there were still active cases of Ebola. How freaking frightening is that? You noted that the atmosphere wasn't necessarily fear, but rather a deep sense of exhaustion and impatience due to the strict restrictions on gatherings and touch. Can you take us to that specific day when the WHO finally announced the country was Ebola-free? What did that release of tension feel like?

Angela Betancourt:

When I arrived in country, the cases were on the downside. I had missed that peak. I'm positive that fear was very much a part of that entire thing, especially for people living in rural communities that didn't necessarily have the full picture of what was going on.

But in Freetown where I was, when I landed I met my incredible team—they had already been there through the peak. I was greeted extremely friendly at the airport. This immediate friendliness. The Sierra Leonean people are happy people. Despite everything they've been through—even before Ebola, the civil war—my takeaway is that these are just resilient, happy people.

I remember arriving in country and you can't touch anyone. I remember meeting people on my team and everyone's doing one of these things [gestures]. You're not hugging anybody. You're distancing yourselves. You can't be this many people in a space at any given time.

It was definitely a shock of an adjustment to make. But the people on my team and all of the Sierra Leoneans I worked with—fear wasn't really at the forefront. It was more frustration and just tiredness of this. For two years, pretty much their school systems were shut down. They couldn't gather. It was just constant bad news, tons of media speculation. All of these people from all over the world descending on your country.

It was a period of difficulty. And not to mention all the people that lost their lives. A lot of sadness. Sadness more than fear. Sadness of what people had to experience, what people were continually enduring. On top of the issues that the country was already having.

When the World Health Organization announced that Sierra Leone was Ebola-free—I'm talking thousands of people got into the streets. It was like an immediate concert. Just thousands of people celebrating. "Oh my god, thank God." I went out to one of these gathering points with the music and celebrations and there was no personal space.

I think people were craving that. There's no personal space in Sierra Leone—people are this close to each other, sitting on top of each other. That's a cultural thing. I was talking to one of my colleagues and he said, "Yeah, we're not uncomfortable with having people right on top of us. It's just part of how we've all grown up."

I remember thinking, "Is this okay? Can we all just be here like this, together, in each other's faces, dancing?" And it was. It really was. That was such a powerful indicator of the type of people Sierra Leoneans are. They were just excited. Parties back on. Clubs were open. Restaurants got full. Let's get back to living. Let's get back to tackling these other issues. Let's go back to getting the economy going again. Let's prepare for what's next.

The administration at the time was very big on, "Can we just move on from Ebola? Let's move on from this narrative and start the build-back process. Let's focus on the future."

Joshua T. Berglan:

You led communications for the Sierra Leone Energy Revolution. You were trying to bring renewable energy to a people who had just survived a plague. How do you communicate innovation to a population that is just trying to survive? Is light a literal or metaphorical product?

Angela Betancourt:

That's a really great question. Before I even got there, there were people on the ground that had been there for many years, working on infrastructure, agriculture. Sierra Leone—first of all, the climate is like perfection almost year-round. You have dry season and rainy season. You don't have extreme weather. Maybe 78 for the low. They're close to the equator, so it's not this drastic winter-summer.

The rainy seasons are like biblical. They're like nothing I've ever seen before in my life. It will rain six months without stopping. And then the dry season—no rain in sight, just sunshine.

So there have been people there—still are—looking at this weather and saying, "Okay, first of all, the soil here for agriculture, how can we take that to the next level? If you have sun for six months of the year, solar power sounds like a good situation."

At the time, there was this thing called the Power Africa campaign being spearheaded by the United Kingdom. They were talking about the hundreds of millions of people across sub-Saharan Africa that do not have electricity—energy poverty. There was this energy compact to bring power to Africa by a certain date. Countries were going to sign this agreement.

Sierra Leone was the first country of all these countries in sub-Saharan Africa that said, "You know what, we're in. We want to sign." The UK government collaborated with the Minister of Energy, and the Minister said, "Well, if we're going to sign this compact, we should just make it a bigger thing. Let's put on a conference. Let's create an environment that surrounds the signing of this compact."

And thus was born Energy Revolution.

The Energy Revolution became a movement that was born out of a conference. A very small team of us led this entire thing. I was communications manager. I worked closely with the minister's comms team and a few other people. The core comms team was like four people.

I'm very proud to say that I led the communications effort of this conference. Out of that was founded RIEASL—the Renewable Energy Association of Sierra Leone—and I helped draft their first communication strategy.

I remember sitting with the Minister of Energy, whose cell phone number I had. I had many meetings at the table with many ministers. Once I was the only woman in a room full of Sierra Leonean men in power. That was super interesting, but also great.

We did this big conference. We only had about three months to pull it off and about 600 people came from all around the world. Media came from everywhere. I worked very closely with the entire team. I mean, writing, helping put roundtables together. I remember sitting in my hotel room one night at 2:30 in the morning cutting names out and putting name tags into lanyards. It was absolutely wild.

But we pulled it off and it was massively successful. We got dozens of media impressions from all around the world. The person who was leading the UK program for our team pulled me aside and said, "You are a shining star." I was later told that the president of Sierra Leone recognized my work. It was just an incredible experience. I'm pretty sure it's responsible for a lot of the gray hairs that I have today. But it was worth it.

And I have so many funny stories that came out of that. The night that we were all out to dinner to celebrate, the restaurant caught on fire. No one was injured, but literally the entire ceiling sparked up in flames. We were standing in the parking lot staring at this restaurant catch fire. The owner rebuilt very quickly. The restaurant did reopen before I left Sierra Leone.

Joshua T. Berglan:

In post-crisis zones, trust is by far the most expensive currency. The government and NGOs often lose credibility, as they have now. How did you use storytelling to rebuild trust between the people and the institutions that were supposed to save them?

Angela Betancourt:

That's such a heavy question. In Sierra Leone specifically, there were many organizations there. I know our work—the SOBA team's work—was a lot about sitting down with people, visiting people, meeting people where they are. We literally drove 5 hours into extremely remote villages to meet people where they are and sit with people. Literally sit with them.

That's a huge thing. If you're doing work that's going to impact people's lives, you have to really understand who your audience is. Who is this for? Who is your product for? Who are you building for? Who are you serving?

I was on a podcast where I talked a lot about the power of your "why." Why are you doing this? Because trust and authenticity are going to come from your values. Do you embody those values truly? If you do, then your actions need to reflect that.

When your words and actions align, you're going to have trust. Trust erodes when you're saying one thing but you're doing something else. We see this every day in society and around the world. In every industry, everywhere you look, you'll see businesses that say one thing and then their actions are completely different. Or they say something, they project something, and if you just lift that lid, what's underneath—everything falls apart.

It's not enough to say, "I'm a company that helps people do this." And then on the flip side, your paperwork, if you follow the money, if you listen to some off-comment that your employee made and they're still employed with you—this is where trust erodes.

We're in the internet age. The age of the hot mic. The leaked chat groups. The leaked WhatsApp groups. We saw this recently in the news Stateside. This is the age where you're probably going to get caught out. You're probably going to get found out. Someone's going to leak whatever you said.

Which means you're not in line with the values you're putting out there. And people are not dumb. You can dig around, not very deep, and find out a lot of things. At the core, trust is everything. You break the trust, now you have to question everything else that company has done.

Joshua T. Berglan:

You're right. It's the age of Aquarius. There's the biblical references—"all that's hidden will be revealed." And the technological advances are another reason why all secrets will be exposed. However you want to look at it—metaphysical, biblical, whatever—we're in a day and age where truth is an absolute superpower and truth is the ultimate vehicle in storytelling.

It's a gift for people like me who have a rough past and mental health issues. The truth is literally the fuel tank for the engine that operates everything I do in omni-media. I use my story essentially to launch my career because that's all I had.

The best part is, even though I came out with the unfiltered truth about things that most people would never talk about, that was years ago. Now watching all these things happen to people who've had secrets, I'm like, "Man, I'm so glad I told the truth back then."

I have this agreement with God that I don't hide anything. If I do it, I talk about it. I'm not going to hide it. And that's a very comfortable place to be. But I'm watching other people really struggle with it.

Truth is such a powerful thing. Not only is truth where you find your tribe of people, it's also how you learn your identity. That's an amazing feeling. In a world that seems so fractured, and having a fractured soul in the sense of dissociative identity disorder, to be grounded and centered with who I am for the first time in my life when the world's going crazy is an amazing feeling. But that's not possible without being boldly, freakishly honest.

Angela Betancourt:

As you're saying that, I keep thinking about the age of social media where everyone's highlight reels are on full display. It's difficult to show up as your authentic self. It's always been difficult. We're in a world where showing up as who you really are is difficult.

And I think social media has made it such now with everyone's seemingly curated, perfectly aesthetic lives. The ability to show up as the aesthetic of whatever you feel you want people to think of you has made it even more difficult. Which is wild because it's an age where you can reach more people than ever. You can learn about more people than ever. You can learn about so many different ways of living, different mentalities, people, cultures—more than ever.

And yet it's more difficult to show up as you really are. Because on the flip side of showing up boldly and meeting your tribe are people that have taken this internet and these spaces for negativity. And it scares people to show up as who they truly are.

So when people can actually do it, it's something to celebrate. The fact that you're living in your truth and showing up in your authentic way is wonderful. It's a wonderful thing in this world.

Joshua T. Berglan:

It's freedom.

Angela Betancourt:

It is freedom. You must sleep the best at night. I think a lot about that. I put my head down at night and I have a clear conscience. I sleep well in that regard. That's the best gift that you can give yourself for sure.

Joshua T. Berglan:

It's also the best gift you can give to people you love, especially if they've been held captive by your secrets.

Angela Betancourt:

100%. And it also frees people. It also helps free other people. When you see people show up boldly like that, it nudges, it reminds others that, "Hey, maybe I can do this too."

Joshua T. Berglan:

We talk a lot about media sovereignty on this program. Corporations often use greenwashing to hide the truth. As a communication strategist, where do you draw the ethical line? Have you ever had to tell a client, "I cannot tell that story because it isn't true"?

Angela Betancourt:

I have avoided signing clients because it didn't align with what I wanted to do. My 20-year-old self was very much about in-house, big-name work, working for someone and learning. When I started freelancing and then ultimately when I launched Betancourt Group, I did so with a very clear understanding of the type of work that I wanted to do. I wanted my work to align with my values.

Yes, I have—quite recently too, actually. Interestingly enough, I felt something off about a conversation I had with a potential client. Something just felt off and I knew I wasn't going to move forward there. And I will do it over and over again.

For example, as somebody in the climate space, I'm not going to do PR for an oil company. And I know how much oil companies pay for PR. But I'm not going to do it. I'm just not going to do it. I'm just going to avoid it to the best of my abilities.

I think if I enter a situation where I was misled into thinking something was something else, yeah, I'm not afraid to cut those ties. One of the things about launching my own business was being able to say yes to the types of clients I wanted to work with and to actively seek those out and hopefully they would find me.

That's really at the heart of what I wanted to do. I don't want to take on an account that just doesn't align. I just couldn't do it.

Joshua T. Berglan:

I respect that a lot. I've been put in positions where, if I wanted a certain part or role, I was going to have to compromise my values. It's tough because I'm fortunate that I get to work with global organizations—but I'm also a realist. I've been able to see multiple perspectives about global agendas and know the inner workings. I have what I think is a healthy, realistic view of the future world we're going into—the real risks, the pros, the cons.

The thing that aggravates me most is when people say they're telling the truth, they're giving a small piece of it. They're not giving the full picture. The UN comes out with Agenda 21 and Agenda 2030, and the conspiracy theorists get their hands on it and say, "Oh, we're going to be enslaved and have our freedoms taken." And they're kind of right. Then the other people say there's hope and opportunity for all, and we're going to make it fair, provide resources and infrastructure and clean water. And that's all great too.

Some people see that as a threat because they're going to have their normalcy disrupted. As humans, we do not like change. However, these changes and agendas are meant to—or at least in theory—help everyone, make the world fair and just for all.

The problem is the conspiracy theorists aren't telling the full truth, and the UN and World Economic Forum aren't telling the full truth either. There's no middle ground for people to come together because one side feels threatened, the other feels it's hope, so they're all sold out. They're pushing that narrative. There's no one there to try to build the bridge.

What I'm getting at is this: I studied Agenda 21 and Agenda 2030, the Rockefeller report, the future of industry. I've read every book that every World Economic Forum and United Nations leader has put out. I have a good understanding of the future world that we're going into.

I was able to figure out for myself, in the studying, the opportunity that was available for all. And there is absolutely an opportunity. And guess what that opportunity is? Media literacy. Not media literacy as understanding between real and fake news. I'm talking about the understanding of how to use all of the media tools that are available.

There's metaverse. There's all the video platforms, the audio platforms. You can publish books for free now. You can create merchandise for free. Every form of media is now accessible into the hands of all of us.

And the most amazing thing is that all those tools—you don't need money to start a business. You don't even need an education to be able to start this business. Because if you like storytelling—and this goes back to storytelling—there are some people that have been disabled their whole life. They're mentally ill. They've been incarcerated. They were trafficked. They have sensory issues so they can't be around people physically. They've been cut off from the world, cut off from opportunity, cut off from education.

And yet, here we have this vehicle that anyone can use to create endless revenue streams, tapping into their god-given gifts, god-given talents, and their life experience—their intellectual property, aka their stories. And there's literally endless revenue streams with that formula alone.

I've written multiple books on it. But for the life of me, I've been watching all of these world leaders talk. I attend most of the UN meetings. I get to attend meetings of the World Bank. I listen to what the world leaders say. I listen to what the conspiracy theorists say. And no one has talked about this very basic thing.

There's an opportunity available for all. My mission is to build that bridge, but I really don't know how.

Angela Betancourt:

Thank you for your passion on all of that. I could definitely hear your passion. Everything you just said is a whole other three-hour conversation, right? There's a lot to unpack there.

But I will say this: In this information age where there's so much available to us, I think it's important to break it down. When people talk about climate change and then they're not specific, or people say, "I'm going to live in Africa"—I'm like, "Where? Where in Africa? Africa is a continent. Where in Africa are you going? Tell me the country and then tell me the city." You can't just throw out these big ideas.

The important thing is breaking it down into chunks. People want to talk about climate—okay, climate change is like 10,000 feet in the air. We need to come on down.

What I'm hearing from what you're saying is: Where do we begin? Where do you begin to break down barriers and build bridges and start to break through noise and actually inform people, actually start making those connections?

And I think the answer, in my humble opinion, is we have to pick a point and then start from there because it's too big. It's too big. There's too much going on.

So I have so much respect for people that are like, "Okay, let's start with the social economy in DC. What can we do in DC to empower more people and make the financial system work for everyone? Let's start there." And then what's the next step after that?

We realize, okay, educating people that certain resources are available is a huge part. I talked to a lot of people that weren't even aware that they can maybe go to the library and get a form that they need.

You were talking about how anyone can start a business. You can go to your public library. Most public libraries are going to have forms that you can fill out. You can talk to a librarian—thank goodness for librarians—who are going to help you and say, "Here's a form that you can start. You need to register here. You need to go here. Then maybe check out this YouTube channel because they talk about how to create a page on Wix or Squarespace or WordPress so you can get your website up." And now we're breaking it down.

Especially someone like you because I can already tell—big thinker, big ideas, let's go. There's so many things that need to be corrected. So many things we can take on. Myself included, I'm that way too.

A colonel in the Air Force who I deeply admire, whose career is mind-boggling to me—I asked her one day, "How do you do everything?" And she said to me, "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time."

Because I'm one of these people that are like, "I want to be involved. I want to take it on. Let's do it. Let's—there's so many big things I want to accomplish and so many things that we can solve in the world. Problems. But—how do you break down these walls? How do we bring all these things together? All these big people are saying all these things, and I see it, but how do we distill that down?"

I say we pick a point. We pick an area. We pick a community. We start there. And I say that because I think that applies to climate change. That applies to so many of the injustices that we're seeing. Let's start in our own community. Let's start in our backyard.

Are people in our backyard aware of these resources? Are they aware of these books that are available? Are they aware of these programs that can help give them knowledge about certain new tools?

In Sierra Leone, I remember talking to people about Facebook 101. What is the 101 you can do in your community that's going to start that empowerment process, that media literacy process?

When it all feels so crazy and overwhelming and big, I always like to bring it back to the community. And that helps me not feel frustrated with the world—to think about my own community, my own backyard.

Joshua T. Berglan:

Smart. To me, it starts with the youth in the community. Because I believe that the youth—especially now—if a teenager can run a YouTube channel or a TikTok channel, they can run a media organization now. They can be a one-person media organization covering every form of media by themselves now. And they can do it without spending a dime. That is a fact.

Angela Betancourt:

And they do. Look at Mr. Beast. He started a YouTube channel in his bedroom in his mom's house. And look at what one person has been able to accomplish. And I love that he has his Mr. Philanthropy channel because look at the impact he's trying to have in the world. It started with a young guy sitting in his bedroom in his mom's house that was supposed to be studying for a test, decided to launch a YouTube channel.

But it shows, to your point of the media—that's the good part of the internet and these platforms that exist today. That's the good part of it. And it now is just about empowering people and encouraging people and having that ripple effect in your community, your neighbor, in schools. To say, "Here's how you can step it up. Here's how you can have impact. Here's how you can change your life. Here's how you can find meaningful work or talk about the things that light you up."

Joshua T. Berglan:

Angela, I'm the World's Mayor and I'm going to give you the power to enact one global communication law. One rule that every news outlet and corporation has to follow when talking about climate change. What is that rule?

Angela Betancourt:

Beyond "tell the truth"—all of it—I would say: Remember the people. Remember the people that are going to be most impacted by what you're about to say or not say.

Joshua T. Berglan:

That's just a golden rule for all of us.

Angela Betancourt:

Yes. Truth, and then at the heart of that is remember the people that are about to be impacted by what you do or do not say. And I think that is true.

This question is going to keep me up at night because watch me think of five more answers. But beyond the truth part—because truth, that's right, let's center that, that's the main thing—I think we have to keep the people at the heart. The people that are going to be the most impacted.

This is so true of climate change because this is the problem about climate change. And very interestingly enough, we're seeing this right now with data centers. These data centers are going up in these communities and people are starting to see the impact that these data centers are having in these communities.

So let's be truthful about all of this and keep in mind the people that are about to be impacted by this data center in their backyard. What that means for them. And what these data center implementers—speak the truth and speak it with the people that are about to be impacted in mind.

That's what I would say. Because at the end of the day, what you do and do not say is going to have a direct impact on the community that you are in. So tell the truth and communicate the full story to those people. That's my law.

And if everyone does that in every community, then the world's a better place. Or at least a more transparent place. Because transparency—there needs to be more of that. There needs to be more of that right now in this world, across the board.

Joshua T. Berglan:

Because it doesn't feel good to have well-funded agendas forced down anyone's throat.

Angela Betancourt:

It doesn't. Especially if you don't understand what it means. I speak a lot about how smart cities need smart communications. That's like a keynote that I like to give. It's about, you know, we've seen these big cities—people come to the table with these big plans, these big cities that we want to build that are going to be smart and sustainable—and then they fail.

Why did those cities fail? Because the people were not at the heart.

In that keynote, I talk about a city in South Korea—a smart city, one of the first smart cities that was built. Nobody wants to live there. People are living there, but the people that implemented this plan had to cut back. They overestimated how many people would come rushing to live there. No. A lot of people don't want to live there.

They were not communicated about the benefits of living there. How their data was going to be handled. All this smart stuff—how are you using my data? How is this going to impact my life? You need to communicate with people with truth and transparency. That's my international law.

Joshua T. Berglan:

That's a perfect law. And the other thing they should talk about—they need to have an honest conversation because the research has been out for over 40 years about how frequencies directly affect people with trauma. There's been research out for 40 years about this.

When I started talking about what was going on with me—because I've only had this for two years. I know exactly how it happened. And it's even more confirmed after they ran every medical test possible and I came out perfectly healthy. Which is insane if you know my life.

That said, I'd already found the medical research about how frequencies affect people with trauma. That research has been out for 40 years. So while they were pushing 4G and then 5G and then 6G—which is really us connected to the internet—they weren't honest and forthright about these changes.

Instead, they're like, "Ooh, 5G, everything's connected, it's super fast." And it wasn't really that fast, by the way. But they were making all these promises and hype it up. They give you all the candy and throw the sugar and donuts at you—the dessert. But then when you get the bill later, maybe there's some things attached to that bill.

They weren't forthright about that. And then the people that tried to speak out about these frequencies and how they affect people—they got silenced. We can't have that.

Angela Betancourt:

Your passion. I hear it. That's super interesting. I'll definitely look up some information because there's so much I don't know and I'm always looking.

But I always think about—and we've seen this time and time again—we saw this with cigarettes, right? Cigarettes are fine. Cigarettes are fine. Cigarettes are fine. Okay, they're not fine 50 years later.

We've been here before. As a country, there's a history of something comes out and then it's really, really good, and then we realize, "Oh my gosh, it's really, really bad." And then they try to correct and then it's on to the next thing.

I think what's going to be really interesting—and it's something that I'm following very closely—is microplastics. I'm so glad that there's so much more coming out about this now. I'm so glad that I'm seeing so many young influencers on TikTok. Bankrupt Groups is an incredible—Dr. Jennifer Brandon, she's a plastic science expert and researcher. More and more is coming out about microplastics now.

It's got me thinking, how long have we known about the dangers of potential microplastics? We're just now at the beginning of understanding microplastics. They've been out since what, the 50s. Plastics came into the fold in the 50s and then in the 60s they really took off. And then polyester fabrics and now we know that it's in polyester fabrics and now we know that they break down in your laundry and now we know all of these things.

There's always something that we discover, that we learn about that is like, "Oh wait, wow, how long have I been ingesting microplastics?" And now it's coming out about, "Well, what can we do about it?" More research is coming out. More knowledge about connections.

We're still in the beginning of understanding what it is, but the ramifications of what's being discovered is huge. When we're learning that microplastics increase stroke and this and that, you're just like, "Oh my gosh."

So again, we can go down these conversations, but my whole thing is—as the information age continues to evolve, as we continue to introduce all of these new things into our lives—artificial intelligence, data centers, this and that—there is going to be a time where we're going to, 20 years from now, understand AI in a way we didn't now. And the impact of that. We're seeing the cognitive impact of AI right now already. What does that look like?

It's difficult. And I will say this—once we do know something, then I always encourage people to continue to research that thing.

Microplastics, the conversation about microplastics is not mainstream yet. It needs to be. It's not as mainstream as I'd like it to be. Not enough people are aware of it yet. But the ramifications of that knowledge are huge and it's going to create a ripple effect in the industry. And so there is going to be resistance. There's going to be industries that are like, "Yeah, but not our fabric. Not our thing. Not our spoons, not our plates, not our cups." There's always going to be that.

So knowledge is power. Research. Talk to people that know about it. Read the industry journals, the scientific journals. Read information. Learn as much as you can with whatever information's out there about these topics. Because it's important that we become aware of what's happening.

So if anyone has a data center that's about to go up in their community, read. Read and talk to people and ask questions and don't be afraid to send that email and say, "What is this going to mean for me and what's the impact?"

That's the most that we can do. And then the responsibility falls on the other party now to be transparent and truthful. Even though they might not be, but they should be.

Joshua T. Berglan:

There's something I want to throw at you to look up—and we're not going to discuss this because this will literally take five hours—is smart dust. Everyone out there listening right now or watching, look it up. Just look it up. Because Trump's talking about it openly. He's been talking about 6G under the skin openly. Connect the dots. And the conversation about microplastics and smart dust go hand in hand, by the way. Not necessarily in a direct way, but it's a very, very similar trajectory.

Angela Betancourt:

I will look it up.

Joshua T. Berglan:

Have fun with it. And we may have to come back and discuss it.

Now Angela, there's someone listening right now who's 40, 50, even 60 years old. They think it's too late to pivot. They think they are too old to join the military, start a business, or even dive into the ocean. Look into that camera and tell them why they are wrong.

Angela Betancourt:

Well, you might be too old to join the military. That's unfortunate. If you're 38 or 39, you can still join up until you're 40. You can sign the contract the day before your 40th birthday. So there's that. If you're physically able and it's something you're interested in looking into—if you're not 40 yet. I still think you should be like 42, but that's a different conversation. Because I feel like I could still pass that PT test today.

But with the exception of the military, unfortunately—if you're still breathing and you still have a will to do something with yourself and you still have dreams and goals—do not let your age stop you from achieving what it is that you want to do.

You want to go scuba diving and you're 65? Look up Dr. Sylvia Earle. Look her up. If you think you're too old for scuba diving, look up that name. What an iconic woman, in her 90s. This woman has been diving forever. She is the legend.

Age is nothing if you can physically do what it is that you want to do. If you have the will and the mental fortitude and are physically able to do that task—please, please, please do it. As long as you have breath in your lungs, you must do it. Actually, you owe it to yourself to do it. And you owe it to your older self to do it because you do not want to come to the end of your days regretting that you didn't do the thing.

Most businesses are not started until people are in their 50s or something like that. Look up that statistic as well. The internet will have you believe that everyone who's starting a business and is successful is 22 and they launched a podcast and they're number one on Spotify and they're 23 and they drive a Mercedes and they live in a house and all of that.

That's happening to 2% of YouTubers and 2% of social media influencers. So good for them. But the reality is your average age of people who start a business is actually so much older than you think it is.

And age gives you something that you can only get with age. And that is lived experience. Lived experience can only be acquired with living. So that's it. The end. You are just getting better. You are just getting wiser. And you need to do it. You owe it to your future self and you owe it to yourself right now.

So just do it. Just do the thing. Please, please, please, please, please, please. If you want to write a book, go write it. You want to launch a business and you're 65, go do it. You want to run a marathon, still go do it. I think the person who ran the New York Marathon, the oldest person—I think there were 80 or something. It can be done. It can be done.

And so I just urge you to please, please do it. And do it proudly and do it boldly and don't be afraid. You will be afraid actually. It is going to be very—but the reward on the other side of a big bold move is incredible. So please, please, please do it.

Joshua T. Berglan:

And there's something else too. There's a platform called Baby Boomers that is for that 50, 60, 70-year-old people that are wanting to get into media. There are people that are leaving legacy pieces, starting podcasts and leaving legacy pieces to tell these stories for everyone, but then really leaving it behind for their youth.

I say this about media all the time. I learned through new media—that was the vehicle because I wasn't going to get access to traditional media. That said, the new media people are never going to have sustainable careers in new media without knowing the fundamentals of traditional media. That's important.

So the old-school media people that have been aged out supposedly of traditional media and don't really want to tap into new media—I got to tell you, there's a real big opportunity there, especially for teaching the younger generation the fundamentals of media. Because when you learn that, it makes everything you're doing with new media such—it gives you the opportunity to really create a solid foundation to launch off of.

Angela Betancourt:

100%. A foundation is super important. And luckily, there are so many ways to acquire that foundation now that do not require having to go back to school. There are so many ways to acquire information on and offline.

Go to your library. I'm telling you, if you don't have that kind of internet access that you need or you don't have the laptop that gives you that, start in your local library because you're going to find so many great resources there.

And that's the other thing too—be mindful of the media that you consume. In a world where you can turn on any channel and doom scroll forever—because you can—but there are also a lot of uplifting, wonderful, empowering things that you should be listening to that's going to help give you that extra oomph.

There are a lot of people in every genre, in every business thing, of every interest. There are people out there, you just need to find them. They're easy to find, actually, that are out there giving you the tips and the tricks and setting the example for what it looks like.

I love that in the beauty space, even, and especially for women who sometimes—this thing about after 40 you start to get invisible and all of that. Oh my gosh, I just put on my little ear plugs and just shut all that out. Just shut it all out. They are wrong.

There are so many women right now that are of so many age groups online that are living their best, biggest, bold lives and they're 50 and 60 and 70. Follow those women. Listen to those women. Those are the women you want to be listening to.

If you need more social proof, look at the celebrities that are out there killing it. Even if they rub you the wrong way or whatever—like, I love looking at someone like JLo who's in her 50s and she's not slowing down. She's not slowing down. She's out there making the movies, making the songs, going on tour, going on concerts, raising her family. Lover or hater.

There's actual social proof everywhere you look of people that are out there winning in every age group. And I just highly advise that.

And if you can sit down with an elderly person in your community or someone in your own family, talk to them as well. Because we just undervalue older people too much. We don't give them enough. We just need to elevate them so much more.

I'm so blessed that I come from a family of just powerful women. Women that are—my mom's in her 80s and she's still traveling and she's still living and she's still walking and she's in her friends group and she's just amazing. I look to her. Those are my role models.

So you're hearing it from me first. Don't listen to the noise of people that are trying to keep you down and walk your path and do what you want to do. Because that's advice that I follow myself.

I won't get into it because I don't know if we have that much time, but even in my personal life, I just wasn't—I've just never been on the same timeline that people say. It's just not been my reality. I joined the Air Force at 38. I gave birth to my first child three days before my 41st birthday. I don't care if people are calling me old. I don't care if people are telling me you shouldn't be whatever. Why are you doing those things?

Be wary of those people. Also, be wary of the people that are like, "Why do you want to go do that?" in that tone. Stay away from those people. There's no gatekeepers anymore anyway. There's no gatekeepers.

And more than ever, you need to find people that are going to cheer you on and say, "Hell yeah, go do that thing." Those are the people.

Joshua T. Berglan:

Well, hold on—whoa. Really quick though. There is no people cheering you on in the hero's journey, especially at first. It's very lonely. I don't—I want to—it is the most isolating, lonely thing ever.

When you pursue what you're called to do and you take that leap of faith, part of the test of the hero's journey is that there's no applause till the end. There's criticism. And the people that are closest to you that you think are going to be the ones to support you—not so much. They don't.

Angela Betancourt:

Yeah. And also, to your point on that—not only—for me it wasn't so much—I mean, definitely there were lonely moments. But the people that dropped off—the people that drop off. It happens to me and it feels like it happens almost every time I do a big bold move. Somebody drops off.

And it was very painful. Friends and people that I thought would be there. Sierra Leone was a big one. Oh boy, did my friend circle shift at that point.

So I mean, to your point, yes, it can be a very lonely experience and people will drop off. Not everyone's meant to be on the journey. And then you meet other people along the journey.

Joshua T. Berglan:

Heck yeah. And then you become really, really grateful for really small things.

Angela Betancourt:

And look, the applause might never come. You can't be doing it for the applause. You have to be doing it because it's just what is in your heart to do.

Joshua T. Berglan:

Soul journey. It's like for me it's the place of—I'm gonna die. If I don't do this, I'm dying. Like this is what gets me out of bed every day. It makes it worth fighting. It makes me worth not giving up because it's my soul's purpose. That's what I surrendered to. I surrendered to that call.

And so now it's my lifeblood. It's the only lifeblood I have, is doing that. And if I deviate from that path, then I'm gonna die. I just know it.

Angela Betancourt:

Well, I mean—I would say I'll applaud this. I'll applaud. Congratulations. Sounds like a dream job.

People think that the dream job is an actual job. And it's actually not. Sierra Leone for me was a dream job. But it wasn't just because I was sitting in this room most days typing up a report. It was because of the full embodiment of the experience—the transformation within me, the impact I was able to have, the people that I was meeting—made it the dream job.

And then I realized the dream job is not necessarily that actual physical job. The dream job is that you are working on a path that is your calling and your mission and that speaks joy to you. And for me, my journey and this business that I have now is my dream job. What I'm planning next, the next big bold move that's brewing right now behind the scenes, is part of that. It's part of the dream job.

And I think maybe we should reframe it as not the dream job, but the dream journey. Because the dream journey is—you're doing the things that wake you up in the morning, fill your cup, pay your bills, and help you connect with others.

Joshua T. Berglan:

I like that.

Angela Betancourt:

It doesn't necessarily have a destination. You're just continuously doing work that matters. And especially someone who's going to break out on their own—you probably have two or three things going on at the same time. You have the podcast, but then you're writing, but then you're also speaking, but then you're also—right? So those are multiple jobs that I think make the package of the dream journey.

And right now I'm on my dream journey again. And I'm so fortunate. And it sounds like you're on your dream journey.

Oh my gosh, did I just coin something? I coined it here first. People, start—if "dream journey" starts popping up on socials, this is your proof that I coined it here first.

But yeah, I think we should be on dream journeys. Part of the dream journey is because you're doing—even if you have three different things going on—I am going to be launching a podcast soon. Which, by the way, you should come on. I do want to launch a podcast and I hope I can monetize that podcast because we have to feed ourselves.

But it's all very much in alignment. I'm doing work that's in alignment and I'm getting paid for it. And I feel like that's the dream journey that I'm on. And we should all be on a dream journey, which doesn't necessarily have a destination. You're just continuously doing the work that wakes you up in the morning, fills your cup, pays your bills, and helps you connect with others to further the knowledge, to further the wisdom to people that are listening, to people that are buying your services.

Oh my gosh, I'm just so glad this is being recorded because I'm really on a thing right now. This dream journey. I'm on my dream journey again. I was on a dream journey in Sierra Leone. I'm on a dream journey again. And I want to continue that dream journey. And I hope other people can find that dream journey.

Joshua T. Berglan:

Well, by the way, your podcast will serve as a great commercial for your business. You can make your own commercial. You be your own sponsor.

Angela Betancourt:

And it will. And it's all very organic. It's coming from an organic place. It's coming from my soul. It's coming from my values. And so I have no problem putting that out into the world because it's coming from this place of my mission.

Joshua T. Berglan:

Another good thing that you can do with your podcast is flip it into a book.

Angela Betancourt:

I told you some stuff was happening behind the scenes. I am working on a book. You're one of the first people to hear it. It's coming. I'm making—yes, it's coming.

Joshua T. Berglan:

I love it when people announce things on my show. I could literally talk to you all day. But what I would like to do is give you the mic and you get the last word. Here's the instructions before you give your last word. I want you to plug everything you want to plug. I don't care if it's an underwater flute recital. Promote it. But also anything that's on your heart, any statement, your mic drop moment, anything that you feel you need to say that you didn't get the opportunity to say on this program. The floor is yours. You get the last word.

Angela Betancourt:

I have to start with gratitude. Thank you so, so, so, so much for having me on. This has been so lovely. I was kind of ill over the weekend with stuffy nose and congestion and I feel like—look—it's clearing up while I'm on this podcast. This is so great.

No, this has been truly wonderful. I'm grateful and I appreciate you having me on. So that's first and foremost.

I run a PR business. And here's a funny point from earlier—I will say no to something that doesn't align. But if you're a business or an organization and you're ready to genuinely step into a more sustainable space in the core of your business, reach out to me. Because Betancourt Group, we are all about environmental and social impact—positive environmental, social impact.

If you're ready to start making an impact, you're ready to truly transform into this space and say, "You know what, I really want to have sustainability be at the core of what we do, but that means uprooting everything and starting over and rebuilding," send me an email. Let's have a conversation.

If you're already in that space and you are looking to elevate your story a little bit more, you're looking to reach people, you're looking to up your communications game, your outreach game, your community building game—Betancourt Group, please reach out. Website's groupbetancourt.com. BettincourtGroup.com will also take you there. Find me on LinkedIn. Love a good LinkedIn moment.

And also, I love speaking. So if you are looking to bring a speaker into your organization to talk a little bit more about big bold moves or to talk about the importance of communications and transparency, please reach out to me because I would love to do that. I want to do more public speaking in 2026. So I'm putting it out there now. That would be absolutely wonderful.

And I will leave it with big bold moves. It is a real philosophy that I live by. I talk about it. I'm writing about it. I've lived it. I am currently living it. If you have a big bold move that you want to make in this life, do it. Follow that hunch. Follow those ideas. Honor yourself. Honor your ideas.

And then I think my final words are: We as a society really need to show more empathy. I've traveled all over this world. I've lived in so many cultures. I have friends on every continent except for Antarctica. And people are good. And this world has so much beauty in it. We have so much to offer each other. We have so much to learn from each other. My goodness, we have so much to learn from each other.

Please open your minds. Let's learn from each other. Let's embrace each other. And I think that's just the way.