Discover, design and live the work you were born to do.
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We help people discover and realize the work of their future, turning their true nature and gifts into Radical Callings: bold, life-giving work designed for a world in need.
This is not theory or self-help in disguise. Our work takes shape in the real world for each of our participants—as new roles, organizations, businesses, products, services, projects, and systemic, cultural or civic change initiatives. It is the practical, creative act of translating inner truth into outer form, and of bringing regenerative ideas out of imagination and into motion. This is how new futures are made: by people who have the courage to go from “what is” to “what if.”
Whether you’re aching to use your work as a force for good or carrying a radical idea you can’t ignore, your calling begins when your work becomes a vow rooted in who you truly are, guided by your beliefs and values, and aimed at what the world can no longer overlook.
What Makes a Calling Radical?
The word “radical” comes from radix, meaning root. To be radical is to return to your origin. Your core. The place before systems, titles, and expectations. But it’s also to rebel. To challenge. To reimagine what no longer serves. The world doesn’t need more compliance. It needs your gifted disobedience.
From Inner Truth to Systemic Shift.
A Radical Calling is:
Deep alignment with your true nature.
Bold disruption of the status quo.
Rooted enough to be unshakable.
Unorthodox enough to shake things up.
Trading comfort for clarity.
Planting seeds for new systems.
Resisting extraction and indifference
Becoming a living signal of what’s possible.
A quiet rebellion others can follow.
A spark that multiplies.
Calling All Free Radicals
This is for the rebels with a cause. The mavericks who once felt the spark of purpose but lost sight of the flame. It’s for those who’ve always sensed their work could be a force for good but never had the map, the guide, or the right companions for the journey.
Here, you throw out the rulebook that never fit. This isn’t about fixing yourself. It’s about burning away the noise and numbness that’s smothered your calling. It’s about reconnecting to the untamed, unshakable thread that’s always pulled you forward no matter how far off-course you’ve wandered.
This is where it all clicks. Where purpose finds its voice. Where the quiet ache becomes a vow, and your soul’s work starts to move in the world.
Together, we give shape to the gifts, ideas, and ambitions that have been simmering under the surface, turning passion into momentum, desire into movement.
This isn’t about doing what’s expected. Or finding “balance.” It’s about reclaiming your role as someone who doesn’t just exist but ignites. Someone who moves with purpose. Who uses their work as a force for good on their terms, in their way.
If you’re ambitious, intentional, frustrated, or simply tired of being anything less than your full self, this is your invitation.
Let’s find your thread, light your fire, and build the momentum to turn it all into something extraordinary.
The time for waiting is over.
It’s time to move.
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The Center for Radical Calling exists to design the designers of a more beautiful and regenerative future. Our work is rooted not in a simple “theory of change” — which often focuses on interventions, outputs, and measurable improvements — but in a theory of shift: a deeper realignment of identity, imagination, and systems. Change adjusts what exists. A shift transforms the underlying pattern. We help people discover, design, and live their Radical Calling — a form of work that aligns their gifts, values, and beliefs with the urgent needs of the world. When individuals realign with their true nature and begin shaping their work from that place, the systems they inhabit begin to reorganize around life, not extraction.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”—Margaret Mead
To be fully human is to be both rooted and restless, rooted in our essence, restless in our desire to help the world thrive in a way only we can.Institutions, governments, and businesses cannot change fast enough. Real transformation begins with individuals, those mavericks who long to use their work for good but often lack a pathway, form or collaborators.
“Don’t just try to tackle what seems most wrong out there; develop the unique potential within yourself and then, through indirect work and in everything you do, be a resource to others and help them see theirs. This is an iterative process and both an age-old and a brand-new way of bringing about transformation.Nearly every philosophical and spiritual wisdom tradition teaches that profound and enduring change can only come from transforming who we are and how we experience and understand the world. We must stop modifying what we do without modifying who we are.”
—Carol Sanford
What is a Radical Calling?A Radical Calling is the form your work takes when driven by gifts, commitment, sacrifice, and urgency to make radical change. It breaks norms, challenges the status quo, and inspires others to do the same.
It answers yes to these questions:
Is it guided by your soul and inherent gifts, principles, values and beliefs?
Is it mission, purpose, systems and life-centered?
Will it help people, communities and the planet thrive?
Is it inspired by how real change happens, challenging conventions, norms and existing paradigms?
Is it original, sharp and inspiring in its form?
Are you making commitments and sacrifices in order to do this work?
Is it necessary now, and will its impact be real, visible, and accountable?
Our Work
We guide people through three stages:
Discover — Rediscover your 8 Truths and shape a guiding Red Thread.
Design — Imagine and design the form your Radical Calling takes, whether a role, project, venture, or movement.
Live — Sustain and grow your calling within a collective of “free radicals” through community, learning, mentoring, and activism.
“Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.”—Rumi
A Work/Life Blend, Not a BalanceWe believe your “work” is how you show up, not just at your job, your home or in your relationships, but everywhere. To live a Radical Calling is to have the confidence and power of knowing who you truly are and what you are supposed to be doing when you get up in the morning, go to sleep at night, and throughout your days.
“If you make your living by your calling, if you use your skills well and to a good purpose and therefore are happy or satisfied in your work, why should you necessarily do less of it? More importantly, why should you think of your life as distinct from it?”—Wendell Berry
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The Center for Radical Calling is a mission-driven business building a new kind of economy, one rooted in purpose, access, and radical generosity. We use our creative, financial, and human resources to make our offerings as accessible as possible. Through earned revenue, sponsorships, grants, donations, and community support, we lower the financial barrier for those called to do meaningful, world-shifting work.
Our ecosystem is made of three living parts:
The Fellowship, Change Agent program and Radical Sabbatical which help individuals design the radical work of their future
The Idea Lab, an incubator for launching bold, transformative ideas
The Radical Calling Collective, an ecosystem of ongoing learning, mentorship, activism, and co-creation for our “free radicals”
Revenue from the Idea Lab, along with content subscriptions, books, grants and partnerships, helps fund our individual work and keep fees as low as possible. We believe everyone deserves the chance to live their Radical Calling, not just those who can afford it.
To receive more information about the Center for Radical Calling, our offerings, and our fee structure, send a note HERE.
Radical Calling
Guides
Tim Galles
Tim Galles
Founder/Director | Discovery + Design
Tim Galles is a “citizen designer” devoted to helping people discover and activate their Radical Callings, undivided lives committed to bringing something bold, beautiful, just, and whole into the world.
After years leading creative and strategic direction for organizations of all kinds and sizes, Tim chose to focus his creative energy on guiding individuals toward work rooted in gifts, integrity, and systemic impact. He brings together decades of experience as a chief idea officer, chief strategy officer, creative director, art director, writer and designer, along with the frameworks he created, including Whole Brand Thinking™ and Beautiful Business Designer™.
Tim also teaches his Design for Good curriculum at the university level and works with high-school students from urban schools to pursue design in both college and their careers.
At the Center for Radical Calling, Tim integrates his experiences and proprietary tools with the Radical Calling methodology to help people imagine—and build—the most meaningful future possible for their work and lives.
Hannah Phang
Hannah Phang
Design
Hannah Phang is the co-founder and CMO of The Now Work, a flexible talent platform for sustainability that connects world-changing people with world-changing work.
With a global network of more than 1,500 independent sustainability experts, The Now Work helps organizations of all sizes access the right expertise, build bespoke teams, and design new ways of working that unlock creativity, prevent burnout, and accelerate regenerative impact. Hannah has worked with startups and global organizations including Tommy Hilfiger, Futerra, Google, Capital One, and Pfizer.
Hannah brings deep expertise in human-centered systems, sustainable work models, and regenerative impact to the Design stage—embodying the kind of work the world needs now.
John Bielenberg
John Bielenberg
Design
John Bielenberg is a designer, entrepreneur, and long-time advocate for design as a force for social and cultural transformation. He is the recipient of the AIGA Gold Medal for leadership in the design-for-good movement, author of Think Wrong, and co-founder of Thinknado, the ultimate positive-thinking action engine for unleashing creativity and solving problems in powerful new ways.
John believes design is not an end in itself, but a means to change people—and through them, the world. He is best known for “thinking wrong,” his unorthodox approach to creativity that challenges assumptions, reverses norms, and opens unexpected pathways forward.
At the Center for Radical Calling, John brings his radical, disruptive process to the Design stage—challenging and inspiring participants to reimagine what is possible.
Alyson DeMaso
Alyson DeMaso
Discovery + Design
Alyson DeMaso is a sacred guide and soul strategist dedicated to helping people reclaim freedom, purpose, and joy at life’s most pivotal moments.
Through her organization, Raising Beauty, Alyson supports powerful souls in aligning their lives with truth, meaning, and deep inner knowing. A former Fortune 500 executive, she left the traditional corporate world to follow her own Radical Calling, grounded in the belief that everyone is born with a divine mission and deserves to live a soul-aligned, truth-anchored, and radically alive life.
Alyson brings a rare blend of pragmatism and spiritual depth to the Discovery and Design stages, helping participants ground their calling in both wisdom and lived reality.
Ashley Seymour
Ashley Seymour
Discovery
Ashley Seymour is the founder of Divine Mission Alchemy, a sacred space devoted to helping individuals remember their purpose, reclaim their innate power, and live in alignment with their soul’s true mission.
Rooted in spiritual devotion and lived experience, Ashley’s work supports people at moments of deep transition, when they sense they are standing at the edge of their next alchemical becoming. Through intuitive guidance, energy healing, and mentorship, she helps individuals reconnect with joy, sovereignty, and the divine intelligence moving through their lives. Her approach weaves inner alchemy with grounded action, honoring both feminine allowing and masculine doing as essential forces in the journey of awakening.
Ashley brings years of study and practice in yoga, Reiki, ceremonial work, and intuitive healing to the Discovery stage, holding space for deep remembrance, embodiment, and soul-aligned clarity. Her work is guided by devotion to the collective awakening and a commitment to supporting others in living their divine mission with courage, trust, and reverence.
Rob Hopkins
Rob Hopkins
Design
Rob Hopkins is a visionary activist, author, and co-founder of the Transition Network, a global movement helping communities reimagine and rebuild life beyond fossil fuels.
For more than two decades, Rob has worked at the intersection of imagination, community action, and systemic change. He is the author of The Transition Handbook, From What Is To What If and, most recently, How to Fall in Love with the Future, a call to reclaim imagination as a tool for cultural and ecological transformation. Through his writing, speaking, and facilitation, Rob invites people to move from “What if?” to “What next?”—and then to act together.
An Ashoka Fellow and frequent global speaker, Rob brings a rare ability to make the future feel tangible, hopeful, and participatory. At the Center for Radical Calling, he supports the Discovery and Design stages by helping participants reconnect with collective imagination, place-based action, and the courage to design livable futures rooted in care, creativity, and possibility.
Michael Ellsworth
Michael Ellsworth
Design
Michael Ellsworth is a designer, creative director, and co-founder of the design studio Civilization, an award-winning design studio dedicated to advocacy, cultural engagement, and collaborative practice. His work is grounded in design for advocacy and advocating for design, examining how visual communication functions as a civic and cultural force that shapes public understanding and participation. Under his leadership, Civilization has received the National Design Award for Communication Design from the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, along with honors from the Webby Awards and the Anthem Awards.
Through his studio, teaching, and public programming, Ellsworth connects design history, contemporary practice, and the broader public as the founder of Volumes Design Library and an educator at Portland State University, where he supports the student-run Kemeny Design Lecture Series. His work spans collaborations with designers, architects, cultural institutions, and grassroots organizers, using design to communicate messages of equity, justice, and collective care across critical social issues.
Raya Leary
Raya Leary
Design
Raya Leary is a writer, researcher and strategist who builds multi-modal narratives exploring social entanglements with territory, culture, and the edible world. Her work bridges design history, ethnographic research, and contemporary practice, using storytelling and inquiry to surface the political, cultural, and material conditions that shape how we live.
Since 2016, Raya has guided research and project strategy at Civilization, a decentralized design studio rooted in history, activism, and collective intelligence. Her work spans research initiatives, client collaborations, public programming, and exhibitions, often interrogating authorship, representation, and recognition within graphic design and cultural production. Through conceptual and ethnographic methods, she helps shape work that connects deeply with communities, expands access to art and education, and challenges systems of oppression.
She has presented at the Royal College of Art (UK); Bard College (US), the Museum of Design Atlanta (US) and Porto Design Biennial (PT); and exhibited at the Nieuwe Instituut (NL), among others. Raya earned her bachelors in Social Sciences from Harvard University.
Jenna Goodman
Jenna Goodman
Design
Jenna Goodman is co-founder and CEO of Generous Change, a company dedicated to helping mission-driven organizations raise more money and create greater impact.
She has trained more than 4,000 professionals and led workshops, coaching sessions, and board retreats nationwide, equipping fundraisers, managers, academic leaders, volunteers, and teams with practical tools, actionable strategies, and new ways of thinking about generosity and change.
Jenna brings critical insight into funding, resourcing, and sustaining mission-based ideas, helping participants design callings that are both visionary and viable.