Business Innovators Radio - The Inspired Impact Podcast with Judy Carlson-Interview with Lauren Osga, Director of Development & Communications, WorldDenver

Episode Date: August 26, 2025

Lauren joined WorldDenver in 2019 after serving in a similar role at the World Affairs Council of Charlotte. She has a decade of experience in fundraising, development, program management, and event planning across nonprofits, and focuses on building global connections.Lauren grew up in San Diego, CA and attended a French immersion school, which planted the seeds for her passion in diversity and cross-cultural experiences. She earned her B.A. in International Studies and French, with a minor in Religion from California Lutheran University where she had the privilege of participating in travel seminars to Jamaica, Italy, and a semester abroad in Dakar, Senegal. Her time in Dakar focused on arts and culture, while researching issues affecting vulnerable children. She completed a dual master’s degree program in Social Work (MSW) and Theological Studies (MTS) at Boston University, (BU) with a focus on nonprofit development and program administration. During her time at BU, she participated in a travel seminar to Israel and Palestine to explore complexities of peace building, and one to Turkey to learn about the intersection of ancient archeology and modern Europe. In Boston, she worked in community organizing with Greater Boston Interfaith Organization and at DOVE, Inc., a domestic violence resource agency, where she contributed to planning and development for two record breaking fundraiser events.Lauren lives in Denver with her husband and two daughters, and enjoys the performing arts, live music, backpacking, snowboarding, and all that the Colorado Rockies have to offer.https://worlddenver.org/https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauren-osga-236a7294/**********************************************************Judy Carlson is the CEO and Founder of the Judy Carlson Financial Group, where she helps couples create personalized, coordinated financial plans that support the life they want to live – now and in the future.As an Independent Fiduciary and Comprehensive Financial Planner, Judy specializes in retirement income and wealth decumulation strategies. She is a CPA, Investment Advisor Representative, licensed in life and health insurance, and certified in long-term care planning.Judy’s mission is to help guide clients with clarity and care, building financial plans that focus on real planning built around real lives.Learn More: https://judycarlson.com/Investment Adviser Representative of and advisory services offered through Royal Fund Management, LLC, a SEC Registered Adviser.The Inspired Impact Podcasthttps://businessinnovatorsradio.com/the-inspired-impact-podcast/Source: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/the-inspired-impact-podcast-with-judy-carlson-interview-with-lauren-osga-director-of-development-communications-worlddenver

Welcome to the Inspired Impact Podcast, where dedicated female professionals share how they inspire impact every day. Authentic stories, passionate commitment, lives transformed. I'm your host, Judy Carlson. Welcome to today's episode of the Inspired Impact Podcast. I'm excited today to have a conversation with Lauren Asga. Lauren is the director of development and communications at World Denver. She has an amazing life journey and I can't wait to learn more. Lauren, welcome to the podcast.

Thank you so much, Judy. I'm happy to be here. Yeah, I'm excited to hear your story because you've got so much to your life already. And where did it start and where did your passion come from? Thank you for saying that. And, you know, it's funny, I think I always like to start in kindergarten. Back when my parents heard about a brand new school opening, it was just a week before school started, and they enrolled me there. It was a French immersion school, a public school in San Diego.

And so it was half Spanish, half French, and they chose French. I think they thought it would, you know, open doors to diplomacy and, you know, one of the, a very common language used around the world, even though we lived in San Diego where probably more than half the population also speak Spanish. So I showed up. I remember, I remember vividly showing up on the first day of school. And of course, no English was spoken. So all of my teachers were from French-speaking countries, and, you know, they just immediately start big gestures, but speaking to you entirely in French, showing pictures of things and giving you directions. And I remember being wide-eyed and terrified, probably like most kindergartners, I guess. I don't know, because I didn't have the experience in my, you know, native language. but through that you become fluent very quickly. You have to adapt.

And I had such a diverse set of classmates. So many of them were already bilingual in French or Spanish or another language at home. So having all those friends and those were the houses you were visiting, those were the birthday parties you were going to, it just felt very normal to me that people come from different places and speak different languages and had different cultures. And I was eating food from Eritrea and kindergarten. So it was just a very unique experience and set me on a path, I think, to always be seeking out diverse groups of people, learning about other cultures, traveling the world, and soaking that up however I could.

So, which, you know, led me to measuring in French in college and also studying international studies, the small liberal arts school in Southern California as well, where I got to, you know, part of the curriculum was you have to study abroad or have an internship that has a global, you know, impact or implication. I chose, I wanted to be totally out of my comfort zone, but also get to use my French. So I studied abroad in Senegal, country in West Africa, where I just thrived. I was totally out of my comfort zone. I mean, in a place where we learned some of the local language, Wolof as well, and there, they thought my French was very beginner because the accent is so different. And they thought, well, that's okay. You're learning. It's okay. And I thought, wait a second. I thought I knew how to speak much. I thought it was fluent. It just goes to show how one language can also appear so different

depending on the culture and the part of the world. And, you know, we got to spend some time. We were in the capital for most of it. Well, most of my peers used, like, taxi services or walked. I decided to learn the local bus system, which is a system is a loose word, I would say. There are no signs. There is no app. There are no, and everyone's speaking Wolof more so than French. But I got to learn, like, the names of the neighborhoods and the destination that I was listed.

for them yelling out and that's the bus that I would hop on the back of. And they used these kind of gutted out VW buses that I think had been sent from Europe and that were painted beautiful colors and someone would just hang out the back and yell where the bus was going and you had to jump on when it slowed down. And I loved it. I loved every second of it. and stayed with a host family, which is, you know, really life-forming. Those are relationships that I will always remember. And I think, you know, led me to wanting to continue to study as much as I could abroad. But I also found out that I was kind of homesick while I was there.

And that I was studying, it was an arts and culture program, but I chose, of course, my independent study to study something pretty challenging about why I was seeing all these small children, age, you know, four to teenagers on the sides of the road, everywhere throughout the city, but mostly in the city. And I kept asking, what's going on? Why are all these kids alone and in the street? And so diving into that, I volunteered an organization that was helping them and found out that they were actually sort of in a manipulative way being brought from countryside with the promise of education, the promise of schooling, learning French, being able to kind of rise out of the poverty they were experiencing in their hometown. specifically with religious education as well. So it's a majority Muslim country. And so while some of these schools were real and they would come and learn and they would also spend half or most of their day out asking for money and begging.

And that was kind of how these teachers made their living by using the children. and the folks back home had no idea, you know. And so I worked with the kids in the day and then explored the arts and culture with my education program throughout. And I thought, oh, my gosh, this is heartbreaking. And wow, there are similar issues happening in my country in the United States. We're not above this or even solved all these problems either. And I found myself being homesick. And when I got back, I thought, you know what?

You can have an impact where you live and still bring a global perspective and still value other culture and actually bring that back home. Wow. That's what I did. I decided I was going to pursue a master's in social. work. And I found a very cool program at Boston University where I could study both theological studies and social work and receive both of those masters at the same time in three years. There's a lot of crossover. We took grant writing, impacting communities, community organizing, restorative justice, some really awesome course work to set you up to lead an organization

or community or going to a policy work. It was very exciting, exactly what I wanted to be doing. And like everyone at some point, of course, I had kind of a crisis of identity. I want to do so many things. What do I want to do? When it came time to find my first real out-of-school, you know, job, career move, I found an organization. We were moving to Charlotte.

I had gotten married. And we were moving to Charlotte, North Carolina. And I thought, what the heck am I going to do? Charlotte, North Carolina. I've never really even been to the South. And there was an organization called the World Affairs Council of Charlotte. And I had heard about the World Affairs Councils loosely. There are about 90-something across the country,

one in most, all major cities and most even small, medium, size cities. And their goal is really to connect their city with the world. They all have operate independently, but they're part of a national network. And I thought, oh my gosh, it's a nonprofit and it has this global focus. And I'm going to be working with people from other countries who are or people who are interested in this and speak other languages and maybe I'll get to speak with people in French. And so I said, sign me up. You go, girl. Yeah, I started off, you know, as it was a very small team.

There were four of us and kind of running their programs and development. So fundraising and putting on events and programs exactly what I had been studying with my MSW. And, you know, building those connections. We hosted ambassadors from around the world and former diplomats, authors, experts, journalists, CEOs, all these amazing people that literally I would go pick up at the airport in my little Honda Civic driving them around. former national security advisors and defense secretaries. It was kind of unreal. So when I moved to Denver a few years later, I knew exactly where I needed to go first to the World Affairs Council

and just meet some people and see what was happening in Denver and how can I stay connected to this world? And World Denver is what the World Affairs Council is called here. So that is how, you know, we all have our independent branding, our independent nonprofit status. And I got to know. So I arrived and I said, you know, reach out to the executive director, who's the founder, Karen DeBartalame, who is an amazing woman and has pretty much started. of the organization coming off of its original format from a different organization. So in 2012, World Denver was founded in the format that it is now.

So not brand new, but kind of in its teenage phase. And I reached out and they said, you know what? We would love to meet. But we have something that's called International Women's Day coming up this week. It's our major event, major fundraiser. can we get back to you? And I said, absolutely, but also can I come and can I help? So I showed up a few days later. And I had no idea the scale that it was going to be. I mean, it was a massive event. It was 700 people, an incredible keynote speaker. The governor showed up, the chairs of the event,

the board members, the people I sat with at the table, just amazing people that I got to meet. And that was a Friday. And on a Monday, they found out they were going to have a position open and wanted to chat. And turns out it was the development role, which is what I've been doing in Charlotte. And I said, absolutely, I want to learn more. I want to stay plugged in. I love what you all are doing. And then here I am.

Six years later, there was a COVID pandemic in between. And I know I'm sure we're going to get into some specific. if you have follow questions, but I'll go ahead and kind of tell you what World Denver does as a whole. One of the things that was most exciting to me about World Denver was we host what's called the International Visitor Leadership Program. And that is over 80 years old. It was started by Congress and the State Department as a international exchange program, professional exchange program to bring people from now

it's 125 different countries into the U.S. And what they do is, you know, they're either industry-related or country-specific, but folks will come to D.C. And kind of get an orientation about, U.S. policy, the structure of our government, do some sightseeing, and then they'll go visit two to four other cities around the U.S. So Denver is, we are one of the, you know, highest traffic areas for these groups. We bring about five to six hundred international visitors

every year. And the point is really to show off the best of the U.S. our brightest minds, our hospitality, our innovation, our beautiful national parks and state parks. And so they experience that in all of the cities where they are, but they're only here for two to four days. So it's very quick, sometimes five or six, but it's a very quick turnaround. While they're here, we set them up with having dinner in someone's home and we say that looks like whatever dinner looks like to you and your family. There is no right or wrong way to do this. Order pizza, have a barbecue. If you need takeout because you have a busy family, that's what you're going to do. We don't want to create a false sense of what it looks like to be real in all the diverse ways

that make up our country. We want to take them to Rocky Mountain National Park. They get to see snow for the first time sometimes, depending on the season and where they're from. They get to go to a baseball game. But all throughout the day, they're meeting with folks who are doing the same work as them that they do in their home countries and they're exchanging expertise. So what is your city doing to tackle water shortage or how are you handling conservation efforts? How does your city combat trafficking in people or, you know, what are you doing to infuse more restorative justice practices into your justice system? How are we, and how can we learn from you as well? So what is, what do women's rights look like in your city, in your country? What are issues you're

facing women in leadership, women in elected office? We get a lot of those programs. And it's pretty incredible to show off the Colorado state legislature. It's full of incredible women leading our state. So it really runs the gamut. We get, you know, someone's got a boutique, a vegan chocolate company down in Peru. And they want to learn from another small business here from the ground up and how did they scale. And it's pretty incredible. The stories that we hear the experience that these folks have, they're really identified as rising leaders from their home countries. And about something like 400 people who have come through this program since it started have gone on to become heads of state. So they really are emerging leaders. They are

going to be the folks that are making decisions about their foreign policy, about how they want to interact with the U.S. And if they have an affinity for our country and for a town, a tie to Denver, they have a family here that they met and sat within their home. It really creates those bonds that cross bridges and cultural bridges and country boundaries. So it's a people-to-people connection that we're building. And it's part of the very small, bit of our national budget that goes towards diplomacy within our state department budget. It is small, it is mighty, and it has made an incredible impact over its history, and it's always had bipartisan support.

And we are allowing ahead with it. And continuing to believe that the impact we're making is going to lead to. to a more peaceful world. Right. Yeah. So that's kind of, you know, one of our flagship programs. We do some other international exchanges. Most of them are inbound.

We have youth leadership programs that come through this summer. We just had, it's called Tech Girls. And hundreds of girls from around the world come to the U.S. And they're all already studying STEM science, technology, engineering, math. in their home countries and Denver gets to host about 20 students from sub-Saharan Africa and they come to Colorado and they get to stay with a homestay family for about five days and experience Denver, go to the farmers markets, go on a hike, have barbecues, and go to the movie theater, all these things that might not be very common where they're from.

But they are incredible. It is a very rigorous application process. They have to have a very high level of English speaking, reading and writing. And only about 2% of the applications are accepted. I mean, I hosted one of the students a couple years ago. She had started her robotics club. She was already, you know, knew she wanted to be what she wanted to do in her career. Some of these students are already studying biomedical engineering and they know what they want to invent and what they want to cure. They're incredibly inspiring and they get here and have a blast. We love getting to know them. I learned my first TikTok dances with them. It's one of those wonderful experiences where you think, wow, we live such different day to days and our surroundings are different and we have different food and different languages and yet here we are bonding over TikTok dancing, which is pretty fun. And they're going to change the world and we get to meet them and hang out with them for just four to five days and connect them with, they had a full day at Wings

Over the Rockies here with, you know, five different aerospace companies. women who came out to meet them and have kind of speed mentoring. They got a robotics lab where they programmed little robots to go through little imaginary towns and deliver water or pick up tracts or some kind of activity that would be practical. And, you know, they're going to leave loving Colorado. several of them will end up applying and attending U.S.-based colleges and universities. So that's one of our favorite programs to talk about and to be with. And they were just here two weeks ago. So it was fresh on my mind. The Tech Girls.

And then I mentioned International Women's Day. So World Number hosts the largest International Women's Day celebration in Colorado, one of the largest in the country. We have about 700 people who come out for the day. We'll have an incredible keynote speaker. We've had the likes of May Jemison, the first African-American women astronaut in space. Last year, we actually had Ellen Ochoa, who's the first Latina astronaut in space. It's not always about space, but those are two of kind of our most well-known speakers.

We've had, you know, women who have started their own CEO or started their own tech firms. We had Jane Chen who founded Embrace Global. And they created small portable incubators for premature babies or newborns. You know, an incubator costs tens of thousands of dollars in some of these remote areas of the world. or you think places where mass amounts of people are displaced or they're living in tents and refugee camps and or don't have access to reliable electricity all day. These little incubators, they're made out of actually like NASA spacesuit material. They look like little tiny sleeping bags and they've saved, I think it is over a million babies now at this point. Wow.

Since they're founding. So hearing her story and talk about. inspiring an audience. So we host that event to celebrate both women and girls in Colorado, but also around the world. Have made a difference, are making a difference. And then we also recognize the ways that there's still work to be done. And some of the ways that it feels like we've moved backwards in recent times. But women's issues are human rights issues, and they span the globe on, you know, the scale of what needs to be done, but it is unfortunately and unfortunately unifying that women are still fighting for equality around the world. And that doesn't exclude here in Colorado, in the United States as well.

So that's one of my projects for the year and my favorite project. to get to work with some amazing women here in Colorado who volunteer to chair the event, to sponsor the event. It's pretty inspiring to see what we can do when we come together to celebrate and look forward to what's still to be done. The final thing, nope, it's not the final thing, but World Denver also hosts speaker series and networking events, and we bring together our globally-minded community here in Colorado. We will bring in authors, experts, journalists, dignitaries, diplomats to share what's going on around the world.

What are some of the most pressing issues we're facing? What are we talking about? What's breaking news? How can we be informed beyond the headlines, what we read on the news? And, you know, that's all, you know, that's inspiring to see so many people in Colorado care and be invested. And, you know, a lot of folks have either worked abroad, studied abroad, lived abroad, and they find themselves here in Denver. And some people like to say, you know, Denver is not a very global city, but it really is. And hopefully, you know, this is just one

little snippet of how globally connected we are. And that world Denver is here. We've got a community of 4,000 people who participate in our programming throughout the year. We are hosting, you know, 40 events throughout the year. Anyone can come to. They are always open to the public and join us on International Women's Day. Come see that celebration, be in a room full of inspiring women, and leave, lifted up and with new connections. And then open your home to hope.

a student for four or five days. It's very short. It'll leave a lasting impression. I'm still in touch with my student from three years ago. She's on to college now. Or just for a dinner. We call them world dinners. Have a dinner with a few folks in your home, invite your neighbors over, and spread the wealth of getting to meet people from Morocco and Tanzania and Tajikistan. And it's a very unique opportunity. Before I hand it back over to you, we also have an incredible student education program. It's called the World Affairs Challenge. It's actually been around for about 35 years in Colorado.

And it's for middle school and high school students. It's taken various iterations along its lifespan. but it's focused on the UN Sustainable Development Goals. So we'll have a theme each year. You know, it's been water or earth or economic prosperity. And so the students will study those specific UN SDGs, as we call them. And then they'll identify an issue in their neighborhood, in their town or their city that they think they could have an impact on. So it's a local project with a global impact.

And they form teams. They work together. They build leadership skills, communication skills. We've got students in 11 different countries that participate in this program. So six or seven countries across Africa, in Turkey as well, at students in Morocco. And so the students get to see that, oh, wow, those students in Turkey are facing similar issues to us. You know, we've all got a recycling problem. Interesting. or trash problem, waste running into our water sources, all these things that unfortunately connect us, but inspire them to see that they might be 13, 14, but they can have a true impact in their community. students in Littleton realized that the water was running off into the Platte River and that any debris or whatever would fall down into those, you know, in the curb, the opening in the curb, would end up in the Platt River. And so they went on a campaign. They got approval from city council and they went out and they spray painted educational messages, alerts, you know, awareness campaign. and they went around town, around their neighborhood and put those signs onto the sidewalk so that everyone could see to try to clean up their waterways. Right. Students in Boulder realize, you know, there's the running community, the athletic community.

Everyone's buying shoes all the time. You got to replace your running shoes like every six months, right? Right. All that paper, all that packaging that comes in them is wasteful, ultimately. And they came up with a material made of coffee grounds, mycelium, I wish I could tell you other things, scientific words, and they made it in the lab at their school. And so it comes out as like a sheet of paper that looks kind of like coffee grounds that you can then wrap up the shoes in. It provides that protective padding. And then once it arrives, you can go ahead and throw that out in your backyard or plant it in your garden and it will decompose. They got a shoe company and a manufacturer to meet with them to talk about the possibilities and the legitimacy of making this fully into a product that is marketable and market ready.

So it's pretty inspiring what you see these 12, 14, 16 year olds ready to do. And they really understand that they're living in a global world where they can talk to students in Turkey. They can talk to students in Morocco. Everyone's got a smartphone, no matter your standard of wealth really around the world. And they get to build those global connections while having an impact in their local community. So that's the World Affairs Challenge in a nutshell. That's what we do here at World Denver. we say we connect Denver to the world.

And that's really what we do in all of those ways. And so if people are thinking, you know, how do I participate in these conversations and stay plugged in and with what's going on around the world, we are here. And you get to meet people from around the world too. We know that traveling is a privilege, especially for students. and that's why we have that education program where, you know, the elements are pretty much virtual, but you get that experience. Not everyone can get up and buy a plane ticket across the world and have that experience, but we'll bring it to you right here.

Yeah. Wow. You mentioned something about on one of the programs, the people you get to work with, the volunteers to chair and sponsor. So tell me a little bit more about the volunteer side or the getting connected to World Denver side outside of being an employee of the mission, right? Yes, absolutely. So for International Women's Day, we always recruit volunteers for the event day. So you get to join us for the event in the program. We have probably four chairs that will.

help lead the event. And those are typically representatives from our board. We have a board obviously and those are volunteers as well. We have an amazing young professionals, a cohort and program. So if you identify as a young professional, an emerging, emerging career or transitioning career professional, they're getting together for professional development, service opportunities, building up that global network here in Denver, professionally and personally. They have a volunteer board as well. So it's a great kind of learning, place to learn what it means to serve on a board, to serve an organization, to help fundraise, to recruit other volunteers,

bring folks in. And then with the education program, the World Affairs Challenge, those projects that they create, that the students create, they then pitch them. So it's a pitch competition. And we recruit dozens of, quote unquote, judges to review those videos, their short videos, and then meet with the team for 10 minutes on Zoom and ask them follow up questions and evaluate their projects and help them think through what creating a budget looks like for the first time. You know, they've never created a budget before. and the feasibility and the, we call them the smart goals that they've created,

you know, that's specific, measurable, attainable, and realistic and time-bound. So we have to kind of meet all of those with their project, helping them think through that, and then scoring them and ultimately helping select those winners who can apply for small grants to then implement their projects and see them through. So we're recruiting for those judges typically in January and February. And so sign up for our newsletter if you want to get involved in that and let us know. It's all on, you know, you pick the times you want to volunteer. It's an hour on Zoom and it's pretty low lift and very high impact for both the students

and the judges. Always leave inspired, certainly. And then I mentioned those world dinners. So you can sign up to be a host for meals in your home. And usually they're on Sunday evenings and you'll have, you know, three to four people in your home. A lot of those groups are English proficient. And then sometimes if they're not, they will have a translator with them as well. So you'll host those folks in your home one evening.

And then also we have those home stay opportunities as well. So some of them are three days, five days, and then we have all the way up to four weeks. That's pretty much our longest homestay where a fellow might be here to work with a company over four weeks. I mentioned that, a vegan chocolatier from Peru who came and worked with a company and they said, you know, this was the most impactful experience of my career. The host company said. And they wished and they keep in touch and they, you know, experience. you know, what they're working on and how they're growing their business. So you can be a company that hosts one of those visitors to work with you and exchange expertise. You can be,

you can host them in your home for that time as a homestay host. And then we have about 2,500 professional resources around Denver and around Colorado. And those are individuals, companies, organizations who have volunteered to have meetings with these groups when they come to town. I think absolutely I would like to meet with a group of mayors from Europe and talk about what they're doing in their town and we'll tell them what we're doing. And it's pretty impactful. It's a pretty impactful kind of hour and a half of your time and that you can offer your employees as well to get those experiences.

So there's lots of ways, lots of those ways to get those ways to. kind of meet international visitors that are coming through town, help host them, show them hospitality and a warm welcome. And all of that information is usually shared out in our newsletters, which we send out every other week. So sign up for a newsletter is probably the best way to kind of get tapped into that. We've got to, you know, sign up to volunteer link on our website as well. You can just get more information about that. Yeah, I think those are Wow. Those are all the ways to get plugged in.

That's amazing. I figured you had to have professional resources when you said that the aerospace companies come to wings over the Rockies to talk about these people. Oh, my gosh, the relationships that you've built around Denver and Colorado are amazing. Wow. Well, Lauren, this has been the most educational time I think I've ever spent learning. and oh my gosh, this is thrilling, exciting, and so many opportunities for just the people in our own neighborhoods

to become volunteers and participate and learn global issues. So thank you so much. Yeah, thank you, Judy. I appreciate the opportunity to share about what we're doing. And I hope you'll join us as well. Yeah. And, you know, I'm inspired to enjoy. I'm inspired to search it out and get more involved.

So thank you for me too. Great. And everybody, save the date. International Women's Day is going to be March 6th, 20206th. Okay. We'll be at the Demer Center for Performing Arts. We will be announcing our keynote speaker soon. So follow us on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn.

We're at World Denver on all of those platforms. Denver. Okay. Done. Wow, wonderful. Well, I sure appreciate your time today. Thank you for sharing so much great information. And I can't imagine a person who's more perfectly suited for what you're doing than you from where you came. And the impact that your parents had to make that decision when you're five years old and to see it come to fruition is really fulfilling and thrilling for me. So, great. That's great, Lauren. Yeah, thank you.

Thanks, Judy. And thanks for what you do and for creating this platform. You bet. All right, my dear. We'll take care. Have a great rest of your day. Bye. Thanks so much for joining us for the Inspired Impact Podcast. To listen to past episodes, please visit the Inspired Impact Podcast.com.