The Leader’s Way Podcast Receives 2025 Polly Bond Award of Excellence
The Leader’s Way Podcast at Berkeley Divinity School at Yale is the recipient of a 2025 Polly Bond Award for Excellence from the Episcopal Communicators Organization.
The Polly Bond Awards recognize excellence in church communications and media across 20 different categories, including podcasting and email newsletters, for which Berkeley Divinity School at Yale also won an Award of Merit.
“It is exciting to receive recognition from the Polly Bond Awards judges after putting so much thought and creative energy into The Leader’s Way podcast over the past two years,” said Leader’s Way co-host Dr. Hannah Black
“We feel so thankful to be convening conversations with innovative leaders, scholars, and practitioners about some of the most urgent questions of our times—AI, innovation, the climate emergency, equity, along with all the challenges and opportunities of parish ministry,” said Brandon Nappi, Executive Director of Leadership Programs at Berkeley Divinity School.
The Leader’s Way Podcast has seen its audience grow over the years, with listeners tuning in to hear conversations with intellectual entrepreneurs working at the intersection of theology, spirituality, and leadership. Previous guests have included the former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, professor and theologian Rev’d Dr. Willie Jennings, and Peabody Award-winning broadcaster and host of the radio program On Being, Krista Tippett.
Co-hosts Dr. Hannah Black and Brandon Nappi welcome new guest hosts Misty Krasawski ’26 MDiv and Whitney Kimball Coe ’26 MDiv,
“It is exciting to receive recognition from the Polly Bond Awards judges after putting so much thought and creative energy into The Leader’s Way podcast over the past two years,” said Leader’s Way co-host Dr. Hannah Black. “I am proud of the show, and I am always so grateful to hear from listeners whose lives we have touched through podcasting.”
As The Leader’s Way Podcast enters its third year and 5th season, the show’s producers look forward to featuring new voices and stories and welcoming special guest hosts as Dr. Black transitions to a new role at Viriginia Theological Seminary in the fall.
“I feel immensely blessed to have been a part of The Leader’s Way podcast,” said Black, “and I hold so much excitement for its next chapter, especially after this burst of encouragement.”
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The Leader’s Way Podcast is available on your favorite podcast app and YouTube. You can join the podcast community on Instagram.
Misty Krasawski ’26 MDiv and Whitney Kimball Coe ’26 MDiv will join Brandon Nappi as co-hosts for the 2025-2026 academic year.
Misty holds a Master of Letters in Bible and the Contemporary World from the University of St. Andrews. She is a mother and a grandmother and is drawn to studying the intersections of maternity, theology, and feminism.
While completing her MDiv, Whitney continues to serve as Vice President of National Programs at the Center for Rural Strategies and as a special advisor to the Rural Assembly, a program dedicated to building more opportunity and better policy for rural communities across the country. As an organizer, speaker, moderator, and writer, Whitney has shared her perspectives on community and civic courage with audiences around the world.