My guest on the podcast this week is Darnell L. Moore. Darnell is a media maker, educator, writer and thought leader and the author of the 2019 Lambda Literary Award winning memoir, No Ashes in the Fire: Coming of Age Black & Free in America, which was listed among the New York Times 100 Notable Books and was a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers' pick. He is currently Vice President of Inclusion Strategy for Content and Marketing at Netflix and was the former Head of Strategy and Programs at Breakthrough US.

In our wide ranging and intimate conversation, Darnell and I chat about the critical importance of self-reflective work as the companion piece to social justice work, his transition to Los Angeles from the east coast, the power of love to transform our social movements and individual lives and the continuing impact of his book No Ashes in the Fire: Coming of Age Black & Free in America.

Darnell has also been an advocate for gender equity and sexual diversity and we also chat about the importance of not only pointing out injustice and oppression, but also the necessary work of examining the ways in which each of us may be complicit in oppressing others.

Support the Show.

Please make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow the podcast on Instagram.

My guest on the podcast this week is Marija Abney. Marija is a South Carolina native who moved to NY to pursue an arts education at The AIley School at Fordham University and went on to earn her MA in performance studies from NYU.

Marija is an actress and dancer who has appeared as a Dora Milaje in "Black Panther" and "Wakanda Forever" as well as "Avengers Inifinity War" and "Avengers End Game," and was featured in Tubi's "A Killer Romance" and "Twisted Marriage Therapist."

In many ways though, her most impactful contribution to "the culture" is founding The Soapbox Presents and launching a wildly successful series of "stoop concerts" in Harlem that builds loving community and attracts crowds of over 3500 people per event. The series is so successful it caught the attention of legendary singer-songwriter Babyface who asked to participate and entertained the crowd with a pop up performance of "Whip Appeal."

We chat about her artistic journey, art as activism, and what it was like to work with the late Chadwick Boseman.

Support the Show.

Please make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow the podcast on Instagram.

My guest on the podcast today is singer-songwriter-producer and recording artist Gordon Chambers. Gordon is a success story in the music industry. His solo albums have been nominated for Independent Soul Album of the Year by Soultracks.com. His #1 hits as a lyricist include: Anita Baker’s Grammy- winning hit “I Apologize”, Brownstone’s Grammy-nominated “If You Love Me”, Angie Stone’s “No More Rain (In This Cloud)”, the Grammy-nominated theme of Set It Off “Missing You” (performed by Brandy, Tamia, Gladys Knight and Chaka Khan). Yolanda Adams’ “Someone Watching Over Me” and The Isley Brothers’ recent comeback smash “Just Came Here To Chill.” He has written for over 75 recording artists, including household names Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Beyonce, Brandy, Trey Songz, Usher, Jamie Foxx, Gladys Knight, Chaka Khan, Patti Labelle and Marc Anthony.

In our wide ranging conversation, we chat about Gordon's upbringing in New Jersey, the concept of Black excellence, his successful career in music and the power of Love and the embrace of Blackness.

Support the Show.

Please make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow the podcast on Instagram.