Hip hop is perhaps the most influential art form of our time.  In one generation, hip hop has expanded to become mainstream and has shaped culture in ways so profound it has created new cultural norms.

In this episode I'm honored to talk with a young, up and coming hip hop artist, Pasto Chris.  Pasto shares with me his take on hip hop, the role of art in shaping culture and entertainment versus reality.

Super excited to share my conversation with Bianca Jackson, CEO of New Friends, New Life.  New Friends New Life restores and empowers formerly trafficked girls and sexually exploited women and children. By providing access to education, job training, interim financial assistance, mental health, and spiritual support, New Friends New Life helps women and children overcome backgrounds of abuse, addiction, poverty, and limited opportunities.

Bianca is an exceptional communicator with 17 years of experience in crafting and sharing key messages with both external and internal audiences; engaging motivator and teacher adept at managing complex change; creative fundraiser with a track record of leading record-breaking initiatives; strategic planner and corporate culture-shaper.  She received her BA in Public Relations from Temple, her MA in Management, Organizational Communication from Dallas Baptist University.  She received the Champion of Peace and Nonviolence Award from the NANBPW-Garland Chapter (2019) as well as the 10 Shades of Success award for leadership in the Dallas community (2016).

In this episode we get to know Yonas Melesse and his work serving the poor around the world.

In the inaugural episode of the Shapers Podcast I talk with a pillar of the DFW business community: the leader of a team approaching 500 people strong with $3.3 billion dollars in sales in 2020.  He’s a weekly contributor in the Mansions section of the Wall Street Journal.  In 2015, he was was named D Magazine’s Residential Real Estate Executive of the Year.  He holds a master’s degree in architecture from Tulane and is a true real estate connoisseur with a passion for beauty and excellence.  He’s a leader, an artist, a faithful husband, devoted father and grandfather and a man who has his finger on the pulse of the DFW community.  Today I talk with Robbie Briggs of Briggs|Freeman Sotheby's International Realty about his core values and how those values drive his business and the culture that he seeks to build to empower those around him to flourish.