Wait, I'm Black?!

In this episode of Wait, I’m Black?! , Michael sits in conversation with Maurice Mcleod – CEO of Olmec, Councillor, social commentator, and media executive.   Growing up in the UK, Maurice came to recognise something many people never have to think about: the constant awareness of being seen as Black before being seen simply as a human being.   Together, they explore what it means to carry that aw...

In this episode of Wait, I’m Black?! , Michael sits in conversation with Grace Mosuro – inclusion specialist, speaker and advocate – about moving to the UK as a child, and the experiences that transformed her understanding of race, identity and belonging.   Grace reflects on being called the N-word for the first time. Her first reaction was not outrage, but confusion, only gradually realising it w...

In this episode of Wait, I’m Black?!, Michael sits in conversation with Christine Kinnear – award-winning Founder and CEO of With Insight Education – about growing up Black in the UK, the lasting impact of early racial experiences, and the quiet ways underrepresentation shapes what people, especially young people, believe is possible for them. Christine reflects on encountering racism at a painful...

In this episode of Wait, I’m Black?!, Michael sits in conversation with Fizza Qureshi – CEO of a migration charity, campaigner, and mother of two.   Growing up as a Pakistani girl in a predominantly white working-class area in the UK, Fizza reflects on the subtle and overt ways race shaped her childhood long before she had language for it.   From school experiences and neighbourhood hostility to f...

In this episode of Wait, I’m Black?! , Michael sits in conversation with Martha Awojobi – a consultant, coach, and creator of Uncharitable Political Education.   Martha reflects on growing up navigating identity without always having the language or clarity to make sense of it.   She shares what it felt like to exist between worlds as a mixed-race person, where belonging wasn’t always straightforw...

In this episode of Wait, I’m Black?!, Michael sits in conversation with Wellington Makala – a Chief Nurse in the NHS and an experienced, passionate healthcare leader.   Wellington grew up in Zimbabwe with a strong sense of who he was – shaped by family, belonging, and purpose, not race.   When he moved to the UK, something shifted.   He reflects on the moment race stopped being abstract and began...

This introductory episode sets the stage for Wait, I’m Black?! — a podcast about the moment when race stops being abstract and starts to matter. These are stories about the moment when race stops being abstract and starts to matter. It’s a reflective space with moments of warmth and humour, and honest conversations that make visible how race shows up in everyday life – sometimes quietly, sometimes...