Being Heard: 2 Black Women, Coffee and Conversations with Lya and Dana

Mark your calendars for a free event featuring Black-owned businesses, speakers, children’s activities, vendor tables and more at ⁠MLK NOW 2024⁠ by BOB Rewards Club, held from 10 a.m.-6 p.m., at the Veterans Memorial Building, 50 2nd Ave. Bridge, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (BOB stands for Black-owned businesses.) Black business owners: There is still time to get a vendor table for $75 at MLK NOW 2024 . N...

Teacher, activist, and motivational speaker MeJa Pinkney shares her valuable perspective on being an educator beyond the classroom. According to MeJa, the focus often is on what kids are doing rather than why they're doing it. Join our conversation with returning guest MeJa as she shares more insights on how to inspire our students beyond the curriculum. Don't miss out! #education #motivat...

The hosts discuss the Florida shooting at Jacksonville Dollar General. According to CNN, "It took less than an hour for the gunman to travel from the Family Dollar – where investigators believed he initially planned to carry his attack – to nearby Edward Waters University and then to the Dollar General where he killed three victims, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office."

Bobbye Wagner, writer and producer of a documentary film entitled ‘The Pink Canopy’.  This film reveals the life of an Iowa Educator and her battle with a mental illness. 

Teresa Zilk, Creator of Stories to Tell My daughter, discusses the experience behind story telling with co-host Lya

Part 2 of Andrea Smith, Survivor, List Maker, and Happiness Maker sharing her story as a survivor of domestic violence.

Andrea Smith, Survivor, List Maker and Happiness Maker shares about her experience with domestic violence as a black woman.

According to Smithsonian Institute, "Freedom finally came on June 19, 1865, when some 2,000 Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas. The army announced that the more than 250,000 enslaved black people in the state, were free by executive decree. This day came to be known as "Juneteenth," by the newly freed people in Texas. "

Teacher, activist and motivational speaker MeJa Pinkney uplifts her students in the classroom, and battles for them outside of it.

Black Iowa News founder Dana James makes history with the Black Iowa Newspaper.

Ep 23: Being Heard: 2 Black Women, Coffee & Conversations with LaNisha Cassell, executive director of the African American Museum of Iowa, on celebrating Juneteenth and the museum's renovation.  Get to know the African American Museum of Iowa. 

From the Ying Yang Twins and Ginuwine concert in June to the Lost Island Themepark and Waterpark and a new grocery store, Mayor Quentin Hart says Waterloo is moving forward. 

Being Heard: 2 Black Women, Coffee & Conversations with Lya & Dana delve into Black Iowa history with Kari Bassett of the Black History Research Collective. 

Renown columnist Rekha Basu ticked through some of the things she feels make Iowa a great place to live: Edna Griffin fought for civil rights seven years before Rosa Parks. Iowa was the third state to legalize gay marriage. Interracial marriage was approved before neighboring states. Iowa welcomed Southeast Asian refugees to the state in the 1970s. Fast forward to the last election. Now it's book-...

Being Heard: 2 Black Women, Coffee & Conversations with Lya and Dana spoke with Audrey Kennis, diversity, equity and inclusion director for the city of West Des Moines, delves into what DEI is and how the city of West Des Moines is embedding the principles in its service to residents. #2blackpodcast #DEI #inclusion #equity

Being Heard: 2 Black Women, Coffee & Conversations with Lya and Dana salutes all women during Women's History Month and celebrates the 40-year career of Dawnelle Conley, deputy district director of the Iowa District Office of the U.S. Small Business Administration.   

Rap group Whodini famously pondered the meaning of friends. Lya & Dana, co-hosts of Being Heard: 2 Black Women, Coffee & Conversations, discuss what it means when your friends support you, and what it means when they don't, and why it's necessary to have tiers of friendship. #2blackpodcast #blackiowanews #friends #support #tuesdaytalks 

Edith Crawford, a community volunteer with the Greater Iowa Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association, has experienced what it's like to care for a loved one with dementia. She also knows Blacks are twice as likely as whites to have the disease. That's why she's working to spread awareness. She also hosts an Alzheimer's support group at 2 p.m. on the second Saturday of the month at Corinthian Baptist...

Lya, co-host of Being Heard: 2 Black Women, Coffee & Conversations, highlights Pots and Shots, which mixes house plants and cocktails, and  encourages community and networking in Waukee, with owner Temeshia Bomato. #2blackpodcast #potsandshots #womanownedbusiness #plants #cocktails @potsandshotsiowa

Leo Landis, state curator of the Iowa Historical Society, sits down with Lya & Dana of Being Heard: 2 Black Women, Coffee & Conversations. Landis uncovers some of the key people and places important to Black Iowa History that you may not know about. #2blackpodcast #blackhistorymonth #blackiowa

Lya & Dana, co-hosts of Being Heard: 2 Black Women, Coffee & Conversations, ponder whether or not to watch the viral videos of Black motorists being subjected to police brutality — like in the cases of Tyre Nichols in Memphis, Tennessee, and and George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota. #2blackpodcast

Wishing you a Happy Valentine’s Day “Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none”

Ultimately, this is the end goal — to have the populace be dumbed down. To have the populace not be able to connect the dots." Lya and Dana discuss the controversy surrounding school vouchers and the tenuous future of education in Iowa. #2blackpodcast #schoolvouchers #Iowa #education

Beloved Black actress Nia Long recently decried using the terms "Black Movies" and "BlackFamous," which she told BuzzFeed "hold us back." Lya & Dana, co-hosts of Being Heard: 2 Black Women, Coffee & Conversations discuss movies, HBCUs, Black media and why they are unapologetically Black and proud.  #2blackpodcast #blackgirlfollowtrain  #blackgirlmagic #blackisbeautiful #tues...

Giving birth is sacred, says Clem the Doula. And, it can be difficult and deadly for Black women who must navigate Iowa's predominantly white health care systems, where Blacks are six times more likely than whites to die during or after childbirth, according to the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services. Doulas wrap mothers in support and education, which can help minimize complications and...