Everyday Conversations on Race

When Greg Jenkins, Nirupa Netram, and Elinor Stutz, three colleagues and members of the Inclusion Allies Coalition, come together to discuss the importance of talking about race, they are confronted with their own diverse backgrounds, a goal to support those impacted by racism, and a central conflict between silence and open dialogue.   "It is important for us to understand that race is a very Wes...

Mary Frances Winters, one of the original thought leaders in the diversity field and cross-race conversations, joins me in this conversation on race.   We talk about: How the histories of Black and other people of color are being replaced in the USA How we need to look at race and racism from a systemic point of view and not just look at individual actions The state of the diversity conversation a...

In this Conversation on Race, Kamau Bell and Kate Schatz join me to talk about race, racism, and their new book they co-authored, "Do The Work, An Anti-Racist Workbook. Kate Schatz, author, activist, and public speaker.    Kamau Bell is a well-known author, comedian, and political commentator on CNN. Kate Schatz, is a feminist author, activist, and public speaker.  (Because of their schedules, I h...

Marcus Sawyerr, CEO of EQ Community joins me in this conversation on race. We talk about how he and EQ Community help Black and other People of Color who have been historically excluded from professional opportunities. He shares his experience as a Black man in the UK, and  how he came to the US and founded EQ Community.   Key Topics include:   [4:16] Why it's important for Black people to have ac...

Suhag Shukla joins me in this conversation on race to answer the question, " Is it racist to talk about race? " Suhag is the executive director of the Hindu American Foundation . She's also on the Homeland Security, faith-based security and communications Foundation. And she's a leading voice for civil and human rights and religious freedom.   Key topics:   [1.45] How she grew up straddling both a...

Michael Motta , is a former executive in the record business. He was instrumental in breaking open the careers of musicians like Snoop Dogg, Beastie Boys, Megadeath and Bonnie Raitt. After years in the business, he realized it was treacherous to his health and left after achieving major success. He also saw the systemic racism and inequality of music airtime, radio station resources. Listen to his...

Michael Dismuke and Lorenzo Jones from Eden Housing, join me in this conversation on race. Listen in for practical advice, and best practices for engaging in successful cross-race conversations as they share their experiences. Eden Housing is an organization that develops, manages, and maintains affordable housing throughout California.   With a multi-racial and multi-cultural employee base, they...

In this conversation on race, I'm joined by Michael Fosberg. Michael is a writer, actor and activist on issues of race. He is also a Black man who didn't know he was Black until he was in his mid-thirties when his Armenian mother and white Swedish step-father got divorced. That's when he went on his journey to find his biological father. Until then, Michael thought he was white. Listen to this fas...

Deepa Purushothaman joins me in this conversation on race to talk about the racism, isolation, and trauma many women of color experience in corporate America. What is it like for a woman of color to get promoted up to the executive suite and still have to deal with microaggressions, blatant racism, and trivialization? What is it like to be the only person of color in your school and to hear people...

Karen Hunter, journalist and host of the Karen Hunter Show on Sirius XM and Daniel Stedman, founder of the New Ed-Tech platform Pressto, join me in this conversation on race. They share how Black students in the US and the African diaspora, and other low income and young people of color are using Pressto to create their own newspapers and zines. This is one solution for young people to express the...

In this Conversation on Race, John Blake, senior writer, and producer at CNN talks about anti-racist white men who grew up in racist families. They were surrounded by racism in their environment and grew up in red states, yet they chose a different path. Listen in to hear some of the stories and find out the factors that influenced their thinking and actions. We also talk about the epidemic and po...

In this conversation on race, I'm joined by my colleagues from the Brain Trust of the Shift Network R.A.C.E Project. Rev. Doctor Aliah Majon, the Chief Inclusion Officer of the Shift Network enlisted Mike Alexander and me to join her in the R.A.C.E Project. Aliah shares her experience as a Black woman who grew up in Detroit, how race and racism impacted her growing up, how she dropped out of high...

In this conversation on race, I'm joined by Jerry Fu. Jerry is a conflict resolution coach who helps Asian American leaders advance in their career and life journey. He's also a pharmacist. Jerry started coaching in 2017 to help other Asian American professionals deal with the conflicts they encounter at work with their culture and within themselves.   Key topics: [1:33] Jerry Fu's journey from be...

In this exciting and dramatic conversation on race, I'm joined by Amr Awadallah former VP of developer relations for Google Cloud, and Sara Speer Selber, CEO of Quest Essential. Amr, a Muslim who was born in Egypt, and Sara, a Jewish woman born in the US. We talk about the ability to change and the need to allow people to change instead of canceling them for what they thought or did in the past.  ...

Sumi Mukherjee was bullied and tormented all his young life for his skin color, ethnicity, and Indian name. Let's hear how his experiences compelled him to write about his life to help other people of color.   Key Topics [4:25] His first experience with race and racism was in elementary school. Being raised in an all-white city in Plymouth, Minnesota. People knew about white and black people but n...

In this conversation on race I'm joined by Steve Pemberton, Chief Human Resources Officer of Workhuman. Steve shares his story of growing up in foster homes with no idea of his background, his identity, or his birth family.  Although he was the biological son of a Black father and a white mother, he didn't know if he was Black or white until he located his biological family. He is the author of tw...

Omar L. Harris , former General Manager of GSK and Allergan , joins me in this conversation on race.  He has more than 20 years of experience as a global pharmaceutical executive. Omart is the founder and managing partner at Intent Consulting, a firm dedicated to improving employee experience and organizational performance. He is the author of " Leader Board: The DNA of High-Performance Teams ", "...

In this conversation on race, journalist Tony Chapelle joins me to talk about getting more women and people of color on corporate boards. Tony Chapelle, has recently retired after 36 years, as a business news reporter and producer. In his career, he has interviewed CEOs and corporate executives, and  moderated panel discussions with corporate board directors of Fortune 1000 companies. Tony, has be...

In this conversation on race, I'm joined by Jeff Le, to talk about anti-Asian hate. He has been featured in Political magazine, The New York Times USA Today,  and the Washington Post. Jeff shares his personal experience with  being a victim of anti-Asian hate and no one offering any help. "Last March we were completely overwhelmed with the lockdown with the COVID-19. But there was a second thing g...

In this episode on "Every Day Conversations on Race for Everyday People, " I'm joined by Karen Fleshman and Commissioner Karen Clopton who are KINOS- Karen in Name Only.   Karen Clopton shares her experience growing up Compton, in South Central Los Angeles when it was a middle-class Black neighborhood. She was adopted by her maternal grandparents. Her paternal grandmother was from Scotland. Her ma...

Sonia Lewis joins me on this conversation on race to talk about race, racism, inequity and critical race theory in education. She is a consultant and speaker in diversity, race and education. Key topics: Sonia's decision to not salute American Flag when she was seven Sonia's experience growing up in Richmond, California with a father who was one of the founders of the Black police officer's associ...

I'm joined in this conversation on race by Katara McCarty. Katara is an emotional well-being advocate for BIWOC (Black, Indigenous, Women of Color) She developed an app called Exhale for BIWOC to support their emotional well-being and manage their particular stress.   Key Topics:   • How Katara was born bi-racial (white mother and Black father) in 1972 and left by her mother in the hospital and th...

In this conversation on race, I'm joined by Amy and Hardy Nickerson. Amy is an author, creator, lecturer, educational consultant, and diversity/inclusion/antiracism advocate. Hardy Nickerson is a Former NFL All Pro linebacker (16-year career), NFL and college coach, and Amy's husband of 32 years. He's a football consultant and strategist, online coach, and now an MBA candidate. In this episode Amy...

On this conversation on race, I'm joined by Sam Caucci, CEO and Nora Boussatta, sales leader from the organization 1Huddle .  We talk about how 1Huddle a company that creates games to reinforce learning uses gamification to educate people about race and racism.   Key Topics [3:00] Nora shares her experience growing up biracial, and Muslim-American in New Jersey. Her father was born in Morocco and...

In this Conversation on Race, Ilana Kaufman, executive director of the Jews of Color Initiative shares her experience and perspective as an African-American Jew. Her work has been featured in books on Black Power, Jewish politics, and moral resistance, and spiritual authority. She's been featured in "The New York Times" and has published articles in the "The Forward", "Jewish Philosophy", and the...