Glocal Citizens

Greetings Glocal Citizens! We're in Africa (by way of Spain) this week and its a real roots conversation with CEO and owner of premier travel and tour company, Real Egypt. Meet entrepreneur and Egyptologist, Samir Abbass. Samir has lead in-depth educational tours in Egypt and Sudan for the past 19 years; he's been the keynote Egyptologist for 60+ television interviews on Nile TV, Egypts national b...

Greetings Glocal Citizens! We're in Africa (by way of Spain) this week and its a real roots conversation with CEO and owner of premier travel and tour company, Real Egypt. Meet entrepreneur and Egyptologist, Samir Abbass. Samir has lead in-depth educational tours in Egypt and Sudan for the past 19 years; he's been the keynote Egyptologist for 60+ television interviews on Nile TV, Egypts national b...

Greetings Glocal Citizens! This week I had the great treat of meeting the Maestro Wynton Marsalis, managing and artistic director of Jazz @ Lincoln Center which he co-founded in 1987. He's produced more than 100 recordings, he's a nine-time Grammy Award winner, he's an internationally acclaimed musician, composer and bandleader, an educator and a leading advocate of American culture. Wynton has cr...

Kia ora Glocal Citizens! That's Māori for "hello." We're globetrotting across many oceans for this two part conversation taking us to New Zealand where we meet social entrepreneur, Karishma Singh Kelsey of Karishma Design. Her experiences, ambition and drive led her from her native South Africa to Europe then on to Asia into many fields related to fashion from the large corporate retail world to f...

Kia ora Glocal Citizens! That's Māori for "hello." We're globetrotting across many oceans for this two part conversation taking us to New Zealand where we meet social entrepreneur, Karishma Singh Kelsey of Karishma Design. Her experiences, ambition and drive led her from her native South Africa to Europe then on to Asia into many fields related to fashion from the large corporate retail world to f...

Greetings Glocal Citizens! This week I catch up with Tara Sabre Collier. She’s a UK-based international strategist and impact investment professional with a track record of supporting social enterprise growth, private sector development and startup ecosystems, especially across emerging markets in Africa, the Middle East and the Americas. Tara's passion is inclusive economic development, especiall...

Greetings Glocal Citizens! This week we meet Founder and President of African Health Now, Nana Eyeson-Akiwowo. AHN is a community-based organization that provides primary health care to women, children and families in Sub Saharan Africa. AHN was born out of a family crisis that opened her eyes the realities of the state of basic healthcare information and empowerment in African communities. While...

Greetings Glocal Citizens! This week we meet Founder and President of African Health Now, Nana Eyeson-Akiwowo. AHN is a community-based organization that provides primary health care to women, children and families in Sub Saharan Africa. AHN was born out of a family crisis that opened her eyes the realities of the state of basic healthcare information and empowerment in African communities. While...

Autumn Glocal Citizens! For the next two episodes, we’ll be visiting with healthtech entrepreneur and neurosurgeon, Dr. Muri Raifu. Muri is another Ghana native, by way of Nigeria. A scholar-athlete at Amherst College in Massachusetts, in addition to his medical training Muri also received his MPA from Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. Currently based in Los Angeles, California, Muri...

Autumn Glocal Citizens! For the next two episodes, we’ll be visiting with healthtech entrepreneur and neurosurgeon, Dr. Muri Raifu. Muri is another Ghana native, by way of Nigeria. A scholar-athlete at Amherst College in Massachusetts, in addition to his medical training Muri also received his MPA from Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. Currently based in Los Angeles, California, Muri...

Selam Glocal Citizens! We’re back in East Africa by way of Washington D.C. for this two part conversation with singer, songwriter, music producer and designer, Kenny Allen. Kenny is a singer/songwriter/music producer and has travelled the world performing and recording music with acts like Meshell Ndegeocello and Raheem DeVaughn. In 2005, he was given a six month contract to perform at Addis Ababa...

Selam Glocal Citizens! We’re back in East Africa by way of Washington D.C. for this two part conversation with singer, songwriter, music producer and designer, Kenny Allen. Kenny is a singer/songwriter/music producer and has travelled the world performing and recording music with acts like Meshell Ndegeocello and Raheem DeVaughn. In 2005, he was given a six month contract to perform at Addis Ababa...

Greetings Glocal Citizens! We’re getting mindful this week on the podcast. I'm with the Co-Director of Synergy Yoga in Nairobi, Salim Rollins. Salim is a White Plains, New York native that calls Nairobi, Kenya home. Salim has maintained a dedicated hatha/vinyasa yoga practice since 2000 and was certified as an instructor through Yoga Alliance in 2007. He has studied under the mentorship of several...

Greetings Glocal Citizens! This week my guest is Amanda "Chirpy” Obidike, founder and Executive Director of Stemi Makers Africa. Amanda's expertise span from Project management and Operations, Education and Community building, Technology and Data Science. She’s a certified professional in STEM by the Open University, United Kingdom and Team lead of The Science, Technology, Engineering, Math and In...

Greetings Glocal Citizens! This week we meet Cliff Schmidt, is the Executive Director of Amplio Network, a Seattle-based nonprofit that provides inclusive digital technology to help governments and global development organizations widen their reach and impact in rural, remote, off-grid communities. Amplio, formerly known as Literacy Bridge launched in Ghana in 2007 and has since grown to serve com...

Hello again Glocal Citizens! My guest this week is Stacey Enyame, Founder and Chief Snacker at Snacks of Africa. In this fun-filled conversation we learn more about Stacey’s journey as the daughter of Ghanaian immigrants in the Bronx, NY and back to Ghana to make her mark as an international foodie. A business management professional with 10+ years global experience in product management, sales, s...

Greetings Glocal Citizens! My guest this week is a farmer after my own heart. He’s the co-founder and CEO of Oko Forests in Ghana. Oko Forests develops agroforestry systems with their network of smallholder farmers and has a guiding mission to sustain the landscape through the adoption of regenerative agricultural practices. He is also a prominent player in Ghana’s music scene as the founder and d...

Greetings Glocal Citizens! We have another two-part conversation featuring writer, journalist, professor and currently Director of New York University Accra, Chiké Frankie Edozien. Like me, NYU is also his alma mater. Frankie, who continues to teach while he leads the Accra program, was named one of the Top 50 journalism professors for 2012 by Journalsimdegree.org. In 2017 he was awarded the unive...

Greetings Glocal Citizens! We have another two-part conversation featuring writer, journalist, professor and currently Director of New York University Accra, Chiké Frankie Edozien. Like me, NYU is also his alma mater. Frankie, who continues to teach while he leads the Accra program, was named one of the Top 50 journalism professors for 2012 by Journalsimdegree.org. In 2017 he was awarded the unive...

S̄wạs̄dī Glocal Citizens! (That’s Thai for “hello!”) Over the next two episodes you’ll be getting to know my next guest, the consummate glocal citizens poster child, Yana Fleming. Yana hails from Washington, D.C. where she attended Howard University, but she hasn’t called the US home for at least a decade. I caught up with her in early April in one of her longtime home bases in Thailand. A communi...

S̄wạs̄dī Glocal Citizens! (That’s Thai for “hello!”) Over the next two episodes you’ll be getting to know my next guest, the consummate glocal citizens poster child, Yana Fleming. Yana hails from Washington, D.C. where she attended Howard University, but she hasn’t called the US home for at least a decade. I caught up with her in early April in one of her longtime home bases in Thailand. A communi...

Greetings Glocal Citizens! This week my dynamic diaspora is Olivia Asiedu-Ntow, Co-founder and COO of Scale-up Africa. ScaleUp was born out of the need to develop, grow and sustain SME’s across Africa with emphasis on women run/led and owned businesses. Their approach is to collaborate with innovative growth partners to work with SME’s over a period of two years with the intention of building thei...

Greetings Glocal Citizens! Last weekend, June 19th marked a more widespread interest and awareness around the observance of Juneteenth, the day when slavery ended in “earnest” for black people in America. I mention this in the context of my guest this week, Muhammida El Muhajir, because, the global mood has landed squarely on ideas of liberation, liberation in the most basic form—a freedom to brea...

"The best time to have planted a tree is 10 years ago, the next best time is now.” ~ Chinese Proverb Hello Glocal Citizens! "What the what?” is the first thing that comes to mind when I look back on the past few months. Those of us not in the midst of protest or lockdown are likely itching to get away..anywhere but this surreal reality. Well, I urge you to stay in the now and focus your attention...

Greetings Glocal Citizens! This week we have a refreshing conversation with Nigerian author, Leye Adenle. Leye (pronounced Leye, not Leia like in Princes Leia) has written a number of short stories under his own name, and over a hundred satirical pieces under various other appropriated names. His writing has appeared in publications such as the Big Issue, and he has written and recorded pieces for...