PEER TALK at Willie Brown Middle School

On Peer Talk , we can't think of a better way to celebrate the week of the 4th of July than with an episode on America's favorite pastime: baseball! Naturally, we're fans of the San Francisco Giants — and so, we were thrilled to score an interview with the Giants' current president and CEO, Larry Baer! Mr. Baer's professional history with the team dates back to the 1980s. His personal history with...

From 1986 until her retirement in 2018, Carolyn Tyler was a household name in the Bay Area, as news anchor and reporter for KGO-TV/ABC7. During her tenure, Carolyn covered numerous breaking stories and hosted two Emmy-nominated series — including a series on the Civil Rights Movement and the impact that it had on Bay Area high school students. For covering the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, Carolyn...

The school year is ending as summer begins, but not to worry — Peer Talk will continue through the next few months until school starts back up again! Our guest for this episode is Osagie Ero , currently a software engineer at Amazon Music. Originally from Los Angeles, Osagie moved to San Francisco after graduating the University of Southern California. He began his professional career at Workday,...

The 2026 Bay Area Book Festival heads to Downtown Berkeley from Friday, May 29 to Sunday, May 31, hosting over a hundred panels and special guests. It's an event where readers and writers of all sorts come together to hold meaningful conversations on both local and global interests. The Festival's rebellious, community-focused spirit is in part thanks to its current Executive Director, J. K. Fowle...

Since 1907, the Fairmont Hotel — located in the upscale neighborhood of Nob Hill — has been one of San Francisco's most esteemed and elegant institutions. For over 50 years, the first person to greet Fairmont guests upon their arrival has been the doorman, William May. May began working at the Fairmont in the mid-1970s, at a time when African-Americans had far-less-prominent roles in the hospitali...

In March of 2026, Peer Talk and the students of Willie Brown Middle School received a very special visitor from 400 years in the past: the Bard himself, William Shakespeare! Thanks to Kevin Patterson of Red Barn Productions, Peer Talk got in touch with Joseph Schmitz, an actor who has performed as Shakespeare at the Northern California Renaissance Faire for the past three decades. Schmitz is also...

On February 26, 2026, our Tech Forum event in the Willie Brown Middle School library concluded with a round table discussion featuring all five of our interview guests — Maynard Holliday, Taylore Givens, Jared Givens, Richard Jones, and Adam Perry. Susan, Gregory, and computer science teacher Jonathan Jacobson opened the floor to hear our guests' thoughts on how the event went and what it meant to...

On February 26, 2026, Peer Talk held a live event in the library of Willie Brown Middle School, where three groups of students collectively interviewed five leaders in the technology industry. Our gracious panel guests gave insightful answers to the students' questions about modern tech — in particular, the current A.I. boom — and how it currently affects and will affect our society. To conclude t...

On February 26, 2026, Peer Talk held a live event in the library of Willie Brown Middle School, where three groups of students collectively interviewed five leaders in the technology industry. Our gracious panel guests gave insightful answers to the students' questions about modern tech — in particular, the current A.I. boom — and how it currently affects and will affect our society. To begin, Mr....

At the age of 13, Bayview-Hunters Point native Theo Ellington lost his cousin to gun violence; from that point forward, he committed himself to uplifting his neighborhood. After deciding to work in San Francisco politics, Ellington served various commission posts under San Francisco Mayors Gavin Newsom, Ed Lee, and London Breed. As Community Investment and Infrastructure Commissioner, he helped to...

The Honorable Willie L. Brown, Jr. is easily one of the most recognizable and influential politicians in California. He served as Speaker of the California Assembly from 1980 to 1995, and as Mayor of the city of San Francisco for two terms from 1996 to 2004. While many politicians keep a lower profile after their service, the 91-year-old Mayor Brown still practices law and keeps up public appearan...

Since 1969, the Gap brand has been a fixture of American retail despite nearly sixty years of challenges, persevering along with sub-brands Old Navy, Banana Republic, and Athletica. Robert J. “Bob” Fisher is the chairman of Gap Inc., and the son of original founders Don and Doris Fisher. Bob was chairman of Gap Inc.’s board of directors from 2004 to 2007, as well as interim CEO in 2019. Outside of...

This week, the students of Peer Talk go space-bound with the dynamic husband-and-wife duo from NASA’s Ames Research Center, Kimberly and Joseph Minafra. As the Software Release Authority at NASA Ames, Kimberly oversees the release and licensing of NASA technologies. She drives tech transfer and commercialization, connecting with industry and public partners to bring space-developed software into r...

Pam Moore is a legendary Bay Area journalist with over 30 years at KRON 4 as an anchor and reporter, now serving as a special contributor. Her career spans major cities including Detroit, Boston, Louisville, Dallas, and Los Angeles. She earned acclaim for her series About Race and won a Northern California Emmy for Who Owns Your Health . A member of the Bay Area Black Journalists Association, she...

Meet Congresswoman Lateefah Simon, representing California's 12th Congressional District in Oakland. She's the first member of Congress who is congenitally blind, and the first Muslim representative from California. Before stepping into Congress, Ms. Simon served on the Bay Area Rapid Transit Board, the California State University Board of Trustees, and the San Francisco Foundation's board. She al...

Welcome to Peer Talk at the Willie L. Brown Jr. Middle School, from the team behind Beyond The Fog Radio! Our first episode of Peer Talk is hosted by the 7th grade students of Mr. O’s Peer Resources class. These amazing students interviewed the prolifically creative Margo Hall, who is the Artistic Director of San Francisco's Lorraine Hansberry Theatre. The class did its own research about Ms. Hall...