Reframing Perspectives with Payal Beri, PhD

Most conversations about AI are about what it can do. Very few are about who pays when it gets things wrong. This week on Reframing Perspectives , I sit down with Catharine Montgomery — Founder and CEO of Better Together Agency, creator of TogetherAI, and one of the most important voices in the country on AI bias and inclusive technology. Catharine walks us through the mammy moment — the day she a...

What if the most powerful form of capital you could access wasn't sitting in a bank or a VC fund — but in the community already standing around you? This week on Reframing Perspectives , I sit down with Omi Bell — CEO of Black Girl Ventures, Aspen Fellow, Kennedy Center artist, and the architect of a community-funding ecosystem that has resourced over 550 under-resourced companies and reached...

What if the medicine someone needs isn't sitting in a therapist's office — but inside the music they're already listening to? This week on Reframing Perspectives , I sit down with Archie Green — Founder and CEO of Peel Dem Layers Back, hip-hop artist, and the creator of the Cope Dealer program that's transforming how Black men and boys are introduced to mental health. Archie wa...

What if the most powerful reframe you could offer someone wasn't how to give help — but how to receive it without losing yourself in the process? This week on Reframing Perspectives , I sit down with Miguel Centeno, the Vice President of Community Engagement at Healthfirst, a son of Bronx public housing, and a man whose entire life has been shaped by guardian angels who chose to invest in him...

What if the most powerful systems we could build were the ones designed entirely around relationships, not rules? This week on Reframing Perspectives , I'm sitting down with Dan Zauderer — founder and CEO of Grassroots Grocery, a nonprofit redistributing tens of thousands of pounds of fresh produce across New York City each week through a deceptively simple model: neighbors helping neighbors....

In this episode, Kelly Cobb shares her deeply personal story of overcoming challenges in entrepreneurship and how it shaped her approach to purpose-driven business at Bombas. Her journey illustrates how organizations can lead with compassion, purpose, and profitability — proving social good can be essential to success. Main Topics: Kelly Cobb’s personal experience with eviction warning, depression...

Join Dr. Payal Beri and guest Priya Shah as they explore how small acts of kindness, resilience, and representation can transform lives, communities, and even entire countries. Discover the deep connection between personal stories and collective healing and how embracing the simple good can create impactful change globally. Main Topics Covered: The importance of perception and self-identity, espec...

Unlock the secret to transforming communities from the inside out with a groundbreaking approach that empowers every individual to be a changemaker. In this episode, Dr. Payal Beri sits down with Ehsan — a visionary leader who has navigated the corridors of Homeland Security, the corridors of power, and now the world of community-driven innovation — to reveal how entrepreneurship and accessible re...

Reframing Grief with Ashley Jones Discover how love, presence, and innovative tools can transform our relationship with grief. Ashley Jones shares her deeply personal journey of loss, healing, and creating impact through her nonprofit, emphasizing that love persists beyond physical absence. In this episode: Ashley Jones recounts losing her daughter Skylar at 21 months and the societal reactions to...

Join us as Dr. Payal Beri, a design strategist and founder of Open House, shares her powerful journey from Brooklyn to becoming a pioneer in inclusive design and social innovation. This episode explores how decolonizing design, embracing marginalized communities, and redefining success can create truly impactful and sustainable change. In this episode: Dr. Beri's background as a first-generat...

Join us in this inspiring conversation with Kyle S. King as he shares his journey from college projects to leading impactful community initiatives. Discover how a foundation of compassion, strategic growth, and authentic leadership can create sustainable change in communities worldwide. Kyle S. King is a culture strategist, author, speaker, and former school leader who helps organizations build ec...

Unlock the transformative power of joy—especially when life feels like dancing on ashes.  In this inspiring episode, Dr. Pamela Larde reveals how anyone, regardless of circumstances, can cultivate joy from deep within, creating a resilient foundation that sustains through trauma, stress, and societal challenges.  Discover how joy isn’t just a fleeting happiness but a deliberate act of self-embodim...

In this insightful conversation, Dr. Aldrich Chan discusses the impact of AI on cognitive development, emphasizing the importance of stress and challenge in learning. He explores how reliance on AI can hinder critical thinking and brain development, and offers strategies to balance technology use with skill development. Dr. Aldrich Chan is a Neuropsychologist and Psychotherapist, author of the awa...

We’re losing 120,000 people every year to stress and anxiety related to work.  Not “I don’t like my job” stress — chronic, nervous-system meltdown stress. In this episode of Reframing Perspectives, we sit down with Jen Whitmer — keynote speaker, teacher, and author — to talk about joy as a serious, measurable strategy for work and life… not a fluffy “nice to have.” Jen shares how getting fired fro...

What if your exhaustion isn't proof that you care enough — but proof that something has gotten tangled in the way you see your role in the world? In this Solo Reframe, Dr. Payal Beri digs into one of the most quietly destructive patterns in mission-driven spaces: the martyr trap. It's that place where burnout gets confused with devotion, where urgency becomes familiar, and where slowing...

Money is one of the most emotionally charged relationships we’ll ever have.  It’s not just numbers on a spreadsheet — it becomes a mirror that reflects our beliefs about safety, worthiness, possibility, and power. In this episode of Reframing Perspectives, I sit down with fractional CFO and financial strategist Cindy Kumar, who helps founders rebuild their financial foundations so they can grow wi...

Is it dangerous to treat emotional intelligence as a universal standard?” We talk about emotional intelligence like it’s neutral, universal, and the same for everyone. But what happens when culture, race, migration, language, and survival literally shape how we express feelings, set boundaries, and show respect? In this powerful conversation, Dr. Payal Beri sits down with Farah Harris, a Haitian A...

My guest today, Dr. Seema Desai, knows that whisper intimately.  She’s a transformational coach, keynote speaker, and author whose journey began in a successful dental career—until burnout, misalignment, postpartum depression, and a quiet ache for something deeper forced her to rethink everything she thought success was supposed to look like. In this conversation, we talk about: Growing up as a ch...

“I accept my mom for who she is, not for who I wish she had been…” For so many immigrant daughters, love and guilt are woven together. We grow up hearing about sacrifice, survival, and “everything we did for you” — while quietly carrying our own shame, anger, and longing to be truly seen. In this powerful conversation, Dr. Payal Beri sits down with Serena, author of Unbound: The Story of an Immigr...

“If you don’t find a romantic, sexual partner, you will be alone forever.” That’s the story many of us are sold: if you’re not in a couple, you’re failing at connection. For David Jay, it was more than a fear — it felt like a guarantee. As an asexual person, he couldn’t see himself in the scripts our culture hands us about love, partnership, and family. Today, he’s living a life his younger self d...

“My whole life was curated by design to create safety… but safety was my parents’ trauma.” We’re told self-love is selfish. That “good” women, daughters, wives, and mothers put everyone else first — family, partner, community — and then maybe think about themselves. But what happens when that script leaves you resentful, exhausted, and living a life that was never truly yours? In this powerful epi...

So many of us are surrounded by people and still feel emotionally starved. In this Solo Reframe episode, we explore why depth, emotional safety, and being held (not just needed) matter so much—especially for changemakers and “the strong friend.” Have you ever felt lonely in a room full of people you know —friends, coworkers, other parents, your “community”—and still felt unseen? You’re not alone....

We usually think “legacy” means wills, trusts, and what people get after we’re gone. Lawyers, paperwork, awkward conversations about who gets the house… and a lot of avoidance. But what if legacy isn’t what you leave behind — it’s how you live, how you communicate, and how you prepare your family while you’re still here? In this powerful episode, Dr. Payal Beri sits down with Lisa McCurdy, estate...

What if your legacy isn’t who you raise, but what you build, give, and live while you’re here? In this episode, we unpack money, aging, and legacy when you’re childfree by choice—and the guilt, bias, and freedom that come with it. When people say “legacy”, they almost always mean children . But what if you don’t want kids—or can’t have them—and you still care deeply about impact, contribution, and...

“Look at the Indians, look at what they’re doing…” We’ve all heard some version of this — South Asians framed as the “model minority”: wealthy, high-achieving, and problem-free. But behind the stereotype is a much more complicated reality that deeply affects mental health, identity, and belonging. In this powerful conversation, Dr. Payal Beri sits down with Dr. Shanta, a psychologist and social im...