SpeakUP! International Inc.

Burnout gets framed as a personal problem far too often, so we sit down with author and DEI speaker Rochelle Ramatte to name what many people are living: sometimes the workplace is the hazard. Rochelle shares her journey from being overlooked in school in Edmonton to earning a master’s degree in social work, and how one moment of being truly seen by a professor changed her identity and direction....

3% is a number that should stop you cold. C.J. Stewart tells us you’ve got roughly a 3% chance of making it to pro sports and, in Atlanta, a similar shot at escaping poverty if you’re born into it. C.J. knows both worlds. He’s a former Chicago Cubs outfielder, and he’s now the chief visionary officer and co-founder of the L.E.A.D. Center for Youth, a sports-based youth development non-profit built...

Somebody is making money off Black suffering, and that truth changes how we understand everything from politics to philanthropy to the stories we tell about ourselves. We sit down with Dennis Maurice Dumpson , author and founder of Invest Black, to name what he calls the black pain economy and how racial capitalism turns harm into a revenue model that rewards extraction while demanding endless dur...

SPIRITUAL TRAP OF OVERGIVING   During our latest episode of SpeakUP! International, we sit down with the incredible Rev. Dr. Denise Gillard , pastor, transformational coach, and entrepreneur. Dr. Gillard starts the podcast by reading a beautiful, quiet excerpt from her children’s book, Music from the Sky , before diving into a much braver conversation. What happens when a strong, capable woman kee...

That’s the exact line a potential funder threw in Roger Dundas’s face when he was trying to launch a new venture. For most, it would be a door slammed in their face. For Roger, it became pure, unadulterated fuel. In this explosive new episode of the SpeakUP! International podcast, we sit down with Toronto-based entrepreneur and ByBlacks co-founder, Roger Dundas , to dismantle this myth and expose...

A formal White House event, a glass of wine she never wanted, and a President calling her by name while she’s trying to keep it together. That’s how our conversation with Dr. Trudi Michelle Morrison begins, and it only gets more honest from there. We talk about what recognition can mean when you’re a Black woman in spaces where you’re treated like a symbol before you’re treated like a person, and...

What happens when the career you’ve built suddenly vanishes, and you realize—with terrifying clarity—that you could be broke by 65? Most people would panic. David Nassif decided to build a compass. In this episode of SpeakUP! International , we sit down with David to unpack an extraordinary story of resilience, reinvention, and financial survival. After traditional job hunting felt like a dead end...

One careless “you can’t” can stick to a young person for years, but it can also light a fuse. We’re joined by Dr. Beverly-Jean Daniel, scholar, educator, and advocate whose work spans more than 35 years at the intersection of race, equity, and urban education. She shares what it was like migrating from Trinidad and Tobago at 16 and hearing, for the first time, that her goals were unrealistic, not...

Is your bank account suffering from "death by a thousand cuts"? Most of us are overpaying for our basic existence without even realizing it. In this episode, Rita and I sit down with Kirby D. Wilson , a North Carolina based financial strategist and entrepreneur, to learn how to turn those "dead weight" expenses into serious leverage. What We’re Diving Into: The "Bills To B...

A bad day can wreck your plans, but it should not get to make your decisions. We sit down with Phoebe Trotman , multi Hall of Fame soccer player, entrepreneur, author of the Never Quit On A Bad Day book series, and a coach who brings athlete-level clarity to real life.    We dig into what a “champion mindset” actually means. Phoebe explains why obstacles are not a stop sign, how growth happens at...

Money can buy comfort, but it cannot buy a life that feels like yours. We sit down with Kenneth G Alexander, award-winning entrepreneur, author of The Successful Man: A New Vision of Masculinity, and a former US Marine, to pull apart the story many boys inherit early: make money, achieve status, suppress emotion, and you will be “successful”. Kenneth explains how that doctrine of patriarchy and cu...

Money can look like a numbers problem while it acts like an identity problem. We’re talking with Jacqueline Blair, a money mindset coach who works closely with Black women entrepreneurs, about why so many of us can earn, hustle, and grind, yet still feel stuck in paycheque-to-paycheque cycles, guilt, overgiving, or “mysterious” overspending. Her lens is clear: when generations have lived with lack...

Silence can be a muzzle, but it can also be a strategy. We sit down with Majella Mark , cultural strategist, filmmaker, and author of Cats Are Trash, right after she reads a powerful passage on Women in Black and the way quiet protest can cut through a sea of violence. From there, we follow the thread that runs through everything she does: storytelling is not decoration, it is infrastructure. We d...

A lawyer walks out of a plush Beverly Hills office and into a government agency tasked with everything between war and diplomacy. That pivot sets up a gripping journey through foreign aid’s hidden front lines: a month in Eritrea trying to give away 20 million and getting told no, audits that can overturn streetlights after floods, and market experiments that turn onions in Honduras into livelihood...

A hospital can be the place that saves your life and the place that makes you feel the least in control. We sit down with Dr. Monique Nugent, a hospitalist and author of *Prescription For Admission*, to name the exact moments when patients and families get lost and what to do about it, even when you’re exhausted, in pain, or scared.  We get practical about navigating a hospital stay: how to unders...

A voice shaped by war, refined by faith, and honed in clinical trenches— Noah Mugenyi joins Rita and I to explore what it really takes to move from surviving to restoring. Noah reads from his book, R estored: A Journey Towards Forgiving and Healing and opens a clear-eyed window into trauma that doesn’t vanish but can change meaning. We talk about how theology informs psychology in his practice, wh...

The conversation charts a striking path from industrial night shifts to entrepreneurial daylight. Cali Braithwaite-Walton describes how a two-weeks-on, two-weeks-off life in Alberta’s oil sands funded a parallel plan: buy properties in Ontario, learn fast, and eventually flip homes full-time. That shift wasn’t luck; it was deliberate investment in coaching, mentors, and a network already doing the...

What if the names that shaped your city never made it into your textbooks? We sit with author and former social worker Christine Smith Gonsalves to uncover the lives of Black Canadian women whose stories deserve centre stage—and explore how one mother’s journey through the West Indian Domestic Scheme built a legacy of compassion, community, and courage. Christine reads from her new activity book,...

What if the life you worked so hard to build quietly became a cage? We sit down with Dr. Onaysia Martinez —first in her family to earn a doctorate, the only Latina in her graduating class—to unpack how “success without fulfilment” pushed her to trade a white coat and four clinic walls for a bigger stage, a bolder voice, and a legacy built on alignment rather than optics. We trace her Dominican and...

What happens when a cancer scientist brings lab precision to the chaos of real‑world care? We sit down with Dr. Eugene Manley to unpack how health equity moves from buzzword to measurable change—through intentional design, diverse data, and relentless advocacy at the bedside. From childhood hospital stays to leading a nonprofit and launching a new consultancy, Eugene shares the through‑line: if a...

 A pair of Pinksocks, a kilt, and a simple greeting turned into a global cue for human connection. We sit down with Nick Adkins —author of Pinksocks: How a Pair of Socks Became a Symbol of Love and Connection—to explore how micro-moments, empathy, and everyday courage can reshape hospitals, classrooms, and the way we show up for one another.  From a life in startups to a TEDx stage, Nick maps how...

A liberation story can start by a fire in Harare and carry into hospital hallways in Ontario. We sit down with a Pan-African equity champion, Chenai Kadungure , who leads the Black Physicians Association of Ontario to unpack what it really takes to improve Black health outcomes—beyond slogans and into the rooms where care happens. From a childhood steeped in service and liberation values to hittin...

Rita and I sit down with author and chess teacher Marcus Braxton to hear how a wrongful charge led to a five-star urban novel, a growing sports podcast, and a mission to teach strategy and ownership to DC youth. Writing, chess, and entrepreneurship come together as tools to think ahead, build wealth, and give back. • live reading from Sun Roof Hitters and how the book began behind bars • turning a...

We sit down with counsellor, writer, and former teacher Kim Fraser to explore how Chandler turns lived pain into a practical anti-bullying model for kids and families. From festival wins to global pitching, we unpack de-escalation, empathy, and why change starts with choice. • validation from awards for a universal anti-bullying story • bullying as learned behaviour beyond childhood • insights fro...

A chemist slips into dark alleys after midnight ( Dr. Zafra Lerman ), climbs to an attic, and teaches a seminar that could cost her freedom. By morning, she is back on the university circuit, lecturing in plain sight. That contrast frames our conversation with Dr. Zafra Lerman—scientist, educator, and peace builder—whose work proves that knowledge can be both shield and bridge. We start with her c...