Tell it Proud

In this episode we explore when my guest Deepali Vyas experienced sexual harassment while working for a recruiting firm in her early career and when she left the firm and started her own business, her former company sued her for a non-compete. If you've ever wanted to get the courage to stand up to a company with a toxic culture, this is the episode for you. Deepali Vyas is the Founder & CEO of Fe...

In this episode we explore when my guest while working in architecture and urban planning, wrestled with the perception of being a black woman with an attitude, navigated the protection of white fragility, and ultimately was faced with the most impactful situation of her early career, addressing when a colleague used the "N" word, the pain of this experience informed her next career move into oper...

My guest on the Sway Them in Color Podcast today exemplifies walking the talk, as we explore when he took an act of courage by walking away from a 2 million dollars venture capital offer because it wasn't in alignment with his values. Davion Ziere, aka Zi who goes by the pronouns: we/us/ours/and he is the Founder of Origyn and Illuminator of the Origyn model, which is an Online community-based mar...

In this episode of Sway Them in Color I speak with my homie Ron Johnson. Ron Johnson is a curator of entrepreneurial experiences. His business Triton Consulting NYC empowers individuals to prepare for success through uncertainty by investing in themselves and generating multiple streams of income. His youth entrepreneurship program, the Triton Pilot Program, transforms youth across the country, fr...

When you're raised as the only Black family for miles, in a place like Ogden Utah that has very little racial diversity, as a Black person, you get used to being ignored. The book Invisible Man should have had a sequel titled, "Invisible Children: the training guide for colored kids who are confused by white avoidance." This erasure and feeling of invisibleness isn't just unique to my upbringing....

In this episode of Sway Them In Color I speak with Tony Chatman. Tony has worked with hundreds of corporations and government agencies including the U.S. Secret Service, Dept. of Homeland Security, Chase Bank, Estee Lauder, N.O.A.A. and N.A.S.A. to help people reach new heights of effectiveness by understanding themselves and others better. As a corporate relationship expert and leadership keynote...

In this episode of Sway Them In Color I speak with Zena Hanna founder of Zena Digital Group. With over ten years of digital media experience under her belt, she wanted to start an agency that had a different face as the CEO. Having worked within verticals ranging from fashion and luxury while living in Milan, to social impact and education, she's realized that brands want an agency partner that is...

In this episode of Sway Them in Color I speak with Oshoke Pamela Abalu, an architect and futurist, who was the Chief Architect for MetLife's $1 billion inclusive workplace redesign. She pioneers human-centered design solutions that infuse consciousness, energy flow, and inclusivity into global workplace transformations. She is a gifted design thinker and diversity advocate who has moved the needle...

Dr. Akilah Cadet is the founder of Change Cadet consulting , which offers a broad array of services including executive coaching, strategic planning, innovation, and diversity facilitation. Cadet is a French term that means soldier (and happens to be Akilah's last name). As it's often an uphill battle for women and people of color to achieve success in the workplace, Change Cadet prepare soldiers...

Oppression pass (n) : a term I've coined about the belief that because you are liberal, marginalized yourself, like black people/have one black friend/ are married to a black person/have black children you don't participate in or perpetuate in white supremacy. My dear friends, I'm here to let you know oppression passes are being handed out like it's six flags, but they don't exist. In this episode...

With every growth spurt I've gone through, both physically and mentally, there's been a mark left it its wake, a story no longer fitting cast aside. When we cast off rituals or social expectations that don't feel good, or match who we've become, what new stories do we adopt to chase our curiosity and build the lives/businesses/world we want to see? In this episode of Sway Them In Color Georgie-Ann...

I can't tell you the number of times I have talked with friends about social and political issues with deep sadness and anguish. From white nationalist protestors, hate crimes against innocent black men and women, incompetent leaders, to the imminent tension of racism and unaddressed social wounds this country has, there's a lot of generational pain bubbling to the surface. Social media gives us a...

Pain is something we take large precautions to avoid. The psychical pain of accidents, ill health, and pushing our bodies to our limits. The mental pain of stress, fear, betrayal, and turmoil.  Pain is complex, at times it's unavoidable, seeping into your bones and mind. We cannot control how pain occurs, but we can control how we react to it.   In this conversation of Sway Them In Color I speak w...

What do you do when life hands you a big ol' stanky basket of lemons? You make the most delicious remixed lemonade (with probably a splash of whiskey). In this episode of Sway them my Color my guest and I dive into her journey of building a career during the 2008 economic crisis, and how she went from odd jobs to tech giants and is now in the innovation space. We discuss: bouncing back after a res...

My relationship with my body and health is a complicated one. There are days where I feel strong, and curvy and sexy. I can kill an HIIT class. I'm at the top of intense spin classes on leaderboards. I can squat over 150 and-some change-pounds. But I have days where I weigh myself non-stop, grapple with every morsel that comes into my mouth, and beat myself up for not being whatever conventional i...

Romantic love, that good good, is the type of love that's fetishized as the ultimate achievement, the one type of love we must cherish and work on the most, so much so that a majority of the chatter in pop culture and society about love is centered in romantic love — how to get it, how to keep it, how to flip it and reverse it, how to bottle it, manipulate it, share it, why you want and need it, h...

Racism and racist are triggering words. Use the R word and people clutch their pearls and run for the "not me, I'm not one of them!" hills no matter how accurate the term is to describe their behavior. The issue with this word to is it's ineffective as it's been declawed by racists who don't want the consequences of the correct labeling of their behavior, but refuse to own the truth of their racis...

My Afro has always generated conversations well before I did. Entering rooms, blocking pictures, catching sunlight and an array of other things I'd pull out of it in surprise. Since wearing my hair naturally for the past 11 years it's been an extension of me that was much more than just incredibly curled follicles, and my guest today knows all about how much hair, especially curly hair and kinky h...

"Think about the next big risk you want to take. The thing that makes you feel like your stomach is doing a backflip and you may shit your pants. The one that's terrifying to you and you've been holding off on because you don't think you're ready or you're afraid of the no or having the door slammed in your face. I want you to think what's the worst thing that can happen if you decide to take this...

We do it, we do it and we hope we do it well (shout outs LL Cool J), but we don't talk about it. Sex plays such a massive role in our lives but there's so much damn shame and secrecy and limiting beliefs about our attitudes, experiences, and wants when it comes to sex. That's why I loved speaking with Dirty Lola, someone who has blazed a trail by combining entertainment with useful information hel...

Labels make life simple but they provide so many stumbling blocks to truly understanding and connecting with one another. Anyone who leads has big ol' blind spots when it comes to relating to people, groups, and experiences not like their own, and my guest Rebekah "Bex" Boruki and I dive into the many ups and downs of diversity and inclusion, including:  + why admitting your mistakes and collabora...

What does it mean to be a spiritual gangster and how can our spiritual life be integrated into our careers? That's what my guest Makhosi Candiss Pitts and I dive into on today's episode. Mahkosi left a Direct Sales business where she was the top 1% seller of a $250 million company in order to travel back and forth to Africa and become a fully-initiated shaman. I went alone, not knowing what to exp...

Today is my birthday and I'm turning 32 seasoned, shea butter moist years of age. Every year during my birthday, I take the time to reflect on the past year, what I've learned, and how the hell I have survived one more glorious year on this rock revolving around the sun. From the age of 31 to 32 I took some of the biggest risks of my life - leaving my full time job, building my own company, creati...

We've all been taught that we should pick a lane when it comes to creativity and our careers, but what if that is wrong? What if the best thing you can do for your mental health and success is to pursue multiple paths, side hustles and creative outlets? that's what my guest Candace Hokhett- Henley  and I explore in today's episode. W e discuss redefining definitions of success and struggle, the wr...

What do you do when you feel like you don't fit in, and you're not living up to your potential? Those questions propelled my guest Tayo Rockson to take some major risks that changed his life forever. Growing up as a child of a diplomat parent, Tayo moved to five countries and four continents and had a near death experience that became his wake up call. We discuss the impact of that experience, the...