The Deep End Friends Podcast

Nacala Ayele is the creator and owner of "FLY! Culinary Tours" where she has traveled to Ghana, Kenya, Guatemala, Jamaica, Trinidad, and The Bahamas to gather recipes, meet culinary historians, and gather stories of Black people of the African diaspora through food.  She is enamored with the richness of Black foodways; from the creativity of African pre-colonial dishes enjoyed and dishes created i...

Maxine Mimms was born on March 4, 1928, in Newport News, Virginia, to Isabella DeBerry Buie and Benson Ebenezer Buie. Influenced by her grandparents' love for Marcus Garvey and educational lectures by Howard Thurman and other black leaders at nearby Hampton University, Mimms attended Booker T. Washington School and graduated from Huntington High School with highest honors in 1946. She earned her B...

Gabriel Teodros  is a musician and writer from South Seattle who first made a mark with the group Abyssinian Creole, and reached an international audience with his critically-acclaimed solo debut Lovework . Over the ten years since he has set stages on fire all across the US, Canada, Mexico, Cuba, Ethiopia and South Africa; often in combination with workshops on creative writing, music, history, s...

This mini-deep end was produced by our intern Aisha Al Amin. Aisha, Eyerusalem, and Damme took a field trip into the Black Imagination of Natasha Marin, Imani Sims, Rachel Ferguson, and Amber Flame. This experiential art exhibit debuted on January 27, 2018 in Core Gallery.  https://www.seattleglobalist.com/2018/01/12/why-core-gallerys-black-imagination-is-so-necessary/71383

Jordan Chaney is a spoken word poet, author, public speaker, teacher, mentor, and all-around creative residing in Eastern Washington's wine country. Awarded the 2017 Commitment to Diversity award by AACCES, Jordan also guest speaks at colleges on race, politics, and social justice. He is the author of WOLF seven poems – a book on race, politics, and social justice, Art of the Spoken Word – a workb...

Join us for a chat with comedian Howie Echo-Hawk. Howie is an enrolled member of the Pawnee Nation (Kitkehaki band), and a member of the Mentasta Athabaskan Upper Ahtna people. The youngest of 8 siblings (5 sisters and 2 brothers), he comes from the Echo-Hawk family on his dad's side, and the Kelly family on his mother's. He writes, talks, sings, laughs and confronts in various mediums, but mostly...

Ijeoma Oluo is a Seattle-based writer, speaker, and Internet Yeller.  She's the author of the New York Times Best-Seller So You Want to Talk about Race, published in January by Seal Press. Named one of the The Root's 100 Most Influential African Americans in 2017, one of the Most Influential People in Seattle by Seattle Magazine, one of the 50 Most Influential Women in Seattle by Seattle Met, and...

Anastacia and Reagan unpack some of the magic from the Deep End, talk about their goals for 2018, take questions from listeners and as always ask the deep ish. 

Joshunda is a Bronx native obsessed with moving stories about black women from the margins to the center of everything. She writes fiction, journalism, poetry and essays. She was the receipt of a 2017 Hedgebrook Writing Residency and selected as one of four Young Women Empowered Teaching Artists. She has presented and lectured on college campuses across the country including at Old Dominion, Princ...

Eze-Basil is an accountant, a teacher, a public speaker, a public relations and community engagement specialist. He is a socio-economic and political rights crusader and a wealth creation and distribution strategist. He was a founding Administrator of PROUD TO BE ETCHE- a 10,000+ member community based organization redesigning social constructs and economic & political inclusivity in Nigeria. He i...

Nikkita is a Seattle-based writer, teaching artist, attorney, and organizer. Her writing has been published in the South Seattle Emerald, Crosscut, the E stablishment, Last Real Indians, The Seattle Weekly, and the Stranger. Oliver holds a J.D. and Masters of Education from the University of Washington. She is also the case manager for Creative Justice, an arts-based alternative to incarceration,...

Dåkot-ta was born in Snohomish Territory and raised in Tscha-kole-chy (within a predominantly diasporic Chamorro community. Their lineage comes from Låguas yan Gåni [Law-gwas zan Gaw-knee) (the archipelago known as the Mariånas Islands, and specifically the largest island known as Guåhan - incorrectly pronounced as Guam by the Western world). Dåkot-ta grew up in the Seattle hip hop underground and...

Dr. Deniece Dortch is a Visiting Assistant Professor in Higher Education Administration at George Washington University in Washington DC. Her research and teaching grapples with systemic oppression across multiple axes. She is especially interested in how psychological violence and fear is experienced, manifested and reproduced in the academy. Her most recent projects explore intra-racial relation...

Stacy Torres is a somatic healer, a health justice organizer and a facilitator. Stacy created her practice Everyday Medicine to offer culturally relevant healing in Queer,Trans, Disabled, People of Color communities(QTDPoC) in Seattle. Her practice centers developing a liberated legacy of changemakers, caregivers, activists/organizers, healers, artists, spiritual and thought leaders. She is a foun...

Jerrell G. Davis aka RELL BE FREE is a proud product of the South End who brings creative artistry and radical activism together thru music, education, and community. Rell is a founding member of Washington Building Leaders of Change (WA-BLOC), which serves out of Rainier Beach HS working with scholars, teachers, and administration in a number of transformative capacities; coordinates an innovativ...

Born in Baltimore and raised in Southern California, Bettina Judd is an interdisciplinary writer, artist and performer. She is an alumna of Spelman College and the University of Maryland and is currently Assistant Professor of Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies at the University of Washington. Most recently, her collection of poems titled Patient. won the Black Lawrence Press Hudson Book Prize...

Our guest for the day is Afam Ayika. Afam is a father, martial artist, and the co-founder of Rainier Beach Restorative Justice Project and restorative justice coordinator. Deep End Interns Emma and Aisha pilot their new segment Caring Corner. 

The Deep End goes to the Black Zone for a special live episode with Shontina Vernon. Shontina is an artist and social justice activist most noted for her genre bending storytelling and performance style.  Working across forms, using live music, choreography, multimedia, and poetic narrative, she tells the stories of marginalized communities, unapologetically privileging the lens of people of color...

Amber Flame  is a writer, composer and performer, whose work has garnered artistic merit residencies with Hedgebrook, The Watering Hole, Vermont Studio Center, and Yefe Nof. Flame's original work has been published in diverse arenas, including Winter Tangerine, The Dialogist, Split This Rock, Black Heart Magazine, Sundress Publications, FreezeRay, Redivider Journal and more. A 2016 Pushcart Prize...

Dani Tirrell is a dance artist, performer, choreographer and dance educator.  Dani has danced with Jazz and Spirit Dance Theater of Detroit, Monroe Ballet Company, Full Circle Dance Company, Natural Locz Dance Company and Dani Tirrell Dance Theater which he founded and serves as Artistic Director.  Dani also created Color Lines Dance Ensemble for youth dance artist ages 12 to 18. Currently his wor...

Jade Solomon Curtis,  born in Texas, is a choreographer, dance artist and founder of Solo Magic , a non-profit arts initiative collaborating with innovative artists to create socially relevant multi-disciplined performances highlighting dance; "Activism is the Muse". A celebrated soloist of Donald Byrd's Spectrum Dance Theater for four seasons, Curtis is also the subject of an Emmy Award winning s...

Join the Deep End for a magical mystery tour with Haji Basim. Haji is a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist who created a new genre of positive acoustic music titled Urban Folk. He is also the founder and guide instructor of Holistic Method Music. 

Join the Deep End for an interview with musician and plant whisperer Cristina Orbe. Drawing from her experience stewarding FEEST from an idea into a nationally recognized food justice and youth leadership development organization, Cristina offers workshops and talks on a variety of topics including, Collaborating Across Difference, Power and Influence, Equitable Hiring Practices, Financial Healing...

The Deep End is an exploration of liberation, healing, hope, joy, and wholeness. What does it mean to be free? What are people of color doing to heal themselves and the world? Join co-hosts Reagan Jackson and Anastacia Renee for a series of in-depth interviews. Hear from incredible people from all walks of life about their journeys, what they are doing to thrive and how they are contribution to br...