The Value of One, The Power of All: The Ron Brown Scholars Impact Podcast

There are few people as multi-faceted as Leslie Turner (RBS '13); she's been a project manager, a consultant, a researcher, an entrepreneur, an author, a doula, and is a budding entertainer, too. In this episode, Ray Pryor (RBS '15) interviews Leslie as she shares her evolution from a pre-med student focused on one single goal of becoming a doctor to embracing that her career can and s...

Three 2023 Ron Brown Scholars—Kishanti Barmoh ,  Faith Buggs , and Aisha Makama—were selected as recipients of the Obama-Chesky Voyager Scholarship for Public Service, a prestigious national award recognizing students committed to creating positive change. In this episode, Ray Pryor (RBS '15) interviews them about their interests in public service, along with Makenna Turner (RBS '20) who was the 1...

Dr. Ku McMahan (RBS 1999) moderated a fascinating fireside chat with Dr. William Tarpeh (RBS 2008), a 2025 MacArthur Genius Fellow. Their conversation explored how sustainable engineering can solve global challenges of equity and access. Miles Johnson (RBS 2004) was the emcee for the "Celebration of Excellence" dinner in Washington, DC during the 2026 Selection Weekend.

Florence Onyiuke is a 2022 Ron Brown Scholar in the Huntsman Program studying International Relations and Business at the University of Pennsylvania. Originally from Florida representing U.S. District 7, she is the 1st Rhodes Scholar in program history. To learn more, visit ⁠⁠⁠ www.ronbrown.org ⁠⁠⁠ .

Dr. Joel Bervell is a 2013 Ron Brown Captain and a member of Ron Brown’s Advisory Board. Known as the "Medical Mythbuster", Joel's social media platforms (@joelbervell) have grown to over 1.5 million followers, 500 million+ impressions, and a monthly reach of more than 10 million people. His work has been featured by the White House, The New York Times, NPR, Good Morning America, FDA...

Across his career as a consultant at McKinsey, director at Blue Cross Blue Shield, Partner at BCG, and now a Partner at Strategy&, Dr. Diarra Lamar⁠ 's (RBS '97) clients have included providers, payers, service providers, pharma and tech companies, as well as investors across the healthcare space. He earned his bachelor's degree in Cognitive Neurosciences, MD, and MBA from Harvard...

Dr. Keon Pearson is a 2011 Ron Brown Scholar and Medical Director of Human Longevity where he works on the frontier of longevity medicine, a fast-emerging field of medicine aiming to extend lifespan and improve healthspan. Prior to that, he worked with healthcare startups as a Scout investor for Lightspeed Venture Partners. He studied Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University as an undergra...

Dr. Travis Gayles is a 1997 Ron Brown Scholar and is currently the CEO of Howard Brown Health, a nonprofit LGBTQ healthcare and social services provider with an annual budget of $145 million dollars that serves tens of thousands of patients in the Chicagoland area. Prior to joining Howard Brown Health, Travis was Chief Health Officer of Hazel Health, Chief of Public Health Services and Medical Off...

After years as an educator, management consultant, and impact investor for family offices, Jay Lundy (2005 Ron Brown Scholar and Managing Director of NAACP Capital ) is building a $200M fund of funds platform that is combining the power of venture capital with the legacy and influence of the oldest civil rights organization in the United States to close gaps across health, education, climate, and...

A software engineer turned researcher and professor turned founder, Dr. Jay Cunningham (2016 Ron Brown Captain and the Co-Founder of AmendLabs ) is building a new model for the data economy centered around consent, compensation, and trust. As a researcher trained in Human Centered Design and Engineering (HCDE) that studies the intersection of equity and AI/ML technology, Jay also teaches Human-Com...

Tesla may have taken the "Apple" slot in the EV charging market, but Steve Leke (2022 Ron Brown Scholar and the Co-Founder of Zap-It) has his eyes set on being the "Android" of the market, the best option for everyone else. More than just a founder committed to executing successfully where larger energy companies have failed, Steve sees Zap-It as the first piece to solving Amer...

After overseeing over a billion dollars worth of real estate investments at KKR and studying Africa's demographic trends and technological advancements, Feyi Makinde (2016 Ron Brown Captain and Co-Founder & CEO of Reeka ) is building the tech and financial infrastructure to power Africa's rental real estate market. This episode is hosted by ⁠⁠⁠Ray Pryor, IV ⁠⁠⁠ (2015 Ron Brown Scholar)...

One simple assignment during an MBA class at Yale revealed how Tsikata Apenyo (2014 Ron Brown Captain and Founder & CEO of Volta Health ) could combine his training as Medical Doctor at Brown, passion for student wellness, and his keen eye for technology innovation after working in VC. This episode is hosted by ⁠⁠⁠ Ray Pryor, IV ⁠⁠⁠ (2015 Ron Brown Scholar), presented by the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Ron Brown Ve...

Jadal Williams (2017 Ron Brown Scholar and the Co-Founder & CEO of ⁠ Vision Sense Analytics ⁠) has applied computer vision (CV), machine learning (ML), and artificial intelligence (AI) to construction, professional sports, retail, and now the equine industry by saving horses worth millions of dollars from a disease that can kill them within hours. This episode is hosted by ⁠⁠⁠ Ray Pryor, IV⁠⁠⁠...

Our loyal listeners from Season #1 might recognize a familiar name, face, and voice. After his first startup building AI automation tools for restaurants got acquired , Colin Webb (2014 Ron Brown Scholar and Founder & CEO of Avatar Robotics ) reset his sights on the technological passion of his childhood and college career: robotics. While breakthroughs in AI, hardware, and remote work already...

After pivoting away from building web3 security tools, Emmanuel Udotong (2015 Ron Brown Captain and the Co-Founder & CEO of Shield ) is building the decentralized financial infrastructure for import-export businesses right when they need it most. This episode is hosted by ⁠⁠⁠ Ray Pryor, IV⁠⁠⁠ (2015 Ron Brown Scholar), presented by the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Ron Brown Venture Lab ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and sponsored by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ S...

As a chess-master and foundation leader turned engineer, linguist, and hedge fund investor, Tyrone Davis, III (2018 Ron Brown Scholar and the Co-Founder & CEO of Miyagi Labs ) explored many ideas after getting into Y-Combinator. At the center of every idea was a passion for education, and now he's using AI to help learners of all types maximize the virtually limitless knowledge that exists...

Brothers Rusty & River Fields (2017 Ron Brown Scholar and 2021 Ron Brown Captain, and the Co-Founders of Honey Glow ) have done virtually everything together since birth ( including launch the first Black residency hacker house in their Bedstuy brownstone ), but once a homemade remedy for their grandmother went viral on TikTok multiple times and did millions in sales within the first quarter,...

Despite undeniable traffic that Gen-Z entrepreneurs receive making 5-7 figures or more just using social media, Shawn Filer (2017 Ron Brown Captain and Co-Founder & Head of Product at ⁠Catch It⁠ ) is building the tools they need to turn what on paper may look just like a side hustle into investment-ready businesses that can access capital markets. This episode is hosted by ⁠⁠ Ray Pryor, IV ⁠⁠...

Phillip Champagne (2017 Ron Brown Captain and Co-Founder & CEO of Touchpoint ) could have easily had a long, fulfilling career as a lawyer, but he's chosen to have an exponential impact on the profession by supercharging the legal teams in enterprise and mid-sized companies with AI. This episode is hosted by ⁠⁠ Ray Pryor, IV⁠ ⁠ (2015 Ron Brown Scholar), presented by the ⁠⁠⁠⁠ Ron Brown Vent...

Independent artists and creatives take pride in the uphill battle in the music industry, but Mylan Henderson (2014 Ron Brown Captain and Co-Founder & CEO of Certo Music ) is building the platform that will make independence the ultimate goal for artists, not just a stepping stone to a record deal. This episode is hosted by ⁠Ray Pryor, IV ⁠ (2015 Ron Brown Scholar), presented by the ⁠⁠⁠ Ron Bro...

Presented by the ⁠ Ron Brown Venture Lab ⁠ and sponsored by ⁠ Spira Capital ⁠, Season #3 will build on Season #1 by highlighting the next wave of startup founders in the Ron Brown Scholar Program 's alumni network. From AI, web3, and B2B SaaS to robotics, energy, and CPG, you'll hear how Ron Brown alumni are changing the world through innovation and entrepreneurship, diving into their pers...

Management consulting isn’t the first career path on the radar of most aspiring public servants. However, many Ron Brown Scholars have found alignment and meaning through their work as consultants, particularly with decade-long partner of RBSP, Deloitte’s Government & Public Services (GPS) practice . This episode features and/or mentions: Bradley Pough (RBS ’08) Sean Means (RBS ’14) Idris Mitc...

It's easy to think that experts have all the solutions to the country's challenges, but we can't agree or decide if and when to implement them. However, researchers like Dr. Andrea Headley (RBS '10) who study the inner workings of police departments make it clear that we still have a long way to go until we know what the best solutions are, let alone until we are ready to embrace and implement the...

The Presidential and Congressional elections are all the rage these days, but several Ron Brown Scholars are committed to ensuring the third branch does right by the American people. On this episode, ⁠Ray Pryor (RBS '15)⁠ shares insights from conversations he had with four Ron Brown Scholars on their legal careers in the public sector. This episode features: ⁠Bradley Pough (RBS '08) Azeezat Adelek...