YOU Better!

Kena Tchiteya is a skincare entrepreneur who puts nutrition and discipline as top priorities in her message; She rapidly grew an audience of over 1 million followers on TikTok in only 9 months by sharing her vulnerable journey to clear skin after suffering from severe acne, deep hyperpigmentation and more. She is widely regarded for using her platform to share the steps she took to achieve her ski...

Prairie Rose is an author, trained sommelier, wine and spirits educator, and host of the popular podcast Bit by a Fox. She is also a woman who, after a childhood that began in a hippie commune, found herself making bold choices to show up for herself.  From saving up to take a life-changing solo trip to Europe in her twenties, to launching the Bit by a Fox platform after a major heartbreak, Prairi...

In this episode Kiesha goes inside the life and lessons of Kim Blue, an HR powerhouse who cherishes her role as a mom first and foremost.  She shares her blueprint for self-care and her reflections on a life of big moves and even bigger lessons.  She's a woman who is using her voice, practicing her boundaries and continually making space for her own healing. Episode Resources: Books: Right Within...

In this interview with Kiesha Garrison, Dr. Shelly Bhowmik discusses her own personal journey of self-discovery and recovery after experiencing burnout so bad it motivated her to launch a platform for helping others not end up in the same place.   Her practice is based on the belief that mindset is medicine, a belief she came to realize through her own journey that began at the edge of a subway pl...

In this interview with Kiesha Garrison, wellness consultant Latorsha Peake shares her lessons of learning to care for herself better.  Her experiences led her to write a book titled Iced Coffee and Self Care® in which she aims to help us move ourselves higher on our own to-do lists.  Self-care is not only about spa treatments! So join this conversation where Latorsha and Kiesha share their insight...

In this episode, we talk about what it looks like to go on a healing journey towards self-love.  Kiesha is joined by a dear friend who has made her life’s work about helping others understand and get to “the work.” Her name is Tira Feierstein, and she is a writer, artist and spiritual thought leader who is passionate about helping other woman feel less alone on their journey. Through her artful ex...

So many people have the experience of feeling like they are in the wrong profession. But they stick it out for years even when that work environment is so bad it feels like it’s going to break them. We have gotten so used to sacrificing our selves in the name of survival, that it is hard to even imagine what another kind of existence could look like. This episode's guest, Sukie Jefferson, is someo...

Detroit native and Morehouse Man, Mark Hatcher, sits down with Kiesha to share his life story.  He talks through his journey from his premature birth to his mother's guidance which provided inspiration for how he moves with purpose and how he fathers his elementary school aged daughter Maris Mays.  He also celebrates the goodness that was poured into him on the campus of historic Morehouse College...

What happens when you feel like your environment does not properly reflect love back to you?  On this episode of YOU Better! Charles E. Sims Jr. reflects on his melancholy filled childhood and his journey to seeing himself as a “60-year-old late bloomer.” This self-proclaimed prisoner of hope also shares his learnings about self now that he is experiencing the ultimate safe space with his boyfrien...

In this last episode in the YOU Better! Take Action Series, Kiesha highlights the work of storyteller Ava DuVernay whose aunt sparked her interest in the arts when she was a little girl.  Kiesha reflects on how she has learned from and taken action based on Ava's work, chiefly the documentary 13th. She also discusses how shining a light on issues and opportunities for learning is a critical action...

In this fourth in the YOU Better! Take Action Series, Kiesha highlights the work of civil rights activist Marian Wright Edelman who dedicated her life to advocating for the rights and welfare of children. Those who have already invested in the work have left so much information and instruction that sometimes the action for us to take is to actually engage with the work they have already put in fro...

Most Black people, despite our ingenuity, still have to push through a wall of distrust, opposition and financial impediment that was built at the base of our family trees from the beginning. In this episode from the Take Action Series, Kiesha focuses on learning from work of Kerry Coddett, an activist and multi-hyphenate creative in NYC, who is doing her part to chip away at that wall.  Kerry and...

In this episode from the Take Action Series, Kiesha focuses on learning from the life of women's health advocate and activist Byllye Avery.  She shares some stories from the early parts of Byllye's  life and how she ended up beginning her work as an activist supporting women who were seeking abortions in the 70's. Episode Resources: Learn more about Byllye Avery VIDEO: 2018 UCSF Medals - Byllye Av...

In this special summer series about taking action to care for community, Kiesha is taking a pause from interviews to share what she is learning about people who have led important movements in their communities along with the actions they are inspiring her to take.   This episode features the writing of activist Dean Spade, who authored the book Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis (...

Bobby Morgan is a man committed to education.  He is also a husband, father, and founder of Liberation Lab, an educational consulting firm that builds pathways of internal and external accountability.  In this interview with Kiesha Garrison, Bobby talks about how he freed himself from the toxicity of chasing acceptance in places he was taught to value that did not value him back.  The two also dis...

Allison Zinczenko is many things - a mom, wife, educator, business leader and so much more.  But above all else, she describes herself as a work in progress and shares with Kiesha on YOU Better! how she has taken that work seriously.  She recounts her journey of growing up as a young child who felt unsafe, trying to navigate that by portraying perfection - to now being a mother who is nurturing a...

Alliah L. Agostini is a proud native of Buffalo, NY and a developing creative.  In addition to being a mom, a Harvard grad, and so much more, Alliah is the author of the kids book The Juneteenth Story: Celebrating the End of Slavery in the United States ( released in May 2022).  In this interview with Kiesha, she discusses the importance of preserving heritage and of integrating the new layers we...

Shermica Farquhar is many things including being a multi-faceted Black woman and a Brooklynite proud of her Trinidadian heritage.  She is an incredibly strategic problem solver who also runs two companies – Solutions by SF, a business growth strategy firm, and Soka Tribe, a cultural organization that spreads the joy of carnival through dance. In this episode, she shares with Kiesha her stories of...

Kev Marcus is a Grammy nominated recording artist and co-founder of Black Violin, a band he formed with his longtime friend Wil Baptiste, in which they combine their classical training and hip-hop influences to create a distinctive multi-genre sound.  In addition to being a musical groundbreaker, Kev is a father, husband, activist, author and a person who pushes for progress and seeks to shatter e...

Kiesha Garrison reflects on having to shut her productivity down while being sick and lessons from the one work assignment she allowed herself to still do during that time - a speech for the Stanley Ann Dunham Scholarship Fund which celebrates young women who exhibit excellence in academics, leadership, and community service.  Episode Resources: Organization: The Stanley Ann Dunham Scholarship Fun...

 Some in the classical music scene might know Shaya Lyon as the founder of a nonprofit organization called the Live Music Project.  For Kiesha, Shaya is also a very dear friend full of global perspective, earnest curiosity, and sincere compassion.  In this episode, Shaya - a descendent of both a blacklisted physicist and a Holocaust survivor - shares about her upbringing as a young woman who was r...

Living a life that doesn't center Whiteness is bold and requires intentionality and imagination.  Zerandrian Morris joins Kiesha on this episode to talk about turning points in her life that led her to imagine what's possible and listen to spirit instead of following oppressive social conditioning.  She also shares about the powerful work she does with her organization The Ignant Intellectual Grou...

Aspen Fitzgerald- Dorsey shares with Kiesha Garrison details from her life story as a young Black woman who dealt with the pressures of attending Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology, one of the country's highest ranked magnet schools, and her experience needing to leave graduate school because of crippling student debt.  With Aspen being pregnant with her first child at 40, the f...

In this episode, Kiesha is joined by Nikki Gane-Butler, the Founder and Director of Dignity for Divas, who shares her story as well as her perspective on self-leadership, our connectedness as humans, and how own experience with homelessness has led to her finding the personal power she always hoped was there.  More about Dignity for Divas: Nikki Gane- Butler is committed to creating an impactful a...

Jun Love Young, PhD is many things...CEO of ZUM Communications, founder of Beloved Arise which celebrates and empowers LGBTQ+ youth of faith, a father, a storyteller, and so much more.  In this interview with Kiesha Garrison, Jun shares his journey to being a person who has come alive and chooses joy. Episode Resources: Beloved Arise - The first national organization for queer youth of faith. They...