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I’m thrilled to share our final bonus episode of 2021 Good Ancestor conversations. (You can find our first bonus episode here) As you listen to these wonderful excerpts from Episodes 50 through 59 you will find all the joyful emotions come to surface. What a glorious way to end our podcast listening year with our special guests who have uplifted our spirits and showed how to continue to live the life of a Good Ancestor.

As we close out this year it is my honor and pleasure to bring you the first of two bonus episodes highlighting our memorable episodes this wonderful year. We wanted to close out this year with a celebration of all of the wonderful guests we've had the pleasure of speaking with this year. Thank you for sharing your time this past year, which as Layla mentioned in the introduction of this episode is the most valuable thing in the world. We are grateful for our Good Ancestor community.Happy...

In this episode, I speak with best-selling author, lawyer, filmmaker, educator, and civil rights leader, Valarie Kaur. Valarie Kaur’s debut book, See No Stranger: A Memoir and Manifesto of Revolutionary Love is our Good Ancestor Book Club selection for the month of November 2021. Valarie Kaur is a renowned civil rights leader, lawyer, best-selling author, award-winning filmmaker, educator, innovator, and celebrated prophetic voice. She leads the Revolutionary Love Project to reclaim love as a...

In this episode, I speak with Black poet, Jasmine Mans. Jasmine Mans is a poet from Newark, New Jersey. Her recently published book, Black Girl, Call Home (Penguin Random House) has been named one of Oprah’s Most Anticipated LGBTQ Books and a TIME Magazine Must Read, to name a few; and Jasmine herself named as Essence’s #1 Contemporary Black Poet to Know. Jasmine’s poetry has gone viral many times over on YouTube. She has opened packed shows for Mos Def and Janelle Monae; and performed at...

In this episode, I speak with embodiment practitioner and leadership coach, Thérèse Cator. Thérèse is a mother, a trauma-informed embodiment practitioner, leadership coach, artist, and founder of Embodied Black Girl, a global community that stands for the embodied liberation of Black women and femmes and women of color everywhere. Embodied Black Girl is devoted to creating a safe space for Black women and femmes and women of color to heal from intergenerational trauma, racialized stress, and...

In this episode, I speak with writer, speaker, and lawyer, Savala Nolan. Savala Nolan is a writer, speaker, and lawyer. Her first book, Don’t Let It Get You Down: Essays on Race, Gender and the Body is our Good Ancestor Book Club selection for the month of October 2021.  Savala is executive director of the Thelton E. Henderson Center for Social Justice at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. She and her writing have been featured in Vogue, Time, Harper’s Magazine, The New...

In this episode, I speak with the anti-bias facilitator and mental wellness advocate, Leesa Renée Hall. Leesa Renée Hall is an anti-bias facilitator who has helped over 65,000 leaders with quiet, gentle, and highly sensitive personalities go on an Inner Field Trip® to explore their unconscious biases so they protect their energy, stand on the side of justice, and become better ancestors. In 2017, Leesa embarked on a personal journey of writing half a million words over 365 consecutive days....

In this episode, I speak with author, speaker and behavioural & data scientist, Pragya Agarwal. Pragya Agarwal is a behavioural and data scientist, who has worked as a consultant and speaker for the United Nations, UNESCO, Environment Agency, NHS, UK Police Commissioners, Cabinet Office, and US Defence Services, and various international universities including Oxford, Cambridge, Columbia, Koblenz, Imperial College and more. Pragya has held a Leverhulme Fellowship and senior academic...

In this episode, I speak with the co-authors of 'What's your Story? ', Rebecca Walker and Lily Diamond. Rebecca Walker is a bestselling author, editor, and cultural critic who has contributed to the global conversation about race, gender, culture, and power for over two decades. She has spoken at over four hundred universities, conferences, literary festivals, and corporate campuses around the world, and is a co-founder of the Third Wave Fund, an organization that supports women and...

In this episode, I speak with Novelist and Journalist, Dawnie Walton. Dawnie Walton was born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida. She earned her MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop (2018) and holds a journalism degree from Florida A&M University (1997). Formerly an editor at Essence and Entertainment Weekly, she has received fellowships in fiction writing from MacDowell and the Tin House Summer Workshop. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband.

In this episode, I speak with Sunday Times and Irish Times best-selling author, academic, and broadcaster, Emma Dabiri. Emma Dabiri is a teaching fellow in the African department at SOAS, a Visual Sociology PhD researcher at Goldsmiths and the author of Twisted: The Tangled History of Black Hair Culture and What White People Can Do Next. Both books are Sunday Times, Irish Times and Waterstones bestsellers. Emma is a regular presenter on the BBC and a contributor for The Guardian. She has...

In this episode, I speak with the meditator, writer, and speaker, Diego Perez, also known as Yung Pueblo. Diego Perez is the writer behind the pen name Yung Pueblo. The name Yung Pueblo means “young people.” It serves to remind him of his Ecuadorian roots, his experiences in activism, and that the collective of humanity is in the midst of important growth. Diego’s favorite word, liberation, took on a deeper meaning once he started meditating vipassana. Through writing and speaking, he aims to...

In this episode, I speak with Xicana medicine woman and decolonial healer, Dr. Rocío Rosales Meza. Dr. Rocío Rosales Meza, is a Xicana/Mexicana seer, decolonial healer, speaker, writer, mother, & Counseling Psychology Ph.D. Dr. Rocio’s path is that of a medicine woman, she is not a Licensed Psychologist, as she is not aligned with the colonial field. Dr. Meza’s work is at the intersections of decolonizing, spirituality, and wellness. She walks and works in between the earthly and...

In this episode, I speak with New York Times bestselling author, Robert Jones, Jr. Robert Jones, Jr. is a writer from Brooklyn, N.Y. He earned both his B.F.A. in creative writing and M.F.A. in fiction from Brooklyn College. His work has been featured in The New York Times, Essence, Gawker, and The Grio. He is the creator of the social justice social media community, Son of Baldwin. He is currently working on his second novel. Robert’s instant NYT bestselling book The Prophets is our first...

In this episode, I speak with climate justice and antiracism activist, Mikaela Loach. Mikaela Loach is a climate justice activist, the co-host of The Yikes Podcast, writer and a 4th-year medical student based in Edinburgh, Scotland. In 2020, Forbes, Global Citizen and BBC Woman's Hour named Mikaela one of the most influential women in the UK climate movement. Her work focuses on making the climate movement more inclusive and focusing on the intersections of the climate crisis with oppressive...

In this episode, I speak with award-winning British science journalist and broadcaster, Angela Saini. Angela presents science programmes on the BBC, and her writing has appeared in New Scientist, The Sunday Times, National Geographic and Wired. Her latest book, Superior: the Return of Race Science, was a finalist for the LA Times Book Prize and named a book of the year by The Telegraph, Nature and Financial Times. Her previous book, Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong, has been translated...

In this episode, I speak with creative, entrepreneur, educator, and speaker, Sinikiwe Dhliwayo. Sinikiwe Dhliwayo is steadfast in her belief that Blackness and humanity are inextricably linked. She is driven daily by a deep desire to change the narrative of what it looks like and feels like to be well. Whether making yoga and meditation accessible to those who need the practice most or telling stories of marginalized folks through elevated photo and video, Sinikiwe is dedicated to creating a...

In this episode, I speak with British-Nigerian media executive, writer, and satirist, Nels Abbey. Nels Abbey is a British-Nigerian media executive, writer, and satirist. Prior to any of the above he was a senior banker in the financial district of London. He is a former BBC executive, a Clore Fellow, a Penguin Fellow, a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts and sits on the boards of various companies. His writing work has been published in every major quality British newspaper and many...

In this episode, I speak with American novelist, Kiley Reid. An Arizona native, Kiley Reid is a recent graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where she was the recipient of the Truman Capote Fellowship. Her New York Times-bestselling debut novel, SUCH A FUN AGE, is currently in development by Lena Waithe’s Hillman Grad Productions and Sight Unseen Pictures. The novel was longlisted for The 2020 Booker Prize and a finalist for the New York Public Library’s 2020 Young Lions Fiction Award, the...

In this episode, I speak with advocate, storyteller, and minimalist, Christine Platt. Christine Platt is a passionate advocate for social justice and policy reform. From serving as an advocate for policy reform to using the power of storytelling as a tool for social change, Christine’s work reflects her practice of living with intention. She holds a B.A. in Africana Studies, M.A. in African-American Studies, and a J.D. in General Law. Christine has written over two dozen literary works for...

In this episode, I speak with yoga practitioner, author and founder, Susanna Barkataki. An Indian yoga practitioner in the Shankaracharya tradition, Susanna Barkataki supports practitioners to lead with equity, diversity and yogic values while growing thriving practices and businesses with confidence. She is the author of the 2020 book Embrace Yoga’s Roots: Courageous Ways to Deepen Your Yoga Practice, for people who want to teach or learn yoga and are unsure about integrating their values...

In this episode, I speak with counseling psychologist and educator, Dr. Mariel Buquè. Dr. Mariel Buquè is an Afro-Dominican counseling psychologist and educator. She provides clinical care and teaches courses at Columbia University and Columbia University Medical Center in the areas of culturally-responsive delivery of mental health care and the decolonization of eurocentric therapeutic practices. Her clinical work focuses on healing the wounds of intergenerational trauma for Black,...

In this episode, I speak with journalist, author, and academic, Ruby Hamad. In 2018, Ruby Hamad's Guardian article, ‘How White Women Use Strategic Tears to Silence Women of Color’ became a global flashpoint for discussions of white feminism and racism and inspired her debut book, White Tears/Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women of Color. White Tears/Brown Scars has received critical acclaim in Australia and overseas where it has just been published in the US, Canada and the UK. Ruby...