Wrap Session 30 Design & Culture: On the heels of his debut book," Reimagining Design: Unlocking Strategic Innovation," out March 8, 2022, Kevin Bethune takes the Royal Court through his journey from his humble beginnings as a child in Detroit, his career in a nuclear power plant as a mechanical engineer before heading to Nike and now Founder and CCO of dreams • design + life.  In this episode of deep career & strategic design knowledge, Kevin drops gems on how stretch assignments...

Wrap Session 29 Design & Culture. From her roots in New Orleans to Silicon Valley, Design Director Dee Speed shares her journey from pivoting out of medical school all the way to leading a design team as the first Black Design Director at Alphabet where she heads up a team at YouTube Music.  With her cool & sage advice, Dee takes the Royal Court through her 20-year professional journey including stops at Disney and Yahoo. This episode is filled with regal conversation including Dee's...

Wrap Session 27 Design & Culture. We kick off Season 3 of Tech Wrap Queen with an international episode with medical student and medical illustrator Chidiebere Ibe whose medical anatomy picture of a Black fetus in the womb went viral across social media & the world. In this episode Chidiebere shares how the loss of his mother at a young age further secured his mission to become a doctor & how another disappointing life event led to him creating the illustration of the black...

Renee Reid aka "Thee Renee", the Queen of Tech Wrap Queen closes out Season 2 with a special shout out to the Royal Court and a reminder to get ready for Season 3, filled with even more table shakers and innovators in Design, Tech and Culture.  Be sure to catch up on all Season 2 episodes before the news ones are released in February...

Wrap Session 26 Design and Culture. Get to know the amazing Harrison Wheeler in a whole new way. In this fun wrap session, this Senior Design Manager and host of the podcast Technically Speaking shares his journey from his college days as a featured football player in the EA sports NCAA video game, becoming a stock photo favorite for media campaigns and how more Black representation and leadership is Design is...

Wrap Session 25 Design & Culture. There are very few podcasts that can say they have been around for 8 years, there is only 1 that can say it's located in the Smithsonian Archives. Maurice Cherry, award-winning designer, host & creator of Revision Path podcast, shares his impressive journey from the early days of Revision Path to how 11 episodes of his podcast made history by becoming part of the permanent collection in the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and...

Wrap Session 24 Tech & Culture. Geek out on this tech episode with founder, former Tesla engineer, & venture capital partner at Drive Capital, Markell Baldwin. Markell takes the Royal Court on an illuminated journey from his early days of discovering his love of physics with the help of a high school teacher, creating a path to Telsa during his college days at Purdue, to landing his dream right out of college as an engineer at Tesla where he also got to meet & do a fireside chat...

Wrap Session 23 Tech & Culture.  Shelly Omilâdè Bell, serial entrepreneur and Founder of Black Girl Ventures (BGV) a foundation addressing the unique challenges Black/Brown women face in accessing social and financial capital, takes the Royal Court on a dynamic journey from launching BGV to landing a pivotal partnership with NIKE.  In this episode, Shelly provides critical advice for founders and shares how shifting her mindset from wanting validation from other Venture Capitalists has...

Wrap Session 22 on Design and Culture.  Eso Tolson aka "Cool Urban Hippie" as he is known on social medial is an artist, designer, & proud plant zaddie. His gift & talent for lettering & words have recently landed him a viral tweet about REST and brands including Best Buy & Coca-Cola have commissioned his work. Listen to this wrap session as Eso takes the Royal Court through an artistic journey filled with good vibes and good energy. Learn how he turns his words of wisdom into...

Wrap Session 21 on Tech & Culture. This wrap session illuminates with Black Girl Magic. Standing on the shoulders of her ancestors, Alexandria Butler better known as "Lexi B" is a proud self-proclaimed freedom fighter, storyteller & founder of the now 10,000 strong international group Sista Circle Black Women in Tech. A group first started to help Lexi navigate her own tech career journey as a Black woman, which has taken her to companies including AirBnB, Facebook ( now Meta) and...

Wrap Session 20 on Design & Tech is a spicey one. Darren Hood is the outspoken passionate UX professional, an author of 97 things that every UX Practitioners Should Know, and a podcaster from The World of UX. Darren takes the Royal Court through a dynamic discussion of many UX topics including bootcamps, piracy in the industry, his experiences of being trolled for calling out unethical practices in UX and more. Follow Darren and his work. Twitter: https://twitter.com/darrenhood ...

Wrap session 19 on Design with Dr. Lesley Ann Noel, academic scholar, design researcher, and creator of the Designers Critical Alphabet, takes the Royal Court on a design and research critical thinking journey often embraced and discussed in academia but not as much in industry.  Dr. Noel challenges UX and Design practitioners to decolonize bookshelves as well recognizing how identities play a part in design & research for both practitioners and participants.  Books & resources...

In Wrap Session 18, James Baduor Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer of the hugely popular design mentor site www.adplist.org shares the amazing journey from spreadsheet to startup with his cofounder Felix Lee. From opposite ends of the globe and all virtually, the two met over LinkedIn and together in the midst of the pandemic have built a now Sequoia Capital-backed startup that is helping to democratized mentorship globally across industries, starting with Design and Research.  Listen to...

On the heels of National Podcast Day, Tech Wrap Queen is celebrating 1 YEAR! In this special Anniversary Episode your Queen, Thee Renee, the host of Tech Wrap Queen shares with the Royal Court 3 Lessons learned in launching her first Podcast and what to look forward to in the year ahead. With a new logo & branding, Tech Wrap Queen is ready to bring even More Energy, More Vibes, and More Inspiration to the Royal Court.  --- Send in a voice message:...

Wrap Session 17 | From the suburbs of Westchester County, New York just north of Manhattan, to Silicon Valley and now Tokyo, Japan; Design Leader, Ian Spalter authentically shares his personal and professional journey from riding his bike as a kid to his very first job, discovering design and ultimately becoming the Head of Design at Instagram before going on to become the current Head of Instagram Japan.  In this exclusive wrap session, Ian also takes the Tech Wrap Queen listeners, The...

Wrap Session 16 Welcomes the amazing Jen White Johnson, Design Activist and Assistant Professor of Visual Communication Design & Digital Media Art at Bowie State University, the oldest HBCU in Maryland.  Jen shares her personal journey to understanding her son's disability as well as her own while creating & designing a new narrative in how Black and Brown disable lives are portrayed in society. She also shares with the Royal Court how she would like to see companies seek out and...

Wrap Session 15 | Director of the B2B Institute at LinkedIn and Founder of the TransformHER conference, Tyrona "Ty" Heath, takes the Royal Court on a guided journey through her personal & professional journey to leadership as the former president of the Employee Resource Group,  Black Inclusion Group (B.I.G) to the creation & growth of the popular TransformHER event. The premier conference is dedicated to supporting professional Black women & women of color in technology and their...

Wrap Session 14 is power-packed with gems & hard truths spoken with unapologetic passion by the incredible Antionette Carroll, TED speaker & fellow, designer & redesigner for Justice and Equity. Antionette is the Founder & CEO of Creative Reaction Lab, a nonprofit organization based in St. Louis, Missouri but also having global impact and influence. The organization empowers Black, Latin and Indigenous youth to be creative equity leaders helping to design the communities they...

Wrap Session 13- Founder & Executive Director of Inneract Project, Designer & Leader Maurice Woods joins the Royal Court to authentically share his personal journey to Design and discuss his work leading Inneract Project;  the nonprofit that empowers underrepresented youth through design education and links them to opportunities to explore design in career and life. To get involved, partner and find out more about Inneract Project be sure to follow them and visit their...

A new lineup of amazing guests is ready to bless the Royal Court. Be sure to subscribe to the Tech Wrap Queen YouTube Channel to view video content of interviews and follow across social media to stay up to date.  https://www.instagram.com/techwrapqueen/ https://www.instagram.com/thee__renee/ https://twitter.com/thee_renee https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1zhz1eh5zgqEwcroU1E_7A --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/techwrapqueen/message

A special message to the Royal Court 

2020 has introduced a lot of things good bad and ugly. One of the brightest experiences has been the birth of the virtual DJ that has helped people get through these times by creating a sense of community through music.  DJ M.O.S. and his virtual experience, Club Insomnia takes followers on a journey through music that will leave you feeling nostalgic and euphoric.   In this wrap session, DJ M.O.S. shares his journey making the pivot to streaming his DJ sets on Instagram & Twitch , his...

Affectionately known as the Talent Genie, Maisha Cannon brings "oodles of creativity" and tons of resources to the Talent Acquisition industry. This International speaker and leader in the recruiting and sourcing space shares her gems on her industry experiences through Entertainment and Tech,  best practices for Job Seekers, and why showing up authentically is a process.  Follow on Twitter https://twitter.com/talentgenie | Connect on LinkedIn

From her humble roots in Jackson, Mississippi, to obtaining a Ph.D. from Georgia Tech and later becoming the CTO of a startup (PartPic), lead by Black women and acquired by Amazon; Dr. Nashlie Sephus is on a mission to ensure her community is empowered and equipped. In this wrap session, Nashlie shares her experiences as an AI Leader from college to startup life and now Amazon and also drops gems on the importance of rooting & planting tech seeds back home through her nonprofit The Bean...