Broken Open

Broken Open

By Tawanna NishiSociety & CultureRelationshipsPersonal Journals
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Broken Open episodes

  • Episode 18: Support Circle: Sanitizing Your Circle
    Host Tawanna Nishi speaks with educator, artist, and activist Logic Amen (founder of the Griot Party) about the importance of having a support circle, the many variations that a support circle can take, and how curating and "sanitizing" your circle can help set you up for success in life.
    1 hr 1 min
  • Episode 17: Leveling Up
    In a One Institution Media collaboration, host Tawanna Nishi speaks with SNA Live co-host Ryan Lugo about how to level up when faced with unexpected life circumstances. The two OIM influencers discuss strategies of how to keep moving forward when faced with setbacks by utilizing gratitude, intention, faith, innovation, the wise counsel of others, and a hustler's spirit. Tune in to learn how anyone can learn to level up with the right mindset.
    1 hr 4 min
  • Episode 16: Everyday Hero
    Host Tawanna Nishi speaks with educator, property owner, activist, advocate, and mentor Shereena Lewis about growing up on the West side of Chicago during the 80's and 90's, and what propelled her to devote her life to giving back. They discuss racism, segregation in the city of Chicago and its ramifications, the importance of representation, what was behind her active decision never to code switch, and her unwavering dedication to living her life unfiltered.
    57 min
  • Broken Open Season 1, Episode 15: Challenges, Choices, and Change
    It is the general rule that without challenge, change doesn't come. Host Tawanna Nishi has a candid conversation with Phillip Wilson as he dictates his experience of having his family structure change due to illness and loss at a pivotal stage in his life, just as he was on the precipice of making big life decisions. When your foundational structure changes, do you crumble or do you pivot? How do you cope when the individuals that you turn to are no longer available to you? Tune in to see how loss affected the formative years of Phillip's life.
    1 hr 29 min
  • Episode 14: Things Aren't What They Always Seem ...
    Host Tawanna Nishi speaks with Special Olympic Gold Medalist Ashton Smith as she recounts her experience of bouts of homelessness and food insecurity while competing in the Special Olympics over a 20 year period. Ashton shares how her disability caused her to be bullied and marginalized, what keeps her going through it all, and what she hopes to give back to those in similar situations.”
    51 min
  • Episode 13: Healing Through
    Host Tawanna Nishi and author Monica Morgan (The ABC's of Racism and Reconciliation) take a deep dive into how to heal in the midst of tumultuous circumstances. They discuss anchors, mantras, faith, asking for help and more as Monica walks us through her journey to healing through loss and ill health.
    1 hr 8 min
  • Episode 12: Living While Black: Black Women Edition
    In a slight departure, host Tawanna Nishi leads a comfortable and candid conversation with fellow One Institution Media hosts Keshia Carr and Keturah Harper about living while Black as a Black woman in America today. The panel touches on stereotypes that Black women face, racism and sexism in the workplace, colorism, Eurocentric beauty standards, potential motivation for solely dating outside of your race, and more...
    Ultimately, the group agrees that while being a Black woman in and of itself isn't a painful traumatic event with an end date that they break open through, it's the endless microaggressions, double standards, societal hierarchies, and myriad of little injustices that happen in perpetuity that they have had to learn how to thrive in spite of.
    1 hr 12 min
  • Episode 11: No One To Turn To
    Trigger Warning: child abuse, drug abuse, and profanity A candid, raw, gritty, and real conversation with Latif Akins as he speaks from the heart about his tough childhood that ultimately caused him to lose his freedom. Host Tawanna Nishi guides Latif through authentic discourse about what it is like to heal lifelong trauma and the steps one can take to do so. Through their discourse we begin to understand that sometimes simply surviving and getting the opportunity to see another day can be a triumph of its own.
    1 hr 17 min
  • Episode 10: When You're Counted Out
    Host Tawanna Nishi does it again. WOW! That's all we can say in this emotional and empowering episode about getting up again after life has counted you out. Because you know ... Life will give you its big shot to knock you down. However, some people find a way to get back up and STAY UP. Fortunately, Broken Open Host extraordinaire brings us guests who share how they managed to survive and give us the tools to do so ourselves. How do they do it? Tune in to find out.
    1 hr

About Broken Open

From the publisher's feed

It’s argued that those who have endured hardship have also experienced wisdom, and that what has broken you can also bless you. The most important question hurt people have to eventually ask is…