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What if you’re not losing your culture, just carrying it differently? In this solo episode, I unpack cultural evolution, identity shifts, and why growth is essential to preservation.

Topics Covered

• Aging and cultural relevance in the diaspora
• From consuming culture to preserving it
• Cultural guilt and letting it go
• The role of elders, adults, and youth in cultural continuity

Key Takeaways

• Cultural evolution does not equal cultural disconnection
• Different life stages naturally emphasize different cultural anchors
• Depth of understanding often increases even as participation changes
• How you express identity shifts based on context, safety, and life stage

Links & Resources

• Caribbean Diaspora Experience Model
  • Lens 1: Where You Start Shapes the Journey
  • Lens 2: Where You Live + What You Seek = How You Connect 
  • Lens 3: Cultural Anchors Keep Us Rooted

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In this Read and Carry On edition of Carry On Friends, I am joined by writer Nicole Dubois and comedian and creative Onicia Muller to talk about Honeysuckle and Bone by Trisha Tobias. It is a YA novel set between New York and Jamaica, filled with puppy, politics and class, but also with very real questions about identity, social media and what we do and do not tell our children. 

Spoiler Alert: There are some spoilers but we kept it light.

Connect with Nicole: Website | Instagram

Connect with Onicia: Website

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In this episode let's explore how cultural anchors like food, music, language, traditions, spirituality and family keep Caribbean identity alive across distance. 

Lens 3 of the Caribbean Diaspora Experience Model (CDEM) looks at how cultural anchors keep us rooted. This episode explains why some anchors travel easily, how others need community, and how everyday moments build memory and belonging.

What is your strongest cultural anchor right now?

Mentioned in the episode:

• Caribbean Diaspora Experience Model
  • Lens 1: Where You Start Shapes the Journey
  • Lens 2: Where You Live + What You Seek = How You Connect 
• Herman Hall on How the West Indian Day Parade Started in Brooklyn

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What if losing your job could lead to the creation of a thriving business and a nonprofit dedicated to tech education? Felicia Hatcher, is a dynamic force in the tech world. Felicia recounts her inspiring journey from working at top-tier companies like Sony and Nintendo to launching a gourmet popsicle company after an unexpected job loss. 

Failure isn't a dead-end—it's a stepping stone to innovation. In this episode, we dig deep into the concept of failure, challenging traditional views and emphasizing its essential role in discovering new methods and ideas. Felicia and I explore how cultural expectations shape our perceptions of success and failure and discuss how technology now allows for safer experimentation. Even in failure, valuable knowledge is gained, driving home the point that success is a long game with multiple paths. This conversation is a profound reminder that setbacks can be transformative and pave the way for groundbreaking innovations.

Find your zone of genius and overcome imposter syndrome with actionable strategies. Felicia and I discuss how focusing on your strengths can lead to ultimate fulfillment and legacy work. Key insights from Gay Hendricks' book "The Big Leap" are explored, shedding light on how to live and work at your highest potential. Learn about the importance of cultivating a supportive community, owning your accomplishments, and confidently sharing your expertise. Felicia's experiences offer a powerful testament to the importance of embracing excellence and unleashing your full potential, ensuring that your hard work and qualifications are recognized and rewarded.

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Carnival didn’t just arrive on Eastern Parkway; people fought for it, paid for it, and sometimes lost careers over it. I sit down with Herman Hall, publisher of Everybody’s Magazine and longtime promoter to map how Caribbean culture took root in New York and how a small community magazine became a historical record. From a 1978 Bob Marley cover that sold out twice to the tumult of the Grenada revolution and Michael Manley’s labor politics, Herman walks us through the moments that turned diaspora headlines into global stories.

We dig into the migration from Harlem to Brooklyn, the resistance to bringing Carnival to the museum grounds, and the quiet pioneers who made Bed-Stuy and Crown Heights home decades earlier. Herman explains why he ran publishing and promotion in tandem, taking Oliver Samuels across boroughs and managing calypso legend Shadow. The theme is consistent: build platforms that pay artists, grow audiences, and keep Caribbean voices in the spotlight.

As the media landscape shifts, Herman shares a pragmatic view: print won’t die, but it won’t be the same. He’s preserving a vast archive - photos, interviews, and manuscripts. In addition, he is writing new books tracing Caribbean contributions from Alexander Hamilton and Claude McKay to Shirley Chisholm and Colin Powell. 

If you enjoy this episode, follow the show, share with a friend who loves Caribbean culture, and leave a review.

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If you’ve ever wondered why Caribbean-American media still rents space on other people’s platforms, this conversation goes straight to the root: ownership, organization, and the business engine behind our stories. 

In this special episode in partnership with WhereItzAt Magazine, I sit down with two veteran publishers - Clive Williams of Where It’s At Magazine and Herman Hall of Everybody’s Magazine; to map what it takes to build power: an association with teeth, a revenue model that outlasts trends, and alliances that turn small outlets into a market force.

We dig into the tough stuff too: why advertisers often ignore Caribbean audiences, how tourist boards spend outside the community, and what data and collaboration it takes to win budgets back. Real stories from missed chances to buy stations to the WLIB legacy reveal how fragmentation costs us and how shared platforms can change the math.

Call it a blueprint for the next wave: set clear priorities, package real audience insights, and pool resources like other communities do. If we want equity and visibility, we need leverage media kits with proof, sales teams that go to market together, and partnerships that protect voice while scaling reach. By the end, you’ll see a path from consumer to producer, from renting attention to owning distribution. Subscribe, share this with a creator or marketer who needs to hear it, and leave a review with one action you’ll take to support Caribbean-owned media.

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When Hurricane Melissa struck Jamaica, the impact rippled far beyond the island. This episode explores “the middle place” — that emotional space between home and abroad — through the voices of Caribbean people across the diaspora.

Through Lens 3 of the Caribbean Diaspora Experience Model (CDEM): Cultural Anchors, Kerry-Ann reflects on how faith, music, sayings, and pride keep us grounded in times of uncertainty and loss.

Episode Highlights:

• The emotional toll of watching home in crisis while abroad
• Finding strength through cultural anchors: music, prayer, proverbs, and national pride
• Diaspora coordination, empathy, and responsible giving during disaster recovery
• How resilience and cultural memory fuel the long work of rebuilding
• Re-examining “giving back” as a year-round cultural practice

Mentioned & Related Episodes:

• Rethinking Caribbean Disaster Relief: A Call to Action
• Support the Caribbean Year-Round: Giving Before, During & After Disaster Strikes
• From Carriacou to Brooklyn: Building Sustainable Futures & Cultural Legacy. 

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What if access to culture isn’t the same as connection? We dive into lens two of the Caribbean Diaspora Experience model (CDEM) and map how place and personal drive intersect to shape identity; whether you’re surrounded by patty shops and dancehall flyers in Brooklyn or piecing together community in a low-density city in middle of America.

I share a grounded look at density, from high to low and how each environment changes the kind of effort it takes to stay rooted. You’ll hear the difference between ambient culture and intentional culture, why businesses become community anchors, and how motivation shifts across life phases: leaving home, starting a family, chasing opportunity, or confronting moments that make you cling tighter to who you are. We explore the four density motivation quadrants, real stories that span Brooklyn to Wisconsin and even a Paris–Iowa thread, and the inventive ways people adapt. 

The big takeaway is simple and strong: your environment influences your cultural connection, but your intention determines it. That mindset changes how we see one another across the diaspora and how we show up where we live and moving from passive consumption to active stewardship. If you’ve ever wondered whether living far from a cultural center means losing yourself, this conversation offers a roadmap for staying rooted and making roots wherever you are.

If this resonates, share it with a friend, subscribe for the next lens on cultural anchors, and leave a review so others can find the show. Then tell us: where do you land on the density–motivation spectrum?

Missed previous episodes covering CDEM? You can catch up here.

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Simone W. Johnson Smith is the author of Decoding America: The Immigrant Experience and host of The Immigrant Experience in America podcast. A Jamaican-born public servant and cultural coach, Simone supports immigrant professionals through the emotional and cultural transitions of life in a new country.

Caribbean immigrants create something new and powerful when they leave their birth countries—a hybrid identity that's neither fully their native culture nor completely American, but according to Simone, a third culture person with unique strengths and perspectives.

Key Takeaways:

• Third culture persons develop a hybrid identity that becomes their superpower.
• Code switching is a natural adaptation strategy that all humans use in different contexts.
•  Culture shock symptoms range from mild depression to fatal self-harm and should be taken seriously.
• Coming home to yourself means integrating valuable parts of both cultures deliberately.
• Healthy boundaries with family back home are essential for immigrants' well-being.
• The immigrant experience involves balancing communal values from home with American individualism.
• Work environments often present the greatest challenges for Caribbean immigrants.

This conversation complements the Caribbean Diaspora Experience Model (CDEM), developed by Carry On Friends to help Caribbeans better understand their evolving identity across time, place, and life stages.

Connect with Simone  - thebridgeconcepts.org

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"When someone asks you where you're from, what's the first thing that comes to mind?" This seemingly simple question opens a window into the complex world of cultural identity for Caribbean people living in diaspora communities. Your answer likely depends on who's asking, where they're asking, and your unique migration journey.

The Caribbean Diaspora Experience Model (CDEM) provides a way for understanding how our cultural identities form and evolve outside the region. Unlike academic theories, this model emerges from real lived experiences – my own family's migration story, countless conversations with community members, and insights gathered through years of podcast interviews. It offers six interconnected lenses that help us articulate what many have felt but struggled to express about our complex cultural journeys.

In this deep dive into the first lens – "Where You Start Shapes the Journey" – we explore how your starting point profoundly influences your relationship with Caribbean culture. Whether you migrated as an adult with established cultural connections, came during formative teenage years like I did at 14, arrived as a young child with few concrete memories, or were born in the diaspora with varying degrees of cultural connection, each starting point creates a different foundation with unique challenges and strengths. The model acknowledges that even within families, different starting points create entirely different relationships to culture. My brothers and I all left Jamaica together, yet our age differences mean we each carry very different connections to our homeland.

The model also considers what was happening when your cultural journey began – the decade, political climate, and social context that shaped how freely Caribbean culture could be expressed in your new home. Someone who migrated during the dancehall explosion of the 1990s had vastly different opportunities for cultural expression than someone who arrived during earlier decades when Caribbean cultural visibility was more limited in diaspora spaces.

Understanding your starting point isn't about determining who is "more Caribbean" – it's about gaining clarity on your unique journey and extending grace to others whose experiences differ from yours. As we continue exploring the remaining lenses in future episodes, you'll discover how location, cultural anchors, identity shifts, professional expression, and embracing multiplicity all build upon the foundation established by where you began.

How has your starting point shaped your cultural journey? Reflect on this question as we continue unpacking the language and framework that helps us make sense of our beautiful, complex Caribbean diaspora experience.

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