Charm City Dreamers

Maimouna Youssef is a global citizen, a musical healer, a cultural philanthropist and a community pillar. As she states "knowing your heritage gives you a different kind of purpose with your life". Maimouna Youssef has shared stages with music giants such as Sting, Nas, Common, Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, Ed Sheeran, Queen Latifah, and many others.

Delshan Baker is the head of investment for Thread. In this episode you will learn about Delshan's story and how she is helping Thread create a movement that will change the nature of how we define family & communities.

Learn all about the Baltimore Jazz scene with saxophonist David Diongue. He moved to Baltimore at age 5 and discovered music through saxophonist and educator Carl Grubbs. With the help of local musicians, Diongue was accepted to Baltimore School for the Arts where he studied with Tim Green and Dr. Chris Ford. Diongue went on to Oberlin Conservatory to study with Gary Barty, critically acclaimed saxophonist and Baltimore native. Additionally, Diongue studied with Jamey Haddad, Jay Ashby, and Dan Wall. Diongue is currently based in Baltimore and has worked with David Murray, Lafayette Gilchrist, and Jamal Moore.

Chris grew up under extremely difficult circumstances. Poverty, drug addiction, and gun violence was the everyday norm in his community. At the age of 17, he was charged with a crime, convicted, and sentenced to natural life in prison. It was during times of isolation that he decided to not only to turn his life around, but to make a difference in the lives of people who currently live in poverty-stricken communities similar to his childhood surroundings. "Many years ago, I committed my life to self-improvement and helping others. I sat in a dark cell and wrote up what I now call my Master Plan. A plan to build a business empire and help others."

You can now pre-order his book Master Plan

Before we were selling wild kombucha in over 400 stores across 5 states, we were three friends making kombucha out of the side of a juice shop in Baltimore.

We have continued to grow in our new brewery over the past two years, and have since been able to give back. As a proud supporter of the National Wildlife Federation, every bottle of Wild Kombucha helps protect wildlife habitats.

Ryan Odom is the head basketball coach of UMBC. In a six-day span, UMBC won an America East Conference title at prohibitive favorite Vermont and followed up by engineering the first victory for a No. 16 seed over a No. 1 seed in NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament history. UMBC overwhelmed the tournament's top overall seed, Virginia, 74-54, in Charlotte, N.C., earning an ESPY nomination for the "Best Moment" of the year.

Marilyn Ness is a two-time Emmy, Peabody, and DuPont Award winning filmmaker, is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and works as a producer and a director. Most recently, she directed CHARM CITY which will premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival 2018. Before that, she produced CAMERAPERSON (dir.Kirsten Johnson) premiered at Sundance 2016, was released by the Criterion Collection, and was shortlisted for the 2017 Academy Awards. TRAPPED (dir. Dawn Porter), which premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, received the Jury Prize for Social Impact Filmmaking, broadcast on PBS, and was awarded a Peabody. She also produced Katy Chevigny and Ross Kauffman's feature documentary E-TEAM, which premiered at Sundance Film Festival in 2014 and was bought by Netflix Original, and later earned two Emmy nominations. Ness also produced Johanna Hamilton's feature documentary 1971 which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival 2014, broadcast on Independent Lens in 2015, and earned an Emmy nomination. She directed the documentary feature film BAD BLOOD: A CAUTIONARY TALE that broadcast nationally on PBS in 2011.

Mr. Selby is the Executive Director for Year Up Baltimore and Interim Executive Director for Year Up Greater Philadelphia, a national non profit organization that provides workforce development for young adults 18-24 years of age. A native of Baltimore and an alumni of Baltimore Polytechnic Institute and Morgan State University where he earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting. Mr. Selby attended Howard University School of Divinity in pursuit of a Masters of Divinity degree. Recently, Mr. Selby completed the Georgetown University Nonprofit Management Executive Certificate Program in the Summer 2018 Cohort.

Prior to joining Year Up, Mr. Selby was a senior manager consultant with IBM leading various business units and large programs such as the Quality Assurance team for the Express Scripts project and the Quality, Risk, Issue, and Delivery team for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

Mr. Selby is a Project Management Institute (PMI) certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and is a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt. He has 20 years management experience with fortune 100 companies such as American Express, Citibank, Wells Fargo, and Lockheed Martin.

Mr. Selby is married to Lynn Selby and they have 3 teenage children (Jordan, Jessica, and Jaden). He is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated, Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity, and King David Lodge #18 of the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of MD. He serves on the Board of Directors for the Howard E. Rollins Foundation and the Elijah Cummings Youth Program in Israel. Mr. Selby is also an Alumnus of LEADERship Baltimore's 2017 Cohort.

Marcus L. Wang, Esq. is the Co-Founder, President and General Manager of the Baltimore-based ZytoGen Global Genetics Institute, a CAP-accredited genetics testing company driving successful pregnancy outcomes for patients worldwide through its proprietary preimplantation genetic screening platform. ZytoGen has experienced rapid growth and achieved profitability within two years of its inception in 2014.

Mr. Wang's international business and legal experience covers both the U.S., where he practiced corporate law at the Manhattan office of DLA Piper, as well as China, where he spearheaded the development, execution and launch of Under Armour's China market entry in 2011. Mr. Wang continues to advise U.S. businesses concerning China market entry and partnerships, providing guidance on go-to-market strategy, regulatory issues, brand development, and product localization.