Confessions of a Native Son

What's going on everyone, Welcome to another edition of Confessions of a Native Son, I'm your host "IRON" Mike Steadman. I'm a Marine Corps Veteran, Entrepreneur, and Aspiring author, who enjoys thought-provoking and engaging dialogue about race, culture, and business.

In the following episode, I finally close out the Always Faithful series, where I share my experience as an African-American Infantry Officer in the United States Marine Corps. Talking about this material has been physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausting for me, with that being said, I'm happy to share it with you all. Between this episode and the 3 previous ones, I've logged over 10 hours of audio on my experience, which is humbling and amazing at the same time. For me, this series has been very therapeutic for me, and I hope you've been able to learn and grow from it. After recording and releasing the 5-hour behemoth that is Ep.22, where I detail my Afghan war experience and getting relieved in combat, I knew I needed some support-up for this final episode of this series. In order to assist me, I brought back my brother from another mother, Mikoto Yoshida, from Episode 18. "Confessions of An Asian-American." Miko interviews me about what is like returning home from Afghanistan After being relieved, how I managed to cope, and what led to my return to my Battalion after a brief stint with the Marine Corps Boxing Team (If you even want to call it that). I confess to Miko that I felt I didn't have what it took to lead Marines anymore and how I may or may not have been suffering from some form of PTSD, ultimately resulting in a fear of leading again. I managed to push through the shame and embarrassment and ultimately rebuild myself, while simultaneously helping others. The truth is none of that what have not been possible if it wasn't for one amazing Company Commander and a peer group of lieutenants who helped me regain my courage. If you've been following me this far, this is an episode you don't to miss. I also can assure not 5 hours either. As always, thank you for spending your time with me and I hope you enjoy the show.

What's going on everyone, Welcome to another edition of Confessions of a Native Son, I'm your host Mike Steadman. I'm a Marine Corps Veteran, Entrepreneur, and Aspiring author, who enjoys thought-provoking and engaging dialogue about race, culture, and business.

In the following episode, I address the most difficult subject matter of this show, my combat deployment to Afghanistan. Five months into my six month deployment, I was relieved of command. This is my first time telling this story and my most audacious confession.

What's going on everyone, Welcome to another edition of Confessions of a Native Son, I'm your host Mike Steadman. I'm a Marine Corps Veteran, Entrepreneur, and Aspiring author, who enjoys thought-provoking and engaging dialogue about race, culture, and business.

I've got some exciting news for you. I've decided to wrap up the initial Always Faithful series, where I describe my experience as an African-American Marine Infantry Officer, in the United States Marine Corps. Following the publication of a controversial Marine Corps Times Article by Colonel Thomas Hobbs, where he describes the racial bias towards black & brown officers in the Marines, I decided to leverage my platform to share my experience. After releasing the first episode, I received countless phone calls and text, from black and white Marine officers, expressing their support and sharing similar observations & experiences. Generals and Colonels began reaching out to me on social media wanting to connect and virtually overnight, it was as if my podcast found it's audience. I tried to record Part 2 on multiple occasions to no avail. I don't know if it was the pressure of knowing others were listening, or not wanting to offend my peers. Either way, I couldn't find my voice.

After several months, I've decided to re-attack it, with the support of fellow Marine and confident Colonel Thomas Hobbs, from Episode 15. I called Colonel Hobbs for support up, and together, we work through Part 2, and pick up where Episode 13 left off, including my return from the Rifle Range, the social dynamics of life in an Infantry Battalion, and friction I experienced with my Company commander. This is the first of 4-5 finals episodes of the season, as we begin our slow march to close out season 1 of this podcast. This episode is a bit longer than anything else I've previously recorded, so kick back, strap in, and enjoy the ride. As always I truly appreciate you for sharing your time with me and I hope you enjoy today's show.

What's going on everyone, Welcome to another edition of Confessions of a Native Son, I'm your host Mike Steadman. I'm a Marine Corps Veteran, Entrepreneur, and Aspiring author, who enjoys thought-provoking and engaging dialogue about race, culture, and business.

In this episode, I chop it up with another brother from another mother, Mr. Nate Jester. Nate is an African-American Naval Academy Graduate and Marine Infantry Officer, who recently graduated from Harvard Law School. Nate relocated to his hometown of Atlanta Georgia, in order to leverage his human capital in the community that raised him. Nate's passion is to uplift oppressed people in the United States and utilize his newly acquired legal knowledge as a force for good. Harvard Law school has given Nate the words to describe the issues of education, crime, and poverty he witnessed growing up and an understanding of the legal and political systems that perpetuate those issues. To be quite frank, Nate is one of the smartest people I know. He double-majored at the Naval Academy in Political Science and Economics, maintaining nearly a 4.0 average the entire time. I brought Nate on the platform to better understand his experience of being young, black and educated. He shares insight into how his giftedness was almost overlooked an early age due to culturally bias aptitude testing, growing up in all black school system, the challenge of maintaining his blackness at the Naval Academy and in the Marines, and why it's problematic when black people let other determine our value and worth. Nate is done dumbing down his greatness and is comfortable fully expressing himself as an unapologetic black man. As always, I truly appreciate you for sharing your time with me, and I hope you enjoy today's show.

What's going on everyone, Welcome to another edition of Confessions of a Native Son, I'm your host Mike Steadman. I'm a Marine Corps Veteran, Entrepreneur, and Aspiring author, who enjoys thought-provoking and engaging dialogue about race, culture, and business.

In this episode, I chop it up with my brother from another mother, Ian Kilo. Ian and I served together in 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, where we deployed to Okinawa Japan back in 2014. As a white Marine Officer from Little Rock, Arkansas, Ian brings a unique perspective on race and culture, particularly with regard to race relations between blacks and whites in the Deep South. His family has a long lineage of service with the Confederate Army in the Civil War, hence the unique perspective. Ian listens to all my podcasts and was one of the first people to donate to THRIVE, the small business incubator I launched for youth and young adults in Newark, NJ. I reached out to Ian last week and asked if he'd be willing to come on my show, and he agreed. We discuss various topics ranging from our military service, Arkansas in the George Floyd Era, and the future of American race relations. Ian even took this opportunity to flip the mic towards me and ask me a few questions. We have a great conversation as only brothers can do, and I truly appreciate for coming on my platform. As always, I want to personally thank you for sharing your time with me and I hope you enjoy today's show.

What's going on everyone, Welcome to another edition of Confessions of a Native Son, I'm your host Mike Steadman. I'm a Marine Corps Veteran, Entrepreneur, and Aspiring author, who enjoys thought-provoking and engaging dialogue about race, culture, and business.

In this episode, I interview my good friend and fellow Navy Boxing Teammate, Mikoto Yoshida, AKA "Yoshi." Yoshi was my team Captain during my sophomore year at the Naval Academy. For the past 12 years, we've constantly managed to run into each other, during Officer Training in Quantico, my deployment to Okinawa, and at the Brigade Boxing Championships in Annapolis, MD. In the past few years, Yoshi and I have become a lot closer, and I reached out to him to help me write the book, "Confessions of a Native Son." In this process of discussing the book, Yoshi has undergone has its own cultural awakening, as an Asian-American. in the following episode, Yoshi opens about his experiences as an Asian-American in the United States Marine Corps, uncovering the history of Japanese American internment during World War 2, and the controversial letter he wrote to the Superintendent of the United States Naval Academy after a board member was heard saying racist comments on Facebook live. As always, thanks again for sharing your time with me and I hope you enjoy today's show.

What's going on everyone, Welcome to another edition of Confessions of a Native Son, I'm your host Mike Steadman. I'm a Marine Corps Veteran, Entrepreneur, and Aspiring author, who enjoys thought-provoking and engaging dialogue about race, culture, and business.

In this raw and unedited episode, my Co-Producer, Mike Loyd, joins the show to rant with me for a bit. One thing we've both learned in our entrepreneurial journeys is that "no one is going to save you." Mike and I share how we came to this conclusion, and how we're using it to fuel our success. As always thanks for sharing your time with us and I hope you enjoy the show.

What's going on everyone, Welcome to another edition of Confessions of a Native Son, I'm your host Mike Steadman. I'm a Marine Corps Veteran, Entrepreneur, and Aspiring author, who enjoys thought-provoking and engaging dialogue about race, culture, and business.

In this episode, I discuss Black Economic Empowerment and the many challenges black Americans face from an economic perspective.

I stress the importance of building an economic foundation through small business ownership, why I believe there's a black economy, and why black entrepreneurs need to adopt different strategies to succeed at scale. As always thanks for sharing your time with me and I hope you enjoy the show.

What's going on everyone, Welcome to another edition of Confessions of a Native Son, I'm your host Mike Steadman. I'm a Marine Corps Veteran, Entrepreneur, and Aspiring author, who enjoys thought-provoking and engaging dialogue about race, culture, and business.

The following episode is an extension of our current series, Alway's Faithful, where I discuss my experiences as a Black Infantry Officers in the United States Marine Corps. After releasing Always Faithful Pt 1. I found myself struggling to record part 2. In order to give me more time to articulate my thoughts, I decided to interview Retired Marine Corps Col Thomas Hobbs, Author of the controversial Marine Corps Times article, "The Marine Corps: Always Faithful-To White Men." We discuss the origins of the article and its reception, as well a reflect on my own experience. We wrap things up by offering solutions to how the Marine Corps can improve the retention and success rate of Officers of Color in combat arms. As always thank you for sharing your time with me and I hope you enjoy the show.

What's going on everyone, Welcome to a special edition of Confessions of a Native Son, I'm your host Mike Steadman. I'm a Marine Corps Veteran, Entrepreneur, and Aspiring author, who enjoys thought-provoking and engaging dialogue about race, culture, and business. In this Raw, unedited episode, My Co-Producer and I, Mike Lloyd, discuss the recent events surrounding the death of George Floyd. This is unlike any of our previous episodes. It's full of pure, raw emotion, from two black veterans.