In this last episode of Conversations of Liz Gold, I talk with Nora Iknadossian all about her family and her new clothing line coming out in early 2021. Listen to Nora talk about how she has been dealing with covid-19, what it was like growing up as a queer child of immigrants who fled from war-torn Beirut, Lebanon and her easy, no-fucks-given style as a clothing designer.

On her family:

"They were refugees. They escaped. They came over here and my dad had his own business out there and they were all doing really well and my mom went to school and she did really well. Life was positive and hopeful and bright and then this war broke out. And they just fled. And they came here."

"Growing up, I'm a lot more like my dad. I have a lot of his traits. When he was in Beirut, he was a shoe designer. He was making shoes. He had a store and everything and then his shop got bombed. And I slowly followed in his footsteps."

"They definitely instilled a lot of hard work which I really really appreciate."

"Being Middle Eastern - being gay is like you're basically Satan. 'That's awful, you'll get disowned, this is the worst thing, you can't do this...'"

On starting her own clothing line:

"I was helping somebody launch their collection recently and I'm like doing all of the work. The really technical side of the business and I'm like 'what am I doing? I can do this myself.'"

"Our mind is what our blockage is. We're the ones that are the road block. I definitely don't promote my skills or my abilities."

"I started sketching items that I would love to have. I basically designed my closet - what I would wear."

"I used part of my last name, which I think is really important especially as an Armenian person. Having that Armenian exposure out there, supporting the Armenian community and being known that we are strong people and we are definitely overcoming our past and history and we have a voice. That was very important to me to keep that "ian" in there."

"I've just gotten so much support. It's been wonderful."

Nora Iknadossian bio

Nora Iknadossian was born in Pasadena, California but has been in New York City half her life. She's a daughter of immigrants who fled from war-torn Beirut, Lebanon. Nora is an identical twin but the youngest by 8 minutes. Professionally, she's been a clothing designer for some large brands all over the globe. She describes her style as, "Simple, easy and no fucks given" and oh yeah, she's queer.

www.dossiannyc.com

IG: Zero + Maria Cornejo

IG: Celene

Meet MJ Richardson. She lives in Senior Housing in downtown San Francisco and is currently feeding her homeless neighbors by making masks in a bag. What's a Mask in a Bag? We all have to wear masks these days and these masks are stylish, functional, entrepreneurial and serving community. Tune in to hear MJ talk about how the idea came, her decade-long career at IBM in sales and why she does what she does.

Episode Notes

"I've been in senior housing, right downtown San Francisco for two years. It took me seven years to get in senior housing. But the location is fabulous."

"Because I live in downtown San Francisco, we've forgotten about our neighbors. Once I got this housing downtown, I realized going out the door, I'd see all these mass of people. Hungry, just hungry. And I said, 'I can make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I can make a lunch.'"

"Mask in a Bag is a mask with a purpose, OK. First, it protects you and me but more importantly, it feeds the homeless population, which I call my neighbors in the Bay Area. It also creates business because these are all seniors that are owning their own business and creating jobs."

"Two years later we have fed over a 1,000 people. I only live in 400 square feet so my masks have taken over my apartment. But I love it."

"Because I was so blessed, I honestly knew that I needed to do something. Mask in a Bag is the first product. What people see in the product is that first it's well made, secondly it supports our area but also they like the ethnicity of the cloth."

"This has been such a pouring out of people making a difference that it just makes my heart sing. Anybody can do anything."

"How do we reach out to our community because I'm about community, that's one thing you'll see in all of this - to empower other people in their communities."

MJ's bio

Marijewel “MJ” Richardson is an accomplished career woman and entrepreneur. As a lifelong learner, she entered Felton Institute’s Senior Community Services Employment (SCEP) Program where she has flourished. She has helped people like herself find their inner strength, confidence and skills. She has helped to put them on a course for employment through her work at SCEP. Her education in merchandising and her past work along with her passion for helping others find self worth and hope led her to organize successful events, mini makeovers at Sephora and a clothes closet and fashion show, which transformed seniors from the inside out. In addition, MJ developed a hygiene kit for homeless people. Now she is creating a “Mask in a Bag” for her homeless neighbors in San Francisco.

Email MJ: [email protected]

Born Brown: ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Did you know incumbents are re-elected 90 percent of the time? In this episode, I'm talking with Maria Yuan, founder of IssueVoter, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to give everyone a voice in our representative democracy. Described as "politics for busy people," IssueVoter helps people become more informed by summarizing hard-to-understand legislative bills and tracking representatives' activity. Learn how you can become more engaged with what your elected officials are doing between elections and why the nonprofit chooses to be nonpartisan.

"Thinking back, I realized that I grew up with parents who always voted. My dad's family fled Communist China, so I think from a very young age my parents taught me the importance of civic duty."

"I had a realization at a young age that there are people in other countries that don't ever get to vote."

"I didn't necessarily want to work in politics because I didn't necessarily agree with either party 100 percent of the time and I think that's most people."

"Politics and campaigns and candidates and dramatic narratives really overshadow what is just, if not more important, which is policy."

"As a nation built on laws, I think its policy change that will help us create the better world that we all envision."

"Congress introduces over 15,000 bills each legislative session. They may vote on about 1,000 of them and we're only hearing about a handful in the news."

Maria Yuan - bio

Maria Yuan is passionate about fixing significant, systemic problems by leveraging creativity and determination to achieve world-changing results and impact. As the Founder of IssueVoter, their mission is to give everyone a voice in our representative democracy. Individuals from all 435 Congressional Districts already use IssueVoter and they have sent over two million alerts to individuals and opinions back to Congress. IssueVoter has motivated Americans to vote, stay informed, and make their voices heard between elections, when the real work that affects our lives gets done. IssueVoter also collaborates with organizations to engage and activate their communities in impactful ways.

Maria's political experience includes introducing and passing a bill as a constituent, working for a Representative, and managing and winning one of the most targeted races in Iowa - an open seat in a swing district. Maria's professional experience includes investment banking, strategy, corporate development, recruiting, social enterprise, and consulting. She currently serves on the Bridge Alliance Board of Directors and Keep Families Giving Foundation Advisory Board and has served on the boards of Gibney Dance, The University of Texas Co-Op, and Friends of the Children New York.

Maria's interviews and writing have appeared in Real Clear Politics, The Hill, PBS, MTV, Fast Company, and more, and she has spoken at conferences, companies, and universities across the U.S. on civic engagement, technology, and democracy. Maria earned degrees from The Wharton School at The University of Pennsylvania and The University of Texas at Austin.

Issue Voter info

https://issuevoter.org/

https://www.facebook.com/issuevoter

https://twitter.com/issuevoter

https://www.instagram.com/issuevoter/

What's it like to slow down after traveling the world as a self-described nomad? In this episode, I talk with Amna Shamim about this and so many other things - including a new cannabis summit she's planning for the edibles community, her latest role at a cannabis tech company focused on data and compliance in California, and why she thinks it's selfish to be traveling for pleasure right now. Join us!

"I think if you are traveling for pleasure nowadays you are an asshole because it's a pandemic and you are being really selfish."

"I'm not flitting around the way I like to where I'm in a different country every week or doing trips and having adventures because to do so I feel would be really selfish and putting my personal pleasure and amusement over other people's safety."

"It's become very clear to me, at least that, the world is not past coronavirus and travel is a risky thing to do especially when it involves airports and different countries and possibly you being the vector that brings coronavirus from somewhere that is high risk into somewhere that is doing their best to control it."

"I go usually in a certain temperature range because I don't like being cold. I go for the people that I know."

"I was in New York for four months when New York was really doing badly and it is the longest I had been somewhere."

"It used to be very I didn't know where I was sleeping next week and I realized that was impacting my productivity because I was every week constantly having to figure stuff out and there was a lot of pressure to do it immediately because I really like sleeping indoors. But over the last probably two years of my travels, I started planning more in advance. I quite like that because it enabled me to do things like make plans with my friends."

"I've learned I'm not very good at being spontaneous."

"I don't know how much anyone who's listening knows about the cannabis industry but it is a mess. Every state comes up with their own rules, there's no level of cohesion and a lot of the rules and a lot of the things haven't been updated very well since legalization."

Amna's bio

Writer. Nomad. Napper extraordinaire.

Find Anma online

Web site: https://www.amnashamim.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/amnashamimnyc

In this episode, I'm talking about writing with author and poet Kai Kelly. We touch upon a wide variety of subjects including the gifts sharing your work with other people bring, the process of self-publishing a book, Issa Rae, Chadwick Boseman, and the joy of a good pen on paper. Kai also reads the poem, "Sycamore Fantasies," from her book of poetry, Love Kai. Join us!

"I was actually a dancer first. I started dancing when I was three. I loved dancing,  loved movement but my dad thought I was really too emotional. He'd be like 'nobody wants to hear that, write that down.'" So I started to learn at a very early age that writing and paper was just a place that would never betray me. It was always there, it was always a sanctuary for me. "

"With writing I always had it. Whether I was journaling or writing poems that I didn't share with anyone, it was always kind of happening in the background and that's how the process started."

"I never thought that my writing was shareable. I always thought my writing was decent for me. It was like clothes you wear around the house. That's how I looked at my writing. I did not think that it would resonate or make sense to people outside of me. Or that it was as good as say the Nikki Giovannis."

"My writing process is extremely organic."

"Sometimes I feel like it's a safer space for me to go the paper."

"When something comes into my brain, I want a nice pen and some paper."

"Sex is good but have you ever had a really good pen?"

"If you can't get a good slide as a writer, it's like useless. You don't know where this poem is going to take you, it could be one page, it could be eight pages. You don't want a pen that's going to cut out on you."

"My brain is constantly moving. I get inspired by things that are happening outside of me. I get inspired by things inside of me."

"The distrust we are experiencing in our society right now, the high level of distrust from government and entities and the disrespect that people of color are being shown just has a lot of people on paranoia, has a lot of people on 10."

"If you're in an energy exchange that is not healthy, that's not inspirational, that's not positive, that's not uplifting, that doesn't pour into your soul - why are you doing it?"

Bio

Born and raised in Westchester County, NY,  Kiana (Kai) Kelly is a  passionate empath, that loves words and how they can tell a story.  Writing since the age of seven, Kai began sharing her writing humbly through open mics and blogs.  She has authored a book of poetry called, Love Kai and is currently a contributor for Born Brown: All Rights Reserved.

Link to all things Kai:

https://linktr.ee/author_kai_kelly

Purchase Love Kai

IG: @author_Kai_Kelly

FB: Kai Kelly 

Email: [email protected]

Born Brown: ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

In this episode, I talk with Tab Wolod, a die-hard entrepreneur and mental health advocate based in the Baltimore area. We talk about our work at Born Brown: All Rights Reserved, the intersection of mental health and business and how to know if it's time to keep going with your ventures or let go. Join us!

"IEI is my baby. It was built off the premise that if you have an idea, you have an income."

"I'm a die-hard entrepreneur."

"A lot of business owners frankly are great at what they do, but not so great at what we call, business development."

"I just love to see people do what they love."

"I've always been very unconventional. I'm a rebel."

Bio

Tab Wolod is a mental health advocate and die-hard entrepreneur. Early on, Tab identified as a rebel - often bucking social norms and venturing down unconventional paths. Tab's rebellious attitude led her to a "regular" 9-5 job, which was a blessing, although it was the opposite of what she had wished for lol. During her "turbulent twenties," Tab found herself transitioning awkwardly into adulthood, struggling to find herself, God, and mental stability while maintaining employment. Over the years, Tab made many failed attempts at various business endeavors, in hopes that she would "get rich quick" and walk away from her cushy job. After much trial and error, Tab's "failures" paved the way for the creation of Ideas Equal Income LLC (IEI). As IEI CEO and founder, Tab created the company with one goal in mind: helping individuals transform their ideas into income by providing #biz dev support (operational, marketing, and project management). Tab was born and raised in Maryland (USA), she is currently residing in Baltimore City with her life partner and baby girl.

Tab on Instagram

IEI on Instagram

Ideas Equal Income

Email for professional inquiries at [email protected].

Mental Health Information

Born Brown: All Rights Reserved

Conversations with Liz Gold episodes:

Shalonda Ingram

Mathew Heggem

Milo Razza

In this episode, I talk with Sam Feder, director and co-producer of Disclosure, a powerful new documentary about how transgender people are represented in Hollywood now streaming on Netflix. Learn the back story of how this film was made, the intense research involved and how Sam met activist and Orange is the New Black actor Laverne Cox, who executive produces the film.

"It has not been easy. We are still hustling hard every day. It's definitely been a little engine that could kind of situation for five years."

"When we were first raising money, we were literally laughed out of boardrooms because our budget exceeded what they expected a documentary budget to be. And that was largely because we paid everyone their day rates and that's part of the standards I am fighting for in the documentary world."

"I feel like our culture is hungry right now. People want to know what they need to learn, they want to know what they need to unlearn. It's great to have this two hour document to give it to you and tell you one place and one area where you need to learn and unlearn. And so people are really receptive to the film so particularly because of where we are in our cultural conversations at the moment."

"Anyone who finished a film should get a huge prize. Making a film is so so hard. To know that it's being held in that capacity, kind of just gives us the boost we need right now."

"One of my dreams was how could lawyers who are representing trans people - how could they use this film to their benefit? And I imagine, my hope, was that they would see this film and then have these cultural short cuts to talk to their jury and be like you might have these stereotypes about my client because of xyz that you saw in this movie and this is why it's not true. And this is a real person here that we're talking about, real experiences. That was a dream of mine."

"This is such a community film and part of my understanding of how people would take in this imagery was to be in community, to laugh together, to feel the emotion together, to hear people sigh at the same time. And then have the conversations afterwards. Like that's so meaningful to hear people talk about it and then go out for dinner and talk about it some more and make connections. So yeah, it's been tricky to readjust to experience the viewer experience virtually."

Sam Feder bio:

Sam Feder has created several award-winning documentaries that center the intersections of race, class, sexuality, and conflict within the queer and trans community. Sam seeks to connect transgender struggles and liberation to the context of the present and legacy of the past by showing that our communal history makes our present lives possible. Sam’s second feature Kate Bornstein is a Queer & Pleasant Danger was named one of the best LGBT documentaries of 2014 by The Advocate, and cited by IndieWire as one of the must-see films of the 2014.

http://www.disclosurethemovie.com/

https://www.samfederfilms.com/

https://www.instagram.com/disclosuredoc/

https://www.facebook.com/DisclosureDoc/

https://twitter.com/Disclosure_Doc

https://www.instagram.com/samfeder_1/

https://www.instagram.com/lavernecox/

https://www.instagram.com/amyjscholder/

https://www.iatse.net/

https://www.instagram.com/lawyer_stories/

In this episode, I talk with Shalonda Ingram, social omnipreneur, strategist and community developer about how her work has been impacted by Covid-19, why talking about humanity is so important as we fight for social change and her perpetual secret underground mission.

"My perpetual secret underground mission is to bring folks together who may not otherwise have access to one another in ways that are congruent to their true humanity. Because we receive so many messages about each other and we rarely actually meet each other."

"My interests and commitment is to support human beings with recognizing the humanity in each other in a sea of nonsense and messaging that has us relate to each other in ways that are outside of that context."

"When you have a society that creates its poverty and solves its problems through the nonprofit industrial complex, which for me, looks a little bit like money laundering, it's deeply problematic and so a lot of things must evolve."

"Most folks that are governed in this society inside of the corporation of the United States don't really get that a lot of the intricacies are just really, really hidden in plain sight. The conversation around anti-Blackness started when the country started."

"I believe in the human spirit and that the systems were created by human beings and they can be transformed by human beings."

"The more we can evolve the conversation to being about humanity, the more rapidly we'll transform the things that aren't working for folks."

"I do believe we are moving the needle, it's just so pathetic that it would take so long to be so clear. I'm having a conversation that the old folks in my life born in 1929 or earlier were having."

Born and raised in St. Louis Missouri, Shalonda is a social omnipreneur, strategist and community developer. Shalonda is committed to elevating consciousness and empowering the collective liberation of individuals, organizations and communities. Shalonda has deployed worldwide for the transformation of people, principles, practices, and systems. Native to grassroots activism, Shalonda works with social justice, spiritual and corporate organizations to explore network effect and elevate opportunities for resource sharing while scaling. Shalonda is committed to the creation of whole, connected communities that thrive by building structures of clarity, capacity enhancement and trust. Shalonda consults for a range of clients; from independent artists to the enterprise tops across industries. Assisting with product development, experience design, special events and projects. Intersecting creativity and enterprise; Shalonda has served on many boards, commissions and advisory councils.

Shalonda Ingram website

Born Brown: ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

BB:ARR Facebook

BB:ARR Instagram

Nursha Project

If you're not following Pallavi Gunalan on social, I highly recommend you do. Not only is she pulling together a plethora of resources for supporting Black lives, but she is a comedian and funny AF. Join me as I talk with Pallavi about her activism, her career pivot and her comedy - as well as graciously correcting me (and others) for mispronouncing her name.

"You can make people the butt of jokes if you are not an asshole."

"People always say like punch up but I have seen people like punching down but it's not punching down when they are clever about the joke."

"You can talk about another group of people and make fun of them but in a fun way and not in just a like 'I'm trying to be offensive' or actually think I'm better than them kind of way."

"I think anything can be funny but it really depends on the context of everything."

"I love crowd work so much though cause it can completely flip a room. You have no idea what's going to happen and it always works better when people don't try to be funny, they are just being honest."

"I feel like being on stage is so unique and incredible and I just really miss it and I'm never going to take it for granted again."

"People are doing it [stand up comedy] right now and I just don't trust it and I don't think it's responsible for them to be performing."

"There are a lot of underground shows happening in NY, where they are not wearing masks, they are just sitting right next to each other and I just think it's so bad. What's been frustrating to me - a lot of these people support Black Lives Matter but Black lives are the one's most effected by Covid right now. They are the ones that are dying at disproportionate rates. They are the ones suffering the most, as always. What blows my mind is people who go to the protests and then don't take Corona seriously or go to the protest and don't take it seriously there and like hug or whatever because they are caught up in the moment. You are really undoing a lot of the things are you are trying to fight for. It doesn't make sense to me. People should really be careful."

Pallavi Gunalan bio

Pallavi Gunalan is biomedical engineer, stand-up comedian, improviser, actor and writer.  Pallavi has performed at festivals and venues all over the world including Laugh Factory Fresh Faces, SF Sketchfest, Pacific Crest Comedy Festival, Portland Queer Comedy Festival.

Supporting Black Lives resource list compiled by Pallavi

To get on Pallavi's email list, learn more about the book and movie club, email Pallavi at [email protected] or DM her.

https://www.pallavigunalan.com/

Instagram

Twitter

Facebook

Tiktok

YouTube

Bad Date bit

Dirty Science - Intermittent Fasting

Facial Recognition Comedy Podcast

In this episode, I talk with Phil aka Corinne all about pivoting in the age of covid-19, rebuilding one's life, the power of choice, saying yes and following the pings that illustrate divine inspiration. Please note, at the beginning of the episode, I added a segment addressing police brutality and the protests that are taking place across the country as I felt it was necessary to acknowledge the shift in dialogue over the past week or so that is not represented in the episode.

"What you realize in your life sometimes is that the things that look like absolute disasters turn out to be like the best blessings ever."

"I truly believe in the fact that I have limited knowledge about what my life is going to look like but I think there's something greater than me that has much more information about what my life could look like. So you know what, I'm going with that guy."

"It's OK to just stop for a minute."

"I am very serious about walking out of this pandemic and going back into society with a different mindset and a different frame of mind."

Phil's bio:

Phil, is a podcast host, stylist, wedding officiant and storyteller at heart connecting people and ideas together in a way that resonates beyond the superficial, and challenges the way we think. they are continually interested in capturing unique stories and sharing them with the goal of educating and entertaining. They are especially dedicated to supporting the LGBTQ community and created Transition of Style, a podcast that brings focus to the unique “style journey” queer individuals embark on when seeking an authentic identity. They understand that neither style nor identity is static and that either one or both can be in a constant state of flux.

Phil has a varied career starting in music management. They then shifted to technology, serving as an Applications and Full Stack Developer at Boston Consulting Group and Applications Developer at JP Morgan Chase in New York City. They were a founding member of QueerCut, a radically inclusive e-commerce platform, engaging queer brands and customers. All of this experience has given them the ability to understand the complex nature of creation, development and distribution.

At present Phil is the host of Transition of Style, and the upcoming At This Very Moment podcast and Co-host of the I’m From Driftwood podcast.

Transition of Style podcast

Phil aka Corinne's instagram

Transition of Style instagram

Phil on Facebook

Phil's website

Fashion Consort

Facebook Group: White People. Doing Something

Phil's Medium article