Kwazi, born and bred in Brooklyn (New York City), works at The Brooklyner as a building manager. In today's episode we start with the question: what difference does mindset make? We embark on a conversational journey about the ups and downs in life and how mindset can play a big role in shaping those.

Michael Edward Thomas is a Brazilian-American tech leader who lives part of the year in NYC and part of the year elsewhere (his nomadic side comes out). In this episode he sheds light around how he approaches building healthy relationships (of any type!), how his multi-cultural background has influenced that, and the primary learnings he's had around the topic. This is not an exhaustive episode on how to approach relationships, but simply two friends exploring how they've approached relationships so far and what are some of the main epiphanies they have encountered. Curious about relationships? Tune in. 

Today we speak with Laydee V, DJ/Producer, owner of Platform 7even. 

Recognize Robin Hood, Hamilton (Bermuda), Play 2, Ibiza (Spain), or Ministry of Sound, London (UK)? She's DJ'd at all of those. 

Experience what it's like to be a global DJ with this episode!

Laydee V's soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/verunka17

Mike Bott gave me my first true professional opportunity; he gave me my first job out of college. He had the courage to look at a 1-page A4 resume with nothing more than a couple Microsoft Office skills, a lot of fillers, and a font probably too small to be legible, and still decide to believe I could become a great professional. On top of giving me my first job he taught me a thing or two about leadership. Now, what makes a good leader?

Leadership is probably one of the biggest content churning machines out there. There's a lot of content on leadership, but too often it looks more like my first resume, with its fillers and small font, than useful content aspiring leaders can use.

To change that, in today's episode we go a step further and actually dive into leadership authentically. This is by far not an exhaustive episode on good leadership, it's just the story of a leader that I believe is really good at that, motivating and inspiring others. Mike used empathy, vulnerability and a lot of authenticity to become the Global Managing Director for LHi Group. Today he shares why he leads the way he does and how a lot of it traces back to the myriad life experiences he's had along the way.

Botty, thanks for the walk (and the first job).

"Students were so down, nobody knew how to respond. There was so much shock and sadness. And I really tapped back into what my mom told me as a kid, you know, love yourself and take great pride in your culture and your identity. And so I decided to take it upon myself to plan Black History Month at [Boston College] that year" (Naya during season 2 episode 5 of WALKS)

In today's episode we're joined by Naya Joseph, an inspiring leader and change-maker. Most recently she co-founded ColorStack, a nonprofit startup working hard to increase the retention and success of Black and Latinx Computer Science students. On today's episode we cover what it's like to build an idea from the ground up, what it feels like to make a difference and how one should build a a team of "coaches" around them to stay both mentally and physically healthy. Naya, thanks for inspiring us with your extraordinary story.

#walkspodcast #dei #startup #mentalhealth #colorstack

On today's episode we go on a walk with Jesse Meza. Jesse grew up in Texas, surrounded by poverty and with no person in his family who had graduated from high school. Today he's an MBA student at a world-renown business school like UCLA Anderson, he's led teams at prestigious media companies prior to starting graduate school and he's been recognized by AdColor Future and as a 4A’s MAIPer to Watch for all his work in diversity, equity, and inclusion. Jesse exudes optimism, grit and kindness, all of which have propelled him to pioneer a new way of life not limited by the odds dictated by where he grew up. As Rosa Meza famously said "Querer es poder"/"Wanting is power", and Jesse is the perfect example of that. Jesse, thanks for joining us on today's walk.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development shows that 580,466 people were counted as homeless in 2020, representing a 2.2% increase over 2019. Outside of homelessness 16% of children in the US live below the poverty line (they represent the poorest age group). Of those 73% are children of color. The pandemic has only exacerbated all of this, which is why organizations like Street Soccer USA and people like Reed Fox exist. Street Soccer USA offers a soccer-based life skills program to empower those living in poverty. They have 22 programs across 16 cities, with over 1,000 volunteers and have teams that participate in national championships as well as the annual Homeless World Cup. Reed Fox is a Program Manager within the organization carrying out various key roles including acting as the lead of the Homeless World Cup program for the United States. He's also co-founded Sports Charity Mwanza, an NGO in Tanzania, providing sustainable infrastructure and developing the sports environment in the Mwanza region of Tanzania. Reed, thanks for joining us on the show!

Steven Rogers, better known by his artistic name, Beowülf, is one of the biggest names in the lo-fi hip-hop world; a genre that layers introspective sounds and vocals to create relaxing and soul warming experiences. Born in Florida, Beowülf grew up in a household with a deep appreciation for music. His dad and several brothers were in the business of mixing tracks as he was growing up. He took it to another level though. With over 500k monthly listeners on platforms such as Spotify, more than 20k subscribers on Youtube and features on platforms such as MTV he has built prominent platform for his music. His journey was definitely not an easy one but a memorable one for sure. This episode explores Beowülf's journey from dreaming about becoming a musician to actually turning that into a reality. Beowülf it's a pleasure to have you on the show. 

The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) estimates that internationally there were just 25 million tourist arrivals in 1950. 68 years later this number had increased to 1.4 billion international arrivals per year. Traveling has obviously changed a lot because of COVID-19, but it still remains one of the most sought out activities by humans. Something about exploring the unknown, meeting new people and going on adventures. One of the beauties of traveling is how you're pushed to become more vulnerable, to open up, and how doing so allows you to form deep relationships with strangers in a very short period of time. That's how I met Rudy. Today we go on a WALK to explore traveling and the wonders it brings. For context, this episode was recorded a couple months after the WHO announced the COVID-19 pandemic, so we focus on traveling up until that point. 

We reach season 1's finale with this special episode. They say the people around you have a big impact in shaping who you become; I agree, so I try to be selective with who I surround myself with. Today's guest is the person I've spent the most time with since September 6th, 2018. She has helped show me the importance of being vocal and more importantly empowering others to ensure they're being heard. She's brave, she's bold and today she explains to us what having a shared identity from two antagonistic countries feels like. Maesoumeh is American-Iranian, born in Tehran but bred in New Jersey. In this episode we discuss identity, what it feels like to be the odd one out, and how being an immigrant shapes your values as a person. Zebralingo.