Our first COVID Valentine's Day just passed and many people have relationships on their minds. For this episode, I sit down with the founders of Dope People Who, Eric & Lakila Bowden. Eric and Lakila coach Black singles and couples on how to win at cultivating healthy and fun AF relationships. Relationships can be scary and sometimes suck, but they don't have to be that way - struggle love does not need to be a thing. 

With all of the things happening in the world that challenge our mental wellbeing, our relationships should be there to support us. If you're interested in learning more about Dope People Who, please check out the links below. If nothing else, just show Eric and Lakila some love because they are dope as f*ck.

FREE Unleash Your Dopeness Masterclass - https://dopepeoplewho.kartra.com/page/YZg6

After a failed first attempt due to technical difficulties, this week I was finally able to sit down and chat with the incredibly talented Caitlyn Martin about her career journey into the world of voiceover. 

A singer first and foremost, Caitlyn was forced to make a career shift when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and ended her ability to do live shows. Not only did she have to find a way to earn a living, but she also had to find a skill that she could do while in quarantine. Caitlyn now has a booming career in voiceover and is the voice of of our Fantasy/Sci-Fi scripted podcast series called Tech Witch. Her story is such an inspirational testament to the value of perseverance and the success we can find when we put in the work. 

Check out the links below to learn move about Caitlyn's and hear more of her work.

https://www.thecaitlynmartin.com/

Tech Witch Podcast

In episode, I sit down with editor/writer/entrepreneur Virginia Duan about overcoming fear in your career (and life overall). I have known Virginia for over 20 years! We started our careers together in science and gradually over time seem to take the same path from science into more creative endeavors. 

Virginia Duan is the entertainment editor for Mochi Magazine and the Living Justice Editor for Diverging Magazine. She’s written for sites like Scary Mommy, Romper, Mom.com, and Mochi Magazine. She has profiled and written features of K-pop stars like Ailee and actors like Dustin Nguyen and David Lim. She is also the founder of BrAzn AZN, an intimate series for Asian Pacific Islander Desi American (APIDA) creatives and influencers.

Her first book, So You Want Your Kid to Learn Chinese, hit #1 in Amazon‘s Chinese Language Instruction section in one day. This book is for every parent who wants their kid to learn Chinese and is willing to supplement and provide the necessary support that their child will need.

Virginia is a writer incapable of writing in brief. She swears. . . a lot. She finds it impossible to refrain from commenting online for the sole purpose of making people admit they are idiots. Fatal flaw is fatal. She discusses deeply uncomfortable and humiliating topics with biting humor and glimpses of grace; loves the injudicious use of ALLCAPS; is #teamoxfordcomma; and always stans BTS.

If you want to check out more of her work here are her deets:

Website - https://mandarinmama.com/

Instagram - @themandarinmama

Shortly before the new year, Damion sat down to talk to Lenzy Ruffin. Lenzy is the owner of Park Road Studio, the producer of the Working While Black podcast and the founder of both The Black Women's Video Empowerment Academy and The 2020 Collective. 

Lenzy has been a strong voice for equity and representation whose work has been focused on making an impact starting at the local level. Lenzy exemplifies how we can all make a positive impact just using what we already have. 

Follow Lenzy on LinkedIn or check out his work:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lenzyruffin/

In this episode Damion and Gabriel ask the audience to help them figure out why it's so hard for us Americans to just do the things we should be doing to slow down or stop the spread of COVID-19. 

This week Damion sat down and chatted with speaker and educator Dan Faill of Conversations That Matter. 

Initially we intended the conversation to be about the reasons men are so uncomfortable being vulnerable, but to be honest we drifted quite a bit. We kept coming back to the topic, but apparently neither of us have ever met a tangent we didn't like. 

Dan is an incredible speaker, motivator and educator who is great at getting people to talk about hard topics like diversity and imposter syndrome. Give the guy a follow and some likes. 

Website: www.danfaill.com

Instagram: @danfaill

By now we are all probably experiencing some level Zoom fatigue - especially at work. It seems like these days employers and co-workers feel the need to have a video call to discuss every thought that crosses their minds instead of using other, arguably more appropriate means of communication. 

After some....well, interesting Zoom calls, Damion and Gabriel are asking: Are video calls for work an invasion of privacy? Does your employer have the right to "require" workers to have their videos on during calls?

WARNING: This conversation take a left turn and goes off the rails about halfway through and becomes incredibly fun and ridiculous. Hopefully it will make you smile. Oh yeah! There's also some swearing.

With all of the talk about diversity and how important it is, it seems like people spend way too much time fighting about what is diversity, but rarely talk about why diversity matters. So, on Wednesday (December 9, 2020) Gabriel and Damion went love on the Stereo App to ask, Why does diversity matter?

We had some amazing answers and a great conversation from our listeners. BTW - we had some technical difficulties with the sound for some reason, so there's an echo and some digital noise that wouldn't go away! We apologize. 

If you want to catch Damion and Gabriel's chats live, download the free Stereo app from the app store and follow us:

@LowellTaylor and @Gadrel

Well, apparently the holidays couldn't stop us from being weird.  On today's show play a game called "Ska or Craft Beer," talk about new TV shows,  and traumatic strip club incidents. Seriously, you don't want to miss the strip club stories - it's definitely not going to be what you think. 

It's officially the holiday season and Lowell is losing his mind. So, in celebration of the holidays, we decided to do a couple holiday episodes. What says holidays more than pigeons in cowboy hats, penis fish (Yup - you read that correctly), Binging on TV and Christmas songs?