DREAMLEAPERS® with Harriette Cole

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. LaJerne Terry Cornish, President of Ithaca College

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A. Curtis Farrow is an American producer, director, and community leader best known as the longtime executive producer of McDonald's Gospelfest. He is widely recognized for using music and media as platforms to celebrate faith, diversity, and cultural unity across the United States.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Paulette Cleghorn is the Head Designer and Creative Director of Yumi Katsura Couture, where she leads the creative vision for one of the world’s most renowned bridal fashion houses. A seasoned fashion executive, she brings a global perspective to couture design, blending innovation with timeless elegance. With years of experience shaping luxury fashion, Paulette is known for her refined aesthetic, leadership, and commitment to excellence in the world of high fashion.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on DREAMLEAPERS® with Harriette Cole, we welcome Desirée Rogers—CEO and Co-Owner of Black Opal Beauty and Fashion Fair Cosmetics, and former White House Social Secretary.

In this powerful conversation, Desirée shares her journey navigating leadership at the highest levels—from corporate boardrooms to the White House—while remaining grounded in purpose and vision. She offers insight into building legacy brands, embracing reinvention, and making bold decisions with clarity and confidence.

DREAMLEAPERS® is an educational platform designed to help people access and activate their dreams—turning real-life experiences into practical guidance and inspiration.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Blair Underwood has built a distinguished career across film, television, and theatre, earning acclaim as an actor while expanding his creative influence as a director, producer, and author. With a body of work defined by range, depth, and longevity, he stands among the rare artists whose impact extends both in front of and behind the camera.

Underwood currently stars in Youngblood, a reimagining of the 1980s hockey film, and co-stars in RZA’s indie feature One Spoon of Chocolate, which premiered at Tribeca. He recently completed production on the upcoming Netflix romance Don’t Ever Wonder, alongside Larenz Tate and Nia Long. He also joins the cast of the hit FOX series Doc as Dr. Ben Grant—a world-class trauma and cardiothoracic surgeon whose confidence matches his extraordinary talent. He will appear in the two-hour season finale and return as a series regular in season three, premiering this fall.

In 2024, Underwood garnered critical acclaim for his role in Longlegs, directed by Oz Perkins and starring Nicolas Cage, widely described as one of the most chilling films of the decade. That same year, he co-starred in the Starz drama Three Women, the Sky TV romantic comedy Smothered, and appeared in Ava DuVernay’s Origin, adapted from Isabel Wilkerson’s best-selling book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent.

Expanding his work behind the camera, Underwood directed, produced, and starred in the psychological thriller Viral, portraying a man spiraling into paranoia after his wife’s disappearance. The film explores themes of trauma, perception, and emotional survival.

On stage, Underwood earned a Tony Award nomination for Best Lead Actor in a Play for his role in the 2020 revival of A Soldier’s Play, which won Best Revival of a Play. He later served as a producer on Pass Over, the first production to reopen Broadway following the COVID-19 shutdown.

His extensive television career includes standout roles in Quantico, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Dirty Sexy Money, The New Adventures of Old Christine, In Treatment, The Event, and the iconic L.A. Law. His film credits include Set It Off, Deep Impact, Rules of Engagement, Just Cause, and Madea’s Family Reunion. He also starred opposite Cicely Tyson in A Trip to Bountiful.

Underwood has executive produced and narrated acclaimed documentaries including the Peabody Award-winning Mr. SOUL! and Olympic Pride, American Prejudice. He made his feature directorial debut with The Bridge to Nowhere and has directed music videos, commercials, and award-winning virtual reality projects.

An accomplished author, Underwood has contributed to multiple best-selling works. His latest book, A Soldier’s Wife: My Mother, the Marvelous Mrs. Marilyn A. Underwood, will be released April 14 by HarperCollins.

His accolades include an Emmy Award (as producer of Give), two Golden Globe nominations, 17 NAACP Image Award nominations (with eight wins), a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word, and an Audie Award for Best Non-Fiction Narrator. A member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Underwood is also actively engaged in philanthropic initiatives.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

J. Ivy is a Grammy Award-winning poet, recording artist, and author whose work bridges spoken word, music, and storytelling. Widely recognized for his contribution to “Never Let Me Down” with Kanye West and Jay-Z, he has built a legacy rooted in purpose, faith, and creative expression.

His acclaimed piece “Dear Father”—which evolved into a bestselling book and a national letter-writing movement—encourages healing through creative expression, challenging individuals to confront pain, embrace forgiveness, and transform their stories into purpose.

A driving force behind the establishment of the Grammy category for Best Spoken Word Poetry Album, J. Ivy made history as its inaugural winner in 2023 for The Poet Who Sat by the Door, continuing to elevate the genre through his work.

From Def Poetry stages to global platforms, his voice continues to inspire audiences through compelling narratives of growth, resilience, and transformation.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ro Reddick is a queer Black playwright, songwriter, and educator known for writing off-kilter comedies—and the theme songs to your late capitalist nightmares.

She is the 2025–2026 recipient of the Vineyard Theatre’s Paula Vogel Playwriting Award, where she serves as an artist-in-residence, and an Audrey Resident at New Georges. Her play Cold War Choir Practice won the 2026 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and premiered in Clubbed Thumb’s Summerworks 2025 (New York Times Critic’s Pick, directed by Knud Adams), co-produced by Page 73. The production was later remounted at MCC Theater in collaboration with Clubbed Thumb and Page 73.

Ro was a 2024–2025 Playwrights Center Core Apprentice and is currently under commission with People’s Light Theatre as part of their Queerways PA commissioning and residency program.

She holds an MFA in Playwriting from Brown University and an MBA from NYU—which she has no intention of using.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Michaela angela Davis is a writer, creative director, producer, and image activist whose work explores the intersections of gender, race, fashion, culture, beauty, and identity.

She is the co-author of The Meaning of Mariah Carey, a #1 New York Times bestseller, and has collaborated with Mariah Carey on additional literary projects. Davis is also the creator of the NAACP Image Award–nominated docuseries The Hair Tales (OWN + Hulu), a powerful exploration of Black women’s identity through the culture of hair.

A pioneering voice in media and fashion, she has held editorial leadership roles at Essence, VIBE, and Honey magazine, and has worked with iconic artists including Beyoncé, Diana Ross, Prince, and Maya Angelou. Her work spans television, publishing, and global cultural commentary, with contributions to outlets such as CNN, MSNBC, and BBC.

Davis continues to shape conversations around image, identity, and representation through storytelling, media, and creative direction.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices