From Armor to Ease

In this episode, Milton Stewart and Chichi Agorom talk about:

1. The impact of societal norms on men's understanding and experience of intimacy.
2. How the armor of optimism shows up relationally 
3. How the avoidance of pain and limitations impacts intimacy
4. Experiencing love, joy, and connection in our bodies rather than just our minds

About Milton:

Milton Stewart, MBA, is the founder of Kaizen Careers, Coaching and Consulting LLC and loves facilitating the Enneagram in helping people feel seen, heard and safe. He is one of the very few African-American male Enneagram teachers in the world. Milton believes the Enneagram is more than just a personal tool but a map of how to truly honor the humanity of others. He uses the Enneagram in many ways but the most powerful way he uses it is in spaces of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Milton hosts “Do It For The Gram: An Enneagram Podcast”, which teaches the Enneagram from a very practical standpoint. Milton is the first African-American male International Enneagram Association Global Board Member. Prior to full-time work in the Enneagram space, he worked in education. He helped adult students who were working to achieve their high school diplomas. He also worked as an administrator in an elementary school, providing tools for the students and staff to succeed.

Milton is an accredited Enneagram professional who has been studying the Enneagram and people for over 13 years. Through his understanding of people, personalities, and their levels of growth he has successfully worked with large and small organizations. Kaizen is actively working with 4 companies, one being a global fortune 100 company. Milton has spoken at a continuing studies course at Stanford University and in Greece with a group of missionaries. He is also offered a speaking opportunity yearly at the Global Enneagram Summit.

Kaizen is the Japanese term for continuous improvement. Milton partners with clients to develop consistent healthy practices for exponential returns.

You can find Milton’s podcast, Do It For The Gram at www.kaizencareers.com, on Instagram at @kaizencareers @doitforthegrampodcast, and on Mighty Networks at Kaizen-enneagram-community.mn.co.

Have a question or just want to share your response to this episode? Text Chichi or leave a voicemail at (657) 452-0051‬.

Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theenneagramforblackliberation

Music by Ashot-Danielyan-Composer from Pixabay

In this episode, Joel Leon and Chichi Agorom talk about:

1. Intimacy as vulnerable closeness
2. Living outside of the binaries in love and identity
3. Labels as containers that can still be fluid
4. Masculinity and softness

About Joel:

Joel L. Daniels, also known as Joel Leon, is a Bronx-born and raised performer, father, author, and storyteller who writes and tells stories for Black people.

He is a Creative Collective NYC Creative Class alumni, winner of the BCA Bronx Recognizes Its Own Award in Poetry, and author of "Book About Things I Will Tell My Daughter" and "God Wears Durags, Too". He is repped by Folio Literary. You can find Joel on Instagram at @iamjoelleon

Have a question or just want to share your response to this episode? Text Chichi or leave a voicemail at (657) 452-0051‬.

Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theenneagramforblackliberation

Music by Ashot-Danielyan-Composer from Pixabay

In this episode, Satoya Foster and Chichi Agorom talk about:

1. How culture and society impact a Black woman’s expression of power and strength
2. The vulnerability of being seen in your power
3. Holding your cards close for protection and safety
4. How not telling the truth about our grief keeps us from getting free

About Satoya:

Satoya Foster is an artist, trauma recovery coach, and Program Director at The Narrative Enneagram. She earned a Master of Ministry from Richmont Graduate University in the Mission School of Ministry cohort and is currently working toward a Doctorate in Ministry.

Satoya is a lifelong learner that enjoys reading and nurturing ease in her life. She resides in Tennessee with her high school sweetheart, their daughter, and their four-legged canine son.

You can connect with Satoya at www.satoyafoster.com.

Have a question or just want to share your response to this episode? Text Chichi or leave a voicemail at (657) 452-0051‬.

Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theenneagramforblackliberation

Music by Ashot-Danielyan-Composer from Pixabay

In this episode, Eli Harwood and Chichi Agorom talk about:

1. How filtering impacts intimacy
2. How to understand what attachment really is
3. The difference between attachment styles and attachment strategies
4. How each attachment strategy shows up in intimate relationships

About Eli:

Eli Harwood is a licensed therapist, author, and educator who is passionate about helping people develop secure attachment relationships with their children, partners, and other chosen family. Eli is trained in EMDR and has worked with individuals, couples and families for the past 15 years in treating attachment wounds, complex trauma, and sexual abuse. She is a mother to her son Slate and her twin daughters, Remi and Rune. You can check out her online courses, upcoming book, and in person workshops at www.attachmentnerd.com. She’s also on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook at @attachmentnerd.

Books mentioned in this episode:
All About Love by bell hooks
My Grandmother’s Hands by Resmaa Menakem

Have a question or just want to share your response to this episode? Text Chichi or leave a voicemail at (657) 452-0051‬.

Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theenneagramforblackliberation

Music by Ashot-Danielyan-Composer from Pixabay

In this episode, Jason Foster and Chichi Agorom talk about:

1. How adaptability can make it difficult to belong to oneself
2. The importance of recognizing and overcoming self-disqualification to allow oneself to experience intimacy
3. How Jason is learning to fight for himself and advocate for his needs

About Jason:

Jason Foster has been a professional musician in the entertainment business for over 20 years working with many successful artists. When Jason isn’t touring the world making records, playing concerts, and teaching music workshops… he spends the rest of his time pouring back into others as a mentor and creative career coach. He’s the husband to Satoya Foster and together they have a 7 year old girl named Zoë. You can find him at www.jasonhfoster.com.

Have a question or just want to share your response to this episode? Text Chichi or leave a voicemail at (657) 452-0051‬.

Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theenneagramforblackliberation

Music by Ashot-Danielyan-Composer from Pixabay

In this episode, Chichi Agorom interviews Tracey Michae'l Lewis-Giggetts, author of the NAACP award-winning book "Black Joy: Stories of Resistance, Resilience, and Restoration." They discuss:

1. Healing, identity, and Black joy.
2. Tracey’s shift from performing for love to realizing that she is enough.
3. The fear of losing your armor and part of your identity
4. Tracey’s definition of Black joy

About Tracey: 
As a writer and thought-leader, Tracey Michae’l Lewis-Giggetts offers those who read her work and hear her speak an authentic experience; an opportunity to explore the intersection of culture, identity and faith/spirituality at the deepest levels. She is the host of the podcast, HeARTtalk with Tracey Michae’l, and founder of HeARTspace, a healing community created to serve those who have experienced trauma of any kind through the use of storytelling and the arts.

As a writer, Tracey has published 20 books including several collaborations with numerous high-profile authors. Calling herself a “literary midwife,” Tracey is a highly sought-after collaborator whose work includes the New York Times bestselling book, Feeding the Soul by Tabitha Brown, Better Not Bitter by Yusef Salaam, The Other Side of Yet by Michelle Hord, and many others.

In 2021, Tracey became one of 20 writers who contributed to the groundbreaking book, You are Your Best Thing: Vulnerability, Shame Resilience, and the Black Experience edited by acclaimed researcher, Brene Brown, and founder of the MeToo Movement, Tarana Burke. In 2022, she published her critically-acclaimed book, Black Joy: Stories of Resistance, Resilience, and Restoration (Gallery/Simon and Schuster) which won a 2023 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work - Instructional. Black Joy has received rave reviews from celebrities like Kerry Washington, Kiese Laymon and Deesha Philyaw, and media outlets like Good Morning America, Essence Magazine, and USA Today. Her latest book is Then They Came for Mine: Healing from the Trauma of Racial Violence (WJK Press).

Tracey has spoken on a number of platforms around the country on topics related to race/social justice, healing, and faith/spirituality. Additionally, her freelance work has been published in print and online publications such as Oprah Daily, The Washington Post, Essence Magazine, The Guardian, The Chronicle for Higher Education, Ebony Magazine, TheRoot.com, and more.

You can find Tracey at www.traceymlewis.com Also at IG: @tmlgwriter, Twitter: @tmlewis, and Substack: thehealingplace.substack.com

Have a question or just want to share your response to this episode? Text Chichi or leave a voicemail at (657) 452-0051‬.

Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theenneagramforblackliberation

Music by Ashot-Danielyan-Composer from Pixabay

In this episode, Chichi Agorom and Micky Scottbey Jones discuss:

1. How the Enneagram personality system itself can sometimes be used as a barrier to intimacy
2. How the belief that you always have to be good impacts Micky’s intimate relationships
3. How our desire to manage risk keeps us from love
4. What happens when you become bad, and how to remember yourself whole.

About Micky:
Micky Scottbey Jones is a visionary leader of spiritual accompaniment and movement chaplaincy with a MA in Intercultural Studies from North American Institute for Indigenous Studies with Portland Seminary and is trained in Kingian nonviolence. Micky is a certified and accredited professional enneagram teacher and coach. You can find her at www.mickyscottbeyjones.com.

People referenced in episode:
Dr. Jerome (The Brain-Based Enneagram): https://www.drjerome.com/the-brain-based-enneagram

Have a question or just want to share your response to this episode? Text Chichi or leave a voicemail at (657) 452-0051‬.

Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theenneagramforblackliberation

Music by Ashot-Danielyan-Composer from Pixabay

In this episode, Chichi Agorom and Ashtin Berry discuss:

1. Intimacy of the mind, body, self, and spirit
2. Relationship anarchy & how it supports intimacy
3. Relationship Intake Forms
4. Goodie bags

About Ashtin: 
Ashtin Berry (she/her) is a lot of things. For one, she’s someone who has made a point of it being as hard as possible to condense who they are into two small paragraphs, but here we are. Ashtin is an activist, educator, sommelier, mixologist, sociologist, beverage consultant, human being, and creator of not just cocktails but change. By 25 she had a decade of experience in hospitality, and by now, she’s been the beverage director of a half dozen spots and worked with many brands you’ve heard of. In that time, Ashtin’s also earned Imbibe Magazine’s 2019 Bartender of the Year and Observer’s 50 Most Influential People in Dining and Nightlife, and 50 Best bars 2020 Icon Award.

As an activist—and this is all while doing everything stated above—Berry has developed an intersectional framework for building spaces that has culminated in her present day focus of consent-based communication and building open, honest spaces where employees are people that can do more than simply survive. In 2018, her creative content agency Radical XChange was born, and she launched the yearly multi-day symposium Resistance Served to celebrate and contextualize the contributions of the African Diaspora in hospitality. She’s been recognized for her advocacy work as a member of the World’s 50 Next. And in that time, she’s still managed to find time to read, travel, and track down amazing shoes. You can find her at www.ashtinberry.com

People & things referenced in episode:

Instagram Live conversation with Dr. Yaba Blay: https://www.instagram.com/reel/ClcCYOnopPY/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Andie Nordgren, who coined the term Relationship Anarchy: https://log.andie.se/post/26652940513/the-short-instructional-manifesto-for-relationship

Relationship Anarchy chart: https://emilylichtenberg.art/relationshipanarchy

Have a question or just want to share your response to this episode? Text Chichi or leave a voicemail at (657) 452-0051‬.

Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theenneagramforblackliberation

Music by Ashot-Danielyan-Composer from Pixabay

In this episode, Chichi Agorom introduces the show and talks about:

1. The Enneagram as armor
2. Why creating space between ourselves and our armor is important
3. How her own armor creates a barrier to love and intimacy
4. What to expect from Season 1

About Chichi: Chichi Agorom is the creator and host of the From Armor to Ease podcast. She is also a writer, a Certified Enneagram Teacher & Practitioner through the Narrative Tradition, Associate Faculty at The Narrative Enneagram and a former psychotherapist whose life’s work is to support people on their journeys towards wholeness and healing. Her greatest joy is learning how to belong to herself, and creating spaces—both physically and with her words––that help others feel less alone and more known.

Chichi Agorom earned a Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Denver Seminary, and a Post-Master’s Certificate in Marriage and Family Therapy from Denver Family Institute. She also holds a Coaching Certificate from The Enneagram in Business. She lives in Los Angeles, cultivating a life of rest and peace by the water. You can find her at www.chichiagorom.com.

Have a question or just want to share your response to this episode? Text Chichi or leave a voicemail at (657) 452-0051‬.

Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theenneagramforblackliberation

Music by Ashot-Danielyan-Composer from Pixabay