In this intimate, thoughtful conversation, Ashley sits down with writer and actor Genevieve “Gwen” Kingston to explore what it really means to stay open — to life, to love, to friendship, to creativity — even when fear, grief, or old versions of ourselves try to close us off.

Gwen shares the evolving shape of her identity in adulthood, how writing her memoir changed her relationship to purpose and risk, why softness is a form of strength, and the unexpected ways friendships can hold us through the most difficult seasons. 

Together, Ashley and Gwen reflect on becoming, self-awareness, community, grief as a backdrop rather than a headline, and the unglamorous daily courage of simply showing up.

This is a slow, deep, grounding episode about being human, being honest, and choosing openness even when it’s uncomfortable.

In this episode, we talk about:

• The role of female friendships in holding us through grief, change, and adulthood
• What writing a memoir taught Gwen about purpose, timing, and surrender
• How to keep becoming your truest self in your 30s and beyond
• Creativity, fear, and the discipline of sitting down to write
• The quiet bravery required to stay open to love, community, and possibility

Connect with Gwen: 

• Gwen’s book: Did I Ever Tell You? 
• NYT Modern Love essay: “She Put Her Unspent Love in a Cardboard Box”
• Gwen on Instagram

Books/authors mentioned:

• Educated by Tara Westover (audiobook read by Julia Whelan)
• Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy
• Truth & Beauty by Ann Patchett
• In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado
• Wild Game by Adrienne Brodeur
• Collective Illusions by Todd Rose
• Sidle Creek by Jolene McIlwain

Misc:

• Botanical Brothers (NYC flower subscription Gwen sends to herself)

Genevieve (Gwen) Kingston is an actor, playwright, and author based in Brooklyn, New York. She holds an MFA in Acting from Brown University and BAs in Theater and Linguistics from UC Berkeley. Her viral essay “She Put Her Unspent Love in a Cardboard Box” appeared in the New York Times Modern Love column in 2021, and her 2024 memoir, Did I Ever Tell You?, was a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice and is currently being translated into 16 languages worldwide.

Further Forward: Honest Conversations on the Art of Becoming, is hosted by Ashley Mitchell.

📩 Subscribe to Ashley’s newsletter, Mind & Motion: https://blackgirlmagicmama.substack.com/

🎙️ Follow for new episodes + bts footage: https://www.instagram.com/furtherforwardpod?igsh=MWJuaDFiMjlzcjJ1dw%3D%3D&utm_source=qr

🌱 Support this work and share it with a friend who’s ready to move further forward.

In today’s work culture, visibility and value are everything- but the systems that decide who gets noticed are deeply flawed.

Executive recruiter, coach, and founder Meghan Houle joins Ashley to discuss confidence without ego, imposter syndrome, and the mindset shifts that help you transition from overlooked to in-demand. Meghan shares her personal journey of overcoming early challenges, embracing self-awareness, and learning to take bold, intentional action in her career.

They dive into the realities of today’s job market- from 9-round interviews and AI screening to the art of authentic networking and personal investment. Meghan also introduces her innovative platform CONCÉ, designed to revolutionize and humanize the recruiting and hiring process, and build a supportive professional community that helps people get seen and get paid.

In this episode:

• Why great candidates get overlooked (and how to fix it)
• How to pitch yourself with quiet conviction
• The truth about recruiters, referrals, and multi-round interviews
• Creating a “personal P&L” and investing in yourself
• Imposter syndrome and the power of self-awareness
• Building community and finding mentors who open doors
• Taking bold action and rewriting limiting beliefs
• Introducing CONCÉ and the realities of building a start-up

Meghan Houle is a globally recognized hiring expert, accredited Career & Business Coach, and newly minted tech founder of CEO of CONCÉ (pronounced Con-SEE) a next-generation concierge-style hiring platform revolutionizing the talent space.

As the “go-to” agency recruiter for CEOs, founders, and visionary business owners, Meghan helps build high-performing teams designed for long-term success and has been celebrated for a multi-decade career marked by over a thousand successful placements.

 Meghan has built her reputation through high-touch partnerships with luxury and specialty retail brands across North America.

Her clients include global leaders such as LVMH, Veronica Beard, Victoria Beckham and Christian Louboutin (to name a few)

Positioned as the future of hiring, CONCÉ is an all-in-one solution helping businesses manage every step of the recruitment journey from job description to job offer while introducing the industry's first soft-skills-driven job matchmaking experience within a privately vetted, professional community. Think: RAYA for jobs.

Today, with CONCÉ (beta launching late 2025), Meghan is reimagining recruitment curating a premium private career community with a deeply personalized experience leaning into her signature brand ethos; authenticity, intentional matchmaking, and concierge-level service which will continue to guide her mission: making every career move both empowering and purposeful for both businesses and job seekers alike.

Schedule a hiring strategy session with Meghan: https://calendly.com/mhm-career-concierge/30min

Connect on Instagram:

Meghan Houle https://www.instagram.com/allthingsmeghoule/

Follow CONCÉ https://www.instagram.com/hirewithconce/

Get your business on the CONCÉ waitlist https://hirewithconce.com/waitlist/business

Further Forward: Honest Conversations on the Art of Becoming, is hosted by Ashley Mitchell.

📩 Subscribe to Ashley’s newsletter, Mind & Motion: https://blackgirlmagicmama.substack.com/

🎙️ Follow for new episodes + bts footage: https://www.instagram.com/furtherforwardpod?igsh=MWJuaDFiMjlzcjJ1dw%3D%3D&utm_source=qr

🌱 Support this work and share it with a friend who’s ready to move further forward.

In this solo episode, Ashley gets all the way real about control, surrender, and what happens when the problem… is you.

Through raw honesty and reflection, she explores how we create our own chaos, how to stop chasing approval, and what it really means to soften without losing power. From being late (twice!) to her Pilates training, to confronting her own perfectionism and anger, Ashley reminds us that surrender isn’t weakness — it’s wisdom.

If you’ve ever felt like you’re doing everything “right” but still stuck in the same loops, this one’s your mirror.

With her signature mix of truth and tenderness, Ashley explores:

• What control really costs us
• The link between anger, algorithms, and authenticity
• How to stop using productivity or fitness as emotional avoidance
• The quiet courage of surrender
• Why grace is the ultimate teacher

Further Forward: Honest Conversations on the Art of Becoming, is hosted by Ashley Mitchell.

📩 Subscribe to Ashley’s newsletter, Mind & Motion: https://blackgirlmagicmama.substack.com/

🎙️ Follow for new episodes + bts footage: https://www.instagram.com/furtherforwardpod?igsh=MWJuaDFiMjlzcjJ1dw%3D%3D&utm_source=qr

🌱 Support this work and share it with a friend who’s ready to move further forward.

This week, we welcome Ashley Houston-King to the Further Forward Podcast! We explore identity, colorism, and the history of Black literacy- from slave codes to modern “reading crisis” headlines. AHK details her dissertation as we connect policy to practice, unpacking how testing, zero-tolerance legacies, and curriculum politics land on real kids, and why after-school, third-space, and community-led programs are essential. Part history lesson, part blueprint for action, and a love letter to teachers, ancestors, and the future we’re writing together.

Ashley Houston-King is a Ph.D. student at Boston University studying Language and Literacy in Education. Ashley is also a reading specialist in a K-6 Boston Public School, and a former classroom teacher. Her research interests include exploring the intersections of literacy instruction, identity, and disrupting anti-Blackness in education. She is interested in studying in-and-out-of-school literacy spaces to better understand how youth navigate injustice and work toward collective liberation. 

Follow her on Instagram: @ashley_althea4

Share this episode with a teacher, parent, or community organizer who’s building outside the lines.

Further Forward: Honest Conversations on the Art of Becoming, is hosted by Ashley Mitchell.

📩 Subscribe to Ashley’s newsletter, Mind & Motion: https://blackgirlmagicmama.substack.com/

🎙️ Follow for new episodes + bts footage: https://www.instagram.com/furtherforwardpod?igsh=MWJuaDFiMjlzcjJ1dw%3D%3D&utm_source=qr

🌱 Support this work and share it with a friend who’s ready to move further forward.

If “healing” feels like a hashtag and a shopping list, this episode is a reset. Yera and Ashley drag wellness back into real life with postpartum realities and nervous systems that need gentleness. We talk about mother-first care, boundaries that actually stick, and why the cheapest rituals (water, sleep, sunlight) are the ones we all avoid. No gurus. No gold stars. Just two women telling the truth about living in a body and in community, right now.

In this episode:

• Healing as “organizing the parts” of self; we are each other’s mirrors
• Postpartum realities, support gaps, and doula work as service
• Somatic experiencing and IFS (“no bad parts”)- why change must be gentle
• The “empty boat” story: releasing assumed intent + choosing peace
• Real-life over performative wellness: connection, community, and being held
• Micro-practices: drink water, get sunlight, honest rest, name one thing you’re grateful for

Bio: 

Yera brings a wealth of experience to her work, offering integrative and compassionate care. Dedicated to this path for much of her life, she blends knowledge and intuition to create supportive spaces for healing and connection. Her practice is informed by both formal training and lived experience, allowing her to meet each person with depth, empathy, and presence.

Through a trauma-informed and integrative approach, Yera offers a variety of ways to explore emotional, energetic, mental, and physical well-being. Her work draws from breathing, restorative, and somatic practices to support clients in reconnecting with themselves and cultivating a sense of peace. Whether in one-on-one sessions or group settings, she creates opportunities for individuals to slow down, restore, and listen deeply to their bodies' innate wisdom.

In addition to her healing arts practice, Yera is a full-spectrum birth worker, an Integrated Doula, which reflects her unique, holistic approach to supporting families through fertility, pregnancy, birth, and the tender postpartum phase. Her approach to birth work blends emotional and physical support while honoring the uniqueness of each family’s needs. With warmth and deep respect for parenthood, she creates a space where families can feel supported, empowered, and cared for.

At the heart of Yera’s offerings is a belief in the body’s innate capacity to heal and the integration that occurs when people are truly seen and supported. Whether she is guiding an individual through a restorative practice or nurturing a family during birth and postpartum, Yera’s work is rooted in connection, care, and deep reverence for life. 

Stay connected with Yera and learn more at Yeradmi.com  

If this episode supported you, follow/subscribe, leave a review, and share with a friend who’s in their own season of remembering.

Further Forward: Honest Conversations on the Art of Becoming, is hosted by Ashley Mitchell.

📩 Subscribe to Ashley’s newsletter, Mind & Motion: https://blackgirlmagicmama.substack.com/

🎙️ Follow for new episodes + bts footage: https://www.instagram.com/furtherforwardpod?igsh=MWJuaDFiMjlzcjJ1dw%3D%3D&utm_source=qr

🌱 Support this work and share it with a friend who’s ready to move further forward.

Welcome to Further Forward. In this debut solo, Ashley gets real about fear, comparison, and the lie that life change should be fast and easy. She shares how her father’s legacy, the rawness of motherhood, and the noise of social media pushed her to finally hit record, and why becoming is built on tiny, consistent steps. Expect honesty, embodiment, and conversations that value curiosity over comfort, and depth over hot takes. If you’ve got a spark you keep talking yourself out of, this one’s your sign: say yes, start small, and move further forward.

Show Notes: 

• Why Ashley almost didn’t start this podcast—and what changed
• Feelings vs. facts: why resonance matters for real change
• Redefining success beyond followers, money, and grind culture
• Curiosity > comfort: challenging ideas without losing respect
• Comparison, social media, and the pace of becoming
• Grief, urgency, and the legacy of Ashley’s father (a boxer & mailman)
• Motherhood, community, and doing hard things when you’re tired
• The practice of one small step—the “.1 on the treadmill” mindset
• Invitation: pick the next right step and begin

Follow along: 

Instagram

@furtherforwardpod

@blackgirlmagicmama

Websites

further-forward.com 

https://blackgirlmagicmama.substack.com/

Further Forward: Honest Conversations on the Art of Becoming, is hosted by Ashley Mitchell.

📩 Subscribe to Ashley’s newsletter, Mind & Motion: https://blackgirlmagicmama.substack.com/

🎙️ Follow for new episodes + bts footage: https://www.instagram.com/furtherforwardpod?igsh=MWJuaDFiMjlzcjJ1dw%3D%3D&utm_source=qr

🌱 Support this work and share it with a friend who’s ready to move further forward.