Good Ancestor Podcast

In this episode, I speak with historian, journalist, poet, organizer, and mending practitioner, Dr. Maytha Alhassen.

Dr. Maytha Alhassen primarily sees her labor as that of a freedom doula and an engaged wit/h/ness reviving the traditions of the feral femme. She is a historian, journalist, poet, organizer and mending practitioner. As a journalist, she worked as an on air host on Al Jazeera and The Young Turks, also field reporting for such outlets as CNN, Huffington Post, Mic, Boston Review. In 2017 she received her Ph.D. in American studies and Ethnicity from USC and gave a TED talk on her ancestral relationship to Syria.

Maytha has co-founded multiple social justice organizations including the Muslim Anti-Racism Collaborative, the Social Justice Institute at Occidental College and Believers Bail Out (a Muslim abolition group). Currently, Maytha writes for Hulu series Ramy, is a Visiting Professor in Peace studies at Chapman university, offers yoga, meditation and reiki workshops and is trying to find time to write some books.

In this episode, I speak with award-winning yoga instructor, author and advocate, Jessamyn Stanley.

Regarded as a leading voice on intersectional identity and 21st-century yoga, Jessamyn has won many awards for her social influence and unique approach to wellness. With an articulate message of representation and visibility, Jessamyn also speaks across the country, advocating for body acceptance, female empowerment as well as African American and LGBTQ inclusion.

Jessamyn has been featured in many media outlets including The New York Times, Good Morning America, Teen Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Allure, Buzzfeed, Shape, Out Magazine, New York Magazine, The Guardian, and Forbes. She broke boundaries for plus size bodies with her 2019 cover of Yoga Journal. In early 2020, Jessamyn was featured in Adidas' Reimagine Sport Campaign, challenging old stereotypes and celebrating movement of all kinds.

In this episode, I speak with #1 New York Times bestselling anti-racist educator and consultant, Tiffany Jewell.

Tiffany Jewell is a Black biracial writer, antiracist educator and consultant, and mama. She is in her 15th year as a Montessori educator and nearing two decades of work in schools with young folks, families, and educators. Tiffany loves to bake bread, build LEGOS with her 8yo and 4yo, and loves watching British detective shows. She spends a lot of time dreaming up how she can dismantle white supremacy and re-imagining liberatory schools. In January her first book, This Book Is Anti-Racist, made its way into the world and it definitely won't be her last book!

In this episode, I speak with a social entrepreneur, investor and speaker, Nicole Cardoza.

Nicole is the founder and Executive Director of Yoga Foster, a national nonprofit that empowers educators with yoga and mindfulness resources for the classroom. She's also the founder of Reclamation Ventures, a fund that invests in high-potential, underestimated entrepreneurs making wellness more accessible in their communities. She teaches accessible and friendly yoga classes that blend movement and reflection.

In this episode, I speak with author, influencer, and founder of Make Motherhood Diverse, Candice Brathwaite.

Candice Brathwaite is a mother of two, an influencer, and the founder of UK based initiative; Make Motherhood Diverse, which seeks to challenge the usually singular narrative of motherhood. She is the author of the 2020 Sunday Times Bestseller I Am Not Your Baby Mother, a thought-provoking, urgent and inspirational guide to life as a Black mother.

In this episode, I speak with writer, pleasure activist, filmmaker and performance artist, Junauda Petrus-Nasah.

Junauda Petrus-Nasah is a writer, pleasure activist, filmmaker and performance artist of Black-Caribbean descent, born on Dakota land. Her work centers around wildness, queerness, Black-diasporic-futurism, ancestral healing, sweetness, shimmer and liberation. She is the co-founder with Erin Sharkey of Free Black Dirt, an experimental arts production company. She is the writer and director of "Sweetness of Wild" a poetic-episodic film series themed around Blackness, queerness, biking, resistance, love and coming of age in Minneapolis. Her first YA novel, The Stars and The Blackness Between Them is a Coretta Scott King Award Honor Book. She lives in Minneapolis with her wife, child and family.

In this episode, I speak with author, speaker and anti-racism educator, Monique Melton.

Monique Melton is an anti-racism educator, published author, international speaker, coach and host of the Shine Brighter Together podcast. She is also the founder of Shine Brighter Together, a community dedicated to healthy relationships & diverse unity.

Monique travels the world speaking at conferences and events on topics related to anti-racism, personal growth, diversity, and relationships. She has been published in magazines, featured in blogs and podcasts, and has touched the lives of people all over the world. Monique is a natural big-bold dreamer and a deeply rooted woman of faith. She is a proud Navy wife to her high-school sweetheart, and a loving mother to two little ones. She has a BA in social science with an emphasis in sociology & psychology and two years of graduate school education in Clinical Counseling from Johns Hopkins University. Monique believes it's not all about your comfort, but it's about your growth.

In this episode, I speak with award-winning performer and writer , Sarah Jones.

Called a "master of the genre" by The New York Times, Sarah Jones is a Tony® Award-winning performer and writer known for her multi-character, one-person shows (Broadway hit Bridge & Tunnel, originally produced by Oscar® winner Meryl Streep, and her current, critically-acclaimed show Sell/Buy/Date).

Renowned as “a one-woman global village”, Sarah has given multiple main-stage TED Talks garnering millions of views, performed for President and First Lady Obama at the White House, and developed a docu-series based on her characters with Ron Howard’s Imagine Entertainment. Sarah has also appeared in film and TV projects ranging from Sesame Street to Broad City to the Oscar nominee, Marriage Story. Most recently, Sarag launched Foment Productions, a social justice-focused entertainment company. Sell/Buy/Date the play, which was commissioned by the NoVo Foundation, was its first production.

In this episode, I speak with author, transformational speaker, and top 20 recording artist, Justin Michael Williams.

From growing up with gunshot holes outside of his bedroom window, to sharing the stage with Deepak Chopra, Justin Michael Williams knows the power of healing to overcome. He is an author, top 20 recording artist, and transformational speaker who is using music and meditation to wake up the world.

When he was younger, Justin always wanted to be a singer, but a lifetime of being bullied, teased, and abused, made him give up his dream. Then after a seminal moment with his dying grandmother, Justin woke up—and his debut album premiered in the top 20 of the iTunes charts next to Britney Spears and Taylor Swift. He has since been featured by Billboard, Grammy.com, SXSW®, and shared on stages alongside some of the most compelling leaders of our time, including Marianne Williamson, Deepak Chopra, and Chaka Khan.

With over a decade of teaching experience, Justin has become a pioneering voice of color for the new healing movement—between his podcast, keynotes, and motivational online platforms, Justin’s teachings have now spread to more than 40 countries around the globe.

Justin is dedicated to using his voice to serve. To being a beacon of hope for those who are lost, and to making sure all people, of all backgrounds, have access to the information they need to change their lives.

In this episode, I speak with award-winning journalist, author and an internationally-recognized speaker, strategist and advocate for maternal and infant health, Kimberly Seals Allers.

A former senior editor at ESSENCE and writer at FORTUNE magazine, Kimberly is a leading voice on the socio-cultural and racial complexities of birth, breastfeeding and motherhood. She is the director of the Maternal and Child Health Communication Collective, a national consortium of over 80 organizations working collectively to shift the narrative of maternal and infant health issues, funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

Kimberly was recently named one of “21 Leaders for the 21st Century” for 2018 by Women’s eNews for her decades of media advocacy work. A frequent contributor to The New York Times , Washington Post, Slate and others, her online commentaries received over 10 million page views last year. Kimberly’s fifth book, The Big Let Down—How Medicine, Big Business and Feminism Undermine Breastfeeding was published by St. Martin’s Press in January 2017. In 2018, she founded Narrative Nation, a non-profit that creates community-centered media and technology to eradicate health disparities.

A graduate of New York University and Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, Kimberly is a divorced mother of two who lives in New York City.