I Am Dad

In this episode of I Am Dad Podcast, host Kenneth Braswell interviews Mark Ludwig, President of the National Council on Equal Shared Parenting, during the Shared Parenting Summit in Washington, D.C.

Mark shares the deeply personal story that brought him into this work: a custody experience that left him separated from his son for 204 days and forced him to confront the emotional reality many fathers face when trying to remain present in their children’s lives. What began as one father’s fight became a national mission to educate policymakers, build coalitions, support parents, and advance shared parenting reform across the country.

Kenneth and Mark explore the evolution of the fatherhood and shared parenting movement, including the challenges of moving beyond anger, trauma, and old “father’s rights” narratives toward mature, strategic, policy-focused advocacy. They discuss how legislative change requires relationships, trust, language, credibility, and the ability to meet lawmakers where they are.

The conversation also touches on:

• Mark’s personal custody journey and why he wrote letters to his son every night

This episode is not simply about custody. It is about children, systems, family stability, and the urgent need to create policies that do not force parents into unnecessary conflict.

At the center of the conversation is a shared belief: fathers should not have to prove that they matter after the fact. Systems should begin with the understanding that children need meaningful relationships with both parents whenever it is safe and appropriate.

In this episode of Sideline Dad, powered by the I Am Dad Podcast Network, host Javin Foreman welcomes John Damon, former Division I football player at Boston College, performance coach, gym designer, and founder of The Cave in Charlotte, North Carolina.

For more than 30 years, John Damon has trained and advised Hollywood talent, Fortune 500 executives, professional athletes, coaches, and high performers. His work has shaped elite training spaces from The Sports Club/LA to Equinox, Active Fitness, IRON, and now The Cave, a private training and recovery sanctuary built around discipline, detail, recovery, and intentional excellence.

But this conversation goes far beyond fitness.

John and Javin explore what it means to build “The Standard” in sports, parenting, leadership, and fatherhood. They discuss how young athletes are shaped by environment, expectations, love, habits, recovery, and the people around them. John challenges parents to think deeply about the culture they create for their children, the standards they model, and the importance of giving kids both love and good information.

In this episode of I Am Dad Podcast, host Kenneth Braswell travels to East New York, Brooklyn, for an on-location conversation with Bishop Ferguson, board chair of Fathers Incorporated and program director at the Liberty Avenue Men’s Shelter.

This conversation asks a question we do not ask often enough:

What does housing instability mean for men and fathers?

Too often, conversations about homelessness focus on women and children, while men, especially fathers, are treated as an afterthought. But many unhoused men are fathers. Many are sons, grandfathers, uncles, veterans, returning citizens, men living with mental health challenges, and men trying to hold on to dignity in systems that often see them only as cases, beds, risks, or numbers.

Bishop Ferguson offers a deeply honest look inside a men’s shelter serving 150 men in East New York. He explains the realities of working with men who are unhoused, men returning from incarceration, men with mental health needs, men who have been couch surfing, men who have lost relationships or caregivers, and men who are trying to rebuild their lives one step at a time.

This episode explores:

• The difference between being unhoused and being homeless

One of the most powerful moments in the conversation comes when Bishop Ferguson describes a father who refused to leave shelter until he could secure a one-bedroom apartment because he wanted a place where his children could visit. That story reminds us that housing is not just about having a roof. It is about belonging, dignity, family, identity, and the possibility of being a father in a real and present way.

Kenneth and Bishop Ferguson also explore how society responds differently to women’s homelessness than men’s homelessness. They challenge listeners to remember that every unhoused man is also someone’s son, someone’s father, someone’s uncle, someone’s brother, and someone whose humanity deserves to be seen.

This episode is a necessary conversation for fatherhood practitioners, housing advocates, faith leaders, policymakers, social service providers, reentry programs, and anyone committed to strengthening families by addressing the full reality of men’s lives.

In this episode of I Am Dad Podcast, host Kenneth Braswell welcomes Dr. Tova Walsh, Associate Professor at the Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, for a deep and timely conversation about the evolving field of fatherhood research and the systems that still struggle to fully include fathers.

Dr. Walsh began her career as a home visitor working with families during pregnancy and early childhood. In that role, she quickly noticed something many systems still overlook today: programs often use words like “family” and “parent,” but in practice, they are designed around mothers and babies while fathers are left out.

This conversation explores how far fatherhood research has come, how far it still needs to go, and what it will take to build systems that treat fathers as essential to child and family wellbeing.

Kenneth and Dr. Walsh discuss:

• Why fatherhood research has grown dramatically over the last few decades

Dr. Walsh also reflects on her own family story, including how her father’s history and family trauma shaped her understanding of parenting, fatherhood, and the need to support men as whole people.

This episode is a must-watch for fatherhood practitioners, researchers, social workers, policymakers, maternal and child health professionals, early childhood providers, child support leaders, family service organizations, and anyone committed to building stronger families by fully including fathers.

In this powerful Part 2 conversation on I Am Dad Podcast, host Kenneth Braswell welcomes back longtime friend, brother, faith leader, and community advocate Greg Owens for a deeper discussion on Black fatherhood, race, culture, leadership, and the work required to move from narrative to impact.

After Part 1 explored fatherhood, faith, and the Black church, this episode shifts into a broader and more critical conversation: what happens when the phrase “Black fathers” becomes more visible in research, policy, media, philanthropy, and public discourse?

Kenneth and Greg unpack the importance of naming Black fathers without reducing them to a stereotype or treating them as a monolithic group. They explore how conversations about race can either open doors to understanding or chase people out of the room when not handled with wisdom, precision, and care.

This episode examines:

• What it means to talk about Black fathers without flattening their experiences

Greg also reflects on raising his daughter and helping her develop confidence, agency, and cultural grounding while allowing her faith walk and identity to become her own. Kenneth adds powerful reflections on parenting through pain, watching children endure hardship, and understanding that some lessons cannot be rescued away.

This episode is a call to think more deeply about language, leadership, race, family, and impact. It asks us to move beyond slogans and toward strategy. Beyond visibility and toward infrastructure. Beyond representation and toward transformation.

This episode of I Am Dad Podcast opens a powerful conversation about fatherhood, faith, leadership, and the responsibility of the Black church to speak more intentionally to men and families.

Host Kenneth Braswell sits down with longtime friend, brother, faith leader, and community advocate Greg Owens inside Macedonia Baptist Church in Albany, New York. Their relationship crosses many spaces: community work, music, radio, church, fatherhood, family advocacy, and the shared commitment to strengthening Black families.

Together, Kenneth and Greg move beyond a simple “church conversation” and into something deeper: a conversation about faith, trust, leadership, justice, and how men experience spiritual spaces.

This episode of I Am Dad Podcast features a timely and important conversation from the Moynihan Institute for Fatherhood Research and Policy on how Black fathers are portrayed in television commercials and popular media.

Guest host Dr. David Miller sits down with Dr. Jeffrey Shears and Dr. Janice Kelly to discuss their research study on the portrayal of Black fathers in TV commercials. The conversation explores how Black fathers are often made invisible, reduced to background roles, or narrowly depicted in ways that do not reflect the lived experiences of many Black families.

The episode opens with a discussion of well-known advertising moments, including the public response to ads where Black fathers were absent from family-centered images. From there, the conversation moves into a deeper analysis of why representation matters, how advertising shapes public perception, and what Black fathers themselves said when asked to respond to commercials featuring fathers and families.

This episode explores:

• Why Black fathers are often missing or minimized in advertising

The discussion also highlights a critical truth: Black fathers are not asking for perfect portrayals. They are asking for full portrayals.

They want to be seen as caregivers, protectors, workers, nurturers, disciplinarians, partners, sons, grandsons, fathers, and grandfathers. They want commercials and media images that reflect the complexity, tenderness, humor, responsibility, and generational strength that exist in Black family life.

This episode is essential viewing for advertisers, media professionals, researchers, practitioners, fathers, families, and anyone who cares about reshaping the narrative around Black fatherhood.

This episode of I Am Dad Podcast is part of the Moynihan Institute Takeover, featuring a powerful conversation between Dr. Jeff Shears and Dr. Conial Caldwell on Black fathers, daughters, identity, beauty, and racial socialization.

Dr. Caldwell, an assistant professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County School of Social Work and a proud girl dad, discusses his study, Preparing and Protecting: Black Fathers’ Racial Socialization Practices with Their Daughters. His research explores how Black fathers talk with their daughters about race, appearance, self-esteem, beauty standards, hair, skin tone, education, and navigating the world as Black girls and women.

This conversation challenges the assumption that mothers are the only parents shaping daughters’ understanding of beauty and identity. Dr. Caldwell explains how fathers reinforce positive messages about Black beauty, affirm their daughters’ natural hair and complexion, and prepare them for the social, academic, and professional spaces they will enter.

The episode explores:

• How Black fathers help shape daughters’ self-worth

Dr. Caldwell also reflects on how being a father of daughters informs his scholarship and helps him ask deeper questions about fatherhood, family, and Black girls’ development.

This episode is a must-watch for fathers, mothers, practitioners, educators, researchers, and anyone committed to strengthening Black families and helping daughters grow with confidence, dignity, and pride.

This episode of Sideline Dad, part of the I Am Dad Podcast Network, takes a powerful and refreshing turn by bringing a mother’s perspective into the conversation around youth sports, parenting, identity, and family.

Host Javin Foreman welcomes Crystal Garrett, a storyteller, producer, former Division I track athlete, and mother of elite young athletes navigating the modern sports landscape.

From growing up in Seattle surrounded by athletes to raising children competing at high levels in baseball, tennis, basketball, and track, Crystal shares the emotional realities of parenting in today’s youth sports culture.

This conversation explores:

• The unique role mothers play in youth sports

Crystal also discusses her acclaimed documentary Black to the Bigs, which examines the declining presence of Black athletes in Major League Baseball and the systemic barriers impacting Black youth participation in the sport.

Throughout the episode, one truth remains clear:

Sports are never just about sports.

They are about confidence. Identity. Discipline. Community. Family. Pressure. Dreams. And the people standing beside our children while they chase them.

This episode is a must-watch for parents, coaches, athletes, and anyone trying to raise children with purpose in a competitive world.

This episode of I Am Dad Podcast tackles one of the most urgent public health issues facing Black families today: the Black maternal health crisis.

Hosted by Dr. David Miller, this important conversation features Dr. Jeffrey Shears, a nationally respected researcher focused on Black fathers, family systems, and community wellbeing.

Together, they examine a question too often ignored in maternal health conversations:

What role can Black fathers play in helping reduce maternal stress, improve pregnancy outcomes, and support healthier families?

Drawing from new research conducted through the Moynihan Institute for Fatherhood Research and Policy, Dr. Shears explains why fathers should be viewed not as risks—but as resources.

The conversation explores:

• The alarming disparities in Black maternal and infant mortality

Dr. Shears also discusses why the Moynihan Institute chose to reclaim the controversial legacy of the Moynihan Report as a framework for advancing modern fatherhood research and policy conversations.

This episode is both a research discussion and a call to action.

Because if we are serious about saving Black mothers, we must also become serious about supporting Black fathers.