At 30 weeks pregnant, Rayna Reid Rayford walked into a Houston ER in excruciating pain. They sent her home. Dehydration, they said. She came back a week later, still in agony. Same diagnosis. Same dismissal.

What changed everything? Five physician family members in town for her baby shower. They asked the questions. They demanded the MRI. They found the acute necrotizing appendicitis that would have killed her if she'd been sent home again.

She's one of the lucky ones. And she couldn't stop thinking about the ones who aren't.

Pregnant and Black launches April 11th during Black Maternal Health Week — a free app connecting Black expectant mothers with culturally competent healthcare advocates who can be virtually present during appointments or emergencies. No insurance required.

In this conversation, we cover:

• Why Harris County is the deadliest place in America for Black women to give birth
• What it felt like to be a lawyer with a family of doctors and still not be believed
• The Serena and Beyoncé parallel: money doesn't protect you
• How the app handles privacy in post-Roe Texas
• Why joy — not just safety — is the right word for what Black maternal health should look like
• And what it costs to build something on top of a trauma

App launches April 11th at the Advocacy and Action Benefit Brunch, Westin Houston Downtown. Honoree: LeToya Luckett, founding member of Destiny's Child and maternal health advocate.

pregnantandblack.com

@pregnantnblack

@raynareidrayford

davidpeck.co

@itsdavidpeck

00:00 — Harris County is the deadliest place in America for Black women to give birth

01:09 — Introducing Rayna Reid Rayford and Pregnant and Black

02:32 — Appendixgate: dismissed twice, saved by a family of doctors

04:21 — What it felt like to be educated, supported, and still not believed

06:47 — The Serena and Beyoncé parallel: money doesn't protect you

07:23 — Is this systemic or regional? (The answer is both)

08:34 — Why pregnancy feels like a silo now — and how the app rebuilds community

09:07 — Legislating against women and the crisis of not being believed

11:31 — From trauma to tech: how she connected the dots

12:54 — Walk-through: what the app experience actually looks like

14:26 — Privacy in post-Roe Texas — how PAB handles your data

15:20 — Launching an app with "Black" in the name right now

17:29 — The Lion King, the circle of life, and why men need to be in this conversation

18:55 — Why joy is the right word — not dignity, not equity

20:07 — If you could change one thing about ER physician training

21:53 — Why representation inside the medical system literally saves lives

23:05 — The personal cost of building on top of a trauma

24:51 — The 22 Questions Lightning Round

28:43 — Where to find the app and how to support Pregnant and Black

For nearly a decade, I've used one word to guide my year. Not as a resolution. As a practice.

And it's changed how I make decisions, navigate transitions, and design a life that actually fits.

Most "word of the year" practices are aspirational—you pick a word that sounds good, make it your screensaver, and hope it sticks. But by March, you've forgotten about it because it never meant anything real in the first place.

This practice is different. It's evidence-based, not aspirational. You're not picking a word you wish you were. You're naming what's already in motion.

In this episode, I walk through:

• Why most word-of-the-year practices don't work
• How to find a word that's actually yours (built from evidence, not expectation)
• The ART method: Assemble evidence, Refine the pattern, Try it out
• How this practice has helped me navigate reinvention after reinvention

If you want to do this practice yourself, I created a free guide: Go to davidpeck.co/yourword and you'll get:

• A beautifully designed 11-page guide that walks you through the ART method
• A 7-day email series teaching you how to use it
• Monthly check-ins for a year to help you live with your word

This is for you if you're navigating a transition, tired of following frameworks that don't fit, or ready to design a year around who you actually are.

Links:

• Get the free guide: davidpeck.co/yourword
• Watch on YouTube
• Follow on Instagram: @itsdavidpeck
• More episodes: davidpeck.co/podcast

Chapters

0:00 - Intro: The one thing that's kept me grounded through every reinvention

0:45 - Why most word-of-the-year practices don't work

2:15 - What makes this practice different (evidence vs. aspiration)

3:30 - How to get started: The free guide

4:15 - The ART framework: Assemble, Refine, Try

5:15 - What you get: 7-day series + monthly check-ins for a year

6:30 - Who this is for + final call to action

This week, I'm thinking about three things that all have something in common: rewriting the script. Sometimes it's a script someone else wrote for you, sometimes it's your own script that you decide to change, and sometimes it's a narrative we've been telling wrong as a nation for over 70 years.

I talk about Taylor Swift's unexpected "Opalite" video and how she's reclaiming England by filming there and casting directly from the Graham Norton show couch. I explore what it means for Winter Olympics athletes to represent America when the country feels so divided. And I discuss Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime performance almost entirely in Spanish (with notable exceptions like Lady Gaga's solo, "God Bless America," and the powerful line "the only way to combat hate is with love") and how it forces us to confront that Puerto Rico IS America - something the characters in West Side Story were grappling with 70 years ago that we're still grappling with today.

This is about identity, representation, and who gets to tell the story.

0:00 - Introduction: Rewriting the Script The hook - three pop culture things connected by rewriting the script

0:29 - Taylor Swift's "Opalite" Music Video The unexpected release, Graham Norton casting, filming in England, reclaiming her narrative, visibility vs. community

3:49 - Winter Olympics: Representing a Divided Country Personal connection to individual sports, athletes navigating what it means to represent America, competing with integrity despite conflict

7:38 - Bad Bunny's Super Bowl Halftime Show Performing in Spanish, Puerto Rico IS America, West Side Story's narrative 70 years later, rewriting what "American" looks like

9:33 - Closing Thoughts Connecting all three - expectations being flipped, rewriting narratives

CONNECT WITH ME:

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Instagram and YouTube: @itsdavidpeck

Shop: shopdavidpeck.com

This week I'm thinking about three things in pop culture that have an unexpected through-line: Catherine O'Hara's comedy, a new book about mattering, and the Roseberry siblings' creative partnership.

What connects them is the difference between performance and being performative. When art comes from genuine care and alignment—not external validation—that's when it sticks with us. That's when we feel truth.

I talk about Catherine O'Hara's uniquely empathetic approach to comedy (from Waiting for Guffman to Moira Rose), Jennifer Breheny Wallace's book "Mattering" and what happens when our intrinsic and extrinsic values are misaligned, and why Daniel Roseberry's Schiaparelli and his sister Liz's jewelry work have reignited something for me after years of feeling uninspired by fashion.

This is what's getting me through the week.

00:00 The Impact of Catherine O'Hara's Comedy 03:14 The Search for Meaning and Connection 05:25 The Joy of Authenticity in Art and Fashion

This week felt especially heavy.

In this Voice Notes mini-episode, I'm sharing a few reflections and pieces of pop culture that helped me stay present and grounded—not to escape what's happening, but to remember why art and thoughtful platforms still matter.

I talk about Michelle Obama on Call Her Daddy, what it means to use influence with intention, and why even familiar comfort shows like Emily in Paris don't always land the same way depending on the moment.

These Voice Notes are informal, short reflections—shared when something feels worth the pause.

Last year, my Word of the Year episode was my most-listened-to show, bar none. So we're doing it again for 2026—but this time, I'm pulling back the curtain on how I actually choose that one word and use it to design my year on purpose.

I've never really connected with New Year's resolutions. They've always felt like a chore list wrapped in good intentions. Instead, for almost a decade, I've picked a single Word of the Year to act as a design principle for my life and work: Abundance, Expansion, Possibility, Consistency, Effortless, Determined… and now, Amplify.

In this episode, I walk you through the simple method I use to get there—something I now call ART: Assemble, Refine, Try:

• Assemble the words, ideas, and themes that keep circling my life,

• Refine them down to the ones that actually feel like mine

• Try them on with my future self before I commit.

I share how last year's word, Determined, showed up in some very real ways, how these words stack and evolve over time, and why Amplify is the word I chose to guide 2026—not as an excuse to do more for the sake of it, but as an invitation to turn up the volume on what's already working and aligned.

If you're over resolutions but still want your year to feel intentional, this one's for you.

• 00:00 – Resolutions Were Never My Thing

• 01:42 – Discovering Word of the Year

• 02:29 – A Decade of Words & Why They Matter

• 03:01 – The ART Method: Assemble, Refine, Try

• 05:22 – Using AI as a Mirror

• 09:07 – Past Words: Abundance to Effortless to Determined

• 12:34 – Determined, the Book, and Big Dreams

• 15:49 – My Word for 2026: Amplify

• 18:23 – Your Turn: Choose Your Word

Connect & Subscribe

• Watch the video version on YouTube → youtube.com/@itsdavidpeck

• Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts

• Follow me @itsdavidpeck TikTok and Instagram

What do Houston's most legendary art patrons and fashion's most famous ponytail have in common? In this episode, Paris-based journalist and biographer William Middleton—author of Double Vision: The Unerring Eye of Art World Avatars Dominique and John de Menil and Paradise Now: The Extraordinary Life of Karl Lagerfeld—joins me to connect the dots between the Menils' quiet power in Houston and Karl's global influence at Chanel, Fendi, and beyond. We talk about fashion, money, art, and how he's designed a life between Kansas, New York, Houston, and Paris.

Connect & Subscribe

• Watch the video version on YouTube → youtube.com/@itsdavidpeck

• Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts

• Follow me @itsdavidpeck TikTok and Instagram

• Follow William @wfmiddletonauthor

Let's be honest: Glinda's bubble was cute until it wasn't. And "good" was working for her… until it really, really wasn't.

In this episode, I break down Wicked: For Good the same way Glinda breaks down emotionally in Act II: publicly, dramatically, and with a surprising amount of self-awareness. We talk about why Elphaba shows up morally certain while Glinda shows up morally… adjacent. We also unpack how "Wonderful" is basically the Wizard's propaganda TED Talk, why mirrors are everywhere in this movie, and how "Girl in the Bubble" reframes Glinda's entire character through complicity and awakening.

I also get into Elphaba's new song "There's No Place Like Home," how it quietly echoes The Wiz and the Black experience of Oz, and why that matters for her story as the ultimate outsider.

If you've ever performed "goodness," got the dream job/partner/life, and then thought, "Oh. This still didn't fix me," congratulations—you're Glinda. And this episode is for you.

Connect & Subscribe

• Watch the video version on YouTube → youtube.com/@itsdavidpeck

• Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts

• Follow me @itsdavidpeck TikTok and Instagram

What happens when your biggest career high collides with your hometown's worst nightmare?

In this episode, I sit down with jewelry designer Jill Reno, whose path to Paris Haute Couture Week started with plastic Michael's beads on a not-so-glamorous layover in Milwaukee. From ballet and business school to flight attendant life at Continental, sculpting with her grandfather, and reinvesting every dollar of profit back into better stones, Jill's story is one long exercise in "throw it all at the wall and see what sparkles."

Jill shares how her whimsical lanyards evolved into fine jewelry worn by celebrities and featured in major fashion media, from W Trend (Women's Wear Daily) to The New York Times, Elle, and Harper's, how she built a thriving wholesale business, and why she ultimately walked away from the regimented collection cycle to focus on couture, one-of-a-kind pieces, and deeply personal client relationships.

Then we go deeper. While Jill was debuting her work on the Haute Couture runway in Paris, catastrophic flooding devastated her hometown of Kerrville and the Guadalupe River community she loves. We talk about what it's like to hold those two realities at once—runway fittings and river rescue texts, career dreams and communal grief—and how faith, friendship, and an almost stubborn commitment to beauty have carried her through.

If you've ever wondered how to keep creating when life falls apart, this one's for you.

In this episode, we talk about:

• How a "boring" flight attendant lanyard turned into the origin story of a jewelry brand

• The leap from business major and ballet kid to art school in San Miguel de Allende

• Reinventing over and over: from plastic beads to carnelian, silver, gold, and diamonds

• Getting pieces on celebrities and into major magazines while living on ramen and toast

• The realities of wholesale—and why Jill ultimately chose couture and appointment-only

• The power of Kerrville: community, roots, and women who relentlessly show up for each other

• Experiencing a career-defining Paris couture debut while her hometown faced tragedy

• First responder fatigue, burnout, and how communities actually rebuild

• Travel, the ranch, and tiny daily practices that keep Jill's creativity alive

• Faith, forgiveness, and her recent mantra to "hold space for God's beauty"

Connect & Subscribe

• Watch the video version on YouTube → youtube.com/@itsdavidpeck

• Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts

• Follow me @itsdavidpeck TikTok and Instagram

• Follow Jill @jillrenocollection

Chapter List

00:00 Introduction and Background 04:52 Transitioning from Flight Attendant to Artist 10:15 Creative Process and Inspirations 16:03 Navigating Personal and Professional Challenges 21:49 Rapid Fire Questions and Reflections

In today's episode, recorded LIVE!, I'm joined by my longtime friend, Australian hairdresser, and salon owner David Bamford—a man who once rocked twin blue mohawks, won international awards by surprise, and opened a gorgeous River Oaks salon… five weeks before the world shut down. We trace his wild path from architecture student to behind-the-basketball-court barber, London and Aberdeen detours, a green-card saga complete with Farrah Fawcett's endorsement, and building Therapy—the salon—brick by brick.

We talk about grief and grit: losing his father, a beloved 18-year-old pup, and a marriage to his business partner—then deciding not to be the victim. David shares the very practical ways he kept the lights on during COVID (hello, color curbside and Zoom-hair tutorials), what real luxury looks like (hint: not Crocs), and how positive affirmations and parenting re-wired his priorities. Plus: an Hermes caper, the Inside the Actors Studio–style lightning round (I had 22 questions; we are big Swifties), and yes… the Westheimer ghost story that still gives me chills.

If you're in a season of detours, this one's a masterclass in designing a life you love, even when the blueprint gets ripped up. Perfect is good, but done is better.

Chapters

• 00:00 – Meet David Bamford (and why I skipped the formal bio)

• 04:30 – From architecture to blue mohawks

• 13:55 – London → Aberdeen → Europe (hostels are a no)

• 22:10 – Houston, Jose Eber, and the green card (Farrah Fawcett, WorldFest)

• 30:45 – Building therapy and curating real luxury

• 37:25 – Opening the River Oaks space… then COVID

• 43:10 – Pivoting: color kits, Zoom hair, partitions, outdoors

• 49:05 – Divorce, loss, and choosing not to be the victim

• 56:00 – Parenting, affirmations, and dating after 20 years

• 1:02:30 – Hermès adventures and the Westheimer ghost

• 1:09:00 – 22-question lightning round

• 1:13:30 – One 5-minute action to move forward (affirmations)