In this episode, we chat with Generation Xer, Adrion Porter, who is a marketing veteran with over twenty years of experience working with some big brands that include HBO, Cartoon Network, and Citi.

Adrion is also the founder and host of a podcast called Gen X Amplified. His show provides leadership and development insights from and for his listeners who he proudly describes as the X-Ceptional, X-Traordinary generation.

Listen in as Adrion talks about his experience, how to pivot and turn a career low into a career and personal high, and how to use his 5-step B.R.A.N.D. framework to create a winning personal brand. 

Kelly Burton, CEO, Founders of Color In this episode of Joy Economics, we chat with Dr. Kelly Burton, the brainchild behind Founders of Color, a digital platform helping minority-owned businesses scale and grow.

Kelly is an accomplished entrepreneur who knows a thing or two about starting and running a successful business. But it was a very public failure that’s led to her most ambitious undertaking to date aimed at upending the narrative for all minority-owned businesses.

Join us as Kelly talks about her childhood in New Jersey and how she went on to become the first in her family to graduate from college at Clark Atlanta University and then went on to earn her PhD. in political science from Emory University. She took all that hard-earned education and put it to work as a researcher before starting her own non-profit and corporate consultancy, Nexus Research Group. She’s now helping minority-owned businesses grow and scale, with her newest undertaking, Founders of Color.

Amanda Hammett is a successful entrepreneur who knows a thing or two about what it takes to excite a team of Millennials and Gen Xers. So much so, she calls herself the “Millennial Translator”.

In this podcast, you will gain a deeper understanding of the millennial generation’s mindset, how they both stand apart from and are much like generations before them, and how employers can leverage this understanding for greater success in their workplaces.

We're getting into the holiday spirit with a throwback to one of our favorite episodes from Season 1, featuring Stephanie Walters, lifestyle specialist in Hampton Roads, VA and Kyla Young and Chase Miller, two special young fans of the show. We'll be talking about holiday traditions and sharing lifestyle tips on how to manage and enjoy the holiday season. 

Happy Holidays to you and yours!

This bonus episode of Joy Economics features a quick course on how to make your elevator pitch great with David Farmer and Shane Benson of Launch YOUniversity. We’ll also revisit our friends at Moving in the Spirit, an Atlanta, Georgia-based non-profit that uses dance to help youth thrive.

Interview with Jean Adero, Founder of “Read Across Africa”

Jean Adero believes her “soul” purpose in life is to reimagine her home country of Africa. At face value this sounds like a monumental proposition. Not for Jean Adero, the founder and brainchild behind the youth literacy non-profit, Read Across Africa. 

In this powerful interview, host, Shani Godwin, unveils the many trials and tribulations Jean had to endure to realize her vision of founding a library in her community in Africa. We will travel back in time to witness the countless obstacles Jean had to overcome to make it to America and achieve her educational and professional goals. Along the way, we will learn about Jean’s five life priorities and how they have helped her realize, sustain, and grow her vision.

Listeners will also learn about the Read Across Africa initiative, the various programs it offers to children in Kisumu, Africa and how you, too, can get involved and make a difference!

Joy EconomicsInterview with Becky Davis, Bosspreneur CEO, MVPWork, LLC Becky Davis was in her early 20’s when she first yearned to start her own business.  She had the charisma, stage presence and natural gift for public speaking, but when the moment came to step out and share her gift with the world, she just couldn’t do it.

How many times has this happened to you? How long have you been sitting on your great idea? How long have you, too, been hiding from your gift? Davis’ wake-up call almost cost her a life- her own!

In this Joy Economics episode, host Shani Godwin, uncovers how Davis was able to overcome her own fears to go on to lead a successful business and thriving executive coaching consultancy that positioned her for the role of a lifetime as spokesperson for the Coca Cola Company’s 5by20 entrepreneurship initiative focused on supporting 5-million women owned businesses worldwide by the year 2020!

Interview with Shane Benson, VP, Operator Support &Organizational Planning, Chick-fil-A, Inc. & David Farmer, VP, Restaurant Experience, Chick-fil-A, Inc. / Co-founders of Launch Youniversity 

If you’re not actively launching something new in your life, you may be missing out on the very thing that keeps you challenged, fresh and relevant in today’s constantly evolving world.

In this episode, you will meet David Farmer and Shane Benson, top executives at Chick-fil-A Inc., who along with their partners, Kevin Jennings and Jeff Henderson, have created a digital platform called Launch Youniveristy. This virtual hub provides access to resources, tools and mentorship opportunities for those would-be “launchers” out there who need that little extra nudge to get their idea off the ground!

Farmer and Benson will provide valuable insights derived from their own launch failures and successes to teach us what it takes to start, sustain and grow a great idea.

For more on Joy Economics visit joyeconomics.com. Guests: Shane Benson and David Farmer Host: Shani Godwin

Omari and Onaje Henderson are on a mission to open up the art experience, in its many facets, to communities of color. In a stroke of genius, these engineers-by-trade decided to take their passion for art and turn it into a business that’s paying off in ways they never imagined. In this episode of Joy Economics, host Shani Godwin dives into their story and how you, too, can harness that passion into purpose.