Lets ManiFeast

What happens when Gene Finley IV and Morgan Mathews, two black men with creative spirits and passion for innovation meet at a tech company then put their heads together to create Bit., a scripted comedy series exploring the underbelly of Silicon Valley through the lens of people of color, and more of the unabridged content they want to see? 

Press play to learn more about the birth and evolution of Chocolate Chip Media, a production company committed to producing engaging content to amplify the voices of underrepresented groups.

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Visit Chocolate Chip Media online  

Connect with Gene Finley IV and Morgan Matthews on LinkedIn

Back in the late 1960’s James Brown encouraged folks to “Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud", and Niani Tolbert lives by those words. When the news reports of racial injustice and senseless killings of blacks in the United States rose, Niani seized the opportunity to leverage her recruiting skills and black pride to create #HireBlack, an initiative that assists companies with their search for Black talent, with a particular emphasis on Black women. #HireBlack has set a goal of “helping 10,000 Black women get trained, hired, and promoted" and we are here for it!

Press play to hear why this Black recruiter started this initiative, her thoughts on allyship, and the dope future plans. 

After listening, be sure to leave a review, share this podcast with your network, and follow ManiFeast.

About Niani Tolbert

Niani is a marketer-turned-recruiter and the Founder of the #HIREBLACK Initiative. 

#HIREBLACK started as a LinkedIn post to help 19 Black womxn get resume feedback on Juneteenth and grew into an initiative whose goal is to help 10,000 Black womxn get trained, hired, or promoted.

Thanks to the support from our community and allies, we are now a network of 3,000 people and counting.

 Here are some of our key accomplishment in the past year:

• The #HIREBLACK Portal, our FREE safe space for Black womxn and diverse talent
• We offer weekly LinkedIn Live sessions every Thursday at noon.
• Our partnership with 81cents gives one free compensation review to a #HIREBLACK community member each month.
• We are producing a #HIREBLACK Virtual Summit all about “starting a micro-revolution” in the fall.
• We have recently wrapped up our mentor matching sessions, and we were able to match over 300 Black Womxn with career mentors based on industry and management experience! We partnered with Conde Nast, DoorDash, Sony Music Entertainment- along with recruiters at top companies to make this happen.
• For Black Women’s Equal Pay Day (August 13th), we hosted a free webinar for 400+ attendees on negotiation strategies with leading womxn.
• For Black Women’s Equal Pay Day (August 13th), we also made a “Radically Transparent Salary Database”: a crowd-sourced resource of 600+ salaries and demographics shared anonymously to offer transparency, compare and understand our market rate.
• As a marketer, Niani was noted as one of Business Insiders’ 30 most creative people in advertising under 30.

Connect with Niani on LinkedIn and IG

It’s a fact, representation across industries is important and there is a need for more black engineers! It’s also a fact that there are Black engineers currently paving the way to open doors to make room for this to happen. One of those engineers is change-maker, Arylee McSweaney, Etsy’s Director of Engineering, Product Infrastructure.

When Arylee arrived from Belize she had many goals, the biggest being positively making an impact. Arylee is living this goal; she has created programs that optimize quality assurance, automated processes, and created Etsy’s black employee resource group, BridgE. 

Press play to hear more of Arylee’s journey to creating an impact that will flourish for years to come.

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About Arylee McSweaney

Arylee is Etsy’s Director of Engineering, Product Infrastructure. She works with her group to strategically enable the acceleration of product development in alignment with business goals. Arylee is passionate about diversifying tech which led to her founding Etsy’s BridgE, Employee Resource Group for Blacks and African Americans. An experienced strategic thinker with an MBA in Information Systems, Arylee is skilled in leadership, team building, influencing without authority, and management. She has worked in the QA industry for over five years and recently completed a career transition in engineering leadership.  As the founder of Etsy's BridgE ERG, Increasing the representation of Blacks and people of color in tech is important to Arylee because it fosters community, creates a welcoming environment, and increases an organization's ability to innovate.

Listeners feel free to connect with Arylee on LinkedIn

Merlyn Oliver is the Founder of Merlyn Melesia Productions, Co-founder of Brooklyn Mavens, a creative outlet that highlights everything Brooklyn, brand strategist, social influencer, creative director, and entrepreneur. Sis is booked, blessed, and busy!

Her passion for visual creations and making things come to life lead to her being the Social Media Community Manager for notable brands such as IMAN Cosmetics, Jay Manuel Beauty, Revlon, and produce 300 guest weddings for top New York Luxury Event Design Company, Ovando across the Tri-State area, The Hamptons, and Miami.

Her enthusiasm to see others win in life is what lead her to Lets ManiFeast podcast. Press play to learn how she started and how things are going for this millennial creative powerhouse.

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About Merlyn Oliver

Jamaican native, Merlyn Oliver, is a true believer that everyone has a purpose in life and shouldn’t be discouraged to discover and own whatever it is. The Penn State alum started her career in telecommunications and then quickly transitioned to the social world of fashion/beauty. Now a full-time creative, Merlyn enjoys consulting and building brands for entrepreneurs.

Connect with Merlyn on IG: @MerlynMelesia

While it's understood that everyone's career path will not be the same and may sometimes be filled with a few bumps in the road, having a few solid gems to hold on can make the journey easier. Today's guest, Candace Ash, joins to share more about her mission to teach people who are underemployed or distressfully employed, how to increase compensation, advance their careers, and improve self-confidence. Grab a note pad and pen or open your mobile/laptop memo pad and begin taking notes when you hit play.

After listening, be sure to leave a review, share this podcast with your network, and follow ManiFeast.

About Candace

Candace Ash has 25 years of experience in Human Resources and senior executive leadership. She is a former Associate Administrator and Chief Operations Officer (COO) of two multi-million dollar organizations and committed to serving others in their personal and professional development.

Candace is a dog mom of three, married to a New Yorker (go Yankees!), and an avid player of Words with Friends. Candace has an Associate of Science degree in Sociology, a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Marketing, and an MBA with an emphasis in global management.

Connect with Candace on LinkedIn and Instagram

The 2020 pandemic caused many to explore their passion projects and pursue entrepreneurial dreams. Today's guest, Marshay Monet, was among this brave group, and in this episode of Lets ManiFeast, she shares how a prophetic word led to creating her own skincare line, Glow Skin Deep Cosmetics where she sells her hand-crafted glow serum. 

Press play and learn more about Marshay's glow up.

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About Marshay Monet

Marshay Monet is an entrepreneur and serves as the executive assistant and day to day manager for BASSic Black Entertainment, LLC. Through the connections she has made over the past 2 years, Marshay has had the opportunity to Tour Manage Ella Mai’s Boo’d Up World Tour and Ella Mai’s Lead Support for Ariana Grande’s Sweetener Tour in Europe. 

Marshay has managed the bands for the Super Bowl LIV Halftime show with Shakira and JLO, Eminem’s surprise 2020 Oscars Performance, 2019 BET Awards, and much more. When she is not creating skincare products or on the road touring she is at home reading a book by an African American author.

Connect with Marshay on Instagram and purchase your glow serum here.

While many may prefer turning the pages of a book, audiobooks are increasing in popularity due to the convenience of being able to multitask as you listen. Painting a picture vocally—as opposed to just reading the words—is a gift that today's guests, Wesleigh Siobhan and Sean Crisden, possess having narrated more than 20 books collectively. During today's episode of Lets ManiFeast, Wesleigh and Sean share their preferences in a spirited game of "This or That", the journey that led to becoming audiobook narrators as well as the misconceptions and challenges of being black narrators.

Press play and learn why Wesleigh and Sean are among the favorites of both authors and audiobook listeners.

After listening, be sure to leave a review, share this podcast with your network, and follow ManiFeast.

About Wesleigh Siobhan

Wesleigh Siobhan has fallen in love with narrating romance from all subgenres, from inspirational and faith-based to the fun and sexy romantic comedy/contemporary romance to the spicy erotic romance or erotica novel. Based in New York City, one of the sexiest cities on the planet, Wesleigh has a love for adventure, trying new dessert recipes, and all things that inspire creativity and imagination.

Connect with Wesleigh on Instagram and Twitter.

About Sean Crisden

Sean Crisden has been a professional voice artist since 2006 but his history extends further than that. As a child, he was known as “Radio Man” for the articulate, listenable qualities within his voice. He doesn’t know any other kid who took quite so much pleasure in standing up and reading out loud “Tikki Tikki Tembo” or “Bunnicula” for their class. This lead to an early pursuit of performing and Sean has performed for nearly a decade with the prog-rock band Divided Sky as vocalist and guitar player. He has expanded his abilities into on-camera acting, appearing in numerous commercials and films including M. Night Shyamalan’s “The Last Airbender”. He was also fortunate to act in and choreograph the combat sequences in “Le Meduse Rouge”. When he isn't narrating, Sean trains in several martial arts to stay in excellent physical shape despite his love for apple pie. 

Connect with Sean on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and the web.

If you are looking for a good book series to end the year with, you are in the perfect place. This week concludes the 3 part series of Black romance authors you should know with Adult Contemporary Author (and series queen), Love Belvin. Love is the author of "Love's Improbable Possibility," "Wayward Love", “Love Unaccounted”, “Sadik” and her latest highly-anticipated series “Muted Hopelessness”. Love is also the co-author of the "Connecticut Kings" series with author bestie, Christina C Jones (hop back to part 1 of the series to hear more from Christina!).

In today's episode, Love shares some of the misunderstandings about being a Black romance author, writing steamy sex scenes, and what she is manifesting. Press play and step into LB's Universe.

After listening, be sure to leave a review, share this podcast with your network, and follow ManiFeast.

About Love Belvin

Love Belvin is a native of the Tri-State area and now lives in the Delaware Valley. She's an avid reader and enjoys dinner parties with her closest girlfriends. While she enjoys many things, nothing excites her more than curling up with a glass of wine and a good romance novel.

Connect with Love on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

You can read the series in order, shop for book merch, and sign up for the Team Love newsletter here

We're still inside and as the holidays get closer, it's a good time to start a new book. For part 2/3 of the Black romance authors you should know series, Kim is joined by best-selling Black romance author, Alexandria House, who has a dope collection of books to choose your holiday read from.

During this episode, Alexandria shares how her parents describe her work, who some of her favorite Black authors are, what the Strickland sisters are up to and why Big South and Neil McClain were her favorite characters to write.

It's time to press play to hear more!

After listening, be sure to leave a review, share this podcast with your network, and follow ManiFeast.

About Alexandria House

A true southern girl, Alexandria House has an affinity for a good banana pudding, Neo-Soul music, and tall black men in suits. When this music-loving fashionista is not shopping, she's writing steamy stories about real black love.

Connect with Alexandria on Twitter (@mzalexhouse), Instagram (@msalexhouse), and Facebook (Author Alexandria House). Purchase books, book merch, and more here.

The global pandemic has changed the world as we know it with many at-home reaching for new hobbies and good stories to escape their realities. With this in mind, Kim kicks off this 3-part interview series with one of her favorite best-selling Black romance novelists, Christina C. Jones, affectionately known as CCJ, to discuss how she stumbled into writing, co-writing a series with author bestie, Love Belvin, and her advice for those on the fence about becoming an author. 

Press play and have your notebook ready to take notes!

After listening, be sure to leave a review, share this podcast with your network, and follow ManiFeast.

About Christina C Jones

Christina is a digital media creator and phenomenal storyteller who has penned almost 30 books. Her fans love how she seamlessly weaves the complexities of modern life into captivating tales of black romance. As an author, Christina’s work has been featured in various media outlets such as Oprahmag online, Shondaland, and Book Riot, and she is the winner of numerous community awards.

In addition to her full-time writing career, she cofounded Girl, Have You Read – a popular digital platform that amplifies black romance authors and their stories.

A former graphic designer, Christina has a passion for making things beautiful and can usually be found crafting and cooking in her spare time.

She currently lives in Arkansas with her husband and their two children.

Website: Being Mrs. Jones

Connect with Christina:

On Twitter 

On Facebook 

On Amazon Author Page