Multiracial Family Man

Ep. 42: Steven F. Riley is the creator and founder of MixedRaceStudies.org, which since 2009, is the world's most comprehensive non-commercial website providing a gateway to interdisciplinary English language scholarship about the relevant issues surrounding the topic of multiracialism. This site has been called by a preeminent scholar, "the most comprehensive and objective clearinghouse for scholarly publications related to critical mixed-race theory" and by an up and coming scholar “probably the singularly most valuable tool in my work.”

At present, MixedRaceStudies.org contains nearly 8,900 posts which consists of links to 5,100+ articles; 1,200+ books; nearly 600 dissertation, papers and reports; nearly 300 multimedia items; more than 400 excerpts and quotes, and more than 100 course offerings. Currently, MixedRaceStudies.org receives over 2,000 visitors each day and during a monthly period, more than 47,000 unique visitors and 1½ million page views.

Over the past five years Riley has been interviewed on several podcasts, presented and participated at several conferences and festivals including both Critical Mixed Race Studies conferences. Also, he was quoted in NBC News's The Grio (November 2012) and has a recent co-authored article with blogger Glenn Robinson in the Asian American Literary Review Special Issue on Mixed-Race (Fall 2013). Other recent activities include introducing a panel for the 3rd Annual: What Are You? – A Discussion about Mixed Heritage at Brooklyn Historical Society and a quote in Yaba Blay's (1)ne Drop: Shifting the Lens on Race (Philadelphia: BLACKprint Press, 2013).

Readers can follow MixedRaceStudies.org on Twitter at @mixed_race.

For more on host, Alex Barnett, please check out his website: www.alexbarnettcomic.com or visit him on Facebook (www.facebook.com/alexbarnettcomic) or on Twitter at @barnettcomic

To subscribe to the Multiracial Family Man, please click here: MULTIRACIAL FAMILY MAN PODCAST

Intro and Outro Music is Funkorama by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons - By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Ep. 41: April Dinwoodie (http://www.aprildinwoodie.com/)is a nationally recognized thought leader on adoption and foster care. As Chief Executive of the Donaldson Adoption Institute (DAI)(http://adoptioninstitute.org/), April is committed to improving laws, policies and practices through sound research, education and advocacy. She is also a co-founder and Vice President of the Board of Fostering Change for Children, a progressive nonprofit that helps drive innovation in the child welfare system.

Before joining DAI, April created a specialized mentoring program called “Adoptment,” in which adults who were adopted and/or spent time in foster care serve as mentors to youth in care. As a trans-racially adopted person, April shares her experiences at workshops and conferences to help potential adoptive parents and professionals understand both the beauty and complexity of adopting children of another race.

Listen as Alex and April discuss the complex and multilayered issue of transracial adoption, especially as it relates to multiracial people.

For more on host, Alex Barnett, please check out his website: www.alexbarnettcomic.com or visit him on Facebook (www.facebook.com/alexbarnettcomic) or on Twitter at @barnettcomic

To subscribe to the Multiracial Family Man, please click here: MULTIRACIAL FAMILY MAN PODCAST

Intro and Outro Music is Funkorama by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons - By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Ep. 40: Humorist, motivational speaker, TV & radio personality, actress, author, blogger and entrepreneur are all titles fitting for Karith Foster (http://www.karith.com/). She is one of the hottest comics to come out of NewYork City according to both The Hollywood Reporter and Backstage Magazine who named her one of the “Top 10 Comics to Watch.” She has made a name for herself as national headliner for being a clean, funny African-American comedian. Karith travels nationally and abroad bringing humor and inspiration to all of her audiences. Karith currently can be seen in the movie Can We Take a Joke (http://www.canwetakeajoke.com/).

For her press kit, please go to: http://www.karith.com/uploads/7/5/8/7/7587287/new_foster_media_kit.pdf

Karith, who is a Black woman married to a White, Australian man and mother to two biracial daughters, is also a Diversity Engagement Specialist who speaks at colleges and corporate events where she uses her disarming wit and a keen understanding of our shared experiences, to engage her listeners in matters ranging from diversity and bullying to intense life changes and everyday relationships. Drawing from her extensive travels and experience in the corporate and entertainment worlds, Karith uses humor to accentuate the positive and inspire her audience.

And, for the link to the documentary "White People" that Karith mentioned, please go to: https://youtu.be/_zjj1PmJcRM

For more on host, Alex Barnett, please check out his website: www.alexbarnettcomic.com or visit him on Facebook (www.facebook.com/alexbarnettcomic) or on Twitter at @barnettcomic

To subscribe to the Multiracial Family Man, please click here: MULTIRACIAL FAMILY MAN PODCAST

Intro and Outro Music is Funkorama by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons - By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Ep. 39: Kayci Ortiz is a biracial (Black/White) young woman from New Jersey and recent Harvard graduate. She also is a Board Member of Project RACE and former President of Project RACE Teen. She is an accomplished academic, who was selected as a 2006 Jack Kent Cooke Young Scholar. She has won several national essay contests. She was awarded the 2009 Princeton Prize in Race Relations, which was created to identify and commend young people who are working to increase understanding and mutual respect among all races.

As President of Project RACE Teen, Kayci held critical bone marrow donor drives, started a Teen Project RACE panel, created a Facebook page for teens, and was a wonderful asset for Project RACE. She served as president until 2010 when she began college at Harvard University. She has continued her work with Project RACE as a Board Member.

For more on Kayci or to contact her, please visit her at: @ohkray https://twitter.com/ohkray

For more on host, Alex Barnett, please check out his website: www.alexbarnettcomic.com or visit him on Facebook (www.facebook.com/alexbarnettcomic) or on Twitter at @barnettcomic

To subscribe to the Multiracial Family Man, please click here: MULTIRACIAL FAMILY MAN PODCAST

Intro and Outro Music is Funkorama by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons - By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Ep. 38: Andrea Boxall is a biracial (Black/White) woman from England. A native of Birmingham, she now lives in London. A daughter of a Black, Afro-Caribbean Jamaican-English mother and a White English native father, Andrea currently works as a Recruitment Officer for Frontline (http://www.thefrontline.org.uk/) to help transform the lives of vulnerable children by recruiting and developing outstanding individuals to be leaders in social work and broader society.

Listen as Andrea describes her own experiences a multiracial person in in the United Kingdom. Also, listen as she talks about finding common cause at the most recent Women of the World Festival (http://wow.southbankcentre.co.uk/)

For more on Andrea or to contact her, please visit her at: @bodelights https://twitter.com/bodelights

Or visit with her on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/bodelights/

For more on host, Alex Barnett, please check out his website: www.alexbarnettcomic.com or visit him on Facebook (www.facebook.com/alexbarnettcomic) or on Twitter at @barnettcomic

To subscribe to the Multiracial Family Man, please click here: MULTIRACIAL FAMILY MAN PODCAST

Intro and Outro Music is Funkorama by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons - By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Ep. 37: Lee & Low Books (https://www.leeandlow.com/) is the largest multicultural children's book publisher in the country. They also are one of the few minority-owned publishing companies in the United States, as well as a throwback to what many publishers used to be: independent, generational businesses in which the people running the company have a personal stake in its success.

On this episode of the podcast, I speak with Hannah Ehrlich, Director of Marketing and Publicity, for Lee & Low Books about the company's simple and elegant mission: to publish contemporary diverse stories that all children can enjoy. In addition, listen as Hannah describes how Lee & Low is committed to meeting the needs of educators by providing award-winning, diverse books for today's classrooms, along with the resources educators need to make meaningful use of each book.

For more on host, Alex Barnett, please check out his website: www.alexbarnettcomic.com or visit him on Facebook (www.facebook.com/alexbarnettcomic) or on Twitter at @barnettcomic

To subscribe to the Multiracial Family Man, please click here: MULTIRACIAL FAMILY MAN PODCAST

Intro and Outro Music is Funkorama by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons - By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Ep. 36: Shannon Luders-Manuel is a writer who wrote her masters thesis on the rhetorical implications of the "tragic mulatta" genre. She is currently working on a memoir, which was featured at the 2014 Mixed Remixed Festival (the nation's premiere cultural arts festival celebrating stories of the Mixed experience, multiracial and multicultural families and individuals through films, books and performance), about taking care of her father at the end of life and how her experiences with him growing up helped shape her identity.

Shannon has written about recent events surrounding relations between Black America and the Police and events relating to Black Lives Matter, including her recent article on the website For Harriet, which you can see here: http://www.forharriet.com/2015/08/what-it-means-to-be-mixed-race-during.html#axzz3pSEtw3xk. That article has gone "viral" and has led dozens of biracial strangers to thank Shannon for speaking their truths.

For more on Shannon, please visit her at: https://shannonludersmanuel.wordpress.com/

For more on host, Alex Barnett, please check out his website: www.alexbarnettcomic.com or visit him on Facebook (www.facebook.com/alexbarnettcomic) or on Twitter at @barnettcomic

To subscribe to the Multiracial Family Man, please click here: MULTIRACIAL FAMILY MAN PODCAST

Intro and Outro Music is Funkorama by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons - By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Ep. 35: Seventeen years ago, Michelle Breyer channeled her lifelong struggle with her curly hair into NaturallyCurly.com – a hobby she worked on in her spare time with two curly friends. NaturallyCurly blossomed from a 1998 hobby into a full-blown business including 5 different brands under the TextureMedia brand name today. TextureMedia was acquired in August 2015 by Ultra/Standard, an industry leader in multicultural hair care and beauty distribution, and Michelle is actively involved leading Business Development for the company. What started as a sideline to provide a place for curly girls like herself to get support and education has grown into TextureMedia (http://www.texturemediallc.com/), the largest social platform for hair. Michelle has shared her message of empowerment with other female entrepreneurs, inspiring them to channel their own passions into successful careers. And whether it be taking pictures of a fellow curly on a street or responding to an email from a young girl struggling with her hair, Michelle has worked to spread a message of curl pride and self-acceptance to everyone she meets.

Listen, as Michelle describes her own personal struggles with her textured hair and how that led her inexorably to create an online community and brand, visited by millions each month, that provides hair care tips and support for consumers and hair care professionals alike, as well as product reviews, merchandise offers, and a safe space for those looking to provide or obtain important information about care and management of textured hair.

For more on host, Alex Barnett, please check out his website: www.alexbarnettcomic.com or visit him on Facebook (www.facebook.com/alexbarnettcomic) or on Twitter at @barnettcomic

To subscribe to the Multiracial Family Man, please click here: MULTIRACIAL FAMILY MAN PODCAST

Intro and Outro Music is Funkorama by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons - By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Ep. 34: Keesha Beckford is a former dancer, who turned to writing as her creative outlet when she became a mom. It has turned into a successful second career as the creator and writer behind Mom's New Stage, a blog about Keesha's own multiracial family, featuring herself (an African-American woman), her husband (a White man), and their two terrific kids (a biracial boy and girl who are starting to experience and understand the complex issues of race and racism). Check it out here: http://www.momsnewstage.com/p/about.html

Listen, as Keesha describes her journey from Queen, New York to Princeton University to dance as a profession to becoming a mom and the journey that took her and her family from New York to Charlotte, North Carolina, to Chicago, where they are now the Obamas' neighbors.

For more on host, Alex Barnett, please check out his website: www.alexbarnettcomic.com or visit him on Facebook (www.facebook.com/alexbarnettcomic) or on Twitter at @barnettcomic

To subscribe to the Multiracial Family Man, please click here: MULTIRACIAL FAMILY MAN PODCAST

Intro and Outro Music is Funkorama by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons - By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Ep. 33: Leighann Lord is a very funny lady (http://www.veryfunnylady.com/). A comic from New York, with West Indian roots, she's also a writer and the author of Dict Jokes, a book about what the World would be like if words meant what they sounded like. (https://squareup.com/market/veryfunnylady/leighann-lord-s-dict-jokes-volume-one?square_lead=item_embed). She's also the cohost of StarTalk with Neil deGrasse Tyson (http://www.veryfunnylady.com/startalk). And, Leighann, who is Black, used to be in an interracial marriage.

Listen as Leighann talks with Alex about her race and interracial relationships, her career in comedy, and what it's like to cohost a show with the World's most famous astrophysicist.

For more on host, Alex Barnett, please check out his website: www.alexbarnettcomic.com or visit him on Facebook (www.facebook.com/alexbarnettcomic) or on Twitter at @barnettcomic

To subscribe to the Multiracial Family Man, please click here: MULTIRACIAL FAMILY MAN PODCAST

Intro and Outro Music is Funkorama by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons - By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/