Perspectives with Condace Pressley

After starting his career as a teacher and later building a career as a large-scale franchise operator, Mike Campagnolo is returning to his roots in education this time bringing a Spanish immersion early childhood program to Atlanta. Next month, Tierra Encantada will open its first Georgia center at 1655 Memorial Drive SE in Kirkwood, serving children from infancy through pre-K. It’s the first of 12 centers Mike plans to open across metro Atlanta over the next five years, with a second location planned for Smyrna next year. What makes Tierra Encantada different is that Spanish isn’t treated as a class or periodic enrichment activity. Children spend their entire day immersed in the language, with 100% of classroom instruction conducted in Spanish, alongside play-based learning and scratch-made, globally inspired meals.

Jasmine Guillory is a household name in the rom-com world. Author of nine books for adults including the New York Times bestselling The Wedding Date, The Proposal, and Flirting Lessons, she’s making her YA debut this fall with IT’S ONLY DANCING. This new book addresses body image issues, socioeconomic status, perfectionism, coming- of-age, first loves, and so much more. It's the summer before her senior year of high school and Kat planned to spend it reading good books, working on her college applications, and enjoying her independence. Instead, she's stuck for an entire month with her family at a camp in the desert in Southern California. IT’S ONLY DANCING is a retelling of the 80s classic Dirty Dancing. The themes of the movie are still incredibly relevant to today’s teens. Jasmine Guillory takes all the dancing fun of the original movie and brings it into modern times with a hip hop instructor and a recovering ballet dancer. Rest assured, the lift at the end with Kat and Jordan is just as cathartic as it is in the original movie.

Across the country, nonprofit organizations are being asked to do more ... serve more families, meet more needs and solve increasingly complex problems often with fewer resources. So where does the money come from to continue that work? The T.D. Jakes Foundation is putting some real dollars behind the search for solutions. Its inaugural T7 Summit comes to Atlanta November 12th through the 14th, bringing together nonprofit leaders, innovators, funders and changemakers and offering $1.5 million in grant funding. I spoke with Foundation President and CEO Kelley Cornish about why this moment calls for a different approach to investing in our communities.

Grief is something nearly all of us will experience, but there is no single roadmap for how we move through it. And sometimes grief is about more than the loss of someone we love. It can be the loss of the life we expected, the career we built, a relationship, our sense of security, even the person we thought we were. My guest today knows something about both loss and rebuilding. Michelle Bryant Johnson is an Atlanta-based mindset expert and executive coach who spent more than 25 years working in leadership development, organizational culture and human resources. But her understanding of resilience became deeply personal when her husband, Judge Horace J. Johnson Jr., died from COVID-19 in 2020. Out of her own journey through grief, Michelle developed a framework called SPARK. Today, she works with people who are navigating loss, chronic stress, self-doubt and major life transitions. Today we discuss grief, resilience, the particular weight of chronic stress in the Black community, and what it really means to move from simply surviving to intentionally living.

Leadership is usually measured by what happens around us the performance of a team, the success of an organization, the decisions we make and the results we deliver. But what if effective leadership actually begins somewhere much closer to home with how well we lead ourselves? My guest today is Michelle Clarkson, an Executive Leadership Strategist, professional speaker, and founder and CEO of Meaningful Moments of Power. She spent more than 25 years in corporate leadership, including two decades with Honeywell, leading global teams and working in customer experience, continuous improvement and organizational transformation.

Today, she helps professionals and organizations strengthen what she calls the human side of leadership. Her philosophy is called “Permission Granted: Lead Yourself First.”

For families of children and young adults with communication and developmental needs, getting the right therapy can make an enormous difference. But getting access to that therapy and being able to afford it can be another matter entirely. Now, the Chaka Khan Foundation is partnering with Atlanta nonprofit Dynamic Cares to help close that gap. A $10,000 grant will provide 100 free therapy and educational sessions for children, young adults and families who might otherwise go without needed services. Joining us to talk about the need and the difference they hope this partnership will make are Lisa Elzy Watson, co-director of the Chaka Khan Foundation, and Darius Thomas, founder and CEO of Dynamic Cares and a licensed speech-language pathologist

September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, and this afternoon we're talking about something too many men would rather not talk about—their prostate health. But for Black men especially, that conversation could be lifesaving. Joining me is Dr. Xavier Bryant, CFO and Managing Partner of Atlanta to Anywhere Community Events & Screenings, or A²CES. Dr. Bryant, welcome.

What did you feed your mind this morning? We spend a lot of time thinking about what we put into our bodies but far less time thinking about what we allow into our minds. My guest today says the thoughts we choose can shape our mood, our relationships and even the way we move through life. Joann Kisler is a spiritual life coach and author of thought menu, a new book offering 365 daily messages designed to help us think more intentionally and live more positively.

Having health insurance is supposed to give us some peace of mind. But for millions of Americans, being insured does not necessarily mean they can afford to get sick. New data show nearly half of working-age adults struggle to afford needed healthcare and here in Georgia, more than one in three say they have skipped care because of the cost. Camille Busette of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation joins us to talk about why so many Americans are being priced out of care, and a new campaign called One Nation, Overcharged.

Housing is one of the biggest expenses facing American families and in metro Atlanta, finding a home you can afford has become increasingly difficult. Now, new federal legislation is being called the most significant housing bill in decades. But will it lead to more homes and lower costs? We are talking with Atlanta architect and housing technology expert Patrick Chopson about what the 21st century road to housing act could mean for Atlanta.