Perspectives is the show where we talk about our differences only to learn more about the things that we have in common. Today, we have a very special guest—Lawanna Bradford, a savvy investor, strategic planner, and powerhouse in financial management. As the COO of The Bradford Group, she has spent decades helping individuals and businesses navigate the world of finance, real estate, and strategic growth. From innovative lending solutions to wealth-building strategies, Lawanna has a wealth of knowledge to share. She’s also a strong advocate for women in finance and believes in empowering people to achieve financial freedom. In this conversation, we’ll dive into her investment philosophy, strategies for success, and how she stays ahead of market trends. Get ready for a masterclass in smart investing with Lawanna Bradford.

We begin Black History Month with conversations with two amazing Black Americans. First, I talk with Angelo Antonio Ellerbee. Ellerbee is a pioneer in the entertainment industry and has made an indelible impact on history globally as well as our culture. His career spans over five decades, during which he has represented a diverse array of clients, including Michael Jackson, Mary J. Blige, Lionel Richie, and DMX. He's penned a deeply personal memoir, "Before I Let You Go," and dedicated it to marginalized groups including the LGBTQIA+ community, survivors of domestic violence and others. Next we chat with Wren T. Brown, an actor, producer, director and founder and producing artistic director of Ebony Repertory Theatre, LA's only African American Professional theatre company. His book, "The Family Business" shares stories and many never-before-seen images from his family's four generations and more than 100-years in the arts and entertainment industry. His focus is on the Black artist in American culture.

Seven years ago, the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, headquartered in Battle Creek, Michigan established a National Day of Racial Healing. It's always the Tuesday following the MLK Holiday and was created as an opportunity for all Americans to consider having an important, and sometimes uncomfortable conversation on racial healing. My guest is La June Montgomery Tabron, President and CEO of the foundation who has written a couple of important books on this topic. One is written for adults, "How We Heal" and she's also penned a companion book for children on the same topic called "Our Differences Make Us Stronger." Both are available everywhere books are sold.

Fathers Incorporated is currently recruiting fathers for their Gentle Warriors Academy fatherhood program where they are striving for the largest graduation to date - 100 fathers who have completed a fatherhood-centered curriculum that will begin taking place two days a week for two hours on topics such as, but not limited to conflict resolution, visioning, emotional wellness, integrity, responsibility, communication, temperament, masculinity and more. My guests on the show are Project Director Javin Foreman and recent graduate Troy Sledge.

We are in the season where college-bound students are learning about early or delayed admission to their preferred schools. They are working on those college essays and wondering if they have enough community service to balance their academics to make an "ideal" student for their ideal college of choice. Level All is an organization that is working to level the playing field when it comes to what students and families may not know about the college admissions process. They call it the hidden curriculum. My guests on the program are Level All co-founder and CEO Kevin Kenney and his College Director, Afiya Johnson-Thornton. Level All provides its students with digestible nuggets of information about the admissions process.

Two years have passed since ChatGPT was launched, and while many industries are still getting used to the idea, the legal field is taking full advantage. Reviewing legal evidence to find a “smoking gun” can be a major time commitment for legal professionals. But with new AI products, lawyers, paralegals, and district attorneys are getting work done faster than ever before. On the show is Everlaw Chief Legal Officer, Gloria Lee. She says many of us have an image in our minds of legal teams in a backroom, with stacks of bankers’ boxes filled with documents in them – perhaps in a Suits episode, or the Pelican Brief – but today, legal teams are using generative AI to tame those mountains of digital data. In an era driven by AI and innovation, legal professionals are working alongside this technology, tapping it like a new Smart Intern, to help lay the groundwork for cases more efficiently.

Are you ready to get a jump start on your mental health this holiday season? The holidays are supposed to be the most joyous time of the year, but this is not always the case, especially for those who suffer from a mental illness. According to National Alliance on Mental Illness study 64% of people with mental illness report holidays make their conditions worse. Depression. Anxiety. Trauma. Addiction. Do the holidays trigger these areas for you? It doesn’t have to be like this. There is a road to healing that can bring you inner peace, even during the holidays. And the key lies not in your mind, but in your soul. In SOUL SETTING: Listen to Your Soul Instead of Your Mind, Levy draws on his personal experience with depression, trauma, suicidal ideation, addiction, and recovery to guide you toward a better way to deal with conflict. He breaks down complex and confusing concepts and shows you how to apply a new way of being to your life. Healing is possible. After a lifetime of suffering, Levy is now free of the struggles he had with mental illness. In Soul Setting, he shows you how to be free of the drama and demons that plague your life. LEVY is a father, husband, grandfather, entrepreneur, and real estate developer in Ontario. For the last 15 years he has lived free of the demons that were ruining his life—depression, anxiety, addiction, and suicidal thoughts. Soul Setting is his first book.

Melissa Davey, age 74, retired from a lengthy corporate career in 2016 to pursue her second act and dream of becoming a filmmaker. At age 65, after a day on the set with the famous Director M. Night Shyamalan, she decided to take a risk and left her career to jump into the unknown. Pursuing her dream of becoming a filmmaker became a reality in late 2018 when Melissa completed her first film, Beyond Sixty, a feature length documentary about women over the age of sixty. During 2019 Melissa’s film was accepted by and screened at 8 film festivals throughout the United States and Canada, winning awards and confirming that it is never too late to learn something new. Melissa recently completed her second documentary, Climbing into Life, the story of Dierdre Wolownick who is the mother of Alex Honnold (Free Solo). The film has been accepted into thirteen film festivals so far and won has won several awards so far.

Amidst the political rhetoric of getting “tough on crime,” RESTORATIVE JUSTICE AND LIVED RELIGION opens thoughtful discussions of a way to reduce crime by making communities safer and more supportive. Many of us associate “restorative justice” with international truth and reconciliation commissions spurred by human rights atrocities such as apartheid. In the US, it typically refers to small-scale efforts that divert alleged wrongdoers from the standard path of time behind bars. Studies of such initiatives affirm their value for reducing recidivism—by as much as 44 percent when compared with prison—and improving perceptions of fairness and satisfaction with the justice process among both offenders and victims. Yet, making our criminal punishment system feel “kinder and gentler” isn’t enough. In RESTORATIVE JUSTICE AND LIVED RELIGION: Transforming Mass Incarceration in Chicago, Jason A. Springs, Professor of Religion, Ethics, and Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame, shows how restorative justice has the potential to overcome the racism embedded in the American justice system’s culture of retribution and violence. To make the case for restorative justice’s transformative power, the author calls for a holistic approach to concrete, purposeful practices that foster moral and spiritual forms of association between people.

Tel Aviv University has written a moving and captivating book about the devastating power of words. OCCUPIED WORDS: What the Holocaust Did to Yiddish offers insights into the phenomenon of Khurbn Yiddish—the Yiddish of the Holocaust—and what it says about the role of language in genocide and survival.

Pollin-Galay explores how a new strain of Yiddish emerged out of the need among Jews to describe an unprecedented reality—the brutality, imprisonment, and dehumanization within the ghettos and death camps of Nazi occupation—that defied not only comprehension but also normal, prewar forms of conversation.

Pollin-Galay seeks to understand why people chose Yiddish lexicography as a means of witnessing the Holocaust. Ultimately, Occupied Words speaks to broader debates about cultural genocide, asking how we might rethink the concept of genocide through the framework of language.