Revision Path

Serial entrepreneur Kevin Johnson has several years of experience leading his multimillion-dollar marketing and communications company Johnson Media Inc., and has appeared on ABC's Good Morning America, CBS, CNN, Oprah Radio, and in Forbes, The New York Times, Fast Company, and The Wall Street Journal. On top of all this, Kevin is an accomplished jazz pianist and speaks fluent Spanish. Quite the resume!

Kevin and I talked about when we first met back in 1999, how he built Johnson Media, and about his new book The Entrepreneur Mind. Can you believe that after fortysomething episodes I'm finally featuring someone from my alma mater?

You're in for a really great conversation this week. I talked with the venerable Husani Oakley -- creative technologist, technical director...the titles go on and on. He's worked with some of the biggest agencies in the world like Wieden + Kennedy, Euro RSCG, and EVB, and he's also had his own firm called Oakley + Partners.

We talked about Husani's start with entrepreneurship, his spark for coding and creating, and what's coming up for him in the future. Husani is a kick-ass force in this industry, and if you don't know his name by now...well now you know.

Enjoy!

I'm extremely excited to share this week's interview with you! I had the chance to talk with Jacinda Walker, a design strategist in Columbus, OH. Jacinda is a tireless champion for diversity in all fields of the arts, especially design.

We spoke about her graduate research on Black and Latino students, her unique take on diversity in the design community, and about our upcoming panel at WMC Fest 5! Jacinda's dedication to lifelong learning is truly inspiring. Grab a cup of coffee, settle in, and enjoy this great conversation!

We're kicking off this month with an interview with Reggie Weaver, a young Ohio-based graphic designer and illustrator. Reggie and I talked about how he got his spark for design and illustration, not to mention what he learned from his first design gig.

We also spoke about his work with the Diversity Task Force at the Columbus College of Art and Design and how he helps promote creativity, inclusion and diversity within the LGBTQIA community.

I'm ending out July with a truly great interview with Jon Daniel, an independent creative director in London.

Jon is a classically trained designer who has over 25 years of design experience with big brands like IBM, NHS Careers, Philips, and Virgin Direct. He's also a regular columnist for Design Week, a leading UK publication for designers.

Jon and I talked about how his African-Caribbean heritage influences his work, how design culture in the UK differs from here in the US, and his exhibit Afro Supa Hero.

Albert Whitley is a senior art director at SapientNitro and the current vice-president of AIGA Atlanta.

During our conversation, Albert dropped a lot of pearls of wisdom about the design industry. No doubt that comes from his many years of work under some of the greats like Bill Grant of Grant Design Collaborative and Cynthia Jones of Jones Worley. We even touched on AIGA and diversity in the graphic design industry.

Hear what Albert has to say in this week's interview!

This week I talked with Jeffrey Manu, a tech entrepreneur in Accra, Ghana.

Jeffrey created one of Africa's first iPhone apps, and is dean of the Goshen Institute and founder of the design firm Lightcreative. Whoa! On top of that, he also taught me how to read a 300-page book in just two hours. Impressive!

Learn more about Jeffrey in this week's interview!

Abou Kone hails from Côte d’Ivoire, and is a self-described "mercenary-in-chief". (No, not the real kind!)

Abou is a beast when it comes to coding. Front-end development with JS/jQuery is his specialty, and he's recently gotten into developing mobile apps.

We talked about how Abou first got his spark for the web as a teenager in Dakar, his work with Coders4Africa, and why Africa will not miss the digital revolution. Enjoy!

We're finishing up HBCU Month by talking with the inspiring and unstoppable Glennette Clark.

She's an experienced UX designer, and has founded two events: UXCamp DC and Mobile UXCamp DC. The Grio named her one of the top 10 Blacks in technology to look out for in 2013. She's presented at SXSW and is currently pursuing her MBA in Strategic Design.

Learn more about what Glennette's next move is in this week's interview!

HBCU Month continues with an interview with senior UX designer Eric Johnson, who I first heard about from Jole Simmons.

Eric's worked for some big companies like Walmart, AOL, and Adobe, and he shared how his passion for design started at an early age. He dropped quite a few gems in this interview, so I think this is one you'll definitely want to take notes on while listening!