SoundBalming with Dr. LaMarr Darnell Shields

It turns out that dating and job searching aren’t all that different. One expert shares her best advice for flirting, handling rejection and avoiding being too picky.

I recently conducted an interview with my friend Ericka Jackson, who is a witty, fun, energetic all around beautiful human being, and also an incredible dating coach. She runs https://ilovethechase.com/, and teaches workshops all over the world on how to meet people. She connects single, busy professionals and entrepreneurs through exclusive, personalized matchmaking services and customized, private matchmaking events. Unlike most Matchmaker, Ericka’s approach is simple, easy, and human. I learned that Ericka’s advice for finding love can also work for your job search. I must admit, she changed my perspective on how social interactions work. Listen to our podcast, or take a look at an excerpt below. And I wish you the best of luck finding whatever kind of match you’re looking for.

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Across the country, thousands of young people are without permanent homes. Service providers and policy makers have not known how many of these young people exist or how to meet their needs. That picture is changing due to the work of a Rebeka Beach, Director at Project Connect.
Founded in 1996, Project Connect provides advocacy paired with specialized educational services and lifestyle enrichment opportunities for children who have neither a voice nor a choice, in being homeless. Cincinnati Public Schools serves about 1,700 students whose families are homeless.


We caught up with Rebeka at the National Youth At Risk Conference in Savannah, Georgia to talk about her work with homeless youth,  loss, poverty, and educational challenges.  And how, despite those setbacks, many of the youth she services express optimism and hope for their future.

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It’s been one week since federal authorities announced that 50 people — including actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman — participated in a massive scam focused on getting wealthy children accepted to elite universities.

The scandal has sparked an intense discussion about wealth, privilege, and access to America’s most selective schools. But the ongoing fallout, and other recent stories about race-conscious admissions at Harvard and growing racial disparities in New York City’s selective high schools, provide a chance to examine a larger issue: how racial, educational, and economic inequality and discrimination collide to create a system where low-income students of color — particularly black and Hispanic students — struggle to access a quality education.

Well, the average student doesn't have wealthy families and don't have trust funds. Therefore, they have to apply for student loans. In Student Loans Are The Devil, educational leader, and author Shatavia Elder combines a deeply personal narrative of her own journey through student loan debt along with practical strategies that will help you. No matter where you are on this journey, this book and interview are geared to help you create personalized solutions to lessen the mental burden of the debt and to develop specific skills to help you use your past experiences and your debt as a foundation of your future freedom. Your financial freedom toward a more purposeful life is within your reach.

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Someone once said, “Every great loss demands that we choose life again.” This quote sums up the life of Jeff Jordan, social entrepreneur and health and wellness advocate. Despite being raised by a single mom, who was addicted to drugs, and a father who was absent from his life, Jeff has been able to bounce back and build several successful businesses focusing on holistic youth development, mentoring and kinetic life coaching. He shares some of those strategies with me in the BalmShelter.

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Parenting a child with a disability can be a challenge, and often those challenges feel like a strong tidal wave coming, threatening to make parents lose their balance, to fall, and sometimes wanting to give up.

Despite the stares, the school system, the medical billing, the ignorance from other people, and or the lack of support, Tracy Ward or Sista Tracy, as she prefers to be called, speaks about finding beauty in brokenness with gritty honesty and openness. She's passionate about sharing the real – sometimes beautiful and sometimes ugly – aspects of faith, parenting, and raising a child with special needs.

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I’ve been meditating and practicing yoga for 15 years — ever since I realized that meditation isn’t about sitting in a lotus pose surrounded hippies, pretending you’re as calm as Buddha while pondering what’s for dinner and planning responses to work emails. Meditation is the best tool in the world — life-changing, in fact — for connecting with yourself and making your wildest visions come into fruition. 

So, I was excited to sit down with talk with yoga and meditation teacher Leonora Eubanks.  Leonora shares her insights into anxiety, fear, and schizophrenia and how mindfulness and meditation can be of benefit to those struggling with these forces.

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Educator, author and filmmaker Dr. Marc Williams, a nationally-respected sports marketing pioneer, pop culture expert, has been widely regarded as a Sports Marketing Pioneer. He is one of the nation’s experts on Education, Leadership, Career Transition, Crisis Management, and Professional Development. Dr. Williams has worked for three of the largest Sports Brands in the world: Champs Sports, Footaction and Reebok and was named as one of the Top 20 Inspirational Speakers in the World. His insights have been featured on CBS World News, BBC World News, and CNN. He's worked with Michael Jordan, Beyoncé, Allen Iverson, Chris Rock, Shakira, Will Ferrell few to name few. We chopped it up in the SoundBalming Studios, and as only Marc can do,  he “spit fire”. In this very raw and transparent interview, Marc discusses how sports and failure have had a tremendous impact on him and his career.

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From the moment we are born to the final days of our lives, touch acts as a central aspect of the human experience — impacting our physical, mental and emotional health, and quite literally shaping the way we go through our lives.

Candace J. Mickens, the lead massage therapist at Sacred Touch Body Work, stopped by the SoundBalming Studio to talk about her journey to becoming a Thai Message Therapist, 
“bodywork,” and how our sense of touch and our emotional responses authentically impact our lives. As a “bodyworker,” her mission is to re-connect the body with the mind and spirit through enhancement of body awareness and various body modalities in a safe, secure environment.

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I recently had the opportunity to chat with Samara Stone, Founder of The Stone Foundation, about personal branding, learning from failure, and leading with passion and purpose.
Samara is an innovative leader in the field of mental health, where she leverages her 20 years of experience to develop business coaching and branding solutions specifically for her unique niche of mental health entrepreneurs through her work with BeBrandConfident.com. 
If you find yourself stuck in your career or looking for a boost of motivation, look no further, Samara’s message will encourage you to constantly look for opportunities as well as think outside the box.

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After walking into Brain Surgery and never walked back out, Dr. Yvette Pagues lost an opportunity for fully-funded Ivy League college scholarship, Fortune 100 Executive Engineering career and the ability to walk on her own. On the other side of tragedy, she won 3-wheelchair pageant titles with platform to help children aged 7-17 years old publish their #Storms2Stories in a book - starting with her own children, active advocacy for Global Inclusion, re-created career as Corporate Disability/Diversity Consultant, became published author, Purpose Coach, Professional Speaker and recently returned to graduate school to earn a Doctor of Education degree with focus on Special Populations. And without using legs, Dr. Yvette Pegues is climbing mountains, and she wants to show you how. 

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