Take Nothing When I Die

Episode 25 is not one to miss! Maxime Paul came through and schooled us on:

-- the value of invention and innovation in everyday life;

-- how video games can refabricate or mitigate what's going on in the world; and

-- what cooking teaches us about community research.

Maxime is an autodidactic polymath with wide-ranging industry experience and keen ability to learn quickly in any situation, environment, or context. His work has touched fields that include technology development and business design as well as interdependent city planning and community-centered program design. Currently, he helps design/redesign organizations, communities, and governments with social and environmental impact in their DNA through his fifth venture, Building What’s Next. His work is typically rooted in systems engineering, culture redefinition, power decentralization, user research, and iterative development no matter what tools need to be used to solve the challenges he’s faced with. Maxime holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Rice University in Electrical and Computer Engineering with a specialty in Systems and an MBA in Next Economy Business Design from Lift Economy. He is currently working on his first series of books, a collection of illustrated Afrofuturist parables, called A Window to Liberation. He is also the host of the Let Me Introduce Myself podcast which uncovers the deeper layers of Black men.

His #TNWIDTakeaway: "[K]eep trying things out...experiment...Everybody is a compilation of their experiences."

For more information, including the show notes, click here: https://stephanieghoston.com/tnwid-episode-25

You made it to another solo episode! This one is about break-ups of all kinds. We're always breaking up with something or someone, even if we're not conscious of it. Press "PLAY" to hear Stephanie break down:

--  why we can't actually hold other people accountable; 

--  the importance of telling the truth, even when it's not easy; and

--  the need to examine the common denominator (hint, it's YOU!).

Her #TNWIDTakeaway is: "[T]he truth, your truth doesn't depend on outside recognition."

For more information, including the show notes, click here: https://stephanieghoston.com/tnwid-episode-24

Zakiya Carr Johnson did not disappoint as a guest for Episode 23! Zakiya pulled up to break down:

--  Her mission to do more than survive;

--  How culture is as important as life itself; and

--  Why career isn’t a place or role.

Zakiya Carr Johnson is a social inclusion, diversity and equity expert and strategist with extensive experience in international development and over 20 years shaping public policy. Prior to founding ODARA Solutions, LLC and launching the Black Women Disrupt Initiative, she served as Senior Advisor and Director of the Race, Ethnicity and Social Inclusion Unit at the U.S. Department of State, co-chair for the White House Inter-Agency Committee on Gender-Based Violence Monitoring and Evaluation and Senior Technical Advisor for the Social Inclusion Trust Fund at the Inter-American Development Bank. As an entrepreneur, Zakiya understands the unique challenges faced by small and minority business owners. She creates opportunities for economic empowerment and investment for historically marginalized groups and builds bridges of understanding between communities. Zakiya is an accomplished public speaker, who loves to cook. She is also fluent in Spanish and Portuguese and a proud Bison!

Her #TNWIDTakeaway: "I've been driven by my own set of things I want to learn and do while I'm here. I don't place as much value in some of the trappings that keep people frozen.”

Check out the rest of the show notes here: https://stephanieghoston.com/tnwid-episode-23

Episode 22 features Allison Haywood in her first podcast interview ever! Allison stopped by to break down:

--  crucial life lessons she's learned from jewelry-making;

-- why she's sworn off social media; and

--  how raising kids (and ourselves) is a radical act.

Allison Haywood is a self-professed luddite-lite, creator, investigator, teacher, and learner. Her path has never been linear. She attended Brown University for two years and then left for four years. During her four years off from college, she trained with a master goldsmith and started a fine jewelry line, name after her Uncle Woodrow, the only man in her life who wore jewelry daily. Eventually, she decided to return to school and finish up her degree. I've dabbled in many different fields, most revolving around social justice work, and upon graduating from Brown got a job at CityBridge Education, a nonprofit charter-school incubator. She recently moved to Atlanta because of her fiance's work, and promptly enrolled in a real estate salespersons' course. She has always been interested in the concepts of ownership and private property and wanted to delve into a space that the Black community has largely been shut off from. Real estate is a wealth-building industry, and one of the biggest contributors to the Black-White wealth divide is a lack of homeownership within the Black community.

Her #TNWIDTakeaway: "Raise yourself to question, to be critical, to think, to explore, to be unafraid...it is radical to do that and it could possibly change the course of a lot of things."

For more information, including the show notes, click here: https://stephanieghoston.com/tnwid-episode-22

Say hello to Michelle C. Johnson, our guest for Episode 21! She went DEEP to offer:

-- why she doesn't buy into dominant culture's definition of "productivity";

-- how collective grief is connected to freedom and liberation; and

-- her practice for staying grounded in a noisy world.

Her bio: Michelle Johnson is a social justice warrior, author, dismantling racism trainer, empath, yoga teacher and practitioner, and an intuitive healer. With over 20 years of experience leading dismantling racism work and working with clients as a licensed clinical social worker, she has a deep understanding of how trauma impacts the mind, body, spirit, and heart. Her awareness of the world through her own experience as a black woman allows her to know, first-hand, how privilege and power operate.

Michelle has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the College of William and Mary and a Master's degree in Social Work from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. She has worked in several non-profits and served as an elected official and on many non-profit boards of directors. She has worked with large corporations, small non-profits, and community groups, including the ACLU-WA, Duke University, Google, This American Life, The Center for Equity and Inclusion, Eno River Unitarian Universalist Church, Lululemon, and many others. Michelle published Skill in Action: Radicalizing Your Yoga Practice to Create a Just World in 2017; she teaches workshops in yoga studios and community spaces nationwide. She is on the faculty of Off the Mat Into the World, and she serves as the Co-Director of 18 Springs Healing Center in Winston-Salem, NC. Michelle was a Tedx speaker at Wake Forest University in 2019, and she has been interviewed on several podcasts in which she explores the premise and foundation of Skill in Action, along with creating ritual in justice spaces, our divine connection with nature and Spirit, and how we as a culture can heal.

Michelle leads courageously from the heart with compassion and a commitment to address the heartbreak dominant culture causes for many because of the harm it creates. She inspires change that allows people to stand in their humanity and wholeness in a world that fragments most of us. Whether in an anti-oppression training, yoga space, individual or group intuitive healing session, the heart, healing and wholeness are at the center of how she approaches all of her work in the world.

Her #TNWIDTakeaway: "I want to just encourage people to be in their wholeness and to really nourish and honor the different parts of themselves that need to flourish and come forth, like in their work and their practice."

For more information, including the show notes, click here: https://stephanieghoston.com/tnwid-episode-21

Episode 20 is a solo episode filled with inspiration from Stephanie!

Tune in to hear:

 --  how Take Nothing When I Die is taking the PLANET by storm;

 --  why she almost DIDN'T publish this episode; and

 --  three keys to THRIVING amidst crisis.

Her #TNWIDTakeaway is: “Reach out, try again, put yourself out there. Sometimes we need to create what we’re looking for.” 

For more information, including the show notes, click here: https://stephanieghoston.com/tnwid-episode-20

Béalleka Makau dug deep to share her wisdom for Episode 19! Listen in to hear her explain:

- how she writes her way to freedom;

- the difference between living to work and working to live; and

- her knack for fortuitous encounters with strangers!

Béalleka Makau is a Kenyan-born, California-raised, former professor of literature and cultural studies who specializes in Black maternal liberation narratives of the antebellum era. After a decade-long career witnessing the harmful impact of colonial, white-supremacist, hetero-patriarchy at universities across the U.S., she left in academia in 2015. Soon after, she experienced a spiritual rebirth that heralded her own liberation and claim of a name she had never heard before that reminds her to be her most authentic, aligned self.

Béalleka has dedicated the past 5 years to healing, traveling, and working as an intersectional equity consultant. In 2018, she gave a TEDx talk outlining her radical empathy curriculum, which encourages us to unlearn stories we’ve been taught about who we are and what we believe we deserve. A lifelong writer, Béalleka has contributed to numerous storytelling shows as both a performer and production consultant. Her stories highlight the trauma of “peculiar intimacy,” a term she coined to describe the privileges and perils of white adjacency about which she teaches and writes in a memoir that explores her personal and professional reinventions.

Béalleka currently assists others on their healing journeys via the Peculiar Intimacy Healing Institute, a.k.a., PI hi, which combines her academic training and transformative coaching experience, and 8 Star Sanctuary, which builds on the life and literature of Octavia Estelle Butler and provides virtual and physical healing space in northern New Mexico for the collective liberation of Black, Indigenous, women of color.

Her TNWIDTakeaway:  “I talk to people and I'm always learning, but I also trust myself. I trust that I am the best authority for myself, for my own life. I know better than anybody else, what I need and what I want.”

Check out the show notes for more information: https://stephanieghoston.com/tnwid-episode-19

Episode 18 features Nikki Gee! This beauty mogul came through to chat about being her own incubator, listening to her 'hidden intuition,' and finding beauty everywhere - tune in to hear more!

Nikki Gee is a retired Air Force veteran who was diagnosed with Relapse Remitting MS in 2011. After being diagnosed with MS, she sought out a path to truly figuring out the meaning of life. Through her journey, she has been able to educate others on what it really means to take charge of your own life through spiritual, emotional, and physical healing.  Nikki is currently studying Complementary and Alternative Health at Ashford University and Homeopathy at Academy of Homeopathy Education, NYC. Upon completion, she will be attending Southwest Medical College in Phoenix Arizona to become a Naturopathic Doctor. It was out of Nikki’s love for nature and self-healing that Urban Essentials came into fruition. As an herbalist, she believes that herbs and roots carry messages that we need to become in tune with and that's why she infuses her products with them. Her mantra is 'Be You, Be Free, Be Inspired.'

Nikki #TNWIDTakeaway: "Sometimes being a critic is really wanting to pull out the beauty in what makes people smile."

Check out the show notes for more information: https://stephanieghoston.com/tnwid-episode-18

Welcome to Episode 17 with Nick Mulkey! Nick drops some serious knowledge in this interview including:

-how to overcome the fear of failure;

-why cities should operate more like universities;

-the importance of searching for truth. 

Tune in to hear these life lessons, and more!

Nick writes: “I chase good times, live through laughs, and find fulfillment in creating ways to make life a little easier for everyone. Whether that's through my art, ventures, or advocacy, I intend on making an impact. I believe that with enough people making a positive impact, we all may be able to find our own little slice of heaven.”

His #TNWIDTakeaway: "Seek your truth and don't relent on it. Don't let life knock it out of you...don't let that stop you from seeking the truth that you want, from seeking the vision that you have for your life."

Check out the rest of the show notes here: https://stephanieghoston.com/tnwid-episode-17  

Please meet Paige Hendrix Buckner who came through for Episode 16! Paige let us in on how humor helps with trauma, her 'recovering unprofessional person' status, and her 14+ job transitions. This one's a treat!

Paige Hendrix Buckner is the Program Director of Founder Gym. Throughout her career, Paige has operated at the intersection of education, entrepreneurship, and social justice. After graduating from the University of Missouri, she taught fourth and fifth grade as a Teach for America Corps Member while earning a Master's degree in education. When she wasn't teaching elementary school, she co-founded the Nevada Chapter of the Not For Sale Campaign, an anti-human trafficking organization. She relocated to Portland, Oregon in 2011 to join her husband and worked at the Urban League of Portland helping families get access to health insurance. She then joined Multnomah County as a Policy Advisor for an elected official. After attending a Startup Weekend, she started building a company and made the leap into full-time entrepreneurship when her company was selected for the Startup PDX Challenge. As a founder and educator, she has helped cultivate the Portland ecosystem, including teaching entrepreneurship with the TiE Young Entrepreneurs Oregon Program, serving on the board of the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network, and co-founding the Xxcelerate Fund for women entrepreneurs. When she's not teaching, Paige loves gardening, going for long walks with her family and reading science fiction.

Her #TNWIDTakeaway: "Don't feel like you have to do everything and don't feel like your work is what makes you worthy."

Check out the rest of the show notes here: https://stephanieghoston.com/tnwid-episode-16