The Perkins Platform

Join us on Tuesday, January 18 @ 6pm EST for an insightful conversation with Amanda Muhammad to discuss her work helping leaders cope and manage stress. Amanda is an International Mindfulness Based Stress Management & Psychological Safety Consultant in Dallas, TX. She is a certified Mindfulness trainer, Compassion Fatigue Trainer and yoga instructor. She teaches individuals how to build resilience and reduce stress as well as how to introduce different practices to the people they serve as a foundation for social-emotional learning, restorative practices, and building resilience. She also facilitates a variety of trainings and develops resources for schools and organizations both across the country and internationally. In addition to in-person training, she runs a web-based education platform, Mako Mindfulness, created to guide you through her framework of evidence-based practices that change the way we process and respond to stressful situations. Amanda is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Business Psychology, holds a Masters in Organizational Leadership, and a Bachelor's Degree in Management and Leadership.

LIVE from London, join me for my conversation with Giulio Boccaletti, Ph.D., discussing his book, Water: A Biography, published by Pantheon Books.  Water: A Biography is in the process of being translated in seven languages. Giulio is an author, entrepreneur, senior executive, and a globally recognized expert on natural resource security and environmental sustainability. He writes on environmental issues for news media, and is an expert contributor to the World Economic Forum, which named him one of its Young Global Leaders. He also routinely contributes to documentary series. Trained as a physicist and climate scientist, Giulio holds a doctorate from Princeton University, where he was a NASA Earth Systems Science Fellow. He has been a research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a partner of the global consulting firm McKinsey & Company and a leader of its sustainability practice, and the chief strategy officer of The Nature Conservancy, the largest environmental organization in the world. He is an Honorary Research Associate in the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at Oxford University. He lives in London.

Chamberlain Fellow at Hamilton College and author, Ty Seidule, joins us to discuss his latest book, Robert E. Lee and Me: A Southerner’s Reckoning with the Myth of the Lost Cause. Ty is the author or editor of six other books of military history, three of which won distinguished writing prizes, including The West Point History of the Civil War.  Ty served in the U.S. Army for more than three decades, retiring in 2020 as a brigadier general. He is Professor Emeritus of History at West Point and serves as the Vice Chair of the Congressional Naming Commission, which will rename Department of Defense assets that honor the Confederate States of America. Tune in to his broadcast on Tuesday, January 4 @ 7pm EST!

Join us on Monday, December 20 @ 5pm EST for an exciting conversation with Elizabeth Grace Saunders and her advice on how to carve out "Me-Time" with a demanding work schedule. Elizabeth is the founder and CEO of Real Life E®, a time management coaching company that empowers individuals who feel guilty, overwhelmed and frustrated to feel peaceful, confident and accomplished. She was named one of the World's Top 30 Time Management Professionals. The Christian division of her company focuses on a God-centered approach to time management through Divine Time Management Group Coaching.  McGraw Hill published her first book The 3 Secrets to Effective Time Investment: How to Achieve More Success with Less Stress.  Elizabeth contributes to venues like Harvard Business Review and Fast Company and has appeared on CBS, ABC, NBC, and Fox.

Join us on Wednesday, December 15 @ 6pm EST for an informative conversation with Klaus Heesch, discussing his work articulating how leaders might navigate an uncertain future. Klaus is a Brand and Experience Design leader with a successful career in helping brands and businesses thrive. He leverages human-centered design thinking, personal connection, and powerful storytelling to connect the dots across the ecosystem—creating pathways to the adoption of sustainable practices and an equitable future for society. He lives in New York City with his wife and daughter.

Founder of The American Dream School and Head of School, Melissa Melkonian, joins us to talk about her work in education and incredible success story. Melissa has been a New York City educator for nearly 20 years. She began her career as a bilingual special education teacher in Inwood with the New York City Department of Education and later taught in the Bronx where she became the middle school's assistant principal. The idea for The American Dream School came from her personal experience coupled with research pertaining to student performance in the South Bronx, where many students from immigrant families are underserved in all educational settings. Melissa earned a Bachelor's degree in Political Science and Public Policy from Trinity College, Master's in Bilingual and Special Education from Mercy College and Ed.M. in Educational Leadership at Columbia University's Teachers College. She completed the rigorous training of the Summer Principals Academy, which provided her with the tools she needed to make her vision a reality. Tune in to his broadcast on Tuesday, December 7 @ 6pm EST!

Join us on Wednesday, December 1 @ 6pm EST for a discussion on the sociology of race with Daniel Hirschman, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Brown University. He studies the political power of experts and their tools, and the relationship between organizational practices, knowledge production and racial inequality. His book project, Unequal Knowledge: The Stylized Facts of Inequality, traces the history and politics of the gender wage gap, the racial wealth gap, and top income inequality. He has also published on the politics and practice of affirmative action in undergraduate admissions, and the relationship between financial innovation and financial regulation.

Join us on Wednesday, November 17 @ 6pm EST for a discussion on the importance of empathy in today's leader with Tara Van Bommel, PhD.  She is an expert in stereotyping and prejudice, with a focus on the role of nonconscious bias and nonverbal behaviors in intergroup interactions. As Director and Statistician in the research department of Catalyst, Tara provides statistical expertise across all areas of research. In addition, Tara leads the research initiatives for Women and the Future of Work. Prior to joining Catalyst Tara worked across a variety of research disciplines, including developmental neuroscience, forensic neuropsychology, and market research. Tara earned her PhD in social psychology from Tulane University. She earned an MS in psychology from Tulane and a BA in psychology from the University of Denver.

Join us on Wednesday, November 3 @ 6pm EST for an informative conversation with educator, Ursula Wolfe-Rocca, discussing the teaching of democracy in schools and about rethinking schools. Ursula has taught high school social studies since 2000 in a public school in a suburb of Portland, Oregon. On the editorial board of Rethinking Schools magazine, she has written articles and lessons on voting rights, redlining, deportations, COINTELPRO, climate justice, Red Summer, the Cold War, and more. The era of U.S. history she finds most inspiring, humbling, and relevant is always the one she is currently unlearning, relearning, and building curriculum around. See Ursula’s articles and lessons at this site.

Join us on Wednesday, October 27 @ 6pm EST for a conversation with Dr. Calvin Mackie, award winning mentor, inventor, author, former engineering professor, internationally renowned speaker and successful entrepreneur. Dr. Mackie is the founder of STEM NOLA, a non-profit organization founded to expose, inspire and engage communities about the opportunities in STEM. In 7 years, STEM NOLA has engaged over 70,000 mostly low-income low-resourced K-12 students in hands-on project based STEM activities in New Orleans communities.  Mackie graduated from Morehouse College earning a BS in Mathematics in 1990 and was simultaneously awarded a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech, where he subsequently earned his Master’s and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering in 1996. He served on the engineering faculty at Tulane University for 12 years. Mackie has won numerous awards including the 2003 Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring in a White House ceremony and currently serves on the Louisiana STEM (LA-STEM) advisory council.