The Perkins Platform

Join us on Wednesday, January 31 @ 6pm EST for an important conversation on utilizing AI in schools with Carly Ghantous, who has worked in education for fifteen years as a teacher, instructional designer, and educational technology trainer. Before making the switch to online education, she spent the first eight years of her career teaching high school language arts at a brick-and-mortar school in suburban Cincinnati, Ohio. In addition to her B.S.Ed. in Secondary Education and M.Ed. in Instructional Design and Technology, Carly is also an ISTE Certified Educator, Google Certified Educator, and Microsoft Innovative Educator. In 2020, Carly earned a Blackboard Catalyst Award for online course design and instruction. Currently, Carly teaches language arts and history courses at the Davidson Academy Online and continues to develop online courses and content. Teaching online has allowed Carly to pursue a passion for creating community despite physical barriers, and her classes often focus on building relationships with students to create a learning community. Carly lives in Mason, Ohio with her husband, four children, beagle, and two cats. When she finds a moment to herself, Carly enjoys reading (especially mysteries), listening to podcasts, and taking her dog for extra long walks.

PhD sociologist studying work-life fulfillment and happiness, Dr. Tracy Brower joins us to discuss her book, The Secrets to Happiness at Work: How to Choose and Create Purpose and Fulfillment in Your Work. She is the vice president of workplace insight for Steelcase and a senior contributor to Forbes and Fast Company. Tracy is an award-winning speaker and has over 25 years of experience working with global clients to achieve business results. Tracy is an executive advisor to Like|Minded, Coda Societies and to the MSU Master Industrial Mathematics Program. She is an executive council member with Design Museum Everywhere and board member for the United Way. Tracy’s work has been translated into 19 languages and she has been featured in TEDx, The Wall Street Journal, Work-Life Balance in the 21 st Century (book), Globe and Mail (Canada), InsideHR (Australia), HR Director (UK), T3N (Germany), Real Estate Review Journal, Fortune.com, Inc. Magazine, HBR (France) and more. Tracy holds a PhD in Sociology, a Master of Management in Organizational Culture, and a Master of Corporate Real Estate with a workplace specialization. You can find her on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, Unsplash or at tracybrower.com. Tune in for this special broadcast on Wednesday, January 24 @ 6pm EST!

Join us on Wednesday, January 17 @ 6pm EST for an exciting conversation with internationally renowned etiquette expert, Diane Gottsman as she shares her work on etiquette training and recommendations for school leaders--Top 5 Things to Remember When at an Event. Diane is also an author, speaker, popular media resource, and owner of The Protocol School of Texas, a company specializing in professional development and corporate etiquette training. Diane understands modern etiquette is more than knowing which fork to use at the dinner table and has spent the last 20 years training business professionals, university students and individuals on how to navigate social and professional situations with confidence and ease. She holds a Master’s Degree in Sociology with an emphasis on human behavior. 

Diane is regularly called upon by the media to offer her insights on a wide range of topics to include dining, business, social media, body language, job interview, travel etiquette, as well as a variety of everyday social dilemmas. She has been featured on national television shows, such as The Today Show, Good Morning America, CBS Sunday Morning, Fox & Friends, and The Hallmark Channel. She is the resident etiquette expert for Good Day Austin, Fox 7 and San Antonio Living, News 4. And is regularly quoted on CNBC, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Market Watch, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and USA Today. In addition to her work as an etiquette expert, Diane has authored two books and is a sought-after keynote speaker who has earned a well-deserved reputation as dynamic, inspiring and motivational. She has spoken at conferences and events around the country and considers travel one of her favorite hobbies. A wife and mother of three, she knows firsthand the challenges of balancing a private, social, and professional life.  Diane believes success requires four main ingredients ... Curiosity, Training, Dedication and Desire.

Principal Consultant and best-selling Author, Dr. Janice Z. Gassam Asare joins us to discuss her latest book, Decentering Whiteness in the Workplace: A Guide for Equity and Inclusion and share her experiences since its release. Janice is the founder of BWG Business Solutions, an award-winning DEI consultancy designed to help organizations create cultures built on equity. She has had the opportunity to collaborate with Google, Amazon, Yale University, Nordstrom, H&M, and Paypal/Venmo among many others. She is the author of two best-selling books, Dirty Diversity and The Pink Elephant. She is a senior contributing writer for Forbes having authored over 400 articles, a Harvard Business Review contributor and a LinkedIn Learning Instructor. In 2022, Dr. Janice was recognized as one of LinkedIn’s Top Voices in Racial Equity. In 2023 she was recognized by Gusto as one of the 25 Top Workplace Experts to Follow. She is a 2-time TEDx speaker and the host of the Dirty Diversity podcast where she discusses all things diversity, equity, inclusion. Tune in for this special broadcast on Wednesday, January 10 @ 6pm EST!

Professor and Director of the Endeavor Antiracist & Restorative Leadership Initiative (EARLI) at Teachers College, Columbia University, Dr. Mark Gooden joins us to discuss his book, Five Practices for Equity-Focused School Leadership which provides a comprehensive guide for school leaders who desire to engage their school communities in transformative systemic change. Mark’s research focuses broadly on culturally responsive school leadership with specific interests in principalship, anti-racist leadership, urban educational leadership, and legal issues in education. Mark is the 2017 recipient of the UCEA Jay D. Scribner Mentoring Award and the 2021 recipient of the UCEA Master Professor Award for distinguished service in teaching, curriculum development, and student mentoring. His research has appeared in a range of outlets, including American Educational Research Journal, Educational Administration Quarterly, Teachers College Record, Review of Educational Research, and The Journal of Negro Education & Urban Education. He is the Past President of the University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA). Tune in for this special broadcast on Wednesday, January 3 @ 6pm EST!

Associate Professor in the Communication, Media and Learning Technologies Design program at Teachers College and the Associate Director of the Media & Social Change Lab (MASCLab), Dr. Ioana Literat joins us to share insight on the younger generation’s online political expression. Her research examines young people’s creative and civic participation in online spaces. Key questions driving her research agenda are: How does online participation enable new forms of creativity, collaboration and learning? How do young people’s creative and civic practices intersect online? How can we leverage an understanding of these creative and civic practices in order to better support the next generation of thinkers, voters and activists? Tune in on Wednesday, December 20 @ 6pm EST!

Tune in for one of our new Quarterly Special Segments - The Thing About Food with Harvard trained nutritional psychiatrist, professional chef, nutritional biologist and author of the international bestseller, This is Your Brain on Food, Dr. Uma Naidoo. Dr. Naidoo joins us to share the details of her upcoming book, Calm Your Mind with Food: A Revolutionary Guide to Controlling Your Anxiety. In this groundbreaking guide, she presents cutting-edge research about the ways anxiety is rooted in our brain, our gut, our immune system, and our metabolism. Drawing on the latest science on the connection between diet and anxiety, she shows us how to effectively use food and nutrition as an essential tool for calming the mind.

Dr. Uma Naidoo founded and directs the first and only hospital-based Nutritional Psychiatry Service in the USA. She is the Director of Nutritional and Metabolic Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital & Director of Nutritional Psychiatry at the MGH Academy while serving on the faculty at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Naidoo has been invited by the World Economic Forum to consult on their New Frontiers of Nutrition initiative. After being one of only four US physicians to be invited to meet personally with HRH The Prince of Wales, she was asked to collaborate with HRH and the UK College of Medicine on a public health Brain Food project. She is currently developing the first and only CME based educational program at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard to educate other clinicians globally about nutrition for brain health. Dr. Uma has appeared as a Nutritional Psychiatry expert on Live with Kelly & Ryan, Today Show, 700 Club, ABC, and been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Thrive Global, Harpers, Shape, Parade, Boston Globe, AARP, and more. Tune in for this special broadcast on Thursday, December 14 @ 2pm EST!

Science journalist fascinated with brains, minds, and culture, David McRaney joins us to discuss his latest book, How Minds Change: The Surprising Science of Belief, Opinion, and Persuasion. David created the blog/book/podcast You Are Not So Smart to get a better understanding of self delusion and motivated reasoning. It became an internationally bestselling book and then podcast, where he continues to interview scientists who study the psychology of reasoning, decision-making, and judgment. In the early days, David was a newspaper reporter covering Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast and in the Pine Belt region of the Deep South. Since then, he has been an editor, photographer, voiceover artist, television host, journalism teacher, lecturer, and tornado survivor. He has worked for several years as the head of digital media for WDAM-TV where he produced The Green Couch Sessions, a TV show about the music of the Deep South. He has also written for Heineken, Duck Tape and appeared in a Reebok ad that he helped write. Most recently, he wrote, produced, and recorded a six-hour audio documentary exploring the history of the idea and the word: genius. www.davidmcraney.com. Tune in on Wednesday, December 13 @ 6pm EST!

Join us on Wednesday, December 6 @ 6pm EST for an exciting conversation with Jen Franks Ahaghotu, Harvard College graduate and founder and CEO of Disruptive Truth, LLC, as she shares her work and insight on her organization. An educator for 15 years, Jen designed and implemented a multi-million dollar initiative in New York City schools called Learning Partners Program that impacted 250 schools and 100,000+ students a year, the largest scale work of its kind at the time.  This included diving deeply into life changing racial identity work with her team and then scaling racial equity initiatives across the city.  The inaugural project of Disruptive Truth is called the Black Women World Record and honors the educational achievements of black women around the world.  Jen is here to gather black women together to speak their truth and change the world and supports people from other marginalized communities to do the same.

Award-winning journalist and social commentator covering parenting and lifestyle trends, Jennifer Wallace joins us to discuss her latest book, Never Enough: When Achievement Culture Becomes Toxic—And What We Can Do About It. Jennifer is the co-founded of the nonprofit The Mattering Movement, which offers free resources for educators and students to help combat the "never enough" messages that are pervasive in our culture. She is also a frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post and appears on television to discuss her articles and other hot topics in the news. After graduating Harvard College, Jennifer began her career in television at “60 Minutes” where she worked as a journalist for many years. She lives in New York City with her husband and their three children. For more information visit www.jenniferbwallace.com. Tune in on Wednesday, November 29 @ 6pm EST!