May 2025 (Greensboro, NC) -- There are a few people without whom I wouldn’t have made it through 2024. 😮‍💨 Literally. David Scruggs, my leadership coach over the past 1.5 years, is one of them.

He spent his career coaching mostly corporate white guys pursuing the dream 💭 — money, power, respect. In our first conversation in 2022, he told me he’d reached out to me because he’d recently realized he was racist. He was seeking someone who was willing to partner with him personally and professionally to understand why, despite his BEST INTENTIONS, he still hadn’t escaped the programming. 🧠 

It was the beginning of one of the most enlightening relationships I’ve ever had. 👁️ Through our conversations, I’ve seen my own ability to trick myself into my own martyrdom. Cheap people pleasing dopamine hits disguised as “helping people.” 🤯

David makes me extremely uncomfortable. Any “coach” who simply strokes your ego and makes you feel gushy isn’t worth a copper penny. 💰 And any coach who encourages a leadership that leverages the uneducated and vulnerable to pad pockets is at great risk of being aired out in 2025. I’m no exception. Neither is David. And neither are you.🫵🏽

I’m not confused about the implications of our aesthetic, our histories, our generational differences, our realities, or the wildly varying stories that may be told about us considering the climate (personal to intergalactic).😬

Podcasting is a way for the educator 🍎 in me to share my own lessons and my own truth. It lets me capture the stories of those who are no longer afraid of their own.💡 The road to self acceptance and authenticity is an obstacle course, and I hope these conversations provide some helpful tools ⚒️ and some inspiration.🎨 

This episode is the beginning of a series with me and David about what it means to be a good leader in these contemporary times.

David's FB: https://www.facebook.com/djscruggs

David's Website: https://www.scruggsleadership.com/

30 min coaching consultation with Dr. Z:  https://calendly.com/zitty-deftable

May 2025 (Greensboro, NC) -- I love sitting down with people who are into transformation. The ones who apologize when we're wrong, who want accountability from both men and women, who take our existence and contributions to the human condition seriously. We shatter all kinds of misconceptions in this conversation. Truth often does that. 

Willz is all that and more. In this episode, we talk about the pain that comes along with choosing to change. We also discuss the embarrassment and shame that many of us avoid on the path to freedom. We can't actualize the fullness of our potential without finding healthy ways to work through the terror of reinvention. 

This episode was extra special because we were joined by my daughter, Zuri. Welcome into the raw, unfiltered worlds of Willz and Dr. Z. Enjoy!!

IG: @highwitdreams

April 2025 (Greensboro, NC) -- Jim Kee is a community developer and politician who has been in the Greensboro mix for decades. As a former District 2 Councilman with the intent to run again this year, Jim graciously accepted my invitation to share his story on Ukuvusa, along with lessons he's picked up along the way. 

For those with interest in Greensboro's political history, you don't want to miss this one! 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jim.kee.507

April 2025 (Greensboro, NC) -- There's been a lot of talk about community development and its impact, especially now that Greensboro is in a municipal election year. I dove into community advocacy headfirst (in the "formal" sense, I guess - marching and whatnot) back in 2020 when many others did. Although I feel the pain of others deeply, I am always trying to figure out how to solve the problems... for good. 

Here we are in 2025 and I am determined to understand the world of community development, how it interacts with our mayor and council members, what decisions impact our homeless brothers and sisters, how we can better work together to address the issue that choke out quality of life for my family and friends, and (you guessed it)... how to help solve all these problems. 

In this episode, Andy Zimmerman, owner of AZ Development, and Alex Dummit, CEO of The Sage Plant, sat down with me to talk about their lives and experiences in this arena. As an incessant adventurer myself, this conversation taught me alot and it certainly lit me up. I hope it does the same for you. 

IG: @azdevelopmentgso, @thesageplant

March 2025 (Greensboro, NC) -- For some of us, dance is more than just a hobby. It's medicine. In this episode, Dr. Z and fellow Zodwa Dance Co. member, Victoria Williams, share their stories of awakening from the dance floor. Victoria describes herself as an erotic artist, dancer, choreographer, and muse. 

Many traditional dance environments are characterized by levels of critique that damage self esteem, not restore it. Victoria Williams, a UNC-Greensboro student earning her MFA in dance/choreography, aims to change that. Listen in as we discuss how dance helps us tap into our strength, ancestral power, feminine energy, and our ability to reinvent ourselves as children of God and as creatives. 

Our March 2025 Ukuvusa episodes have been sponsored by WaveTech Therapy, a Greensboro-based practice offering a safe and painless cure for peripheral diabetic neuropathy and erectile dysfunction. Mention the Ukuvusa Podcast for a $250 discount 💵 on your first treatment!

IG: @victoriada4th, @zodwa_dance_co

March 2025 (Greensboro, NC) -- In this episode, my younger sister @ayeza_indira and I cover A LOT:

📍Our DRAMATICALLY different lives
📍Lessons we've learned on the adventure
📍The impact of birth order
📍Spiritual gifts
📍Breaking generational patterns
📍Pre-church Hennessy (past, not present day 🤭)
📍Addiction recovery
📍Healing from within
📍Confronting our shame and more...

This episode is sponsored by WaveTech Therapy, a Greensboro-based practice offering a safe and painless cure for peripheral diabetic neuropathy and erectile dysfunction. Mention the Ukuvusa Podcast for a $250 discount 💵 on your first treatment!

IG: @ayeza_indira

March 2025 (Greensboro, NC) -- Meet Alex Dummit, an entrepreneurial force who'll never leave you guessing what she thinks. Brutal honesty and relentless compassion are her superpowers. She's using both to drive sustainable change through her business, The Sage Plant. 

When Alex first told me about The Sage Plant, it sounded too good to be true. They have access to cutting edge 3D printing technology that can produce the parts to build a whole house in only 24 hours. The material can withstand natural disasters, explosions, flooding... you name it. AND the structures (hotels, hospitals, single-family homes, duplexes, tiny houses, etc.) can be designed in just about any style you can imagine. The homes of the future are here... in the Piedmont Triad! 

I've never met an honest person who didn't have an astounding story. Alex's story will captivate you. There's something about trials that force us to access parts of ourselves that we otherwise would never meet. Enjoy tuning into the many moments of awakening as Alex shares her story. 

IG: @alex.dummit

July 2022 (Los Angeles, CA) -- Meet Quentin Fears, Los Angeles-based celebrity 😎 and personal stylist. TV shows, magazine covers, video shoots… he’s rubbing elbows with celebs on a regular basis and offers tips for navigating the space with professionalism and kindness. ❤️

We went to Aycock Middle School together (now Swann) so it’s been dope to see his creativity and ambition carry him all the way from Greensboro to NYC and now LA. 🏝 Awakenings come in many forms… and sometimes with couture footwear and exclusive labels!! 🤩

Quentin worked his magic and put together my look for a fancy gala!! If you need a personal stylist, check him out at www.quentinfears.com

#mrqfears #personalstylist #fashionstylist #lastylist #ukuvusa #awakening #growth #progress #inspiration #couturefashion #dapper

GUEST: 

Quentin Fears - IG: mrqfears

June 2022 (Greensboro, NC) -- Kelly McKinnon had been happily married to her husband of nearly 19 years when, earlier this year, he shared some news that literally took her breath away. What do you do when the partner you thought you knew tells you something that will change both of your lives forever? 

In this episode, Kelly opens up about her journey of involuntary awakening over the past several months, and her quest to create a new reality for herself. 

GUEST:

Kelly McKinnon -- IG: @vkmckinnon

June 2022 (Greensboro, NC) -- The last time Ray McKinnon was a guest on Ukuvusa in October 2020, he was joined by his wife, Kelly, for the episode called "Awakening to Our Emotions." Earlier this year, after nearly 19 years of marriage and raising 4 children together, Ray shared some news with Kelly that would forever change the nature and course of their relationship. 

Navigating sexuality in 2022 is some kind of different. In this episode, Ray bears it all. Listen, question, and learn as he shares the newest chapter of his story... awakening to his sexuality. 

GUEST:

Ray Shawn McKinnon -- IG: @raysmckinnon