Top Rank Podcast

For our final episode of 2020, we welcomed a personal hero of both of ours—the trailblazing designer, entrepreneur, and thinker April Walker (@iamaprilwalker), who in the past three decades has been instrumental in shaping the industry and aesthetic category we now call “streetwear.”

In 1987, Walker launched her custom clothing boutique, Fashion in Effect, out of her own home. The following year, she opened her first shop on Greene Avenue in Brooklyn, paving the way for the birth of her seminal ready-to-wear label, Walker Wear, adored by the likes of Aaliyah, Mike Tyson, Tupac Shakur, and the Notorious B.I.G., to name just a few. For our 34th episode, Walker shares snapshots from her experience bearing witness to the interconnected evolutions of Hip Hop and New York fashion, and explains why collective work and cooperative economics are crucial for inventing a different and better future for the fashion industry.

https://www.instagram.com/iamaprilwalker/

https://www.instagram.com/Walkerwear/

As mega media companies merge, and social media platforms siphon us into echo chambers, independent content creation remains one of the most empowering aspects of our current moment. Those with access to a computer and wifi connection can develop and distribute their own media - and point of view - with a sense of urgency, creativity and scale that was once thought to be unimaginable.

@lifewithjrdn is a writer, curator of the Instagram account @true_to_us and host of the podcast “Dating in NYC. Her work spans everything from lifestyle and fashion blogging, to bold IGTV videos on sex positivity and safety.

Check out Jourdan's work http://www.lifewithjrdn.com/

https://www.instagram.com/lifewithjrdn/

https://www.instagram.com/datinginnycpod/

https://www.instagram.com/true_to_us/

As mega media companies merge, and social media platforms siphon us into echo chambers, independent content creation remains one of the most empowering aspects of our current moment. Those with access to a computer and wifi connection can develop and distribute their own media - and point of view - with a sense of urgency, creativity and scale that was once thought to be unimaginable.

@lifewithjrdn is a writer, curator of the Instagram account @true_to_us and host of the podcast “Dating in NYC. Her work spans everything from lifestyle and fashion blogging, to bold IGTV videos on sex positivity and safety.

Check out Jourdan's work http://www.lifewithjrdn.com/

https://www.instagram.com/lifewithjrdn/

https://www.instagram.com/datinginnycpod/

https://www.instagram.com/true_to_us/

It is impossible to separate the workings of the art world – and what these institutions deem valuable — with the compounding racist, sexist, and classist ideas that run through American society. For artists who identify with the pan-ethnic category of Latinx, institutional marginalization in the contemporary art world brings forth urgent questions around the politics of identity, the marketing of ethnicity, and the future of arts institutions. To unpack these dynamics, we spoke to cultural anthropologist and NYU professor Dr. Arlene Davila, about her new book, "Latinx Art: Artists, Markets and Politics" from Duke University Press.

Our listeners get 30% off their purchase of "Latinx Art" on the Duke University Press website by using the code "E20DVILA" at checkout

https://www.dukeupress.edu/latinx-art

Follow Professor Davila on Twitter @ArleneDavila1

It is impossible to separate the workings of the art world – and what these institutions deem valuable — with the compounding racist, sexist, and classist ideas that run through American society. For artists who identify with the pan-ethnic category of Latinx, institutional marginalization in the contemporary art world brings forth urgent questions around the politics of identity, the marketing of ethnicity, and the future of arts institutions. To unpack these dynamics, we spoke to cultural anthropologist and NYU professor Dr. Arlene Davila, about her new book, "Latinx Art: Artists, Markets and Politics" from Duke University Press.

Our listeners get 30% off their purchase of "Latinx Art" on the Duke University Press website by using the code "E20DVILA" at checkout

https://www.dukeupress.edu/latinx-art

Follow Professor Davila on Twitter @ArleneDavila1

Tech is one of the biggest, fastest changing, and most in-demand industries in terms both of services and of jobs. It is also a fraught and largely yet-to-be traversed territory, that comes with many critical and even existential questions, from AI and automation to privacy and surveillance. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the role of technology in our lives into high relief, while also forcing us to totally reimagine the workplace, as countless careers are becoming remote, perhaps indefinitely.

On this episode, we spoke with Jerelyn Rodriguez (@jerelyn_r) & Joe Carrano (@joeknows718), founders of The Knowledge House—an education organization in the Bronx that offers technical training and professional development to youth and young adults. Their programming provides students with the skills to pursue of range of careers in the tech industry, from data science to web design.

Check out The Knowledge House at https://www.theknowledgehouse.org/

and on social media @TheKnowledgeHouse

Tech is one of the biggest, fastest changing, and most in-demand industries in terms both of services and of jobs. It is also a fraught and largely yet-to-be traversed territory, that comes with many critical and even existential questions, from AI and automation to privacy and surveillance. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the role of technology in our lives into high relief, while also forcing us to totally reimagine the workplace, as countless careers are becoming remote, perhaps indefinitely.

On this episode, we spoke with Jerelyn Rodriguez (@jerelyn_r) & Joe Carrano (@joeknows718), founders of The Knowledge House—an education organization in the Bronx that offers technical training and professional development to youth and young adults. Their programming provides students with the skills to pursue of range of careers in the tech industry, from data science to web design.

Check out The Knowledge House at https://www.theknowledgehouse.org/

and on social media @TheKnowledgeHouse

Over the past few weeks, starting in Minneapolis and spreading across the US and the globe, people have taken to the streets to express their fury, grief and immense collective frustration at a broken system built upon genocide, exploitation, racial capitalism and police brutality—a system that has resisted the same demands for change over generations.

We are in the midst of an enormous cultural shift in the ongoing struggle for liberation for Black people, as well as all people of color, and, as always, some of the most important work is being led by young people voicing their demands for the future.

For our 30th episode, we spoke with Kiara Williams, Gaya Rajesh and Cindy Kamtchoum of Warriors in the Garden—a newly-founded collective of New York activists dedicated to nonviolent protest and combating police brutality and all forms of systemic oppression—about their take on the moment.

Follow @warriorsinthegarden on IG to join the movement

https://www.instagram.com/warriorsinthegarden/

Over the past few weeks, starting in Minneapolis and spreading across the US and the globe, people have taken to the streets to express their fury, grief and immense collective frustration at a broken system built upon genocide, exploitation, racial capitalism and police brutality—a system that has resisted the same demands for change over generations.

We are in the midst of an enormous cultural shift in the ongoing struggle for liberation for Black people, as well as all people of color, and, as always, some of the most important work is being led by young people voicing their demands for the future.

For our 30th episode, we spoke with Kiara Williams, Gaya Rajesh and Cindy Kamtchoum of Warriors in the Garden—a newly-founded collective of New York activists dedicated to nonviolent protest and combating police brutality and all forms of systemic oppression—about their take on the moment.

Follow @warriorsinthegarden on IG to join the movement

https://www.instagram.com/warriorsinthegarden/

We are all being watched. From our phones to our Facebook activity, our data is being collected—and, in many cases, sold—to target us with ads, predict our identities and interests, determine our credit worthiness, and even evaluate our propensity for commiting crimes.

In the midst of a crucial moment in conversations about surveillance and public “safety,” we talked with Sareeta Amrute, associate professor of anthropology at the University of Washington and director of research at NYC think tank Data & Society, to discuss the history of the data and surveillance economies and what’s at stake now.