unMASKing with Male Educators: Creating Emotionally Safe Classrooms & Schools for Male Students

Ever Forward Club’s Ashanti Branch is joined by Justin Odom. Justin is a talented filmmaker and senior at Encinal High School.

(1:25) Ashanti’s introduction.

(4:00) We learn about how Justin and Ashanti met, and about Justin’s background, his work as a filmmaker, and how he is bringing the Million Mask Movement to his high school.

(5:45) Justin talks about the first time he made a mask during his freshman year. Ashanti celebrates how, three years later, Justin is now entering a leadership role.

(8:55) Ashanti and Justin make their masks together.

(11:42) Ashanti shares the front of his mask - funny, serious, and hard working. He shares how he tends to mix his humorous side with his serious side, and sometimes to his own detriment.

(15:02) Justin shares his front - funny, serious, and protective. He shares more about how he has a giving, selfless personality. And he shares how he has turned into a more serious and protective person.

(17:40) Justin reflects on the mask-making process, how life changes day by day, and it makes every mask different.

(18:25) Ashanti shares the back of his mask - fear of failure, sadness about death, and childhood trauma. He talks about attempting to balance his fear of failure and his self-esteem. He shares how he thought he would eventually get over his father’s death, and didn’t think it would stay with him for this long.

(21:11) Justin encourages Ashanti to finish writing the book Ashanti has been putting off. They discuss how not taking big risks can, at times, be a bigger risk than the risk itself.

(24:42) Justin shares the back of his mask - lost, lonely, and depressed. He talks about his worries about the future, keeping his friend group small, and his battles with depression.

(31:00) Justin opens up about what it took to start his Youtube channel and open his heart.

(34:25) Ashanti and Justin discuss what conversations his Youtube channel sparked with Justin’s family.

(39:45) Ashanti shares how Justin’s work inspired him to be more courageous with the videos and truths he records. Justin shares how he has been able to reflect during the pandemic.

(42:45) Justin and Ashanti talk about different types of relationships: how some are lifelong relationships and some hold specific, finite reasons.

(45:00) They discuss how there are two sides to everything, how the pain of love is necessary for people to appreciate the ecstasy.

(52:00) Justin and Ashanti relate to the fact that they are both giving people, but do not want to burden people with their own needs.

(53:30) The men wrap up - discussing future work Justin will be doing for EFC, and sharing some final thoughts and future projects.

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Connect with Justin Odom:

Instagram: instagram.com/justin.odom_

Youtube: Justin Relates

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Create your own mask anonymously at www.100kmasks.com

If you are interested in being on the Face to Face podcast, email us at [email protected]

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Connect with Ashanti Branch:

Instagram:    instagram.com/branchspeaks

Facebook:  facebook.com/BranchSpeaks

Twitter:   twitter.com/BranchSpeaks

LinkedIn:    linkedin.com/in/ashantibranch

Ever Forward Club’s Ashanti Branch is joined by Nana Oduro Frimpong, a renowned artist, and photographer based in Ghana. Frimpong was recently named a 2020 Adobe Rising Star of photography. 

(1:37) Ashanti’s introduction. 

(3:55) Frimpong introduces himself and the journey that led him to art. 

(5:20) Ashanti and Frimpong go back to the moment when Frimpong fell in love with photography and how it started while sitting under a tree, taking photos, at a time when he was deferring his college education to help his mother financially. 

(11:10) The men prepare to share their masks, and Ashanti gives context to the mask-making process. 

(12:50) Ashanti shares the front of his mask - funny, serious, and hard working. 

(14:25) Frimpong shares the front of his mask - talented, happy, strong, hard-working, and friendly. 

(15:20) Ashanti shares the back of his mask - fear, sadness, and trauma. They discuss the difference between fear of failure and fear of success, whether success actually raises more questions and uncertainty than failure. 

(18:13) Frimpong shares the back of his mask - angry, lazy, doubtful, joy of being alone, funny, and sarcastic. We learn a little bit about each, and then fully examine why Frimpong holds a lot of anger, and why that anger comes back to being conditioned as a child to compare himself to others. 

(21:32) Both men relate to the idea of not being satisfied with their work, whether it is Ashanti’s videos or Frimpong’s artwork, they both have an inner critic with which to reckon. 

(24:18) Frimpong shares how his mother fosters his creativity, whereas friends from his community have difficulty pursuing their passions when their parents have differing expectations. 

(27:00) We learn about what’s next for Frimpong, how he wants to help others become an artist like himself, and his artistic process - going from sketches to photography to Photoshop. 

(29:13) Ashanti shares his mask sketchbook. 

(31:44) Frimpong shares one of his most recent pieces, which is very similar to Ashanti’s work with the front and back of masks. 

(36:20) Frimpong gives a message to the young people in his community and shares how you can get in touch with him. 

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 Connect with Nana Oduro Frimpong: 

Instagram: instagram.com/frizzlemadeit 

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Create your own mask anonymously at www.100kmasks.com 

If you are interested in being on the Face to Face podcast, email us at [email protected] 

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Connect with Ashanti Branch: 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/branchspeaks 

Instagram:    https://www.instagram.com/branchspeaks/ 

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/BranchSpeaks 

Twitter:   https://twitter.com/BranchSpeaks 

LinkedIn:    www.linkedin.com/in/ashantibranch 

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Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/branch-speaks/message

Ever Forward Club’s Ashanti Branch is joined by Chris Ategeka, an entrepreneur, engineer, curator of TEDx Oakland, and the Founder/CEO of UCOT (Unintended Consequences of Technology).

(1:25) Ashanti’s Introduction.

(4:07) Chris introduces himself - an entrepreneur, engineer, father, and Ugandan. Chris and Ashanti share how they met and have gotten to know each other.

(6:00) Chris and Ashanti make their masks together, and share thoughts throughout the process.

(11:55) Chris shares the front of his mask - funny, resilient, and hard-working - before Ashanti shares the front of his mask - funny, serious, and hard working.

(15:00) Chris shares the back of his mask - failure, anxiety, and vulnerability. He reflects on how the function of vulnerability, to him, is tied to history, social class, and privilege - especially as someone who came from homelessness and poverty.

(17:42) Ashanti shares the back of his mask - fear (not enough), sadness, and childhood trauma. It prompts him to reflect on how comparing himself to others gives him the feelings of not being enough, and how being prideful and bragging about his accomplishments was conditioned out of him at a young age.

(20:30) The men continue to discuss how class and privilege play a huge role in someone’s comfort with vulnerability. They talk about the turning point, when embarrassment becomes a badge of honor, in our “culture of conquering.” They talk about how, as public speakers, the audience’s class and comfort dictate what they share while on the stage.

(30:00) Ashanti shares how he was battling Covid-19 when he was a guest on Chris’s podcast. It leads to a discussion on why, even with those we are close to, we still hold back our vulnerability.

(36:45) Chris breaks down how everything in life comes down to safety and security. Ashanti relates this back to his work and his own childhood - how he, and now the young men he works with, sought safety and security, feared judgment and consequences, and did not yet know how to communicate the discomfort behind this search.

(44:00) Chris shares his thoughts on how to encourage more people to make a mask and be vulnerable. He also gives a brief history of a similar platform to the Million Mask Movement, called PostSecret.

(47:45) Chris shares his final thoughts for young listeners, and then the men wrap up.

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Connect with Chris Ategeka:

Instagram: instagram.com/chrisategeka

Twitter: twitter.com/chrisategeka

Website and podcast: www.christopherategeka.com

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Create your own mask anonymously at www.100kmasks.com

If you are interested in being on the Face to Face podcast, email us at [email protected]

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Connect with Ashanti Branch:

Instagram:    instagram.com/branchspeaks

Facebook:  facebook.com/BranchSpeaks

Twitter: twitter.com/BranchSpeaks

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ashantibranch

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Send in a voice message:

https://anchor.fm/branch-speaks/message

Ever Forward Club’s Ashanti Branch is joined by Mike Sagun, a former Oaklander, a Certified Professional Men’s Coach, and an EVRYMAN Facilitator.

(1:20) Ashanti’s introduction

(3:50) Mike shares his background, as a business owner, men’s coach, and Bay Area native.

(6:00) After an early break in the production, Ashanti and Mike ruminate on the responsibilities of a leader.

(10:53) Mike and Ashanti discuss how they met in Oakland and Joshua Tree, and open up a general discussion on how masks function in our society and play a role in the social media era.

(18:15) Mike goes into more detail about the men’s spaces he leads and the unmasking that goes on, before Ashanti relates this to his own work with youth in the Ever Forward Club.

(25:35) The men begin to share their masks. The front of Mike’s mask prompts conversation about his experiences as a theater performer, and what it’s like to “perform” while holding in genuine trauma from real life.

(28:13) Ashanti shares the front of his mask, and the men discuss the idea that the front of the mask is a coping mechanism that is subconsciously dealing with the true feelings behind the mask.

(35:40) Mike shares the back of his mask, and how at a young age he was trained to hide anger and embarrassment.

(39:30) Ashanti shares the back of his mask, and how navigating different expectations between home and in the outside world led to struggles with how to properly express his anger. It also prompts a discussion about self-worth, and the habit of comparing his work and organization with others around him.

(45:40) The men further their discussion about anger, and how their relationship with anger has matured over time, now understanding it as a “guardian of boundaries.”

(48:55) Ashanti shares how, at a young age, his anger was taken over by rage, an expression of his frustrations behind the mask.

(51:22) Mike pushes the audience to try taking off their masks, and gradually raise the bar for themselves over time. He then shares how you can get in touch with him.

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Connect with Mike:

Website: www.mikesagun.com

Instagram: @mike.sagun

Facebook: Mike Sagun Coaching, LLC

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Create your own mask anonymously at www.100kmasks.com

If you are interested in being on the Face to Face podcast, email us at [email protected]

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Connect with Ashanti Branch:

Instagram:    https://www.instagram.com/branchspeaks/

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/BranchSpeaks

Twitter:   https://twitter.com/BranchSpeaks

LinkedIn:    www.linkedin.com/in/ashantibranch

Ever Forward Club’s Ashanti Branch is joined by Khiari Allen-Infante, a high school senior, Ever Forward Club member, and graduate of EFC’s social-emotional leadership academy.

(3:00) Ashanti’s introduction

(6:10) Ashanti welcomes Khiari and introduces Khiari’s role with Ever Forward Club and the podcast.

(7:10) Khiari and Ashanti make their masks together.

(12:15) Khiari shares more about himself, an Alameda High School senior, who has lived all over the Bay Area in his lifetime.

(13:45) Ashanti and Khiari connect over how they both initially grew up in single-mother households, and both had experienced similar transitions: Khiari experienced his father coming back into his life in the 9th grade; and both Khiari and Ashanti experienced stepfathers coming into their lives and creating uneven dynamics.

(20:20) The men discuss how Ashanti saw something in Khiari’s eyes the last time he saw him, and they circle closer towards something deep down in Khiari’s heart.

(25:15) Khiari and Ashanti share the fronts of their masks.

(29:20) Khiari and Ashanti share the backs of their masks, connecting over Khiari’s disappointment in himself and Ashanti’s fear of failure.

(32:55) Khiari reflects on the expectations of his family, and how not meeting these expectations, especially with the sacrifices his mother has been making, is filling him with regret and disappointment.

(34:05) Ashanti shares a science experiment conducted with monkeys in a cage, which may teach Khiari something about societal expectations.

(37:50) After sharing more about his regrets and bringing himself down, Khiari receives encouragement from Ashanti to engage in more positive self-talk and let his positive assets shine brightly to those around him.

(44:00) Khiari shares his responsibilities at home, and how his stepfather moving across the country, and the ensuing stressors over the custody of a sibling, are causing Khiari to take in the stress that his family is projecting onto him.

(47:15) Ashanti and Khiari discuss anger, and whether Khiari’s is not actually balancing emotions, but rather suppressing them and preventing himself from finding a reason to care.

(52:20) Now that Khiari is a senior, the men discuss how Khiari is finding his reason to care, and now is developing an ability to lead other youth around him and youth in the EFC.

(57:00) After wrapping up, Khiari shares his last word.

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Create your own mask anonymously at www.100kmasks.com

If you are interested in being on the Face to Face podcast, email us at [email protected]

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Connect with Khiari:

Instagram:    https://www.instagram.com/key.are.e/

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Connect with Ashanti Branch:

Facebook:  www.facebook.com/BranchSpeaks

Twitter:   twitter.com/BranchSpeaks

LinkedIn:    www.linkedin.com/in/ashantibranch

Ever Forward Club’s Ashanti Branch is joined by Nafis Ricks, a mental health advocate, coach, and collaborator with www.forblackmen.org.

(1:30) Ashanti’s introduction

(3:03) Nafis shares his background, his work as a mental health advocate, his passion for the field of psychology and aspirations to earn a PhD, and how sports and an athletic identity taught him some essential lessons about mental health and vulnerability.

(8:18) Nafis and Ashanti reflect on their childhood: Nafis shares the different types of love and connection he experienced between his mother and father; Ashanti shares his connection with his grandfather and how he yearned for something deeper.

(12:52) Nafis shares some of the moments of his life that caused him to rediscover his sense of self: The passing of his brother; being diagnosed with mental illnesses, and seeing the same warning signs in other men while coaching basketball, and deciding to quit professional basketball.

(17:05) Ashanti and Nafis share the front of their masks, as well as the back.

(19:20) Both men share the ways in which they both feel overwhelmed. Nafis shares how uncovering the whole story of his people is overwhelming; Ashanti shares his worries about his brother who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia.

(25:15) Ashanti and Nafis both also share similar fears. Nafis fears not fulfilling his purpose and wonders what’s next in his liberation, what’s next after leaving basketball. And Ashanti finds common ground in how he left engineering to leave a deeper legacy, and he feels the pressure to live up to this calling.

(30:22) The men talk about the solutions and work they do to unmask and quell these fears - Nafis reflects on seeing a psychologist, a growing relationship with his girlfriend, and hosting meetings for black men to be vulnerable.

(33:00) We learn more about Nafis’s Zoom meetings, his work with ForBlackMen.org  , and his ability to connect with NCAA athletes on a deep level.

(42:40) Nafis and Ashanti discuss future collaborations and how you can reach out to Nafis.

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Connect with Nafis:

Instagram: www.instagram.com/nafisricks2

Instagram: www.instagram.com/collabmgmt

Email: [email protected]

www.forblackmen.org

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Create your own mask anonymously at www.100kmasks.com

If you are interested in being on the Face to Face podcast, email us at [email protected]

---

Connect with Ashanti Branch:

Instagram: www.instagram.com/branchspeaks

Facebook: www.facebook.com/BranchSpeaks

Twitter: twitter.com/BranchSpeaks

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashantibranch/

Ever Forward Club’s Ashanti Branch is joined by Mark Green, keynote speaker and author of the books The Little #MeToo Book for Men and Remaking Manhood.

(3:11) Mark shares information about his publishing house, ThinkPlay Partners, NYC.

(5:48) We learn about how starting a blog on masculinity 12 years ago, and stepping outside the traditional rules of masculinity led Mark to the work he does today as an author, work that is closely tied to Ashanti’s work around masks.

(12:45) Mark and Ashanti reflect on how they both found their calling: Mark came to men’s work at the age of 56, and Ashanti remembers how certain behaviors were considered “feminine” in his cultural background, and always struggled with this dissonance.

(16:27) Both men embark on a winding, compelling discussion on the theories behind how troublesome behaviors associated with “being a man” start in early childhood.

(33:20) Mark and Ashanti begin to share their masks.

(35:00) After sharing the front of their masks, they discuss Ashanti’s drive to raise his family out of poor circumstances, and how it’s intertwined with race and power in our society.

(38:40) After sharing the back of their masks, they discuss grief, and how Mark “wasted half a century”; Ashanti then shares his grief over his father’s death, and how it affected how he questioned traditional masculinity from childhood onward.

(43:42) Mark and Ashanti discuss how our culture of competition builds subconscious patterns within us that cause a tension within us that many refuse to understand.

(49:30) Mark and Ashanti both become deeply moved. After getting to truly know each other they both begin to confront demons in their past.

(58:30) The men begin to wrap up their conversation, and Mark Shares more about his work, social media, and website, remakingmanhood.com

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Connect with Mark Green

Website: http://remakingmanhood.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/remakingmanhood?lang=en

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/remakingmanhood/?hl=en

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Create your own mask anonymously at www.100kmasks.com

If you are interested in being on the Face to Face podcast, email us at [email protected]

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Connect with Ashanti Branch

Instagram:    https://www.instagram.com/branchspeaks/

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/BranchSpeaks

Twitter:   https://twitter.com/BranchSpeaks

LinkedIn:    www.linkedin.com/in/ashantibranch

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Send in a voice message:

https://anchor.fm/branch-speaks/message

Ever Forward Club’s Ashanti Branch is joined by Shawn Dove, CEO of the Campaign for Black Male Achievement (CBMA). An accomplished leader, community-builder, and advocate for children and families, Shawn has held a prominent position as mentor in Ashanti's life. The two share a spiritual connection, an intangible brotherhood, and the fronts and backs of their masks flow and roll open without ever specifically naming the activity, happening through free-flowing conversation, story, and reflection.

(1:38) Ashanti introduces the podcast.

(4:11) Shawn and Ashanti reflect on the mantra of the season, the current state of affairs, the tumultuous year of 2020, and the importance of moving from extrinsic motivators to intrinsic ones.

(10:55) Shawn tells a story about his trip to Ghana and a retreat to Belize, where he feels that he faced death in the form of a dream - and his willingness to fight it gave him the conviction to continue his life’s work.

(19:45) Shawn and Ashanti reflect on when they first met and connected, the importance of setting lofty goals, and how fear is integral to the history of the Million Mask Movement, and how Ashanti is coming to terms with a particular moment in its history.

(28:50) They discuss impostor syndrome, and Shawn tells a story from his childhood about avoiding abduction as a 9-year-old boy in New York City. He shares how he is just now realizing this was trauma and not a badge of honor.

(38:20) Ashanti and Shawn begin taking off their masks.

(43:24) Then, they ruminate on the common idea that “comparison is the thief of joy”, and on how male vulnerability is now becoming more accepted in our culture - and what these concepts mean when looking back on their past, examining their present, and projecting into the future.

(52:33) Shawn shares details on his upcoming book, I Too Am America: On Loving and Leading Black Boys in America, and shares how sunsetting CBMA is preparing him for his third act.

(57:15) Shawn and Ashanti acknowledge a “kindred brotherhood”, and how Ashanti’s prior fears to reach out to Shawn in tough moments were always overcome by this deep connection.

(1:02:40) The men close the show, but not before Ashanti is interrupted by an unexpected visitor and is able to show off his bilingual chops.

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Check out Shawn's:

Twitter: twitter.com/DoveSoars

Instagram: instagram.com/shawn_dove

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Create your own mask anonymously at www.100kmasks.com

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Connect with Ashanti Branch:

Instagram:    https://www.instagram.com/branchspeaks/

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/BranchSpeaks

Twitter:   https://twitter.com/BranchSpeaks

LinkedIn:    www.linkedin.com/in/ashantibranch

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If you are interested in being on the Face to Face podcast, email us at [email protected]

Ever Forward Club’s Ashanti Branch is joined by pastor, youth leader, and cyber security business operator Spencer Romero. Spencer is not a stranger to the mask-making process, as Ashanti and Spencer have known each other for ten years. Ashanti has seen Spencer grow into a wonderful pastor and youth leader through their affiliation with TheMovement.church, in Oakland, California, whose mission is to "Overwhelm Oakland with Love."

(3:00) Ashanti’s introduction.

(5:29) Spencer introduces himself and his work, and how being a young father changed the trajectory of his entire life.

(9:00) Spencer and Ashanti reflect on the process of creating a mask. They discuss Spencer’s prior history with Ashanti’s mask making workshop, and how making a mask allows individuals to lift their judgment away from the world, for just a moment, and focus on themselves.

(14:30) Spencer reflects on what it was like growing up in a traditional, masculine, sports culture, and what this upbringing means to him as a father of three.

(19:46) Ashanti and Spencer begin sharing the front of their masks.

(24:58) Then, the men share the back of their masks.

(27:28) This leads to a discussion about how fear of failure and anxiety are deeply intertwined. They both  are rooted in the question “what if?”, which can rule our minds and prevent us from being present and known.

(31:10) Spencer and Ashanti then discuss leadership, and how carrying past trauma while grabbing onto false identities can prevent one from truly connecting as a leader.

(43:31) The men wrap up, and Spencer shares his final thoughts with listeners.

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Check out Spencer’s

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spencerromero/?hl=en

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencer-romero-8084a156/

Work with The Movement: https://themovement.church/podcast/tag/spencer+romero

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Create your own mask anonymously at www.100kmasks.com

If you are interested in being on the Face to Face podcast, email us at [email protected]

--

Send in a voice message:

https://anchor.fm/branch-speaks/message

--

Connect with Ashanti Branch:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/branchspeaks/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ashantibranch

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BranchSpeaks

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/ashantibranch

Ever Forward Club’s Ashanti Branch is joined by educator, activist, and podcast host Wali White. Wali previously hosted Ashanti on The 730 Podcast. Check out the bottom of the notes to be linked to Wali’s podcast.

As a New York City school teacher, Wali, like Ashanti, has witnessed first hand the power of shared vulnerability to create life changing relationships.

(3:28) Ashanti introduces the podcast.

(6:13) Wali shares his background as a podcaster, basketball coach, school teacher, and activist fighting to end capital punishment in our justice system.

(11:11) We learn why Wali created his podcast - to help men carve out vulnerable spaces for themselves, in order to find parallels with each other and validate experiences that were once kept inside.

(14:34) The men share the front of their masks.

(16:32) Through personal experiences with sexual abuse, the men share how hearing others’ stories can cause a chain reaction of moments and realizations, opening up the floodgates that allow one to transition from fear of being broken to relief that they are not alone.

(20:32) Through both of their experiences as educators, Ashanti and Wali reflect on how many children are suffering in silence, and how the state infrastructure and its faults hangs above all as a barrier to how we deal with trauma, and how we connect with students.

(29:27) The men share the back of their masks. Wali focuses on his insecurity and need for affirmation. Ashanti talks about his fear of failure.

(35:30) Wali and Ashanti reflect generally on the importance of their work: how “when you reveal, you heal”, and how Ashanti’s mask workshop is a form of “counseling” without the societal stigma.

(39:48) Wali shares more details about The 730 Podcast, drops some final advice to the listeners, and shares his fight to end capital punishment and provide justice for Keith Lamar.

(47:55) Wali shares more about Keith Lamar.

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Check out Wali’s

Podcast, including the podcast he mentions with Imani McGee Stafford: https://www.the730podcast.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the730podcast/?hl=en

Twitter: https://twitter.com/the730podcast?lang=en

Learn more about Keith Lamar:

https://www.keithlamar.org/

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/justice-for-keith-lamar-a-short-documentary#/

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Send in a voice message:

https://anchor.fm/branch-speaks/message

Connect with Ashanti

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/branchspeaks/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ashantibranch

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/BranchSpeaks

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/ashantibranch