In PART ONE of this 2-Part episode, I talk about how I ended up with a job in political advocacy. I talk about what led me to the decision, and, the steps I took to land my first gigs.

This episode is mostly background to illustrate what led to my "WHY."

It's often been said that if you take the average of 5 people you hang around the most, you'll see yourself. We also know that negativity is contagious, so keeping positive people in your circle is a must!

I chat with the amazing Kimberly Willis about this and related topics.

Kaleb Elijah is one of those amazing individuals who you follow on Facebook that are always emitting positive energy, so I just had to have him on the podcast.

We talk a little bit about HOW he influences his thoughts, and how those thoughts influence his actions.

Hopefully, you find this as valuable as I did.

Today, Kristopher J. Mosely is a band director at a high school just outside Houston, Texas. In this episode he talks about what led him to music, and a few nuggets of encouragement that will work no matter what field you work in. One of my favorite pieces from this conversation was how he studies the rehearsal processes of other bands. When asked "Why?" He says a band only performs 10% of the time at most.... the rest of that time is spent rehearsing...and that's where the magic happens!

Niesha Whitt is one of my Facebook friends who's about to take a leap of faith going into a new career as a traveling RN. We talk about that toward the end of the show, but we start with the topic: Dating: Broke and Boujie LOL. She sent me a screenshot of an Ebony article titled: Dear "Broke" Men: Don't Punish a Woman for Not Wanting to Date You. Whoa!!! Right? I have so many degreed Black female friends that are versions of the main character in the "Being Mary Jane" series. After we shut the interview down, we started chopping it up and came up with a plan to do a series on dating. OMG. It's going to be lit!

What do you think about this?

Darryl Williams is the current Director of Bands at Texas College in Tyler, Texas, but I met him when he was my high school band director at Westbury High School in the early 2000's. Since then, he took a leap of faith leaving his full time job to finish his graduate degree before checking off one of his goals: to become a collegiate band director.

What are your goals? If you cant think of any, no worries.

Where do you want to be in 5 years?

What do you need to do today to move in that direction.

What do you need to have accomplished by next year to be on track?

Is there anything currently holding you back from doing these things?

If so, what do you need to do to

Cailon and I go way back to 9th Grade World Geography. We start off catching up on old times before rolling in to talk a bit about her short stint at a Women's Prison in Texas, the importance of family, and that's about it before she has to hop off and get to a meeting.

I'll bring her back for Episode 13.

How do you keep your head above water when you have a million things going on at the same time? Well, my friend Irnise is the personification of grace, resourcefulness, intelligence and strength---even in the midst of everything. She talks about her activism, how she balances her marriage, motherhood and work.

Ian "Scooter" Haddock is the curator of thenormalanomaly.com, an activist and advocate currently living in Houston, Texas. A few years ago, he took a HUGE step leaving his former career to dive deeeeeeep into his passion for advocacy. He's a fascinating person, so I KNEW this conversation would be easy.

Every movement needs allies, but all allies don't know how they can be most effective in their activism. In this episode, I talk to Lisa Marie Hayes who I've coined "a cool ass White Lady" as we talk about how she came to be as conscious as she is today, how she became such a passionate ally, and advice for other White people who want to understand their place in today's climate.

Lisa founded Washington For Good Policing W4PG.COM to bring police accountability to Washington State. I met her through an initiative last year and have admired her tenacity and transparency. Lisa's not afraid to ask my unabashed opinion on certain subjects, because she understands she doesn't have the "Black Perspective," and I always give it to her.