YOU Better!

In this spiritually-rich episode, Kiesha talks with proud father, artist, actor, producer, author, and activist, Aaron Ableman.

Aaron shares his unusual life story, from being born in Michael Douglas’s basement to traveling the world for his award-winning work to support children and families.

Together, they discuss the challenges of being renaissance people in a world that encourages hyper-specialization, the lack of systemic support for parenthood, and what it means to be a Rebel of Kindness.

Episode Resources:

• Follow Aaron on Instagram
• Visit Aaron’s Website
• Pre-order Aaron’s Book Rebels Of Kindness: How Loving-Care Can Transform Self, Others and Planet

Contact Info:

• Email hosting & speaker booking inquiries for Kiesha to info @ kieshagarrison.co
• Follow Kiesha on LinkedIn: @kieshagarrison
• Follow Kiesha on IG: @kiesha_garrison

Directly support the podcast financially:

• Cash App
• Venmo
• PayPal.Me

To connect with host Kiesha B. Free, visit kiesha.org

Welcome back to YOU Better! We’re so excited for season two of the podcast.

Today’s episode is full of vibrance and joy as Kiesha talks with Aramis O. Hamer (AO for short), an exuberant artist and spiritual woman. Together, they follow Aramis’s journey as she decided to pack up her life with her husband and move from her hometown of Chicago to Seattle for nursing school, only to discover that the kind of healing she truly felt called to do was through art.

Now, Aramis paints enormous and beautiful murals all over Seattle, highlighting the beauty, the splendor, and the magic of Black women. She’s an exuberant soul who is overflowing with lessons to share about spirituality, energy, self belief, self image, and how everything you want is on the other side of fear.

Episode Resources:

• Visit Aramis’s Website
• Follow Aramis on Instagram
• Read Aramis’s Book Recommendations: You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero, The Illusion of Money by Kyle Cease & You Are a Badass at Making Money by Jen Sincero

Contact Info:

• Email hosting & speaker booking inquiries for Kiesha to info @ kieshagarrison.co
• Follow Kiesha on LinkedIn: @kieshagarrison
• Follow Kiesha on IG: @kiesha_garrison

Directly support the podcast financially:

• Cash App
• Venmo
• PayPal.Me

To connect with host Kiesha B. Free, visit kiesha.org

This episode features a compilation of Kiesha's reflections, questions, and self-discovery advice from the second half of her 2022 interview guests.  Let these moments of post-conversation musing inspire your end of year journaling or your beginning of the year intention-setting.

Reflections are from the following episodes:

• Spread Truth and Joy with Alliah L. Agostini
• Get to the Other Side with Allison Zinczenko
• Brace for Impact with Bobby Morgan
• Reload Yourself with Latorsha Peake
• Be More Than Enough with Dr. Shelly Bhowmik
• Walk Through the Fire with Kim Blue
• Break Free From Normal with Prairie Rose Free
• Master Self-Discipline with Kena Tchiteya
• Come Home to Yourself with Troy Williams
• Embrace Your Pain with Joy White
• Get in the Game with Chipalo Street
• Pursue Your Dreams with Anthony Cole
• Unlock Your Voice with Quinn Conyers
• Face Yourself with Coax Marie
• Get Strategic with Tonya Fewell
• Value Life with Kaska Adoteye
• Redefining Self with Tomasina Boone

To connect with host Kiesha B. Free, visit kiesha.org

This episode features a compilation of Kiesha's reflections, questions, and self-discovery advice from the first half of her 2022 interview guests.  Let these moments of post-conversation musing inspire your end of year journaling or your beginning of the year intention-setting.

Reflections are from the following episodes:

• Take the Leap with Sukie Jefferson
• Heal from Within with Tira Feierstein
• Bloom in Hope & Love with Charles E. Sims Jr.
• Get Rooted in Community with Yaribel Mercedes
• Be Present with Mark Hatcher
• Know that Happiness Takes Courage with A. Jade Smith
• Find the Edge of Growth with Phill Nosworthy
• Observe Where You Are with Les Alfred
• Let Empathy Change You with Nyah Peyton
• Superpower of Sensitivity with Ben Shimizu
• Choose Joy & Come Alive with Dr. Jun Love Young
• Know You Are Worthy of Dignity with Nikki Gane-Butler
• Apply the Right Pressure with Aspen Fitzgerald-Dorsey
• Reclaim Your Imagination with Zerandrian Morris
• Know that You Can Matter with Shaya Lyon
• Replenish Your Soul with Kev Marcus
• Overflow out of the Box with Shermica Farquhar

To connect with host Kiesha B. Free, visit kiesha.org

Tomasina Boone is the founder of The Curls and Natural Hair Beauty Place, a unique space that is the only service provider of it’s kind in Sydney to provide a retail shop for great quality products and a beauty space dedicated to the care, maintenance, and styling of naturally curly hair.  As a former Essence Magazine Advertising Beauty Director, Tomasina moved to Sydney, Australia 15 years ago with her hubby (lawyer and former NAACP board member) and 1 year old daughter.

When leaving the USA she was constantly asked two questions: one, are there any Black people there? And two, who is going to do your hair? Tomasina’s hair was relaxed at the time so she thought nothing of it.  But years later, Tomasina finally went natural (begrudgingly) and her hair fell out. This inspired her to purchase an e-commerce business to supply imported products from the States for natural and curly hair. What started out as a business to support expats quickly expanded into a market and knowledge place for all kinds of clients and curly hair textures. 

In this conversation, Tomasina shares with Kiesha how her sense of self evolved through her changes in geography, career, and through her journey with her hair.

Episode Resources:

• https://www.curlsandnaturalhair.com.au/
• Curls And Natural Hair (@curls_and_natural_hair) • Instagram photos and videos
• Books: 
  • The Complete Conversations with God: An Uncommon Dialogue, Neale Donald Walsch 
  • In Search of Satisfaction, J California Cooper
  • For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf, Ntozake Shange

Contact Info

• Want Kiesha to host a YOU Better! experience for your team? If you are ready to strengthen the foundation of your team culture by investing in your team members’ self-development, reach out for a free discovery call:  kieshagarrison.co/discoverycall
• Send speaker booking inquiries for Kiesha to (send an email to:  info @ kieshagarrison.co)
• Follow Kiesha on IG: @kiesha_garrison

Directly support the podcast financially:

• Cash App
• Venmo
• PayPal.Me

To connect with host Kiesha B. Free, visit kiesha.org

Kaska Adoteye, Ph. D. has held many hats, being a data scientist, author, investor, and entrepreneur. He has taken his skills from Wall Street to Silicon Valley and is known for his technical excellence across domains. He is also the author of the thought-provoking and insightful book Theory of Mind. The book, among other things, follows his story of discovering he has a rare and potentially lethal brain malformation, as well as the failed journey to treat it. The experience left him rattled, but also allowed him to gain empathy, compassion, and get closer to those around him. 

Episode Resources:

• Theory of Mind, by Kaska Adoteye 
• The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle
• Soul, a Disney Movie 

Contact Info

• Want Kiesha to host a YOU Better! experience for your team? If you are ready to strengthen the foundation of your team culture by investing in your team members’ self-development, reach out for a call to discuss:  kieshagarrison.co/discoverycall
• Send speaker booking inquiries for Kiesha to (send an email to:  info @ kieshagarrison.co)
• Follow Kiesha on IG: @kiesha_garrison

Directly support the podcast financially:

• Cash App
• Venmo
• PayPal.Me

To connect with host Kiesha B. Free, visit kiesha.org

This episode features Tonya Fewell, J.D., a highly driven woman who is truly powered by purpose.  She has made her life’s work the work of walking other people through radical transformation. As the senior strategist at Bridge Every Gap Tonya and her team build optimal systems and strategies for success with individuals, teams, and organizations in leadership and self-development.

Her role as a mother to her three children Briana, Evan, and Grace, plays greatly into her identity – she even professionally goes by the moniker “Mama T” She recognizes her kids are at the center of so much motivation for her, but she also shares some of self-inquiry she had to do around the fact of her being an unmarried mother of three. We also talked about her figuring out where she belonged and how she began the process of living in alignment with who she actually is. 

Tonya believes that a goal with a plan and a guide is the recipe for success 

Episode Resources:

• Learn about Bridge Every Gap & the SHE2023 Retreat
• Books mentioned:
  • We Should All Be Millionaires: A Woman's Guide to Earning More, Building Wealth, and Gaining Economic Power
  • The One Minute Millionaire: The Enlightened Way to Wealth
  • The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich

Contact Info

• Want Kiesha to host a YOU Better! experience for your team? If you are ready to strengthen the foundation of your team culture by investing in your team members’ self-development, reach out for a free discovery call:  kieshagarrison.co/discoverycall
• Send speaker booking inquiries for Kiesha to (send an email to:  info @ kieshagarrison.co)
• Follow Kiesha on IG: @kiesha_garrison

Directly support the podcast financially:

• Cash App
• Venmo
• PayPal.Me

To connect with host Kiesha B. Free, visit kiesha.org

Coax Marie is a powerful talent - an artist whose music affirms what is unique and magical about us. She uses her gifts to promote energetic freedom and liberation and creates the type of music that holds your hand throughout the beautiful challenges of being human.  She has moved thousands of people to assert “I Am Enough.” In this interview with Kiesha, Coax talks about her artistic origin story, how she challenges herself to show up as the person she says she is, and how she looks within for insight for her journey.  She also digs into some people’s tendency to dismiss things they don’t yet understand as “woo-woo” and shares about how she’s holding herself accountable for finishing what she starts. 

Episode Resources:

• Coax Marie’s Website
• Buy Coax Marie’s “I Am Enough” Merch
• Follow Coax Marie on Instagram
• Book Recommendation: 300 Writing Prompts 

Contact Info

• Want Kiesha to host a YOU Better! experience for your team? She speaks and hosts workshops to help your team members develop a stronger sense of self:  kieshagarrison.co/discoverycall
• You can also submit speaker booking inquiries by emailing [email protected]
• Follow Kiesha on IG: @kiesha_garrison

Directly support the podcast financially:

• Cash App
• Venmo
• PayPal.Me

To connect with host Kiesha B. Free, visit kiesha.org

 A conversation about grace in the workplace from one of Kiesha's Culture Conversations with a corporate client group is lingering on her mind along with the memory of the last three minutes of raw vulnerability from Deon Cole's Netflix comedy special Charleen's Boy.  In this solo episode, Kiesha reflects on two recent moments of introspection, both centered on being able to recognize the goodness that other people are sometimes offering us.

Contact Info

• Want Kiesha to host a YOU Better! experience for your team? If you are ready to strengthen the foundation of your team culture by investing in your team members’ self-development, reach out for a free discovery call:  kieshagarrison.co/contact
• Send speaker booking inquiries for Kiesha to (send an email to:  info @ kieshagarrison.co)
• Follow Kiesha on IG: @kiesha_garrison

Directly support the podcast financially:

• Cash App
• Venmo
• PayPal.Me

To connect with host Kiesha B. Free, visit kiesha.org

In this episode, Kiesha Garrison interviews Event Emcee and Author Quinn Conyers who shares her story of giving up, finding her way back to her unique gift, and defining success on her own terms.

Episode Resources:

• HOME | Quinn Conyers
• Quinn's Speak Black Woman Podcast - Episode wit Kiesha! Following Your Inner Voice to Do What You Love - SBW Ep #56 with Keisha Garrison - YouTube
• Books
  • Speak Black Woman: How Women In Business Can Profit from Public Speaking
  • Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones

Contact Info

• Want Kiesha to host a YOU Better! experience for your team? If you are ready to strengthen the foundation of your team culture by investing in your team members’ self-development, reach out for a free discovery call:  kieshagarrison.co/discoverycall
• Send speaker booking inquiries for Kiesha to (send an email to:  info @ kieshagarrison.co)
• Follow Kiesha on IG: @kiesha_garrison

Directly support the podcast financially:

• Cash App
• Venmo
• PayPal.Me

To connect with host Kiesha B. Free, visit kiesha.org