Global I Am Episode 3: I Am Somebody: Jesse Jackson, Jamaica Kincaid, and the Architecture of Identity

Global I Am — Episode 5: The Black Legacy of Laughter with PBS's Geoff Bennett

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2589004/fan_mail/new] The Global I Am's Max Rodriguez welcomes PBS NewsHour anchor and acclaimed author Geoff Bennett for a candid conversation about his memoir Black Out Loud, the power of storytelling, and the role of journalism in strengthening democracy. Bennett reflects on the mentors, experiences, and defining moments that shaped his remarkable journey, offering insights on leadership, representation, and the importance of finding—and using—your voice. Topics Include: • The inspiration behind Black Out Loud • Journalism, democracy, and public trust • Mentorship and the power of representation • Leadership through storytelling • Race, identity, and the American experience • Building bridges across communities and perspectives • Finding your voice and using it with purpose A thoughtful and timely discussion with one of America's most respected journalists on truth, leadership, and the stories that shape our lives.

Global I Am — Episode 4: Dr. Dennis Kimbro - Think and Grow Rich, the African Code

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2589004/fan_mail/new] Global I Am -  Episode 4: Dr. Dennis Kimbro “Think and Grow Rich: The African Choice” In this powerful conversation, renowned author, educator, and economic thinker Dr. Dennis Kimbro joins culturalist Max Rodriguez for a far-reaching discussion on wealth, legacy, vision, and the future of Black economic consciousness. Best known for his groundbreaking adaptation of Napoleon Hill’s philosophy through works such as Think and Grow Rich: A Black Choice, Dr. Kimbro has spent decades exploring the principles of achievement, ownership, discipline, and generational prosperity within the African diaspora.  And he is still only beginning.  Together, Kimbro and Rodriguez examine how “being in the black” is not simply an accounting term — but a visionary framework for imagining the future, building institutions, and redefining community wealth in the 21st century.    This episode of Global I Am explores a larger idea increasingly central to the movement: that community itself may be one of the world’s most undervalued asset classes. A conversation on economics, culture, self-determination, and the architecture of possibility.   A conversation around the prosperity of love.

Global I Am Episode 3: I Am Somebody: Jesse Jackson, Jamaica Kincaid, and the Architecture of Identity

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2589004/fan_mail/new] Welcome back to the full season of The Global I AM Podcast at the Nexus of THE Culture and Our Capital.   After our first 2 beta-episodes as well as episodes from our vaults earlier this year,  Global I Am will resume every Friday to share information from around the worlds of culture and finance.  For our first episode back, we lean into the wisdom of the Pacific Ocean at Point Loma University,  a Christian liberal arts university in San Diego, California, founded in 1902 and rooted in the Wesleyan tradition - Point Loma Nazarene University (PLNU) is named after its location on the Point Loma peninsula in San Diego, California, where it moved in 1973 In a rare and layered gathering of minds — Dr. Dean Nelson of Point Loma University, our Max Rodriguez of the Harlem Book Fair, Kenyan leader Wavinya Makai of Cambridge University, global financier Bill Huston and visionary Patrick A. Howell - explore the intersection of literature, leadership, and lived identity.   At the center stands Jesse Jackson as a living force through the people whom he inspired.  When he declared, “I Am Somebody,”  in 1984 and 1989 as a presidential aspirant, he did more than inspire -  he changed the nation, he changed the world.  Dean and Max talk about Jamaica Kincaid - a literary force whose voice, rooted in Antigua and expanded across the world, has shaped how we understand place, power and self-definition, from St. John’s to Harvard, from the Caribbean to the global stage. Dean E. Nelson, Ph.D., is a beloved award-winning journalist, author, and 21st Century thought leader who founded and directs the journalism program at Point Loma Nazarene University (PLNU). He is also the founder and host of the distinguished annual Writer's Symposium by the Sea.  This episode moves across continents and disciplines: *  From the civil rights movement to the global diaspora *  From economic systems to cultural production *  From personal testimony to institutional consequence It positions Jesse Jackson as what he truly is: The bridge - between Martin Luther King Jr. and Barack Obama, between protest and policy, between voice and power.

Bill Duke: Capital, Culture, and the $1.6 Billion Story

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2589004/fan_mail/new] Hollywood icon Bill Duke joins the Global I Am Archive in a conversation that examines the intersection of capital and culture. At Global I Am we operate from a simple premise: culture is not separate from markets — culture is markets. Across films in which Duke has acted, directed, or produced, the combined box office impact exceeds $1.6 billion, including projects such as Predator, Sister Act II, Payback, Red Dragon, and X-Men: The Last Stand. Nearly 80% of these films are major studio productions, with over 70% profitable, reflecting the rare combination of artistic mastery and professional discipline that defines Duke’s career. Yet the deeper story is craft. With more credits behind the camera than in front of it, Duke has spent decades refining his work across film and television—from Kojak and Miami Vice to Black Lightning. In Global I Am terms, Bill Duke represents the fusion of story, wisdom, and enterprise - a modern global griot whose legacy reminds us that the oldest technology in human civilization remains the story itself.

Global I Am ARCHIVES - Ruth E. Carter — Designing Culture, Identity & the Historic Sinners Nomination

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2589004/fan_mail/new] In this powerful archival episode of Global I Am — At the Nexus of Culture & Our Capital, we sit with Ruth E. Carter, one of the most influential costume designers in cinema history. Originally recorded for our legacy Victory and Noble series Getting Deals Done, this conversation explores Carter’s extraordinary ability to translate cultural memory into visual language — a gift inspired in part by Black Arts Movement icons Sonia Sanchez and Nikki Giovanni. Ruth Carter has long shaped how Black history, imagination, and identity appear on screen — from Black Panther (2018) and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) to Spike Lee classics including Malcolm X (1992) and Do the Right Thing (1989). Here, she reflects on her journey, her craft, and her role as a cultural custodian. This episode lands at a historic moment: Carter has received a new Academy Award nomination for her work on Sinners — a recognition underscoring her enduring impact on American cinema and global cultural storytelling. At its core, Sinners follows twin brothers returning home only to confront a darker reality than the one they left — a powerful meditation on memory, reckoning, and the ghosts we carry. In this archival Global I Am conversation, we explore: • How design becomes narrative and living archive  • The responsibility of cultural representation in global media  • The lineage of Black aesthetics in film and performance  • What it means to stand at the intersection of heritage and innovation Carter’s work reminds us: culture is a language — and those who shape it shape how communities see themselves and the world.