Growing and Connecting to Your Why

Whose Your Collaborator?

Today, I talk with Dakarai Ashby, Los Angeles based collage artist, designer, painter and editorial illustrator from Cleveland, OH. We talk about passion, persevering and the power of hope.  Dakarai has published three art books that catalog works created between the span of 2014-2016, 2016-2019, 2019-2021. He has participated in countless group and solo exhibits over the span of 10 years and has had work published in publications such as The New York Times, Wired Magazine, Readers Digest and several more. In our conversation, Dakarai speaks about his faith and describes what that loos like in practice. He talks about how he defines well-being and how modeling that is a demonstration of his leadership.  One of Dakarai's profound realization is the peace that comes with you are collaborating with the right partner. In his case, he states it is collaborating with God that provides that peace! Dakarai's collages are small windows into the worlds of black surrealism & afrofuturism. Each piece tells it’s own story that is entirely up to the viewer to create based on their own observations. When creating these collages Dakarai focuses on color, shape and composition to tell a story or to give the viewer a unique feeling. Check more of his work at the link below: http://www.dakaraiart.com/collage

The Transformational Power of Brokenness

Allow me to introduce Dr. Kelly Daugherty!!  Dr. Kelly Bullock Daugherty is a former classroom educator who has taught in the primary grades for over 18 years and held several school/district leadership roles during her tenure. Her wide range of experience in teaching, learning, and leading has afforded her many opportunities to impact teaching and learning across the country. Dr. Daugherty is the Founder and CEO of Transitions Educational Coaching & Consulting Services, LLC. (formerly Transitions Educational Consulting, LLC) She is also an author, speaker, trainer, and dedicated advocate for all things education. She has found her purpose in motivating, inspiring, and empowering teachers and teacher leaders to overcome the many challenges they face in and around education to help them build capacity in their practice and become more effective, efficacious leaders. She resides in Northeast Ohio with her husband of 22 years and their 3 teenage children. Dr. Kelly's conversation touches on what happens when we lean into those seasons that seem to break up down, to make us feel like we are completely off track and lost.  Becoming a reflective practitioner of ourselves allows us to lean into those periods, to look for the teachings, to rediscover our purpose and develop ways to walk in our uniqueness, our power and purpose. https://www.transitionseducates.com/ Rebuilt not Broken by Dr. Kelly Daugherty https://www.transitionseducates.com/s/shop

Flourishing??

Our guest today is Ristina Gooden. Ristina’s work centers on her belief that what is central to God’s love for God’s people is that we all flourish. She exercises this belief through her writing, preaching, and speaking on topics about faith, race, gender and sexuality, and pop culture through a womanist lens. A licensed minister in the Baptist Church tradition, Gooden is a third year student at Vanderbilt Divinity School, concentrating on Religion, Gender, and Sexuality. She also serves as president of the Vanderbilt Divinity School Black Seminarians and Student Government Association. Following her studies at Vanderbilt, she plans to pursue her Ph.D. in Homiletics. Today we chat about human flourishing. . .how do we find it or deepen it our lives; how do we make room for it in our work, with our colleagues? Our family? Our friends?  Oddly enough, the foundation of this concept can be found in the writings of Aristotle.  Aristotle discusses, what he calls, the virtues which include brave, temperate, witty, friendly and more.  He discusses what those virtue look like when we are deficient in them or have them in excess.  Check out the visual on instagram: uniquelyordinarychyrel https://positivepsychology.com/flourishing/

The Humanity of Leadership

Darnell Weaver, performer, musician, teaching artist and entrepreneur joins us today in a conversation embracing our humanity in our leadership. He is passionate about the arts and youth development and has served as facilitator and lecturer at local universities and community panels on the topics of youth development, leadership and disparities within the professional arts scene.   As we discuss our leadership journey in all its various stages, we talk about the work of showing up fully and authentically within our personal and vulnerabilities which lead to a whole slew of questions. . . How do we navigate the change from transactional to transformative leadership?  How do we become more curious, empathic, and resilient? How do we collaborate and communicate in a way that deepens our connection with others? Below are links to examples of Darnell's work--in youth development and dance and of course with music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqtwZRnCbPY https://www.instagram.com/reel/CMVQBy6hSsj/?utm_medium=copy_link

Growing and Connecting to Your Why

In this episode, I talk to Angela Flowers, co-founder of Making a Difference Consulting. She is a licensed social worker, community activist, life coach, motivational speaker, and author who was included in the 2019 Cleveland Magazine list of Cleveland's Most Interesting People. She speaks and facilitates conversations with children and teens on topics that include self-esteem, bullying, suicide, depression, sexual abuse, and witnessing violence.  We talk about her work, her passion and her why.  Angela embraces an approach to her work and life which includes a focus on personal, professional and organizational continuous improvement. See the links below to learn more about Angela and personal continuous improvement http://makingadifferenceconsulting.com/ http://www.amazon.com/Footprints-Sky-Angela-Flowers/dp/1523851503 [http://www.amazon.com/Footprints-Sky-Angela-Flowers/dp/1523851503] https://www.lifehack.org/788823/continuous-improvement