Episodes

  • Episode 8: DejaJoelle

    Episode 8: DejaJoelle
    Feb 27 2023
    During this episode we speak with DejaJoelle who has developed a specific aesthetic that drives the work that she shares. Using Dance, Revolutionary Love Practices, meditation, and affirmation DejaJoelle’s mission is to help guide other Black women who have had their bodies abused, used, and taken away from them towards healing and reclamation. DejaJoelle does not claim to be a therapist and owns her title of a Healing Artist using art to soothe and develop the spirit. DejaJoelle’s mission is to eradicate Sexual trauma, exploitation, and trafficking, in our communities by sharing her journey and techniques with Black communities across the globe.
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    49 mins
  • Episode 9: Bobby Joe Champion/Black Visions

    Episode 9: Bobby Joe Champion/Black Visions
    Feb 27 2023
    During this episode we announce Senator Bobby Joe Champion's historic election as the first African American and first person of color as President of the Mn Senate. Senator Bobby Joe Champion attended North High School and graduated with degrees in Political Science and Law from Macalester College and William Mitchell College of Law. Champion is now a practicing attorney with skill sets in negotiation, extensive legal and business analysis, and advocacy. Champion is a lifelong resident of North Minneapolis and currently lives in the Lyn Park neighborhood with his wife Angela, a pharmacist, and their two sons.Champion has also worked for Flyte Tyme Productions and Flyte Tyme’s Grammy Award-winning producers Terry Lewis and James “Jimmy Jam” Harris.In his legal work, Champion has also served with Attorney General Keith Ellison, the Legal Rights Center, and as an Assistant Attorney General under both Skip Humphrey and Mike Hatch. Champion was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2008 and has been a diligent public servant in job creation, affordable housing, ending homelessness, transportation, conservation, combating climate change, education, healthcare, and equity and criminal justice reform. Champion has served in the Minnesota Senate since 2012. During the second half of this episode we speak with Communications Strategist Ja'Mon Kimbrough and Membership Programming Organizer Lexi Collins of Black Visions
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    51 mins
  • Episode 7: Benefits Cliff Conversation with Roxanne O'Brien, Milla Crawford and Luz Francisco

    Episode 7: Benefits Cliff Conversation with Roxanne O'Brien, Milla Crawford and Luz Francisco
    Feb 1 2023
    At the beginning of 2022, Pillsbury United Communities Narrative Team Members Kenzie O'Keefe and ShaVunda Brown set out to work with community members most affected by the benefits cliff, to document their stories and experiences with the understanding that those most affected are the best equipped to design solutions to them. During this episode we speak with Co-founder of Community Members for Environmental Justice Roxanne O'Brian, Nonprofit Building Manager Luz Francisco and Small Business Owner Milla Crawford about their experiences.
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    51 mins
  • Episode 6: Mn Rep. Esther Agbaje

    Episode 6: Mn Rep. Esther Agbaje
    Feb 1 2023
    In this episode we speak with Esther Agbaje an attorney and public policy professional with an inspiring career in public service. She serves as a State Representative in the Minnesota Legislature.There she advocates for people-centered policies like safe and stable housing, reliable transit, and creating opportunities for young people in her community and throughout the state. She is also a Staff Attorney with the Public Health Law Center at Mitchell Hamline School of Law. She provides legal technical assistance on commercial tobacco control issues. Before this, she practiced medical malpractice and general civil litigation. Esther was a former Foreign Affairs Officer with the U.S. Department of State. In that role she managed rule of law projects in the Middle East focusing on Egypt and the Gulf states.
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    52 mins
  • Episode 4: Heal Mpls Founders Sierra Carter and Eva Nyrie Garrett

    Episode 4: Heal Mpls Founders Sierra Carter and Eva Nyrie Garrett
    Jan 16 2023
    In this episode we join in conversation with 2 of 6 founders of Heal Mpls about the inspiration for this business hub and cafe; community wellness, self care, healing the hood. Eva Nyrie Garret was born and raised in North Minneapolis, MN. In 2012, she began working for the nonprofit food justice organization, Appetite for Change, where she assisted in cultivating and managing the northside community gardens. In becoming an avid gardener, she also grew a deep connection with herbs and in 2020 obtained her Master Herbalist certification and launched her herbal business, Natural Me where she sells bulk herbs and also creates healing products that cleanse, nurture and treat ailments. Sierra Carter is a spiritual entrepreneur, radical self care facilitator, music executive and your most grounded homegirl :) As the founder of The Zen Bin, she has developed community and safe spaces across the twin cities with one intention in mind - to support people holistically as they pursue holistic healing and transformation.
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    38 mins
  • Episode 3: Community Leaders:Wintana Melekin, Dr. Cirien Saadeh, Tabitha Montgomery

    Episode 3: Community Leaders:Wintana Melekin, Dr. Cirien Saadeh, Tabitha Montgomery
    Jan 16 2023
    In this episode we dicuss 2022 election results and meaningful impact a DFL trifecta could have on the landscape of Minnesota politics with three amazing community leaders Wintana Melekin, Arab-American Journalist and Educator Dr. Cirien Saadeh and Executive Director of Powderhorn Park Neighborhood Association; Tabitha Montgomery.
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    59 mins
  • 2: Attorney General Keith Ellison

    2: Attorney General Keith Ellison
    Jan 16 2023
    In this episode we speak with Keith Ellison who has served as attorney general since Minnesotans first elected him in 2018. As the People’s Lawyer, Keith’s job is to help Minnesotans afford their lives and live with dignity, safety, and respect. His guiding values are generosity, equity, transparency, and inclusion. As attorney general, Keith has expanded the office’s strong tradition of consumer protection. He’s fought to lower pharmaceutical drug prices, hold opioid companies accountable for the deadly opioid epidemic, protect tenants from exploitation, protect seniors from scams and abuse, protect student borrowers, hold major corporations accountable for consumer fraud and deception, and much more which can be found on his website bio.
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    43 mins
  • Episode 1: Founder&Executive Director of TruArtsSpeaks Tish Jones

    Episode 1: Founder&Executive Director of TruArtsSpeaks Tish Jones
    Jan 16 2023
    This episode we are joined by highly esteemed and distinguished guest The Tish Jones. Founder & Executive Director of TruArtSpeaks - an arts & culture nonprofit based in Saint Paul, MN - Tish Jones is a poet, educator, organizer and cultural producer from Saint Paul, Minnesota. She has performed poetry in venues throughout the United States. Her work can be found in We Are Meant to Rise (University of Minnesota Press, 2021), A Moment of Silence (Tru Ruts and The Playwrights Center, 2020), the Minnesota Humanities Center's anthology entitled, Blues Vision: African American Writing from Minnesota (Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2015) and more.
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    53 mins