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Problem Solved Podcast

Problem Solved Podcast

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 It can be messy and overwhelming to solve thorny problems. Where do you start? How do you know where to look for information and how to evaluate its quality? How can you feel confident that your making the right decision for you? Life is filled with uncertainty so the Problem Solved Podcast is here to help you get to the future better! Economics Management Management & Leadership Self-Help Success
Episodes
  • Founding a School: What It Really Takes

    Founding a School: What It Really Takes
    Oct 20 2025
    What would it take for you to decide that your community’s problem is yours to solve? Listen to this episode of the Problem Solved Podcast and hear how Debra Stern went from mother to founder to start Mount Vernon, New York’s first charter school. In this episode you’ll learn: One person’s path to turn passion into realityHow to stay focused on what really matters when the odds are against youHow tackling a major decision can change the way you see yourself https://www.areamethod.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Debra-Stern-Episode-Final-.mp3 For more about Debra: Dr. Debra Stern is a passionate educator, researcher, and social worker with over two decades of experience in education and community leadership. As the Founder and Executive Director of Amani Public Charter School in Mount Vernon, NY, she has dedicated her career to advancing educational equity and creating opportunities for all students to thrive. Under her leadership, Amani has become a high-performing institution that has served its community for 15 years. Dr. Stern’s academic credentials include a BS from Cornell University, an MS from The College of New Rochelle, an ED.M from Teachers College, Columbia University, an MSW from New York University, and an EdD from American University. Building on her extensive educational background, her doctoral research, “Forty Acres and a School: How Black Charter School Founders Can Disrupt the Impact of Segregation on Black Children,” reflects her commitment to educational equity and provides a framework for establishing schools as vehicles for racial empowerment. Prior to founding Amani, Dr. Stern held various positions in Higher Education Administration, including Assistant Director of Student Activities at the College of New Rochelle and Associate Director of Residential Life and Director of Pre-College Programs at Barnard College. She also served as an Adjunct Professor in Social Work at Concordia College. Throughout her career, Dr. Stern has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to community service. She served as a member of the Mount Vernon Public Library Board of Trustees and was the Founding President of the Mount Vernon Public Library Foundation. Her dedication to education extended to parent advocacy, where she served as President of the Mount Vernon PTA Council for two years. In Pelham, her home community, she has contributed as a past member of the Pelham Education Foundation and served on the Board of Education’s Cultural Competence Committee. Her regional impact extends to Bronxville, where she served as a board member for Young at Arts, an arts educational organization. She has also been a long-time member and leader of Mocha Moms, a support group for mothers of color, where she has been past Westchester Chapter President and is now the Network Director for the Mothers of Adult Children Network. As an engaged Cornell University alumna, Dr. Stern has held numerous leadership positions within the Cornell alumni community, including serving on the board of Cornell MOSAIC, the Cornell Alumni Advisory Board, and various roles with the Cornell Class of 1987. She currently serves as the chair of the Cornell University Council, where she works to strengthen connections among alumni. A lifelong Westchester, New York resident, Dr. Stern has been married to her husband Charles for 35 years. Together they have three children: Veronica, Ella, and Quincy. Outside of her professional endeavors, she maintains an active interest in community engagement, enjoys reading, and is an enthusiast of theater and Broadway shows. *** Need help with decision-making? Pick up a copy of Cheryl’s new book Problem Solver and reach out to Decisive! Sign up for coaching, workshops, or have Cheryl come speak to your organization by emailing Cheryl at cheryl@areamethod.com. Cheryl can customize a workshop for your company, or she offers one-day or three-day in-person workshops and a month long, once a week webinar. Follow Cheryl on LinkedIn The post Founding a School: What It Really Takes appeared first on THE AREA METHOD.
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    19 mins
  • The Power of Awkward

    The Power of Awkward
    Aug 6 2025

    Who hasn’t felt awkward from time to time? On this episode of the Problem Solved Podcast, speaker and author of the book Good Awkward, Henna Pryor, joins us to share why being awkward is authentic and an attribute of successful people.

    Listen now and learn:

    • How awkwardness factors into decision-making
    • What ‘social fitness’ is and why is it important
    • What a “bias buddy’ is and how to thwart common assumptions
    https://www.areamethod.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Henna-Pryor-Final.mp3

    More about Henna:

    Henna Pryor, is a sought-after Workplace Performance Expert who speaks and writes about performance mindset, interpersonal dynamics, high-impact communication, and embracing bumps in a world that keeps optimizing for smoothness. In addition to her passion for sparkly new research, she’s a regular Expert Columnist for Inc. Magazine, 18x award-winning author of Good Awkward, and an in-demand global keynote speaker. Her clients call her their “secret weapon for impossible change,” an honor she wears proudly. In addition to speaking for TEDx and SXSW, and being frequently tapped by media outlets like WSJ, Business.com, FastCompany, INSIDER, HuffPost, NBC, FOX, and more, she’s been named a SUCCESS Magazine Woman of Influence and her book was named a Kirkus Reviews’ Best Book of the Year.

    ***

    Need help with decision-making? Pick up a copy of Cheryl’s new book Problem Solver and reach out to Decisive!

    Sign up for coaching, workshops, or have Cheryl come speak to your organization by emailing Cheryl at cheryl@areamethod.com. Cheryl can customize a workshop for your company, or she offers one-day or three-day in-person workshops and a month long, once a week webinar.

    Follow Cheryl on LinkedIn

    The post The Power of Awkward appeared first on THE AREA METHOD.
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    21 mins
  • How Lee Daniels Told James Baldwin’s Story

    How Lee Daniels Told James Baldwin’s Story
    Jul 15 2025

    In this month’s episode of the Problem Solved Podcast, I sit down with former New York Times and Washington Post reporter Lee Daniels to talk about his extraordinary career writing “the first draft of history.” Daniels co-wrote Jackie Robinson: A Memoir with Jackie’s widow Rachel Robinson and wrote the New York Times obituary for the civil right’s activist James Baldwin. If you’ve ever wondered how great journalists do their craft and make the decisions that lead to powerful storytelling, this episode is for you!

    Listen to the episode and learn:

    • How to sum up a big life
    • How journalists approach their subjects to humanize them and share their stories
    • Making decisions about research, interviews and crafting narratives
    https://www.areamethod.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Lee-Daniels-Final-Podcast-.mp3

    More about Lee Daniels: From the 1970s to the early 1990s Lee A. Daniels’ was a reporter for WGBH-TV in Boston, a reporter and editorial writer for The Washington Post and a reporter the New York Times. He spent another decade as editor of the National Urban League’s The State of Black America, and subsequently was founding editor of TheDefendersOnline.com, the blog of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. For several years, he contributed an opinion column to the National Newspaper Publishers Association and to the online publication, Emerge.com. Daniels collaborated with Rachel Robinson on Jackie Robinson: An Intimate Portrait, (1996) her memoir of her life with the baseball great; and with Vernon E. Jordan, Jr. on a collection of his speeches, Make It Plain: Standing Up and Speaking Out (2008). More recently, he collaborated with John E. Jacob — who succeeded Jordan as head of the Urban League in 1982 and led it through the Reagan and Bush 41 presidencies — on his just-published memoir, I Will Fear No Evil. Daniels also contributed an essay on Martin Luther King, Jr. to Africa’s Peacemakers: Nobel Peace Laureates of African Descent (2014) and an essay on Malcolm X / El Hajj Malik El Shabazz for The Pan-African Pantheon: Prophets, Poets and Philosophers (2020) Daniels is the author of Last Chance: The Political Threat to Black America (2008).

    Lee A. Daniels was born in Chicago and grew up there and in Boston. He is a graduate of the Boston Latin School and a 1971 graduate of Harvard College.

    ***

    Need help with decision-making? Pick up a copy of Cheryl’s new book Problem Solver and reach out to Decisive!

    Sign up for coaching, workshops, or have Cheryl come speak to your organization by emailing Cheryl at cheryl@areamethod.com. Cheryl can customize a workshop for your company, or she offers one-day or three-day in-person workshops and a month long, once a week webinar.

    Follow Cheryl on LinkedIn

    The post How Lee Daniels Told James Baldwin’s Story appeared first on THE AREA METHOD.
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    1 hr and 3 mins
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