"Born and Raised in Seattle and the son of two well-educated professionals, Raymond Williams is biracial and identifies as African American. These identities have allowed him the privilege of moving in the world of the educated (AB Harvard ’79) and given him the calling to serve his community. A community that continues to have disparities in both educational and health outcomes. A community that continues to show its brilliance through five-hundred years of enslavement, Jim Crow, redlining and police brutality.

Ray spent the summers of his youth running through the northwest’s forests and exploring tide pools or visiting a family friend's farm. His family had a garden in Seattle, and he planted one at most of the places he lived. For almost 30 years he shared his fascination and love of nature as a science teacher. Majoring in biology and studying education at University of Washington (M.Ed. ’91), he taught in Seattle, Atlanta, and International School of Curacao.

His position at The Art Institute of Seattle, teaching both biology and nutrition, formed a vision of how he might serve. Not on a committee making recommendations, but working on the ground, building community. Most of our health problems are related to diet and stress, this is especially true for the Black community.

For fifteen (15) years he worked in and built community gardens and shared with youth and adults how to grow food. When the opportunity to farm the freeway right of way in central Seattle presented itself, the Black Farmers Collective and Yes Farm was born. As Co-Founder and Special Projects Director, Ray is passing the work of community healing on to a growing staff of farm managers and emerging farmers."

To support Black Farmers Collective, learn about upcoming spring opportunities by subscribing to their newsletter - https://www.blackfarmerscollective.com/volunteerwithbfc.

If you enjoyed the podcast, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to Mirror Stage via our website at mirrorstage.org/donate and follow us on social media.

Learn more about us on socials:

Facebook: http://facebook.com/mirrorstage

Instagram: http://instagram.com/mirrorstagewa

A machine-readable transcript of the episode is available here - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1D7XQfVGIjN5vZP-aUZqmLd_wB8WRHYPtS-dIc3GUD-w/edit?usp=sharing

Episodes release on the fourth Wednesday of the month. See you in January!

All episode music by Podington Bear, Chad Crouch. Nature sounds from ZapSplat. Podcast intro, outro, and interstitial music by Benjamin Marx.

Philip “Sharp Skills” Jacobs has been called a modern-day renaissance man. He is an entrepreneur, award-winning hip-hop artist, speaker, author, senior consultant, and

inventor.

Philip created Reveal the Elephant, a racial equity and anti-racism board game. In

addition to Gladiator, he is the author of four additional books, including Accuracy,

Elephant in the Room, Quincy’s Life: Daddy’s Gone, and You Are the Solution.

Philip was the first Executive Director of Washington Employers for Racial Equity

(WERE), a coalition of 80+ companies in Washington State committed to making the

region equitable for Black Washingtonians and all people of color. Before WERE, he

was lead for a DEI solution called Racially Savvy Leadership, in which he equipped

executives and leaders of Fortune 500 companies to have difficult conversations about

race (before the topic went mainstream in corporate culture).

Philip is also a distinguished alum of Seattle Pacific University, where he obtained a

bachelor’s degree in business administration. He was awarded the institution’s

prestigious Medallion Award in 2019. He holds the PMP credential in project

management, is the author of several books and numerous music albums.

His proudest accomplishment is being the father of Philip Jr. and Jonathan. Philip is

from Inglewood, California, and now calls Washington home.

Follow his endeavors on social media @thesharpskills @rebelfirm @fadesandfinance. Visit his website rebelfirm.com, for upcoming book signings and to learn about Tacoma’s first Hip Hop Residency (“The Rebel Residency”).

If you enjoyed the podcast, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to Mirror Stage via our website at mirrorstage.org/donate and follow us on social media.

Learn more about us on socials:

Facebook: http://facebook.com/mirrorstage

Instagram: http://instagram.com/mirrorstagewa

A machine-readable transcript of the episode is available here - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GPExcPAAEiSCcsaTyHzCl2WbmxHT51hl0Zy69-XDfLA/edit?usp=sharing

Episodes release on the fourth Wednesday of the month. See you in December!

All episode music by Philip “Sharp Skills” Jacob. Podcast intro, outro, and interstitial music by Benjamin Marx.

Elizabeth Ralston is a consultant with lived disability experience, who guides organizations in the strategic development of an accessibility roadmap, with an emphasis on equity and inclusion. She has a Master of Public Health from the University of Michigan and a certificate of Nonprofit Management from the University of Washington. Her expertise is in accessibility planning and audits, program development, strategic communications, and event implementation. Elizabeth is also the Founder of the Seattle Cultural Accessibility Consortium (SCAC), a grassroots effort to help arts and cultural organizations improve accessibility for their audiences.

Sign up for their newsletter to keep up with SCAC’s work, and to learn more about their recent Deep Dive Day, a conference that provided arts and culture organizations with tools to incorporate accessible offerings into their programs - https://www.seattlecac.org/getinvolved

If you enjoyed the podcast, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to Mirror Stage via our website at mirrorstage.org/donate and follow us on social media.

Learn more about us on socials:

Facebook: http://facebook.com/mirrorstage

Instagram: http://instagram.com/mirrorstagewa

A machine-readable transcript of the episode is available here - https://docs.google.com/document/d/14qysqN4iMgfOjQrJ3M_3seSxsUnOgVDkmgBTShsQ3BA/edit?usp=sharing

Episodes release on the fourth Wednesday of the month. See you in November!

All music by Benjamin Marx and Lee Rosevere.