The Black & Raww Podcast

Tinokuda Bvunzawabaya

A podcast that is creating a space and dialogue for black men to be authentically themselves. With interviews from different black men doing great things and topic-specific episodes that can bring value to an understanding of black masculinity. Episodes released Friday at 5 pm. Three episodes per month Follow on Instagram/Tiktok/Twitter @tinotalk25 Website: www.blackandraww.co.uk

  1. Sep 18

    What Happens When Your Dream Gets Taken Away At 18? | Nelson Tanyanyiwa | Black & Raww Podcast

    Nelson Tanyanyiwa grew up in Harare, Zimbabwe, under the flight path of the old international airport — chasing planes from his garden and dreaming of becoming a pilot. At 18 he passed the psychometric tests, the further maths, the further physics. He got in. His family couldn't afford it. So he deferred. Took a gap year working for a member of his church. And was offered an engineering scholarship by that same company. Fourteen years later, he's a Director. But this episode isn't about construction. It's about what happens when the plan falls apart — and what you find on the other side of it. Nelson and Tino get into the weight of parental sacrifice. What it does to a child to be told at ten years old "your education is your only family." Why well-intentioned pressure from parents can quietly crush the people it's meant to motivate. And what Nelson now does about it — running reverse mentoring sessions with parents to help them understand how their words actually land. They talk about the moment a CEO rebuked Nelson for staying silent in a meeting — "I pay you for your voice. Don't ever come to a meeting I call and not voice your opinion" — and how that changed everything about how Nelson shows up in rooms. And they get into YiTR — Youngest in the Room — the mentoring organisation Nelson built from 10–15 years of informal helping that grew too big to stay informal. Three peer groups. Students, professionals, founders. And the question Nelson wrestled with for a long time: should you charge people for help? This is a conversation about non-linear paths, the cost of sacrifice, what genuine mentorship actually looks like — and why helping one person is always bigger than it seems. 🎙️ Connect with Nelson: 📸 @manelta | @YITR_LTD 💼 LinkedIn: Nelson Tanyanyiwa 📩 nelson@yitr.co.uk | 🌐 yitr.co.uk 📖 Book coming 2027: Youngest in the Room 🎙️ Hosted by Tino Bvunzawabaya Join the community: https://discord.gg/9YtZZYXUr https://chat.whatsapp.com/JtQt6uGwkfrGDMqQOfVQxG?mode=gi_t Here is the link for the feedback form. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdDuqMdDxkKVPKfGfwV7dxOfh4jNeIKTjLPy8YgjoGZgTB0uw/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=111405258284951513335 Million Podcasts Link https://www.millionpodcasts.com/mens-podcasts/?utm_source=smtp&utm_medium=F1_email&utm_content=template_b&#fe_5363478 🌐 blackandraww.co.uk | 📩 heard@blackandraww.co.uk | 📸 @blackandrawwcic | @tino.bvu

    What Happens When Your Dream Gets Taken Away At 18? | Nelson Tanyanyiwa | Black & Raww Podcast
  2. Jul 10

    Nobody Wants You — Javel Watt on Identity, Prison, and Building Beyond the Narrative

    Javel Watt arrived in the UK at age 3. By 12, the identity he'd been given had collapsed — he found out via Facebook that the man he called his father wasn't his biological dad, and an internal voice started telling him nobody wants you. By 16 he'd been stabbed — knife through his lung, diaphragm, liver, and intestines, one centimetre from his heart. He went to prison three times. After his final release in November 2024, he spent nine months homeless while raising his daughter Linnea weekly from a caravan on a holiday park. Today Javel is the founder of Beyond the Narrative — a lived experience consultancy working across schools, prisons, and public sector organisations to change the system from the inside. While still incarcerated, he contributed to the David Lammy Review and was the only prisoner invited into governor-level policy meetings. He wrote and performed a play about stigma in prison that was used for staff training across multiple prisons. In this conversation, Tino and Javel go deep on what happens when a child is handed over informally without the system noticing. What school exclusion actually does to a young Black man's life trajectory. Why punishing behaviour is the same as saying "I don't like how you express your pain." And why self-actualisation — not safety, not shelter — might need to come first for people living in chaos. They get into Javel's Collective Individualism workshop, The Hustler board game built to channel street drive into something that builds a future, and the friend's funeral that made Javel realise he was living like a hypocrite. This is one of the most important conversations Black & Raww has ever had. SURVEY FOR LISTENERS 🌐 Beyond the Narrative: www.beyondthenarrative.co.uk 📸 @beyondthenarrative_BTN 💼 linkedin.com/in/javel-watt-4b9a38238 🎙️ Hosted by Tino Bvunzawabaya | @tinotalk25 🌐 blackandraww.co.uk | 📩 heard@blackandraww.co.uk | 📸 @blackandrawwcic

    Nobody Wants You — Javel Watt on Identity, Prison, and Building Beyond the Narrative
  3. Jun 12

    3 Men Died Alone. Nobody Knew for Days. This Is Why with Ajani Kingdom

    Three men in my guest's life died alone last year. People were around them. Nobody knew for days. This is the conversation about silence we've been avoiding. In this episode, I sit down with Ajani Kingdom — educator, author, founder of Brunch Brothers, and one of the most important voices on Black men's mental health in the UK. We talk about the mask, the cost of silence, what it actually looks like to build a table and invite men to it and why "I'm fine" might be the most dangerous sentence a man can say. CHAPTERS00:00 — Introduction02:30 — Who is Ajani Kingdom?07:00 — Building Brunch Brothers14:00 — The silence spreading through our community22:00 — Three men who died alone31:00 — What masking is actually costing us40:00 — How do you build a table men actually want to sit at?51:00 — Faith, identity and what grounds us58:00 — What Ajani wants young men to know ABOUT AJANI KINGDOMAjani Kingdom is an educator, author and community builder who has spent 13 years working in schools, churches and alternative provision centres across the UK. He is the founder of Brunch Brothers — a space for men to come together, eat, and have honest conversations. 📖 An Invitation to the Table — available on Amazon📖 Four Fires — available on Amazon🎭 Stories Boys Don't Like to Tell — Oct 9–17 · Dugdale Art Centre, North London Follow Ajani:→ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ajanikingdom/→ Brunch Brothers / Stories Boys Don't Like to Tell: https://www.instagram.com/sbdltt/→ Brunch Brothers Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3skpoeY2Sks6qVUNAW0QrC ABOUT BLACK & RAWWBlack & Raww is a podcast and community space for young Black men aged 16–25 to speak honestly about identity, masculinity, mental health, and everything we're taught to carry in silence. 📩 heard@blackandraww.co.uk📱 Instagram & Instagram: @blackandraww Watch On Youtube #BlackMensMentalHealth #MensMentalHealth #AjaniKingdom #BlackAndRaww #Masculinity #MentalHealth #BlackPodcast #BrunchBrothers #UKPodcast #YoungBlackMen

    3 Men Died Alone. Nobody Knew for Days. This Is Why with Ajani Kingdom

About

A podcast that is creating a space and dialogue for black men to be authentically themselves. With interviews from different black men doing great things and topic-specific episodes that can bring value to an understanding of black masculinity. Episodes released Friday at 5 pm. Three episodes per month Follow on Instagram/Tiktok/Twitter @tinotalk25 Website: www.blackandraww.co.uk