Elevating Good | For Women of Faith Who Won't Give Up on People

Morenike Ogebe
  • 5.0 (3)
  • Society & Culture
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You still believe people are worth fighting for — even on hard days. Elevating Good is a podcast for women of faith who are crossing divides without losing the people they love. Hosted by Morenike Ogebe — attorney, HR leader, and lifelong bridge builder — each episode brings you inspiring conversations rooted in faith, courageous compassion, and the conviction that every person carries inherent dignity. Belonging is not a program. It’s practice. And you were built for this. New episodes every other week. More on Substack, Facebook, and Instagram.

  1. 1d ago

    S5E10: Fit for the Kingdom with Pastor (Dr.) Manita Fadel - A Sister-to-Sister Conversation on Diet, Discipline & Belonging

    In this milestone 50th episode of Elevating Good, the host sits down with her sister, Pastor (Dr.) Manita Fadel — First Lady of RCCG The Americas I and a former pediatrician turned full-time minister. She oversees Children and Youth Ministries, leads Women in Ministry, and founded The Pastors' Wives' Forum. Author of Fifty and Fabulous and Diet and Lifestyle for Kingdom Living, Dr. Fadel candidly shares her midlife journey through insulin resistance, and how she found joy — not punishment — in the discipline of stewarding her body through diet and exercise. ABOUT DR MANITA Pastor Manita Fadel is the First Lady of RCCG The Americas I. She ministers with her husband, Pastor James Fadel, who is the Assistant General Overseer and Continental Overseer of The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) The Americas I with headquarters in Floyd (Dallas), Texas. RCCG The Americas I comprises the United States, Central America, and the Caribbean. RCCG Americas 1 is part of RCCG Worldwide, with headquarters in Lagos, Nigeria. The General Overseers for the RCCG Worldwide are Pastors Enoch and Foluke Adeboye. Pastor Manita is a Pediatrician, with 10 years of experience, before she was called into full-time ministry. Her experience in medical practice, combined with receiving Christ at the early age of 9, fueled her passion for the spiritual growth of Children and Youth. She currently oversees Children and Youth Ministries for RCCG The Americas I. Pastor Manita is also the President of Women in Ministry (WIM) in Americas 1 and founder of The Pastors’ Wives’ Forum (PWF)), a ministry of WIM. As a Pastor’s wife for over 30 years, Pastor Manita created PWF in 2009 for Pastors' wives to share their burdens and challenges with one another while ministering with their husbands. The PWF vision is to Support, Encourage and Empower (S.E.E.) every Pastor’s wife so that they can fulfill their calling in The Kingdom. Naturally creative, and a passionate sewist for over 45 years, Pastor Manita founded the “Threads of Life” initiative in the Spring of 2020. This allows her to use her professional sewing skills to teach others and support Women and Children’s shelters with the proceeds of her sewn items. She loves to organize and is a believer in excellence. She is a simple and practical teacher of the word, who ministers to children, youth, singles, married couples, women, and Pastors’ wives. She is a John Maxwell trained leader, who speaks at a wide range of leadership programs and conferences in the US and Nigeria. Pastor Manita has also authored two books. The first is an illustrated book titled, Fifty and Fabulous, and her second book is titled Diet and Lifestyle for Kingdom Living, written as a result of her personal journey and passion for health and wellness. She has been happily married to Pastor James Fadel, her college sweetheart, for over 35 years and together they pastor RCCG New Life Church in Dallas, Texas. They are blessed with three beautiful daughters. CONNECT WITH DR MANITA Instagram:  @manitafadel Facebook: @manita.fadel YouTube: @RCCGFemaleParishPastors Website:  https://manitafadel.com Book: Diet and Lifestyle for Kingdom Living — available at major book retailers CONNECT WITH ELEVATING GOOD Elevating Good is a podcast for women of faith who refuse to give up on people. Hosted by Morenike Ogebe — attorney, bridge builder, and people-centered leader — each episode shines light on the good God is doing in the world. Substack (subscribe to bonus content): https://elevatinggood.substack.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elevatinggood Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elevatinggood NEW! Elevating Good Everyday Bridge Builders Community: http://www.facebook.com/groups/elevatinggoodbridgebuilders/ If this episode moved you — share it. Leave a review.

  2. Jul 8

    S5E9: The Whisper That Became Dolores - Adassa Candiani on Faith, Belonging, and Love That Keeps Showing Up

    What do you do when the very thing you’ve built your whole life around — your voice, your purpose, your identity — is suddenly taken from you? Adassa Candiani knows that question from the inside. You may know her as the voice of Dolores Madrigal in Disney’s Encanto, the powerhouse behind the chart-topping “We Don’t Talk About Bruno.” But before the Oscar stage, before the Grammy, before the Golden Globe — there was a girl from a Colombian immigrant family carrying three generations of unrealized dreams. A mother of seven who stepped away from the spotlight to be fully present. And then there was COVID, which left Adassa paralyzed from the neck down, unable to speak, unable to sing, unable to care for herself or her family. In this episode, Adassa shares the real story — the one that lives inside her debut memoir, Love Keeps Showing Up. We talk about what she found in the stillness of that season, how the voice of Dolores was born from a whisper, and what it means to recognize love when it shows up in the most ordinary and extraordinary ways. This is a conversation about divine timing, about belonging to yourself across every intersection of your identity, and about refusing — even in the hardest seasons — to give up on people. What You’ll Hear In This Episode How Adassa’s grandmother gave up her dream of singing to become a nurse, her mother got one song on the radio, and Adassa made a decision: I’m carrying that torch all the way. The YouTube video she filmed before getting tacos — and forgot about — that Disney found months later. What it felt like to be signed as the second dark-skinned Latina artist to a major bilingual record deal since Celia Cruz. The day after her Disney callback when she drove herself to the hospital and was paralyzed within 30 minutes — unable to speak, unable to move. The bathtub. The water rising. The moment she let go. Her husband Gabriel walking in “like Superman” — and the phone call that came while her head was in his lap. Why she whispered to Gabriel: “You call them if I’m dead” — and then took the part. How Dolores’ iconic soft-spoken voice was born directly from Adassa’s weeks of whispered survival. The shift from competing to contributing — and why she was finally willing to stand for something. What she wants every reader of Love Keeps Showing Up to walk away believing about love, community, and letting go of perfection. ABOUT ADASSA Adassa Candiani is an Oscar, Grammy, and Golden Globe recipient, platinum-selling recording artist, and the beloved voice of Dolores Madrigal in Disney’s Encanto. Born to Colombian immigrant parents, she began singing at church at age four and went on to collaborate with Pitbull, Flo Rida, Missy Elliott, Snoop Dogg, and many others. After stepping away from her career to raise her seven children, she was rediscovered through a YouTube video her husband filmed on a family vacation — a moment that led to the audition of a lifetime.   Her debut memoir, Love Keeps Showing Up, weaves together her personal testimony with an original album, connecting each chapter of her life to a song. CONNECT WITH ADASSA Instagram & TikTok:  @ADASSAOfficial Adassa’s Community for Women: Visible Now Club — a community of women supporting one another through every season of life https://linktr.ee/visiblenowclub Book: Love Keeps Showing Up — At all major book retailers CONNECT WITH ELEVATING GOOD Elevating Good is a podcast for women of faith who refuse to give up on people. Hosted by Morenike Ogebe — attorney, bridge builder, and people-centered leader — each episode shines light on the good God is doing in the world. Substack (subscribe to bonus content): https://elevatinggood.substack.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elevatinggood Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elevatinggood NEW! Elevating Good Everyday Bridge Builders Community: http://www.facebook.com/groups/elevatinggoodbridgebuilders/ If this episode moved you — share it. Leave a review.

  3. Jun 26

    S5E8: The Blank Canvas — How Photographer Jimell Greene Lets People Be Who They Are

    What if the most powerful thing a photographer could do had nothing to do with the camera? Jimell Greene — D.C.-based photographer, cinematographer, and the man behind the Department of Government Waste — joins Elevating Good to talk about seeing people the way they deserve to be seen. From disposable cameras at Detroit parties to portraits of displaced federal workers against a weathered American flag, Jimell's career is built on one belief: let people be exactly who they are, and make it look beautiful. This conversation covers his origin story, Gordon Parks, the fear of repercussions in America, AI's threat to the creative industry, and what he'd tell any young Black kid picking up a camera today. IN THIS EPISODE Jimell’s origin story — Detroit, a single mom, disposable cameras, and a slow-building 16-year careerCalling moment — bringing his camera to his grandmother’s hospital bedside, and what those photos becameBeing a “blank canvas” — the gift of letting people feel no fear of judgment in front of youDepartment of Government Waste — the portrait project documenting displaced federal workersFear of repercussion in America — the most surprising thing Jimell found when the project launchedGordon Parks, single images, and how a photograph changed the course of historyBeing a Black photographer in 2026 — honest, layered, and realAI’s threat to the creative industry — and what Jimell predicted in a Paris café in 2024Smartphones, social media, and what it means to be a professional visual storyteller todayWhat he’d tell a young Black kid with a phone and a dream ABOUT JIMELL GREENE Jimell Greene is a Washington, D.C.-area photographer and cinematographer with 16 years of experience creating expressive portraiture, cinematic video, and documentary work for editorial features, commercial campaigns, government clients, and non-profits. He is known for rich color, dramatic mood, and an uncanny ability to capture the essence of a person, brand, or moment. He is the co-creator of Department of Government Waste — an ongoing portrait project documenting the human faces behind the federal workforce displacement of 2025. Each subject is photographed against a weathered American flag and given the option to appear in silhouette or in full. The project asks not about politics, but about people: How are you doing? How is your family? How do you feel about America right now? Jimell served on the board of the American Photographic Artists, D.C. chapter, following his protest photography in 2020. He is based in Baltimore, Maryland, and takes assignments across the United States. CONNECT WITH JIMELL GREENE  Email: hello@jimell.com Website: https://jimell.com Jimell Greene on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jimellgreene Jimell Greene on LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimell Jimell Greene on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jimellgreenephotography Department of Government Waste: https://www.departmentofgovernmentwaste.com Gordon Parks Foundation: https://www.gordonparksfoundation.org OpenGovHub (mentioned in episode): https://www.opengovhub.org American Photographic Artists – D.C.: https://www.apanational.com CONNECT WITH ELEVATING GOOD Elevating Good is a podcast for women of faith who refuse to give up on people. Hosted by Morenike Ogebe — attorney, bridge builder, and people-centered leader — each episode shines light on the good God is doing in the world. Substack (subscribe to bonus content): https://elevatinggood.substack.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elevatinggood Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elevatinggood NEW! Everyday Bridge Builders Community: www.facebook.com/groups/elevatinggoodbridgebuilders/ If this episode moved you, share it. Leave a review. And if you know someone who needs to hear Jimell’s story right now, you know what to do.

  4. Jun 10

    S5E7: PTSD Is Treatable: Simone Swartz on Healing, Service Dogs, and Reclaiming Your Life

    Content note: This episode includes candid conversation about military sexual trauma, PTSD, substance use, and childhood sexual abuse. Please listen with care and step away if you need to. What does healing actually look like — not as a concept, but as a lived, embodied, decades-long journey? In this powerful episode, Morenike sits down with Simone Swartz: U.S. Army veteran, published author, Reiki practitioner, and co-founder of Service Dog Strong. Simone knows the weight of undiagnosed PTSD from the inside. She also knows what it looks like when healing — finally — takes hold. After surviving military sexual trauma in the Army and spending nearly a decade managing her pain through self-medication, Simone found her way to recovery through counseling, holistic healing, faith, and an extraordinary bond with her service dog, Gunner. Today she advocates globally, writes, coaches, and speaks the truth she wishes someone had spoken to her sooner: PTSD is treatable. This conversation is honest, hopeful, and deeply human. Morenike opens up about her own journey as a survivor, and together these two women model exactly the kind of courageous, bridge-building dialogue that this podcast exists to hold. In this episode, you'll hear: How a single incident in the military set off a decades-long domino effect — and what finally broke the cycle Why Simone reframes PTSD as a post-traumatic injury, not a disorder — and why that distinction matters for healing The surprising way Simone discovered her own PTSD (hint: she went to therapy to help someone else) Why healing must be physical, not just mental — and what martial arts, Reiki, bodywork, and exercise have to do with it The science behind why service dogs can reach sexual assault survivors in ways that even therapists sometimes cannot What it means that "shame must switch sides" — and how speaking out becomes the last step of the healing journey Simone's vision of a beloved community: a world where darkness has no place to hide About Simone Swartz Simone Swartz is the author of PTSD and What Helped Me: A Step-by-Step Guide to Start Your PTSD Recovery Journey, a practical guide written from inside lived experience. She has contributed research to Elsevier, one of the world's leading medical publishers, and co-founded Service Dogs Strong — one of the first nonprofits in the country dedicated to providing trained service dogs at no cost to survivors of sexual assault living with PTSD. She is a speaker, coach, mother of three, and a tireless advocate for trauma survivors everywhere. Connect with Simone   www.ptsdandwhathelpedme.com  PTSD and What Helped Me — book and workbook available on her website 💬 Simone is currently accepting a limited number of coaching clients Facebook  Resources mentioned: Vet Centers (free counseling for veterans and their families) — vetcenter.va.gov Service Dogs Strong — servicedogsstrong.org Simone's book includes a comprehensive list of FDA-approved and holistic PTSD therapies — Eastern and Western modalities Additional resources: National sexual assault hotline: 1(800) 656-4673 Veteran’s Crisis Line: 988  Crisis text line: 741741 Crisis line for kids and teens: 1 (877) 968-8491 Enjoying Elevating Good Podcast? Share, follow, and review if you like what you hear so more people can discover EGP! ⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe to additional content on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠ Shop for EGP merch: https://elevategoodpod.com

  5. May 29

    S5E6: Mulberries in the Rain - Growing Plants, Cultivating Belonging with Ryan Blosser

    What if the way we grow food could teach us how to build community — and even bridge our deepest divides? In this rich, wide-ranging conversation, Morenike sits down with Ryan Blosser, farmer, educator, mental health professional, and co-founder of Shenandoah Permaculture Institute, to explore the living intersection of land, belonging, and human connection. Ryan is the co-author (with Trevor Pearsall) of Mulberries in the Rain: Growing Permaculture Plants for Food and Friendship — a book that weaves personal story, practical plant wisdom, and a deeply relational philosophy of sustainability. This episode is one in From the Ground Up permaculture miniseries and it might be the most human one yet. From Division I basketball to Hawaii surfboards to food forests in the Shenandoah Valley, Ryan's journey is a masterclass in following the hard path toward what truly matters — and discovering that community is not built in a moment, but grown, slowly, through rupture and repair. In This Episode  ​The origin story behind Mulberries in the Rain and why approachability matters in permaculture​Ryan's surprising path: from Division I basketball to surfing in Hawaii to discovering Bill Mollison and permaculture​Why plants become characters in our lives — and what deep relationship with a single plant can teach us about commitment​The concept of the 'human sector' in permaculture design and why 98% of permaculture project failures trace back to it​Guilds in permaculture: anchor plants, barrier plants, dynamic accumulators, pest confusers, beneficial attractors, and nitrogen fixers​The biggest misconceptions about permaculture (hint: it's not a technique — it's a design system)​Why community building is hard — and why that's not a reason to stop.​Permaculture's most urgent principle for our current political moment: integrate, don't segregate​Honoring indigenous ecological knowledge — and moving beyond acknowledgment to action​How to start your permaculture journey (spoiler: don't buy land yet)Resources Mentioned ​Mulberries in the Rain: Growing Permaculture Plants for Food and Friendship by Ryan Blosser & Trevor Pearsall​Sand Talk by Tyson Yunkaporta — recommended by Ryan for indigenous ecological knowledge​Deakin University / Tyson Yunkaporta's Indigenous Technologies Lab document on respectful use of IEK​Dave Jacke and Eric Toensmeier's work on permaculture design and guilds​Wendell Berry poem: 'Be joyful, even though you have considered all the facts'Website: https://www.shenandoahpermaculture.com/ ​Shenandoah Permaculture Institute (SPI) — courses offered spring & fall; 2 scholarships available per cohort​Upcoming SPI courses: University of Richmond area (spring) | University of Mary Washington, Fredericksburg (fall)Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shenandoahpermaculture/?__pwa=1 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shenpermaculture Enjoying Elevating Good Podcast? Share, follow, and review if you like what you hear so more people can discover EGP! ⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe to additional content on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠ Shop for EGP merch: https://elevategoodpod.com

  6. May 13

    S5E5: When Survival Mode Becomes Home — and How To Find Your Way Back with Cendrine Hosoda

    In this episode of Elevating Good, Morenike sits down with Cendrine Hosoda, a trauma-informed life consultant, speaker, and founder of Pursuing Wholesome Health. Cendrine has a gift for meeting people right where they are — especially those who have carried invisible wounds for so long that survival mode has started to feel like home. Cendrine brings a beautifully integrated approach to healing: one that weaves together neuroscience, somatics, and faith. As a Neurosomatic Intelligence Certified practitioner, she helps complex trauma survivors gently move from hypervigilance and shutdown into greater safety, regulation, and wholeness — without bypassing the body or the spirit. Whether you've experienced trauma yourself, love someone who has, or simply feel like you've been running on empty longer than you'd like to admit, this conversation will meet you with compassion and offer a path forward. In this episode, you'll hear: ​What complex trauma actually is — and why so many people don't recognize it in themselves​Why healing isn't just a mental process — and what the nervous system has to do with it​How faith and neuroscience can work together (not against each other) in the healing journey​What it means to move from survival mode into sustainable wholeness​Practical wisdom for anyone ready to stop white-knuckling through life Cendrine is also a mom of two young adults who finds restoration in nature, a good book, and a beautiful meal — and that groundedness comes through in every word she shares. This is the kind of conversation that makes you feel less alone — and more hopeful about what's possible. Contact Cendrine Website: https://pursuingwholesomehealth.com/ Facebook Instagram LinkedIN Link to a free resource: https://pursuingwholesomehealth.com/nervous-system-foundations-a-gentle-introduction-to-nsi/ Enjoying the Elevating Good Podcast? Please share, follow, and review: Subscribe to additional content on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠ Bluesky Looking for wealth-building options? Join the Black Woman Lifestyle 5-Day Igniter Challenge and start building your digital highway to wealth: https://blackwomanlifestylemanifesto.com/access?am_id=morenike8460 Shop for EGP merch: Elevategoodpod.com

  7. Apr 30

    S5E4: One Man Processes Grief with Jason Tuttle

    Some conversations don't expire — they wait for the moment the world is ready to receive them. We're bringing back this powerful episode with Jason Tuttle because the moment is now. In a time when headlines are surfacing painful truths about men's mental health, grief, the silent weight so many men carry alone, and the tragic impacts men who do not get adequate intervention can have on their women and homes, Jason's story is exactly the kind of voice we need to hear. Jason lost his young son — and rather than retreating into silence, he did something courageous: he talked about it. In this episode, Jason opens up about: ​What grief actually looks and feels like for men — and why it often goes unseen​How men process loss differently, and why that difference matters​Practical ways women can show up for the men in their lives who are hurting​How one man's willingness to share his pain became a lifeline for others Jason's journey doesn't offer easy answers. It offers something better — honest witness, hope, and a reminder that healing is possible even in the darkest valleys. Website: www.LettersToZachary.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61552174684952 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/letters2zachary/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@letters2zachary What do you think about the Elevating Good Podcast? Share, follow, and review if you like what you hear so more people can discover us! ⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠: https://www.facebook.com/share/1DE2k7uA56/?mibextid=wwXIfr ⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠: https://www.instagram.com/elevategoodpod Subscribe to bonus content on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠: https://open.substack.com/pub/elevatinggoodpod Website: https://elevategoodpod.com

  8. Apr 6

    S5E3: It Cost Me Nothing: Portrait of a Servant Leader with Vicky Crawford

    Host Morenike Ogebe sits down with Vicky Crawford, a recently retired federal employee with 44 years of public service, during Women's History Month. Vicky shares the story of her journey from a North Carolina farm — the youngest of seven children — to helping build landmark EEO and disability employment programs in public service. The conversation weaves together personal history, professional legacy, hard-won workplace wisdom, and a faith-rooted philosophy of service without seeking credit. Contact Vicky Crawford: +1 (301) 254-0419 Enjoying the Elevating Good Podcast? Please share, follow, and review: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠ Threads Bluesky Subscribe to additional content on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠ including affirmations, curated job search tools, bridge dividing tools, and episode companions. Looking for wealth-building options? Join the Black Woman Lifestyle 5-Day Igniter Challenge and start building your digital highway to wealth Shop for EGP merch

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You still believe people are worth fighting for — even on hard days. Elevating Good is a podcast for women of faith who are crossing divides without losing the people they love. Hosted by Morenike Ogebe — attorney, HR leader, and lifelong bridge builder — each episode brings you inspiring conversations rooted in faith, courageous compassion, and the conviction that every person carries inherent dignity. Belonging is not a program. It’s practice. And you were built for this. New episodes every other week. More on Substack, Facebook, and Instagram.

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