The Diamond Jones Podcast

Diamond Jones

A field notes podcast documenting a two-phase scholarly journey. The predoctoral phase captures the research and lived experience that laid the foundation. The doctoral phase begins August 2026 at Howard University. This work is built at the intersection of financial literacy, learning systems, and digital infrastructure. Those who build excellence without structural advantage are not a diversity statistic. That is not a diversity argument. That is a qualification argument. This is not a podcast about answers. It is an invitation to see clearly. More at diamondjones.com.

Episodes

  1. 6d ago

    The Literacy Divide

    What if the most dangerous gap in America is not the wealth gap but the comprehension gap?54% of American adults read below a 6th grade level. The United States ranks 36th globally in literacy. Financial literacy is only mandated in 25 states. And the people making decisions about what gets taught have often never lived inside the realities those decisions affect.This is Episode 7 of Field Notes. And it is called The Literacy Divide.Not the gap between those who can read and those who cannot. The gap between those who were required by lived reality to understand how systems work and those who were never meant to live inside those systems at all.This episode goes personal. Diamond is relocating to Washington D.C. to begin her doctoral program at Howard University. And as one of the 600,000 women disproportionately sidelined from the workforce, she names what it means to hold three degrees and still be learning the most important things by accident.This is not a grievance. This is a field note. And the record speaks for itself.Follow the podcast so you never miss an episode. Find Diamond Jones at DiamondJones.com | I AM Workbook: diamondjoneshq.gumroad.com

  2. Jun 14

    Laborer or Architect

    What if the rug was never pulled when Black and brown communities were struggling, only when they were thriving? Episode 6 of Field Notes is called Laborer or Architect. And it is the most comprehensive field note in the series so far. This episode opens in Milwaukee. In an attic. With a TikTok video of the 43rd Treasurer of the United States, the woman who oversaw the printing of every American dollar during the Obama administration, saying the train has already left the station. That was the moment the field note began. Diamond Jones traces the pattern across 400 years of American history. From 40 acres and a mule to Black Wall Street. From the GI Bill to redlining. From the crack epidemic to the 2008 financial crisis. Every time the gap started closing, the ground underneath it was shifted. Not the path. The ground. Then the field note moves to right now. We are living in the most economically mobile moment for Black and brown communities in American history. Over 1.79 million Black millionaires. $212 billion added to the economy by Black owned businesses in a single year. The gap was finally closing in a documented and measurable way. And simultaneously, DEI eliminated. Affirmative action gone. Voting rights weakened. HBCUs defunded. The greatest wealth transfer in human history is underway and the protections are being removed at the same time. The pattern holds. Not despite the growth. Because of it. This episode also breaks down the new financial system being rebuilt underneath everyone right now. Web 2 to Web 3. Swift to ISO 20022. The baby boomer $68 trillion wealth transfer. The founding table of the new infrastructure, and who is largely absent from it. There is a tribute to Ermias Asghedom. A biblical observation rooted in Ephesians 6:12, Genesis 6, and Matthew 2. And a call to get your house in order, spiritually, financially, and in community. Every system that has ever excluded us has also needed us to function. The question is whether we show up as a laborer or an architect. This is not conspiracy. This is not fear-mongering. This is not indictment. This is pattern recognition. And the record speaks for itself. Follow the podcast so you never miss an episode. And if this resonated, share it with someone who needs to hear it. Find more at diamondjones.com I AM Workbook: diamondjones.com

  3. May 21

    Reaganomics 2.0

    What if the era people point to when they say "Make America Great Again" is the same era that hollowed out Black communities through manufactured crisis, deliberate policy, and documented government targeting? Episode 5 of Field Notes is called Reaganomics 2.0 - and it is an observation, not an accusation. In this episode, Diamond Jones breaks down the architecture of Reaganomics - the four pillars, the Welfare Queen narrative, union busting, the AIDS silence, and the War on Drugs - not as history, but as a blueprint. A blueprint being used again right now, updated with new tools: artificial intelligence, programmable money, biometric identity systems, and surveillance infrastructure. From Nixon's War on Drugs - admitted by his own policy chief to have been designed to target Black communities - to Reagan's escalation, to the documented results: 2.3 million people incarcerated, the racial wealth gap measurably widened, and an entire generation removed from households, ballots, and economic participation. Then the field note shifts to the present. The Voting Rights Act weakened. Project 2025 in early execution. DEI rolled back. HBCUs defunded. 600,000 Black women sidelined from the workforce. And three new pillars being quietly constructed around all of us - programmable money, digital identity, and surveillance hardware - that together create a system that does not need laws or police to enforce compliance. Diamond also addresses the question of legitimacy - why do Sam Altman and Peter Thiel get to shape the future for everyone? And what is the difference between making millions through AI and holding systemic power? This episode also includes a word for believers - a grounded, faith-rooted response to everything being observed. And a milestone: 50 streams since May 1st. This is not conspiracy. This is not fear-mongering. This is not indictment. This is pattern recognition. And the record speaks for itself. Follow the podcast so you never miss one. And if this episode resonated - share it with someone who needs to hear it. Find Diamond Jones at diamondjones.com | I AM Workbook: diamondjoneshq.gumroad.com

  4. May 2

    Exodus: The Most Educated

    What does it actually cost to be the most educated group in America when education was never a choice, it was a requirement? In Episode 4, I unpack the real story behind Black women and the credential gap, the DEI rollback, and the corporate system that was never designed to hold them. With 600,000 Black women economically sidelined in 2025, this is not just a workforce story. Featuring personal stories from USC during the Varsity Blues scandal, this episode reveals exactly why Black women are the most educated and it has nothing to do with the classroom. Learn more at diamondjones.com

  5. Apr 17

    The Architecture of Attention

    What decides what you see? Not your interests. The algorithm. This episode examines how social media platforms evolved from access tools into attention economies, and what that shift produced: a culture where visibility substitutes for credibility, engagement replaces understanding, and lifestyle aesthetics teach a generation what to value before they've had the chance to decide for themselves. From the financial infrastructure behind platform design to the cultural patterns embedded in the content it rewards, this episode examines the architecture underneath what you scroll. For more visit diamondjones.com.

  6. Apr 3

    Compliance as Comfort

    What does it cost to speak up? Not socially or morally, but practically? This episode explores how comfort sustains compliance more effectively than threat ever could. When people are paid enough to remain functional and busy enough to remain exhausted, questioning becomes inefficient. Through personal reflection and institutional patterns, this episode examines what becomes unaffordable to say when comfort is the condition for survival.

  7. Mar 19

    The Quiet Curriculum

    It is a Tuesday afternoon, and job postings are open on a screen. Degrees are listed as optional, while experience is required. What begins as a simple observation quickly becomes a pattern that is too consistent to ignore. This episode follows a single question across hiring practices, career trajectories, and personal decisions: when a system can no longer recognize expertise, what is it teaching us instead? Over time, the gap between what is learned and what is rewarded becomes harder to ignore. Knowledge is no longer evaluated by depth or understanding, but by how easily it can be recognized, summarized, and repeated. Experience becomes a signal. Expertise becomes harder to prove. Some lessons are never written into the syllabus. They are learned through repetition, adjustment, and quiet observation. Welcome to the quiet curriculum. This episode is part of an ongoing body of work examining how people learn to navigate systems that were never designed to fully recognize them. That work also extends into practical tools, including the BottomLineCo Planner, which was created to support financial literacy and everyday decision-making beyond what traditional education provides.

  8. Mar 5

    Uncredentialed

    What happens when degrees are treated as hobbies and experience replaces expertise? What happens when critical thinking declines and the goalposts continue to move? This trailer introduces Diamond Jones, a podcast grounded in critical inquiry that examines how institutions determine what knowledge matters and who is left behind. Drawing from lived experience and research, the series questions what counts as expertise and who is permitted to speak. Updates and new releases at diamondjones.com.

Trailer

About

A field notes podcast documenting a two-phase scholarly journey. The predoctoral phase captures the research and lived experience that laid the foundation. The doctoral phase begins August 2026 at Howard University. This work is built at the intersection of financial literacy, learning systems, and digital infrastructure. Those who build excellence without structural advantage are not a diversity statistic. That is not a diversity argument. That is a qualification argument. This is not a podcast about answers. It is an invitation to see clearly. More at diamondjones.com.

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