Let's Grab Coffee WYXR

Episode Notes
This year I had the honor of moderating a panel conversation at SXSW featuring Dominic Lawson, Leta McCollough Seletzky, and Chassidy Jade. You may remember Dominic from our February feature of his multi-award winning podcast, Black is America. Leta was a previous guest (Ep 97) discussing her book The Kneeling Man: My Father's Life as a Black Spy Who Witnessed the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Today I'm sharing our conversation with you!

Telling It Like It Is, Was, and Could Be

Whether it's uncovering hidden narratives or reinventing the familiar, this panel will inspire you to rethink how stories can captivate, challenge, and resonate in fresh and impactful ways. Join creatives representing film, podcasting, and creative writing as they delve into the techniques of narrative design that they use to push the conventional expectations of their fields, inviting audiences to find new meaning in the stories that shape our world. They’ll also explore the intentional choices and potential challenges to prepare for when offering new perspectives on well-known stories.

Episode Notes
Around the world, coffee is part of countless cultures’ daily routine. Perhaps your day starts with brewing a cup at home or grabbing your daily fix on the way to work. In fact, coffee is a global industry worth $495 billion per year but less than 1% of this revenue returns to people of African descent, who are the originators of coffee, or to African countries, where the majority of our coffee is imported from, highlighting the ongoing inequalities in the coffee trade.

One local Memphis coffee company is on a mission to change how we understand coffee’s Black history and its Black future - Cxffeeblack. Today I am joined by Cxffeeblack co-founder, Renata Henderson.

As the lead roaster for Cxffeeblack, Renata Henderson is Memphis, TN's first Black female roaster, continuing the tradition of Black women roasters in Ethiopia, where coffee originates. In addition to creating an entirely all Black coffee supply chain from Ethiopia to Memphis, TN – the first of its kind – Cxffeeblack also hosts the Barista Exchange Program which took 4 Black American baristas from the US to Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Kenya and which will bring African baristas to Memphis, in a cultural and coffee educational exchange. Cxffeeblack was honored as the 2024 Global Notable Roaster of the Year by Sprudge Media Network, a renowned international authority on coffee and its culture.

You can learn more about cxffeeblack at cxffeeblack.com or if you're in the Memphis area, stop by the Anti-Gentrification Cxffee Club.

Episode Notes
Today is a special feature - a panel conversation I organized for SXSW featuring creatives discussing how to maintain your creative voice and vision.

Social media turned creativity into content and artists into content creators. But, what if you have something more to say beyond recycling trends and presenting a carefully curated social media feed? How do you tell an entertaining, informative, and/or educational story reflective of your community in an industry that often limits representation to tired tropes? Culture critic, Dr. Saida Grundy sits down with three creatives spanning the media landscape - Munirah Jones, creator of The Mound, OWN Network’s first animated series, Dominic Lawson, host of award-winning podcast Black is America, and documentary producer, Enora Moss - to uncover how they leveraged everyday technology to carve out their own creative lanes to tell the stories they wanted to tell without sacrificing their soul.

Episode Notes
This month Let’s Grab Coffee features conversation with Dominic Lawson, host and creator of the award-winning Black Is America podcast. On today’s show, Dominic and I talk about the importance of storytelling - how we tell stories and the stories we tell. We listen to a very special award-winning episode of Black Is America highlighting Memphis's own, Tom Lee: The Everyday American Hero.

The Black Is America podcast highlights little-known African-American figures and stories. This award-winning podcast helps tell the story of America through the lens of the African American experience. For more about Black Is America, visit blackisamericapodcast.com

Episode Notes
This month Let’s Grab Coffee features conversation with Dominic Lawson, host and creator of the award-winning Black Is America podcast. On today’s show, Dominic and I reflect on how the past is ever present - on an individual and society level - but we can only connect the dots looking backwards. We also listen to a jaw-dropping episode of Black Is America highlighting Doris Miller: The American Defender.

The Black Is America podcast highlights little-known African-American figures and stories. This award-winning podcast helps tell the story of America through the lens of the African American experience. For more about Black Is America, visit blackisamericapodcast.com

Episode Notes
This month Let’s Grab Coffee features conversation with Dominic Lawson, host and creator of the award-winning Black Is America podcast. On today’s show, Dominic and I talk about the importance of courage. Dominic also drops some invaluable tips for current and future podcasters. We also listen to absolutely captivating Black Is America episode about Henry Johnson: The First American Hero of World War I.

The Black Is America podcast highlights little-known African-American figures and stories. This award-winning podcast helps tell the story of America through the lens of the African American experience. For more about Black Is America, visit blackisamericapodcast.com