Good Ancestor Podcast

In this episode, I speak with novelist and journalist, Dawnie Walton.

Dawnie Walton is the author of the novel The Final Revival of Opal & Nev, a “spectacular debut” (Publisher’s Weekly, starred review) that has been named one of 2021’s most anticipated books by Essence, Vogue, The Oprah Magazine, Elle, The Independent, Lit Hub, PopSugar, The Millions, and Hypebae.

Her work as a fiction writer and journalist explores identity, place, and the influence of pop culture. A MacDowell Colony fellow (2015), a Tin House Scholar (2017), and a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop (MFA, 2018), she has worked as an executive-level editor for magazine and multimedia brands including Essence, Entertainment Weekly, Getty Images, and LIFE.

A native of Jacksonville, Florida, she lives in Brooklyn.

Dawnie's debut novel The Final Revival of Opal & Nev is our third selection for the Good Ancestor Book Club. Click here to find out more about the book club and how you can join us.

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In this episode, I speak with Sunday Times and Irish Times best-selling author, academic, and broadcaster, Emma Dabiri.

Emma Dabiri is a teaching fellow in the African department at SOAS, a Visual Sociology PhD researcher at Goldsmiths and the author of Twisted: The Tangled History of Black Hair Culture and What White People Can Do Next. Both books are Sunday Times, Irish Times and Waterstones bestsellers.

Emma is a regular presenter on the BBC and a contributor for The Guardian. She has presented several television and radio programmes, including BBC Radio 4’s critically acclaimed documentaries Journeys into Afro-futurism and Britain’s Lost Masterpieces. Her writing has been published in a number of anthologies, academic journals, and the national press. She lives in London.

Emma's bestselling book Twisted / Don't Touch My Hair is our second book selection for Good Ancestor Book Club. Click here to find out more about the book club and how you can join us.

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In this episode, I speak with the meditator, writer, and speaker, Diego Perez, also known as Yung Pueblo.

Diego Perez is the writer behind the pen name Yung Pueblo. The name Yung Pueblo means “young people.” It serves to remind him of his Ecuadorian roots, his experiences in activism, and that the collective of humanity is in the midst of important growth.

Diego’s favorite word, liberation, took on a deeper meaning once he started meditating vipassana. Through writing and speaking, he aims to support the healing of the individual, realizing that when we release our personal burdens, we contribute to global peace.

Diego has over a million followers on Instagram who connect deeply with his poetic words of wisdom and self-reflection. His work focuses on the reality of self-healing, the movement from self-love to unconditional love, and the wisdom that comes when we truly work on knowing ourselves.

His first book, Inward, quickly became a bestseller on Amazon and his second book Clarity & Connection is now available.

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In this episode, I speak with Xicana medicine woman and decolonial healer, Dr. Rocío Rosales Meza.

Dr. Rocío Rosales Meza, is a Xicana/Mexicana seer, decolonial healer, speaker, writer, mother, & Counseling Psychology Ph.D. Dr. Rocio’s path is that of a medicine woman, she is not a Licensed Psychologist, as she is not aligned with the colonial field. Dr. Meza’s work is at the intersections of decolonizing, spirituality, and wellness. She walks and works in between the earthly and spiritual realms and often feels her work is “too decolonial for the spiritual world and too spiritual for the decolonial world.” She lives at the intersections to bring in the new that is being asked to be birthed in this space and time.

Dr. Meza deeply believes in dismantling the white colonial capitalist patriarchy as she believes it is these very systems that have made us unwell. She believes that this work begins with self in decolonizing the mind to unlearn harmful colonial programming because it is people that uphold systems.

Dr. Meza primarily works with Black, Indigenous, womxn and femmes of color in her sacred virtual community, The Decolonial Healing Collective. She also offers teachings to all folx wanting to learn about decolonizing the self and decolonial healing. Dr. Meza has also recently made space to work with white folx wanting to deprogram and unlearn white colonial programming so they can serve as accomplices in the movement.

As a medicine woman, Dr. Meza knows that collective healing and liberation begins with healing self so that we can then act in ways to bring back the times of harmony and balance with all of humanity, Mother Earth, and all of creation. She honors her Indigenous lineage and Elder Pampamesayoq Don Alejandro Apaza from the Q’ero Inca Nation for opening her heart to do this work with all folx to help birth the new world we are seeking.

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In this episode, I speak with New York Times bestselling author, Robert Jones, Jr.

Robert Jones, Jr. is a writer from Brooklyn, N.Y. He earned both his B.F.A. in creative writing and M.F.A. in fiction from Brooklyn College. His work has been featured in The New York Times, Essence, Gawker, and The Grio. He is the creator of the social justice social media community, Son of Baldwin. He is currently working on his second novel.

Robert’s instant NYT bestselling book The Prophets is our first book selection for the brand new Good Ancestor Book Club. Click here to find out more about the book club and how you can join us.

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In this episode, I speak with climate justice and antiracism activist, Mikaela Loach.

Mikaela Loach is a climate justice activist, the co-host of The Yikes Podcast, writer and a 4th-year medical student based in Edinburgh, Scotland.

In 2020, Forbes, Global Citizen and BBC Woman's Hour named Mikaela one of the most influential women in the UK climate movement. Her work focuses on making the climate movement more inclusive and focusing on the intersections of the climate crisis with oppressive systems such as white supremacy and migrant injustices.

Her activism has been featured in the BBC, Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Elle and VICE. She uses her Instagram platform and The Yikes Podcast to communicate the need for system change, climate justice and the dismantling of white supremacy.

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In this episode, I speak with award-winning British science journalist and broadcaster, Angela Saini.

Angela presents science programmes on the BBC, and her writing has appeared in New Scientist, The Sunday Times, National Geographic and Wired. Her latest book, Superior: the Return of Race Science, was a finalist for the LA Times Book Prize and named a book of the year by The Telegraph, Nature and Financial Times. Her previous book, Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong, has been translated into thirteen languages. Angela has a Masters in Engineering from the University of Oxford and was a Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

In 2020 Angela was named one of the world's top 50 thinkers by Prospect magazine, and in 2018 she was voted one of the most respected journalists in the UK.

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In this episode, I speak with creative, entrepreneur, educator, and speaker, Sinikiwe Dhliwayo.

Sinikiwe Dhliwayo is steadfast in her belief that Blackness and humanity are inextricably linked. She is driven daily by a deep desire to change the narrative of what it looks like and feels like to be well.

Whether making yoga and meditation accessible to those who need the practice most or telling stories of marginalized folks through elevated photo and video, Sinikiwe is dedicated to creating a more equitable and just society.

Her work and efforts to make the wellness space more equitable can be found in Beyonce, Byrdie, Dame, Goop, Well and Good, and Refinery29. Her previous teaching and speaking engagements include The Re-Treat, Create and Cultivate, The Wing, Unwell Conference, Lululemon, Goop League, Summit, Faherty Sun Sessions, and Girlvana.

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In this episode, I speak with British-Nigerian media executive, writer, and satirist, Nels Abbey.

Nels Abbey is a British-Nigerian media executive, writer, and satirist. Prior to any of the above he was a senior banker in the financial district of London. He is a former BBC executive, a Clore Fellow, a Penguin Fellow, a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts and sits on the boards of various companies. His writing work has been published in every major quality British newspaper and many magazines.

He is a social and political commentator and regularly appears on Channel 4 News, Newsnight, Radio 4, Times Radio, LBC and Sky News. He is also the founder of the Black British Writers' Guild. Think Like a White Man is his first book.

Think Like a White Man is a satirical self-help book which explains the rules by which mediocre white men continue to get ahead. It is one of the first satirical books on race by a Black British author, and is an incisive and timely examination of racism today.

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In this episode, I speak with American novelist, Kiley Reid.

An Arizona native, Kiley Reid is a recent graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where she was the recipient of the Truman Capote Fellowship. Her New York Times-bestselling debut novel, SUCH A FUN AGE, is currently in development by Lena Waithe’s Hillman Grad Productions and Sight Unseen Pictures.

The novel was longlisted for The 2020 Booker Prize and a finalist for the New York Public Library’s 2020 Young Lions Fiction Award, the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award, the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work by a Debut Author, and the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award.

Kiley’s writing has been featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Playboy, December, Lumina, where her short story was the winner in the 2017 Flash Prose Contest, and Ploughshares, where her short story was the winner of the 2020 Ashley Leigh Bourne Prize for Fiction.

Kiley lives in Philadelphia.

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