Larger Than Yourself

Ben Nichols is a third generation marine who epitomizes the concept of a humble servant leader. Whether leading troops in Afghanistan or running Harkins Builders here in America, Ben is committed to giving everyone a platform, a voice, and a seat at the table. At a time where building consensus and getting people on the same page can seem overwhelming, Ben helps us see that not only is it possible, but that it is critical to the success of the growth of the ideas that we work on and champion.

Sekwan Merritt is magic. His smile, his beautiful heart, and his hope are just a few of the things that separate him from the rest of us. Sekwan never let a 25 year prison sentence slow him down. If anything, it motivated him to dig deeper, find his freedom, and answer the calling to change the world for him and for everyone around him.

Victoria Thompson spent years hustling in the squeegee business, which has been one of the most polarizing topics that we've faced in Baltimore in a long time. Her recent leadership in the Squeegee Collaborative, where a group of Baltimore leaders and squeegee workers came together to listen to each other and map out a path forward that would be in the best interest of all those involved, has changed the landscape in our city, and is a beautiful reminder of the importance of listening deeply.

My friend Shelonda Stokes is the glue that is helping all of Baltimore stick. Her life's quest to blaze an equal trail for women and people of color has led her to a point in her career where the social capital that she possesses, used correctly, just might be the tipping point that Baltimore needs to thrive together.

Luke Cooper is on a quest to level the playing field for entrepreneurs of color. Raised surrounded by drugs and violence, as a young boy he watched his father get sentenced to 20 years in prison. If it wasn't for a strong mom, a short ride in a Cessna airplane, and a science fair he won at 12 years old, Luke's life would have looked a lot different. As he says, he probably would be dead. Luke's story on how he realized that he controlled his own destiny, which led him to start and sell some very successful tech companies, is full of priceless lessons on how to inclusively grow ideas.

Alicia Wilson is the mightiest person I know. Her ability to navigate community, and life, in a way that is transparent, humble, and compassionate have landed her in some of the most important conversations in Baltimore, throughout the country, and now around the globe. Alicia's courage to take on world-changing challenges without ever forgetting how she got there, or who she really represents, are all a part of her inspiring magic.  

Charlotte James and Undrea Wright believe deeply in the healing powers of plant medicine. Our conversation explored how their personal journeys with psychedelics led them to create The Ancestor Project, which uses these sacred medicines to co-create a collective liberation.

At 16 years old, Artie Gonzales was already deep in the gang world when he took the life of another man, was tried as an adult, and caught a life sentence in the California prison system. 21 years later, through hard personal work, Artie was released as a model prisoner and has since become a leader in his community, an advocate for legislative reforms, and a member of several social justice organizations.

Ashley Williams is on a quest to make sure that the youth of this world, our future generation, have the emotional intelligence needed to thrive in these incredibly challenging times. It's as important to her as math, English and science, and it can no longer be overlooked. Her edu-tech company, Clymb, is reimagining what's possible by not accepting the status quo. 

Dr. John Brothers is the glue that is quietly and humbly holding Baltimore city together. Our conversation covered everything from his growing up in deep poverty, to his ability to see the beauty in even the most challenging places, to his unique approach to leading the T. Rowe Price Foundation's quest to reimagine the role of philanthropy within communities. 

Monique Smith was abducted as a baby and raised by an abusive woman who claimed to be her mother. It wasn't until she was in her 30s that Monique began to put the pieces together. Today, Monique is on a quest to discover her true identity and to create a movement to support families of missing children.

Kondwani Fidel is a Baltimore legend. Known for his ability to use words to stir an awakening and deep emotion, Kondwani's poetry, lyrics and books are both asking and answering our toughest questions. Kondwani's ability to be real and vulnerable have propelled him forward onto a national stage where he's using his platform to inspire critical change.

Lola Manekin is my wife, my oracle and one of the most powerful healers that I've ever met. In this conversation, which was rooted in creation, we dove deep into marriage, children, birthing ideas, the universes' wisdom, and trusting ourselves to find our paths.

In 2017, Ethan Lipsitz was diagnosed with brain cancer. Rather than giving up, this challenged him to face his mortality and reorient his priorities around health and love. From that period onwards Ethan founded the Love Extremist project, a platform that empowers people to become activists for love. Today he works with companies, schools, communities and organizations to facilitate important conversations and practices that bond groups, empower health and cultivate creativity, action-oriented love.

Sheela Murthy has lived an incredible life. Born and raised in India, Sheela's parents instilled a work ethic in her that propelled her onto a global stage. Armed with a law degree from Harvard, and based on her own poor experience in optioning a green card, Sheela set out to reimagine immigration law as we know it through the Murthy Law Firm.

Tara Ryan is the founder of the Heal the Healers Project, a powerful nonprofit that provides emotional support for nurses on the front lines. Driven to serve based on life threatening burns Tara experienced when she was only nine months old, and the trauma that came with it, Tara has committed her life’s work to taking care of others.

Joe Jones is the founder and CEO of the Center for Urban Families. Addicted to heroin, selling drugs, and arrested before he was legally able to drive, Joe decided he had a larger purpose in life. He set out on a journey to create an organization that would dismantle poverty, and he’s systematically chipping away at that every single day.

Brandon Scott is the 52nd mayor of Baltimore City and he’s on a mission. As 37 years old, he’s the youngest mayor Baltimore has had in over a hundred years. In this episode Brandon talks about his lifelong passion to serve his city, his commitment to reimagining what it means to be an elected official, why he is challenging the status quo, and the hard questions he’s asking that will eventually move the needle.

Watkins is a New York Times bestselling author, world renowned speaker, editor and teacher. In this inspiring conversation, D. and I talk about being a new dad, about him being a product of the crack era and living to be able to tell that story, about the racism and crime that are crippling our country, about the importance of building community and more importantly, protecting that community once you’ve made it. 

Aaron Henkin is an award-winning radio journalist and podcaster. In this episode, we dive deep into understanding how his radical agenda to show up with no agenda led to the creation of the hit series, Out of the Blocks, and how it grew into a movement that reimagines radio as we know it.

Ericka Alston-Buck is a divine force whose life work has been to amplify the voices of change agents and magnify the work being done by others to positively impact the world. In our conversation we discuss her being tested as a genius at eight years old, the weight of having her first child at 15, her recovery from being addicted to crack cocaine, her creating the Kids Safe Zone in response to the Freddie Gray uprising, and her burning question of Why is this all OK?

Nnadagi Isa is the co-founder of Lor Tush, an incredible company that is reimagining toilet paper as we know it. In this episode, we discussed the influence of growing up in America with Nigerian parents, her experience being homeless, the music album she helped go platinum, and the creativity that brought Lor Tush to life.

Daniel O’Connor is the founder and chief storyteller behind Panacea, an amazing organization that is healing communities, one complicated conversation at a time. Dan saw a lack of positive narratives in the media around themes of love, empathy, and forgiveness and decided to do something about it, which launched him on a journey that may just unite the world.

Fagan Harris is the co-founder and CEO of Baltimore Corps. He’s also one of my heroes and one of the most thoughtful people I know. In the episode we talked about hustle, the Rhodes Scholarship, death, life, purpose over profit, nonprofit vs. for profit, Baltimore Corps, Lexington Market, and the fight for racial equity.

Joe Mechlinski is a New York Times bestselling author, speaker, and social entrepreneur who believes that an engaged workforce is the key to unlocking human potential. More importantly, he’s one of my best friends. In this episode, the two of us covered love, plant medicine, parenting, trauma, equality, complicated conversations and his exciting new book.

Bree Jones watched her hometown of New Rochelle, NY become gentrified so fast that by the time she tried to do something, it was already too late. Vowing to find a solution, Bree moved to Baltimore and founded a community led real estate company called Parity, whose mission is to renovate abandoned buildings to create affordable home ownership and prove that you can do development without displacement.

Delali Dzirasa is the future. His story about the hustle and hard work that led him to create Fearless, a tech company whose mission is to build software with a soul, was so inspiring. Delali shows us all how much more successful we can be when we chase purpose over profit.

Simon Cataldo shares his fascinating life journey that led him to reimagine the game of lacrosse. The story of how Harlem Lacrosse came to be has very little to do with the actual game, it’s all about how the sport itself, looked at differently, can change the life trajectory of our most forgotten and disenfranchised youth. 

Shelley Halstead's burning desire to know why things are how they are, led her around the world, and eventually to Baltimore where she launched Black Women Build, a homeownership and wealth building initiative that trains Black women in carpentry, electrical, and plumbing by restoring vacant and deteriorated houses in West Baltimore. 

Sports enthusiast and three-time All-American athlete, David Slomkowski, combined his love and appreciation for the athletic spirit with his entrepreneurial prowess to create Athletes Serving Athletes. The organization is committed to helping athletes with disabilities find opportunities to participate in mainstream sports while ensuring they and their families feel loved and included.

Jonathan Rose is a socially conscious innovator and leader in the real estate world and beyond. Since founding Jonathan Rose Companies in 1989, he’s been on a mission to repair the fabric of cities, towns, and communities by delivering visionary projects that are affordable, environmentally responsible, and socially conscious.

Sean Smeeton didn’t just want to re-imagine the ice cream industry, he wanted to empower others along the way. Beginning as a local non-profit and later transitioning to become a worker-owned-purpose-driven cooperative, Taharka Brothers is now a majority black owned business that has built its reputation as one of Baltimore's favorite ice cream vendors. 

David Sullivan is a huge believer that that Entrepreneurship is a mindset that can be applied anywhere. His ability to listen deeply and see the gaps led him to found Till, a company that empowers renters to thrive in their homes by radically transforming rent into a positive and personalized financial experience.

Donald Manekin defines the servant leader role. From serving as the Chief Operating Officer of Baltimore City Schools to helping reimagine real estate with Seawall, Donald has distilled the powerful lessons learned from his father––to lead humbly, with love, by listening deeply––and decades of community-minded work experience into his forthcoming book: The Inside Out Company.

After coming face to face with the human cost of food apartheid, Eric Jackson founded the Black Yield Institute in 2015. A Baltimore-based, black-led action network and think tank, Black Yield is determined to generate solutions for the systemic problems plaguing black and brown communities from within those communities themselves.

After her daughter was diagnosed with autism, Ami Taubenfeld found herself searching for programs offering adequate support for autistic individuals and their families. As the search wore on, Ami took matters into her own hands, launching Itineris–an agency that would give her, her daughter, and others the help they need.

Sent to prison at age 18, Alex Smith discovered a love and a talent for gardening while incarcerated. After graduating from the STRIVE program at Baltimore’s famed Center for Urban Families upon his release 15 years later, he went on to found Division Street Landscaping, a social enterprise that creates pipeline partnerships for fellow formerly incarcerated individuals.

After suffering extreme physical and emotional pain throughout his life, Fernando Reis created an innovative treatment protocol that has helped thousands around the world heal their imbalances. His Bioenergetic Medicine school in Brazil helps people understand the power they have to change their own destiny.

By investing in places and people, Philadelphia-based Shift Capital and its founder, Brian Murray, connect the economic and social dots to create opportunity for all. Employing what they call the Whole Neighborhood approach, Shift is on a mission to create inclusive, equitable communities that do more than survive — they thrive.

After encountering the challenges teachers face firsthand, Danna Thomas realized that the educators who support school children need a support system of their own. She created Happy Teacher Revolution, an international movement with the mission to support the mental health and wellness of teachers everywhere. 

At age 12, Freeman A. Hrabowski was arrested during Martin Luther King Jr.’s Children’s Crusade in 1963. Decades later, that same activist spirit led Hrabowski to become President of The University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Through his work as an author, advocate, educator, and mathematician, he has reimagined public higher education in Baltimore and beyond.

After his own experiences on the Obama campaign showed him the power of movements, Alex Lofton wanted to find a pathway to stronger schools and safer communities. He co-founded Landed in 2015 to help educators, healthcare workers, and first responders finance and purchase homes in tricky markets like San Francisco, Seattle, Hawai’i, & Boston.

After nearly two decades in investment banking, Jamie McDonald turned her attention and entrepreneurial interests toward the generosity economy. Before founding Generosity Consulting, where she advises socially motivated CEO’s and visionaries to drive change, Jamie founded GiveCrops, a community-building and online-giving software platform connecting nonprofits and educational institutions to digital givers, which became part of the Network for Good.

In the quest to bring the world’s game to the world’s city, Los Angeles Football Club reimagined what a sports team could be. LAFC’s Executive Vice President of Brand & Community, Rich Orosco, helped pioneer a supporter-first approach that made space for a vibrant community unlike any other LA has seen. Instead of a sports team with a great fan base, LAFC has become an unstoppable community first and foremost, with a great sports team attached to it.

With chapters in Birmingham, Durham, Houston, Miami and Philadelphia, Black Girl Ventures has raised over $1 million for Black and Brown women entrepreneurs. Founder Shelly Bell is a venture catalyst, tech entrepreneur and international speaker who exemplifies the creative spirit and tenacity of her organization.

Facing an addiction to prescription medication and struggles with mental health, Quentin Vennie found his own way out through yoga, meditation and juicing. Through his work as a social entrepreneur, speaker, and author of the memoir Strong In The Broken Places, he aims to guide others down their own path toward a healthy and thriving lifestyle.

For most of her adult life, Erricka Bridgeford has worked to bring peace to the streets of Baltimore. From advocating to repeal Maryland’s death penalty in 2009 to founding the Baltimore Ceasefire initiative in 2017, Bridgeford’s focus is on fighting violence with compassion, understanding, and inclusiveness. In 2017, she was named Marylander of the Year by the Baltimore Sun.

Building on years of training as a coach and intuitive healer, Londin Angel Winters discovered a modality of intimacy focused on the body instead of the mind. To help modern women reclaim their power, Londin co-wrote the bestselling book, The Awakened Woman’s Guide To Everlasting Love and co-created The Yoga of Intimacy with her partner Justin Patrick Pierce.

Author and teacher Justin Patrick Pierce leverages a lifetime of spiritual practice into practical lessons in how to fully embody an honest and meaningful sexuality. Working in tandem with his partner Londin Angel Winters, Justin is the founder of The Yoga of Intimacy, a series of workshops designed to bring tangible change to couples and individuals.

After excelling at track and field in college, Santia Deck embarked on an athletic journey unlike any the world has ever seen. Recently making history by becoming the first female American football player to sign a multi-million dollar contract, she continues to spread her message of personal and female empowerment through books, TV, modeling, speaking, and fitness training. Running full-speed ahead toward her own dreams of success has opened up paths for so many others. 

Growing out of Teach For America’s commitment to improving educational equity for students in the United States, Teach For All is a global network dedicated to expanding educational opportunities for children. Wendy Kopp, the founder of both organizations, has spent the last three decades working to eliminate systemic inequities in education.