We have a special guest for today's episode during the National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month, Tabitha Wolod. Tab is the CEO of Ideas Equal Income, a creative agency built to help individuals, just as its name indicates, transform their ideas into income. She is also a Queer person of color, currently dealing with some mental health issues, and a huge advocate for mental health awareness.

Throughout our conversation, we navigate Tab's childhood traumas, her relationship with her parents, the different extreme and traumatic situations she was exposed to since she was a child, and how they developed all over her adolescence and early adulthood. 

We talk about her coping mechanisms to deal with reality, her early introduction to nightlife, substance abuse, and promiscuous relationships with men and women. 

In addition, we delve into the importance of seeking proper medical assistance, the dangers of misdiagnoses, and how her life changed after she got adequately diagnosed and medicated. 

Some Questions I Ask:

• Could you talk about how old you were when mental disorders started to manifest and how that experience was? (8:34)
• Talk to us through what it looked and felt like; what were some signs and symptoms that things weren't in sync in your life? (15:10)
• What were you trying to do to cope during this period of chaos during your early 20s? (24:53)

In This Episode, You Will Learn:

• Tab's upbringing and the challenges she faced having a mother with multiple mental health issues (4:25)
• The lack of food restrictions at Tab's house and her struggles with poor nutrition (11:33)
• Tab's first experiences as being misdiagnosed with depression (18:59)
• Tab takes us through her traumatic experiences and poor choices in her early adulthood (20:14)
• How Tab's life changed after she got a proper diagnosis to deal with her mental health issues (32:51)

Resources:

• Ideas Equal Income website
• Book: Bessel Van der Kolk - The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma

Connect with Tab:

• Instagram
• Facebook

Let's connect!

• Website
• Instagram

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Only %7 of tech talent is Black. If we look at UX (User Experience) talent, that number goes down to 3%. Still, those numbers become harder to accept once we learn that those percentages haven't changed in the last 50 years. 

Considering tech's explosive growth in the last decades, the lack of change in the industry's representation can't be fortuitous.

The way our guest, Amber Fields, knew about this data was rather accidental. Still, the ideas she developed and her actions to defy the status quo and disrupt the narrative about inclusion in the tech industry once she got access to this information were very intentional. 

Amber Fields is a Researcher, Storyteller, Speaker, DJ, and Founder of Black UX Labs, a coaching and consulting firm for black UX talent. She is passionate about promoting, including, sponsoring, and enticing audacity among Black and Brown talent in the tech industry. 

In this episode, Amber kindly describes her path from marketing and advertising to the tech and UX industry. We talk about the alarming disparity in representation in the industry and the C-Suite level of leading corporations. Amber explains the importance of getting more Black feet into the UX industry from an inclusiveness standpoint and a commercial and financial perspective. 

We also reflect on the need to create an audacious mindset within the Black and Brown community to face the "caucacity," Amber reveals the only factor capable of affecting and changing the tech and UX industry, and she shares advice for young folk who want to start their careers and aren't sure of where to start from. 

Some Questions I Ask:

• Could you give us a little background on UX (user experience)? (2:24)
• Let's talk about the representation in this community, not marketing and advertising, but in the tech community. What can you tell me about that? (6:57)
• We are often afraid when people start talking about leaving the plantation. When you began with Black UX Lab, did you encounter much resistance? Were people suspicious of you? (21:19)

In This Episode, You Will Learn:

• Amber shares her story in marketing and advertising and her original goal of joining that industry (4:54)
• Amber talks about how and why she started connecting with people who looked like her in tech. The birth of the Black Tech Book (9:18)
• Amber shares her realization of the need to hold the budget to generate a substantial impact in the industry (13:07)
• Amber talks about the moment she felt the need to disrupt the industry's narrative and challenge the status quo (15:41)
• Amber explains why inculcating audacity among Black and Brown communities is essential (18:04)
• Amber talks about how she feels she contributes to changing the perception of Blackness in the tech space (28:38)
• Amber unravels the importance of including Black and Brown talent in UX to enhance inclusion but also to generate more revenue (31:04)

Resources:

• Black UX Labs website
• Black UX Labs Instagram

Connect with Amber:

• LinkedIn

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The bacteria contamination detected last February at the Abbot Corporation, one of the four major formula producers in the country, forced the plant to shut down. This had a massive impact on the supply chain that directly affected the parents dependent on formula to feed their babies. 

Still, the current formula shortage America is going through is just the tip of the iceberg. The issue revealed significant failures in our healthcare system, like defective parental leave politics and the Government's null assistance in setting families for success the moment a baby is born.

To give us a deeper look at these issues is Heather Cabral, Managing Director of Communications at Faith in Action, the nation's largest faith-based grassroots organizing nonprofit in the US. She is also the creator of Mama Milk Bank, a space where parents in need of human milk can connect with and get information from milk donors and milk banks. 

Our conversation revolves around Heather's hereditary drive to fight for what is right, the importance of donating milk, the lack of time, space, and accommodations for mothers to pump milk at work, and how flawed is our healthcare system in this regard. We also delve into the impact these failures in the healthcare system have on Black and Brown women, the costs of donating milk, and Heather's project Pump-A-Thon, a 30-day campaign encouraging women to "pump and donate" breast milk. 

Some Questions I Ask:

• After what happened with the Abbot Corporation in February, tell us how this evolved for you (9:13)
• Could you talk a bit about the process of creating Mama Milk Bank? (24:49)
• What is the cost to moms reaching out to those banks? (40:43)

In This Episode, You Will Learn:

• Heather shares a bit about her background and her fighting for what's right heritage (2:55)
• A bit of background on the formula shortage (6:13)
• About the lack of accommodation and time for mothers to pump and store their milk at work (14:31)
• Parental leave: the root of the problem that formula shortage highlighted (16:26)
• A band-aid on a bullet wound. The Mama Milk Bank project and its temporary solutions (30:19)
• The impact of corporate greed on Black and Brown mothers (35:27)
• Heather provides details about Pump-A-Thon (42:17)

Resources:

• Mama Milk Bank Linktree

Connect with Heather:

• Twitter

Let's connect!

• Website
• Instagram

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.