Inspiring Community: An Inspire to Rise Podcast

Inspiring Community: An Inspire to Rise Podcast

Welcome to Inspiring Community: An Inspire to Rise, Inc. Podcast where we create a community conversation and awareness about mental health, substance misuse, and overall community concerns and needs. We share inspiring stories of hope, compassion, connection, collaboration, healing, growth, and transformation that show the beauty of this thing we call life. Remember you are not defined by your worst moment. We hope to inspire you to be your best self for yourself, your family, and our community. The belief is: Stronger Families = a Stronger Community! Let's Be and Start the Change! Inspire to Rise, Inc. is a nonprofit with community centers located in Duval and Nassau counties focused on holistically helping make the community a little better, happier, and healthier place. For more information or to support our mission, please contact us at weinspiretorise.org or via phone at: 1-844-WE-RISE1 (1-844-937-4731).

Episodes

September 1, 2026 • 34 mins

Welcome to Episode 34 of Inspiring Community: An Inspire to Rise Podcast. Today's episode was led by our host, Drew Brandom! Please join us as he interviews our guest, Pablo Diaz de Sandi, Vice President of the Voice of the Member at VyStar Credit Union as well as the Board Chair of the COJ Mayor’s Hispanic American Advisory Council.

As Vice President of the Voice of the Member at VyStar, Pablo is responsible for addressing me...

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Welcome to Episode 33 of Inspiring Community: An Inspire to Rise Podcast. Today's episode was led by our host, Drew Brandom! Please join us as he interviews our guest, Adam Madrid, Film Production Coordinator at the Jacksonville Film & Television Office.

Adam is a Director/Editor for Argyle Forest Films as well as the Film Production Coordinator at the Jacksonville Film & Television office. With more than a decade of experie...

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June 3, 2026 • 29 mins

Welcome to Episode 32 of Inspiring Community: An Inspire to Rise Podcast. Today's episode was led by our host, Drew Brandom! Please join us as he interviews our guests, Ellie Pumphrey and Erianna Kemp, Interns at Inspire to Rise.

Ellie and Erianna are interns in the Inspired Youth Day Program; Ellie is also an employee of Inspire to Rise and serves as the Program Assistant for Prevention and Family Preservation. 

During this epi...

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May 1, 2026 • 42 mins

Welcome to Episode 31 of Inspiring Community: An Inspire to Rise Podcast. Today's episode was led by our host, Drew Brandom! Please join us as he interviews our guests, Faith Gardner and Elias Seeraj, Youth Peers at Inspire to Rise.

Faith and Elias are both Jacksonville natives who got involved with Inspire to Rise thanks to their parents. Faith's mother, Felecia Gardner, is the Intake, Training, & Community Outreach Director at...

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April 2, 2026 • 27 mins

Welcome to Episode 30 of Inspiring Community: An Inspire to Rise Podcast. Today's episode was led by our host, Drew Brandom! Please join us as he interviews our guests, Kenyatta McCloud, Founder of Taming My M.E.S.S. Foundation, Inc. and Shacobi Williams, a Mentor at Taming My M.E.S.S.

Taming My M.E.S.S. is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting girls and women impacted by the justice system and other life challenges. Ms. ...

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March 16, 2026 • 53 mins

Welcome to Episode 29 of Inspiring Community: An Inspire to Rise Podcast. Today's episode was led by our host, Drew Brandom! Please join us as he interviews our guest, Justino Arroyo-Morales, a Peer Community Advocate at Inspire to Rise.

Mr. Justino was born and raised in New Jersey but moved to Florida just over two years ago to be more active in the Word of Prophecy Ministry and Calvary Chapel Church of God and to leave behind the...

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Welcome to Episode 28 of Inspiring Community: An Inspire to Rise Podcast. Today's episode was led by our host, Drew Brandom! Please join us as he interviews our guest, Jessica Williams, the Peer Advocate Coordinator at Inspire to Rise.

Ms. Jessica knows the importance of being met with understanding instead of judgement. With an early life shaped by addiction, mental health struggles, and trauma, Ms. Jessica has devoted her adult li...

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Welcome to Episode 27 of Inspiring Community: An Inspire to Rise Podcast. Today's episode was led by our host, Drew Brandom! Please join us as he interviews our guest, Tamika Wolfe-McKenzie, the President and CEO of Tamika’s School of Epicure in Jacksonville, Florida.

After a brush with cancer 10 years ago, Ms. Tamika began to search for her purpose. After reflecting on a misadventure when she was young and tried to cook her m...

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January 31, 2026 • 44 mins

Welcome to Episode 26 of Inspiring Community: An Inspire to Rise Podcast. Today's episode was led by our host, Drew Brandom! Please join us as he interviews our guest, Sheryl Johnson, the Founder and CEO of Hearts 4 Minds.

Ms. Sheryl and her husband founded Hearts 4 Minds in memory of their son, Alex. Hearts 4 Minds is leading the charge to break down the stigma of mental illness and alter how we look at mental health. It’s th...

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January 8, 2026 • 38 mins

Welcome to Episode 25 of Inspiring Community: An Inspire to Rise Podcast. Today's episode was led by our host, Drew Brandom! Please join us as he interviews our guest, Cheryl Crawford-Deas, the Founder and Executive Director of the Darnell Deas, Jr., Marvelous Light Foundation.

Mrs. Crawford-Deas has a passion for bringing awareness to mental health and suicide prevention that stems from the loss of her own son, Darnel, Jr. (DJ) to ...

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November 3, 2025 • 37 mins

Welcome to Episode 24 of Inspiring Community: An Inspire to Rise Podcast. Today's episode was led by our host, Drew Brandom! Please join us as he interviews our guest, Dr. Rob Thomas, the CEO of Community Health Outreach, Jacksonville’s only free integrated medical/dental clinic for low-income/uninsured residents, and which also hosts the Lord’s Food Pantry and Baby Luv Center for infant care supplies. 

Dr. Thomas h...

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October 24, 2025 • 27 mins

Welcome to Episode 23 of Inspiring Community: An Inspire to Rise Podcast. Today's episode was led by our host, Drew Brandom! Please join us as he interviews our guest, Jennifer Ryan, the CEO of Volunteers in Medicine, a non profit clinic that provides free healthcare for  the working uninsured.  

Mrs. Ryan is a fifth generation North Floridian with a proven reputation in building and sustaining community partnerships with ...

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September 15, 2025 • 30 mins

Welcome to Episode 22 of Inspiring Community: An Inspire to Rise Podcast. Today's episode was led by our host, Drew Brandom! Please join us as he interviews our guest, Marcus Hill, the RISE Nassau Program Coordinator.

While Mr. Hill began as a Theology major with a goal of eventually becoming a pastor, he found his calling in psychology in his second year of his undergrad program. Now a licensed therapist, he works with the Inspired...

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Welcome to Episode 21 of Inspiring Community: An Inspire to Rise Podcast. Today's episode was led by our host, Drew Brandom! Please join us as he interviews our guest, Malik Johnson, a teacher for INSPIRED Youth.

Mr. Johnson got his start running a basketball camp for youth in Washington D.C., where he fond his passion for working with youth. After graduating college, he began working with children with special education needs befor...

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Welcome to Episode 20 of Inspiring Community: An Inspire to Rise Podcast. Today's episode was led by our host, Drew Brandom! Please join us as he interviews our guests, Grace, Liam, and Saheim, three participants in the INSPIRED Youth program. 

Grace, Liam, and Saheim discuss their participation in the INSPIRED Youth program, which is an alternative to public school in Duval county for children who need additional support, such...

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August 1, 2025 • 56 mins

Welcome to Episode 19 of Inspiring Community: An Inspire to Rise Podcast. Today’s episode was led by our host, Drew Brandom! Please join us as he interviews our guest,  Michael Seeraj.

Mr. Seeraj is the Chief Financial Officer at Inspire to Rise and has over 21 years of accounting experience in both the private and not-for-profit sectors. In 2017, he was presented with the Business Journal - Ultimate CFO of the Year Award...

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July 15, 2025 • 55 mins

Welcome to Episode 18 of Inspiring Community: An Inspire to Rise Podcast, led by our Community Behavioral Health Director, Anna Santiago. Please join us as she interviews our guest, Nikki Runion.

Professor Runion is an Instructor of Social Work at the University of North Florida, but before she became involved in academia, she spent years with children and families in the foster care system through the Department of Juvenile Justise...

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July 1, 2025 • 58 mins

Welcome to Episode 17 of Inspiring Community: An Inspire to Rise Podcast led by our Prevention & Family Preservation Director, Robin Rossmanith. Please join us as he interviews our guest, Treevonia Robinson.

Ms. Robinson began using cocaine at the age of 16 and continued to do so for the next 23 years. While she always quit using whenever she was pregnant, she went back to cocaine after she finished nursing each of her first fou...

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June 15, 2025 • 22 mins

Welcome to Episode 16 of Inspiring Community: An Inspire to Rise Podcast. Today’s episode was led by our host, Drew Brandom! Please join us as he interviews our guest, Mrs. Enricka James. 

Mrs. James discusses her life, from being born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida, to moving to Atlanta to pursue modeling, moving to Las Vegas, moving to New Orleans, and raising three children (ages 6, 3, and 13 months) with her husb...

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Welcome to Episode 15 of Inspiring Community: An Inspire to Rise Podcast. Today's episode was led by our guest host, Michael Seeraj! Please join us as he interviews our guest, Ms. Anna Santiago, Director of Community Behavioral Health at Inspire to Rise, Inc.

Ms. Santiago discusses her career trajectory and how she moved from a Bachelor's in Criminal Justice to a Master's of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. She discusse...

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