The Whole Five-Fifths

In this episode, we come full spiral to a place similar to where we began this season. Our guest and host acknowledge the enduring impact of slavery (and its aftermath) on generations of people, and continue along the journey toward reclaiming wholeness. How can we heal from the past and present wounds inflicted by structural racism? What else is possible when it comes to healing?

Meet Dr. Jameta Nicole Barlow, an esteemed...

Our last guest offered us some insight into her experience as a transracial adoptee. This week, we continue our exploration into this realm. In a society designed to ensure that people of color feel "othered," what do prospective parents need to know when considering adopting a child of a race or culture different from their own?

Enter our next guest, Delois Pearsall, LMSW, a professional adoption counselor who s...

The road ahead on our journey continues to take twists and turns, leading us to unexpected places. Meet Chrystina Gilgeous, MS, L.Ac, M.Ac, a Black woman, raised by a loving white family, mostly in small towns populated by mostly white people. How did the construct of race impact her? How did she make sense of her Blackness without mirrors? And without "armor" as she describes in this episode.

In spite of her ard...

Simone Pollard, MBA, is the Founder of The Stretch Room, an interactive, online, instructor-led experience that helps participants reap the benefits that come with regularly stretching the body.

At this stop along our healing journey, Simone is here to remind us that we all have the right to take up space and stretch into places not originally designed for BIPOC. We discuss  navigating the landscape of micro-aggressions, a...

We resume the journey with Tiffany Green, Executive Coach and Psychotherapist, who has made it her mission to help women prevent themselves from experiencing burnout. In this highly informative episode, Tiffany outlines the warning signs of burnout in ourselves and how we can identify the conditions that can lead to burnout in the workplace. We discuss how and why women of color are more likely to experience burnout than their whit...

Another pit stop before we set sail again on our journey toward reclaiming our wholeness. In this special bonus episode, your host, Leah, shares her reflections on episodes 007 and 008 "Meet the Parents." 

As one of Leah's teachers used to say, "our lives are personal, not private." Yes, we all have stories that are personal and shape us into who we are. AND, our lives are inextricably intertwined....

This time, we make the second of two pitstops along our journey and visit with Leah's dad. In contrast with the way her mom was raised, Leah's dad grew up in urban areas and went to all-Black schools. Find out what it was like for him to experience segregation and how he faired  when times began to change.

This episode will help you learn a little more about the host through the eyes of her father. Hear his persp...

We make the first of two pitstops along our journey to visit with Leah's parents. This time, we meet Leah's mom, who shares her personal story of growing up in an affluent, all-white suburb of Washington, D.C. with limited contact with people of color. Learn how she ventured away from the influences of a racist father and eventually married outside of her race.

This episode will help you learn a little more about...

In this episode we meet another practitioner of holistic healing, Dr. Rachelle Dixon. Through this guest, we make our way to Latvia, via Tennessee. (Right about now is when you say, ' hold up... say what?')

Yes, that's right, Dr. Rachelle was born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee. We learn that she is a professionally trained dancer and the daughter of talented musicians -- an African-American father and a...

Next stop... Barcelona, Spain! Sometimes we can show folks better than we can tell them. Today's guest shows us how she makes her dreams and ideas come to life with her time-tested manifestation plan. Sure, life is full of challenges and set-backs, especially for BIPOC... AND, no matter our circumstances, we have some degree of choice in how we show up in this life.

Meet Monica McCollin, a Creative Wellness Professio...

This is our story. This is our song... Cruising along on our healing journey, we meet The Reverend Cheryl Ann Jones (but we can call her Cheryl), who greets us with a warm smile and a soothing melody. Cheryl reminds us that we can be optimistic about the journey back to the truth of our wholeness. She teaches us that music and song can be a powerful elixir along the way.

Reverend Jones serves as the Program Manager for (an...

We are not a monolith. Black culture is multifaceted. While the dominant culture seeks to contain us inside of one box, how we move inside these bodies cannot be over-simplified. Even within our own families, there are infinite ways in which we experience life.

In this episode, we come to an intersection. Meet Nancy SantaCruz Monroe and hear her story. A native of Washington, D.C, Nancy is a black woman, born to Cuban pare...

In this leg of our journey, Dr. Pamela Birchett-Street, Yoruba priestess and mind-body medicine practitioner, challenges us to tell stories that will nourish our spirit and move us beyond our current circumstances. Historically, Black and Brown people in the U.S. have been given many reasons to mistrust our health care system, including medical racism, cruel experimentation on our bodies, and higher mortality rates than our white c...

A special episode to help you get to know me, your host, Leah Turner. I sit down with my producer, Kurtis Cross, to answer questions that many of you have been wondering about: "Who is this person I'm listening to?" -- "What's her "why" for hosting this podcast?" -- And "why should I listen to her or her guests?"

Take 20 minutes to get up to speed on how this podcast got st...

In this inaugural episode, we meet Dr. Gabrielle Julien-Molineaux, a healer and higher education professional, and a dear friend of mine. Join us as we embark on our journey toward reclaiming our wholeness with Gabrielle as our guide. We visit Trinidad, explore the campus of Howard University (You Know!), and learn that navigating the terrain of race and identity is a bumpy ride, no matter where in the world we find ourselves trave...

With 2020 drawing to a close, it's time to get to the work of healing. This year, with its global pandemic and uprisings for justice all over the world, many were shaken awake to a new  awareness of what must be done to right the deep-seated wrongs of our history. Structural racism still infects our systems and must be dismantled -- let us not go back to sleep.  In the aftermath of our collective pain and losses, 2020 has prov...