Whats Going On: Overbrook Environmental Education Center, Roye Okupe Creator of Iyanu, WorkReady Summer Youth Employment Program

Today we’re joined by Jerome Shabazz, Executive Director, and Mitchell Bormack, Project Coordinator at the Overbrook Environmental Education Center. They’re leading Trash Talkin’ — a new community conversation series addressing Philly’s illegal dumping crisis. Backed by the William Penn Foundation and developed with the City’s Office of Clean and Green Initiatives, SEAMAAC, and the Sanitation Department, the project centers resident voices to uncover the root causes of waste and environmental injustice.
🌐 Learn more: overbrookcenter.org
📱 Instagram & X: @OverbrookEEC
📘 Facebook: facebook.com/OverbrookEducation
💼 LinkedIn: Overbrook Environmental Education Center

Next, I speak with Roye Okupe — award-winning creator of Iyanu, the breakout animated series rooted in Nigerian mythology and Yoruba culture. Premiering on Cartoon Network and streaming on Max, Iyanu follows a teenage orphan with divine powers on a mission to save her homeland. The hit show is now #1 with kids (2–12), renewed for Season 2, greenlit for two films, and expanding globally via Showmax and ITVX. Roye is also founder of YouNeek Studios, championing authentic African superhero stories. 🎥 Trailer: bit.ly/IyanuTrailer
🌐 Website: youneekstudios.com
📱 Instagram & X: @youneekstudios | @royeokupe
📘 Facebook: facebook.com/youneekstudios

Finally, we highlight the 2025 WorkReady Summer Youth Employment Program from the Philadelphia Youth Network. Each year, teens and young adults (ages 14–21) gain real-world job experience, build skills, and get paid. At iHeartMedia Philadelphia, we’re proud to host interns exploring the world of radio and podcasting. 🌐 Learn more: pyninc.org/workready
📱 Instagram: @pyninc
📘 Facebook: facebook.com/PhiladelphiaYouthNetwork
💼 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/philadelphia-youth-network

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning. You're listening to Insight, a show about empowering
our community. I'm Lorraine Ballard Morrel at a fun interview
with roy Ocupe, the creator of Ianu, a Nigerian mythology
inspired animated series making waves around the world. This summer,
thousands of young people across Philadelphia are gaining real work
experience and a paycheck thanks to the twenty twenty five

(00:22):
work Ready Summer Youth Employment program powered by the Philadelphia
Youth Network or PYN. I speak to students who are
working with us at iHeartMedia Philadelphia about their goals for
the summer and for life. But first, let's talk trash.
Today we're joined by Jerome Schabbaz executive director and Mitchell Bormack,
project coordinator from the Overbook Environmental Education Center. They're spearheading

(00:45):
Trash Talking, a series of community conversations developed in partnership
with the city's Office of Clean and Green Initiatives, Sanitation Department,
and SIMAC with support from the William Penn Foundation. This
initiative is taking a closer look at the root cause
this is an illegal dumping and tapping into community insight
to shape smarter city wide solutions. So thank you so

(01:07):
much for joining us here today. We're going to talk
some trash here, so Jerome, let's start with you. Tell
us a little bit about yourself and give us a
glimpse into your role at the Overbrook Environmental Education Center.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
Well, thank you so much. The rain is a pleasure
to be here and to talk with you. You've been
a leader and conversations that are meaningful to the community
for many years, and we're pleased to be a part
of the conversation today. As you indicated, I am the
executive director of the Overbrook Environmental Education Center, which is
an environmental center located in West Philadelphia. We started out

(01:42):
in the early two thousands working with Overbrook High School
and other high schools around environmental issues in the community,
and once the parents and community got involved in our work,
started becoming more interested in how the built in natural
environment acted quality of life and the health of neighborhoods.

(02:03):
And so to this day we have a facility this
two acres in space where we have greenhouses and orchards
and other amenities so that you can have a real
green experience right in your neighborhood. Today we are working
on a project with the City of Philadelphia, CEMAC and

(02:24):
the Office of Clean and Green looking at how we
can get to the root causes of litter. We have
this terminology of Philadelphia and we want to really turn
that around. So I'm here with Mike mccalley Mitchell Bormack,
and he's the coordinator of the project, and we're really

(02:46):
looking forward to getting feedback from the public on there
thinking around this issue as well.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
Yeah, I think that's such an interesting point because we
often have that Moniker filter day. So Trash Talking is
really talking about how we can look at what are
some of the reasons why we have trash on the
streets and this illegal dumping and a little bit more so,
tell us, Mitchell, what is this Trash Talking series, what's

(03:14):
the inspiration behind the name and what are your goals
for the project.

Speaker 3 (03:18):
Well, the inspiration behind the name came from Jerome, something
he'd been thinking about for a while, even had some
branding made up for it. As part of the project,
we have the responsibility of doing some stakeholder assessment, so
understanding from various types of.

Speaker 4 (03:34):
Stakeholders in the community.

Speaker 3 (03:36):
Residents, commercial businesses, and we sort of separate out contractors.
They believe the root causes are underlying illegal dumping, and
we're really focused more on illegal dumping than just pure
dispersed glitter. But you know, it all kind of comes together,
as you can imagine, and we learned from them what
they believe are some of the root causes and what

(03:57):
they think some of the solutions could be, and we
kind of just all that and will eventually make some
recommendations that will be good for West Philadelphia and then
ultimately scale up for the City of Philadelphia.

Speaker 1 (04:08):
Yeah, well, we know that illegal dumping and trash in
general really degrades the quality of life in a community.
It's like when you go to your bedroom and your
bed is unmade and you've got socks on the ground
and stuff. There's a big difference. When you've made your
bed nicely and all this stuff is put away. You
just feel better. And it does have a really a

(04:30):
halo effect, doesn't it, Jerome. It makes the environment safer
for one thing, and it just makes you feel better
about your community. Tell us what are some of the
impacts of illegal dumping and what is the benefit of
having a cleaner and greener neighborhood.

Speaker 2 (04:45):
You know, sometimes we think of just waste and debris
as being aesthetic, meaning that it's just unpleasant to see.
But that unpleasantness that we see is really a protection
of the bigger harm. And the bigger harm is that
there are chemical and non chemical exposures that we are

(05:09):
subjecting ourselves to when we have this kind of debris
in our community. And the big work that we do
here at Overbrook is looking at the intersectionality of environment,
health and community. And so therefore when we start thinking
about waste and debris and all kinds of materials that
when it starts to decompose, it becomes part of our air,

(05:33):
it gets into our water, it gets into our natural systems.
Ultimately it can be making us sick. And so I
think it's important that folks see why it's a value
to not have waste, particularly unplanted waste that could come
from construction debris, it can come from manufacturing debris, it

(05:54):
can come from any number of sources that when it's
put inappropriately in our community, it is a direct threat
to our health and a direct threat to our quality
of life. You indicated something about how it feels good
when things are clean and neat. We actually use a
scientific theorem around the principle of biophilia and biophilia ensure

(06:22):
is the science of why we feel good when we
go to the beach, or why we feel good when
we're in the mountains or in natural systems. We're hardwired
to enjoy the scenic and natural environment of our world,
and when it's not that way, it has to counter
effect and the counter impact. So we want to make

(06:44):
sure that we get the natural inheritance of being at
a clean, green, healthy environment and using the science of
biophilia to help benefit us. Because biophilia talks about not
just the physical benefits of an addition, it's also addressed
as a psycle emotional benefits as well.

Speaker 1 (07:04):
Mitchell, how are communities responding to these conversations and what
kind of solutions or interventions are being suggested so far?

Speaker 3 (07:11):
Well, to be honest, we're just getting started. We had
our first what we call pilot trash talking session with
a pretty select group of people. We've pulled together those
different stakeholder groups that I said, like that some residents,
some commercial businesses, a contractor, and we just had our
first session of that. And as you can imagine, the
illegal dumping situation is not equitably distributed across the city.

(07:34):
You know, there's less than one percent of the legally
collected waste would amount to the illegally dumped materials. And
of course for probably not hearing the same conversations in
Chestnut Hill as you might hear in like North Philadelphia
or Southwest Philadelphia. So there's a certain amount of frustration
that people feel and hopelessness sometimes. So we're giving them

(07:57):
a forum to make some suggestions to solutions. And you know,
some of those things are just better use of three
to one one, but we're kind of mining into what
the policy changes could be. At this point, I don't
have I think a lot to offer you at this point,
but we're going to get to the bottom up.

Speaker 1 (08:16):
Well, that's what this trash talking is all about. So
where and when can people take part in an upcoming
trash talking event.

Speaker 2 (08:24):
So there's two aspects of trash talk, but we're going
to do every second Sunday from two to three. We're
going to have these conversations. We're going to be bringing
in a whole host of folks from the director of
Clean and Green to the director of the Streets Department,
Ell and I other folks who are in the universities,
people run different trash academies and other different projects around

(08:49):
cleaning and greeting, and the city bring them into the conversation,
but being able to set it up in such a
way where the public can respond and give their comments
as well. I know we have here at the Overbrook
Center and August date schedule. Maybe Mitch has that August
date that we could put out there. There's a we're
going to be working on just some community intervinsions as

(09:11):
well in the Overbrooks section. We're working with own the
nonprofit organization, along with the state representative, Seaface office and
Counselman Jones. We are having some in house within the
next couple of months in house series. If we can
give people contact information about the center, they can, We're

(09:33):
more than happy to send them a notice or flyer
about the trash talking. But the real benefit in this
conversation is to take a unique step back. Oftentimes folks
are putting a band aid on a really big problem.
Our objective and the mayor's objective, is to get to

(09:54):
zero waste. How do we get to the comprehensive, cultural
changing benefit of zero waste? Where the average citizen thinks
is an aberration to throw that empty McDonald's cart and
outside the window when they're driving by. To think of
it as an aberration if you're doing contracting work and

(10:17):
you leave that material and debris on someone's street corner
in the middle of the night, or you think of
it as an aberration. We had the town and gown experience.
We're not too far from places like Saint Joe's and
folks living around other universities. When people get out, you
see the old mattresses just sitting on the curve without
any regard for who's picking it up. I think the

(10:39):
working of itself is a physical work, but it's a
cultural work as well, to get people into the spirit
of having so much pride, so much respect for the
neighborhoods that they live in, the communities that they live in,
so much awareness of the emotional and physical health of

(11:00):
clean and healthy spaces that they will volunteerily find legal
ways proper ways of disposal. And I think that's part
of our work as well. We're doing more assessment around
illegal dumping, and the first part of our work is
doing assessment of where are the legal sources for dumping
materials and we're not so sure that everyone is aware

(11:22):
of all of those legal.

Speaker 1 (11:23):
Source mitche If people would like to connect with trash
talking and also all the great work that's being done
at Overbook Environmental Education Center, where do they go?

Speaker 3 (11:32):
We have a website Overbrookcenter dot org. Our phone number
is drum. You have to help me here two.

Speaker 2 (11:40):
Five A seven nine seven seven seven zero, and if
you'd like to email us, you can email us at
info at Overbrookscenter dot org.

Speaker 1 (11:49):
Well, i'd like to thank you both very much for
doing the great work that you're doing. Certainly, a greener
and cleaner Philadelphia is going to be better for all
of us. It'll make it safer and healthier, both physically
and mentally. And it's all about trash talking. Jerome Schabez,
Executive Director Mitchell Bormack, Project coordinator from the Overbook Environmental

(12:12):
Education Center their spearheading trash Talking, a new series of
community conversations developed in partnership for the city's Office of
Clean and Green Initiatives, the Sanitation Department in CIMAC with
support from the William Penn Foundation, taking a look at
the root causes of illegal dumping and tapping into community
insight the shape smarter citywide solutions. Thank you both so

(12:33):
much for joining us today.

Speaker 2 (12:35):
Thank you so very much appreciate the conversation.

Speaker 1 (12:43):
Today we're joined by Roy Okupe Award winning creator, executive producer,
and showrunner of Ianu, the groundbreaking animated series inspired by
Mygerian mythology. Streaming now on Max and the Cartoon Network.
Ayano is already a global sensation, number one one in
kids shows among two to twelve on Cartoon Network and

(13:04):
expanding the forty four African countries via show Max. Roy
is the founder of Unique Studios, where he's made it
his mission to share authentic African superhero stories with the world.
The second season and two feature length films on the way.
We're very excited to learn more about the vision behind
Yanu and Roy's journey and animation. So thank you so

(13:24):
much for joining us today. And Yano is taken off
in a major way, topping charts and reaching global audiences.
What inspired you to create the series and what does
it mean to see it resonate with so many people
and so many diverse people for that matter.

Speaker 5 (13:40):
First of all, Lauren, thank you so much for allowing
me to be here today to talk about Leanna, and yeah,
you're right, the reception around the world has been not
in suran or humbling. I'm so excited. You mentioned that
it was number one for kids on Cartoon Network. We
also found out just recently that it was number one
on show Marks across forty four African countries for kids
as well. So yeah, the reception has been amazing. But

(14:03):
taking it back a little bit, the inspiration came about
from me wanting to Obviously, I grew up a nerd, right,
I loved superhero stories, but like I watched everything literally
and I'm not joking, but for me, I even from
a very young auge, and this wasn't anything political or anything,
but I always felt like, man, it would it be

(14:24):
so cool to see these type of stories told from
the Nigerian an African perspective as well. So luckily enough
for me, when I moved over to the United States,
I got closer to obviously Hollywood and the entertainment industry here,
and it was at that point where I started to think, again,
you know what, how about I tried to actually create
what I want to see. So I started doing a
lot of research about you know, animation and what I

(14:46):
did because obviously animation is extremely expensive. I started off
in comic books and I used kickstarted to sort of
fund my way through creating my own stories through comics.
And once I started putting on my comics, I found
out that it wasn't just people that look like me
that was so interested in seeing these type of stories.
It was literally people from around the world, Like my
Kickstarter would have people from Mexico, from different parts of Asia,

(15:09):
the UK like all buying my books. And it was
at that point that I knew that the more specific
you get with your stories, the more global you are
actually because I think people are looking more for authentic stories.
So yeah, that was sort of like the genesis of
the idea around creating a Yano. But ultimately I always
like to let people know that one of the biggest
reasons for Yano is before my daughter was born she's

(15:32):
four year old now, I always dreamed of creating something
that both me and my young daughter can watch on
TV where she could both be inspired and entertained at
the same time. So I always like to say Yano
is a love letter to my daughters.

Speaker 4 (15:45):
I love that.

Speaker 1 (15:46):
I love that, and it's wonderful when you see representation,
because it does matter when you see reflections of yourself,
especially when it comes to talking about mythology and some
of those themes that really are deeply rooted in Nigerian
and euro about mythology, but still have a connection with
all of us. And I wonder if you can talk

(16:08):
about how you draw from that tradition and culture, how
do you balance traditional Grio storytelling right with modern animation
and universal themes.

Speaker 5 (16:19):
I think one of the things that I realized very
early on in life is that human beings, from all
parts of life and all parts of this globe, we
have more in common than we think we do. A
lot of times we focus on, you know, the color
of our skin or the type of food that we
eat that we eat growing up. And as much as
diversity is, you know, it's something that we should embrace

(16:41):
because human beings are diverse, even Africans themselves, like there's
so much diversity on the continent itself, we still have
a lot more in common. And one of the things
that was very important to me obviously was making sure
the authenticity around the Jana stayed true to urban Nigerian culture.
Same time, I always reminded everybody and this included the

(17:03):
people that I worked with on the comic books and
even as a showrunner on the animated series. Ian is
for Everyone, And one of the biggest themes in our
story is empathy. And the reason why it's in there
because I think it's one of the most universal things
that I feel like the entire world can use right now.
We live in a world where there's a lot of division.

(17:23):
We live in a world now where people go on
social media and the instinct is to disagree, is to condemn.
We've now been programmed to just be opposite, like oh,
I don't like you because of this, or because you're different,
because you're that. And I think the world could really
really use a lot of empathy right now, and it's
one of the reasons why it's one of the main

(17:44):
tenants of our story, Ian to Herself, which you know,
for people that don't know, it's a story about this
young girl she loses all memories, all recollection of a
past and where she comes from and realizes that she
has powers that arrival the gods of our land, and
it's only these powers that can save Eurubala from the corrupt,
which are essentially animals that have gone berserk. I want
to destroy humanity. But the trust is that Ewaniano gets

(18:06):
a power. She isn't heralded as a hero, she isn't loved.
It's actually ostracized and exiled, and she has to make
a very important decision at that point, is that do
I use this part for myself or do I go
out there and save everyone, including the people that don't
necessarily agree with me or like me. And I think
that's the mark of a true hero is being able
to have empathy not just for the people that love you,

(18:28):
but or the people that even oppose you as well.

Speaker 1 (18:30):
The stories that you tell through this particular medium, you
transferred it from graphic novel to animation, and I was
very interested to hear a little bit of your journey,
because first of all, you had the desire and the
drive to create the kind of content and stories that
reflect your own background and stories that your own daughter

(18:55):
can connect with. And then you did all the research
in how to do anime and all that stuff, so
you know, that's a pretty big learning curve, right, So
how did you What would you say to someone else
who might have similar desires? What would be your advice
to them? I mean, you sound like someone who is
very driven to find and to gain knowledge and to

(19:17):
utilize that knowledge to create what you ended up creating.
What would you say to someone who's just starting.

Speaker 5 (19:23):
I think one of the biggest things is surround yourself
with people that support you, people that want to see
you win as much as you know, I get a
lot of credit for all the success that surrounds the
graphic novel and now the animated series. I didn't do
everything on my own, right, you know, even just the
graphic novel, Godden Appen was the illustrative involving one. He

(19:43):
was very instrumental in helping, you know, shaping the world
and the character designs and the environment and all that.
And then moving over to the animation line. Forge Animation,
the studio that's responsible for producing this, has been a
huge supportive of my dreams and my vision as well.
They have surround me with a team that has brought
into what he is all about, and they've also backed

(20:06):
me at every single point of the production phase as well.
So one of the things I would always tell people
is that trying to find people that are genuinely rooting
for you, and people that generally want to see you win,
but also you know you have to don't be afraid
to fail. This is one thing that even to you now,
I'm trying to continue to practice is I think as

(20:27):
creators sometimes we worry so much about what will people
think if I put this out when anybody like it
or anybody even say anything about it. How about if
it doesn't get any likes, any shares as crazy as
a sound. That's something that still goes through my mind,
even to you today, with all the success that I've had.
So I just wanted to remind people that it's not
foreign to have multiple versions of imposter syndrome throughout your career.

(20:50):
But I think the people that genuinely make it to
this point most of the time, and the people that
are willing to put themselves out there and are willing
to learn from failure and take calculated risk as well.
So that would be one of the biggest things that
I would say. Surround yourself with the right people and
take a chance on yourself, and if you fail, sometimes
you learn more from that dam success.

Speaker 1 (21:11):
Absolutely. As Shandon Rhymes said in this book The Year
of Saying Yes, sometimes you just have to say yes,
even if you're terrified. Even if you think that is
that possible, I can't do it, but I'm going to
try anyway, right, So that's exactly what you kept doing,
and you kept moving forward. Now season two is in
the works, and also two feature films tell us more.

Speaker 5 (21:33):
Yeah, you know, recently shedding news that we greenly season
two and there will also be you know, two animated
movies that are coming out. I always try to tell
people this is that I feel like the luckiest person
on the planet, like, you know, being able to come
from where I come from, you know, growing up not
even having the hope that I would be putting a
position where I would be, you know, writing and directing

(21:55):
our show, running an animated series, to now being at
a point where you know, we have to seasons and
I'm going to get two movies. I'll be writing and
directing the movies as well. I'm co writing the first one.
So I mean, it's just an exciting time. And if
very fon of obviously Yano, there's more Yanna for you
coming up. But if you're not, even if you're not
a funny aim but it's for the first time, I
would say, just give it a shot, right, like, if

(22:17):
you love stuff like I would the Last Air Bend,
that this would be definitely something that you would love
as well. The say like if people want to see
more stories, like there's a lot of times that there's
a lot of people that talk about we need to
see more diverse stories, need to see more stories that
are authentic to different cultures. Well this is we have
it now, So I encourage people to give it a
try and watch it on PN the US, you know,

(22:38):
watch it on Max or you can see all ten
episodes of season one on Max Now. If you're in
the African continent, you can see all episodes of season
one on the show Max platform. If you're in the UK,
it comes out July third on ITVX as well and
be able to see all ten episodes as well. And
obviously we're working on different parts of the world as well.
So I just encourage people to give it a try.
We worked very hard and we feel like we put

(23:00):
something together. From the reviews, under ratings and all that,
I think people that give this a chance would not
be disappointed.

Speaker 1 (23:06):
I'm very happy for you. Eano is beautiful. It's rich
with the animation and the art is gorgeous to see.
The story is one that has a theme that we
all need to know more deeply in our hearts, and
that is empathy. Eano is the name of the series
and animated series roy Okupe Award winning creator, executive producer
and showrunner of Eanu, the groundbreaking animated series inspired by

(23:31):
Nigerian mythology, streaming on Max and the Cartoon Network Global Sensation.
We wish you luck. We're looking forward to season two
and the two feature films. Thanks for joining us today, you.

Speaker 5 (23:41):
So much, it's my pleasure.

Speaker 1 (23:50):
I'm absolutely delighted to introduce to you some young people
that are going to be with us for the work
Ready Program. This work Ready program is sponsored by Philadelphia
Youth Network, and I've got seven students and I'm going
to introduce them or have them introduce themselves to tell
us what they are hoping to accomplish during this special session.

(24:11):
They're going to be here with us for six weeks
and it's a paid internship and they get the opportunity
to see what it's like to really work in a
radio station and to experience all the things that this
particular broadcast media has to provide. And so I'm going
to ask each of them to introduce themselves, tell us
their name, what school they go to, and what they

(24:34):
hope to accomplish this summer. So let's start with Amaya.

Speaker 6 (24:38):
Hello.

Speaker 7 (24:38):
My name is Amaya a Saint Manugule. I'm currently a
rising senior at Adamson Friends High School. I'm a visual
arts student and I am ready to learn more about
digital media, marketing, promoting, and broadcast seeing my goal would
be to graw in those areas. I would like to say,

(25:00):
direct my own film and write screenplays. So I'm excited
to learn about how the process of the things are.

Speaker 6 (25:07):
My name is Jabro Jenkins and I'm hoping to accomplish
getting more information with broadcasting and hopefully able to find
a way to start with podcasting and sports media. So
I'm ready for college.

Speaker 1 (25:20):
Yeah, So Jabriel, tell us what is your ultimate goal?
I mean, you are young and things can change, but
in your own mind, what is your dream? What do
you hope to accomplish.

Speaker 6 (25:31):
I'm hoping to accomplish in the future being a sports
podcaster as well as starting my own podcast for mental
health first athletes and bringing athletes from all different levels
from high school all the way to the league as
well as coaches to talk about mental health for athletes.

Speaker 1 (25:49):
I love that. That's awesome. Okay, Parma, tell us who
you are, et cetera, et cetera.

Speaker 8 (25:55):
Hi, my name is Karma Hillian and in the fall,
I'll be going to Temple University. Throughout the duration of
this internship, I'd like to know more about the marketing
and entertainment industry, and also I hope that I'll be
able to gain a lot more skills than what I
came in with. I would also like to get a
lot more insight on skills like editing, and in the future,

(26:17):
I'd like to be a brand manager and have a
job that focuses on creative like a creative side and
a more sciencey side, if that makes sense.

Speaker 1 (26:27):
Okay, what does that mean? As sciencey side?

Speaker 8 (26:30):
Like something that I can learn a lot with and
also be creative, like a job that is multifaceted and
I can not just be stuck doing one thing all
the time.

Speaker 1 (26:40):
I love that that's my job. I get to do
like ten thousand different things every day. All right, So
tell us who you are.

Speaker 9 (26:48):
My name is Trinity J. Sanya Yevez. I'm a student
at the University of Pennsylvania. My goal for this year
is to build more of a portfolios for producing more content,
more interviews, and maybe implementing some of my own ideas
more creative things than I did last year, which was
just edit. I want to help more.

Speaker 1 (27:06):
That's great, And what do you hope to do eventually?
What are your thoughts for the future.

Speaker 9 (27:10):
My goal ultimately is to go into the film industry
and produce and write. So I think that cultivating my skills.

Speaker 4 (27:17):
Here and editing.

Speaker 9 (27:18):
More will help me with that, as well as gaining
more confidence in my own ideas for creating.

Speaker 1 (27:23):
That sounds wonderful. Reese Reese is another veteran Trinity was
with us last year. So Reese this year, what do
you hope to accomplish? And tell us who you are?

Speaker 10 (27:33):
Yes? So, my name is Reys Green. I am a
recent graduate from Saint Joseph's University. My big thing here
now that I'm going on to my second year here
I heard as an intern, is continuing to develop my portfolio,
my own demo reel, because now that I graduated college,
it's time I actually use my skills and get this
as a full time job, Like, really make this my career.
It's such a blessing that I'm already here as an

(27:54):
intern because my foot is already in the door, but
now I'm trying to fully walk into the door.

Speaker 1 (27:59):
That's great, and wish luck and I think you'd be
very good here.

Speaker 11 (28:02):
So Jonathan, Hello, my name is Jonathan Fulton. This is
my second year coming back to iHeart is such a
pleasure to be Aside with Miss Lorraine, what I really
want to accomplish this year is to really get better
at production content to help out with the studio. You know,
it's good to learn the studio with radio. Also making content,

(28:23):
producing you know, films and producing stuff like that is
real good with me. I want to be able to
have that career too, into becoming a film producer and director,
you know, I want to direct my own films. But
getting better with this entertainment field is also cool.

Speaker 1 (28:40):
Yeah, that's great.

Speaker 10 (28:41):
I love that.

Speaker 4 (28:41):
Hello. I'm Lucas Gonzalez. I go to Community College of
Philadelphia and this summer I hope to accomplish producing a
entire section of the angela Ye Show. In terms of
my life goals, I would like to become a network
technician for a tech company like Comcast Store Horizon.

Speaker 1 (29:00):
Work Ready program administered by Philadelphia Youth Network, and we
have seven extraordinary young people joining us here throughout the summer,
and I'm really looking forward to seeing what unfolds and
also speaking to them at the end of those six
weeks to see what they've accomplished and where they want
to go from there. So there we go. Thanks so much.

(29:21):
You can listen to all of today's interviews by going
to our station website and typing in keyword Community. You
can also listen on the iHeartRadio app yy Words Philadelphia
Community Podcast. Follow me on Twitter and Instagram at Lorraine Ballard.
I'm Lorraine Ballard Morrel and I stand for service to
our community and media that empowers. What will you stand for?

(29:41):
You've been listening to what's going on, and thank you

Speaker 10 (30:00):
Four time.