As It Should Be with Thamarrah Jones

Melvin Graham (he/him) is in conversation with Thamarrah about the unique challenges of Black owned businesses and the role Black entrepreneurship has played in building America.

Melvin is a filmmaker and director of the docuseries Black Business LA. In this series he follows entrepreneurs in the Los Angeles area building businesses despite a growing economic crisis. 

--------------------------------------------------------...

What if we raised an entire generation of young people to live freely and authentically as themselves? This is the question that Elise and Thamarrah explore in today's episode. 

Elise Schuster is a sexuality educator with 15 years of experience in youth development and sexual health education. They spent years teaching workshops and having thousands of one-on-one educational pleasure-based sexual health conversations before co-...

In today's episode Thamarrah (she/her) is joined by Fury Young & BL Shirelle to discuss how Die Jim Crow Records is dismantling stereotypes of incarceration impacted people through music. 

Fury is DJC’s founder and Co-Executive Director and Under his leadership, Die Jim Crow Records has recorded over 60 incarcerated artists and over a dozen formerly incarcerated artists and gained access inside 5 different prisons.

BL S...

In today's episode Thamarrah (she/her) and Joe (he/him) discuss the role legislators play in protecting us online and how we can stay informed about the policy changes that dictate what tech companies can and cannot do with our data.

Resources mentioned: 5 Easy Steps to Keep Your Kids Safe Online

Joseph Shepherd Miller, Esq. is the Founder of The Washington Center for Technology Policy Inclusion (WashingTech). Through his w...

In this episode, Co-Founder of Social Cipher, Vanessa Castañeda Gill (she/her) joins the show to discuss how her company is creating space for Neurodivergent youth to thrive through their space pirate-themed social-emotional learning games. Social Cipher is led by a team of Neurodivergent Founders, including Vanessa herself.

Vanessa and Thamarrah (she/her) talk the importance of autistic youth failing safely, challenges faced b...

In part 2 of this 2-part episode, author and activist Kimberly Jones (she/her) joins Thamarrah to discuss taking advantage of the work that’s already being done in your city right now so that we can build thriving communities together. In her book How We Can Win, Kimberly explores the influence America’s history with racial disparity has on our lives today and delivers strategies for how we can effect change while nurturing ourselv...

Kimberly Jones (she/her) reminds us that the future we have tomorrow is decided by the actions we take today. In this episode Kimberly joins Thamarrah to discuss self-reflection as a community service and how learning from the pursuits and strategies of our ancestors can help guide our path towards justice today.

In 2020, a video of Kimberly speaking on an Atlanta Street went viral after the murder of Ahmaud Aubrey, Breonna Tay...

Culture is so deeply personal that when you see it reflected back at you in a way that’s gimmicky or stereotypical or just downright racist it's impossible to not take that personally. Which is why we expect creators of these productions to actually care enough to try to get it right. Sandhya Jain Patel (she/her) joins the show to discuss what it looks like to get cultural inclusion right.

Today's episode is brought to you by t...

This is part 2 of a two-part episode with Resmaa Menakem (he/him). In this segment, we discuss the origin of Resmaa's book The Quaking of America and how we can be cultivating joy and healing in community.

Support Resmaa: His new book The Quaking of America is out now

Support the show: Buy audiobooks from Libro.fm using code ASITSHOULDBE at checkout to get 2 books for the price of 1.

Resmaa Menakem (he/him), author of NYT best seller My Grandmother's Hands, joins me in conversation experiencing the overturning of Roe v wade and its effect on Black bodies. We discuss how anti-democratic elements in America are inciting widespread chaos and a collective trauma response in tens of millions of bodies in America. We also talk about our body's response to trauma and go through exercises of somatic practices to mobili...

It's well documented women of color founders face both gender & racial inequities when it comes to building and growing their businesses. What I want to know is, what's being done about it? Olivia Owens and iFundWomen of Color are giving WOC founders the capital, coaching, and connections they need to kill the game. We discuss the unique barriers women of color founders face in building sustainable businesses, the best funding ...

In today's episode, I'm talking with Farzin Farzad (he/him) about why hierarchy in the workplace is more harmful than helpful, the strength that lies in reimagining power distribution, and how people around the world are building new models of work that shares power, wealth, and responsibility to all.

Today's Question: How does power affect your work? And is there a such thing as healthy hierarchy?

Submit your response...

If you're reading this take this as your reminder that no matter who you are, where you come from, or who the world tells you you are, your story is important and you deserve to share it. In this episode, we meet a person who didn't believe that. But today, we're gonna see if we can work through that a little.

Today's Question: Do you share your story in public? Why or why not?

Submit your response on thamarrahjones.co...

We don't take the critical eye to our film and tv as often and as deeply as is needed. The level of influence that they have on how we not only see ourselves but the stories we believe about other people, requires that we take a step back. In today's episode, Thamarrah is joined by F.D Signifier (he/him). During our conversation I learned so much about Fiq's upbringing and how that shaped him, but we also get into a conversation ab...

What would happen if we were all genuinely interested in wondering about each other and our stories? Today we meet Abhi Nangia (he/him), the Executive Director of Better World Ed, a 501c3 nonprofit on a mission to humanize learning. In this episode, Abhi and Thamarrah (she/her) go on their own journey of exploration and curiosity about each other, how we see (and don't see) people in our communities, and whether curiosity could be ...

Thamarrah is joined by Tameka Bazile (she/her) to discuss creating marketing strategies that reflects your audience's stories and building a brand where people feel seen, heard, and understood. Tameka is helping entrepreneurs whose identities have been ignored by the girlboss-chic business coaches of the world. She's giving you the tools to build impactful brands and create conscious content that both empowers and serves your commu...

If you want to support the show go to patreon.com/thamarrahjones and become a patron for $3 per month. Get episodes 3-5 days early, videos of the interviews, and access to the interview schedule to know what guests are coming up next; submit questions or watch live to call into the show and ask questions!

--------------------------------------------

In today's conversation we dive into the world of ecosystem building. What ...