More Than Words Podcast

Coaching with a DEI Lens-CoachDiversity Institute (CDI)

Join us as we continue pushing forward DEI conversations no matter how difficult they are to have. This podcast is about growth, inclusion, and appreciating the humans around you. Engagement and discussion are critical to self-growth, and we won't shy away from the tough stuff.
Dr. Towanna Burrous, President, CoachDiversity Institute (CDI) is a best-selling author, trainer, and ICF professional certified coach (PCC) based in Washington, DC. As a much sought-after executive coach, Towanna’s mission is to empower diverse communities through executive coaching. Her role is to test, re-test, and ultimately drive the organization’s overarching vision, strategy, and tactical direction.Join us as we discuss our very personal experience with the CoachDiversity Institute coaching program. Our goal was to uncover Towanna's story that she rarely shares during class. The result, we took a lot of notes and had another life changing experience during this episode. Liz and Shara share their stories with Towanna on the impact that CDI had in their personal and professional lives.

Owning Our Stories: Fantasy+Fiction+Black Experiences

Join us as we continue pushing forward DEI conversations no matter how difficult they are to have. This podcast is about growth, inclusion, and appreciating the humans around you. Engagement and discussion are critical to self-growth, and we won't shy away from the tough stuff.
Ayana Gray is the New York Times-bestselling author of the Beasts of Prey trilogy, and a lover of all things monsters, mythos, and magic. Originally from Atlanta, she has called many places home but now lives in Little Rock, Arkansas. Her works have been translated in ten languages across five continents and are being adapted for feature film.Join us as we learn about Ayana's journey on becoming a published author of YA (young adult) books and how that experienced shaped her and her mission.

Enabled: Navigating a Shift in Abilities

Join us as we continue pushing forward DEI conversations no matter how difficult they are to have. This podcast is about growth, inclusion, and appreciating the humans around you. Engagement and discussion are critical to self-growth, and we won't shy away from the tough stuff.
A personal story from Jaymie Woods. Jaymie is a DEI professional who guides people through their DEI experiences and has been doing this for 20 years. In 2018, her life changed and now is having to guide those who she loves through her own ability shift and new experiences. This is a story filled with resilience, uncomfortable truths and hope.

Who Takes Professional Assessments at 9pm?

A few weeks ago, we shared one of our most used resources called The SCARF® Model. This model uses neuroscience to assess people's motivation and summarizes five domains of threat or reward - status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness and fairness. Now let's talk about The Great Resignation or as Denise Hamilton @officialdham coined it #TheGreatReimagination . What did these last few years teach us and how do we bring it back to The SCARF® Model? Join on this episode where Liz makes Shara take an assessment at 9pm the night before. They discuss their results - there are some surprising ones and others make a lot of sense.

They say money isn’t everything...

Join us as we continue pushing forward DEI conversations no matter how difficult they are to have. This podcast is about growth, inclusion, and appreciating the humans around you. Engagement and discussion are critical to self-growth, and we won't shy away from the tough stuff.They say "money isn't everything"...well, actually building wealth is crucial especially for communities that were historically excluded from wealth and having cash on hand. Join us as we talk to Enrique Basañez, a Financial Advisor with Thrivent Financial, about why it's important for people from historically excluded communities to get their mind right when it comes to money. Building wealth is about legacy. What do we need to do to create an inclusive and equitable economy when it comes to building wealth? And how do we do this when we lack family wealth?Enrique is a successful Financial Advisor with Thrivent Financial who is focused on helping underserved communities, families and small businesses.Enrique was born and raised in Mexico and immigrated to Texas at the age of 15. He graduated from Valley View High School in 2001. He received a bachelor's degree in Computer Information Systems from UT - Brownsville in 2006. Enrique started his career in technology and has been in the financial industry for 15 years working for global Investment and Banking institutions: Merrill Lynch, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs. He was a Vice President at Goldman Sachs and Bank of America. Enrique successfully managed and helped individuals progress in their career through mentorship. He is passionate about giving back to the community and helping others achieve success. He believes every person has the right to similar opportunities to be successful in the workplace and society.Enrique lives happily with his wife Alex, 18-year-old daughter Jazmin and 13-year-old son David near the mountains in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

The Equity of Self-care

Join us as we continue pushing forward DEI conversations no matter how difficult they are to have. This podcast is about growth, inclusion, and appreciating the humans around you. Engagement and discussion are critical to self-growth, and we won't shy away from the tough stuff. Are you ok? Each day, we navigate the question "are you ok". Often we have an automated response and other times we use it as an opportunity to share, but let's take it a step further and talk about how we care for ourselves. Join us as we explore this topic with Melanie Ryan, CEO of MFR Coaching and Consulting about the equity of selfcare and how that has different meanings. For some, self-care looks like taking care of basic necessities and for others it's taking a walk with a friend. Either one is necessary for our well-being. How are we putting ourselves a priority without feeling selfish or guilty?Melanie has over twenty years of experience in leadership, culture development, building equitable teams and facilitating individual growth. She is known for her ability to connect what people say to underlying root issues.

Pull up a seat, we have something to say

Join us as we continue pushing forward DEI conversations no matter how difficult they are to have. This podcast is about growth, inclusion, and appreciating the humans around you. Engagement and discussion are critical to self-growth, and we won't shy away from the tough stuff.**TRIGGER WARNING** #roevwade #activeshooter #mentalhealthJoin us on this episode as we have a colorful discussion surrounding current events. This may get uncomfortable, but we think you can't discuss one topic such as #activeshooter without talking about another #roevwade. Ultimately, the question is as a society, what do we want this to look like? How do we practice empathy, lean in to curiosity and check our own bias in order understand different perspectives.

LGBTQ+ in Education

Join us as we continue pushing forward DEI conversations no matter how difficult they are to have. This podcast is about growth, inclusion, and appreciating the humans around you. Engagement and discussion are critical to self-growth, and we won't shy away from the tough stuff.Joining The Aunties of Inclusion in this episode is Brandi, who is passionate about improving the lives of marginalized youth and advocating for equity in education. Brandi is a first-generation college graduate and professional born and raised in Houston, Texas. She earned each of her college and graduate degrees from the University of Houston – Main Campus. Brandi began her career in education 15 years ago as an English and English as a Second Language teacher at a large comprehensive high school. In 2012, she made the transition into school leadership as an assistant principal then moved into the principal position at a high performing high school where she earned the title Principal of the Year for the East Area twice. To support her passion, she spends her time volunteering throughout the city and was recently elected as the Board Secretary for Out for Education, a non-profit organization dedicated solely to providing college scholarships for LGBTQA+ youth in Houston.Brandi has two life partners: Mathew and Libby with whom she has been since 2010 and 2017 respectively. Together, their family has two children named Apollo and Clementine and one chihuahua-papillon mix named Herman.More information on Out for Education, can be found here: https://outforeducation.org/

The Human Conversation

Join us as we continue pushing forward DEI conversations no matter how difficult they are to have. This podcast is about growth, inclusion, and appreciating the humans around you. Engagement and discussion are critical to self-growth, and we won't shy away from the tough stuff.This episode explores how language that means to include can exclude due to how a person is valued and treated. We will be joined by Robert - a longtime mentor, DEI champion, and a person who can meet people where they are in the journey. Join us as we have a real conversation about what it means to be “human” and how that doesn't always create a sense of inclusion and belonging.

Introducing Liz and Shara Take II

Take II in introducing The Aunties of Inclusion. We were so excited about the podcast, we completely forgot to tell the listeners about the podcast, our why and what listeners will gain from this podcast. This is Take II with an actual format...well sort of. Join us as we continue pushing forward DEI conversations no matter how difficult they are to have. This podcast is about growth, inclusion, and appreciating the humans around you. Engagement and discussion are critical to self-growth, and we won't shy away from the tough stuff.