Name: Celebrating 5 Amazing Years of Collections by Michelle Brown by Collections by Michelle Brown in Collections by Michelle Brown
Duration: 36 min 10 s
Description: Just taking a moment to say "THANK YOU" to my listeners, my guests, and the community who continue to live between the lines, stand boldly in the crosshairs of their intersectionality, and create change.

Collections by Michelle Brown

As we celebrate and thank our veterans for their service this Veterans Day it is so appropriate that we catch up with past guest and US Air Force Veteran Vanessa Sheridan.
Despite the limitations caused by the pandemic, this respected author and transgender activist continues to provide public outreach and consulting while offering transgender awareness training services nationally.
She is the author of “The Complete Guide to Transgender in the Workplace.” The first full-length, hard-covered book on this topic ever released by a mainstream publisher. She has twice been a national Lambda Literary Award finalist for her other books on the transgender community.
Vanessa was the first transgender member of the board of directors for the Stonewall National Museum and archives.

Veteran and Trans Activist Vanessa Sheridan

Kim Ford is one of those people who always has something to say that is informative, inspirational, and transformative changes.
She co-founded Kitchen Table Giving Circle. The non-profit provided philanthropic support to Black/African Descent Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer women-led projects and organizations working to improve the lives of Black/African Descent LBTQ women.
After years working in the non-profit sector, she changed directions starting “Mind Body Balance with Kim” providing health and wellness advocacy as well as transformational life coaching,
When last we spoke it was at the beginning of the pandemic, her business was developing, she was offering classes online and taking classes to expand her practice using her fitness journey to assist and motivate others to find body and soul balance. And then the pandemic hit.
Kim believes each of us moves along our own unique journeys and paths filled with dreams and visions of the lives we want to live. This movement and our interactions with others can help us redefine how we live in community with one another,
She shares how the pandemic has been a time to reset and find our own unique journeys and paths filled with dreams and visions of the lives we want to live.
From sheltering in place, reemerging from quarantine isolation to adopting a pandemic pet it’s a new world, a changing normal and Kim Ford is there for it all!!

Revisiting Health, Wellness & Transformational Coach Kim Ford

Steph Turner identifies as a trans-spirit individual who is grounded in her own Native American heritage.
After coming out in 1993 as transgender, she learned firsthand about needs when she was falsely accused and incarcerated for a crime she did not commit. No consideration was given for her gender identity and she was placed in an all-male facility.
Since this experience Steph has felt compelled to transcend political and other divisive activities to deeply connect with all sides to resolve the impacted needs. 
After earning degrees in Sociology, Anthropology, Counseling and Public Administration she realized these fields exist to find answers our many needs. She went on to found Anankelogy the disciplined study of need.
In her book “You Need This: Introducing Anankelogy, the Study of Need” she explains how our actions, beliefs, and thinking all occur after our factual needs.

Steph Turner Founder of Anankelogy -

Especially during this pandemic our friends & found families have helped hold us together as a community, I am pleased & honored to have been officially "adopted" by my Bayard Rustin Center for Social Justice family.
Bayard Rustin was an African American leader in social movements for civil rights, socialism, nonviolence, and gay rights.
He worked with A. Philip Randolph on the March on Washington Movement, in 1941, to press for an end to racial discrimination in employment. He later organized Freedom Rides, and helped to organize the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
Bayard Rustin was a gay man and, due to criticism over his sexuality, he usually acted as an influential adviser behind the scenes to civil-rights leaders. 
As a young activist, cutting my teeth in the civil rights and social justice movements, I did not hear about Bayard Rustin. I felt that I needed to suppress my sexuality in order to be effective in the movement. But then through books, involvement with LGBTQ organizations and the movie “Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin” I recognized the importance of bringing my full self to everything I was doing to truly create change.
Along the way I discovered other “Angelic Troublemakers” equally inspired by Rustin’s life and doing the work. One being Robt Seda Schreiber, Chief Activist at the Bayard Rustin Center for Social Justice. Robt has quite literally had his “Boots on the Ground” since before he was born.
From day one the mission and vision of the Bayard Rustin Center for Social Justice along with the commitment and Robt’s passion have been in sync with my core beliefs touching my spirit.

BRCSJ Board Announcement

Just taking a moment to say "THANK YOU" to my listeners, my guests, and the community who continue to live between the lines, stand boldly in the crosshairs of their intersectionality, and create change.

Celebrating 5 Amazing Years of Collections by Michelle Brown

It’s summertime and many of us are ready to hit the road for vacations with family and friends. But more and more folks are thinking about trips to faraway places all yar around. 
Joining us again is Mike Henderson founder of Black Gay Travelers and CEO of B. A.G. Travel. 
An adventurer since childhood, Mike has extended his travels beyond his favorite place, Yosemite National Park, to exotic sites around the globe.
Henderson believes representation and visibility matter, so his mission is to introduce members of the African American LGBTQ community and allies to people and places in places as close as the National Parks and as far away as Antarctica.
Joining us from the 2023 Black Travel Expo in Atlanta he shares his experience from past trips and previews plans for future adventures for Black Gay Travelers.

Mike Henderson: World Traveler/Global Citizen

It’s time for the annual Esteem Awards taking place Saturday July 1st at the Sidetrack Video Bar in Chicago at 3349 N. Halstead Street!
The FREE, yes free, event recognizes individuals, organizations and institutions doing great work in the African American LGBTQIA community that often go unrecognized. Honorees come from the Chicago area as well as nationally.
The 16th annual celebration takes place during Chicago’s Black Gay Pride weekend. Besides celebrating the honorees, guests will be entertained by local entertainers, have great refreshments and the opportunity to participate in raffles with beautiful, handcrafted gift baskets. And it is all free!!!!
It's a grand celebration planned, prepared and presented with love by our guest today – the one and only Mr. Phil Esteem!!

2023 Esteem Awards in Chicago

The One Pulse Foundation’s mission is to create and support a memorial that opens hearts, a museum that opens minds. Its educational programs will open eyes and legacy scholarships will open doors. By establishing a sanctuary of healing and a beacon of hope the Foundation will memorialize the lives taken, the lives saved and all the lives affected by the Pulse nightclub tragedy of June 12, 2016 – ensuring Pulse’s legacy of love lives on forever.
Our guest Andres Arcosta Ardila is Education Program Specialist at One Pulse Foundation.

One Pulse Foundation-Remembering the 49

Wyatt O'Brian Evans is  a Journalist. Author. Radio Personality. Intimate Partner Violence & Abuse (IPV/A) Subject Matter Expert (SME), Advocate and Speaker. Voice-over (V/O) Instructor and Talent is currently celebrating the release of his latest novel “Shattered!” The latest installment in the Nothing Can Tear Us Apart series.
Wyatt is the quintessential Renaissance man. His work has been featured in various print and online media outlets.  Wyatt founded and is editor-in-chief of and a writer for Wyattevans.com, a leading online news, features, commentary, and entertainment media outlet for the LGBTQ+ Community and its Allies.

You can learn more about Wyatt his books, podcast, events and all about this renaissance man at his website wyattevans.com

Wyatt O'Brian Evans - A Renaissance Man & Author Interview

Dion Alexander McNeal received the 2023 Next Generation Leader Esteem award for their work as an HIV Advocate. 
On their site Hopeful in Victory they discuss dismantling HIV stigma one conversation at a time.
This Black queer nonbinary, Artist/Activist &amp; Author will be a
panelist at Artists in the Afternoon 3: The Write Passion and
Purpose in Atlanta this Labor Day weekend on September 2nd
They will also be speaking at the Rainbow Café LGBTQ Center
Annual Gala in Illinois Garden Grove Center on November 4th. It will
be an evening of community, advocacy and gratitude.
We met at the Esteem Awards this year in Chicago and the
connection was immediate and deep. 
Originally from Chicago, they now live and work in Atlanta where they are  the Communications Manager at Morehouse College.

Esteem Awardee: Dion Alexander McNeal

Lambda Sigma Sigma Lupus Sorority, Inc. is an HISTORIC and TRAILBLAZING organization! Being THE FIRST non-collegiate Greek lettered sorority, for women with Lupus. 
It was an idea that came to fruition, by LaCasha Lee who founded the organization August 13, 2018 in Chicago, Illinois. Lee was diagnosed with Lupus. She is a Diamond Life Member for 20+ years of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated, and felt that having a Greek lettered organization, would stand out in the Lupus community.
is a support system and advocate, for all people with Lupus. By promoting Lupus awareness, volunteering and raising funds for Lupus advocacy organizations And a sisterhood for women 18 years of age and older, who have been diagnosed with Lupus.
The sorority participated in the Lupus Detroit Walk for Warriors in September and is hosting a fundraiser for the organization September 30.

Lambda Sigma SigmaLupus Sorority

It's been a tough couple of years. COVID, some health issues and life caused us to take a break, go on hiatus, stop the conversations. But Collections by Michelle Brown - Blog Radio is back and ready to bring you the stories of individuals living between the lines, standing boldly in the crosshairs of their intersectionality and creating change, What better way to kick things off than to go back to how it  all begin. 
This is the episode where we spill the tea on Collections by Michelle Brown-Blog Radio. With the help of two listeners and friends we are going to tell it all, well almost all of the history, back stories about the show and yours truly its host. 
New music, new partnerships, new shows. SO sit back and enjoy the ride!!!!!

Spilling the Tea on Collections by Michelle Brown Blog Radio

Kwanzaa was created in 1966 by Maulana Karenga during the aftermath of the Watts riots as a non-Christian, specifically African-American, holiday.  The goal was to "give black people an alternative to the existing holiday traditions and give black people an opportunity to celebrate themselves and their history. Each of the seven days of Kwanzaa is dedicated to one of the seven principles.
Expanding on the history of Kwanzaa and Adoma a leader in Detroit’s LGBTQ+ community and nationally recognized lecturer and activist.
Kwanzaa 2023 begins on Tuesday, December 26, and lasts through Monday, January 1, 2024. The planning for the annual Kwanzaa celebration has begun. This year's Planning Committee has gone NATIONAL thanks to the historic virtual gatherings of the past three years.

Dr. Kofi Adoma Breaks Down Kwanzaa 2023

Carrie Sinclair Vine is the Executive Director of the Rainbow Cafe LGBTQ Center in Carbondale, Illinois. Founded in 2000 the Center's mission is to “provide a safe and welcoming environment for youth who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, or questioning their orientation, and their friends, by creating a space in which they are affirmed and offered non-judgmental support and access to personal, community, and spiritual resources.”
It offers programs and services for members of the LGBTQIA+ community and allies from throughout southern Illinois, including some who traveled an hour each way to attend.
They recently moved in to a larger space allowing the Rainbow Cafe to provide assistance to individuals of all ages .
Carrie Sinclair Vine is not just the Executive Director, she is co-Founder/ Board Member at GRIS- Golden Rainbows of Illinois South. She is deeply passionate not just about the Rainbow Cafe but the well-being of Carbondale as a safe haven for all.

Rainbow Cafe LGBTQ Center: A Safe Space in Southern Illinois

Naoml Washington Leaphart is the Strategic Partnerships Director at Political Research Associates, Government Fellow at Religion & Public Life at Harvard Divinity School and Minister at The Fellowship Of Affirming Ministries.
Her career has also included serving as Government Fellow at Religion & Public Life at Harvard Divinity School, Adjunct Faculty at Villanova University,  Director for Faith-Based and Interfaith Affairs in Philadelphia’s Mayor's Office of Public Engagement, and  Faith Work Director at National LGBTQ Task Force, which is where we first met,  among other stops along the way as a faith leader.
Although women in the past fulfilled primarily were limited to supportive roles in serving the church, today in most denominations you will find women leading the way as leaders not only in the pulpit but, but like our guest, in government, academia and other areas fighting for social justice.  
In these culturally polarized days why do we need women, particularly in the clergy, to lead?

Leapheart 2024: Still Strong Smart Bold in Faith

Author, Public Speaker, Radio Host of Collections by Michelle Brown Blog Radio

Celebrating 5 Amazing Years of Collections by Michelle Brown

Collections by Michelle Brown

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