In this REWIND episode of Nurah Speaks I share five key takeaways that I have learned from being misunderstood. I share them here with hope that listeners will find them useful in their own journeys. The way others perceive is influenced by the culmination of their life experiences, personality and expectations.No one is exempt from being misunderstood.Tell the truth and get out of the way.Always make clarity, not ego, the goal.Misunderstanding may occur due to your own failure in communication. If you would like to engage with the Nurah Speaks podcast, submit your listener questions to info@NurahSpeaks.com.  Listeners can also learn more about Nurah by visiting her website: NurahSpeaks.com or reading her blog by clicking this link. Follow Nurah Speaks @NurahSpeaksPodcast on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To bring Nurah as a speaker at your next event, email info@NurahSpeaks.com. Remember, don’t just Join the Movement, Be the Movement!

The prom is a billion dollar industry.  Custom gowns and suits, luxury cars, ostentatious grandeur and extravagance are exhibited by a people who have the least net worth in the nation. King for a day and broke for a lifetime is not acceptable.  In their ‘coming out’ we permit excess in our children's celebration and in many cases mothers promote the excesses themselves. We are doing our young people and their future no favors with the modern prom culture we help them to indulge in.  In general, not just with prom, we are people without money trying to appear to be what we think people with money look like-to our own detriment.  But we can do better! If you would like to engage with the Nurah Speaks podcast, submit your listener questions or topic suggestions to info@NurahSpeaks.com.  Listeners can also learn more about Nurah by visiting her website:  NurahSpeaks.com. Follow Nurah Speaks @NurahSpeaksPodcast on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To bring Nurah as a speaker at your next event, email info@NurahSpeaks.com. Remember, don’t just Join the Movement, Be the Movement!

Love of others is predicated on love of self.  Respect and trust of others is also based on that which we have for self.   We may testify as if we love ourselves though our language and behaviors prove differently.  And others quickly recognize this fractured confidence and esteem in our own people and take advantage of it.  As descendants of American chattel slavery, we must accept that we have been made distinctive by virtue of that experience and love who we are in spite of the cruelties we have endured. By putting others on a pedestal before yourself, by seeking allegiance with others before yourself and by pursuing trust of others before yourself shows the depths of our destruction.    There is a healing that must occur for our people and it begins with knowing and accepting who we are after our shared experiences.   If you would like to engage with the Nurah Speaks podcast, submit your listener questions or topic suggestions to info@NurahSpeaks.com.  Listeners can also learn more about Nurah by visiting her website:  NurahSpeaks.com. Follow Nurah Speaks @NurahSpeaksPodcast on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Retailers know how to induce consumer spending because they understand our psychology better than we know ourselves.  They design our seasonal spending habits employing sales tactics that increase their bottom lines and increases our consumer debt. They understand the use of rapport, scarcity and other psychological principles to get consumers emptying their wallets and having them think it was their idea.  But what good is this for consumers and their families?  Companies want us to spend, - not think, just spend. I say think before you spend.  Do not be an April’s fool.   If you would like to engage with the Nurah Speaks podcast, submit your listener questions or topic suggestions to info@NurahSpeaks.com.  Listeners can also learn more about Nurah by visiting her website:  NurahSpeaks.com. Follow Nurah Speaks @NurahSpeaksPodcast on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To bring Nurah as a speaker at your next event, email info@NurahSpeaks.com. Remember, don’t just Join the Movement, Be the Movement!

Before Social Media, how did we gain concepts about life: religion, politics, values and self worth?  They were demonstrated by our parents and extended family, school classrooms and playgrounds, through direct interaction, engagement, face to face and person to person interaction. Now we have our heads down in smartphones impeding our communication, taking up the space meant for us to learn how to occupy time and communicate with others.  We now have generations coming behind us who have had smart phones in their hands since age three and four. How will their social deficits impact the society designed for us to live, work and play together when their attention is concentrated in the palms of their hands?  What sort of future can we expect and how can we mitigate the potential for stunted social and intellectual growth created by social media consumption? If you would like to engage with the Nurah Speaks podcast, submit your listener questions or topic suggestions to info@NurahSpeaks.com.  Listeners can also learn more about Nurah by visiting her website:  NurahSpeaks.com. Follow Nurah Speaks @NurahSpeaksPodcast on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To bring Nurah as a speaker at your next event, email info@NurahSpeaks.com. Remember, don’t just Join the Movement, Be the Movement!

Laughing it off when others ridicule you is not an indication that you are a good sport.  It is a sign of weakness, insecurity and/or a need to fit in.  There is no social club, job, appointment or team that should require mockery at your own expense.   We are often tested by others in this way to determine if we will participate in our own humiliation and mockery.  Doing so does not garner acceptance nor trust.  In fact others with manipulative tendencies will recognize you as someone they can control and will return again and again in their bullying and harassment.   It is true that you must standup to a bully, regardless to the cost.  Nothing is more valuable than your self worth. If you would like to engage with the Nurah Speaks podcast, submit your listener questions or topic suggestions to info@NurahSpeaks.com.  Listeners can also learn more about Nurah by visiting her website:  NurahSpeaks.com. Follow Nurah Speaks @NurahSpeaksPodcast on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To bring Nurah as a speaker at your next event, email info@NurahSpeaks.com. Remember, don’t just Join the Movement, Be the Movement!

A couple weeks ago when out for a walk, I saw several police officers surrounding a young Black man in the park. I disrupted my walk routine so that I could be in somewhat proximity of the activity without causing a nuisance to the officers but near enough that I could be an independent observer while still walking.   I knew that if my son was interfacing with law enforcement and another black woman observed that, I would want her to remain in the vicinity to be able to provide a report should things go horribly wrong.    This got me thinking about other ways we should support each other sons when, as mothers, we are not around to do it ourselves.   I hope this episode will encourage a sense of community to develop for listeners with our neighbors, community members and those who we have actual no relationship with.  If we truly envisioned ourselves as brothers and sisters, we would truly be a better people and have safer, more successful communities.   If you would like to engage with the Nurah Speaks podcast, submit your listener questions or topic suggestions to info@NurahSpeaks.com.  Listeners can also learn more about Nurah by visiting her website:  NurahSpeaks.com. Follow Nurah Speaks @NurahSpeaksPodcast on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To bring Nurah as a speaker at your next event, email info@NurahSpeaks.com

Last month Charlamagne tha God, apologized to Mo’nique for mocking her and dubbing her ‘Donkey of the Day’ on The Breakfast Club during her legal fight with Netflix over unfair compensation.  There is a lesson in this for us.   When one of our people is fighting for justice or fairness-unless we are lending support-we should stay out of it.   Uttering our own public condemnation or mockery of our people shows our ignorance and disunity.  Not only does our own people see this, but the entities and corporations see our lack of support and backing of our own.  What sense does it make to pile on and cause our folks to have to turn and fight us too? Whether we agree, or disagree on the issue or method, we should not enter into the public discourse with our own castigation of our own people.  The link to his apology is here: https://youtu.be/uriZs1w-ZzQ.  If you would like to engage with the Nurah Speaks podcast, submit your listener questions or topic suggestions to info@NurahSpeaks.com.  Listeners can also learn more about Nurah by visiting her website:  NurahSpeaks.com. Follow Nurah Speaks @NurahSpeaksPodcast on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To bring Nurah as a speaker at your next event, email info@NurahSpeaks.com. Remember, don’t just Join the Movement, Be the Movement!

“There are some efforts to celebrate a so-called ‘Negro History Week,’ and some of my people will participate. The planning of that week to teach the slave a knowledge of his past is not complete, sufficient or comprehensive enough to enable my people to learn the true knowledge of themselves.  It is important that my people learn the true knowledge of self, as it means their salvation….The American Negro is without knowledge of self. You are a so-called Negro because you are "not" a Negro. ” “There is much misunderstanding among us because of our inferior knowledge of self. We have been to the schools where they do not teach us the knowledge of self. We have been to the schools of our slave-master’s children. We have been to their schools and gone as far as they have allowed us to go. That was not far enough for us to learn a knowledge of self.  The lack of knowledge of self is one of our main handicaps. It blocks us throughout the world. If you were the world and you were a part of the world, you would also turn a man down if he did not know who he actually was. If we, the so-called Negroes, do not know our own selves, how can we be accepted by a people who have a knowledge of self?”  Excerpts from ‘Message to the Blackman in America’, by Elijah Muhammad If you would like to engage with the Nurah Speaks podcast, submit your listener questions or topic suggestions to info@NurahSpeaks.com.  Listeners can also learn more about Nurah by visiting her website:  NurahSpeaks.com. Follow Nurah Speaks @NurahSpeaksPodcast on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To bring Nurah as a speaker at your next event, email info@NurahSpeaks.com

PLEASE READ the show notes to this episode. I caution the listener against hearing this episode as an attack on Marc Lamont Hill.  I believe the points wherein I disagree are important and bear sharing. However anyone who has followed Nurah Speaks understands that I do not take shots or make personal attacks on this show.  Nor is it my intention to ‘be in men’s faces,’ so to speak.   I do encourage healthy debate and exchange of ideas and I believe the principles shared in this episode are valid and valuable.  But we do not do messy at Nurah Speaks.   For context:  Marc Lamont Hill posted a video on YouTube titled "Cam'ron Gets Strong CLAP BACK From Marc Lamont Hill For Rejecting African American Identity".  That episode is in response to Cam’ron choosing Black rather than African American as his identity.  While I disagree with Marc Lamont Hill, this episode is not a ‘Clap Back To The Clap Back.’  I do believe it is an important subject as it relates to the linkage of Black people throughout the world and I share my perspective on the topic.  I do look forward to our feedback on the episode. If you would like to engage with the Nurah Speaks podcast, submit your listener questions or topic suggestions to info@NurahSpeaks.com.  Listeners can also learn more about Nurah by visiting her website:  NurahSpeaks.com. Follow Nurah Speaks @NurahSpeaksPodcast on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To bring Nurah as a speaker at your next event, email info@NurahSpeaks.com.

One thing the Katt Williams Club Shay Shay interview proved is that our tabloid appetite is strong as ever.   Our penchant for scandal shows our character leanings to rumor and propaganda.  And unfortunately sleaze sells and we are its ever faithful buyers. I challenge us to resist sensationalism and direct our minds towards that which edifies, instructs and nourishes.  Growth demands that we filter and focus on that which gives life and turn from that which corrupts both our virtue and intellect.   If you would like to engage with the Nurah Speaks podcast, submit your listener questions or topic suggestions to info@NurahSpeaks.com.  Listeners can also learn more about Nurah by visiting her website:  NurahSpeaks.com. Follow Nurah Speaks @NurahSpeaksPodcast on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To bring Nurah as a speaker at your next event, email info@NurahSpeaks.com.

Truth is that which is factual, real.  It need not be convenient to be truth.  It need not be accepted to be truth.  And truth is truth regardless to our opinions or how we feel. While our modern society plays fast and loose with truth, if the mathematics do not add up, it is not the truth.    Failing to speak or acknowledge truth shows ignorance, delusion, fear, deception or a mashup of these.  Regardless, truth is like sunshine and as Shakespeare wrote, “Truth will out!”  And when truth is revealed it may testify for or against us. If you would like to engage with the Nurah Speaks podcast, submit your listener questions or topic suggestions to ⁠info@NurahSpeaks.com⁠.  Listeners can also learn more about Nurah by visiting her website:  ⁠NurahSpeaks.com⁠. Follow Nurah Speaks @NurahSpeaksPodcast on ⁠Facebook⁠, ⁠Twitter⁠ and ⁠Instagram⁠. To bring Nurah as a speaker at your next event, email ⁠info@NurahSpeaks.com⁠. Remember, don’t just Join the Movement, Be the Movement!

Setting goals is important for progress in all areas of life.   It is essential we set goals effectively to produce the best outcomes and give ourselves the greatest chance of success. This episode I share S.M.A.R.T. goals, an effective guide to goal setting.  S.M.A.R.T. is an acronym for:  Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound. Listen to this episode to enhance your productivity and achieve personal and professional progress. If you would like to engage with the Nurah Speaks podcast, submit your listener questions or topic suggestions to info@NurahSpeaks.com.  Listeners can also learn more about Nurah by visiting her website:  NurahSpeaks.com. Follow Nurah Speaks @NurahSpeaksPodcast on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To bring Nurah as a speaker at your next event, email info@NurahSpeaks.com. Remember, don’t just Join the Movement, Be the Movement!

This episode shares six areas of focus for achieving or increasing workplace success.  Concentrating in these areas is applicable to any field.   They are: •Preparation •Communication •Professional Courtesy •Honesty •Attitude •Organization Improving one’s skills in each area can enhance workplace relationships, improve one’s own professional image and position one for career advancement. If you would like to engage with the Nurah Speaks podcast, submit your listener questions or topic suggestions to info@NurahSpeaks.com.  Listeners can also learn more about Nurah by visiting her website:  NurahSpeaks.com. Follow Nurah Speaks @NurahSpeaksPodcast on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To bring Nurah as a speaker at your next event, email info@NurahSpeaks.com. Remember, don’t just Join the Movement, Be the Movement!

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a poignant example of a man standing on faith and principles, regardless of the risks, discomfort and persecution. In his work of pressing the United States government for civil rights of the nation’s ex-slaves and in his anti-war stance on Vietnam, he made an enemy of the FBI and the U.S. President and his companions in the Civil Rights Movement deserted him.  He was a man standing on principle, refusing to sit in spite of threats and public disgrace because he believed he had truth and justice on his side.  Questions that his example compel us to ask ourselves: What will we stand for? Will we remain standing in the face of criticism and threat?  What is the cost to our souls, consciousness and freedom if we do not? The excerpts in this episode is from Dr. King’s speech at Ebenezer Baptist Church November 5, 1967 titled, ‘But If Not’. If you would like to engage with the Nurah Speaks podcast, submit your listener questions or topic suggestions to info@NurahSpeaks.com.  Listeners can also learn more about Nurah by visiting her website:  NurahSpeaks.com. Follow Nurah Speaks @NurahSpeaksPodcast on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To bring Nurah as a speaker at your next event, email info@NurahSpeaks.com. Remember, don’t just Join the Movement, Be the Movement!

How possibly does one measure and repair the harm that has been done to a people enslaved and destroyed physically, spiritually, morally?  Our ancestors had their religion stripped, language stripped, cultural customs stripped, pride, ambitions, self love and self worth stripped through the most heinous brutality. We, their descendants, continue carry the burden of this devastation and it is apparent in our habits and behaviors.  Therefore, before reparation is issued, rehabilitation must occur.  What good will it do for a people who are destroyed, lacking love and knowledge of self, a real identity and group ambitions to receive reparations?  What happens to anyone who is irresponsible, aimless and destructive that receives a windfall?  Instead of just being an addict, he is a rich addict.  Instead of just being an immoral woman, she is a rich immoral woman.  And in a few short days, neither will be rich and often in a worse condition. The reparation conversation requires serious insight and we cannot be so eager to ‘get ours’ that we diminish the harm inflicted upon our ancestors and without real consideration of our current condition.  So-called African Americans, the American descendants of slavery, are a uniquely destroyed people and we cannot be too hasty to put our hands out before understanding what freedom really means. If you would like to engage with the Nurah Speaks podcast, submit your listener questions or topic suggestions to info@NurahSpeaks.com.  Listeners can also learn more about Nurah by visiting her website:  NurahSpeaks.com. Follow Nurah Speaks @NurahSpeaksPodcast on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To bring Nurah as a speaker at your next event, email info@NurahSpeaks.com. Remember, don’t just Join the Movement, Be the Movement!

Here I continue the mention of fathers and the significance of fathers in the lives of children.  The Center for Disease Control reports that 90% of all homeless and runaway youth, 71% of high school drop outs and 63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes.   In part, this episode discusses the way fathers impact the development of identity in boys and the mental health and self esteem in girls.  It should be obvious to us that fathers strongly impact identity and behaviors in our boys and the mental wellness of our girls.  However, since fatherhood is not celebrated and often undervalued, these are facts of which must be discussed in this podcast. If you would like to engage with the Nurah Speaks podcast, submit your listener questions or topic suggestions to info@NurahSpeaks.com.  Listeners can also learn more about Nurah by visiting her website:  NurahSpeaks.com. Follow Nurah Speaks @NurahSpeaksPodcast on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To bring Nurah as a speaker at your next event, email info@NurahSpeaks.com. Remember, don’t just Join the Movement, Be the Movement!

Moderns laws and culture undermine the value of fathers even though research and data demonstrates how invaluable involved fathers are.   The Center for Disease Control reports that 90% of all homeless and runaway youth, 71% of high school drop outs and 63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes.   Additionally, research shows that the presence of fathers improves childrens’ communication skills, resiliency, emotional and behavioral stability and a child’s overall achievement.   In general, a father’s presence is an enhancement to a child’s development and no less valuable than the presence of the mother. If you would like to engage with the Nurah Speaks podcast, submit your listener questions or topic suggestions to info@NurahSpeaks.com.  Listeners can also learn more about Nurah by visiting her website:  NurahSpeaks.com. Follow Nurah Speaks @NurahSpeaksPodcast on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To bring Nurah as a speaker at your next event, email info@NurahSpeaks.com. Remember, don’t just Join the Movement, Be the Movement!

There is no biblical commandment directing us to SPEND-SPEND-SPEND to honor the birth of sweet baby Jesus. However, year after year, the season has become less religious and more commercial. Clever advertisers know the perfect strategies to persuade us to buy.  So then what should we do in this season of spending?  This episode I share tips that will benefit your wallet and your community. If you enjoy Nurah Speaks, please share the podcast with friends, family, and colleagues. Every time you share, you help the show’s growth. If you would like to engage with the Nurah Speaks podcast, submit your listener questions or topic suggestions to info@NurahSpeaks.com.  Listeners can also learn more about Nurah by visiting her website:  NurahSpeaks.com. Follow Nurah Speaks @NurahSpeaksPodcast on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To bring Nurah as a speaker at your next event, email info@NurahSpeaks.com. Remember, don’t just Join the Movement, Be the Movement!

We are celebrating the Sixth Year Anniversary of the podcast and there has been so much shared and so much learned in this journey.   I am grateful to all who has joined me on this journey, the incredible guests, the faithful listeners and the loyal supporters.   This podcast was borne from a suggestion by a dear Brother who has since passed away but whose legacy continues to inspire, Brother Munir Muhammad.  I received additional encouragement by my own minister, Brother Minister Wasim Muhammad who co-signed the suggestion and established a foundation locally for intelligent and thoughtful conversation.   However, the greatest support I have had is from my own husband who gives me the freedom to be myself and fulfill my own purpose of service. I am forever grateful for the kindness and dedication to all who champion the podcast. If you would like to engage with the Nurah Speaks podcast, submit your listener questions or topic suggestions to info@NurahSpeaks.com.  Listeners can also learn more about Nurah by visiting her website:  NurahSpeaks.com. Follow Nurah Speaks @NurahSpeaksPodcast on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To bring Nurah as a speaker at your next event, email info@NurahSpeaks.com. Remember, don’t just Join the Movement, Be the Movement!