In the season finale, I finally figured it out. From forming a second business prematurely, to getting laid off a third time, to grieving some sh*t my body needed to release, I was ready to go full throttle with storytelling as a living. The gag is I had been doing it in my own way for so long. I was just ready to own it more confidently and take it to new heights. Knowing people in real life doing the same thing, I invited friend and collaborator, Darnell Lamont Walker, to bare his soul on how writing became his life’s work. He used to curate writer’s rooms in his former Bronx apartment, encouraging people to get their stories out by any means necessary. Well his stories have been making its rounds in shows like Blue’s Clues, Karma’s World, and more. We delight in our journeys and the work never being done.  Maybe we’re masochists that love to tell stories or maybe “I’m a believer in the power of knowledge and the ferocity of beauty, so from my point of view, your life is already artful—waiting, just waiting, for you to make it art.” -Toni Morrison --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/blacknuancedpod/support

In my best Biggie rapping voice but remixed, “What’s grief? Grief is when you need any noise to go to sleep, grief is isolating yourself for several weeks.” You get the lyrical point. What I didn’t understand, until I navigated that darkness I mentioned in episode two, was that grief wasn’t limited to losing a loved one. My body was grieving some things that my mind was slow to catch up with. It was a rough few months that I was forever changed by. Well actually bufo (toad venom) and my sister’s death a few years ago, forever changed me, but that darkness was still a seminal moment. This episode features my play cousin, Shaunathan, whom I consider fra-mily, a friend that’s family, who recently lost their mother. There isn’t one way to grieve and we get candid about the multitude of things we’re still grieving. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/blacknuancedpod/support

And then the music stopped. In a game of musical chairs, I was left without a seat. But the game wasn’t musical chairs, it was my health. I had experienced a bout of debilitating back pains in 2021 that took me down. I had taken walking, standing and sitting up straight, and being active without being in pain, for granted. But the story doesn’t actually start there. Let’s just say it did. In my late 30s, I thought I had all the doctors I needed. I didn’t. In this episode, I sit down with my chiropractor, Dr. Phelts, who takes on more of a holistic approach to wellness, and Nikki “Kether” Morgan, a certified, clinical somatic sexologist, who helped me reconnect with my body, after later learning I was dissociated. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/blacknuancedpod/support

In the words of Jay-Z, “I’m not a businessman, I’m a business, man.” I studied entrepreneurship in undergrad because my natural inclination was to always be in charge of some sh*t. But I still had a lot to learn. They say to be an entrepreneur, you need to find a need that exists and build a business around that. Well that wasn’t my motivation. I didn’t want future million dollar checks being assigned to my social security number, so I legally formed a production company…and then a second one during the pandemic. I had illusions of grandeur on this “consulting business” I was going to start during the pandemic after getting laid off. I was introduced to Passion Artis, during her time at Netflix, as she was getting her business, BlaytorBox, off the ground. It was an all too relatable story of having your full time job feed your creative hustle until your creative hustle became your full time. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/blacknuancedpod/support

Being unemployed [for a third time] in New York crushed me and this time around, the additional bump in benefits, because of the pandemic, was gone. There were more rules and monitoring than before. I was embarrassed by being unemployed at my “big old age” in my late 30s. But after every storm, there’s supposedly a rainbow. It would take me another year to see that. Tonja Stidhum, a writer, director, and producer, whose work I knew from The Root, a Black-centric online magazine, was vocal about her unemployment on Twitter. We connected about navigating the ebbs and flows of our industry (Hollywood), the come to Jesus moment of being unemployed in your late 30s, and the story we were assigning it. Previously recorded: March 2023 --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/blacknuancedpod/support

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have lingering PTSD from my past work experiences being the only Black woman or Black person in an all white corporate space. The reality is a lot of Black people do. There are also some that don’t. These experiences marked very transitional moments in my life so I called up Amadi Pate, a TV and film coordinator, and Stephen Williams, a brand marketer, to share their differing experiences of how they navigated their Blackness in these spaces and insight that made them see themselves and their environment differently. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/blacknuancedpod/support

I thought I had my career path figured out in my early 30s. I was making decent money as a freelance contractor at Viacom in New York and I had never thought about leaving my TV production gig until it exhausted me. I didn’t feel like I maximized pursuing my goals of being a radio personality. I also didn’t imagine jumping careers at 33 but I did. Syndicated radio personality, Lenny Green, became a dear friend and unexpected mentor of mine when I moved to Miami for a year and decided to “start over again.” He shared some insight into his journey that also saw an expanded opportunity arrive later in his career. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/blacknuancedpod/support

Having immigrant parents, getting a good education was over emphasized in our household. Lucky for me, I was down for traditional schooling, having gone to a four year college then grad school. But after seeing “battle royale" play out between the Biden-Harris administration and Congress over student loan debt cancellation AND realizing how much I owe, I chatted with my co-producer, Wize Grazette of The Indie Creative Network, about the worth of getting a degree versus real life field experience.   --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/blacknuancedpod/support

As an Afro-Caribbean woman, I’ve had to navigate multiple worlds beyond my comfort and rarely with enough language. When I fell into a dark space at the end of 2022, I was lost and couldn’t understand why. Coming out of that moment, changed me. It changed how I viewed myself and the people, places, and things I interacted with. This solo episode serves as a preview of the nuanced journey I take my guests on, as they open up about their experience navigating their Blackness in various spaces. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/blacknuancedpod/support

This season, I did something different. I got a little more personal and vulnerable and decided to share stories about the nuances of being a Black woman still navigating various aspects of my life in ways I didn’t expect to or want to. I invited some guests to join me along the way. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/blacknuancedpod/support

When you stay ready, you ain't got to get ready. That proved to work in WVZ MFG Publishing Co's favor, when Dave Giles II landed songwriting placement on Beyonce's Renaissance album.  With this interview being recorded back in November, when the Grammy nominations were first announced, Dave and his business partner, Daryl Garrett Jr., shared their insight on how they're empowering Black artists through their boutique music publishing company, the challenges they've had to navigate personally and professionally, and the intentional steps they're capitalizing on since becoming Grammy nominated. NOTES Follow me on Twitter at @georgette and Instagram @georgettepierre. Follow the podcast at @blacknuancedpod on Twitter and Instagram.  Learn more about WVZ MFG Publishing Co at www.wvzmfg.com. Follow them on Instagram and Twitter at @wvzmfg.   Follow Dave Giles II @davegilesii on all social media platforms, his group Dave & Sam at @daveandsammusic, and Daryl on Twitter @DGtheEnigma. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/blacknuancedpod/support

Reunited and it feeels so good!  Been gone for almost 2 years and now I'm back with a new and more intentional season, fully rolling out in March.  To whet your appetite until then, this Thursday it was only right to drop my interview with WVZ MFG Publishing and Grammy nominated songwriter, Dave Giles II, the weekend before the Grammys. He reveals the album and the song that earned him his first Grammy nomination. I didn't come to play and neither did my guests. Season 4 is taking you on a ride on what I've been up to the last couple of years with people that were a part of my journey and/or had paralleled nuanced experiences to my journey.  This is Black + Nuanced, like you've never heard me before. Dig in.  --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/blacknuancedpod/support

Four scores and two years ago, just kidding. Two years ago (not fully into 2021 yet), I took a leap of faith and moved to South Florida June 2018, taking a $75,000 pay cut. I was making bank in TV production y'all. I believed that strongly in what I was about to do down there. Didn't know that it would rock my world the way it did but so grateful it did and even more grateful for the people that I met.   During my short stint at 99Jamz as a local host for the Rickey Smiley Morning Show, DJ Nasty 305, was one of those people. We formed a bond like no other and he held me down big Leo energy style. This was someone who wore his city on his back, DJ skills and sh*t talking unmatched, and made being a radio personality look and sound so easy.   When the pandemic hit, who would've thought DJs to the rescue mentally and emotionally speaking. Not one to mince words, DJ Nasty 305 and I spoke about the state of radio from the talent perspective, if turn-tabling was making a comeback, his thoughts on new DJs, cancel culture as it related to Trina's reported comments last year about protesters, and if he celebrates Valentine's Day and/or Steak and BJ day. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/blacknuancedpod/support

*Formerly recorded in October 2020* When I decided to leave New York and my career in TV production to venture into commercial radio in South Florida, I didn't know what I was in for. I was just excited for a new change of scenery of growing through the trenches in the gritty. I had also hit a crossroad in TV production. I felt like the one career I walked away from was radio. I had done college radio from 2003-2009 and after several failed attempts of not getting into New York radio (naive and spoiled me), I went to TV.     Fast forward to 2018, I moved to Miami and became the local host of the Rickey Smiley Morning Show when it was on 99Jamz. I met so many dope people including one of my favorite radio veterans and a man I now have the pleasure of calling my former boss, Tap Money. 25 years and counting, this man's approach to nurturing new talent such as myself kept me going through the challenging times. Now he's the program director of Hot 107.9 in Atlanta.    Tap joins me to discuss the challenges and responsibilities of managing a major station in a high profile city dealing with racial injustices, dropping gems on how to break into the industry, and ways he's maintaining his wellbeing. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/blacknuancedpod/support

When Orlando Lima decided to leave his corporate position at Def Jam last year to pursue the spirits industry, he didn't fathom the road ahead aka the pandemic. Having both worked at VH1 where we met, navigating challenges in and out of the corporate space wasn't new to us but what does that look like when the world is on a stand still?   No stranger to the podcast, Orlando shares what entrepreneurial life has looked like because of rona, his thoughts on corporations embracing black culture out of convenience, and ways black men can show up for Black women. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/blacknuancedpod/support

During the early part of quarantine in 2020, Carl Seaton sat down for my new video series, Black + Nuanced in HD, an extension of my podcast, Black + Nuanced.*    TV director Carl Seaton is no stranger to my podcast and when the pandemic hit, we all had to reimagine what content creation looked like as a whole. When we spoke a few months ago, Hollywood was trying to adjust to a "new normal" that had no blueprint. Having worked in TV production for several years, being on set alone could be a cesspool if safety measures weren't implemented properly. Yet in May/June, we were far from seeing any of that come to fruition. Having directed various TV shows like CW's Supergirl and FX's Snowfall, Carl was in the middle of working on an episode when production shut down. Fast forward, Hollywood's still navigating a new space. Carl and I discuss what the TV and film industry will look like post-Covid, how he's managing his wellbeing, and the music era he romanticizes the most. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/blacknuancedpod/support

*During the early part of quarantine, DJ Poizon Ivy sat down for my new video series, Black + Nuanced in HD, an extension of my podcast, Black + Nuanced.*    Poizon Ivy is more than what meets the eye and is definitely more than a DJ. A sound strategist for the Dallas Mavericks on a short list of women that have DJ'd for an NBA team,  she and I discuss the pressure to succeed growing up in an immigrant family like myself, navigating her career journey of firsts, and self care during rona. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/blacknuancedpod/support

*During the early part of quarantine in 2020, Jordan sat down for my new video series, Black + Nuanced in HD, an extension of my podcast, Black + Nuanced.*    I met Jordan during my time at VH1 and Nickelodeon. A renaissance man in his own right, Jordan's story to working as Nick Cannon's director of photography is not for the faint of heart. He and I chopped it up working with Nick, the Dr. Sebi documentary, and his traumatic experience meeting the cops told through his Bedtime Stories clips on Instagram. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/blacknuancedpod/support

*During the early part of quarantine in 2020, DJ Domo sat down for my new video series, Black + Nuanced in HD, an extension of my podcast, Black + Nuanced.*    DJ Domo puts on for the DMV area but her journey hasn't always been easy. We met during Power Rising Conference in 2018. Having been featured on her Women in Radio panel in DC for her company, Girlaaa World, it was only right to follow up with her. We waxed poetic about her story to DJ'ing, the opportunity that led her to curate the DMV playlist for Apple Music, #DontMuteDC​ campaign, and elevating others through Girlaaa World and other things. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/blacknuancedpod/support

Black women are often forced or expected to self-sacrifice usually to our detriment. It sometimes shows up in motherhood, our careers, and our personal lives. Add a pandemic to the mix and it becomes an entirely different beast.   My next guest is someone who did as she pleased and lived life as she saw fit. When she became a mother, her instinctual nature to protect and provide naturally changed the course of her path but in a transformative way that she didn't expect. Jasmine of the brand Momdrogynous, waxes poetic about the inspiration behind the brand's name, having a natural childbirth, and how she found healing in creating a platform to hold space for other single mothers to feel safe. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/blacknuancedpod/support