Multiracial Family Man

Ep. 250: This is the final episode.  And, we just want to say thank you so very much to all the listeners!  You've been fantastic, and we hope you've enjoyed the podcast. We wish you all the best! For more on host, Alex Barnett, please check out his website: www.alexbarnettcomic.com or visit him on Facebook (www.facebook.com/alexbarnettcomic) or on Twitter at @barnettcomic To subscribe to the Multiracial Family Man, please click here: MULTIRACIAL FAMILY MAN PODCAST Huge shout out to our "Super-Duper Supporters" Elizabeth A. Atkins and Catherine Atkins Greenspan of Two Sisters Writing and Publishing  Intro and Outro Music is Funkorama by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons - By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/  

Ep. 249: J-L Cauvin is a former criminal prosecutor-turned-comedian.  He also is a Multiracial man with Irish and Haitian roots.  As a result, he has a keen eye for race, racial dynamics, and racism in the criminal justice system, in the entertainment world, and in life.  Also, after almost two decades as a comic, J-L has keen insights into the changing economics of the comedy and entertainment business. J-L has been featured on The Late Late Show, NESN Comedy All Stars, Comics Unleashed, ESPN’s The Dan Lebatard Show and is a regular on The Adam Carolla Show. And, he travels the country performing in America’s most prestigious (and non-prestigious) comedy clubs. He has made a name for himself within comedy for his blog which offers a one-of-a-kind insider honesty about the business and his sketch/impression videos.  J-L’s act is incredibly diverse and has led to five stand up albums: 2006′s Racial Chameleon, 2008′s Diamond Maker, 2012′s Too Big To Fail and 2013′s Keep My Enemies Closer, and 2016’s Israeli Tor

Ep. 248: Tori Eldridge is a Honolulu-born writer who challenges perspective and empowers the spirit. Her debut novel, The Ninja Daughter, is the first book in the Lily Wong series and was inspired by her debut short story featured in Suspense Magazine’s Best of 2014. Other short stories have been published in several anthologies, and her screenplay The Gift earned a semi-finalist place for the prestigious Academy Nicholl Fellowship. Tori is of Hawaiian, Chinese, Norwegian descent and graduated from Punahou School with classmate Barack Obama. She holds a fifth-degree black belt in To-Shin Do Ninjutsu and has traveled the USA teaching seminars on the ninja arts, weapons, and women’s self-protection. Tori has performed under her maiden name (Tori Brenno) as an actress, singer, dancer on Broadway, television, and film. The cultural diversity in Tori’s upcoming novel, The Ninja Daughter, stems from her own multi-cultural heritage—a Norwegian father from North Dakota and a Chinese-Hawaiian mother from Maui who met,

Ep. 247: In this episode, we revisit our conversation with Professor Sarah Gaither. Professor Gaither is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University.  She obtained a M.S. and Ph.D in Social Psychology from Tufts University in 2014, and prior to attending Tufts, she received her B.A. in Social Welfare with a concentration in Psychology in addition to a minor in Spanish Language and Literature from the University of California, Berkeley in May 2007. She was a Provost's Postdoctoral Scholar in the Psychology Department at The University of Chicago for two years before beginning at Duke. Her main research interests are: mixed-race identity flexibility, multiracial perceptions, interracial interactions and intergroup contact, and the use of stereotypes and prejudice among children and young adults. Listen to her speak with Alex about her own multiracial heritage and how she's used her own experiences to inform her work. For more on host, Alex Barnett, please check ou

Ep. 246: On this episode, we revisit our conversation with Keesha Beckford. Keesha Beckford is a former dancer, who turned to writing as her creative outlet when she became a mom.  It has turned into a successful second career as the creator and writer behind Mom's New Stage, a blog about Keesha's own multiracial family, featuring herself (an African-American woman), her husband (a White man), and their two terrific kids (a biracial boy and girl who are starting to experience and understand the complex issues of race and racism).  Check it out here: http://www.momsnewstage.com/p/about.html Listen, as Keesha describes her journey from Queen, New York to Princeton University to dance as a profession to becoming a mom and the journey that took her and her family from New York to Charlotte, North Carolina, to Chicago, where they are now the Obamas' neighbors.  For more on host, Alex Barnett, please check out his website: www.alexbarnettcomic.com or visit him on Facebook (www.facebook.com/alexbarnettcomic) or on T

Ep. 245: James Camacho is a NYC based comedian. He performs at The Comic Strip Live, Broadway Comedy Club, New York Comedy Club, Stand Up NY, Gotham Comedy Club, Dangerfield's, and LoL Times Square Comedy Club. When not in New York City he can also be found on the road performing all over the country. James was a finalist on New York's Got Talent 2 years in a row. He was featured in the Burbank Comedy Festival, Hoboken Comedy Festival, Yonkers Comedy Festival, Finger Lakes Comedy Festival, and the first ever Stand Up NY Comedy Festival.  James has made an appearance on the Kevin James show "Kevin Can Wait" on CBS. He also just finished filming the film "The Golden Phoenix", which is currently in production. He has also been seen on Cosmopolitan.com, ESPN, ID Channel, Elite Daily, and The Wendy Williams Show. He was also in the film, “What Happened Last Night”, and in Jay-Z's music video, "I Got the Keys".   James started comedy as an English and Theater student at Rutgers University. It began as a way for him

Ep. 244: Before becoming a professional race car driver, Bill Lester spent 15 years working as a computer scientist and project manager in Silicon Valley for Hewlett-Packard. After embarking on a full-time racing career, Lester competed in NASCAR and IMSA, two of America’s most prestigious racing series. He won over $2 million in purse money, drove a total of 30,162 laps in competition, earned six podium finishes and one victory during his 10 full seasons.  In 2006, Lester became the first African American driver in 20 years to compete in NASCAR’S premier Cup Series. It would be another 11 years before another African American driver, Darrell “Bubba” Wallace, would compete again in the Cup ranks. Among Lester’s other credits are initial professional races in the SCCA Trans-Am Series and IMSA Series. In 1999, he won the CART African American Driver Development Program tryout and, as a result, successfully tested an Indy Lights car with Team Kool Green. In 2012, he completed his racing career by earning a trip

Ep. 243: In this episode, we revisit our conversation with Christelyn Karazin.  She is the author of the multiracial dating book, Swirling (http://www.amazon.com/Swirling-Relate-Mixing-Culture-Creed/dp/1451625855) and the founder/creator of the multiracial dating website: Beyond Black & White (www.beyondblackwhite.com).  She's also the creator of the Pink Pill program, which is devoted to helping Black women navigate social interactions.  Listen as Christelyn discusses the creation of Beyond Black & White and the Pink Pill as well as the growth and development of the Multiracial Community.  For more on host, Alex Barnett, please check out his website: www.alexbarnettcomic.com or visit him on Facebook (www.facebook.com/alexbarnettcomic) or on Twitter at @barnettcomic To subscribe to the Multiracial Family Man, please click here: MULTIRACIAL FAMILY MAN PODCAST Huge shout out to our "Super-Duper Supporters" Elizabeth A. Atkins and Catherine Atkins Greenspan of Two Sisters Writing and Publishing Intro a

Ep. 242: Susan Graham is the White mother of two biracial children whose father is Black.  She is also the author of Born Biracial: How One Mother Took on Race in America.  It is the true story of how she brought an invisible population to the forefront and started the multiracial movement. She started a simple advocacy group and turned it into a national civil rights movement. Along the way, her personal life was suffering. The emotional story of her marriage to a CNN News anchor, being a mother to biracial children, divorce, and remarriage are interwoven in her life’s story. This is the one story every interracial family should read. Susan is also the co-founder and Executive Director of Project RACE, which advocates for multiracial children, multiracial adults, and their families primarily through multiracial education and community awareness. It does not advocate for racial classifications, but is committed to the appropriate inclusion of multiracial people on any forms that require racial identification

Ep. 241: Natasha Díaz is a born and raised New Yorker, currently residing in Brooklyn, NY.   She is both an author and screenwriter. Her scripts have placed as a quarterfinalist in the Austin Film Festival and a finalist for both the NALIP Diverse Women in Media Fellowship and the Sundance Episodic Story Lab. Her essays can be found in The Establishment and Huffington Post. Her first novel, Color Me In, was published by Delacorte Press/Random House in August, 20 2019. For more on Natasha, please visit her website at: http://natashaerikadiaz.com/ For more on host, Alex Barnett, please check out his website: www.alexbarnettcomic.com or visit him on Facebook (www.facebook.com/alexbarnettcomic) or on Twitter at @barnettcomic To subscribe to the Multiracial Family Man, please click here: MULTIRACIAL FAMILY MAN PODCAST Huge shout out to our "Super-Duper Supporters" Elizabeth A. Atkins and Catherine Atkins Greenspan of Two Sisters Writing and Publishing Intro and Outro Music is Funkorama by Kevin MacLeod (incompete

Ep. 240: Staceyann Chin is a multiracial (Black and Chinese) Jamaican who immigrated to the United States in the 1990s.  She has been an “out poet and political activist” since 1998. She has performed at the Nuyorican Poets' Cafe, in one-woman shows Off-Broadway, acted in Julie Taymor’s Across the Universe, and performed in both the stage and film versions of Howard Zinn’s Voices of a People's History of the United States and starred in the Tony nominated, Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam on Broadway. For more on host, Alex Barnett, please check out his website: www.alexbarnettcomic.com or visit him on Facebook (www.facebook.com/alexbarnettcomic) or on Twitter at @barnettcomic To subscribe to the Multiracial Family Man, please click here: MULTIRACIAL FAMILY MAN PODCAST Huge shout out to our "Super-Duper Supporters" Elizabeth A. Atkins and Catherine Atkins Greenspan of Two Sisters Writing and Publishing Intro and Outro Music is Funkorama by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons - By At

Ep. 239: Ritu Chandra is a stand-up comedian. The daughter of Indian immigrants, she left home at 18 and has lived all over the United States since then. Never feeling like she fit in anywhere, she quickly realized humor was a way to get along with others.​​  Ritu currently lives in New Jersey with her husband, son and dog. She loves all three of them but never at the same time—someone is always in first place, usually the dog.  Her comedy is based on her life experiences, which continue to grow stranger by the day.  Ritu brings her sarcastic observations and relatable humor to such topics as motherhood, marriage, aging, suburban life and much more.  Ritu has been seen on NBC's The Today Show and heard on Compound Media's Burning Bridges and the Mornin!!! show.  She performs regularly at Stand Up NY (New York City), Gotham Comedy Club (New York City) and Stress Factory (New Brunswick, NJ).  She has also performed in at The Laugh Factory (Chicago, IL), The Set Up (San Francisco, CA) and Bonkerz Comedy Club (Ma

Ep. 238: The original Obama, FAITH ADIELE is the author of The Nigerian-Nordic Girl’s Guide To Lady Problems and Meeting Faith: The Thai Forest of a Black Buddhist Nun, which won the PEN Open Book Award. She is also writer/narrator/subject of My Journey Home, a PBS documentary film about growing up Nordic-American and then traveling to Nigeria as an adult, co-editor of the international anthology Coming of Age Around the World, and senior editor at Panorama: The Journal of Intelligent Travel. Named as one of Marie Claire’s “5 Women to Learn From” and educated at Harvard University, the Iowa Nonfiction Writing Program and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Adiele is Associate Professor of Creative Nonfiction at California College of the Arts and Stonecoast Low-Residency MFA Program faculty. A member of San Francisco Writers’ Grotto and The Ruby, she lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, runs African Book Club, and lectures around the world. She is completing Twins, an epic family memoir completing the story begun in t

Ep. 237: Jill Barletti is a multicultural mom, who founded Snowflake Stories, a series of personalized books dedicated to addressing the realities and needs of children within multiracial and multicultural families. Listen as Jill describes how she became bilingual in Spanish, building her own multicultural family and how and why she founded Snowflake Stories. For more on Jill and Snowflake Stories, please check the website: https://www.snowflakestories.com/ For more on host, Alex Barnett, please check out his website: www.alexbarnettcomic.com or visit him on Facebook (www.facebook.com/alexbarnettcomic) or on Twitter at @barnettcomic To subscribe to the Multiracial Family Man, please click here: MULTIRACIAL FAMILY MAN PODCAST Huge shout out to our "Super-Duper Supporters" Elizabeth A. Atkins and Catherine Atkins Greenspan of Two Sisters Writing and Publishing Intro and Outro Music is Funkorama by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons - By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/l

Ep. 236: Writer, performer and designer Deborah Gregory is the award-winning author of “The Cheetah Girls” novel series (Disney Publishing Worldwide). The 22-book series (16 books written by Deborah Gregory plus 6 movie tie-in books including “The Cheetah Girls Supa Star Scrapbook,” “Cheetah Girls 2 X0X0 Postcard Book” and “Cheetah Girls Cheetah Chatter: A Dictionary of Growl-licious Lingo”) is about five talented teens who form a singing group and make their dreams come true in the jiggy jungle. The Disney Channel original movie produced in conjunction with Whitney Houston, “The Cheetah Girls” –based on the book series–airs this summer and stars Raven Symone, Adrienne and Kiely from 3LW as well as Lynn Whitfield. Deborah Gregory serves as a co-producer on the film project. The soundtrack album will be available on Disney’s Hollywood Records. In 2001, the series was chosen at the Blackboard Children’s Book of the Year. Gregory is also an NABJ award-winning contributing writer for ESSENCE magazine since 1992.

Ep. 235: Rorri Geller-Mohamed created U Power Change for families who are navigating some super challenging stuff.  She used her professional background as a therapist to develop U Power Change but raising a multiracial family is also very personal to her. Having grown up in a multiracial family that was formed through adoption when her Mexican-American brother joined her family and now as a white mom raising children in a multiracial, multicultural, and multifaith family, after marrying her husband who is Guyanese, she is extremely passionate about helping our children to feel supported in their identity and thrive. Professionally, she's been doing this work for over 15 years with youth, parents, and families in a variety of school, community, and clinical settings. For her, it always goes beyond just working with families, as she sees it as a necessity to advocate for racial and social justice often by working with leadership and organizations to create systemic change.  Her dream is that the next generatio

Ep. 234: Dr. Rainier Spencer is a leading scholar of critical mixed-race theory. He has authored three books (Reproducing Race: The Paradox of Generation Mix, Lynne Rienner, 2011; Challenging Multiracial Identity, Lynne Rienner, 2006; and Spurious Issues: Race and Multiracial Identity Politics in the United States, Westview, 1999), as well as numerous anthology chapters in this field of study. He has been interviewed by and has provided commentary for the New York Times, has appeared on both American and Canadian television to discuss mixed-race identity, and is a featured speaker in the documentary film Multiracial Identity (Abacus Productions, 2010). He is the founder and director of the Afro-American Studies Program at UNLV. Dr. Spencer’s interdisciplinary teaching interests include Afro-American history and popular culture, American slavery, philosophies of racism and racial intolerance, Afro-American literature, and mixed-race identity. For more on Dr. Spencer, please see: https://www.unlv.edu/people/rai

Ep. 233: Susan Graham is the White mother of two biracial children whose father is Black.  She is also the author of Born Biracial: How One Mother Took on Race in America.  It is the true story of how she brought an invisible population to the forefront and started the multiracial movement. She started a simple advocacy group and turned it into a national civil rights movement. Along the way, her personal life was suffering. The emotional story of her marriage to a CNN News anchor, being a mother to biracial children, divorce, and remarriage are interwoven in her life’s story. This is the one story every interracial family should read. Susan is also the co-founder and Executive Director of Project RACE, which advocates for multiracial children, multiracial adults, and their families primarily through multiracial education and community awareness. It does not advocate for racial classifications, but is committed to the appropriate inclusion of multiracial people on any forms that require racial identification

Ep. 232: Tanya Katerí Hernández, is the Archibald R. Murray Professor of Law at Fordham University School of Law, where she teaches Anti-Discrimination Law, Comparative Employment Discrimination, Critical Race Theory, The Science of Implicit Bias and the Law: New Pathways to Social Justice, and Trusts & Wills. She received her A.B. from Brown University, and her J.D. from Yale Law School, where she served as Note Topics Editor of the Yale Law Journal.  Professor Hernández, is an internationally recognized comparative race law expert and Fulbright Scholar who has visited at the Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense, in Paris and the University of the West Indies Law School, in Trinidad.  She has previously served as a Law and Public Policy Affairs Fellow at Princeton University, a Faculty Fellow at the Institute for Research on Women at Rutgers University; a Faculty Fellow at the Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality, and as a Scholar in Residence at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black

  Ep. 231: Spirit Tawfiq is a self-proclaimed "Social Justice Passionista" and storyteller dedicated to serving as a bridge between the Civil Rights Movement and the powerful freedom train engineered by the courageous and passionate young people of today. Spirit was born and raised in Canada and moved to the U.S. after high school. Her father is white and mother is black. They met in college in Illinois in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and left the U.S. in opposition to the Vietnam War.  Growing up in Canada, Spirit was unaware that her own mother Minnijean Brown Trickey was one of the Little Rock Nine who desegregated Little Rock Central High School in 1957 in the U.S.  Upon learning her mother's story, she became invigorated and dedicated to keep this powerful story alive and serve as an intergenerational bridge between the Civil Rights Movement and courageous young people today.  She recently launched her own podcast, Roots of the Spirit - a platform to have honest conversations about ident