My Moment That Matters and Episode 1 of the Podcast Series I Hosted

Sometimes, I get to do some really cool things. When AT&T came to me and said they wanted me to host their four-episode podcast series this Black History Month, that was certainly in the “ok that’s cool” box.

I dropped a picture of me in the studio a couple of weeks ago but I couldn’t drop the dime then about what it was for. This was it.

AT&T 28 Days is a four-episode podcast series where I talk to two people who are committed to empowering others and positive change.

I got into the studio and interviewed Paul Brunson (matchmaker extraordinare) and Rey Ramsey (social justice entrepreneur) about what inspires them, how they’re innovators and I even made them talk about what’s on their bucket list.

In the first episode, I talk to Paul, who is basically a modern-day Hitch, and what fuels his work, tips on building a brand and business and developing personal and professional goals. Me and Paul’s conversation gets into how he keeps himself from going to bed with his smartphone too, and the answer had me stroking my chin and nodding. That dude is brilliant. Below is the first episode. Press play and listen to it!

We had a ball. This was edited down, because me and Paul kept talking and talking. He is a walking cabinet of gems, man.

I’ll be dropping the links for the other episodes on my Twitter account and Facebook as they become available. If you follow me on social media, you’ll find them. They will also be on AT&T’s 28 Days website.

Honestly, Black History Month 2016 has been hella lit. It’s like Olympics Torch lit. It started off with Google making Frederick Douglass usher it in with a majestic Dominican blowout and it hasn’t been dull since. It’s just been super Black. Hella onyx. Uber noir.

Although Black History Month is the shortest of the year and it’s like folks try to pack all the Blackness they can stand into it, for me, it’s really about highlighting moments that matter for us. We need to do it throughout the year, but this month? Well, you ain’t got no excuse. It’s the Valentine’s Day of Blackness. You know, like if you don’t celebrate your partner any other day of the year, come February 14, you better show up with some sweet stuff or you’re failing at love.

This has been a super Black February, though. Maybe it’s because it’s the last one with our first Black President. The countdown to the Obamas leaving the office has begun and I’ve already started my mourning. AT&T has asked me to share one of my “Moments that Matter” and election night 2008 was certainly one. As a Chicago girl, it meant even more to have a hometown hero ascent to the POTUS chair. I think back to that night and how hopeful we all were for change, and how excited we were about the possibility.

The man who was running the country looked like my uncle and his wife reminded me of my mom. His kids looked like me. My President was Black and that felt so freaking good.

I WANT THIS NIGHT BACK!

These 8 years have flown by, and I will cry once President Barack Hussein Obama struts out of office and out of the White House. When Michelle Lavaughn Robinson Obama, Malia Ann Obama and Natasha Obama leave the most powerful domicile in this country, I will hit a powerful *wall slide* in the name of loss.

I hold on to the feeling of jubilance when it was announced that Obama was elected President. I remember the pride I felt as he swore on that Bible in the freezing January day in 2009. And how I exhaled in relief when he was re-elected in 2012. I am not ready to let that go. But we will have to, so this last BHM with the Obamas as our First Family HAS to be as Black as it can be.

Anywho, there’s a big giveaway happening now on AT&T’s TheBridge side. Share your Moments that Matter, using the hashtag #ATT28Days, for a chance to win a prize pack of Samsung products. Full rules are HERE. Go see, and win some gadgets!

Shoutout to AT&T for tapping on me to do this, and for letting me live out my MC Lyte voiceover and hosting dreams. I was compensated for this post BUT as always, all opinions, side-eyes and exclamation points are mine.