As a diversity, equity, and inclusive professional and IT analyst at one of Seattle's largest retailers, Heru Tchaas Amen is actively working to create, expand, and sustain high-level director and C-suite opportunities for Black people and other people of color. With a full beard, long locks, and an Afrocentric wardrobe, Heru doesn't show up as your typical IT guy—and that's by design. "That became an asset," he tells Trae as he describes how looking differently, thinking differently, acting differently, and advocating for solutions and activations that go against the white, male norm has been ..read more

“I want people to know that they can be the spark to make change happen…” says Olushola Bolonduro, “...wherever they’re at.” Co-Founder of Pink Umbrella Society and active participant in many other local organizations, Shola chats with Trae about what it’s like to be a fresh protester and activist on the streets in a county that does not host a diverse population. As someone with a few intersecting identities themself, Shola was born of two Nigerian immigrant parents who eventually made their way to Washington state. Now living in Everett as a queer 20-something, Shola was activated by the sum ..read more

Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben ... Black Americans have long been used to market products, but until recently they've almost always been missing from positive and engaging storylines in movies and on TV. Delbert Richardson tracked this as a young man in the 1960s and 70s and as he used those ideas to guide his studies at the University of Washington, he also began collecting artifacts of Blackness from popular culture and other pockets of society. His collections have been rolled into a traveling museum called The Unspoken Truths that he uses to connect with kids, corporations, community groups, and o ..read more

From YMCA to United Way, from his own life to the lives of today's youth in Spokane, WA, Charles Williams builds and maintains youth programs and youth community with the intent of creating access to opportunities, access to success, and access to full, rich lives. His current role as a Youth Gang Intervention Project Coordinator is with NorthEast Washington Educational Service District 101. In this very intimate and raw conversation, Charles shares with Trae his own road and his own vulnerability as a Black man in this space, and we learn how true it is that those closest to the problem are c ..read more

After losing both his parents to the crack cocaine epidemic, Tacoma-native Faraji Blakeney grew up inside a foster care system that did not care for him. After three incarcerations, he was fortunate to find yoga and mindfulness inside the prison system, and it changed his life. Faraji and Trae talk about the equity work he's doing with Black Prisoners Caucus and also with Yoga is for Everyone, an organization working to bring the benefits of yoga and mindfulness to elementary aged kids in Pierce County. You can find Faraji on Instagram at @aumthegod; you may also reach out to him at truthlife_ ..read more

“I’m a Langston baby. I grew up coming in and out of that space,” says Jazmyn Scott, referring to Seattle’s historic Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute. Now, as the director of programs and partnerships for Langston, the non-profit arts org that leads programming for the larger organization, Jazmyn is continuing a life embedded in Black arts and culture and ensuring that others have that same access. Trae and Jazmyn talk about coming up in a family of radio-makers, creatives, and movement organizers and what it takes to program and produce a Black arts institute in such a way that pays ..read more

Union organizer and cannabis researcher, columnist, and consultant Cody Funderburk works to leverage the strength of many to push back on the few: the white- and male-owned structures of the cannabis industry. Cody can talk terpenes, cannabinoids, and deep cannabis research with the best of them, but this important conversation centers on current and very important movements happening in Seattle around cannabis workers. We urge all those who partake in cannabis and/or those who are watching as issues arise and become more known to visit Cody's site and learn more about their work. You should a ..read more

“It just so happens that the family business is Black liberation,” photographer and filmmaker Inye Wokoma tells Trae in EPISODE THREE of EQUITY RISING. Inye and three other Seattle artists founded Wa Na Wari in 2019, inside a Central District neighborhood home that once belonged to his grandparents. The location, and the generational history, is key to understanding what this important and imaginative arts organization is all about: “reclaiming Black cultural spaces and making a statement about the importance of Black land ownership in gentrified communities.”  Trae and Inye talk about ar ..read more

Rainier Valley Leadership Academy is a public, tuition-free, anti-racist collaborative community school in South Seattle where sixth to twelfth grade students—here they're called "scholars"—are supported on their path to college, leadership, and life. RVLA CEO, president, mother, and lifelong Central District resident Baionne Coleman talks to Trae about building big systems, regenerative fundraising, keeping that money in the community, and, truly, the future. Find out more about Rainier Valley Leadership Academy. In this week's Chime In, Dr. Maxine Mimms, a former teacher and national consult ..read more

In 1966, six all-black cavalry and infantry regiments were created by the Army Organization Act. They came to be known as Buffalo Soldiers, and director and producer DRU HOLLEY tells their story in Buffalo Soldiers of the Pacific Northwest. In this SEASON TWO OPENER, Trae talks to Dru not only about his important film, but about how he works to increase exposure, opportunities, and equity within the film industry. A native of Denver, CO, Dru graduated from the Art Institute of Colorado where he specialized in video broadcasting. He recently relocated to the Portland area, so he and Trae also ..read more