Latest Janessacoxirvin Podcast Episodes
Overcoming Adversity: Michael Oher’s Life and Mission
Changing the Trajectory - June 01, 2023 04:00 - 17 minutesThe rumors are true: Super Bowl Champion and subject of the Oscar-winning film "The Blind Side," Michael Oher, wore the same white t-shirt to school every day of his 8th-grade year. Today, Michael's childhood spent overcoming the effects of extreme poverty and homelessness keeps his purpose clea...
Why Impact Investing is a Critical Win-Win
Changing the Trajectory - May 04, 2023 04:00 - 38 minutesWhy are market failures an optimal use of capitalism to inspire innovation? Priya Parrish, partner and CIO of Impact Engine, a women-owned venture capital and private equity firm, joins James and Maci to discuss the importance of impact investing and the significance of the rewards society gains...
Gregory Robinson’s Mastery of the Balance Between Science and Art
Changing the Trajectory - April 06, 2023 04:00 - 29 minutesSometimes it is rocket science. In 2018, decades into his 33-year career at NASA, Gregory Robinson was asked to lead the James Webb Space Telescope Program to get it over the goal line. Gregory's rise from sharecropper parents in Virginia to segregated schooling in the 1960s to becoming the Webb...
A National Champion for Women Entrepreneurs
Changing the Trajectory - March 02, 2023 05:00 - 32 minutesNatalie Madeira Cofield is a Fortune 500 Small Business Advisor, an award-winning entrepreneur, a women’s empowerment advocate, a philanthropist, and a national changemaker. In 2021, Natalie was appointed Assistant Administrator for the Office of Women’s Business Ownership, making history as the...
Waikinya Clanton’s Mississippi: The Land of Opportunity
Changing the Trajectory - February 02, 2023 05:00 - 34 minutes“What are you really moving and shaking if you can’t move and shake for your own home?” Waikinya Clanton, Executive Director of Mississippi’s Southern Poverty Law Center, poses this as she discusses her move away from a national rise in politics in DC to her choice to return home to Mississippi ...
School is in Session with Professor Kezia Williams
Changing the Trajectory - January 12, 2023 05:00 - 36 minutesKezia Williams is an author, entrepreneur, and the CEO of The Black upStart—an organization that has trained nearly 500 Black entrepreneurs to become job creators and asset owners. How can we establish patterns of profit generation and wealth acquisition? Kezia’s culturally relevant Black wealth...
Changing the Trajectory: Best of 2022
Changing the Trajectory - December 13, 2022 05:00 - 30 minutesToday we're featuring our best of 2022 highlight reel! Listen for passionate takeaways and calls to action from the legendary "Olivia Pope of Silicon Valley," Jotaka Eaddy, and acclaimed CNN anchor Zain Asher. Brandon Andrews—entrepreneur and leader of a nationwide casting tour for Shark Tank—sh...
Actively Black Is Not Just an Apparel Brand, It’s a Movement
Changing the Trajectory - November 08, 2022 05:00 - 33 minutes“There’s nothing passive about it,” says trailblazing entrepreneur Lanny Smith of his premium athleisure brand, Actively Black. Since its inception in 2020, this mission-based brand has operated with the clear intention of reinvesting back into the Black community by advocating for social justic...
Creating a Digital Empire for Good
Changing the Trajectory - October 11, 2022 04:00 - 19 minutesMedia mogul Anu Bhardwaj is reaching millions of women in emerging markets with her new app, Sheqonomi. Will digital wallets put 2 billion women on the board? Sheqonomi centers women in emerging markets as a platform designed for women globally to listen, learn and earn. A fierce founder and a g...
The Lower East Side Girls Club of NY: A "Dream Incubator”
Changing the Trajectory - September 13, 2022 04:00 - 30 minutes“Who runs the world? Girls!” Beyonce knows it, and so does the Lower East Side Girls Club. Today James and Maci speak with co-executive director Ebonie Simpson about her disruptive non-profit connecting young women of color in New York City to bright futures. How? Through free, year-round, innov...
In Our Communities: Activating a Local Shark Tank Effect
Changing the Trajectory - August 09, 2022 04:00 - 35 minutesHow can we create a Shark Tank effect within our local communities? Entrepreneur, investor, and leader of a nationwide casting tour for ABC's Shark Tank, Brandon Andrews, joins us with concrete answers. Brandon inspires people of color to believe in their ability to start and grow a business, ha...
Uniting to Support the Quest to Amplify Diverse Voices
Changing the Trajectory - July 12, 2022 04:00 - 36 minutesHow do we democratize who can support BIPOC plays and creatives? Venture capitalist and founder of Wocstar Fund and the Wocstar Foundation, Gayle Jennings O’Byrne, joins acclaimed producer and CEO of SimonSays Entertainment, Ron Simons, to discuss key answers. Learn how the Wocstar Foundation em...
Percy Miller: A Master (P) Class in Legacy
Changing the Trajectory - June 14, 2022 04:00 - 24 minutesThis week on Changing the Trajectory we're sharing a conversation between our colleague, Adam Sansiveri, and the legendary Percy "Master P" Miller. Listen in as Percy Miller shares his incredible journey from the inception of No Limit Records, his rise to the top of the hip-hop scene in the '90s...
Zain Asher’s Lessons from a Quiet Hero
Changing the Trajectory - May 10, 2022 04:00 - 36 minutesPopular CNN Anchor Zain Asher pays tribute to her mother’s incredible strength and determination to raise four successful children in the shadow of tragedy. From cutting the power cord of the TV to installing a payphone in the house, this Nigerian mother went to great lengths to ensure a better ...
Brewing Success: Sashee Chandran
Changing the Trajectory - April 12, 2022 04:00 - 30 minutesHow did a bath bomb profoundly inspire Sashee Chandran? As founder and CEO of Tea Drops, Sashee's organic, bagless, dissolvable, loose-leaf tea company has disrupted an age-old industry with its creativity, quality, and convenience. Listen as Sashee talks candidly about her experience of turning...
How Arlan Hamilton Is Changing the Ecosystem One "Yes" at a Time
Changing the Trajectory - March 15, 2022 04:00 - 24 minutesArlan Hamilton is unapologetic and known for forging her own path. In 2015, puzzling over the fact that 90% of venture deals go to white men, Arlan built Backstage Capital from the ground up. Her drive was simple: to create opportunities for those, like her, with real entrepreneurial ambitions, ...
Good Trouble with Jotaka Eaddy
Changing the Trajectory - February 08, 2022 05:00 - 41 minutesAdvocate. Connector. CEO. Talk show host. These words all describe Jotaka Eaddy, whose accomplishments include helping abolish the juvenile death penalty in America and a career with the NAACP before her bold and successful move into the tech industry. This Black History Month, we celebrate Jota...
James Seth Thompson: Life and Doctrine in Concert
Changing the Trajectory - January 11, 2022 05:00 - 27 minutesJames Seth Thompson leverages his platform to help advance communities of color. Today, we’ll hear the whys behind this truth. Tune in as Maci Philitas, Changing the Trajectory’s new co-host, flips the script inviting James to dish about his passions, the evolution of the podcast, and what fuels...
Changing the Trajectory: Best of 2021
Changing the Trajectory - December 14, 2021 05:00 - 31 minutesAs 2021 comes to a close, we are sharing our best of—a roundup of inspiring conversations and practical advice from the great minds we’ve featured this year. Thought-provoking segments with activist and survivor of police brutality Leon Ford, angel investor Lorine Pendelton, and Tanya Van Court,...
Black Star Fund’s Kwame Anku and His Revolutionary Vision
Changing the Trajectory - November 16, 2021 05:00 - 37 minutesHow do we protect and multiply the transformative strides occurring in Black wealth creation today? Kwame Anku has a clear vision. Today, the CEO and Chairman of the Black Star Fund—a $12 million early-stage innovation fund—joins James and his new co-host Maci Philitas for a robust discussion. G...
Impact for Influence: Jrue and Lauren Holiday
Changing the Trajectory - October 12, 2021 04:00 - 30 minutesHe's an NBA All-Star; she's a two-time Olympic gold medalist and World Cup champion. But for Jrue and Lauren Holiday, their commitment to excellence transcends sports. Last year, they boldly pledged the remainder of Jrue's 2019-20 salary and created the JLH Impact Fund to support Black-owned bus...
How Guava Will Level the Playing Field
Changing the Trajectory - September 14, 2021 13:12 - 27 minutesDid you know that 90% of Black small businesses are sole proprietors or only have one or two employees? Today, James speaks with Kelly Ifill, founder and CEO of Guava, a full-service digital bank working to become Black Americans' financial institution of choice. Guava works to serve Black small...
Just Say No to Isolation: The Evolution of The Gentlemen’s Factory
Changing the Trajectory - August 10, 2021 04:00 - 26 minutesAfter a career in city government, Jeff Lindor wanted to use his skills to better serve his community. Resisting a soul-crushing rise through the ranks in isolation, he started The Gentlemen's Factory—a global community of Black and Brown professionals and entrepreneurs invested in each other's ...
Getting Your Affairs in Order
Changing the Trajectory - July 13, 2021 04:00 - 32 minutes"Where there's a will, there's a way." Well, not always. But, "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail” are words James and his guests today uphold. Tiffany McKenzie, Partner at Harrison & Held LLP, discusses why estate planning is a vital function of passing on generational wealth for minority gr...
A Focus on Community Capital
Changing the Trajectory - June 08, 2021 04:00 - 32 minutesWhy is Atlanta, long known as a mecca for upward mobile African-Americans, number two in America in income inequality? And as home to the second-largest number of Black-owned businesses in the country, why are their employees often not counted in census data? Today on our show, Latresa McLawhorn...
Nothing Is Stronger Than a Community Investing in Itself
Changing the Trajectory - May 11, 2021 04:00 - 37 minutesAt the intersection of HBCUs and venture capital lies HBCUvc—a nonprofit dedicated to bringing more Black and Brown investors into the venture capital ecosystem. Jaisa Minor, Head of Partnerships at HBCUvc, joins James in conversation today with HBCUvc benefactors Brantly Fulton, Lab Fund recipi...
Empowering Economic Justice Through Financial Literacy
Changing the Trajectory - April 13, 2021 04:00 - 39 minutesWhen Tanya Van Court’s 8-year-old daughter asked for a new bike and enough money to start an investment account for her 9th birthday, Tanya knew: “If I can get every child in Bed-Stuy and every child across America who looks like you to say that, I can change the world." James’s guests today wor...
Creating a Network Effect
Changing the Trajectory - March 16, 2021 04:00 - 32 minutesAngel investor Lorine Pendleton once heard a quote that so shocked her, it changed the course of her career: "Only 1% of VC dollars go to African American founders." Today Lorine is Lead Partner in Rising America, a VC fund dedicated to investing in companies with underrepresented founders. Rene...
This is Our Time: The Impact and Influence of HBCUs
Changing the Trajectory - February 23, 2021 05:00 - 44 minutesWhat do Stacy Abrams, Kamala Harris, and Raphael Warnock have in common besides a penchant for politics? They are all graduates of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)! In honor of Black History Month, James and his guests Adrienne Lance Lucas, Ronald Mason, Waymond Jackson, and ...
Legacy Through Tragedy with Leon Ford
Changing the Trajectory - January 19, 2021 05:00 - 43 minutesWhat is a power broker for change? Leon Ford will teach you. During a traffic stop in 2012, Leon was racially profiled and shot five times by Pittsburgh police, resulting in losing his ability to walk. James speaks with Leon and AB Financial Advisor Richard Murray about perseverance, community b...
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