I asked my friend, my mentor, my 'big brother' Fred to humor me in 2020, by allowing me to have him on my podcast. I affectionately called him "Boss", and per usual, he was willing and excited to encourage my creative, storytelling nonsense. He knew this would go live online. A few months before he died I mentioned that I still hadn't edited the ep…

JUST SAY IT – S01 E23 - Esther Pearl, PIXAR Studios, and reel-stories.com *FINAL EPISODE OF SEASON ONE * Esther Pearl is the founder and Executive Director of Reel Stories. She received her Bachelor’s in Visual Arts from the University of California, San Diego and her M.B.A. in Sustainable Management from The Presidio Graduate School. She spent 15 …

JUST SAY IT – S01 E22 - Rene Howitt & COPE24, Changing Our Parenting Experience Rene Howitt is the founder of a non-profit child advocacy organization COPE24…Changing Our Parenting Experience. She is also an appointed member of Missouri’s Task Force on Children’s Justice and the Critical Event Review committees. She has authored two books: Whose Be…

JUST SAY IT – S01 E21 - Troy Williams and the film "The Prison Within" *Trigger Warning - difficult topics discussed* *EXPLICIT LANGUAGE* JUST SAY IT podcast with host and author, Jen SluMac: Seeking Beloved Community through stories, conversations and questions. Learn more at her website. Interview Recorded: August 24, 2020 Troy Williams was relea…

JUST SAY IT – S01 E20 - Charlie - She escaped a forced marriage. Survivor, Sister & Artist *Trigger Warning - difficult topics discussed* *EXPLICIT LANGUAGE* JUST SAY IT podcast with host and author, Jen SluMac: Seeking Beloved Community through stories, conversations and questions. Learn more at her website. Interview Recorded: September 28, 2020 …

JUST SAY IT – S01 E19 - Michelle Ashe, 42 year old African American Woman *Trigger Warning - difficult topics discussed* *EXPLICIT LANGUAGE* JUST SAY IT podcast with host and author, Jen SluMac: Seeking Beloved Community through stories, conversations and questions. Learn more at her website. Interview Recorded: June 16, 2020 Michelle Ashe "I am a …

JUST SAY IT – S01 E18 - Ginny Berson, Activist, Olivia Records & Racial Justice JUST SAY IT podcast with host and author, Jen SluMac: Seeking Beloved Community through stories, conversations and questions. Learn more at her website. Interview Recorded: June 6, 2020 Ginny Z Berson has been a social justice activist her whole life, and is thrilled to…

JUST SAY IT – S01 E17 - Diatra Simpson, Chains are Meant to be Broken JUST SAY IT podcast with host and author, Jen SluMac: Seeking Beloved Community through stories, conversations and questions. Learn more at her website. About Diatra: Diatra is the founder of DLS Inspirations, LLC and author of the all inspiring book Chains Are Meant To Be Broken…

JUST SAY IT – S01 E16 - Kim Boardman, Educating our Youth JUST SAY IT podcast with host and author, Jen SluMac: Seeking Beloved Community through stories, conversations and questions. Learn more at her website. Kim says: After 32 years as a middle school science teacher, I have a few thoughts, opinions and ideas about the job and how teachers and s…

JUST SAY IT - S01 E15 - Charles Ryan, Reentry Mentor & More JUST SAY IT podcast with host and author, Jen SluMac: Seeking Beloved Community through stories, conversations and questions. Learn more at her website. This conversation took place around 2018. I met Charles through work we were both doing at a company called Five Keys Charter Schools. We…

S01 E14 - JUST SAY IT - Jon Slusser, A Creative and Resourceful Dad My brothers are amazing people. I have three, this is one of the two younger ones, Jonathan. He grew up in the same world that I did and I admire who Jon is as a man, a husband, a daddy. My brother has a creative spirit and a tender heart like I do, we were buddies when we were lit…

JUST SAY IT - S01 E12 - Leo Mercer, Mercer Brotherhood, Part II JUST SAY IT podcast with host and author, Jen SluMac: Seeking Beloved Community through stories, conversations and questions. Learn more at her website. This is part two of a 5 part series talking with a man named Leo Mercer. He was born and raised in Oakland CA and we met each other i…

JUST SAY IT S01 E11 - Leo Mercer, Mercer Brotherhood, Part I from the website: http://www.mercerbrotherhood.org/about/ Hello beautiful souls. my name is Leo Mercer and music is my passion. Understanding that music alone will not liberate us nor pay the bills, I incorporate it into most aspects of my life. This has been quite the decade (2010-2019).…

JUST SAY IT - S01 E10 - Excerpt from Jen's Book: "soulnotskin" How our lives collide - a reflection. I believe in the power of story to connect us. There are no hard or fast lines separating us. What affects one of us affects all of us, just in different ways. I want to share a story of a teacher who played a big role in my life, when I was a mere …

JUST SAY IT - S01 E09 - Hector James, Reentry Faith Initiative, part III This conversation took place in 2018 and is still relevant today. Hector is a family man, a servant of his faith and lives a life of ministry. I was fortunate to work with him for just over a year and we had amazing conversations about faith and people on the margins. Hector a…

JUST SAY IT - S01 E08 - Hector James, Re-entry Faith Initiative, Part II This conversation took place in 2018 and is still relevant today. Hector is a family man, a servant of his faith and lives a life of ministry. I was fortunate to work with him for just over a year and we had amazing conversations about faith and people on the margins. Hector a…

JUST SAY IT - Hector James, Re-entry Faith Initiative, Part I S01 E07 This conversation took place in 2018 and is still relevant today. Hector is a family man, a servant of his faith and lives a life of ministry. I was fortunate to work with him for just over a year and we had amazing conversations about faith and people on the margins. Hector also…

JUST SAY IT - S01 E06 - My old buddy Mike, Part II This interview took place in 2018. This is Mike Van Vliet. He hails from the Chicago area and he's an artist, procrastinator, recovering alcoholic and he's a pretty grateful guy. I did comedy with him fifteen years ago and we've both come a long way. Mike Van Vliet: https://www.instagram.com/Maui_a…

JUST SAY IT - S01 E05 - Mike Van Vliet, My old buddy Mike, Part I This interview took place in 2018. This is Mike Van Vliet. He hails from the Chicago area and he's an artist, procrastinator, recovering alcoholic and he's a pretty grateful guy. I did comedy with him fifteen years ago and we've both come a long way. Mike Van Vliet: https://www.insta…

JUST SAY IT - S01 E04 - DD & Jen, Depression & Suicide - Part II This is part two of a two part episode dealing with depression and suicide. The conversation took place in July 2018, and DeeDee and I had both recently lost someone to suicide. Ms. Jen - https://www.soulnotskin.com DD - https://www.facebook.com/denese.colquitt Support the show…

JUST SAY IT - S01 E03 - DD & Jen, Depression & Suicide - Part I This is part one of a two part episode dealing with depression and suicide. The conversation took place in July 2018, and DeeDee and I had both recently lost someone to suicide. Ms. Jen - https://www.soulnotskin.com DD - https://www.facebook.com/denese.colquitt Support the show…

JUST SAY IT S01 E02 - Wifey and I talk skiing My wife and I are trying out the new Yeti podcasting microphone she got me for Christmas in 2017. We're about to go on a ski trip and we're very excited. What we didn't know yet was that she would get sick and we would spend the weekend in the cabin while others did. Hero ME managed to get a refund thou…

JUST SAY IT - S01 E01 - First show! Starting something fun. Storytelling, conversations and questions. I've wanted to establish a podcast for years but have not seen it through because I have a day job and can't decide what I want to do the podcast on. My buddy Vince told me that if I had 40% of an idea for the podcast, I should just begin and the …