The Booce Teaches Podcast

Season 2 continues with another of Dr. Tanya Boucicaut’s forever students, Nylan Ntabazi, a clinical researcher, scientist, and newly minted entrepreneur who offers insight into the ways science and creativity impact her life and the lives of others. She shares her leadership journey from high school to her current career as a brand ambassador, while also giving us a window into why community and mentorship have been such critical foundations to her success. This conversation feels like joy and liberation.

Season 2 opens with podcast host, one of Dr. Tanya Boucicaut's forever students, Tyshaun Brewer, a college senior, who shares how Norfolk State shaped his voice and why civic engagement, social justice, and community. Tanya and Tyshaun revisit his experience in the Courage Summer Program (youth summer theater program) and explore how mentorship and artistic expression shaped Tyshaun’s path from performance to social work and civic activism. He discusses leading on campus, organizing in the community, speaking at forums, and choosing social work so that he can serve communities while advocating for policies that support them. We sit with mentorship, purpose, and the power of the HBCU family. This conversation feels like home and a call to keep showing up for each other. *Note: Still learning about recording and editing.

This episode concludes this almost four-year journey to recording and editing the first season of the Booce Teaches Podcast. We end this season with wonder. Kait Boss, current development consultant, content strategist, and creative producer, shares her journey to the role at the time of timing in 2021 as the Director of Children’s Television. She shares her early love for English and the arts as a student. Kait recounts the poignant advice that her poetry professor offered artists after the tragedies of 9/11 and how artistry helps with sense-making during the most difficult times in human history. Through joy and wonder, Kait provides insight into how the skills she gained in school learning about video and audio editing would serve her well in her journey as an entertainment executive. As always, the conversation concludes with the Top Five with an on-brand twist—movie scores!

Recovery is a process. Tom Bannard almost immediately opens this conversation with his journey through recovery. He offers a blunt and candid view into his life as a student and later the Rams in Recovery Coordinator. He shares the impact of having too much time on one’s hands as a college student. He then chronicles how, with support, he has been able to redirect his life and support others in their recovery journeys, beginning at two nonprofits, CARITAS and the Healing (prior to their combination), and later at Virginia Commonwealth University. As always, the conversation concludes with the Top Five, with a stark difference between the 90s and early aughts and more recent (circa 2021) artists. Trigger warning: substance use discussion.

In this faith-inspiring episode, especially for theological students, Chaplain Paula Watson reflects on her Houstonian journey as a student, mother, teacher, minister, and children’s hospital chaplain. With an open book perspective, she shares the important moments in her life and the mentors who have guided her along the way. Chaplain Watson reveals how her personal experiences enable her to support others as a compassionate bridge during their own struggles. She also emphasizes the vital role her family has played in shaping her path. As always, the conversation concludes with the Top Five.

This is another theology-inspired conversation, especially for theological students, with Pastor, counselor, and soon-to-be Dr. Lucretia Mason Underdue. Pastor Mason Underdue invites us into her journey as a counselor, beginning as a teenager by being a listening ear and offering advice to her friends and loved ones. Not only does she share her complicated college story, but she also offers advice to check in with our well-being and motivation. Through laughter and joy, Pastor Mason Underdue reminisces about her love of music and even being a part of a girl group. Like the others, the conversation concludes with a Top Five journey into her love of gospel and R&B music.

This is yet another inspiring conversation, especially for theological students, with Pastor Lisa Janes, who is a painter, printmaker, librarian, and pastor. Pastor Janes reflects on the significant role her ancestors played in shaping her identity. Her academic and personal journey began in a nature-filled environment. She shares her passion for all things artistic, as well as the faith journey that led her to earn degrees in both art and theology. Through her diverse expressions of the beauty in the world, Pastor Janes offers insight into the mind of a painter. As always, the conversation concludes with the Top Five.

This episode is about a faith-filled journey, especially for theological students, to accountability and responsibility through discovery, discipline, and openness. Chef Amory James, Director of the Community Kitchen and Meals on Wheels at Feed More, shares this culinary journey that began as an alternative to the family business, funeral service. Generously, he offers a blueprint for others to follow in the culinary field by sharing this journey from being a line cook to eventually becoming the director of an entire kitchen operation. He advises listeners to seek out opportunities to serve others in their communities, set boundaries with themselves and others, and find joy in their journeys to our purpose work. As usual, the conversation ends with the Top Five R&B artists.

This is a transparent episode with Dr. Erin Burke Brown, Director of Professional Development for the Graduate School at Virginia Commonwealth University. She shares her academic journey through private school education and how she navigated that space, led by her mother’s mantra, “Education is the way out.” In this conversation, there is a confrontation or even a peeling back of Black middle-class structures and what it means to make it out of certain circumstances. There is also the shared lament that comes with being a Black woman in academia. The conversation continues, reflecting on unexpected mentorship support and paying it forward with others as Dr. Brown navigated undergraduate and graduate school as the nonprofit and higher education employment worlds. The conversation ends with a lively discussion about R&B artists.

In this illuminating episode, Dr. Corey D.B. Walker, Dean of Wake Forest University School of Divinity, Wake Forest Professor of the Humanities, and Director of the Program in African American Studies, takes us through his academic and life journey from Norfolk, VA, to North Carolina. This conversation includes topics on the fullness of Black community life, the importance of family and love, and the significance of academic and intellectual rigor in Black activism. As usual, this episode concludes with a conversation about Top Five Hip Hop artists with a slightly extended twist.

In this touching and humorous episode, Dr. Kimberly Payne, Organizational Development Manager at Old Dominion University, discusses her journey as a student, from her time at Norfolk State University trying to fit in and navigate life as an undergraduate student while coping with personal losses (trigger warning), to her professional experiences in radio and television production. She shares how mentors, including her parents and professors, guided and supported her through life's challenges. Throughout the conversation, she shares the importance of being authentic, addressing students' unique needs individually, and finding balance through hobbies and self-care. As always, we wrap up with our favorite game of Top-Five, this time focusing on favorite songs across genres and favorite moments in Hip Hop.

In this episode, Dr. Vernon Hurte, now the Senior Vice President for Student Affairs and University Life at Towson University, shares insights into his journey as an inclusive-centered higher education administrator. He provides his academic and career journey as a testament that we can all blossom and grow where we are planted. Dr. Hurte particularly talks about why he chose Bowie State over Morehouse as a high school student, taking his family into consideration. He also reflects on the influence of his grandfather's legacy, who quietly supported those in need before embarking on holiday traditions without seeking attention. Interwoven into this conversation is the importance of fit, trust, and accountability for mentees and mentors. As always, we wrap up with our favorite game of Top-Five, this time focusing on multiple genres.

In this episode, Dr. Noreen Barnes, a retired Theatre Graduate Program Director and Professor Emeritus at Virginia Commonwealth University, shares her journey of falling in love with theatre as a high school student. She also discusses the impact of her teachers and professors on her academic and professional development. Our conversation reflects on our shared love for all things theatre, creativity, and conscientious teaching, aiming to inspire students to discover their passions and make a positive impact on the world. As always, we wrap up with our favorite game of Top-Five, this time focusing on playwrights.

This episode, taped during the holiday season, has an air of hope permeates the conversation. In this episode, Reverends Megan DeWald, Director of the Institute for Youth Ministry (IYM), and Abigail Rusert, Associate Dean for Continuing Education, both at Princeton Theological Seminary, offer a breath of fresh air as they share the complexities that life brings as we navigate who we are becoming. They provided sheer openness as they unvarnished the lacquer of perfection as students and later professionals. Our conversation invites us all to walk through the challenging moments of school life, laugh as we stumble through vocational awareness, and sigh with bated breath as we reflect and wonder about the infinite possibilities of what could be. As always, we conclude with our favorite game of Top-Five.

In this episode, Professor Omiyẹmi Green brings her grounded spirit to this conversation. She reflects on her secondary and college journey as a focused and inquisitive student. She offers life-changing wisdom about self-and-purpose discovery that will remind listeners of their inner knowing. She brings flesh to the bones of curiosity through her teaching, scholarship, and artistry.  Through this conversation, she invites us to bear witness to her full-circle journey from an undergraduate student at the College of William and Mary to her tenured professor career at the College. She invites us to bring the entirety of who our ancestors were, who we are, and what we will become to each academic and life moment. Finally, like the other episodes, we conclude with our favorite game of Top-Five.

In this episode, we hear from Mrs. Lisa Hope, a proposal manager and federal contractor, who shares her journey as a non-traditional student in her 30s, who already has a family. Lisa credits her peaceful home life as a space where she could flourish and thrive as a graduate student, wife, mother, and human being. She breezed through her undergraduate studies but yearned for a more fulfilling graduate school experience. Lisa's career breakthrough happened while living in Nevada, where she worked for a federally recognized tribe as a grant writer. During her tenure, Lisa created over a dozen jobs and raised millions of dollars in grant funding. She describes that time as one of her "life-defining moments" because she truly enjoyed the work she was doing, and it was rewarding to create job opportunities. Lisa also talks about how wisdom is her superpower, and how discovering it brought about liberation. The conversation concludes with her reminiscing about a shared mentor and discussing her top five favorite movies of all time!

In this episode, we delve into the impact that high school guidance counselors can have on the dreams and aspirations of their students. Our host is joined by Andrew Blackmore, who is not only a high school guidance counselor but also a former AVID counselor! Blackmore shares his personal journey and how he learned to let go of his ego, which changed the trajectory of his life. He also talks about his educational background and how he earned his psychology and counseling degrees. As the conversation progresses, we hear about Blackmore's unique perspective on mentorship and how he's come full circle in his career, moving from being a high school guidance counselor to changing industries and then returning to the field of counseling. Finally, the episode wraps up with a fun discussion about the 90s rap scene.

In this episode, Dr. Nathaniel West, Director of the Master of Arts in Christian Education, the Director of Formation and Counseling, and an Assistant Professor of Christian Education at the Samuel Dewitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University, and the host's self-proclaimed life coach. The conversation opens with Dr. West’s declaration, that at age 17, he knew he was going to be a professor. As the conversation continues, he shares his educational journey from earning an accounting degree to earning his doctorate in counseling to becoming a professor as he interweaves the thread of writing’s importance. Their conversation ends in laughter as Dr. West and the host talk about their favorite cookout songs!

In this episode, we hear from Dr. Paula Johnson, the principal of Landstown High School in Virginia Beach, which happens to be the host's alma mater. Dr. Johnson's passion for math and education began at a young age, leading her to become a tutor for the Upward Bound program. She shares her savvy strategy for landing her first teaching position with the help of Virginia State University's Career Services. Drawing from her own experiences, she offers valuable advice on navigating the job market when starting out as a teacher and shares interview tips she received from one of her doctoral mentors. The conversation continues as Dr. Johnson shares her journey back home to Landstown after years of teaching and leadership at other schools. She discusses the routines of being an administrator and concludes on a positive note - nothing brings her more joy than supporting and witnessing her students' success. Their conversation ends with Dr. Johnson reminding the host that she's from Brooklyn, and of course, she likes Hip Hop :-)

In this episode, renowned Broadway artist/actor, director, and professor Dr. Tawyna "Dr. T" Pettiford-Wates opens the conversation with a powerful secondary school story that demonstrates her curious commitment to the inquiry process of life along with the unwavering support of her parents. She describes her purpose work as a bridge builder to connect peoples, groups, and perspectives that would not connect by any other means. For Dr. T, “being an excellent educator is an artistic practice.” Her journey to education was by way of an invitation to share her artistry with young Black girls in the Hill District, where August Wilson set his plays. In the same manner, her mentor encouraged her to pursue doctoral work where scholar and activist Angela Davis was a part of her dissertation committee. Then she follows with life-changing stories of her purpose confirmation work of racial conciliation with her theatre company, The Conciliation Project. Dr. T's love for curiosity and education has offered her the opportunity to be a professor to many all over the world, with the longest tenure at Virginia Commonwealth University as Professor of Graduate Pedagogy, Acting, and Directing. Listen to the joy and laughter between Tawyna (Dr. T) and Tanya (soon to be Dr. B) as Dr. T drops too many pearls of wisdom to count.

In this episode, the effectual truth seeker and teller, Dr. Bassard, shares sobering honesty about her journey from the mountaintop of academic high school achievements to the culture shock of undergraduate life in a state other than her home. But even that experience had respite bright spots. She delves into her professional experience as what she describes as "an accidental scholar," from a graduate student at Virginia Commonwealth University to a lecturer to a Rutgers University Ph.D. student to a professor to the current Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Rhodes College. Our conversation celebrates how truth-telling and teaching can be healing, transformative, and open doors of opportunity.   Trigger Warning: Death and police brutality mentioned

In this episode, the unwavering dreamer, Rev. Dr. Kinney, shares an introspective look and bird's eye view into his educational journey as he shares lessons from elementary school through undergraduate school to graduate schools. He delves into his professional experience from a tutor to a lecturer to a professor to the Dean of the School of Theology at Virginia Union University. Our conversation spans across topics from education to career to youth to family to music, movies, and culture. Trigger Warning: Brief mention of Black death

Welcome to the official overview of the Booce Teaches Podcast! Learn about the podcast's guests, episode structure, and impetus for creation!