We are living through a time where corruption has become policy, and cruelty a form of governance. Across this country, we are watching the architecture of democracy bend toward authoritarianism — and it’s happening in plain sight. Day after day, the right is testing how far it can go in criminalizing protest, erasing history, and punishing poor and Black people for simply existing.
These are not isolated crises; they are coordinated rehearsals for something bigger. And what makes this moment so dangerous goes beyond the violence of the other side. There’s also our own fatigue, and the temptation of many to believe this is normal, or, alternatively, that inevitably “normal” will win out. But the only way out of this is claiming power. Not partisan power, but people power. Black power. Organizing power.
For the past two decades, I’ve worked both behind the scenes and out front of movements, campaigns, and media battles—helping shift power where it needs shifting. I’ve spent my life connecting the dots between policy, culture, and economic pressure, and my time as a leader pushing institutions to deliver on promises, and helping communities turn visibility into real leverage.
My work lives at the intersection of ideas and action—where narrative meets power. Over the years, I’ve advised changemakers, artists, organizers, and funders on how to win not just attention but rules, resources, and accountability.
Now, I’m creating new spaces and opportunities for strategy and action, including an advisory that helps movement leaders, philanthropists, and businesses take on the challenges we face as opponents to progress, justice, and equity beat us every day in a lopsided media ecosystem. In 2026, my book From Presence to Power will be released by One World at Penguin Random House; it’s a guide with essential lessons from the frontlines of social change.
In this space, I’ll share what I’m seeing, thinking, and learning in real time – with people like you who are ready to learn, engage, and act. Freedom Talks is a new monthly conversation I’m hosting with NewsOne. I am proud to partner with this legendary Black-owned platform, rooted in telling our stories and engaging the culture. Each month, I’ll bring on guests—organizers, journalists, business leaders, strategists, and culture-makers—who are doing more than just describing the moment. They’re changing it. I’m also not pretending this is neutral. We are choosing sides: for a multiracial democracy where Black people live full, free lives—and against those that profit when we suffer. We can’t be naïve about the forces arrayed against us or the resources they command. But we have something on our side too: relationships, creativity, a deep bench of leaders, the daily practice of making a way out of no way, and a belief that better is possible.
When people ask what I do, I usually say I help build winning strategies. That doesn’t mean I always win—how could that be possible, given the current challenges facing Black people and so many others who’ve been targeted, exploited, and excluded? But I’ve won a lot along the way and committed myself to learning through the losses and the wins. My commitment is to bring that to the table.
A show for builders, not bystanders
Each 30-minute episode will be focused and practical. We’ll work to break conversations into crisp segments so the ideas can travel across group chats, feeds, classrooms, and staff meetings.
Together, we’ll ask: Who benefits from the current setup? Where’s the leverage? What could make this profitable for the public good instead of for harm? How do we make this injustice unprofitable? And what can each of us do that adds up to real power?
You’ll hear me push for an integrated strategy: connecting policy, culture, law, economic pressure, and narrative so we aren’t fighting with one arm tied behind our backs. You’ll also hear me name the enablers (corporations, platforms, financiers) and the ways they are susceptible to pressure and accountability.
A word on freedom
“Freedom” is our North Star. Not the sentimental kind sold back to us in commercials, but the practical kind: safety in our neighborhoods without surveillance or abuse, schools that open doors rather than box students in, platforms and workplaces that don’t treat us as expendable, and rules that protect our rights even when out of the spotlight.
Freedom is both joyful and hard. It requires love and logistics, imagination and enforcement. If you hear urgency in my words, it’s because so much is being stripped away in real time. Yet the world we’re losing wasn’t working for far too many of us either. Freedom Talks is about meeting this reality head-on—replacing any nostalgia with a focus on the future.
Beyond the show
I’ll also publish written pieces on NewsOne that analyze timely topics and connect them to action.
You can also expect occasional 2–3-minute explainer videos that break down some of this thinking. Together, these tools will hopefully help people understand how to leverage power more clearly and act more strategically.
If you follow my new newsletter, How We Win, you know my commitment to breaking down complicated issues. In my recent post, “We’re at the Beginning, Not the End,” I wrote about how right-wing forces are consolidating power and how we can interrupt that by shifting incentives and building durable infrastructure. Another issue, called “Who Controls What We See and Why It Matters,” explored how media and tech consolidation shape public life and why we need narrative infrastructure that belongs to us. Those are the same muscles I want to strengthen here—helping our people connect dots between systems, actors, and opportunity while bringing some joy and levity along the way.
What you can do
Freedom is a team sport. If you’re a creator, think about what your craft can do in the next 12 weeks to lift a story or pressure a decision-maker. If you’re in business, ask what would make doing the right thing the profitable thing—and help build the coalition to deliver that incentive. If you’re in philanthropy, fund the connective tissue: the measurement, enforcement, and cultural infrastructure that lasts beyond a cycle. If you’re a voter or viewer, share what moves you, support the organizers who keep receipts, and stay engaged.
And if you disagree with something you hear on Freedom Talks, push back.
Join the conversation
This series is an invitation into deeper analysis, a broader we, and a future where freedom isn’t a slogan but a system. Each month, we’ll bring you voices building that system in real time. We’ll map obstacles and opportunities, name the rules as they are, and prototype the ones we need.
Watch Freedom Talks on NewsOne, read the monthly op-eds, and subscribe to How We Win for ongoing strategy and updates. Follow along, share what resonates, and stay connected as we chart the path ahead.
Let’s talk strategy. Let’s talk freedom.
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