Densil Porteous Invests in Community

On the season two finale, producer, composer, and director, Teddy Walton, takes us behind the scenes of his unique audio-visual experience, Free Machine, which debuted in Ep4S2 of Your Attention Please. Conceived over months of ideation and creative meditation, yet filmed over only a few days, Free Machine is a collaborative vision that centers around themes of ownership, destiny and family. Teddy shares the personal meaning of these themes with Kimberly, and breaks down how they inform his work. He also sheds light on how this mindset has led to epic collaborations with artists such as Kendrick Lamar, Bryson Tiller, Kid Cudi, and Hulu, working with Brandon Drew Jordan Pierce, a.k.a. Beedy and his creative team to change the landscape of how visionaries reach their audiences.For transcriptions, please visit pineapple.fm/your-attention-please.

What do historical Black figures and comics have in common? Everything, according to comic creator and advertising CCO Jimmy Smith. Kimberly and Jimmy sit down to talk about art, social justice, and opening doors others have shut. Jimmy opened his own door by writing The Truth, a comic book that tells the story of a reimagined superhero fighting against the most colossal and controversial of American enemies: bigotry. Originally published in the 1990s, Jimmy’s comic contains events that parallel those of today.For more information on the Anti-Recidivism Coalition visit, https://antirecidivism.org/.For transcriptions, please visit pineapple.fm/your-attention-please.

If y’all assumed Kimberly Drew didn’t know her way around a board, then you’re wrong. This week Kimberly swag surfs her way into a dynamic conversation with CEO and founder of Black Girls Surf, Rhonda Harper. Rhonda has been surfing for decades, and after riding waves in Hawaii, California, and Senegal, she’s now planting roots in South Africa. Rhonda shares her important experiences as a Black woman in the surf space, and how that informed her fight for surf therapy and creating safe surf spaces for Black girls around the world.For transcriptions, please visit pineapple.fm/your-attention-please.

Director and photographer Annie Bercy has been creating in film since the days before selfies, and in this past year has produced work for artists such as Cardi B, SZA, and Ciara. For this episode, Annie sat down with Kimberly Drew to talk about motivation, faith, and her new short Riley, produced in collaboration with Hulu for Your Attention Please. Riley tells a story of Black girlhood, hair, beauty, and becoming, all inspired by Annie’s personal experiences.For more information about HairOnPurpose, visit https://www.haironpurpose.org/.For transcriptions, please visit pineapple.fm/your-attention-please.

This week Kimberly sits down with Pride Fund CEO Densil Porteous, who takes us home. He honors the memory of his mother, her influence on the values he and his partner teach their daughter, and how his work to financially uplift LGBTQ+ business is rooted in compassion. He invites us to be vulnerable, to dream, and to do the work. For more information about Lambda Legal, visit https://www.lambdalegal.org/.For more information about Lambda Literary, visit https://www.lambdaliterary.org/.For transcriptions, please visit pineapple.fm/your-attention-please.

This week Kimberly chats with the founder of the first and only Black-owned anime studio in Tokyo, Arthell Isom. Arthell shares his beginnings as a kid from New Jersey who liked to doodle, and how his passion for background art lead him to his dream apprenticeship in Japan. Now, as the CEO and art director of his anime studio D’ART Shtajio, Arthell is living like the protagonist of his own anime.For transcriptions, please visit pineapple.fm/your-attention-please.

What happens when fashion meets faith and spirit meets style? Twin designers Soull and Dynasty Ogun of L’Enchanteur speak with Kimberly about the importance of heritage and design. For these artists, discovering their individual style and the LE standard meant first reconnecting to family history, their West African and Caribbean roots, and centering the spirit to make their own everything. For transcriptions, please visit pineapple.fm/your-attention-please.

Where does memory lie and how can we bring it to the surface? This week Kimberly chats with archaeologist Justin Dunnavant, who’s made it his life mission to preserve Black heritage. He shares moments from his early beginnings in the field, his most incredible finds, and his hopes for the future of archaeology and the academy. Justin invites us on a journey through not only land and sea but time and space. For more information about the Society of Black Archaeologists, visit societyofblackarchaeologists.com.For transcriptions, please visit pineapple.fm/your-attention-please.

This week, Kimberly sits down with Mississippi-raised, Houston-based urban farmer Jeremy Peaches, who built the largest aquaponics greenhouse in the city. He explains why farming is historically relevant, and why the life of a farmer has its own unique tune. When you think of a farm, you probably picture big fields, overalls, very old McDonald, and rural. But Jeremy is breaking all of those stereotypes and bringing his agricultural expertise into his community to show that, in his words, “agriculture, it is urban, it is Black.”For more information about Plant It Forward Farms, visit plantitforward.farm For transcriptions, please visit pineapple.fm/your-attention-please.

Digital technology has brought society far, but can it bring us further? Engineer and entrepreneur Asmau Ahmed says yes. She joins Kimberly Drew this week to share how her failures have led her to redefine success, and why she’s so passionate about revolutionizing big tech and access. Asmau also gives us a sneak peek at the blueprints for the equitable future she imagines for her children.  For more information on autism, visit www.autismspeaks.org.For transcriptions, please visit pineapple.fm/your-attention-please.