As Told By Nomads

Today, Tayo engages in a truly fascinating conversation with guest, Levert Blount, regarding Levert’s experience of losing everything to natural disaster and rebounding with his newly launched TikTok career which has already garnered him 600,000 followers. Levert opens up the episode by talking about growing up in a big family, how he learned to display love through food, and how it wasn’t until the hurricanes hit Southwest Louisiana in 2020 that his life changed forever. Having lost everything - his home, his job, and everything he knew to be normal - Levert started over living in a hotel and deciding to create a TikTok account that brings to light racial injustice and the hoax that is the American Dream, which has just taken off incredibly.Bearing the brunt of racism in his daily life, Levert took to TikTok to talk about internalizing white supremacy, racism, and bringing its systemic nature to light to enact genuine change. In a country that’s built upon, and continues to take advantage of cheap/free labor

On today’s episode of the As Told By Nomads podcast, Tayo chats with Erin Diehl, the founder and CEO of a professional development company, a recovering perfectionist, and a podcast host on her own show, Improve It! Together, they kick off the episode by talking about Erin's love for entertainment, how it blossomed at a young age, and how it wasn’t until COVID that she found her true calling: making people laugh online and over Zoom. She recalls sleepless nights working on improv sets with her team, and goes on to remember bygone days when she suffered from being a perfectionist. Since starting meditation and learning to let go, her love for her business has only grown.  As a self proclaimed recovering perfectionist, Diehl has finally come to understand how and why failure is so vital to our personal progress. She notes how helpful improv was to this journey, and that since failure is inevitable, it’s best to embrace it much as she has done with her genius brainchild, Laugh Break

Today, Rob Fazio enjoys yet another warm welcome to the As Told By Nomads podcast.  Specializing in global leadership and success as a Partner at Onpoint Advising, Rob talks to Tayo today about his upcoming book Bully Proof, a how to guide on influencing alphas and wielding strength in professional settings.  The two open up the conversation by discussing Cancel Culture and its toxicity, and how, in a world in which views and opinions become more and more polarized each day, it’s beneficial to start honing these skills of influence and power.  In response to the rise of polarization and bullying, Rob has created a variety of acronyms in his book that include tips about empathy and alignment, strength and plans, and obstacles and outcomes.  Both Rob and Tayo concede that it isn’t an easy task to adopt a new behavior, especially one that feels unnatural, and that it can be hard to find strength in a situation you previously surrendered to.  There is, however, great growth in discom

Tayo is honored to welcome Ryan Glover, founder of the Greenwood digital banking platform, to today’s podcast. A veteran in the entrepreneurship space, and a strong believer in charity, Ryan believes that his ability to problem solve combined with his passion for the Black community has granted him success across such diverse career pursuits.  With a unique and rather varied resume, he’s used his experiences to found Greenwood, a digital banking platform for the Black community that seeks to mitigate the generational wealth gap.  Taking obvious inspiration from the Black Wall Street in Tulsa, OK in the ‘20s, he wants to encourage wealth circulation through this banking platform.Ryan argues that the key to solving the generational wealth gap is a conglomeration of kind, intelligent individuals who are willing to create and engage with institutions that have Black excellence at heart. That’s why, he says, that he likes to surround himself with individuals smarter than him; after all, that’s arguably t

Today, Tayo is joined by announcer and public speaker, Ronny Leber, to discuss the importance of finding one's passion, the importance of intention, and how, when it comes to finding that passion in the first place, we all must ask ourselves the right questions.  This is a particularly timely conversation given that, in the wake of COVID-19, more people are quitting their jobs and reevaluating their passions and goals than ever.  Ronny notes that he first found his passion in events that brought people together, and, naturally, he entered the world of sports to become an announcer.He goes on to discuss public speaking tips that are rather applicable to all walks of life.  When people lose their stage presence, for example, it’s because they might not believe themselves to be enough.  Perhaps they spoke rather quietly and monotonously for fear of being judged otherwise, but Ronny argues that believing we are worthy is the first step toward public speaking confidence and confidence in genera

Today, Tayo is joined by Shiv Reddy, a phenomenal cultural commentator, photographer, and an advocate for visual and cultural representation.   She’s been taking photos for the past decade, but most of her current projects are commissioned for South Asian weddings and family portraits.  Photography first enthralled her because it allowed her to enter a space that wasn’t intended for her.  Given that South Asian individuals are rarely portrayed in Western media, as a photographer, Reddy aims to make each of her clients feel like the main character.  Shiv’s passion for representation transcends photography, though.  She’s taken to social media to engage with others about diversity in pop culture, and has become rather popular herself in doing so.  She goes on to discuss the difference between visual representation and cultural representation in media and why we should always try to achieve the latter.  In the media, minority stereotypes and relevant discriminatory underto

Today on the As Told By Nomads podcast, Khary Lazarre-White joins Tayo to talk about racial narratives in the US and his organization, The Brotherhood Sister Sol.  The pair opens this conversation by introducing the audience to the lack of funding present in minority communities. Given this lack of funding, in combination with familiar stereotypes and narratives regarding black intelligence and athletic ability, for example, it’s no wonder that young children in black and LatinX communities are discouraged from breaking free from the boxes they were confined to.  Khary took it upon himself, however, to create The Brotherhood Sister Sol, a nonprofit that helps young black and LatinX Americans claim the power of their history, identity, community, and education.  In spite of fighting a rather uphill battle, Khary is incredibly passionate about helping children take back their own narratives.  It’s time to start debunking the common misconceptions that black people only have futures in m

In this short audio, I discuss how perfectionism and excellence are actually exclusive. This was originally posted on my TikTok page https://www.tiktok.com/@tayorockson. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this short audio, I discuss why I believe pain is necessary for joy. This was originally posted on my TikTok page https://www.tiktok.com/@tayorockson. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this short audio, I discuss generalists and specialists. This was originally posted on my TikTok page https://www.tiktok.com/@tayorockson. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this short audio, I discuss why you are beautiful. This was originally posted on my TikTok page https://www.tiktok.com/@tayorockson. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Today on the As Told by Nomads podcast, Shelby Dash and Kristina Clifford discuss the concept of comedy as a means to build community and an online following. The pair of women open up this episode by discussing why they decided to take the leap into comedy. While they both originally had their sights set on a Hollywood acting career, plans changed over time, and Shelby even went on to become a screenwriter. Eventually, however, Dash and Clifford decided to take their talent to social media creating comedic content for different brands.They argue that comedy videos develop a large sense of community and draw from personal experiences. Each time they make another video, the pair must take into account their audience, their platform, new angles on familiar ideas, and, of course, a sense of humor. Given that the women post a majority of their videos online, they’re forced to contend with the ever present cancel culture. They note that while they do make mistakes, they also try

In this short audio, I discuss my thoughts on symptoms versus causes. This was originally posted on my TikTok page at tayorockson. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this short audio, I discuss the thoughts on savior's complex and allyship. This was originally posted on my TikTok page at tayorockson. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this short audio, I discuss my thoughts on bullying. This was originally posted on my TikTok page at tayorockson. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

On today’s episode, I’m joined by Cynthia Owyoung, author of the new book All Are Welcome: How to Build a Real Workplace Culture of Inclusion that Delivers Results. Cynthia has had an incredible career, establishing and leading diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in multiple industries. She’s worked for companies including Charles Schwab, GitHub, and Yahoo and is now working with Robinhood as their Vice President of Inclusion, Equity, and Belonging. She’s also the founder of Breaking Glass Forums, which develops strategies to accelerate diverse leadership and inclusive organizations. Cynthia has been recognized for influence and thought leadership in this space, so if there’s anyone who can speak on the topic of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, Cynthia is the one.We start our conversation with Cynthia’s early experiences as a first-generation Asian-American growing up in a predominately African-American neighborhood. The combination of a household that was governed by very traditional Chi

In this short audio, I share my thoughts on talent pipelines in the workplace. This was originally posted on my TikTok page at tayorockson. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this short audio, I share my thoughts on identity and home. This was originally posted on my TikTok page at tayorockson. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this short audio, I share a poem of mine called "My Tombstone". This was originally posted on my TikTok page at tayorockson. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this short audio, I discuss ideas, culture, software of self and worldviews. This was originally posted on my TikTok page at tayorockson. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.