A Brief But spectacular take on centering Black leadership in climate change solutions
Heather McTeer Toney spent three years leading the Environmental Protection Agency for the southeastern United States. She now continues her advocacy for the environment both nationally and worldwide. She shares her Brief But Spectacular take on centering Black leadership in…
Read More »Singer-songwriter Syd’s Brief But Spectacular Take on her path to being an artist
Singer-songwriter Syd is one of the pioneering and most prominent voices to sing about same-sex relationships in R&B music. She has now released solo music after working with hip-hop collective Odd Future, and her own Grammy-nominated band The Internet. Syd…
Read More »A Brief But Spectacular take on Asian American mental health
Christine Catipon is clinical psychologist at the University of California, Irvine Counseling Center. Growing up Filipina, she says that people around her did not want to talk about mental health. Catipon is now working to dismantle barriers that keep people…
Read More »Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Brief But Spectacular take on writing and memory
As long as he can remember, author Viet Thanh Nguyen has been interested in how stories about his home country of Vietnam are told in America. In his own works, including the Pulitzer-winning novel “The Sympathizer,” he centers on the…
Read More »Roxane Gay Brief But Spectacular take on effective ways of being heard
Roxane Gay has used writing as a means to untangle and communicate her own trauma since childhood. Now a successful author, professor and mentor to many, she advises young women and aspiring writers on how to harness their voices. Gay…
Read More »A Columbia University professor’s Brief But Spectacular take on Black life and literature
Columbia University professor Farah Jasmine Griffin was deeply troubled by the political turmoil happening across the U.S. during the 2016 presidential campaign. She began writing a literary memoir, “Read Until You Understand,” which explores what democracy means for the lives…
Read More »How this advocate fights gendered Islamophobia in medicine
Muslim women in the U.S. experience discrimination in many aspects of their lives, including health care. Sahar Pirzada has made it the mission of her work at a national nonprofit to fight the medical mistreatment Muslim women experience. She gives…
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