Cynthia @ The Table Podcast

In this episode, Cynthia McCoy Miller and her co-host Arena Turner discuss the significance of Black History Month 2024. Cynthia introduces the episode by highlighting the importance of celebrating African-American leaders who have made and are making significant contributions. Arena then reflects on the continuous relevance of Black History beyond just February, emphasizing the need for recognition and appreciation of trailblazers in the African-American community. She specifically mentions Hattie McDaniel, the first African-American woman to win an Oscar, as an example of resilience and pioneering spirit. Arena shares a quote that has inspired her, encouraging listeners to maintain their faith and persistence through challenges. Cynthia concludes the episode by expressing gratitude to the listeners and inviting them to stay connected for future episodes, reminding them of the importance of support from the audience and sponsors.

Welcome back to Cynthia@theTable. I am your host, Cynthia! A year ago, we launched the Cynthia@theTable or CATT Book Club Corner to offer a shame-free, unapologetic space, and an opportunity to ensure we are taking time away from our busy schedules to decompress, dialogue, interact, celebrate, and share some good reads together in a meaningful way as well as to contribute to the betterment of one another. The bottom line and end goal is to elevate our overall well-being and self-care.
I am especially excited today for 2 reasons:
1. This is our first time coming to the table since the launch of the Book Club to have a candid conversation about a topic that continues to chronically, and sometimes lethally, maneuver in silence and we, especially people of color, must bring this subject to, and keep it at, the forefront.
2. For our May episode, we are celebrating Mental Health Awareness Month. This is such a critical topic. I have joining me here today for this special episode of our CATT Book Club, my BFF Deloris, and some of my other sistah, sistah friends, and colleagues Arena and Lori. Ladies say hello to everyone!
I also want to take a moment to give a special shout-out and thanks to my niece, Marlo Washington, for designing our very nice and blinged CATT Book Club t-shirts. That’s right, we have our very own merch for the CATT Book Club. Thank you, Marlo! I’m also wearing lipstick by Mulan V and want to give a special shout-out to Mulan as well. Thank you, Mulan! Now, back to the topic at hand (laugh). Our featured book that we will be discussing today is Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen: The Emotional Lives of Black Women by Dr. Inger Burnett-Zeigler, a clinical psychologist and associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Northwestern University. We will be lifting up some of the primary points addressed in the book around some of the mental health challenges faced by Black women as well as explore how to identify and navigate through what healing looks and feels like. I recently learned that depression rates in the U.S. have surged to record highs, especially in young adults and women. Now we won’t take a deep dive into the research on mental health disorders, particularly major depressive episodes, but I do want to share a few statistics to hopefully add some context to our book discussion. According to the 2020 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, an estimated 21.0 million adults in the U.S. had at least one major depressive episode. This number represented 8.4% of all U.S. adults. The prevalence of major depressive episodes was higher among adult females (10.5%) compared to males (6.2%). The prevalence of adults with a major depressive episode was highest among individuals aged 18-25 (17.0%). 
We hope you have enjoyed our first book reading and this episode as much as we have! And we are looking forward to vibing with you in our future CATT Book Club episodes. Please also feel free to share your suggestions regarding other books we can feature on our CATT Book Club Corner. As we continue to lift up self-care, we are asking you to submit nominations for a person who you believe deserves and would greatly benefit from a CATT Self-Care package as our way of saying “Your self-care matters and you matter”. We will be doing a drawing for a free giveaway of a CATT Self-Care package, so look out for this special announcement. More information will be sent out to CATT followers soon.

Welcome back to Cynthia@theTable I want to kick off 2023 with a celebration of Black History Month. This New Year has already presented its challenges and struggles around the pervasive homelessness issues, poverty, racial inequities, and other acts of social injustice. But as I think back on the blood, sweat, and tears that my ancestors gave to make my future a better one, I can still hold my head high. I'm talking about the pioneers, prominent figures, trailblazers, abolitionists, civil rights leaders, unsung heroes, and advocates who have relentlessly given of themselves, many of them up until their dying days.It is because of them that I proudly celebrate my Black History, even if it is only formally recognized in the month of February. It is because of them that I can be resilient and still have hope. It is because of them that I boldly and intentionally step into 2023 with my newfound mantra of “Leveling Up.” If we really want to see the impact of our labor and move the needle in a meaningful way, we must level up. Leveling up, to me, means being accountable, being proactive, stepping up to the plate, and acting on integrity even when no one else is watching. This applies to both our personal and professional lives. I believe that in all things, one must level up in order to move up. And I hope YOU are up for the challenge. So as we celebrate Black History Month, let's show up and level up - not just for our generation, but for the generations to come! In closing, I'll leave you with this quote by Martin Luther king. It says... The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people. Until next time, stay safe, stay well, and stay connected!

Welcome back to Cynthia@theTable . Thank you for joining us again today! I am your host, Cynthia. Also co-hosting here with me today is Arena! I hope that you are all well and ready for the Holidays! Thank you for joining us today for our end-of-the-year episode!We’ve connected with a lot of awesome people this year and couldn’t think of a better way to wrap up our Season 2 year than celebrating and highlighting how we were able to continue to forge ahead with some of our guests in a year unlike any other.Yes, today we are dedicating our show to celebrating a meaningful milestone with our Cynthia@theTable Leadership and Career Challenge, or CATT Challenge as we like to call it, participants on their success in completing the Challenge. And I certainly also want to acknowledge and again say how much we have truly appreciated our mentors for their inspiration and support, and for volunteering their personal time throughout the Challenge.To once again bring our viewers up to speed regarding our Challenge initiative, and as a reminder to those of you who followed us through those episodes, The Challenge was designed so that our Team can be a support and resource and assist our participants with achieving their career journey goal(s) so that they can continue to elevate and grow both personally and professionally. This is personally gratifying for me because this is the real reason for this platform and our motivation for being here.I’m going to take this moment to re-introduce our three Challenge participants: Joyell Siner, DeLlora Ellis, and Lori Talps. As many of you know, for several months during this year, we spotlighted and chronicled the journey of these three ladies, tracking and monitoring their progress, which included them identifying a goal that they each wanted to work on and then diligently navigating through the action steps of their milestones to ultimately achieve their developed goals.We are so extremely excited to be celebrating, acknowledging, and congratulating each of our participants for successfully accomplishing their personal career journey here at the table! And, in doing so, we are presenting you each with a CATT Challenge Award and Certificate of Completion in recognition of your making it to the finish line. I can recall our episode when the CATT Challenge Leader Board page was shared illustrating each of the ladies had approached the finish line. That was a true kodak moment for all of us!As we continue to celebrate today, I also want to again acknowledge the professional coaches/mentors: Wanda Hazel, Joseph Kelly, and Jeffrey Clark, whom as you know, were assigned to each of the CATT participants and collectively served as a support system and contributed to their success by providing them with expert guidance, feedback, mentoring and coaching throughout their journey. We have a little something for each of you too!The Coaches/Mentors also showed what bringing us together meant to them by very thoughtfully providing the group with a picture taken during one of our episodes and had it beautifully framed. A card entitled “inspire” was provided with the framed picture. The definition of the word was also included and I will allow each of them to speak to this very kind gesture and what it specifically meant to them.Remember to click on the link below to follow us on all media platforms, subscribe, tap the like button and leave a comment: Linktree: https://linktr.ee/CATT_podcast

Welcome back to Cynthia@theTable. Thank you for joining us again today! I am your host, Cynthia. Also co-hosting here with me today is Arena! We’re back here today for another check-in episode of our Cynthia@theTable Leadership and Career Challenge initiative. To once again make sure all of our viewers are up to speed regarding our current initiative, and as a reminder to those of you who have been following us since we launched it, The Challenge was designed so that our Team can be a support and resource and assist our participants with achieving their career journey goal(s) so that they can continue to elevate and grow both personally and professionally. Back here with us again today are the selected individuals who are participating in The Challenge: Joyell Siner, DeLlora Ellis, and Lori Talps. As reported in our last episode, each of our participants did an exceptional job in identifying a goal that they each wanted to work on, making sure that it is SMART (meaning it is Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-Bound), as well as developing associated milestones (the action steps and activities that will lead them towards achieving their goals). And, as many of you know, over the past couple of months, we have been chronicling the journey of these three ladies and tracking and monitoring their progress as they have been diligently navigating through the action steps of their milestones to achieve their developed goals. We are especially excited about this episode because we will be taking another look at our cool CATT Challenge Leader Board (courtesy of Candi Gurl), which I believe will be illustrating that the ladies are heading to the finish line. As I also shared during our previous episodes, these CATT participants have each been assigned to professional coaches/mentors to provide them with expert tips to assist in the development and tracking of their identified goals and milestones. So also back here with us today as our Special Guests are our professional experts: Wanda Hazel and Joseph Kelly, who as many of you have heard me mention throughout the Challenge episodes, have graciously volunteered to serve as a support system to contribute to the success of our participants by providing them with expert guidance, feedback, mentoring and coaching.During today’s episode, we will again hear from each of our participants, who will again share their established goals and milestones, as well as provide us with an update on their progress in accomplishing their individual milestone(s). They will also briefly tell us about their ongoing experiences in navigating through the process, including how having a CATT mentor/coach continued to contribute to their journey towards accomplishing their milestones and, ultimately, their overall goal.Our participants will also be sharing with our listeners how the tools, in particular, the vision boards, CATT Goal Template, and journal that were provided to each of them prior to the Challenge launch were helpful in getting them to where they each are today.Next, I would like to allow our expert guest mentors/coaches to say a few words about how the process has been for each of them.

Hello Listeners! Welcome back to Cynthia@theTable. Thank you for joining us again today! I am your host, Cynthia. We’re back here today to do a check-in episode for our Cynthia@theTable Leadership and Career Challenge initiative.To make sure all of our viewers are up to speed regarding our current initiative. As a reminder to those of you who have been following us since we launched it, The Challenge was designed so that our Team can be a support and resource and assist our participants with achieving their career journey goal(s) so that they can continue to elevate and grow both personally and professionally.Back here with us again today are the selected individuals who are participating in The Challenge: Joyell Siner, DeLlora Ellis, and Lori Talps.Each of our participants did an exceptional job in Phase 1 of the Challenge process, which was to identify a goal that they each want to work on, making sure that it is SMART (meaning it is Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-Bound), as well as to develop associated milestones (the action steps and activities that will lead them towards achieving their goals).As shared in our last episode, over the next couple of months, we are chronicling the journey of these three ladies and tracking and monitoring their progress as they navigate through the action steps of their milestones to achieve their developed goals.As I also shared during our last episode, these CATT participants have each been assigned to professional coaches/mentors to provide them with expert tips to assist in developing and tracking their identified goals and milestones. As such, also back here with us today as our Special Guests are our three professional experts: Wanda Hazel. In addition, as many of you have heard me mention, Joseph Kelly and Jeffrey Clark have graciously volunteered to serve as a support system to contribute to the success of our participants by providing them with expert guidance, feedback, mentoring, and coaching.Today, we will hear from each of our participants, who will again share their established goals and milestones and provide us with an update on their progress in accomplishing their individual milestone(s). They will also briefly tell us about their ongoing experience in navigating through the process, including how having a CATT mentor/coach contributes to their journey towards accomplishing their milestones and, ultimately, their overall goal.Remember to click on the link below to follow us on all media platforms:Linktree: https://linktr.ee/CATT_podcast

Hello, Listeners!Welcome back to Cynthia@theTable. Thank you for joining us again today! I am your host, Cynthia and I have my co-host, Arena, in the background, here with me today. We’re excited to be back with a follow-up episode to our Cynthia@theTable Leadership and Career Challenge launch episode that we released in April. As I shared with you before, The Challenge is an initiative that is near and dear to me because of my own personal and professional leadership journey, charge, and commitment. It’s aligned with my story and my why, and the motivation behind having this platform. As a reminder, The Challenge was designed so that our Team can be a support and resource and assist our participants with achieving their career journey goal(s) to also continue to elevate and grow both personally and professionally.  Back here with us today are the selected individuals who are participating in The Challenge: Joyell Siner, Delora Ellis, and Lori Talps. Also, here with us today as our Special Guest, are two of the three professional experts: Wanda Hazel and Jeffrey Clark, who we previously shared have graciously volunteered to serve as a support system to contribute to the success of our participants by providing them with expert guidance, feedback, mentoring and coaching. Since our last episode, the CATT participants have each been assigned a professional coach/mentor to provide them with expert tips to assist in the development and tracking of an identified goal and milestones. Today, we will hear from each of our participants, who will share their established goals and milestones as well as briefly tell us about their overall experience with the process, including how having a CATT mentor/coach contributed to their journey towards developing their goal and milestones.Remember to click on the link below to follow us on all media platforms, subscribe, tap the like button and leave comment:Linktree: https://linktr.ee/CATT_podcast

Hello everyone. Welcome back to Cynthia@theTable. I am your host, Cynthia! Today, we are celebrating the special fathers in our lives. Fathers are equally as important as mothers are in our lives, so you know we had to come back for another episode dedicated solely to the dads out there.Last season at the table around this time, I gave a little historical context on the founding of Father’s Day and how our nation began celebrating this holiday. Even now, I’m still intrigued regarding the history of Father’s day. Last Father’s Day I talked about how I had learned that in 1924 President Calvin Coolidge recognized Father’s Day as the third Sunday in June of that year and encouraged States to do the same.However, Congress only officially recognized Father’s Day in 1956 with the passage of a joint resolution. That’s amazing because that was only 65 years ago. Obviously, many of the fathers out there were actually fathers long before the holiday was officially recognized by Congress. But wait, it gets better. Ten years later in 1966, President Lyndon Johnson issued a proclamation calling for the third Sunday in June to be recognized as Father’s Day. And it was not until 1972 that Richard Nixon permanently established the observance of the third Sunday in June as Father’s Day in the U.S.Now that was only 49 years ago!
In comparison, and to add some more perspective, Mother’s Day became an official U.S. holiday in 1914, which was some 40 years earlier. Wow…so enlightening, yet disheartening to see how, as a nation, we have over the years, while maybe not intentionally, systemically undermined the importance of fathers. I guess that means there is still much work to be done around fatherhood and celebrating our fathers. Nevertheless, as I’m sure many of our listeners would agree, raising our children is at the top of the list of biggest accomplishments and responsibilities for a mom and dad. With that being said, Father’s Day is such a heart-warming celebration for me and a big deal in our home!It is a time when we get to acknowledge and honor the men in our lives who have been a role model, father figure, a provider, an encourager, and a protector. That includes biological fathers, stepdads, big brothers, coaches, adoptive dads, paternal relative caregivers, and foster parents who have been father figures in the lives of others.As I have shared before, having been raised by my mother and step-father, I personally have a special appreciation for men who step up and take care of children who are not biologically his own.And I want to again thank and acknowledge today my dad for being there for me! I must also take the opportunity to give a special heartfelt recognition to my incredibly amazing husband, Mr. Marvin Miller, who is a remarkable man, husband, and father, and the backbone of my family who unselfishly gives so much of himself in providing for our family.Happy Father’s Day babe!
I also want to recognize and acknowledge the wonderful fathers and husbands of my co-hosts. As well as take a moment to give a shout out to my brothers, brothers-in-law, and nephews for being the loving fathers that they are! Well alright listeners, you are in for some exciting table talk!We are about to hear from our dynamic special guests with us today. We are going to spend some time talking to them about fatherhood and what the role of a father means to them based on their life journeys, upbringings, and experiences as well as how these experiences have shaped their lives into who they are today. They are young, exceptional Black men who are amazing role models, influencers, fathers, and father-like figures in their own rights.That’s right, we have some millennials at the table today!
They represent faith leaders, educators, executive directors, entrepreneurs, and community advocates. I’m not sure y’all ready for this. Up first, let me introduce Pastor Ronald L. Bolden the second!
 Pastor Ronald is married to the Great First Lady Jasmine Bolden and they have an awesome daughter together, named Ka’Niyah. (You know the Pastors like to start off by telling you that they’re married with kids. Won’t He do it?)A native of Compton, California, he pastors the Greater Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church in the great City of Los Angeles.Pastor Ronald was born for Ministry. Being raised in the church and a Christian home prepared him for his calling. He accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior and was baptized at an early age.
 Pastor Bolden graduated from Gardena Senior High School and earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Sacred Theology from the St. James Convergence School of Ministry.He began preaching 11 years ago at the age of 19 and has been a pastor for 3 years. Pastor Bolden has been privileged to be a part of countless faith-based community efforts, partnerships, and engagements with the City of Los Angeles and local County government officials to be a voice for our communities, and through it all, he credits God for continuing to give him the victory!Next at the table, we have Soul (Tim) Johnson, better known as Timmy. Timmy is a Los Angeles native with degrees (yes, plural) in Marketing/Communications as well as a Masters in Education.While giving back to the inner city through the grace of God via a career in education for over 20 years, Timmy has also taken the time to mentor and manage aspiring artists in entertainment through artist management.He is currently a Partner at Music Maven and BWSA Clothing, the host of the “BackPackinWithSoul” podcast, and Father Baker at Mattie Lee’s Cast Iron Cookie, a family cookie business that was started during quarantine with his daughter Penelope and son Gunnar. Last but most definitely not least, I would like to introduce Demontea Thompson. Demontea is a Compton-native and the Executive Director of Together We Inspire – a Los Angeles-based nonprofit that improves current and former foster youth educational and career outcomes.He is currently a Ph.D. student at UCLA in the School of Education, Urban Schooling Division. His research explores how educational institutions can facilitate success for young boys and men of color, particularly those who have had interactions with the child welfare and justice systems.
 Demontea is also a slam poet (snap fingers for effect) and author of the inspirational autobiography, Raised From Scratch.As a TEDx Talk speaker and featured guest on the Kelly Clarkson Show for his community work, he focuses on putting research into practice. He received his Master’s degree in Education from USC and his undergraduate degree in business management from Cal State Northridge (CSUN). He is a board member of the CSUN Alumni Association. Welcome! Welcome! Welcome! What a distinguished panel of guests! Okay now, let’s get into some table talk.

Welcome back to #CynthiaAtTheTable. I am your host, Cynthia. And I have my co-hosts, Angela and Arena, here with me today. You are in for another treat today. This is our Special Mother’s Day episode. Mother’s Day is very near and dear to all of us here at the table as we know it is for so many of you. It is a traditional celebration honoring motherhood and maternal bonds. So, in our true awesome CATT fashion, today we are celebrating biological mothers, foster mothers, big momma’s, play mothers from the neighborhood, pet mothers, adoptive mothers, bonus moms, and those who have been mother-like figures in the lives of others. For generations, so many of us have talked about things that our mothers do and have done, and sacrifices they’ve made to take care of their children who have in turn passed these valuable teachings on to their children.We’re going to be reflecting on some of those fond memories and moments we’ve come to cherish through the years as we commemorate and celebrate all of the mothers today.https://cynthiaatthetable.com/.....Find us on these platforms:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cynthiaatthetable/Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6S5BGvAjuB9XIvGKAu1CGRiHeartRadio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-cynthia-the-table-podcast-59417491/Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/cynthia-the-table-podcast?refid=stpr