Multiracial Family Man

Ep. 44: Shani “Nani” Bernard is just a girl who loves the fact that everyone has the right to creative expression. She comes from a performing arts family and was raised with art and music all around her. She has always had a deep love for children and began babysitting and being a nanny from very young age. The two combined to create what you see now. She graduated with her degree in Theater Arts and uses all her skills to build sets, sew costumes, draw cartoons, film etc. – almost everything you see. She wants to encourage kids to find their own unique voice, use it and never lose it.

She is the creator and founder of Nani Nani Kids (http://www.naninanikids.com/) to create engaging media that encourages all children (as well as those who are kids at heart) to be creative. She finds joy in creating age-appropriate programming for a culturally diverse audience. For videos she's created, please check her YouTube page: (https://www.youtube.com/user/naninanikids).

In addition to her artistic pursuits, Shani also is a nanny and doula who helps train nannies and provides critical information to families looking to hire nannies. For more on her nanny training efforts, go here: http://www.periscope.tv/NaniNaniParent or here http://www.naninanikids.com/7steps/

To connect with her on social media, please go here:

For more on host, Alex Barnett, please check out his website: www.alexbarnettcomic.com or visit him on Facebook (www.facebook.com/alexbarnettcomic) or on Twitter at @barnettcomic

To subscribe to the Multiracial Family Man, please click here: MULTIRACIAL FAMILY MAN PODCAST

Intro and Outro Music is Funkorama by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons - By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Ep. 229: John Vercher is a writer currently living in the Philadelphia area with his wife and two sons. He has a Bachelor’s in English from the University of Pittsburgh and an MFA in Creative Writing from the Mountainview Master of Fine Arts program.

His fiction has appeared on Akashic Books’ flash fiction features Mondays are Murder and Fri-SciFi. He is a contributing writer for Cognoscenti, the thoughts and opinions page of WBUR Boston. Two of his essays published there on race, identity, and parenting were picked up by NPR, and he has appeared on WBUR’s Weekend Edition. His non-fiction work has also appeared in Entropy Magazine. You can find him on Twitter @jverch75 and Instagram at johnvercher75.

In this episode of the podcast, John speaks with Alex about his own biracial experience, how he is handling and preparing to handle his sons' multiracial experiences, and about representing the multiracial experience through fiction, including in his debut novel, Three Fifths.

For more on John, check out his website at: https://www.johnvercherauthor.com/

For more on host, Alex Barnett, please check out his website: www.alexbarnettcomic.com or visit him on Facebook (www.facebook.com/alexbarnettcomic) or on Twitter at @barnettcomic

To subscribe to the Multiracial Family Man, please click here: MULTIRACIAL FAMILY MAN PODCAST

Huge shout out to our "Super-Duper Supporters" Elizabeth A. Atkins and Catherine Atkins Greenspan of Two Sisters Writing and Publishing

Intro and Outro Music is Funkorama by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons - By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Ep. 191: LaTice Mitchell Klapa is a hilarious comic, a Black woman, and a mother in a multiracial and blended family.

She was born and raised in the white suburbs of South Jersey and has turned that into comedy. Her conversational style makes you feel like you’re in her living room laughing about interracial marriage, being a parent, and her day-to-day encounters. LaTice will pull you right into her world the minute she steps on stage, with her zest for life and positive energy. She has crowds laughing out loud until she says good night.

LaTice appeared on ABC's The View for their "Hilarious Housewives" how funny are you? She was chosen to perform in NYC's SHE DEVIL comedy festival. She's performed in Las Vegas to compete in the World Series of Comedy twice as one of the TOP 101 comedians in the country. She was accepted into the Black Comedy Festival in Portland Oregon, the Oak City Comedy Festival in Raleigh North Carolina and will be going to the Comics Rock Convention as a featured comedian in L.A, LaTice has been seen on the Dr. Oz show and the Betheny Show, Comedy Time TV and Laffin' Matterz TV show in NYC.

She has opened for some of comedy’s top headliners including Sasheer Zamata, Tony Rock, Jessica Kirson, and Buddy Fitzpatrick, just to name a few.

Check out her conversation with Alex this week, as they discuss feminism, race and racism, and the challenge of parenting in a Multiracial family in today's political climate.

For more on host, Alex Barnett, please check out his website: www.alexbarnettcomic.com or visit him on Facebook (www.facebook.com/alexbarnettcomic) or on Twitter at @barnettcomic

To subscribe to the Multiracial Family Man, please click here: MULTIRACIAL FAMILY MAN PODCAST

Huge shout out to our "Super-Duper Supporters" Elizabeth A. Atkins and Catherine Atkins Greenspan of Two Sisters Writing and Publishing

Intro and Outro Music is Funkorama by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons - By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Ep. 105: Adam Gould is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of eduKenya (http://www.edukenya.org/), which seeks to empower children and their families with the opportunity to break the chronic cycle of poverty and transform their lives and communities.

Adam co-founded eduKenya with Bob Kikuyu in 2010 as an extension of the Kenya Children Project, an outreach to children and families in Mathare.

The Kenya Children Project was established in 2006 as a partnership with Believers Centre Mathare Church and Life in Abundance to expand on the church’s childcare program by developing a fully functional primary school. The Kwa Watoto School – which means “for the children” in Swahili – was the result.

From 2007 – 2010, the Kwa Watoto School rapidly expanded, adding a new grade level each year. The Skills Training and Home Based Care programs were initiated to benefit students’ parents and other community members by teaching income generating skills and providing support for people living with HIV/AIDS and other life threatening conditions.

eduKenya was founded to build upon the success of the Kenya Children Project by replicating the model in other areas of the slum for the benefit of countless other uneducated children and families living in abject poverty.

Listen as Adam tells Alex about his first journey to Kenya, how get got involved in the culture and society, and the journey to forming eduKenya, and how he remains tied to Kenya via his work but also through his own, multicultural, multiracial family, which includes his Kenyan wife, and their children.

For more on host, Alex Barnett, please check out his website: www.alexbarnettcomic.com or visit him on Facebook (www.facebook.com/alexbarnettcomic) or on Twitter at @barnettcomic

To subscribe to the Multiracial Family Man, please click here: MULTIRACIAL FAMILY MAN PODCAST

Intro and Outro Music is Funkorama by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons - By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Ep. 81: Alex Chester is Russian, French, and Romanian Jewish on her mother's side and Japanese on her father's side. She is proudly Hapa, and she is the founder of http://mesohapa.com/ a blog dedicated to exploring the Hapa (multiracial Asian) experience.

Alex started performing professionally at a very young age. At 5 she began her career in modeling, and was the cover for such magazines as Parenting, Woman’s Day, and Victoria Magazine. She modeled children’s clothing lines on The Home Show, along with posters for malls, catalogues, department store and newspaper ads.

With a successful modeling career underway Alex ventured into commercials and became the face that introduced the Chevy Geo to the world. Many commercials later Alex has once again introduced a new vehicle, the Ford Kuga, to Europe.

Television followed commercials, including such shows as 7th Heaven, Boston Public, ER and The Closer. Alex filmed the title role in the Independent film, The Mermaid, produced by the award winning production company, Walter Robot Studios.

Alex even had a stint in the pop world as a member of the girl group, Dream, produced by P. Diddy.

Theatre has always been in Alex’s life. She saw her first live production when she was 4. By the age of 5 Alex had a role in Gigi at the now defunct Grand Equity dinner theatre in Anaheim CA. She worked for Norwegian Cruise Lines at the age of 7 playing Tootie in Meet Me In St. Louie, Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz in the Broadway Review, and singing for the Captain’s embarkation parties. Alex has been seen as Mary Rogers in the West Coast premiere of The Will Rogers Follies, The Dead Girl in East/West Players production of Six Characters In Search of An Author, flying across the stage as Peter Pan, performing for the Royal National Theatre’s tour of An Inspector Calls, dancing as Eliza in The King and I at the Welk Resort, Punky Who in How The Grinch Stole Christmas at the Pantages Theatre and Gymslip Who at Madison Square Gardens, The Magic Carpet in Disney’s Aladdin Spectacular, Connie in A Chorus Line for the Berkshire Theatre Festival, and Minnie Fay in Hello, Dolly! for the National Asian Artist Project.

Alex has had the pleasure of working with Jeff Marx, co-creator of Ave Q, who wrote the role of Connie for her in his 15 minute musical, Oh God, We’re Gonna Die, the track of which can be heard at ANMT.TV.

Alex is currently working on her bachelor’s degree in theatre through St. Mary’s College LEAP Program and was awarded The Caroline H. Newhouse Scholarship for Dancers.

For more on host, Alex Barnett, please check out his website: www.alexbarnettcomic.com or visit him on Facebook (www.facebook.com/alexbarnettcomic) or on Twitter at @barnettcomic

To subscribe to the Multiracial Family Man, please click here: MULTIRACIAL FAMILY MAN PODCAST

Intro and Outro Music is Funkorama by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons - By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/