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This week, I had an opportunity to talk to a new friend and a candidate for Judge in Shelby County, Tennessee: Attorney Jennifer Fitzgerald!
Attorney Fitzgerald is a criminal defense attorney that grew up in Memphis, TN. She went to Kirby High School and has been local to the area throughout her entire life.
On a recent stroll through the community, I passed a bunch of lawn signs on my way to the local library in East Memphis. I noticed Jennifer, and a few other local candidates', lawn signs on a house on my Saturday stroll and I remarked about the importance of grassroots support in campaigning. Attorney Fitzgerald is a remarkable Attorney with support from the incumbent retiring candidate who's seat she is hoping to fill.
From my conversation, I learned more about her experience as a longtime resident of this great city and her inspirations to run for office. Please tune in to this episode of Fez and Friends to learn more!
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This week, I had the wonderful opportunity to catch up with Imani Oakley, an inspiring organizer, lawyer, and activist who recently ran for Congress in New Jersey's 10th Congressional District against Representative Donald Payne Jr.
Imani has a history of being a change-maker in New Jersey. She was an organizer for the New Jersey Working Families, which successfully advocated for raising the minimum wage to $15/hour, legalizing marijuana, and highlighting the influence of the New Jersey EDA on legislative policy in NJ.
In this conversation, we talked about her recent campaign for Congress, the fundraising hurdles that limit the potential of Progressive candidates, the many decisions that the Supreme Court is unilaterally making that restrict civil liberties, and the influence that Gen-Z and popular culture is having on politics.
I had an incredible time catching up with Imani. I hope you will enjoy this episode!
Thanks so much for tuning in!
Sincerely,
Fez and Friends
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Hello friends,
I had the good fortune of being able to catch up with my friend Michael Stern today on the podcast. Our friendship goes way back to our high school days, when we played poker during study hall. Since then, he has been in the media business.
He moved to Virginia shortly after High School, where he became an Executive Producer for a news company and eventually started his own Start Up Business called HeadStart. He is now a PR specialist and works with companies to help develop their individual brands.
We had a chance to briefly discuss issues such as the shifting media landscape, including the hyper-globalization of the Main Stream Media, issues like systemic racism and income inequality, and the rapidly deteriorating American Middle Class.
It was a pleasure to catch up and I hope you enjoy this episode. Thanks for tuning in!
Sincerely,
Fez and Friends
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Hello friends,
It's been a while since I've been able to communicate through this podcast, but I'm so happy to be back!
I had the pleasure of catching up with my good friend Hector Oseguera, a current Anti-Money Laundering Professional at UBS and a former candidate for Congress in New Jersey's 8th Congressional District.
In this conversation, we discussed a wide variety of topics including the state of politics today, how the political discourse in Congress is being drowned out by discourse on social media, the importance of a stable democracy, and some of the issues that are plaguing our country today.
Hector and I have been close friends since my time in New Jersey. Since I moved to Memphis, I have noticed that there are two different realities in this country. Coastal America and Middle America are divided.
Coastal America is flourishing during this Pandemic. There are plenty of opportunities for Work From Home jobs in Coastal America. But places like Memphis are lagging behind. Coastal America is industrialized but vast majority of our country still needs more opportunity.
It was great to reconnect with Hector to discuss income inequality, issues like the legalization of harmless substances, and the importance of restoring democracy by either innovating to incorporate technology and social media or separating those online conversations from the conversations in the halls of Congress.
I hope you have a chance to take a listen!
Sincerely,
Fez and Friends
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Hey friends!
Thanks so much for tuning in to the podcast. I'm so excited that you are back with us this week!
I was so fortunate to have the opportunity to talk to Dr. Joel Bloom, the outgoing President of the New Jersey Institute of Technology. Dr. Bloom has been one of the most transformative figures in my life. Prior to coming to NJIT, people knew me as a quiet kid that liked to sit back and observe the world. When I came to NJIT, everything changed. It started with an event called Pancakes with the President, in which I finally felt that my voice was being heard and appreciated.
In this conversation, we talk about some of the tremendous transformations that NJIT has made since Dr. Bloom's tenure as the President of NJIT. Dr. Bloom came into NJIT with a background as an Economist. He has worked at the New Jersey State Department of Education and at Columbia University prior to making his way to NJIT as a Vice President. Soon after, he became the Founding Dean of the Albert Dorman Honors College, a school that provides brilliant individuals with scholarships and all the resources needed to help make the world a better place in their own way. In 2012, he became the President of NJIT and he has stayed in the role since and is expected to retire at the end of this year.
During this conversation, we speak about a wide variety of inspiring topics including the development of the MakerSpace lab at NJIT, the incredible accomplishments in the space of entrepreneurship by distinguished alumni, the impact that his background as an economist has had on his tenure as President, and his philosophy and approach to leading an educational institution.
Additionally, we talked briefly about incoming President Dr. Teik C. Lim and the expertise that he brings to the table when it comes to continuing the task of pushing NJIT forward as one of the best institutions for entrepreneurship and STEM and Dr. Bloom shares his advice for the incoming President as well as depicting a portrait of the future of the school we both know and love.
I had an incredible time speaking with Dr. Bloom and I hope to speak with him more in the future. I hope you will stay tuned!
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At the age of 20, Mussab Ali, a college student at the time, made history becoming the Youngest Muslim Elected Official in the United States when he won his seat on the Jersey City Board of Education.
As a former Pre-Med student, Mussab was extremely intent on making an impact in life through service. He never considered politics as the avenue to making that impact, but in 2016, he started to realize that there was a tremendous amount of impact he could make in that world. He unfortunately unsuccessfully launched his first campaign that year, but that loss did not hold him back. He came back more focused in 2018 and was able to win his seat.
After that, he quickly developed a reputation within the Board of Education as a strong advocate for students. He gained the trust of his colleagues on the board by putting in all his effort to the role and he quickly ascended to becoming the President of the Board of Education.
In this episode, we talk about the political landscape in New Jersey, his ascension to the position that he held most recently, the impact that he had within the political landscape and his intentions moving forward as a current Harvard Law student, and we discussed his diagnosis of his Stage 4 Hodgkins Lymphoma, that prognosis, and how that impacted his life.
I learned a lot from Mussab during this conversation and I hope you will join me in this inspirational episode.
You can learn more about Mussab Ali at https://www.mussabali.com/
Thank you so much for tuning in!
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Hey there!
Thanks so much for tuning into my podcast!
I love having you here. Just wanted to give you some context as to who I am and why you might be interested in the conversations that I am having on this podcast.
I hope you enjoy this podcast.
Please leave a comment below with any feedback you might have on how I can improve. I am always looking to produce better content that is meaningful and impactful.
Also, if you could like and share, that would also be super lovely.
Love you all!
Hope you tune in for the next episode, coming really soon! I'm excited to be on this journey with you. I hope you're excited to learn a thing or two from the inspiring people that I am getting to learn from!
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Anthony Diaz is a longtime friend of mine and a candidate for Mayor in Newark, NJ, competing against longtime incumbent Mayor Ras Baraka. He has organized countless protests, most notably a protest at the 2019 MTV VMA awards which culminated in pressuring the city into announcing a multi-million dollar bond program to replace every single lead pipe in the city of Newark within 8 years.
Diaz has proven that organization can lead to meaningful change and in this conversation, we discuss his impact as a private citizen and his vision to bring about even more change as an elected official.
During this conversation, we speak about his mayoral campaign, my obsession with Taylor Swift and the moral conundrum it presented, creating community fridges across the city, NWC's partnership with Jaden Smith and 501c3, the importance of doing work that is fulfilling, corruption in Newark, education, and a wide variety of issues that we feel are important in the city of Newark.
Be sure to check out his website, https://www.mayorant.com/ , to learn more about his campaign and find cool campaign merchandise.
Visit https://www.mayorant.com/donate to contribute to the campaign that he is building to root out corruption in the city of Newark.
Follow Anthony @NewarkPolitics on Instagram and @NewarkPolitics on Twitter.
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John Vito d'Antonio-Bertagnolli is a colleague of mine from the New Jersey Institute of Technology and the Founder and CEO of OculoMotor Technologies as well as an Adjunct Professor at our Alma Mater. He is working on revolutionary technology using VR headsets and eye tracking to create experiences that are both engaging and also serve as treatment for the most common eye disorder in young children.
During this conversation, we hit a variety of topics such as the experience of starting a Start Up company, his pioneering work in the field of Medical Technology, the importance of mindfulness and taking advantage of opportunities, the potential dangers of overconsumption of information, the implications of the metaverse, lessons from jumping out of an airplane, and much much more.
Be sure to check out https://www.omtvr.com/ to learn more about John Vito's inspiring work and to follow his company.
Thank you for tuning in! We really appreciate your time!
