One recipe for black girl magic: one Yale degree, a JD and PhD from Harvard, a professorship at Princeton, scholarly works on race and American history, managing both Lupus and Graves’ disease, and raising two children as a divorced mother. On this week’s Protégé Podcast, I have a revealing conversation with superstar African-American studies professor Dr. Imani Perry. We talk about making race and legal scholarship practically relevant for people of color, the importance of defining excellence on your own terms, and what we’ve both learned from our unforgettable interactions with police.

You never know when current events will intersect with your career. When one of the police officers charged in the Freddie Gray case asked criminal defense attorney Ivan Bates to represent her, Ivan knew his career would never be the same. On this week’s Protégé Podcast, we talk with Ivan about the criminal justice system, his love for the city of Baltimore, and what it means to take a stand for what you believe in.

I simply call him “The Answer.” The answer for what men of color should be doing in our communities. The answer for what young men should aspire to do in their lives. The answer for how to live a faith-based, selfless life of service. The Answer is Stephen Powell, the Chief Program Officer for the National CARES Mentoring Movement. He has won awards from the White House, Black Enterprise, GQ magazine and many other institutions for leading innovative mentoring initiatives. He is also the focus of this week’s Special Episode of Protege Podcast! Stephen and I discuss which programs are working to improve the life outcomes for men of color, effective strategies to improve community/police relations, and why we simply need to express love to each other as often as possible.