Chenjerai Kumanyika is an assistant professor of journalism at NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute and an award-winning narrative audio creator whose work sits at the intersection of journalism, public history, and organizing. Kumanyika is the creator, executive producer, and host of Empire City: The Untold Origin Story of the NYPD, a chart-topping series featured in The New York Times. He co-created and co-hosted the Peabody Award–winning podcast Uncivil and collaborated on Scene on Radio’s landmark series Seeing White. Across these projects, he blends archival research, field reporting, and character-driven storytelling to examine race and power, the political economy of media, and the histories shaping public safety today.

Beyond the studio, he builds impact campaigns that connect journalism to action — partnering with community organizations, labor groups, and educators to develop live events, teach-ins, and curriculum that move audiences from listening to engagement. He serves on the National Council of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), organizing around academic freedom and the future of higher education, and sits on the boards of Street Poets, Resolve, Hammer & Hope, and The Moth. In the classroom, he teaches interdisciplinary critical thinking about power and mentors emerging journalists through rigorous, ethics-forward training in reporting, interviewing, and sound design.

His current work expands this model through Unruly Subjects, a new project that pairs timely conversations with crafted documentary segments, music, and scene-based reporting. Across mediums, Kumanyika’s goal is consistent: tell unforgettable stories that clarify how power works and help listeners imagine, and organize for, something better.

London based DJ, producer, poet and cultural force Charlie Dark has spent decades shaping the sound and spirit of UK underground culture. A founding member of Attica Blues, his journey began in the early 1990s at the intersection of hip hop, jazz, soul and spoken word, driven by a deep belief in music as a tool for connection, expression and community building.

On the dancefloor, Charlie Dark is known for sets that are joyful, spiritual and deeply rooted in black music history. Drawing from house, disco, funk, soul, Afrobeat, jazz and beyond, his DJ sets prioritise feeling, flow and togetherness over rigid genre boundaries. His selections are guided by intuition and intention, creating spaces where dancers feel seen, uplifted and connected.

Beyond clubs and festivals, Charlie’s impact extends far into the cultural landscape. He is the founder of Run Dem Crew, a globally recognised running collective that merges fitness, music and community, and the creator of the Love Is The Message dance events, which celebrate inclusive dancefloor culture through carefully curated line ups and shared energy. These projects reflect his wider mission to use music and movement as vehicles for positive change.

A respected mentor, curator and cultural historian, Charlie Dark continues to inspire across generations. Whether behind the decks, on the airwaves or leading communities through music and movement, his work remains rooted in joy, intention and the belief that dancefloors can still be sacred spaces.

In this episode I sat down with the London based poet, author, editor, educator & activist to discuss her journey as an artist. Born in Pakistan, she earned a BA in Liberal Arts from Bennington College, where she studied writing, photography, filmmaking and multi-media installation art. In 2003 she was awarded a fellowship to attend the MFA Creative Writing Programme at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.

"My own life has been dictated by this desire for freedom. I left Pakistan when I was 18 in a quest for this elusive freedom."