Live from the Baltimore Story Fest, Ansa Edim shares how storytelling helped her reclaim her voice after a divorce, explores personal freedom, and builds a life in fun, truth, and agency.

In this soul-stirring episode of Shaping Freedom, I sit down with youth pastor, leader, and advocate Antoine Garrett for a conversation about what it truly means to lead with heart.

In this powerful episode of Shaping Freedom, we sit down with Nichole MacDonald — entrepreneur, community builder, and visionary — as she shares how she transformed her brand into not just a business, but a movement and a thriving community.

The NBA, NFL, NHL, or any other sports league is a place of glory, success, masculinity. So how does a sports star cope with their own sense of identity when things suddenly fall apart?  This week on the Shaping Freedom Podcast with Lisane Basquiat, we’re exploring what it means to lose your identity—and rebuild it with purpose.

This week, Lisane Basquiat sits down with award-winning actor, playwright, and director Edwin Lee Gibson—best known for his role as Ebraheim in FX’s The Bear. Together, they dive into the deep connection between storytellers and their craft, exploring how personal truth, resilience, and artistic integrity...

The art world is filled with biases, opinions, and social messages that strike at the heart of what artists create. The problem is that within this world is that the patrons of the art rarely want the messages of injustice, violence, and a need for change. 

This week on Shaping Freedom with Lisane Basquiat, Lisane welcomes Dr. Mary Anderson, a clinical psychologist with experience at Harvard Medical School and Boston University, and author of The Happy Achiever: Eight Essentials to Overcome Anxiety and Manage Stress.

This week on Shaping Freedom, we take on one of life’s biggest—and most relentless—questions: Who am I? It’s a question we struggle to answer for ourselves, while the world rushes to decide for us.

Sleep is one of the most important acts of self-care. Yet so many of us struggle with it. Late-night scrolling, caffeine, alcohol and even the comforting hum of a sitcom playing in the background can all disrupt our rest. So what’s the solution?

In this episode, we’re diving into this question with Emmy Award-winning filmmaker, writer and professor and Moth Grand Slam champion Phill Branch. His work sits at the intersection of identity, race and media representation, all with a focus on truth-telling.

We all strive for health—regular exercise, a salad here and there—but how often do we take the time to nurture our inner fitness? What does it really mean to be mentally fit?

This week, we dive into it all with the extraordinary Cbabi Bayoc—a visionary artist who brings stories of love, culture, and fatherhood to life. You may know him from 365 Days with Dad, the groundbreaking series reshaping the narrative of Black fatherhood with depth, strength, and heart.

This week on the Shaping Freedom podcast with Lisane Basquiat, we’re exploring the deep, evolving bond between mothers and daughters. Our guest, Lacey Tezino, knows this journey well. She’s the visionary entrepreneur behind Passport Journeys, a digital therapy app designed to help mothers and daughters reconnect and heal.

This week on the Shaping Freedom Podcast with Lisane Basquiat, we are sitting down with Sharon Joseph, CEO of the Boys and Girls Club of Harlem. However, Sharon is so much more than just a leader. Today, we’re going to explore what it means to break the silence of suffering as a black woman. 

This week on the Shaping Freedom Podcast with Lisane Basquiat we take a bird’s eye of the current state of our communities and our society at large with artist, activist, poet, musician, podcaster, and coffee curator Propaganda aka Jason Petty.

In this heartfelt and inspiring episode of the Shaping Freedom podcast, Emmy-nominated actor and Grammy-nominated songwriter Rhonda Ross shares her transformative journey from navigating deep depression and infertility to reclaiming her inner power through the "magic of mindset."

This past year we’ve had had so many meaningful conversations on the Shaping Freedom podcast. Enjoy this special episode featuring some of our most memorable moments from 2024. At the end, there’s a guided meditation led by Lisane to help you feel refreshed and ready for the new year.

2024 has been an unforgettable year, to say the least. The positives and negatives that defined this year have everyone reflecting and predicting what is waiting for us in 2025. Shaping Freedom is taking the time to look back on some of our best conversations this year with the amazing people trying to push us forward in our relationships, communities, and lives.

This week on Shaping Freedom, we’re joined by Dr. Amber Howlett-Bayoc, founder of Dharma Management and a powerful advocate for personal transformation. In this insightful and empowering conversation, we explore what it means to break free from the routines and beliefs that keep us stuck.

This week, we have a truly extraordinary guest to help guide us through this challenging and uncertain time. We have the honor of speaking with Patrisse Cullors, a co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement; however, Patrisse is so much than that. She is an artist, author, creative, and visionary behind a new art collective, The Crenshaw Dairy Mart.