Chef Rock Harper was the winner of season three of television reality show "Hell's Kitchen". Chef Rock was born in San Diego, California but has spent most of his life in Alexandria, Virginia. Food, hospitality and entertainment has been a part of his life from a very young age. He is married with three kids. During our conversation, he discusses various subjects including how his father passing away when he was three years old has affected him as a father and his relationships with older Black men, his challenges going through school, the first thing that he cooked, his turning point, his "Hell's Kitchen" experience and his first meeting with legendary chef Gordon Ramsey and the experience of being a young Black man who has been married for thirteen years.

On September 24, 2011, we have the opportunity to attend The Excellence Conference. The Excellence Conference was aimed at students between the ages 11 to 17 and their parents. It featured successful members of the Canadian Caribbean Community who gave career advice and guidance, touching on things like career path, level of education required, scope for upward mobility, and critical success factors for owning and operating your own business. The motivation for the conference was the low number of Caribbean students who are planning to go university or higher education need guidance. After four individual presentations by teachers to parents in the morning, a Q & A session was held in which parents asked the teachers questions. We have the Q & A session for your listen pleasure. For more information on the Excellence Conference, please go to https://www.facebook.com/pages/epeducate/148712618551126

Kai Dupé is an entrepreneur, speaker, author, and community servant who is married with two children and lives in Houston, Texas. Kai He is a doctorate student at Pepperdine University where is doing research on why African American males are underepresented in computing. He is also writes a column for the Atlanta Post. He grew up in a single parent home in San Antonio, Texas in which he was one of six children. Kai has bee a software engineer for 25 years who shares his knowledge and education to help Black men to rise above and beyond. During our conversation Kai tells us how he was able to pursue educaton while being in a challenging environment, how and when technology entered his life, how Blacks are not engaged enough and not using today's technology for their best benefit and the consequences and how can this can be changed. He tells us what book changed his life and some of the experiences that he has had that has made him into the Black man that he is today Kai also expresses his concern for African American men and their challenges. He shares some of the challenges that some Black men are facing, that Black men are worse off today than ten years ago and some solutions to resolve this issue.

On Thursday, September 22, 2011 until September 25, 2011 in Toronto, the sixth annual Commffest Global Community Film Festival presents a broad program of over 50 new films from communities around the world. Commffest continues to offer a unique platform for independent filmmakers to engage in a dialogue of social issues and cultural exchange through the powerful language of film in all genres. Commffest films represent current affairs and relevant issues, and provides an opportunity for filmmakers to express themselves freely and connect more personally with audiences. This year Commffest puts the spotlight on homelessness, screening several films from around the world portraying this epidemic. Several artists have come together to exhibit their works of the homeless and can be seen at the Rainbow Cinema Art Gallery. We had the opportunity to speak with the Commffest Creative Director, Sandra de Freitas. During our conversation tells us how she got her start in the film industry, how Commffest started and what it is about, some of her memorable Commffest moments, and some of her memorable moments, how the festival has grown over the years, some highlights of this year's festival including movies by Danny Glover and Oscar Micheaux and the challenges she encounters with funding the festival and how she overcomes them. For more information about the 2011 Commffest Global Community Film Festival, please go to: http://www.commffest.com/

BrothaTech ("The Lowdown" On All Things Tech) is Terrance Gaines, a technology writer who also specializes in residential, small business and personal technology consulting. His love for technology started in 1998 and started getting paid for technology consulting in 2008.Terrance is a husband and a father to two girls. During our chat, Terrance talks about a number of subjects where did the name "Brotha Tech" came from, the changing world of social media, how African American can make money from social media, the current hot trends in social media, how more Black men can involved in social media, the world of smartphones, the future of Blackberry, what smartphone is best for you, tablet vs. laptop, Is there still a market for latops?, the paperless environment, cloud computing, Google+, his favorite apps and his message for Black men.

Lauren DeLisa Coleman emerging tech consultant and journalist. She is head of the Punch Media Group. She is a graduate of Columbia University. Lauren was born in Pennsylvania and has spent most of her life between New York and Paris. She is a graduate of Columbia University and is always willing to challenge herself and look for voids and fill voids in business, branding and strategy. Lauren worked at MTV for many years and then started her own branding and marketing business. She worked with many of the big stars of hip hop in the 1990's. In 2000, the Punch Media Group expanded to Paris and into the world of digital. She was part of the team that created European launch of Jay Z's "Roca Wear" online and offline campaign strategy and the was key in bringing the Black music genre to the annual MIDEM music conference and along with the running of the conference. Recently, Lauren has worked the TBS in the area of digital media. Lauren is now focused on analyzing the digital space and the lack of representation of minorities and women in the digital space and is very passionate about mobile technology. She would like to help whoever she can and wants to see more representation of Blacks in the mobile market. Duirng our conversation, Lauren talks about various subjects including how Blacks need to know how to speak through their dollars, why aren't more Blacks taking advantage of the mobile market and challenges tech companies, Blacks, Black men and myself to do better. Lauren can be reached via: http://www.ldcoleman.com/ (website) connect@ldcoleman.com (email) @mediaempress (Twitter) http://www.linkedin.com/in/LaurenDeLisaColeman (LinkedIn) Click on the follow link to read Lauren's article "What's Next In The Convergence of Black Music, Advertising and Tech?": http://atlantapost.com/2011/06/27/whats-next-in-the-convergence-of-black-music-advertising-and-tech/

Dr. Elaine Spencer is the author of the book "Private Pain In Public Pews" which she brought to the stage as a play. She lives in Toronto and is married with two children. Dr. Spencer is also a professor at Toronto's York University. During our interview, Dr. Spencer discusses a number of subjects including how she started writing after attending and studying churches for a number of years, what "Private Pain In Public Pews" is about, how long it took Dr. Spencer to write the book and when she decided to take the book to the stage, how she felt the first time the play was performed, the challenge she faced casting roles, what message she would like the audience to receive, what message she would like Black men to receive and why they should come to play. Dr. Spencer closes the interview by saying how much her husband has been in helping her and her message for those attending church. "Private Pain In Public Pews" is being performed in: Ottawa, Ontario (October 15, 2011) Ajax, Ontario (October 22, 2011) Brampton, Ontario (November 5, 2011) For ticket information, please go to: http://www.drelainespencer.com/Books/The-Play/The-PLAY-Private-Pain-In-Public-Pews.html or http://www.ticketgateway.com/

Another season of the National Football League (NFL) has started. A story that continues to linger in regards to the NFL is the treatment of Black quarterbacks by many in the media. Ron Glover is the editor in chief of The Starting Five who lives in Philadelphia. He was approached by Michael Tillery who started The Starting Five to write for The Starting Five and he been part of it since. During our interview Ron discusses about the media treatment about Black NFL quarterbacks such as Terrelle Pryor, Cam Newton, Michael Vick and JaMarcus Russell, we will see more Black quarterbacks in the NFL, what the future holds for him, a story that he would like to cover that he has not (Dr. Harry Edwards), some of his favorite pieces and favorite Black athletes, the state of the Black athlete and his message for Black men. To read Ron's articles "Michael Vick, Cam Newton, Terrelle Pryor And The Media's Attempt to Deter The Black Quarterback:" http://thestartingfive.net/2011/08/26/michael-vick-cam-newton-terrelle-pryor-and-the-medias-attempt-to-deter-the-black-quarterback-part-1/ (Part One) http://thestartingfive.net/2011/08/30/michael-vick-cam-newton-terrelle-pryor-and-the-media%E2%80%99s-attempt-to-deter-the-black-quarterback-part-2/ (Part Two) Here is a video clip featuring Dr. Harry Edwards (a man that Ron would like to interview) To check out The Starting Five, please go to http://thestartingfive.net/

Before the "Social Issue Film: Getting Them Made & Seen" panel at The Toronto International Film Festival on Saturday, September 10, 2011, we had the privilege and opportunity to speak and share with Bill Duke and D. Channinsin Berry, the producers of the film, Dark Girls, which is being shown at the festival. They talk about various topics including, what it takes to make films about social issues, their film "Dark Girls", the issue of Black men making a film about Black women, what impact do they want "Dark Girls" to have and their message to Black men. Bill Duke was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, and studied dramatic art at Boston University. He is a director, actor and producer. His feature films are A Rage in Harlem(1991),Deep Cover(1992), The Cemetery Club(1993), Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993), Hoodlum (1997), Cover (2007), Not Easily Broken (2009) and Dark Girls (2011). D. Channsin Berry was born in Newark, New Jersey. In addition to his film and television work, he is also a painter and songwriter. Dark Girls (2011) is his first feature film.

We had the opportunity of seeing "The Education Of Auma Obama" last Friday afternoon during the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival. Here is the Q & A that happened after the film was show. During the Q & A, Brawen Okpako, the producer of the film talks about how the film came about. Also, Auma Obama answers some questions from the audience.