Award-winning Executive Vice President of Communications and Change Management, educator, and globally recognized DEI leader, Amira Barger joins us to discuss her upcoming book, The Price of Nice: Why Comfort Keeps Us Stuck—And 4 Actions for Real Change (out October 28, 2025). In it, she explores how “niceness” can perpetuate inequity and keep us stuck in surface-level comfort and shares four practical steps to help us create real, lasting change. With nearly two decades of experience advising brands like Genentech, Pfizer, and Kaiser Permanente, Amira is also a professor and globally recognized DEI and reputation management expert. In this episode, she brings her expertise to the table, offering insights for anyone ready to move beyond appearances and start leading meaningful change.

Christian Ortiz, also known as ZacaTechO, is an Afro-Indigenous, neurodivergent visionary whose work fuses ancestral knowledge with transformative technology, and he’s joining us to talk about his groundbreaking project Justice A.I. As the founder, CEO, and developer behind Justice A.I. and the Decolonial Intelligence Algorithmic (DIA) Framework, Christian has created a model that directly confronts and resolves AI bias at its root, something governments and tech giants have long failed to do. Born in Hollywood and raised between New Jersey and the Deep South, his lived experience of structural violence and radical awakening deeply informs his work, which is grounded in the traditions of the Chichimeca people of Zacatecas, the Borikén of Puerto Rico, and African lineages. This conversation explores what it means to decolonize technology, the origins of Justice A.I., and how Christian is building tools for liberation rather than control.

Dr. Pamela Buchanan, a veteran ER physician with over 20 years of experience, joins us to share her personal journey through burnout and work fatigue as a frontline medical professional. Having worked in high-stress environments including during the height of the pandemic, she brings raw insight into the emotional toll of the job and what recovery truly looks like. As the founder of Strong Medicine STL, she now dedicates her work to supporting healthcare professionals and high achievers through coaching, telemedicine, and wellness education. A TEDx speaker known for her talk "Emotional Flatline," Dr. Buchanan is also a mental health advocate and ambassador with the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes Foundation, working to normalize emotional support in medicine and prevent physician suicide.