https://www.linkedin.com/in/jen-caldwell-ph-d-mph-ms-0a95aa182/

https://www.instagram.com/thedrjenn/

Genetics does not work in a vacuum, and Dr. Jennifer Caldwell makes the case that your environment, culture, and family history can matter just as much as your DNA. If you care about health, ancestry, or how to help your community make better choices, this conversation will change how you think about genetic testing, food, and trust in science.

Albert Grandy III sits down with Dr. Jen, a public health geneticist and assistant professor at Pennington Biomedical, to break down what genomics actually means, why health behavior changes are so hard to spark, and why simply telling people their genetic risk does not always make them act. She shares findings from her work in Louisiana, including a study on whether learning genetic risk before or after a 14-week health intervention changes engagement—and the results are more surprising than you might expect.

You’ll discover:

• Why genomics, genetics, and epigenetics are different
• How environment, stress, processed food, and even walkability shape health outcomes
• Why African-American foodways and cultural preservation matter in nutrition conversations
• How genetic testing can be used more proactively, not just reactively
• Why community trust, counseling, and education are essential for meaningful science

Dr. Jen also shares how her team built a digital health platform and documentary series to educate Louisiana communities, why museums and churches can be powerful sources of ancestral records, and how a better understanding of family history can support precision medicine. She explains why AI should be treated as a tool, not a search engine, and why the future of genetics depends on making science more relatable, more accessible, and more community-driven.

Dr. Ron Eglash, Director

The Center for Generative Justice

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ron-eglash/

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ron-Eglash

Value extraction is destroying our forests, our labor, our communities, and even our tech. Ron Eglash argues there’s a better way, and it starts with designing systems that circulate value instead of siphoning it.

Albert Grandy III talks with Dr. Ron Eglash about generative justice, a framework built on the idea that people and communities should directly participate in the benefits they create. Eglash traces the roots of this thinking from his father’s restorative justice work to his own research on fractals, indigenous design, and circular economies, showing how the same patterns can appear in African textiles, Detroit worker co-ops, and even AI systems.

You’ll discover:

• Why extraction is the hidden logic behind inequality, environmental damage, and platform capitalism
• How bottom-up systems in indigenous communities create resilience, democracy, and adaptability
• What fractals reveal about labor, culture, and the transmission of Black and Indigenous knowledge
• How Eglash and his team built worker-owned AI tools like Upsy and Sancofa Sizer for upcycling, textiles, and design
• Why the real question for AI is not whether it has bias, but what kind of social world its bias is serving

Ron shares examples from African circular economies, Gee’s Bend quilts, Navajo weaving, controlled burns, and Detroit-based artisan businesses to show how regenerative systems already exist, and how they can be translated into modern computing, fabrication, and local supply chains.He also explains why the false choice between capitalism and state socialism misses a crucial third path: worker-owned, grassroots economies that keep ownership, agency, and value in the hands of the people doing the work. If you care about AI, sustainability, Black innovation, community wealth, or the future of work, this conversation will change how you think about what “efficiency” is actually for.