‘Lesbian’ seagulls and ‘gay’ rams: the endless sexual diversity of nature

This is an I Heart Podcast. Guaranteed Human. Run a business and not thinking about podcasting? Think again, more Americans listen to podcasts than add supported streaming music from Spotify and Pandora. And as the number one podcaster, I Heart's twice as large as the next two combined. Learn how podcasting can help your business. Call 844-844-I Heart. Number one hits, millions of records sold. Awards sold out toers. You think the Jonas Brothers are satisfied? Nope. It's podcast time. We just asked other people questions worse than tired of being asked questions. Hey Jonas is available now and their first guest is a big one. Paul Rudd. You know Steve Carell is a great singer. Can you tell you not to audition at the office or something? I told him. Whoa. We were filming Anchor Man. Clearly I was the idiot. Thank God he didn't listen to him, right? Listen to Hey Jonas on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is Saigon, the story of my family and of the country that shaped us. From my heart podcast, Saigon. You're gonna think I'm serious about a free Vietnam? One city, a divided country in the war that tore America apart. For Vietnam. For Vietnam. They're pouring petrol all over here. Freedom from Vietnam. There's a fire coming to this country and it's going to burn out everything. Listen to Saigon. On the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you're watching the latest season of the Real Housewives of Atlanta, you already know there's a lot to break down. Of course you're accusing Kelly of sleeping with a Mary Man. They holding K. Michelle back from fighting droop. Pinky has financial issues. On the podcast, Reality with the King, I, Carlos King, recap the biggest moments from your favorite reality shows, including the Real Housewives franchise. The drama, the alliances, and the tea everybody's talking about. To hear this and more, listen to Reality with the King on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my show. I'm Richa McDonald, the host of Money Making Conversations Masterclass. When we encourage people to stop reading other people's success stories and start planning your own. Now you don't want to miss an episode. So please take a moment right now to follow or subscribe to Money Making Conversations Masterclass. It's free. You can follow me on I Heart Radio app, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your podcast. New Money Making Conversations Masterclass episodes drop daily. I want to keep you on alert because my guests provide tips on how you can uplift your community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be successful entrepreneur. Now let's get this podcast started. My guest created the HPC U Week Foundation in 2017 with a mission to promote enrollment in historically black colleges and universities, which is HPCUs. Provides scholarships and create pathways for students from undergrad to corporate America. HPC U Week has facilitated, facilitated over 10,000. Listen to y'all. 10,000 on the spot acceptance to HPCUs and awarded nearly $100 million in scholarships to HPCUs. If that's not spectacular, I don't know what it is. Please work in the Money Making Conversations Masterclass. The one and only Ashley Christopher. How you doing, Ashley? Hey, hey, we're fine. Good to be here. How are you? You know, Ashley, I build it up. You just, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, you know. How you doing? I'm doing well. You know, 10,000. Come on, Ashley. 10,000 people. Now, young people, you know, that you've owned the spot registration at your event. $100 million in scholarships. Because that's what we talk about now. Get out of college, not carrying that debt, own for the rest of their life. Talk about the HPC U Week. What is it exactly? And also explain to my audience what is on the spot acceptance? Yeah, so I mean, our on the spot acceptance process happens every year at our college fair. So we do a week long activation which emulates an HPC homecoming experience. At the week long, it's in Wilmington, Delaware. We do all the exciting things like concerts, comedy shows, a battle, the bands, panel discussions, block parties. But the cornerstone event is the college fair because that's where students can get accepted into college on the spot and receive a scholarship award. So if you come as a graduating senior and you have the requisite SAT or ACP score and GPA, you could be admitted right there. And unfortunately, we have been able to provide that kind of access for 10,000 students since 2017. When did you realize? First of all, what, let's talk about your background. You're double HPC U, right? You look at everybody, you're academic background and what do you start? And why did you choose an HPC U? Well, the funny thing is I was fortunate enough to grow up in a household where my parents encouraged me to choose an HPC U. My high school didn't necessarily do that. They didn't even discuss or acknowledge HPC U. But because of my parents already knew in my mind that that was the direction I wanted to go. I did go to an all-girls Catholic high school. So even though I really did want to go to Spelman at first, that quickly became a non-negotiable for me. I didn't want to do the all-girls thing again. So after that, Howard became my first choice. And it was the best decision I could have ever made. So I went to Howard University for Undergraduate School and then I went to the University of DC Law School finishing up there in 2013. Now, when you talk about these different scholarships that you are dealing with and putting out there, how did you start the HPC U week? And what was the original goal? Because now it's huge. But you have to start somewhere in here. Usually by yourself when you start in house and you have this insane idea to change the world. Talk about those early days before it was 10,000 on the spot where it was acceptance. And before there was a hundred million dollars in scholarships to a 10 HPC U. Yeah, well, you know, I think the stars kind of aligned and I was, you know, trying to figure out what my thing was. At the moment, I had recently finished law school. I was successful with the bar exam. So I was licensed to practice and Pennsylvania and New Jersey. And I'm trying to figure out what my next step is going to be. So I ended up meeting the newly elected mayor in the city of Wilmington. And we struck a really good relationship very quickly. So what we did was we ended up working together. And as an employee of this, he asked me to come up with some programming that was pointed directly at some of Wilmington's most underserved community. So I wanted to lean into education and in doing that, I came up with this concept of HPC U week as a former chairman or chairwoman of Howard University Homecoming. That gave me a clear backdrop for large scale event planning. And that coupled with my love for HPC U and wanting to just expose students to the same experience I had, that's what led me to create this foundation. Now this foundation initially started now this is what I would love people, you know, when he has something that you accomplish and you're doing this in Wilmington, Delaware. Okay, that's not the major city as we all know, just south of Philadelphia, you know, and right there alone, you go, did you see getting this big or you just starting an initiative that you dream, you dreamed of and you felt that you can impact just a community locally because you're impacting the country now, not just the community of Delaware Wilmington Delaware. Yeah, and to the honest with you, I had no idea. And honestly, the goal wasn't even for this to be a national event. The goal was to take care of the students in my hometown, to get them the exposure that they needed because I knew, you know, a lot of people where I grew up, don't even think college is an option. So I wanted to make sure that they were taken care of and in doing that, it was very easy to show or demonstrate the passion and authenticity behind the mission and getting the students involved and excited about it. And it just kind of caught on to all the surrounding areas, students from different schools, our college fair started to attract everyone from the Delaware Valley, not just Wilmington, but Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, even as far as Connecticut. And as far as South as Kentucky, we had a bus with Kentucky drive up to the college fair. So, I mean, I think that it speaks volumes when you love what you do. And you're you have a real passion and drive behind just the impact. It catches on and people just I think naturally get excited about it. Yeah, I'm talking to Ashley Christopher her HPC you would foundation that she started in 2017. Passion is to grow the brand awareness of HPC use, but more importantly, then attendance and also to put students in the position where tier one students in particular, they can go to school via scholarships. So far, this is 2017, 10,000 on the spot acceptance. That means when these students bring the ACT or SAT and they transcript to the college fair, they'll meet with a counselor at this particular HPC you and they can be accepted on the spot. I've seen it with my own eyes. I've seen these kids. walk away with a number of four rides, partial scholarship offers right there. I've seen long lines. I've seen it so many times and a hundred million dollars in scholarship. Can you tell people basically you have other scholarships that you are making available, especially in the STEM area? Can you discuss that with us on air? Oh yeah, but yeah, I would say that my most popular scholarship is the STEM scholarship is the future of STEM scholars initiative and it is a $40,000 award available to students that are committed to attend an HBCU and declare a STEM major. So I was able to broker a $40 million partnership with the American Chemistry Council so that $40,000 scholarship is available to 1,000 students. We've given away just under 600 of those awards so far with North Carolina A&T being the premier HBCU STEM school. We have about 125 scholars there, followed by 78 at Howard University and there are 46 HBCUs that have Fossys scholars enrolled so that's our most popular one, the $40,000 STEM scholarship and that application goes live every September on HBCUweek.org. You know Ms. Layser focus. I have so many people contacting me. Rishan, can you help me with a grant? Can you grant me? You know what does grant writing? Rishan, how do you Ashley Christopher get a $40 million opportunity out of a company that benefits our youth today and then convince that same company that there is better served if they that money goes to students who go to attend HBCUs. You know it all worked to my benefit somehow. I really just being in the space that I'm in and experiencing the success that I have in the short period of time, I can't take credit for it. I'm a person of strong faith and I know that but for my relationship with God this wouldn't be a thing but specifically the $40 million partnership while I was in Wilmington and figuring out how we were going to activate HBCUweek. There were some companies, Wilmington based companies that were excited about my idea that wanted to jump in and participate. One of those companies was the Comores Company. My dear friend who is the former president and CEO Mark Fregnano wanted to jump in and help with his scholarship because he told me personally that the STEM industry is experiencing a serious deficit with jobs and by 2025 they were facing a deficit of a million jobs and he wanted to do what he could to fill those spaces with diverse candidates because he knows STEM makes the world go around. There's questions and problems that needs to be solved and everybody around that table looks the same were in trouble. So Mark Fregnano was actually on a mission to diversify the field of STEM. So he jumped in initially with $7,000 $40,000 scholarship. That's how this scholarship started. You started with seven. Seven. It started with seven and it grew to a thousand after Mark told his colleagues in the American Chemistry Council what we were doing and we had a few meetings told them how impactful that this scholarship opportunity would be and sold the idea to get the American Chemistry Council to participate. So it was just kind of a waiting game and then it came back and said hey we're in for 40 million. I mean I don't even have the words for how I felt when that happened to grow from $7,000 $40,000 scholarships to a thousand after just a few conversations. It's divine. There's really no other explanation for it. Let's give the website out right now because I know a lot of people are excited. They hear me mention your name but they need to know now how they can participate because this is real money. This is real opportunities. This I have known her since 2018 and everything she says is happening will be right back with more money making conversation with Ashley Christopher the $100 million lady. Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more money making conversations. Masterclass. Now I need for you to do me a favor. Right now to follow or subscribe to money making conversation. It's free and you can find it on the iHeartRadio app, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Please do me that favor. Follow or subscribe money making conversations. Think again. More Americans listen to podcasts than add supported streaming music from Spotify and Pandora. And as the number one podcaster iHeart's twice as large as the next two combined. So whatever your customers listen to, they'll hear your message. Plus only iHeart can extend your message to audiences across broadcast radio. Think podcasting can help your business. Think iHeart. Streaming, radio and podcasting call 844 844 iHeart to get started. That's 844 844 iHeart. Number one hits millions of records sold. Awards sold out tours. No. It's podcast time. We asked other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Paul Rudd. I told him. Listen to Hey Jonas on the iHeart radio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Here's something that should not be as complicated as it is. Getting a racist statue removed. And here's something that should be a whole lot easier than it is. Getting a new one put up in its place. As long as the politics of race in America, there's going to be a politics of remembering the Civil War. To get to school I had to go down Robert E. Lee Boulevard. Get to the grocery store. I had to go down Jefferson Davis Parkway. If you're in a story and you leave out half of what the history is you're not doing your job. I'm Achila Hughes. In Rebel Spirit season two goes deep on both of those things. The fights, the politics, the people who won, and my personal campaign to add something to the Kentucky State House that's actually worth the wall space. We are more than our bodies. We contain essence. We contain spirit. How do you represent that? They are just healing a fire that is really catching. You'll see what I mean. Listen to Rebel Spirit season two on the iHeart Radio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Keith Jim Anko seemed like a mild mannered suburban dad. But secretly he became someone else, a master of disguise who went on a crime spree. At the time did it seem like a crazy idea? It seemed very crazy. But I felt so desperate that I felt it was the quickest easiest way out. Did you allow yourself to think about how we could go wrong and what that might look like? No. I didn't want to manifest that. I wasn't. I was trying to manifest success. Every family has its secrets. But what happens when you discover that your dad has been living a double life? That is not the look of an innocent man. This is going to change my life and my family dynamic forever because everything that had existed prior in my reality is now untrue. Listen to Deep Cover the Family Man. I'm the iHeart Radio app Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back to Money Making Conversation Masterglass with me, Rishan Megdoll. Hi, this is Rishan Megdoll. Yes, you're listening to Money Making Conversation Masterglass. And my interview or interview that I'm having right now is with Ashley Christopher. Her background HBCU Week Foundation, she started in 2017. I'm just getting everybody pumped up because of a person to do in less than eight years to have registered 10,000 students on the spot at her career fairs and awarded these individuals over $100 million nearly $100 million of scholarships. Got a $40 million STEM program where they have for $1,000, $40,000 scholarships where over 600 students have fulfilled those. That means they have slots right now if your child is interested in a STEM that wanted an attendant HBCU. This is the person you need to be talking to. She's providing real opportunity to your one students and your child is going to be taken care of. Now that's the dream you almost didn't see because you came across a physical obstacle came about in your life. Tell us about that and how you was able to overcome that and we understand even more so the value of having you in our life today and what you've accomplished and we'll continue to accomplish in the future. Talk about that moment in your life where you didn't see that coming. Oh yeah, it was a little more than 10 years ago. I woke up one Sunday morning and I could not feel the right side of my body. After looking at my hand or my arm and my leg and my brain telling it to move but it wouldn't. I knew that there was something serious happening so I was able to get the attention of my mother who came to my side and put both her hand on my face told me to smile. and I couldn't so she knew what was happening in. Called the ambulance and I was having a stroke at 29 and it was due to birth control use. I had to learn to write again, I had to go through physical therapy to get on blood thinner, to get my blood back to a normal level. And obviously eliminate the use of hormonal birth control all together. But it did create a different sense of drive and purpose in me. Because there were some moments that in that space for anybody that's listening that has experienced something like that, where you question whether or not you'll survive. And then if you do, what's next? And you want to make it the best of it, because you just never know what's around the corner. And when I adopted that sense of purpose and drive, it kind of just turned my ambition up a few notches. So not only am I focused on the foundation, but I'm particular about the things I eat and making sure I maintain a healthy active lifestyle. Anything I can do to slow the clock down, that's what I'm doing. Well, Ashley, thank you. You know, with your subdued self, you know, your focus self. No, thank you for having me. Thank you. Thank you for taking the time. I really do. No, you're fantastic. And I think I hope people here are high value. What you're doing to our youth in America, our value, your laser focus, our value, your passion. Because it's something you basically survive, stroke, retrain yourself. 2017, you found in an organization as a local cause, turning into a national cause. When you started with $7,000, $40,000 scholarships, now it's 1,000. You now have registered over 10,000 on the spot students at your career fairs to go to HPCUs and award a nearly $100 million scholarship. If I can't help tooth your horn, who can? Thank you, Ashley, Christopher. You're amazing and continue to change lives with our youth because definitely you are a blessing. Thank you for coming on Monday Making Conversation after class. Thank you so much for sharing. I appreciate the time. All right, we talk soon. Thank you for listening to this episode. Right now, you'll follow or subscribe to Monday Making Conversation. It's free. And you can find it on the iHeartRadio app, Spotify, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow or subscribe Monday Making Conversations. Keep winning. Hey guys, it's us, the Jonas Brothers, I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick and guess what? We created our own podcast called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast. Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. First people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it, but tired and sick. Tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Just listen, we don't care where you hear it. This is Saigon, the story of my family, and of the country that shaped us. From iHeart Podcast, Saigon, you're to think I'm serious about a free Vietnam. For Vietnam. They're putting Patrick all at once. Freedom of Vietnam. Listen to Saigon. On the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you're watching the latest season of the Real House of Atlanta, you already know there's a lot to break down. They holding K Michelle back from fighting Drew. On the podcast, reality with the king, I Carlos King recapped the biggest moments from your favorite reality shows, including the Real House-wise franchise, the drama, the alliances, and the tea everybody's talking about. To hear this and more, listen to reality with the king on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Happy Pride from the Outspoken Podcast Network? All month long and all year round, we're celebrating being loud, proud, and always original. It's me, Brandon Cullgoodman. Host of the podcast, tell me something messy. Check out my show for unfiltered takes on dating, relationships, and adulting. Listen to high key for the best pop culture takes, and there are no girls on the internet for all your tech news. For your favorite celebrity key cues, check out Outlaws with T.S. Madison. Learn to love yourself unapologetically with BFF, Black Fat Fem, and start your day with intention with waking up with Ryan coming in July. Celebrate Pride with the Outspoken Network. Open your free iHeartRadio app, search Pride, and listen now.