Nerd Band

Listen to "Band Nerds Forget Me Nots" on Spreaker. We Are Band Nerds’ new album, Forget Me Nots, hits shelves everywhere digitally today, February 23, 2018, via Pavement Entertainment. We Are Band Nerds is composed of Brandon Cross (Lead Singer/Rapper), Tony Lucas (Rapper/Vocalist), Dorian “Scullie” Thomas (Guitarist), Carlos “DJ Sol*Los” Juarez (DJ/Sampler), Stephen “S Dot” Bonilla (Drums), and Santos "Sandman" Johnson (Bass). The Band Nerds’ sound is a unique take on the nu metal experience, as it creatively blends elements of jazz, metal, electronic, rap, and rock music. They are Deftones meets Outkast, weaving the former’s melodic approach to hard rock with the latter’s eclectic style of hip hop to create a unique tapestry of sound, allowing their music to appeal to a variety of individuals with a range of life experiences. Their lyrics tackle the real-life perspective of middle class minorities, discussing relationships, racism, and poverty; they also provide a motivational and relatable commentary. The infectious energy on stage during a Band Nerds performance urges you to jump up and down and whip your hair back and forth, all the while screaming along to songs like “I Could Change” and “Whore.” “I Could Change” is an introspective song about feeling hopeless and stuck when your life hasn’t panned out the way you expected, and “Whore” is an all too familiar ode to being burned in a relationship and seeking non-committal relationships while nurturing your wounded soul.

Dev Aujla

Listen to "Dev Aujla 50 Ways To get A Job" on Spreaker. The age-old advice for finding a job is pretty standard: Follow your passion. Network. Work on your resume. Apply to job boards. Wait. This classic advice hasn’t changed since the 1970s. And it promotes a process that is tedious, demoralizing, and even frightening. But there is a better way! Dev Aujla, the CEO of Catalog, a recruiting and insight firm, takes a vastly different approach, grounded in three years of research, over 3000 interviews, and $500,000 in funded research. He gives people back their agency, freedom, and creativity, offering tangible steps that will actually help people find their next right job in a meaningful career. Based on Aujla’s wildly successful website of the same name, his new book 50 WAYS TO GET A JOB changes the way readers go about finding the perfect career by teaching them to ask the right questions (of themselves and others).

Sara Bendrick

Listen to "Sara Bendrick From I Hate My Yard" on Spreaker. Hi I'm Sara Bendrick! I'm a landscape designer by trade. I was born & raised in San Diego, California, and started at a young age with a passion for art, nature and an appreciation for anything living. I've always had a passion for doing as opposed to watching. When I was young I would sew doll clothes out of my old T-shirts, draw, paint, and dig in the dirt. My whole life has been about trial & error, figuring things out as I go. When I was a little older I decided I wanted chickens, so I read a book and got to it, luckily that was a success! Unlike my attempt at a 5000 Red-worm worm farm. I studied at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and received my Bachelors of Science in Landscape Architecture. As a college student I immediately got my hands dirty in the field working different landscaping gigs, including being a forewoman for a landscape maintenance company. After college I honed my residential design skills by working for a design/build firm and eventually when out on my own and started my own landscape design business. I love that I have the opportunity to combine nature with a built environment to create a sense of place. I have always been interested in horticulture & art, and designing landscapes allows me to combine both of my passions. I feel very fortunate to have a career that can combine artistic expression & environmental awareness with purpose & function. As a landscape designer with a passion for being involved with my projects, hosting the DIY Network's 'I Hate My Yard' was the perfect fit! I love to interact and help homeowners realize the opportunity in their exterior spaces. With a DIY attitude my crew and I tackle tough backyards with the help of the homeowners to keep the budget in check. I guide the homeowners through the renovation process by tasking them with fun, creative and aesthetically pleasing projects to take back the yard once & for all. Thanks for visiting me and please tune in to I Hate My Yard on the DIY Network Tuesday nights at 10pm & 10:30 EST / 7pm & 7:30pm PST! See you all there!

What Is Within

Listen to "What Is Within" on Spreaker. The headline asks a very important question that few would find joy in trying to unwind. Not a judgement but rather an observation. What is within? Especially since we all experience it on an everyday basis at work, while jogging, driving through horrid traffic or while doing something creative by way of art. A runners high is very real. A mothers way of protecting her child several blocks from where she stands is traveling within. There is a source of communication without words when you build that path toward strengthening the ability to always return to your within. Yoga, meditation, studying religion are incredible keys that open the doors of what we assume is locked. Me being me. Going within seems selfish, self serving and without the proper knowledge of knowing what to do with the higher purpose of the energy. Doctors, preachers, caretakers and other community minded individuals experience within in deeper ways. It is the act of traveling within the mind body and soul of the passerby. Not to steal but to help heal. Not to take advantage but to hear the calling out of a path that too many love to hide. My most recent challenges with a very strong minded rescued dog tested the depths of the lessons learned. We don't know the true stories of the objects in front of us. We can only assume by the way their words have described. Jazzie the rescue came from three different families. Her anxiety level was on huge overload and it was very evident I had adopted an out of control destructive dog. Every day there was more and more damage. I swear she was eating my house. I looked at Jazzie one day and asked, "Are you here to free me from a past that I cannot change and the only way to make that move is to take it from my sight?" We get wrapped up in so many things that we forget to look within. We gripe about how fast life is moving and yet the clock has never sped up its pace between the clicks. Learning to look within the shapes that unfold in front of us teaches us that it's time to hear more than your heart. Jazzie is now 22 days without bringing down the house. We meditate together, she takes me for the walks, she invites me to wander through the forest watching spring come back to life in Carolina. Jazzie has proved not to be the distraction but rather the correction. We all go through this. Maybe its time we stop pushing whats wrong away and learn from it. Use your gift of going within others so that you can see the stronger more faithful you that's still alive beneath your skin.

Stacey Abrams

Listen to "Stacey Abrams Author Of Minority Leader" on Spreaker. MINORITY LEADER is a personal story of success, a blueprint for how outsiders can become the ones in charge, and finally an argument that knowing one’s own passion is the key to success. Speak with Stacey Abrams for a look at her hard-won insights about overcoming failure, finding practical strategies that work, and rising to the top to affect real change. STACEY ABRAMS is the former Democratic Minority Leader in Georgia’s House of Representatives, and is currently running for Governor in the state of Georgia. Abrams has won national recognition for her work to register voters of color in Georgia and build Democratic power in the state, as well as for her programs to recruit, train, and hire young people. She is a successful entrepreneur, nonprofit leader, and award-winning author. Endorsed by EMILY’s List and civil rights legend Congressman John Lewis, Stacey Abrams was the 2012 recipient of the John F Kennedy New Frontier Award, and has been hailed by The New York Times as one of “14 Young Democrats to Watch.” Abrams addressed the 2016 Democratic National Convention.

Spensha Baker

Listen to "Spensha Baker From NBC's The Voice" on Spreaker. From San Antonio, TX/Current city: Boerne, TX Spensha grew up on military bases and knew very little outside of her church world. The first time she sang secular music was in 2004 on a singing competition show in which she came in second place and was signed to Interscope Records. At 12, Spensha released Interscope's first gospel record and toured the world. After her deal ended, Spensha moved to Nashville with her mother where country sparked her interest, but the pressure of the industry caused Spensha to move back. She now has her real estate license and is learning to love music again.

David Ricciardi

Listen to "David Ricciardi Creator Of Warning Light" on Spreaker. In a mere matter of days after receiving a manuscript, the most revered thriller writers were raving about David Ricciardi’s debut novel, WARNING LIGHT—from Steve Berry to Larry Bond and Alex Berenson. Quotes began lining the editor’s inbox after a mere weekend of sending out the manuscript. Mark Greaney has called it “a blazing thriller with relentless pace and impressive detail,” and Lee Child has predicted that WARNING LIGHT “one of the best thrillers you’ll read this year.” Ryan Steck of the Real Book Spy has already called the book “an early favorite for best debut thriller of the year.” WARNING LIGHT takes off with a bang, as a new covert operator by the name of Zac Miller enters the scene, literally flying under the radar on a job for the CIA. Zac finds himself amidst a mission gone wrong, and soon embarks on a globe-trotting epic in order to clear his own name and set the record straight before he can be captured by the Iranian government—or a litany of enemies he makes along the way to get back to his bosses and save his own skin. With a crafty, daring protagonist reminiscent of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, Robert Ludlum’s Jason Bourne, and even Jack Bauer from 24, WARNING LIGHT grabs hold of readers and never lets go until the very last sentence. Ricciardi spins a tale of one man’s harrowing fight-or-flight journey of survival as the whole world puts a target on his chest. Ricciardi’s over-the-top tale of espionage and escape is brimming with action and twists around every corner. All it takes is ten pages into the book to become hooked. When a commercial flight violates restricted airspace to make an emergency landing at a closed airport in Iran, the passengers are just happy to be alive and ready to transfer to a functional plane. All of them except one . . .The American technology consultant in business class is not who he says he is. Zac Miller is a CIA analyst. And after an agent’s cover gets blown, Zac–though never trained to be a field operative–volunteers to take his place, to keep a surveillance mission from being scrubbed. Zac thinks it will be easy to photograph the earthquake-ravaged airport that is located near a hidden top secret nuclear facility. But when everything that can go wrong does, he finds himself on the run from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards and abandoned by his own teammates, who think he has gone rogue. Embarking on a harrowing journey through the mountains of Iran to the Persian Gulf and across Europe, Zac can only rely on himself. But even if he makes it out alive, the life he once had may be lost to him forever . . . About the author : A keen outdoorsman, DAVID RICCIARDI incorporated many personal experiences into Warning Light. He's backpacked through the mountains of the western United States and Alaska, received extensive training from law-enforcement and US special operations personnel, and once woke up for a 2 AM watch aboard a sailboat only to discover that it was headed the wrong way through the Atlantic sea lanes in heavy weather, with one of the crew suffering from hypothermia. In addition to being an avid sailor, David is also a certified scuba rescue diver and a former ski instructor. WARNING LIGHT is his first novel.