The Neil Haley Show Featuring Brandon T. Jackson, Deborah Palmer, and Sarah Hanks

The Dr. Christopher Hall Show simulcast opened with comedian, actor, and entrepreneur Brandon T. Jackson, known for Wild 'N Out, Big Mommas, Tropic Thunder, and Percy Jackson. Brandon shared his journey growing up in both Detroit and West Bloomfield with a spiritual leader father who taught him to embrace different cultures, becoming both class clown and class president, and starting comedy in his father's church before being discovered at the Laugh Factory in LA at 19. He traced his pivot from Hollywood star to founder of the Kingdom brand, including KOE Studios (which produced his upcoming first dramatic role Trap City with Kyba Films and B4 Entertainment), Kingdom Pay (a family-focused fintech and banking platform), a clothing line, a film distribution network, and a P-Trade mentorship platform teaching financial literacy to over 1,000 teachers. Brandon, comparing himself to a mix of Jeff Bezos and Tyler Perry, emphasized that creators no longer need to wait on gatekeepers and that giving back through knowledge and mentorship is true richness. He credited his father, the only African American faith-based inspirational television network owner reaching 100 million homes, as his most important mentor. Find him at KingdomPay.com and @brandontjackson.Neil then welcomed Deborah Palmer, PhD nurse practitioner and author of Between Wounded and Well: Lessons in Healing, A Nurse Practitioner's Memoir. Deborah used the four physical wound healing stages (hemostasis, inflammation, proliferation, and maturation) as a metaphor for the Four A's of emotional and spiritual healing: Awareness, Acknowledging universal connections, Actions, and Acceptance. She walked through her seven reoccurring resilience practices, all starting with P: Pursue purposeful connection, Prioritize self-care, Participate in supportive partnerships, Pardon yourself and others, Pursue perpetual lifelong learning, Protect your perimeter, and Provide praise and gratitude. Deborah referenced Dr. Vincent Felitti's Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) study, which found that 70 percent of a White, middle-class, highly educated survey population reported two or more childhood adversities, and that those adversities physically damage memory and self-soothing brain regions, contributing to chronic disease, obesity, and hypertension. She also addressed how bullying outside the home is a form of childhood trauma, noting that bullies are often themselves victims of high ACE scores. Deborah closed with news of a four-book Between Rivers series chronicling her French fur trader and Native American ancestors who founded one of the first trading posts on the Mississippi, plus a daily devotional inspired by years of journaling on the Lord's Prayer. Her e-book is 99 cents in May for Nurses Week. Visit DebraPalmer.com.Neil closed with The Mitchell S. Karnes Podcast featuring Sarah Hanks, founder of the Brave Authors collective and award-winning Christian fiction author of split-time and time-slip novels. Sarah shared her remarkable family story: she and her husband have 10 children, including son Joel (adopted at age seven with Down syndrome, now 21 and in a pre-employment program with his own Joel's Joy Instagram), Hero (adopted as an infant with two chromosomal deletions, now three years old), and Nora (now eight months old, biologically Asian, adopted as an embryo). Sarah explained that adoptable embryos represent a significant need her family stepped into rather than competing for limited domestic infant adoptions during COVID. On the writing side, she described her debut Mercy Will Follow Me, her Sisters in Arms split-time series featuring female Civil War soldiers, and her Time Sailor time-slip series including Braving Strange Waters. Sarah defined the split-time genre as a contemporary storyline mirrored against a historical one, and shared why she as a White author feels called to tackle racism and other difficult topics in her fiction. Find her books on Amazon and at...