The Ukuvusa Podcast with Dr. Z 🎙
Born in Swaziland and raised in North Carolina, Dr. Zithobile Nxumalo (Dr. Z) has always been fascinated with transformation, human behavior and awakening. The word "ukuvusa" means "to awaken" in the southern African language, Xhosa. Each episode features powerful conversations with experts and guests whose stories shed light on the many aspects of our humanity. New episodes air LIVE Monday-Friday at 7amEST and 7pmEST - www.onyxurbanradio.net.
Archived episodes are found here. To contact Dr. Z, visit https://www.deftable.com/contact or email her at zitty@deftable.com.
The Ukuvusa Podcast with Dr. Z 🎙
Episode 41 - Meet my leadership coach, David Scruggs (Pt. 1)
May 2025 (Greensboro, NC) -- There are a few people without whom I wouldn’t have made it through 2024. 😮💨 Literally. David Scruggs, my leadership coach over the past 1.5 years, is one of them.
He spent his career coaching mostly corporate white guys pursuing the dream 💭 — money, power, respect. In our first conversation in 2022, he told me he’d reached out to me because he’d recently realized he was racist. He was seeking someone who was willing to partner with him personally and professionally to understand why, despite his BEST INTENTIONS, he still hadn’t escaped the programming. 🧠
It was the beginning of one of the most enlightening relationships I’ve ever had. 👁️ Through our conversations, I’ve seen my own ability to trick myself into my own martyrdom. Cheap people pleasing dopamine hits disguised as “helping people.” 🤯
David makes me extremely uncomfortable. Any “coach” who simply strokes your ego and makes you feel gushy isn’t worth a copper penny. 💰 And any coach who encourages a leadership that leverages the uneducated and vulnerable to pad pockets is at great risk of being aired out in 2025. I’m no exception. Neither is David. And neither are you.🫵🏽
I’m not confused about the implications of our aesthetic, our histories, our generational differences, our realities, or the wildly varying stories that may be told about us considering the climate (personal to intergalactic).😬
Podcasting is a way for the educator 🍎 in me to share my own lessons and my own truth. It lets me capture the stories of those who are no longer afraid of their own.💡 The road to self acceptance and authenticity is an obstacle course, and I hope these conversations provide some helpful tools ⚒️ and some inspiration.🎨
This episode is the beginning of a series with me and David about what it means to be a good leader in these contemporary times.
David's FB: https://www.facebook.com/djscruggs
David's Website: https://www.scruggsleadership.com/
30 min coaching consultation with Dr. Z: https://calendly.com/zitty-deftable