Ray has never shied away meeting life’s challenges. From emigrating to the US as a Canadian, moving from the East Coast to the Pacific Northwest, to seizing the opportunity to start a family business in Africa. One of the constants amid these distinct eras in his life was his alcohol. Like for many of us, Ray enjoyed a shot of whiskey, a flute of champagne, or a dark moody bottle of red wine often punctuating moments of joy, celebration, sadness, anger and even desperation. 

In becoming a husband and father, combined with isolation from the COVID pandemic, Ray realized that his relationship with alcohol had become incongruent with the person he wanted to be for his family - and most importantly for himself. In that he pursued the challenge of personal and mental well being, starting with giving up alcohol.  

Since starting his sobriety journey in September 2021, Ray took great solace in listening to other individuals’ stories of sobriety through podcasts. Feeling less alone and hearing success stories empowered him to continue his own sobriety journey and self-discovery. As healing as these stories were, something important was missing. 

Many podcasts, influencers and prominent voices in this space are not narratives representing the Black experience or take into account the unique context of what “health” “wellness” or “sobriety” means to the black community and other people of color. To pay it forward, and progress in his own journey, Ray developed the Podcast Stack’n’Days as a way to elevate, explore and share voices of color and perspectives in the sobriety and wellness space and help draw power and community along the way.