Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Maxine Bryant. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Maxine thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?
My company, Bryant Educational Seminars & Training Global Enterprise, LLC, is committed to delivering the BEST quality and accurate training experiences across various domains, promoting diversity, personal enhancement, and social justice. This requires a commitment to holistic, accurate truth. That’s where my newest brand, GriotSpeaks comes in. In Africa, the Griot is the village history keeper. It is his/her responsibility to ensure everyone knows and remembers the stories of their greatness. The Griot speaks through oral tradition and through music/song. It became clear to me in the classroom and through BEST, that people do not know or recognize Black greatness and genius. I became committed to making sure that all people know of the genius of Black people. This knowledge serves to heal and foster a greater sense of self for Black people and provide white people with an appreciation of Black genius, which can serve to help them re-think how Black people have often been portrayed and misjudged.
Maxine, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My journey began in the criminal justice system—working with individuals both behind bars and as they reentered society. My academic training prepared me for the work, but it was my lived experience that opened my eyes. Over and over, I saw the same troubling pattern: Black people were being incarcerated at disproportionate rates, serving longer sentences than their white counterparts.
I wanted to know and understand why.
It’s easy to point to a biased system. But I needed to understand how that bias was built, where it began, and—more importantly—what we as Black people can do to challenge its grip on our lives.
That question led me deep into the rich and often hidden history of African and African American people. I started at the source—Africa. What I discovered significantly impacted my perspective and drive. I uncovered truths about our heritage, our brilliance, and the legacy of innovation that predates slavery. I confronted the lies we’ve been told and I peeled back layer after layer of messaging designed to make Black people doubt our worth.
From that unraveling, GriotSpeaks was born—a platform to reclaim truth, to heal, and to educate.
I offer GriotSpeaks Educational Modules that offer a transformative journey that illuminates the rich, untold stories of Africa and the African Diaspora. Through GriotSpeaks I replace outdated myths with riveting, factual knowledge designed to inspire and empower. There are 4 Modules that are 4 weeks in length and meet for one hour each week. I offered Module one in April, May and June, 2025. Twenty people have completed the modules to date. I will start again in September. In addition to virtual modules, I use GriotSpeaks to tell accurate truth through print media and face/face speaking. As an award-winning journalist, I take my role to educate people through print media quite seriously. I have written monthly columns for the Savnanah Morning News and currently write monthly for the Indianapolis Recorder.
I believe what sets me apart from others is my passion and commitment to truth. That means I thoroughly research every piece I write or speak. I examine all angels so that I am sharing accurate truth – not just ‘my truth’.
I am most proud of the fact that I have put my money where my mouth is and have traveled to 5 countries in Africa so that I can combine research with experience to create an authentic and transformative experience for my audiences. I’m also proud of the board game that I’ve created that is scheduled to be released in September/October.
Additionally, I am proud to be a 2022 TEDx Speaker. My topic focused on successful societal reintegration of prisoners. Within the realm of criminal justice I continue to offer an annual conference for justice impacted people that I started about 20 years ago in Indianapolis, IN. It is called the When Is The Debt Paid conference.
I am also proud to be an author. I have published 3 books – i want my groove back…God’s Way (a Bible based self-help book), and two books of poetry. In just 1-2 months, my fourth book will be out which is called Finding Peoples. It chronicles my search for my biological family and the lives we were living while apart. I am publishing Finding Peoples through GriotSpeaks because it explores nuanaces within the Black family regarding adoption, the notion of nurture vs. nature, and generational poverty.
What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?
In 1989 I opened up a federal halfway house in Saginaw, MI. My passion was clearly criminal justice. Prior to that I was a trainer with the Saginaw Public School system. That’s where I gained skills as a workshop facilitator. When I left Saginaw to return to Indianapolis to care for my terminally ill mother, I continued in the field of criminal justice and eventually became the Exec Dir of an organization that provided services to persons in our local jail and to those needing assistance upon release from incarceration. After leaving that job, I landed a position where I designed and facilitated workshops for women incarcerated in our state prison. I was recruited to work with a local substance abuse hospital to design and facilitate workshops for professionals in addiction and corrections. I was recruited from there to work as a Training Manager for an agency providing training for health care professionals. While at that job, I was frequently asked to design and facilitate trainings for corrections, substance abuse, and other arenas. Eventually, those trainings began to interfere with my employment. My boss offered to allow me to quit my job and be re-hired as a contractor so that I could have the freedom to grow my side hustle into a full time business. My “job” became like an incubator for me. That was how I formally launched Bryant Educational Seminars & Training in 1998.
For 11 years I lived off of my business and hired others to work for me under contract. I expanded my training and consulting business to include offering reentry services to a local group, a couple of state agencies, and eventually the US Attorney’s Office. I built a home and raised two children with that business! I didn’t slow down until the economy took a turn in 2010. Then I got a full time job in offender reentry–but I kept my business going- it just became a side hustle again and remained so until this year. I’m now retired and again, living off of my business.
One milestone included expanding from just training to including project management of government contracts focusing on reentry. Another milestone was creating a subsidiary where I sold headstones and markers – BEST Monuments and Markers. That came out of an opportunity to partner with a funeral director and filled a need when the training business was slow.
I am again experiencing a milestone as I pivot my business to nurture the GriotSpeaks brand.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
I enjoy a solid reputation as an expert in both criminal justice and African/African American history and culture. My commitment to excellence contributes, no doubt, to my reputation.
Within the criminal justice arena, professionals and formerly incarcerated people alike seek me out for my expertise and guidance. They know I genuinely care about the plight of formerly incarcerated persons.
Within the local Gullah Geechee and Black community, I have gained a reputation as a noted expert – no doubt due to my monthly columns which focus on the Black community and my community involvement – even while employed at Georgia Southern University (where I retired from). I was hired as a criminal justice instructor; however, by the time I retired, I was the founding director of the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Center and the director of the Center for Africana Studies.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.drmaxinebryant.com
- Instagram: griotspeakssav
- Facebook: Maxine Bryant and GriotSpeaks
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxinebestchoiceconsulting/
- Twitter: maxibtweets
- Youtube: Dr. Maxine Bryant @dr.maxinebryant2589
