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Creativity, Grief, and Purpose: Dr. Maria Houston Beck on Mental Health, Mentorship, and Beck Boards

On the Black Bridge Mindset Podcast, hosts Mike, Ken, and CJ welcome Columbus-based licensed clinical psychologist and entrepreneur Dr. Maria Houston Beck, founder of Houston Wellness Solutions and Beck Boards. Beck shares how a high school psychology class and learning about mental illness and suicide in her family inspired her to pursue clinical psychology, with a career spanning trauma, mood disorders, grief, and work with incarcerated youth, including at Cook County Juvenile Detention Center. She explains training paths (PsyD vs PhD), building a private practice brick by brick, and early business lessons like pricing, policies, and payment procedures. Beck also расскаunts how personal grief and hosting family holidays led her to create Beck Boards, offering charcuterie boards, grazing tables, a mobile cart, and workshops that blend food styling with therapeutic topics. She previews her participation in Columbus’ Color of Summer event and shares where to find and book her services.

00:00 Podcast Welcome

00:35 Weekend Catch Up

02:35 Summer Plans and Festivals

03:39 Soccer Tangent

05:16 Meet Maria Houston Beck

08:20 Why She Chose Psychology

13:07 Clinical Focus and Juvenile Work

17:31 Mentors and Giving Back

20:24 Breaking Mental Health Stigma

23:52 Becoming a Psychologist

27:39 Starting Private Practice

29:03 Starting Private Practice

30:26 Brick by Brick Systems

31:39 Learning as You Go

32:52 Pricing and Policies Mistakes

35:55 Grief Sparks Creativity

40:15 Therapy Through Charcuterie

44:44 Events and Color of Summer

49:13 Where to Find and Book

52:39 Sacrifice and Self Care

55:29 Wakanda Peace Paws Finale

Instagram: @beckboards

Facebook: @BeckBoardsLLC

Morning Star Counseling

https://www.instagram.com/houstonwellness_solutionsllc/

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Hosts:

• Mike
• CJ
• Ken

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On the Black Bridge Mindset Podcast, hosts Mike, Ken, and CJ welcome Chef J.C. Pinckney, CEO of The Bougie Palate, a Tampa-based luxury catering and private chef brand inspired by her Barbados roots and love of Louisiana Creole cuisine. J.C. shares how she started cooking for friends during COVID, formalized the business in 2022, and learned entrepreneurship through free one-on-one support from the SBDC, including financial literacy, pricing strategy, and post-event “autopsies.” She explains why she avoids opening a brick-and-mortar restaurant, how she prices luxury catering (including retainers and paid tastings), and what customers often misunderstand about catering costs. J.C. discusses staffing, project management systems, marketing through social media and word of mouth, catering events up to 700+ people, and her goals to open a commissary/ghost kitchen, expand revenue streams, and create a cookbook and cooking classes.

Website: https://thebougiepalate.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebougiepalate

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Hosts:

• Mike
• CJ
• Ken

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On this episode of the Black Bridge Mindset Podcast, hosts introduce Erica Hughes, founder of Morningstar Counseling Services in Louisville, Kentucky, a practice supporting teens and adults through depression, anxiety, trauma, and major life transitions with a gentle, empowering approach.

Erica shares her path from sociology and criminology studies to Child Protective Services, then earning a master’s in mental health counseling and opening her private practice in 2018 without a formal business plan. She discusses learning business essentials like finding mentors, hiring support, getting an accountant, managing taxes, insurance, networking, and social media, and balancing therapy work with leadership, motherhood, and boundaries.

The conversation covers increased openness to therapy post-COVID, especially among Black clients and men, how to suggest therapy sensitively, and ways to reduce stigma. Erica also highlights her children’s book, “The Courage Within,” and her goals to expand into hospitals and corporate mental health education.

Instagram: @mstar_counseling

Website: Morning Star Counseling

00:00 Podcast Cold Open

00:27 Madrid Jet Lag Banter

01:40 Meet Erica Hughes

03:17 Louisville vs Chicago Check In

04:19 Morningstar Services Team

05:23 From CPS to Counseling

09:01 Launching the Practice

11:19 Moving Through Fear

14:15 Therapy in Black Communities

18:00 Entrepreneur Lessons Learned

21:10 Creating a Safe Space

22:24 Therapist Self Care Boundaries

23:28 Minority Hurdles Ahead

23:54 Breaking Into Louisville

25:06 Building Without A Plan

27:08 Mentors And Mistakes

28:17 Boundaries And Self Care

30:39 Friends As Employees

32:37 Finding The Right Therapist

35:02 Proud Of Morningstar

36:18 Bigger Vision Ahead

37:38 Talking About Therapy

39:33 Dispelling Black Stigma

42:22 Children's Book Journey

44:16 Where To Find Erica

45:22 Culture And Closing

Thank you for listening!

Follow our socials!

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Contact us:

• Email: blackbridgemindset@gmail.com

Hosts:

• Mike
• CJ
• Ken