Podcast Episode 1: Keila Evans “Basketball, Identity, Grief, Motherhood & Reinvention”

Keila Evans is a former standout athlete whose journey reflects resilience, leadership, and growth beyond the game. A decorated high school competitor, she earned recognition as an Adidas, Nike, Gatorade, and Parade High School All-American, a Street & Smith All-American, and a McDonald’s All-American Game nominee. She went on to become a standout collegiate athlete and fierce competitor, known for carrying both strength and sensitivity in the same breath.

Keila and Dr. Josiah came up playing select ball with Team Unique under Coach James and Coach Jerry, attending elite camps and showcases including Blue Star Select, All Games Sports, and Reebok (just to name a few), where discipline, resilience, and sisterhood were forged.

Today, Keila channels that same intensity into art. A contemporary mixed media artist, her vibrant pop-art–inspired work explores identity, emotion, and personal narrative through bold color, oil pastels, acrylics, and mural work. Influenced early by museum experiences with her mother and comic art styles, Keila’s creative journey evolved alongside her athletic one. She has exhibited work in Baltimore and internationally, sold a piece in Mexico City, and has upcoming exhibitions in Harlem, NY (“The Glass House”) and a solo show at Quid Nunc Art Gallery (2026).

On Beyond the Final Buzzer, Keila shares insight on transition, identity, and redefining success beyond performance, showing how the lessons from sport shape purpose for life.

Podcast Recording: Episode 1

Podcast Episode 2: Shania Johnson “Faith, Injury, Selfhood, & Becoming”

Shania Johnson is a former professional basketball player whose journey reflects perseverance, faith, and creative becoming beyond the game. Raised in Frederick, Maryland, she emerged as a disciplined and versatile athlete, carving a path from junior college to Division I basketball and ultimately to professional play overseas an achievement reached by fewer than one percent of athletes. Her career demanded not only elite skill, but deep trust in herself and in God as the path unfolded in unexpected ways.

Shania and Dr. Josiah share deep roots, family, community, and basketball lineage, growing up in Frederick and navigating the demanding ecosystems of competitive basketball together. From early gyms to higher levels of play, their shared experiences shaped a mutual understanding of discipline, sacrifice, and the unspoken pressures placed on Black women athletes to perform, endure, and persist.

Throughout her career, Shania faced profound challenges, including two torn ACLs, extended time overseas, and personal grief. These moments disrupted the rhythm of the game and forced a reckoning with identity, mental health, and purpose, particularly as a Black woman and member of the LGBTQIA+ community navigating athletic spaces that did not always allow for full authenticity.

Today, Shania channels her creativity and care into multiple roles beyond the court. She is a special education assistant teacher, basketball trainer, tattoo artist, fiancée, and mother, each expression reflecting the same artistry, intention, and resilience that once defined her game. While the medium has changed, her creativity has not.

On Beyond the Final Buzzer, Shania shares a powerful reflection on faith, injury, transition, and redefining success beyond performance. Her story reminds us that the game may end, but becoming does not.

Podcast Recording: Episode 2

Podcast Episode 3: Ayana Howard “Legacy, Leadership, Lineage, & Expansion”

Ayana Howard is a former Division I athlete, multi-sport competitor, and one of Philadelphia’s most respected architects within the sports ecosystem. Ayana’s journey reflects lineage, discipline, and the evolution of identity beyond performance. Raised in a family where excellence in sport was both inheritance and expectation, she learned early that greatness is carried not just in talent but in responsibility.

Ayana and Dr. Josiah share a lived understanding of what it means to navigate legacy-heavy spaces as Black women athletes. Growing up in competitive athletic environment where performance was constant and composure expected, both understand the invisible weight of representing family, community, and history while still trying to discover selfhood. Their conversation reflects a shared language of discipline, of endurance, of quiet pressure and of learning how to metabolize expectation without losing identity.

Throughout her athletic and professional evolution, Ayana transitioned not simply away from the game, but deeper into it , transmuting performance into leadership. As a Director of Sports Operations, licensed sports massage therapist, and Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS), she now shapes the very environments that shape athletes. Working with players from elite high school programs to professional leagues, she sees firsthand the mental, emotional, and neurological demands placed on competitors long before anyone applauds.

Her journey has not been defined solely by accolades, but by intentional expansion. Motherhood, partnership, and community stewardship have reshaped how she understands ambition, rest, and protection. Rather than chasing proximity to the spotlight, Ayana has built platforms that center women and girls,  including historic women’s showcases within iconic Philly basketball spaces, creating access where it once did not exist.

Today, Ayana’s work reflects continuity rather than departure. The discipline that once defined her game now defines her service. The strength that once fueled competition now fuels care. The legacy she carries is no longer measured in stats or banners, but in the nervous systems she helps regulate, the girls she helps see themselves, and the spaces she helps build.

On Beyond the Final Buzzer, Ayana shares a powerful reflection on lineage, pressure, leadership, and redefining success beyond proximity to the game. Her story reminds us that the final buzzer does not signal an ending, it signals expansion.

Podcast Recording: Episode 3

Multimedia Editor: Jolie S. Jemmott is a former standout athlete turned emerging scholar and clinician. She competed in both volleyball and basketball before channeling her competitive drive into the field of nursing. Jolie earned her BSN from Hampton University and her MSN from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. She is currently completing her PhD at Duke University School of Nursing, where her research focuses on improving mental health and health equity for marginalized communities, particularly in substance use care. Jolie’s experience as a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner informs her commitment to impactful research and leadership in nursing science.