In this episode of Wait, I’m Black?!, Michael sits in conversation with Wellington Makala – a Chief Nurse in the NHS and an experienced, passionate healthcare leader.

Wellington grew up in Zimbabwe with a strong sense of who he was – shaped by family, belonging, and purpose, not race.

When he moved to the UK, something shifted.

He reflects on the moment race stopped being abstract and began to carry weight – and how that realisation has shaped his experiences of work, belonging, and identity ever since.

This episode explores what it means to lose a certain kind of ease, to become newly aware of how you are seen, and the ongoing effort to hold on to who you are in the face of it.

If you’d like to follow the journey, you can subscribe and follow us on Instagram (@wibpodcast). And if you – or someone you know – has a “Wait, I’m Black?!” moment you’d like to share, you’re welcome to reach out.

This introductory episode sets the stage for Wait, I’m Black?! — a podcast about the moment when race stops being abstract and starts to matter.

These are stories about the moment when race stops being abstract and starts to matter. It’s a reflective space with moments of warmth and humour, and honest conversations that make visible how race shows up in everyday life – sometimes quietly, sometimes suddenly, sometimes in ways people only understood years later.

In this episode, I share why this series exists, what inspired it, and what you can expect from the conversations ahead. The first guest episodes are coming soon.

If you’d like to follow the journey, you can subscribe and follow our page on Instagram (wibpodcast) or on YouTube (www.youtube.com/@WIB-Podcast). And if you or someone you know has a “Wait, I’m Black?!” moment you’d like to talk about on the podcast, you are welcome to reach out.