Balancing Act: The power of uncomfortable conversations: 'I was sick of living in an echo chamber'

Zachary Wood, 22, has been having uncomfortable conversations his whole life.

They began young, at home, with a mother who loved him fiercely and raised him to take on the world with unwavering courage and intellect, but whose battle with schizoaffective disorder often made her verbally and physically abusive.

They continued through elementary, middle and high schools, when Wood often was one of the only African-American students