This week we’re introducing you to a powerful new podcast, Senseless with Erika Mahoney . Everything changed one ordinary Monday, when Erika Mahoney’s mom called to say there was an active shooter at the grocery store nearby. In a matter of seconds, ten people were killed – including Erika’s father. With the high-profile trial of the shooter as a backdrop, Erika speaks to survivors of mass shootings, community leaders, and others impacted by the tragedy in Boulder, on her deeply personal quest t...
Jun 24, 2025•32 min
Gun violence in America is at a crisis point. It’s now the number one killer of kids and teens – a stat that should make us all pause. But instead of throwing up their hands, healthcare leaders, gun violence survivors, physicians, community members and faith leaders are doing something about it. In this episode, we’re diving into Northwell Health’s groundbreaking Gun Violence Prevention Forum, where they’re treating it as the true public health emergency that it is and elevating the conversation...
Jun 11, 2025•39 min
On this Christmas Day, we’re sharing the last episode of Squeezed, fittingly about the end of life. Alua is a renowned death doula, author, and educator who believes that living fully requires all of us to face mortality head-on. Whether it’s providing support at the bedside or making end-of-life-plans well in advance, Alua works with clients at every stage of life to embrace the inevitable with heart and humor. Death can be scary, but doulas like Alua are revolutionizing end-of-life-care by t...
Dec 25, 2024•27 min
Jessica Guthrie is squeezed. A decade ago, at 26 years old, Jessica unexpectedly became a caregiver for her mom, Constance, who is now living with late-stage Alzheimer’s. Over the years, Jessica has left behind a life in Texas, moved back home to Virginia, and quit her job to focus on caregiving full-time. While so much of her life is on hold, Jessica has gained a lot and found a powerful community of caregivers online . Squeezed is a Lemonada Media original. Yvette Nicole Brown is the host of t...
Dec 11, 2024•28 min
Sadé is squeezed. Five years ago, she became a first-time parent. She expected her parents to help her out with the day-to-day work. But a series of unforeseen diagnoses left Sadé in an all-hands-on-deck caregiver situation – taking care of a new baby and her aging parents. Sadé is the family’s “Goddess of Efficiency,” and while she’s busy caring for everyone else, her own debilitating health needs often end up in last place. Squeezed is a Lemonada Media original. Yvette Nicole Brown is the host...
Nov 27, 2024•27 min
It’s hard enough being Squeezed. But helping others who are, too? That’s a superpower. And Shilpa is our hero. She’s a mom to one son and also runs CARES , a world-class therapeutic school and rehabilitation program for vulnerable teens at Mount Sinai Morningside, a hospital located in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan. She supports young people on the rocky road from childhood to adulthood. But caregiving at home and at work while also caring for herself is a constant balancing ...
Nov 13, 2024•28 min
We’re back to share Episode 3, featuring another person who is feeling Squeezed from all sides. Matt is a native Londoner. He is also single dad co-parenting 11-year-old triplets with his ex-husband in one of the most expensive cities in the world: New York. To be able to afford childcare for all three, Matt had to make a tough choice – job security or spending enough time with his kids? Squeezed is a Lemonada Media original. Yvette Nicole Brown is the host of this show. Chrystal Genesis is our ...
Oct 30, 2024•28 min
Hey listeners, we’re back with Episode 2 of Squeezed. This episode features another person who is feeling very Squeezed. Jessica is a stay-at-home mom with three kids under six. She is a former daycare worker who didn’t plan to be a full-time mom, but since money is tight and childcare is expensive, she has no other choice. Jessica fell through the cracks of our system that does not support care workers — but she’s discovered profound meaning in her life as a stay-at-home mom and is using this t...
Oct 16, 2024•26 min
Stephanie is off in the exciting (and terrifying) world of book writing. In the interim, we want to share another show that’s near and dear to our hearts. So near, in fact, that it features Stephanie’s entire family! Squeezed, hosted by the incomparable Yvette Nicole Brown (yes, from “Community”), explores the lives of caregivers across America. It’s hard, hard work – but also full of joy and connection. This episode focuses on Stephanie and her dad, who has Parkinson’s disease. If you love Last...
Oct 02, 2024•36 min
We did it, y’all. We reached the end of our countdown, which leads us back to where it all began: the very first episode of Last Day, the first-ever Lemonada Media podcast launch. This week, we’re revisiting “Meet Stephanie, Meet Harris (with Sarah Silverman & Aziz Ansari).” Five years later (to the day!), Stephanie returns to the mic to reflect on what we learned that first season and where we’re headed next. Walk with us down memory lane, and have your tissues handy. ALSO: Some cool news a...
Sep 25, 2024•45 min
Before we finish this countdown to Last Day’s fifth anniversary, we are resharing an episode from season one. This episode was chosen by Lizzie, our Senior Vice President of Growth and Marketing. Most of us have seen an opioid overdose depicted on TV or in movies, but what happens in real life? On this episode, Stephanie talks to Karen Host, Senior Director at Cataldo Ambulance, and Dr. Jay, an emergency room doctor, about the anatomy of an overdose, what it’s like to save a life, the immediate ...
Sep 18, 2024•42 min
To commemorate Last Day’s fifth anniversary, we are revisiting the season two finale. This episode was chosen by Jackie – one of the first people to work on the show, and a previous Last Day guest herself. Season 2 Finale! We started this season on a bridge but told you not to get caught up in the romantic notion of saviors and last minute interventions. Suicide isn’t about one moment in time. But if you or someone you love is suicidal, a single moment can be the difference between life and deat...
Sep 04, 2024•57 min
To continue the countdown to Last Day’s fifth birthday, here’s our next pick: the first episode of our season on gun violence, chosen by our senior producer — and first-time gun wielder — Kegan. In episode 1, our team travels to Montana, where cowboy culture reigns supreme, everyone is armed, and 86% of firearm deaths are suicides. There, we meet a couple that represents all the contradictions at the root of America’s gun debate: One is a suicide prevention advocate, and the other is the most ad...
Aug 21, 2024•54 min
Last Day is turning five! From investigating America’s deaths of despair to featuring real-life stories of hope and change, the journey of Last Day has been kinda unbelievable. All the tears! All the laughter! And all of you! We’re so grateful to our loyal listeners who have come along with us for the ride. To celebrate, we are counting down five of our staff’s favorite Last Day episodes of all time. This week, you’ll hear Lina’s story introduced by Wendolyne, Lemonada’s business operations mana...
Aug 07, 2024•41 min
This week, we’re sharing a story from another podcast near and dear to our hearts. Love Letters, from The Boston Globe, shares stories from real life people. Host Meredith Goldstein hears from people about dating, relationships and falling in love. Tooky Kavanagh is one of the people, and she had her own Last Day moment in 2014. After years of being told she wasn’t enough – good enough, smart enough, pretty enough – Tooky discovered that, yeah, actually, she was enough. This revelation came in t...
Jul 31, 2024•37 min
Carrie and Joe were college sweethearts who made a picture-perfect family. They worked and saved to pay for their kids’ sports, vacations, and everything in between. Then, after over a decade of marriage, Carrie stumbled upon the secret that compromised everything they built. Carrie shares with Stephanie how her husband’s betrayal left her with absolutely nothing – not a roof over her head, or answers from her life partner about why he deceived her. Follow Stephanie on Instagram at @wittelstepha...
Jul 10, 2024•50 min
If comedian Tig Notaro hadn’t had cancer, her life might’ve actually been worse. In those sobering moments post-diagnosis, she got up on stage and told a room of people all about it. “The crowd went wild” is an understatement and was only a taste of what was to come. Years after a recording of that standup set went viral and launched her into the cultural mainstream, Tig sits down with Stephanie to talk about living in a world of unknowns. Because as hard as her life was back then, Tig could hav...
Jun 26, 2024•53 min
Vinnie grew up in a strict, insular environment that instilled a simple message in him from a young age: who you are is fundamentally wrong. After spending years praying to God to fix him, he finally hit his breaking point. Vinnie talks to Steph about the joys and struggles of coming out in his mid 30s and extricating himself from the Evangelical church. To support Vinnie’s work, check out his website and the essay collection Fashionably Late: Gay, Bi, and Trans Men Who Came Out Later in Life . ...
Jun 12, 2024•54 min
Geena Rocero has yet to meet a stage she doesn’t like. As the reigning trans beauty queen in the Philippines, she was adored and envied with equal passion – all while being out and proud. But when she moved to America and became a model, she went back in the closet to protect her livelihood, at least until the secrecy began to do more harm than it was worth. Geena tells Stephanie how she was finally able to live without compromising what was most important to her, starting with the moment she re...
May 29, 2024•53 min
After getting engaged, Nikki Vargas was staring down a lifetime of white picket fences, suburbs, and 2.5 kids. And deep down she knew she couldn’t do it. So years into a confining relationship, and even deeper into a love affair with travel and journalism that compromised the future her fiancé imagined, Nikki had to make a life-changing choice. She talks with Stephanie about how, ultimately, that choice might just be the best one she’s ever made. This series is presented by the Marguerite Casey ...
May 15, 2024•57 min
Kat grew up internalizing that it was her “responsibility” to be careful around men. But when a male friend sexually assaulted her after a frat party, Kat knew the burden wasn’t hers alone to bear. She needed to seek justice. In a deeply vulnerable and reflective conversation with Stephanie, Kat provides a glimpse into what happened after she filed a report against her assailant. She found herself in a struggle that consumed her entire college career — and that compromised who she’s able to be n...
May 01, 2024•46 min
Last Day listeners, today we're sharing with you Stephanie's conversation with Kate Bowler on her show Everything Happens. Kate is a professor at Duke University and someone who was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer in 2015 that had already metastasized. She is now in remission, and spends lots of time talking to other people about the fact that everything just, well, happens! To hear more of Everything Happens, head to: https://lemonada.lnk.to/everythinghappens Today, we’re talking about trag...
Apr 17, 2024•52 min
Alyssa Elliott has always prided herself on being a responsible, by-the-book kind of person. And it was exactly those qualities that were taken advantage of when Alyssa’s parents came to her for help, putting her on the hook for tens of thousands of dollars. A twenty-something just trying to make her own way in the world, she was suddenly drowning in debt and, she’d eventually learn, a lifetime of deep anxiety. Alyssa tells Stephanie how severe financial insecurity has impacted her feelings of s...
Apr 03, 2024•56 min
There are few modern photos more iconic than the image of Christine Blasey Ford with her hand raised in the U.S. Senate chamber, vowing to tell nothing but the truth about being sexually assaulted by then-nominee to the Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh. From that moment on, Christine’s life was forever changed, exposing her to vicious hate and shaking the deeply rooted respect for government that had motivated her to come forward in the first place. Now, almost six years later, Christine sits down...
Mar 20, 2024•43 min
It’s early 2020. COVID-19 begins to spread around the globe like wildfire, and many people –– particularly in the US — are stunned. But then there are doctors like Craig Spencer, who specialize in public health and know all too well the devastation that infectious disease can cause. Having worked to combat Ebola in West Africa years before, Craig recounts what it was like to be on the frontlines of highly contagious and deadly diseases across the world. Nearly four years after COVID made its way...
Mar 06, 2024•54 min
Four years ago, Brooke had the best day of her life — then two months later, she had the worst. The whiplash from the bliss of her wedding day to the reality of mourning rocked Brooke to her core. She sits down with Stephanie to recount the beauty that she experienced before the loss that she suffered, and how she’s tried to let the two exist side by side in the years that have followed. This series is presented by the Marguerite Casey Foundation. MCF supports leaders who work to shift the balan...
Feb 21, 2024•47 min
Stefanie Wilder-Taylor was a cool mom who loved wine. As an author and blogger, she made a name for herself championing mom’s right to booze. What better way to unwind during naptime than with a drink? But despite her jokes, she could never quite quell the nagging internal voice that maybe she was drinking too much. After nearly 30 years of shoving that voice way down, Stefanie crosses an unthinkable line while drunk. She shares with Stephanie how her winding journey to sobriety included upendin...
Feb 07, 2024•54 min
After a trip to Disney World took an unexpected turn, Tamara’s world fell apart at the so-called “happiest place on earth.” At nearly 60 years old, Tamara suddenly found herself a mother all over again: this time, raising her six-year-old grandson. Tamara shares how addiction and loss brought her to this place, and how re-learning the act of parenting has been nothing at all like she expected — and everything she needed to carry on. Follow Stephanie on Instagram at @wittelstephanie. Stay up to d...
Jan 24, 2024•48 min
Jose Lorenzo grew up behind bars, after being pulled into the criminal justice system as a child. When he re-emerged in the outside world, he longed for the stability that comes with having your own four walls. Now a case manager fighting for housing access, Jose is making his voice heard in his community and all the way to the White House. He joins Stephanie to talk about how he made it through a decade-long sentence, and the knowledge and opportunities that helped shape who he is today: a fath...
Jan 10, 2024•41 min
This week, we’re sharing one of our favorite episodes from this past year. The story focuses on a profound loss that our guest Kate experienced right in the throes of Christmas, but it’s also about how, years later, her family has created a whole new way of relating to grief, memory, and joy. Turns out, we could all use some of that during the holiday season. Follow Stephanie on Instagram at @wittelstephanie. Stay up to date with us on Twitter , Facebook and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia. Have a s...
Dec 27, 2023•57 min
