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Jaaza: A Magnificent Millennial

Georgia native Jaaza Clarke’s defining moment of adulthood was admitting she had chosen a field that wasn’t really the best fit for her. On this episode, she shares how she learned to regroup and reassess when she realized that her multiple interests resulted in her putting her most important passion on the back burner. She talks about listening to others’ voices and allowing them too much influence over her decisions. As a well-traveled woman who has lived and formed support networks outside of...

Ashea: A Magnificent Millennial

A recent college graduate, Ashea Acevedo has spent a year in the work force and is preparing to attend graduate school soon. Born and raised in New York City, losing her mother as a young teenager gifted her with a wisdom about life and its challenges from a young age. On this episode, Ashea discusses one of the surprising realities of being an adult: no one considers you one if you’re still in your early 20s. She laments everyone from supervisors at work and family members at home dismissing he...

Jackie: A Magnificent Millennial

Born and bred in the Bronx, Jackie Andalcio has taught high school in her hometown for three years. Her insular life as a Black girl raised in the New York City borough most known for its working class communities of color was in stark contrast to the life she discovered in college. On this episode, she talks about how the overwhelming whiteness of her college was one of many things that unsettled her once she became an adult. Jackie shares that in many ways, the role she played as peacekeeper i...

Marianne: A Magnificent Millennial

Ethiopian by birth, but raised in Rwanda, Marianne Mesfin Asfaw has committed her professional life and her personal projects to gender equality on the continent she calls home. On this episode, she talks about how her job with an international women’s rights organization and her involvement with a collective of largely African feminists have informed how she navigates the world as a young feminist with global experiences. Marianne shares that her background as a global citizen began as early as...

Danielle: A Magnificent Millennial

When 27-year-old Danielle Taylor was in her teens, she imagined her late 20s would find her securely settled into a dream career and married with one child under her care and another on the way. In this episode, she shares how she came to reconcile her fantasy life with the reality of womanhood. Taking a while to find the right job in the field that was most congruent with her personality and passions wasn’t as simple as she thought it would be. She dated like most young people, but while still ...

Hello From Keturah

On this short episode, Keturah Kendrick drops by to check in on the listening audience. Expressing her concern about “the virus” and its rapid ravaging of the world, Keturah reflects on how this season’s focus on millennial women has actually given her hope. She talks about the young women’s self-awareness and commitment to their own paths and offers their insight into the world of young womanhood as signs that we will be alright. Keturah also informs the audience that she’s started a patreon pa...

Shannon: A Magnificent Millennial

Hailing from West Philadelphia, Shannon Griffin was exploring opportunities outside of her neighborhood from the time she was a teenager. On this episode, the 25-year-old traveler and thrill seeker talks about living in a predominantly Black neighborhood but going to school across town in an affluent, nonblack community. She explains how, in many ways, navigating these two worlds prepared her well for her college and post-college lives. After graduating from a university where she was one of few...

Ama: A Magnificent Millennial

A native New Yorker, Ama Gyamerah currently lives in California where she works in the film industry. With parents from Ghana and a network of women from the African diaspora, Ama formed a strong identity as a young girl of color before she was even in high school. On this episode, she talks about the shock to her system that was adulthood. Having attended an all-girls’ high school in East Harlem where everyone looked like her and believed in her, she didn’t quite know how to navigate the assump...

Armani: A Magnificent Millennial

At 23 years old, Armani Eady has committed her life to social justice – even if it doesn’t always mean she’ll create from scratch the platform from which to do it. On this episode, she shares how the first thing she did as a brand new college freshman was charter her predominately white university’s first ever organization for Black women’s equal and fair access to the school’s resources. Having gone to an all-girls high school where the student body and some of the faculty looked like her and r...

Adanna: A Magnificent Millennial

23-year-old Adanna Perry is fresh out of college and works as an elementary school teacher. She proudly identifies as a Black feminist and worked as an activist for the rights of Black women while in college. On this episode, she shares how difficult she found adjusting to adulthood once she left the community of sisterhood that formed while in her all-girls’ high school and continued as the friends she made there remained in close proximity to each other. A key difficulty Adanna encountered in ...

Amal: A Magnificent Millennial

30-year-old Amal White is a social worker by trade, but considers herself to be an activist who centers the struggles of Black women in her work. In this episode she talks about why she tells younger millennials that “adulthood is the ghetto.” According to Amal, the womanhood she’s experienced over the last decade has looked nothing like the womanhood she envisioned when she was a teenager. She thought she’d be married by twenty-one and mothering her first child by twenty-three. Amal talks about...

Tameshia Found More of Herself Living Abroad

Entrepreneur and traveler, Tameshia Ridge started her international life like many millennials: she did a study abroad program that placed her in East Africa. In this episode, she explains how her ambition to eventually become a diplomat shifted once she had spent some time interning with the Rwandan government. Having connected with No Thanks: Black, Female and Living in The Martyr-Free Zone, Tameshia shares that the questions which propelled Keturah to move abroad were the same questions that ...

Soul Sisters Book Club Discussion

Keturah Kendrick chats with The Soul Sisters Book Club about "No Thanks: Black, Female, and Living in the Martyr-Free Zone." Based in Tennessee, the group discusses how they identified with Keturah's observations about how marriage is dangled in front of single women like a carrot and the condescension that results when you are a single woman who doesn't really care about that carrot. Several members share their own stories of not desiring marriage and having their words questioned, their values...

Angela Finds Freedom in Options

Leader of the Sistahs in the Story Book Club, Angela Smith goes into greater detail about connections she had to No Thanks: Black, Female, and Living in the Martyr-Free Zone. Referring to stories from the book club discussion in episodes 38 and 39, Angela explains how the female members of her family accosted her at a cookout because she was approaching her 40s and didn’t have children. She shares why she believes even her closest friends have questioned her choice to remain childfree: they neve...

Sistahs in the Story Book Club (Part 2)

Continuing the conversation from episode 37, Keturah chats with The Sistahs in the Story Book Club. The Chicago-based readers share even more personal connections to “No Thanks: Black, Female and Living in the Martyr-Free Zone.” Two of the women share how much they identified with the book’s theme of being content with their lives enough not to uproot them simply because their romantic partner wanted to marry. One member talks about not following her long-term partner across the country when he ...

Sistahs in the Story Book Club (Part 1)

Keturah Kendrick chats with The Sistahs in the Story Book Club about "No Thanks: Black, Female, and Living in the Martyr-Free Zone." Based in Illinois, the group of friends wanted to talk about why they identified with certain themes, had questions about others and general thoughts on the book's importance and relevance. Moderated by performance artist, speaker and reader, Dr. Kimberly Chandler, the women discuss the depth of the book's content with laughter and lightness. One sistah shares her ...

Ola Curates a Library for Free Black Women

Artist, reader, black feminist and self-described “book fairy,” Ola Ronke started the Free Black Women’s Library four years ago. With the impetus of wanting to create a space for black women to share and read works by other black women, she began collecting books and reaching out to friends for donations. On this episode, Ola boasts that she stopped counting the books once they reached 1200. She has books from different genres, different writing styles, different world perspectives. The only com...

Montyy is Comfortable with Not Being Included

Host of the bold and unapologetic podcast, Comfortably Excluded, Montyy Taj grew up often being the “only one.” She was bussed into a “better” school district and enrolled in Advanced Placement course so she became used to being the Black kid who was excluded from the social network whiteness and middle class status brings. In addition to her podcast, Montyy is also working on a documentary, Running with My Girls, about women of color in Denver who are campaigning for political office. In this e...

Phoenix Stopped Caring and Started Creating

31-year-old Phoenix Williams dropped out of college seven years ago to follow her dream of becoming a fulltime author. Having now published many books and established a platform as a speaker and lecturer, she has no regrets. On this episode, she talks about giving herself permission to live her truth. She writes for black women who are still stuck in what they “should” do or “should” be, hoping that the characters she creates will give these women the courage to stop caring about all the “should...

Cole Travels the World Alone and With Sisterfriends

Travel Enthusiast and Accidental Entrepreneur, Cole Banks started Sisters Traveling Solo as a Facebook group. It was her response to an internet debate that discouraged Black women, particularly, from traveling the world unaccompanied. In this episode, Cole talks about the overnight success of that Facebook group. She had to quit a good job (that she enjoyed) unexpectantly when she went from hosting five trips in one year to putting together a team that organized twenty before the year ended. Co...

Chineka Found Her Tribe in China

A native of Chicago, Chineka Nikko is at her happiest when she is inspiring others to be their best self and shining her positive light on the accomplishments of women who do the same. A poet, inspirational speaker and all around giving human being, she has seen her work and platform as an artist grow since moving to China. In this episode, she shares how her first experience living overseas was through military service and her current experience came after having no other choice but to leave Ch...

Keturah Got Some Shit She Need to Say

Popular guest from Season 1, Tracy Adams, returns to talk to Keturah about her new book, No Thanks: Black, Female, and Living in the Martyr-Free Zone. Having known Keturah as a friend and blogger for a decade, Tracy wanted to learn about why Keturah chose to document some of their personal conversations and topics she’s written about many times on her blog, Yet Another Single Gal, in this new collection of essays. Keturah explains that two years spent in Africa and the death of musical icon, Pri...

Jude-Laure Unearths the Truth

Originally from Haiti, Jude-Laure Denis moved to the United States at the age of seven largely because her grandmother feared that a girlchild with such a strong sense of self, will to learn and determination to fight would wither away in their home country. In this episode, she talks about how in addition to the gift of protective elders, her family also left her the legacy of silence. They did not talk about the generations of abuse and secrets that her grandmother could not protect Jude from....

Gail Chose Herself Over Her Mother

48-year old accountant Gail Newton Howell grew up parenting her mother. With no other children besides her daughter and no supportive spouse, Gail’s mother leaned on her daughter in ways that made it impossible for her to enjoy a carefree childhood. In this episode, Gail outlines her road to ending contact with her mother. She describes a childhood spent enmeshed in an unhealthy relationship with her mother. From enduring her excessive drinking to trying to understand why she treated her with su...

Wendi is Protective of Her Community

Activist, storyteller and proud preserver of Black Southern culture, Wendi Moore-O’Neal honors the legacy left by her parents - both engaged participants in the Civil Rights Movement and dedicated creators of art and culture. In this episode, Wendi shares how her experience as a community organizer and artist impacted how she dealt with rebuilding a battered New Orleans after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. She is honest about the blockades to bring back residents who were misplaced after ...

Dr. Kaye is Passionate and Honest About Her Mission

Host of the popular Baltimore radio show, Today with Dr. Kaye, Karsonya Wise Whitehead is an accomplished scholar, author, activist and speaker. She has had many missions in the course of her career: street activist, advocate for public education and prolific writer for black mothers who are trying to raise healthy black children in America. In this episode, she talks about making the choice to serve her mission based on wherever she was in her life at the time. She explains that a challenge fro...

Sister Raie Resists Rigid Relationships

A native of New York City and current resident of New Orleans, Sister Raie is one of those 21st century women whose answer to “Who are you?” is wonderfully layered. An international singer and songwriter, she is an advocate for mental health in the black community and the sexual and romantic exploration of women. An enthusiastic arts educator, she is also the founder of In My Words, a project that mentors girls of color who show a passion for expressing themselves through the arts. In this episo...

Chana Unlocks the Woman She Wants to Become

From a “cheeky” brunch series in honor of Michelle Obama, Chana Ewing has grown her passion for women’s empowerment into a business that features black women sharing their strategies for maintaining balance and wellness. In this episode, Chana talks about the road to establishing Geenie Box and the concept behind a different woman each month curating a gift box of the things that sustain her. She also shares her mission as an entrepreneur and consultant: to change the narrative of black womanhoo...

Evita Builds Community Through International Travel

Eight years ago, Evita Robinson started the Nomadness Travel Tribe as an online community of about 100 black millennials who shared the common interest of travel. Today, Nomadness is 22,000 members strong and in addition to orchestrating epic tribe trips to all corners of the globe, Nomadness also has regular meet ups and partnerships with travel brands that are just now catching on to the black travel movement. It has also spearheaded its first conference dedicated to the needs, interests and p...