Black Girls Bonding

Kianti is coming in with holiday energy and something she has been sitting with — what it really means to be a sensitive person in a world that doesn’t always make space for it. Spoiler: it’s actually a superpower. But it comes with a shadow side that she’s ready to talk about.

In this episode we talk about:

• Why Kianti spent years being ashamed of her sensitivity and why she now considers it one of her greatest gifts
• The spiral that happens when someone doesn’t text back fast enough and why it’s almost never about what you think it is
• The two day rabbit hole she went down after sending collateral to a potential partner and what pulled her out of it
• The “future self” reframe that changed everything — asking how the rich, booked and unbothered version of you would respond
• Why we outsource our worth to people who were never qualified to hold it in the first place
• How this same pattern shows up in dating, friendships and professional opportunities

This week’s challenge: Visualize the woman you are becoming. How does she spend her days? Who is in her life? How does she move through the world? Get that picture crystal clear and use her as your guide when things get hard.

Let’s connect:
Email: [email protected]
Instagram: @blackgirlsbonding
YouTube: Black Girls Bonding

Instagram @BlackGirlsBonding

After a few heavy episodes, Kianti is coming in with something lighter and something she has been giving herself more permission to feel lately: joy. Not the elaborate, expensive kind. The small, free, close-to-home kind that sneaks up on you and fills your cup when you least expect it.

In this episode we talk about:

• Why Kianti decided to redefine what joy looks like for her and the three criteria she uses now
• The magic of unplanned Tuesday hangouts and why spontaneity might be exactly what you need
• How reading the same book with two completely different people — her sister and her 13-year-old niece — has deepened those relationships in unexpected ways
• Why Kianti has gone back to handwriting notes to people and what happens every time one arrives in someone’s mailbox
• A love letter to The Bear and why Richie’s character arc is one of the best things she’s seen on television in years

This week’s prompt: What’s making you smile lately? What small things are bringing you joy and connection right now? Kianti wants to know.

Let’s connect:
Email: [email protected]
Instagram: @blackgirlsbonding
YouTube: Black Girls Bonding

Instagram @BlackGirlsBonding

Kianti gets real in this one. Like, really real. She's in the middle of a scary season in her business and instead of waiting until she's on the other side to talk about it, she's bringing you into it right now: messy, uncertain, and full of hard-won wisdom anyway.

In this episode we talk about:

• What the "meantime" actually is and why it's one of the most uncomfortable places to be
• Why Kianti is choosing to talk about her business challenges while she's still in them, not after
• The Oprah quote that has become her anchor: "We don't become who we wish to be. We become who we believe we can be."
• Why things often get worse right before they get better and how to keep going anyway
• Three tangible things Kianti is doing right now to stay grounded: tracking synchronicities, studying her envy, and watching her consumption carefully
• Why quitting is not an option even when everything in you wants to

This episode is for you if you're in a meantime moment too. You are not alone and something is being built even when you can't see it yet.

Let's connect:
Email: [email protected]
Instagram: @blackgirlsbonding
YouTube: Black Girls Bonding

Instagram @BlackGirlsBonding

Black Girls Bonding went IRL for the first time, and this episode is the proof. Recorded live in front of a room full of Black women, no guest, just us, so the sound is a little different than usual, more room, more energy, more us talking back and forth. The heart of it is all still there.

In this one: why heaviness and joy are both true for Black women right now, three things to hold onto to keep the magic going (self-care, better villaging, and shifting out of scarcity), a live audience Q&A, and my pop culture pick, Diarra From Detroit.

Our Time Is Now. We Are the Magic.

Instagram @BlackGirlsBonding

Kianti is coming in with fall on her mind and something that has been sitting with her — the realization that nobody really gave us permission to fully enjoy our lives. To rest without guilt. To want things without apology. To take up space without feeling like we have to earn it first.

In this episode we talk about:

• Why Black women are constantly waiting for permission they were never given in the first place
• The silent generation grandmother who taught Kianti that rest was for the lazy — and how she had to unlearn that
• Why joy can feel off limits especially in our hardest seasons and what Kianti does to make it accessible even then
• The smallest but most clarifying permission Kianti gave herself recently — and why it unlocked something bigger
• How to identify the habits and behaviors you're holding onto just because you've always done them, not because they still serve you

This week's challenge: What are you not giving yourself permission to do? A solo trip? A side hustle? Something as simple as skipping dinner? Get honest with yourself and take the first step.

Let's connect:
Email: [email protected]
Instagram: @blackgirlsbonding
YouTube: Black Girls Bonding

Instagram @BlackGirlsBonding

Picture this: summer 2017. Kianti has the idea for Black Girls Bonding. The show launches in 2023. Six years later.

It didn't take six years to figure out how to make a podcast. It took six years to stop waiting to feel ready.

In this episode, Kianti gets into the story she's never fully told — the anxiety, the isolation, the perfectionism, and the moment she realized she might be the person she was looking for. And then the moment she finally, actually did something about it. This one is for everyone sitting on an idea, a business, a creative project, a life change — waiting for the version of themselves that has it all together before they hit go.

That version isn't coming. And that's actually the good news.

In This Episode:

• Why readiness feels like a destination but functions like a trap
• The real reason BGB didn't launch until 2023 — and what fear actually cost Kianti
• How perfectionism and execution are in direct conflict with each other
• Why confidence is built through doing, not through preparing to do
• What Kianti took from the Oprah and Keke Palmer interview — co-creation, progress over endpoint, and why looking back matters
• The one question to ask yourself this week

Weekly Challenge:
What would you do today — this week — if you knew you were never really going to feel ready? Name it. Then take one step toward it.

Connect with Kianti:
📧 [email protected]
📱 Instagram: @blackgirlsbonding

Instagram @BlackGirlsBonding

She's back. And this time, she's keeping it.

In this episode, Kianti gets raw about one of the most disorienting feelings an entrepreneur can have — losing yourself to the programming. After years in corporate spaces that quietly trained her to shrink, stay humble, and be grateful just for a seat at the table, she found herself carrying those habits straight into her business. And they were not serving her.

It took two back-to-back events in the same week — one that had her floating on possibility, and one that had her shrinking in real time — to finally see what was happening. Not the room. Not the people. Her.

This episode is about what it actually takes to rebuild confidence from the inside out. Not affirmations alone. Not a hype woman on speed dial. The real work.

In This Episode:

• The two events that made Kianti realize she was doing the shrinking to herself
• How corporate culture programs Black women to be small — and what happens when you internalize it
• Why envy isn't the enemy and what it's actually trying to tell you
• The difference between feeling confident and doing the things that build it
• How Kianti uses a wins tracker to combat her own brain on hard days
• Why your hype woman is a complement, not a crutch

Weekly Challenge:
Name three wins from the last month. Big, small, whatever. Write them down, keep a running list, and let it remind you of who you are.

Connect with Kianti:
📧 [email protected]
📱 Instagram: @blackgirlsbonding

Instagram @BlackGirlsBonding

Kianti is coming in with good energy and a topic that is close to her heart — the women in our lives who hold us down in ways we don't always stop to appreciate. This one is personal, funny, and deeply moving in equal measure.

In this episode we talk about:

• Why a woman married 40 years gave Kianti the best marriage advice she'd ever heard and it had nothing to do with her husband
• The three categories of friends every woman needs in her life: the hype woman, the safe space, and the pusher
• Why Kianti's friend Vickie has her fully convinced she's the smartest person in the room and why that matters more than you think
• The Chicago trip that Kianti's bestie Trenetta took with her during her darkest season, and what she did that Kianti will never forget
• Why her friend Helen has dragged her up a mountain in Costa Rica and why she's grateful every single time

This week's challenge: Who is your hype woman, your safe space, and your pusher? Which one are you to others? And how can you show those women some gratitude this week — a note, a text, a Venmo for coffee? Think about it and let Kianti know.

Let's connect:
Email: [email protected]
Instagram: @blackgirlsbonding
YouTube: Black Girls Bonding

Instagram @BlackGirlsBonding

Your Body Is Talking. Are You Listening?

Kianti is back and this time she's on video for the very first time! She's nervous, she's excited, and she's coming in with a topic that is close to her heart and deeply important to the community of Black women she loves.

In this episode we talk about:

• Why Black women have been conditioned to push through pain, illness, and exhaustion without question
• How the eldest daughter experience teaches us from childhood that our value comes from serving others
• The alarming stats from the NIH on how Black women's pain is dismissed in medical settings, including the 17% gap in pain treatment between Black and white patients in the ER
• Why the maternal mortality rate for Black women is 2.9 times higher than white women regardless of education or income
• Why "you can't pour from an empty cup" still isn't the right framing and what Kianti wants us to think about instead
• The body scan practice Kianti just started and why it's changing how she moves through her days

This week's challenge: How can you be more selfish in your own life? Start by tuning in. A body scan, a journal, a walk, staying hydrated. Whatever it is, do it for you and only you.

Let's connect:
Email: [email protected]
Instagram: @blackgirlsbonding
YouTube: Black Girls Bonding

Instagram @BlackGirlsBonding

In this episode, Kianti gets a little vulnerable about navigating an overwhelming season while still showing up and then does something she's never done before: brings her 20+ years of marketing expertise into the Black Girls Bonding space.

In this episode we talk about:

• Why the best brands in the world obsess over controlling their narrative and what Nike and Apple can teach us about telling our own stories
• Why you are the CMO of your own life and what that actually means in practice
• The difference between your target audience and everyone else and why not everyone is meant to receive your story
• Why arguing with people determined to oppose you is a waste of your energy and what to do instead
• How to start rewriting your story on your own terms not around your job title or your roles, but around who you actually are

This week's challenge: What labels have been placed on you that you no longer want to carry? The strong one? The fixer? The job title that no longer fits? Get clear on who you want to be and start showing up that way — consistently, with integrity, without the big announcement.

Instagram @BlackGirlsBonding