Anita does not work with her boo, but after sharing home office space for two pandemic years, she's started to wonder how couples who *do* work together make it work. She talks with two sets of couples in very different professional industries about their strategies for tackling finances, alone time and intimacy.

Meet the guests:

- Sarah & Austin McCombie, the married duo behind the North Carolina-based band Chatham Rabbits talk about how they learned to give each other constructive creative feedback

- Brandé Elise and Danielle Gray, co-founders of CBD product and lifestyle company Unoia share why they felt ready to start a business together just three months after they started dating

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Update: Chatham Rabbits is on tour this summer — learn more here. And Unoia is making more of a shift towards CBD for pets — learn more here.

Anita is a bashful sexter, and she's ready to get over her insecurities. A pleasure enthusiast advises her on the art of a good sext; a sexting expert traces the short and spicy history of sexting in this country; and a high schooler breaks down the relationship between sexting and consent.

Meet the guests:

- Penda N’diaye, founder and CEO of Pro Hoe and pleasure enthusiast, shares tips to help Anita get more comfortable with sexting and outlines the importance of consent

- Amy Hasinoff, associate professor in the communication department at the University of Colorado Denver, breaks down the legal landscape of sexting and puts the moral panic over this kind of communication into historical context

- Aaliyah, graduating high school senior and peer educator, explains the role of sexting in her and her peers' relationships and talks about how she's navigated sexting

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Dig deeper:

More information about sexting laws by state

Penda’s “How to Talk Dirty Without Sounding Fake” workbook

Guest host Omisade Burney-Scott is well aware that gentle parenting is a divisive concept. So she's gets into it! Omi talks with two other Black mothers about their definitions of gentle parenting and how it can break cycles of generational trauma. Then her older son shares how he has seen her parenting evolve over the past three decades.

Meet the guests:

- Destiny Bennett, a content creator and mother of three boys, explains why she chooses to describe her parenting philosophy as "intentional" and how important connection and communication is in her parenting

- Trina Greene, mother and founder of the virtual community Parenting for Liberation, outlines her parenting evolution and breaks down how she creates consequences without using punishment

- Ché Nembhard, Omisade's eldest son, reflects with Omi on her three-decade parenting journey

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Dig deeper:

Destiny’s TikTok and Instagram

Five Accounts to Follow If You’re Curious About Conscious Parenting

1. @supernova_momma

Natasha Nelson is a Certified Positive Discipline Educator, veteran and mother to two autistic Black girls. Follow her account for examples of how she practices positive parenting and autism acceptance with her kids.

2. @untigering

Iris Chen is a “deconstructing tiger mom.” Her account, blog and book, “Untigering,” share resources on peaceful parenting and describe the journey she’s gone on from authoritarian parenting to gentle parenting.

3. @raisingyourself

Shelly Robinson is a certified family wellness coach and mom of two. She helps parents understand their own traumas and vulnerabilities so they can better create the relationship they want with their child/ren.

4. @mrchazz

Chazz Lewis, or “Mr. Chazz,” is a parenting and teacher coach, helping those who educate and rear children to avoid power struggles and frustration with kids and find joyful, effective strategies for communicating and interacting.

5. @parentingforliberation

Parenting for Liberation is a virtual community offering resources and connections for Black families, founded by Trina Greene. P4L seeks to help Black families raise children without fear.

Male fertility issues make up half of all infertility cases … but you’d never know it from consuming fertility content through culture, media and even medicine. Anita meets three men breaking the silence in hopes that others get the help and support they need.

Meet the guests:

- Jared Wright, journalist who wrote a piece about his infertility journey for VICE, talks through his first time in a fertility clinic, the treatments he and his wife have undergone since their marriage in 2020 and about his experiences in the infertility space as a Black man

- Dr. Paul Shin, urologist at at Shady Grove Fertility in Washington D.C., explains some of the potential causes of male infertility and what treatments are available

- James D'Souza, a teacher, blogger and podcaster, breaks down his decision to stop pursuing parenthood after a ten year fertility journey with his wife

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Anita passes the mic to our friends at the feminist documentary podcast "Bodies" for an exploration of ADHD and identity. Producer Hannah Harris Green talks about how getting an ADHD diagnosis helped her release the shame she'd been carrying since childhood.

Meet the guests:

- Hannah Harris Green, contributing producer for "Bodies," shares her journey to an ADHD diagnosis as an adult and how the disorder has impacted her entire life

- Matthew, Hannah's partner, talks about how Hannah's ADHD impacts their relationship and helps her come to terms with her diagnosis

- Dr. Andrea Spencer, child psychiatrist and vice chair for research for the Psychiatry Department at Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago, explains her research on the intersection of ADHD and PTSD

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A growing number of American adults have the same feeling about romantic partnerships: They don’t want one. Anita meets three people who have chosen singlehood: a scholar who examines the double standard of relationship status, a single mother of two by choice and a man shedding toxic masculinity to build a deliberately single life.

Meet the guests:

- Dr. Kris Marsh, associate professor at the University of Maryland and author of “The Love Jones Cohort: Single and Living Alone in the Black Middle Class,” brings us into her research on single, Black Americans and some of the larger structural forces that shape an individual's choice to be single — and how that work has informed her own embrace of singlehood

- Aisha Jenkins, a single mother by choice and the host and creator of the "Start to Finish Motherhood" podcast and blog, shares her journey to becoming a parent and the key relationships that have supported her along the way

- Lucas Bradley, author of "A Single Point of Light" Substack newsletter, explains what he has put into place to create a fulfilling life for himself as a deliberately single man

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Anita's highly-anticipated (and highly-awkward) first kiss was in eighth grade … but she remembers it like it was yesterday! A scientist tells her why our brains respond so strongly to kissing and how our kissing customs have changed over time. She also unpacks the power of a kiss with a photographer who documents queer Black love in public and three Gen-Zers school her on contemporary kissing culture.

Meet the guests:

- Sheril Kirshenbaum, science communicator and author of “The Science of Kissing: What Our Lips Are Telling Us,” explains what's happening in our brains when our lips touch another person's and digs into the cultural history and evolution of kissing

- Kadar Small, photographer, director and filmmaker, shares his photo series "PDA," which aims to highlight and normalize images of Black and brown queer intimacy

- Donna Diaz, Parys Smith and Chris Williams, all current and past WUNC Youth reporters, talk together about their first kisses, how they think about boundaries and what makes a good kiss

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Anita usually feels better after a good, long cry. But why is that? She explores that question with a poet who spent years diving deeply into the science and culture of crying. And a forerunner of the "crying selfie" trend shares how he pushes back on toxic masculinity by embracing tears.

Meet the guests:

- Heather Christle, poet and author of "The Crying Book," takes us into some of the science of crying and looks at tears through a political and gender-informed lens

- Viorel Tanase, a model and creative director, explains why he decided to share a crying selfie (before the trend took off) and how being vulnerable is part of the human experience

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Anita treasures sleep and moments of silence. So when she hears typical narratives of early parenthood that include unending cries and restless nights, she has concerns for the mental toll on new parents. But culturally there is a lot of silence around how challenging it can be and recognizing deteriorating mental health while caring for another person can be isolating. In part two of the postpartum series "Delivered," she meets a prolific artist whose experience with postpartum depression catalyzed a mental health journey and a diagnosis of Bipolar II Disorder. She also talks to a couple about what folks should know about sex and relationships postpartum and why the mental health of non-birthing partners should be part of the postpartum conversation.

Meet the guests:

- A’Driane Nieves, artist and mother of two

- Shannon Purdy Jones, co-owner of Scuppernong Books in Greensboro and mother of two

- Darren Jones, Shannon’s husband and director of Pricing at Mack Trucks, Inc

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Anita has been around enough postpartum folks to know that there's a whole lot they felt unprepared for when it came to how their physical bodies would experience pregnancy and childbirth. In part one of a two-part series, she hears from folks about meeting their new postpartum bodies. A postpartum doula talks about her trauma-informed approach to caring for the physical body; a photographer shares why they're trying to diversify the images we associate with postpartum bodies; and a former Marine talks about navigating the pressures of a highly physical job postpartum.

Meet the guests:

- Lydia-Carlie Tilus, birth and postpartum doula at her practice, SageFemme Wellness, and a certified massage therapist talks about her philosophy on postpartum care

- ash luna, social worker, photographer and founder of the 4th Trimester Bodies Project shares her experience photographing postpartum bodies for more than a decade

- Letticia Solomon, teacher and mother of two takes us into her experience being a postpartum woman in the U.S. Marine Corps

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