Embodied

Anita invites her parents back to Embodied for a special bonus episode. She hears their take on our recent episode "Mixed," about growing up biracial. Then she turns the tables and puts herself in the guest seat as her parents ask her a few questions.

Meet the guests:

- Sheila Rao, Anita's mom, shares some of the context surrounding her marriage to Satish and how that influenced the way they raised their children — and asks Anita how she's thinking about these issues as she's building her own mixed race family

- Satish Rao, Anita's dad, talks about the influence of where Anita grew up on their family and asks Anita about the strengths and weaknesses of being biracial

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Anita's nail habit has evolved in the past decade from $10 drop-in manicures to 90 minute appointments with a nail artist. That artist joins her for a conversation about how Black women have shaped nail culture. Plus a fashion historian details nail history from Egyptian mummies to ‘90s Chanel colors, and a Vietnamese-American woman tells the story of growing up inside her parents' nail salons.

Meet the guests:

- Crystal Sanders, nail artist and entrepreneur, shares her business and artistic philosophy and talks about the overlooked role Black women have played in the history of nail art

- Suzanne E. Shapiro, fashion historian and author of "Nails: The Story of the Modern Manicure," explains the historical context of manicures and nail art and ties both art forms into larger cultural forces

- My Ngoc To, Vietnamese-American writer, talks about her experience growing up in the nail salons that her parents owned and how that has influenced her relationship with nail art today

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Dig deeper:

Crissy Shined Nails on IG

Blkgirlnailfies on IG

More context on Black women in nail art

NYT nail industry expose

My Ngoc’s piece about her family’s nail salons

Nailed It documentary

When Anita moved away to college, she experienced a big shift in her biracial identity. Turns out that the questions that emerged for her are ones that many mixed young adults still ponder today ...15 years later. She meets two college seniors and they talk through navigating everything from "Where do I belong?" to "How do I date?" Plus she hears wisdom from a life coach who helps mixed adults tell new stories about identity.

Meet the guests:

- Adiah Siler, a senior at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, explains how moving out of her small town to go to college allowed her opportunities to explore her Blackness and has influenced her journey as a mixed race person

- Claire Gallagher, a senior at the University of Michigan, shares her own experiences growing up as a mixed race person and brings up some of the anxieties she's had about her identity, especially since attending a predominantly white college

- Sarah Lotus Garrett, a certified life and goal fulfillment coach, emphasizes the confidence and healing that being a part of a mixed race community can bring

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Dig deeper:

Sarah’s program for mixed adults

Claire’s piece on the fetishization of mixed race identities

Adiah’s piece on being a mixed teen

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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Leave us a message for an upcoming episode here!