Embodied

Anita is a dog mom. Her wire-haired, bearded terrier Oliver has been her companion through heartbreak, job changes and pandemic turmoil. She's never going to feel ready to say goodbye, but she knows from watching others lose family pets, that pet grief can wreck you, and it's better to acknowledge this reality sooner rather than later. She talks with pet owners, a veterinary social worker, a vet and her own parents about making space for pet grief and memorializing the animal companions we have loved.

Meet the guests:

- Corban Smith, adjunct professor at James Madison University, jail/emergency services clinician at Valley Community Services Board talks about being the pet guardian of the late Dallas

- Sarina Manifold, certified grief recovery specialist and owner of Authentic Healing Counseling shares what it’s like to be a veterinary social worker

- Dr. Erika Lin-Hendel, board member of Not One More Vet and a relief veterinarian, opens up about the veterinary mental health crisis and what community care for vets could look like

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Anita's idea of relaxation often involves a good book. She's begun exploring the vast world of romance novels and was surprised to learn how much more diverse the genre has become since the days when Fabio was the only inspiration for sexy book covers. Three neurodivergent authors tell her about writing the characters they longed for as readers and making space for new takes on the "happy ending."

Meet the guests:

- E.S. Yu, author of the paranormal romance “Human Enough” talks about the way indie publishing has welcomed her as a reader and writer

- Ceillie Simkiss, author of two romance novella series, including "Learning Curves" shares her favorite romance tropes to upend in her writing

- Emery Lee, author of "Meet Cute Diary" talks about the art of writing neurodiverse characters in young adult books

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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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Anita has not participated in a Dry January, but there are times when she's motivated to pay extra-close attention to her relationship with alcohol. Most recently: during the pandemic. While some of us started drinking more, another group of folks committed to sober curiosity: a movement encouraging introspection about your relationship with alcohol. She meets two people who are years into building sober lives and asks them to reflect on how their sobriety journeys have shaped everything from relationships to thoughts about the future.

Meet the guests:

- J.Nicole Jones, co-host of the “Sober Black Girls Club” podcast and host of “The Grief Bully” podcast talks about choosing sobriety at age 23

- Tawny Lara, co-host of “Recovery Rocks” podcast, shares what it was like to become sober after years working as a bartender

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Anita's now living in one of the few places in the U.S. South without an abortion ban. As her home state becomes the nearest safe provider for millions of people, she's observing how abortion providers here are preparing for the spike in demand. She reconnects with one of them, Dr. Rathika Nimalendran, who has been providing access to abortions in North Carolina for years, to talk about what action she's taking in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Meet the guest:

- Dr. Rathika Nimalendran, family physician with Planned Parenthood South Atlantic and a fellow with Physicians for Reproductive Health talks about what is on her heart and mind in this moment

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Anita comes from a tea-drinking family, but she's happiest when she's holding a mug of coffee the size of her face. For years, she's been reading headlines about why coffee is "good" for you, but she's not sure where myth ends and fact begins. So, she turns to the experts: Dr. Rao (her dad) is back to explain why coffee makes you poop, and how it affects your gut. A neuroscientist tells her about what her brain is doing once coffee hits her system. And two folks with deep ties to java talk about coffee culture, from bean to brew.

Meet the guests:

- Dr. Satish Rao, gastroenterologist and professor of medicine at Augusta University (and Anita’s dad), gives Anita the coffee-gut advice she needs

- Dr. Shannon Odell, science communicator and neuroscientist goes Magic School Bus on coffee science

- Samuel Ngwa, founder of Safari Pride Coffee shares how his family’s story as coffee farmers in Cameroon inspired his coffee business today

- Austin Jeffries, co-owner of Borough Coffee mobile coffee cart, talks about his hopes for a more slowed-down coffee culture in the U.S.

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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, talks about her personal story of postpartum depression

- Shannon Purdy Jones, co-owner of Scuppernong Books in Greensboro and mother of two, talks about how her postpartum mental health impacted her marriage

- Darren Jones, Shannon’s husband and director of Pricing at Mack Trucks, Inc, shares his mental health journey as a non-birthing partner, and how therapy has helped support their marriage

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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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Anita got glasses young, and as a kid every time her prescription got worse, her anxiety about losing her vision spiked. She realizes now how much of that fear was ableism at work. Three artists who've lost their sight and found myriad ways to fortify a culture of blind pride show her it's about disrupting the binary and pushing for a more accessible, creative future

Meet the guests:

- Dr. M. Leona Godin, writer, performer, educator, and the author of "There Plant Eyes: A Personal and Cultural History of Blindness" talks about the term occularcentrism

- James Tate Hill, author of the novel "Academy Gothic" and the memoir "Blind Man’s Bluff" shares his personal story of hiding his low vision from most folks his life for almost 15 years

- Lachi, award-winning recording artist, songwriter, and inclusion advocate shares how she is pushing to make the Grammy’s more inclusive

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Anita finally learned how to put on sunscreen properly and care for her body’s largest organ, thanks to medical and skincare industry experts who give advice she revisits in this episode. Their tips helped her figure out what to focus on in her skincare routine, and how to resist the temptation to fall down Tik-Tok beauty rabbit holes.

Meet the guests:

- Dr. Chesahna Kindred, a board-certified dermatologist at the Kindred Hair & Skin Center in Maryland, teaches Anita about the science of the skin and why focusing on a few small things consistently will go a long way

- Anay Castro is a certified physician assistant at the North Carolina Center for Dermatology. She talks about how our skin changes as we age, and why she works to give culturally-sensitive skincare advice

- Leo Louie takes Anita inside the beauty and skincare industry. He shares insights from years working jobs ranging from Sephora brand representative to writer for the website Beauty Tap

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