Female Trouble

April Ryan has covered the news for decades, but it wasn’t until recently that she became part of it. April has been White House correspondent for American Urban Radio Networks for 20 years, covering the Clinton, Bush, Obama and now Trump administrations, and she contributes to CNN as a political analyst. You might know April from one of her notable interactions this year, which include an exchange with President Donald J. Trump in which he asked her whether the Congressional Black Caucus were her "friends" and whether she could set up a meeting with them, and also an exchange with former White House press secretary Sean Spicer, in which he told April to “stop shaking” her head as he answered a question from her. That exchange with Spicer, along with comments Bill O’Reilly made about Rep. Maxine Waters’ hair, helped fuel a #BlackWomenAtWork hashtag on Twitter and in part thrust April into the spotlight. April has written two books, “The Presidency in Black and White: My Up‑Close View of Three Presidents and Race in America” and “At Mama's Knee: Mothers and Race in Black and White,” and she was named 2017 journalist of the year by the National Association of Black Journalists. She talked about specialty media, how the national conversation around race has evolved and whether her role has changed in covering Trump’s administration.

Ingrained in her since she was a child, justice and equality matter most to Jill P. Carter. Jill is the daughter of prominent civil rights activist Walter P. Carter, and she now serves as director of the Office of Civil Rights and Wage Enforcement. Before joining Mayor Catherine Pugh’s administration and taking over the office in January, Jill served as a state delegate for 14 years. She takes over the civil rights office at a pivotal time; Jill now oversees the Civilian Review Board, which investigates complaints against police, though police don’t have to heed the board’s recommendations. Additionally, the creation of the Civilian Oversight Task Force was one of many police reform measures mandated under the consent decree reached between the city and the U.S. Department of Justice, and part of that task force’s job will be to assess the Civilian Review Board. If that all sounds a little jargon-y, don’t worry; Jill talked about feeling marginalized in the Maryland House of Delegates, taking over an underutilized office and some of the early experiences that shaped her.

Writer Colette Shade is probably best known for a nonfiction piece she wrote for Gawker in 2015 about the Maryland Hunt Cup. Centering around the Baltimore County horse race that took place almost a week after Freddie Gray’s death, the piece highlighted the disparities inherent to Baltimore’s history, an area of great interest to Colette. Her writing, which has appeared in The New Republic, Jezebel, The Atlantic, Baltimore City Paper and other places, often examines labor, history, politics and material culture. Colette talked about how those interests developed, as well as about her time in tabloids and the novel she’s working on, titled “The Blessing of the Hounds.”

When Ateira Griffin was working at the Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women, it broke her heart to hear about the challenging relationships between many of the students and their single moms. That, along with her strong relationship with her mother, inspired Ateira to start Building Our Nation’s Daughters in 2015. BOND is a local nonprofit that aims to strengthen the relationships between single mothers and daughters and in turn, strengthen our communities. For her work with BOND, Ateira won the Warnock Foundation’s Baltimore Social Innovation Journal award in 2015. Ateira talked about growing up in Baltimore, experiencing disparities in education and empowering Baltimore’s women.

On Natural Velvet’s new album, “Mirror to Make You,” the band puts forth female fury. Today on the podcast, Natural Velvet bassist and vocalist Corynne Ostermann and guitarist Kim Te come in to talk about their aggressively feminine music. Corynne and Kim make up half of the alternative post-punk band, along with guitarist Spike Arreaga and drummer Greg Hatem. “Mirror to Make You,” the band’s third LP, came out earlier this month, following 2015’s “She is Me.” Corynne and Kim talked about those albums, their relationships to the cities they grew up near, how identity and aesthetics shape the band and their very different musical educations.

Bobbi Rush loves music she can cry to -- and the singer/songwriter strives to make work her listeners will feel deeply. Bobbi was born and raised in Baltimore, and in February she released “Miles,” produced by Micah E. Wood, which marked a departure from her gospel roots. The daughter of writers and musicians, Bobbi talked about growing up in the church, being a hopeless romantic and starting over.

Located at the base of Federal Hill, the American Visionary Art Museum showcases works by self-taught artists that empower the singular voice of the individual. At the museum, which features a mosaic exterior crafted by youth at risk, visitors will find pieces like the outdoor Giant WhirliGig, a family of robots and a huge sculpture of Divine. In 1995, inspired by working with hospital patients with chronic mental illness, Rebecca Alban Hoffberger founded the museum, and she still serves as its director and principal curator. Rebecca talked about some of her teenage adventures, social justice as performance art and why she doesn’t like the term outsider art.

Caryn York, director of policy and strategic partnerships at the Job Opportunities Task Force, calls herself a workforce advocate. Most recently, that has taken the form of bail reform efforts. As reported by the Baltimore Sun’s Michael Dresser, in Maryland’s General Assembly session this year, Caryn led a coalition that opposed legislation, strongly backed by the bail-bond industry, that would have reversed a recent Court of Appeals rule that essentially says defendants can’t be held in jail because they can’t afford bail. The rule doesn’t get rid of money bail, but instructs judges to look for other ways to ensure a defendant appears for trial, and Caryn and the Coalition for a Safe and Just Maryland were ultimately successful -- the rule will go into effect on July 1. Caryn talked about her light bulb moment, her experience in Annapolis and what’s next for bail in Maryland.

Amie Ward will make you a vodka soda -- just be sure to tell her how you’re doing first. Hospitality is key for Amie, a bartender who worked at Baltimore’s Bad Decisions and Wit ---- Wisdom before taking over the Aggio bar program. Now Amie is the co-beverage director at R. Bar, which is inside Remington’s new food hall, R. House. Amie has had stints in athletics and academia, and she discussed the transition over to full-time bartending and what she has had to learn about branding herself. She also talked about field hockey, flamingos and keeping Baltimore weird.

Founded in February 2014, the Baltimore Abortion Fund offers small grants to residents in most of Maryland who can’t afford the full cost of their abortion care. Spencer Hall, the current board president, founded the all-volunteer organization when she was looking to get involved with reproductive rights and found that starting the service in Baltimore would lighten the demand on a similar fund in Washington. Annie Hollis, now BAF’s vice president, came on soon after. Funded entirely by donations, BAF operates as a helpline, and Spencer and Annie talked about some of the barriers, financial and otherwise, to people who are seeking an abortion. They also talked about the challenges of starting a nonprofit, dealing with burnout and fighting their inner Leslie Knope.