Female Trouble

Michele Tsucalas didn’t set out to become an entrepreneur. What started out as a baking hobby became a company, Michele’s Granola, which is made from scratch in Timonium and distributed in stores like Whole Foods and Wegmans throughout the Mid-Atlantic. Though the company grew organically, Michele talked a little bit about the challenges of starting a business and knowing when to continue. Michele’s Granola emphasizes simple ingredients, and Michele discussed trendiness and whether consumer interest in healthy and organic foods is just a fad. She also talked about how the local food entrepreneur scene has changed in the past decade, going from asking for money to donating it and how granola became her go-to.

This week on Female Trouble we’re doing something a little bit different. If you haven’t listened before, this is usually a longform conversation podcast with one guest that spans their life and career, and though this conversation generally fits that format, we centered it around a Baltimore Sun series that ran online and in print called Bridging the Divide, which is about the struggle to move past segregated schools. Bridging the Divide is a four-part series by reporters Liz Bowie and Erica Green that ran in March, examining the challenging redistricting process in Baltimore County, the struggles of a new East Baltimore school, the ways de facto segregation persist in integrated Howard County schools, and an experiment in the challenges and rewards of integration in Hartford, Connecticut. I’d highly recommend you go read those four stories, which we will link to in the show notes at baltimoresun.com/femaletrouble, and then return to this conversation, which is with Annie Milli, marketing director of Live Baltimore. Live Baltimore is a nonprofit that advocates for city living, and much of Annie’s work focuses on encouraging middle-class families in Baltimore to see the good in the neighborhood public schools they have often passed over for private schools. Annie and I only touched on a small part of what the Bridging the Divide series covers, with a focus on city schools and the series serving as a springboard for our conversation.

When multimedia artist and writer Jenn\u233\u Afiya started involving herself with Baltimore’s community of young artists, something clicked: the scene was often very white, very male and not always very local. What started out as a Facebook message to a handful of people just to vent turned into Balti Gurls, a collective of black and brown female-identified artists. Since its founding by Jenn\u233\u in 2014, the members of Balti Gurls have come together on social media and in person to produce what they wanted to see: film screenings, music and art showcases, events and parties. Jenn\u233\u was born and raised in Baltimore, and she talked about her parents’ involvement in the local black arts scene and coming from a long line of creative women of color. She also discussed getting woke on Tumblr, collaboration, the meaning and role of “safer spaces” and her inspirations.

In 2014, Molly Tierney gave a popular and provocative TEDxBaltimore Talk titled “Rethinking Foster Care,” which examined an unchecked loyalty to the idea of foster care and the flaws of intervention. As the director of the Baltimore City Department of Social Services, Molly manages the city’s child welfare and public assistance programs, and she came to the city with some creative ideas in tow. After seven years leading the agency, Molly left in February 2014 to join a New York-based management consulting firm. However, about 10 months later, she returned to the department of social services, and she discussed what has changed since she came back. Molly was involved in a controversial program that allowed some teens in foster care to get a high school diploma from a Christian school in Philadelphia in a single day, which ended amid questioning from The Baltimore Sun in 2013. She talked about that decision, as well as her upbringing, unconventional thinking and what she wishes she had had time to say in her TED Talk.

Storytelling has been a constant in Wanda Draper’s life. The executive director of the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture got her start in journalism and has since held various positions in communications. After graduating from the University of Maryland, Wanda worked at the Evening Sun, and has also held positions at the National Aquarium and most recently at WBAL-TV as director of programming and public affairs. Wanda has been at the Lewis Museum since September, following the retirement of A. "Skipp" Sanders, and she talked about what led to her career change and what helped her survive in male-dominated newsrooms. She also discussed how she’s addressing some of the museum’s challenges, how Freddie Gray shifted the paradigm in Baltimore and commanding respect.

Joy Postell's sensitivity is her superpower. The singer, rapper and songwriter is an up-and-comer in the Baltimore music scene, who most recently released a single called "Consciousness" and an accompanying video, in which she plays the roles of icons including Angela Davis, Billie Holiday, Nina Simone and Celie Johnson from "The Color Purple." Joy talked about her upcoming debut EP, "Diaspora," and balancing perfectionism with knowing when to let go of a creative project. She also discussed her musical theater background, regaining confidence after facing a middle school setback, being raised by a musician mother and coming back to Baltimore.

Unify, reclaim, empower. Those are the goals of the Baltimore Transgender Alliance, which, in its own words, “works to uplift the voices of transgender and gender non-conforming people in Baltimore City.” Ava Pipitone serves as executive director of the alliance, and she talked about the meaning of those outlined goals and working to overwhelm mainstream narratives of trans people by telling their own stories. Founded in 2015 by Bryanna Jenkins, the Baltimore Transgender Alliance is a coalition of organizations that has garnered attention for events like 2015’s Baltimore Trans Uprising protest. Ava, who’s also a worker-owner at Red Emma’s Bookstore and Coffeehouse, is a Maryland native, and she talked about her childhood and the ways her extensive travels have shaped her. She also discussed the so-called “trans tipping point,” the Women’s March on Washington and the importance to her of observability. (Photo courtesy of Tehya Faulk)

Diane Bell-McKoy is the president and CEO of Associated Black Charities, which is not, as the name would lead you to believe, an association of black charities. Rather, it’s a public foundation that focuses on addressing racial disparities in Baltimore and across Maryland with an emphasis on economic equity and the workforce. Before Diane came to Associated Black Charities in 2007, she was a senior fellow at the Annie E. Casey Foundation and led the nonprofit that managed Baltimore’s Empowerment Zone. Diane talked about our culture’s misplaced emphasis on heroes and sheroes, and some of the challenges that come with working for a charity with “black” in the name. A Washington native, Diane discussed the importance of building relationships in Baltimore, what it means to be a civic leader and pushing back against the limitations people try to place on her.

Liz Cornish’s relationship to biking started out of convenience, but now it’s at the center of her work. Liz is the executive director of Bikemore, an advocacy organization that works to improve bicycle infrastructure, policies and awareness in Baltimore. Before coming to Baltimore, Liz was somewhat of a professional adventurer and most recently, the first Women Bike Manager at the League of American Bicyclists. Liz talked about what that means, as well as the ways biking has informed her feminism. Liz touched on her somewhat unexpected path to bike advocacy, and how her upbringing informed her current work around neighborhoods. She also discussed addressing Baltimore’s disparities in access to biking, why biking is so polarizing and learning to take up space.

By combining haunting vocals, bass-heavy beats and elements of synth pop, Josephine Olivia and Drew Scott create the experimental dreamscape that is Blacksage. Josephine, an Annapolis native, sings and writes in Blacksage, which released their second full-length album, “Shivers,” last year. Josephine has been open about the arc of Blacksage -- she and Drew were a couple and now they’re not -- and she discussed some of the frustrating assumptions people make about her relationships and the band. Josephine is intimately familiar with the challenges women in music face, and she talked about some of the ways she uses Blacksage’s live performances to empower women and assert herself to public space. She also discussed her concerns for the Baltimore DIY scene, looking back on her earlier music and self-discovery.