Her Story Speaks

Liz Childs Kelly is a writer, award-winning researcher, educator, community builder, and host of the popular Home to Her podcast dedicated to amplifying the voices of the Sacred Feminine. She is also the author of Home to Her: Walking the Transformative Path of the Sacred Feminine, a 2023 Nautilus Gold award winner, and the founder of Home to Her Academy. In this episode, Liz shares her story of her path to the sacred feminine and how she has dedicated her life to amplifying all aspects of Her. In honor of Women’s History Month, we talk about the ancient history of the sacred feminine, how She shows up today, and how She drives our social justice work.  Liz’s writing has been featured in a variety of online publications, including Forbes, Mashable, Rebelle Society, Human Parts (a Medium publication), and Braided Way, as well as the Girl God Books anthology Just As I Am: Hymns Affirming the Divine Female. An initiated priestess in the 13 Moon lineage, she also holds certifications in Reiki and Vinyasa and Yin Yoga. Liz lives in rural Virginia with her family and can often be found exploring the nearby Blue Ridge Mountains or wandering in the woods behind her home.

Rozella Kennedy is a thought-leader, author and content creator specializing in equity, intersectional women’s history and storytelling as a tool for change. She founded Brave Sis Project in 2019, publishing the world’s only guided journal and day planner honoring BIPOC women in US history and creating events and facilitations supporting authentic allyship. She is also the author of the acclaimed book Our Brave Foremothers: Celebrating 100 Black, Brown, Asian, and Indigenous Women Who Changed the Course of History (Workman, 2023). Her publications and social media platforms have reached thousands of readers and engagers in over a dozen countries on six continents. Rozie also serves as Director of Impact and Equity for global strategic advisory firm Camber Collective, helping support equitable practices within the humanitarian, development, philanthropic, and social impact sectors.

Samantha Salem is a proud Palestinian mother of three, currently living in the Kansas City area. Having lived ten years in Gaza and with most of her family still living there but currently displaced, she knows firsthand the devastating effects of Israel’s occupation of the land of her ancestors. With a passion for educating others about Palestine and committed to ensuring Palestinian voices are not silenced, she advocates for keeping important Palestinian and humanitarian conversations alive.  As a realtor in the Kansas City area with Reece Nichols, she blends her love for real estate and entrepreneurship to empower others to create passive income while honoring diversity and culture. Outside of work, Samantha engages in activism, enjoys bookstore visits, dreams of travel, and captures life through her lens.

For this episode, I am joined by Dr. Paige Rawson (she/they). Paige is a writer, speaker, life coach, epistimactivist and a biblical scholar with a doctorate in religious studies. Having survived five years of reparative therapy, Paige knows firsthand the trauma inflicted by exclusivist ideologies and toxic theologies, including those of white Christian nationalism and (Christian) Zionism, which have been especially instrumental in the genocide in Palestine. Their personal experience of discrimination and dehumanization motivated them to self-acceptance, personal healing, and social action, as well as the pursuit of an MDiv, an MA, and a PhD. Paige now focuses their energy on teaching, preaching, coaching, consulting, and counseling, educating people about (the use and abuse of) privilege, empowering minoritized people to advocate for themselves, and encouraging solidarity among marginalized communities. They have published essays and articles in multiple anthologies, wherein they cross several disciplinary and discursive boundaries to resist Western European epistemological hegemony and inspire interpretation in honor of the various “others,” who have historically been excluded in traditional biblical interpretation and “othered” within the text itself. Paige is particularly interested in educating people about the Hebrew Bible and New Testament in light of their historical relevance and deployment in representations of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, American values, and the justification of colonialism and US diplomacy.

The Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis (she/her) uses her gifts as author, activist, preacher, and public theologian toward creating an antiracist, just, gun violence free, fully welcoming, gender affirming society in which everyone has enough. Jacqui is the Senior Minister at Middle Collegiate Church-preaching Fierce Love throughout the year. She is the first African American and first woman to serve as a senior minister in the Collegiate Church, which was founded in New York City in 1628 and is the oldest continuous Protestant Church in North America. A womanist theologian, Jacqui has preached at the Festival of Homiletics, the Wild Goose Festival, The Children’s Defense Fund’s Haley Farm, and was a featured speaker on the Together national tour with best-selling author, Glennon Doyle. She has been featured on the The Today Show, All In with Chris Hayes, AM Joy, The Melissa Harris Perry Show, NY1, ABC, NBC, PBS, CBS. Her writing has appeared in Harper's Bazaar, USA Today, Vox, The Huffington Post and more. Her newest book, Fierce Love: A Bold Path to Ferocious Courage and Rule-Breaking Kindness That Can Heal the World, was released in 2021 and is the subject of much of our conversation. Inspired by the Ubuntu philosophy “I am who I am because we are who we are”, Dr. Lewis shares practices necessary for transforming ourselves, our communities, and our world at large. Her Fierce Love is a manifesto for all generations, a universalist’s vision for mending our broken hearts and fractured world.

Rev. Dr. Angela Yarber: an award-winning author, artist, and founder of Tehom Center Publishing. Her newest book, Queering the American Dream, is the subject of our conversation where Angela shares the radical journey of her queer family who left it all and the revolutionary women who taught them how. With five of her eight books listed in QSpirit's Top LGBTQ+ Religion Books, Dr. Yarber started Tehom Center Publishing, an imprint publishing feminist and queer authors, with a commitment to elevate BIPOC writers. She holds a Ph.D. in Art and Religion and is an Affiliate Professor for Women in Religious Leadership at Drew University. Her work has been featured in Forbes, Ms. Magazine, HuffPo, The Independent, NPR, Maya Angelou's memorial celebration, the television show Tiny House Nation, and more; to see her folk-feminist art, purchase a book, or learn more about Tehom Center Publishing, visit www.tehomcenter.org

In this episode, my guest and I talk about the healing benefits of psilocybin. We share our personal journeys about the healing we experienced on psilocybin as well as medical facts that support the healing. My guest, Jennifer Chesak is the author of The Psilocybin Handbook for Women. She is an award-winning freelance science and medical journalist, editor, and fact-checker, and her work has  appeared in several national publications, including the Washington Post. Chesak earned her master of science in journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill, and she currently teaches in the journalism and publishing programs at Belmont University. Find her work at jennferchesak.com. And follow her on socials @jenchesak.

Lyvonne Briggs, MDiv, ThM, Emmy Award winner, is a body- and sex-positive womanist preacher. She is an author, pastor, spiritual life coach, and highly sought-after transformational speaker and seminar leader. A TEDx speaker, she has been featured in Essence, Cosmopolitan, and The Washington Post, and Sojourners named her one of "11 Women Shaping the Church.” Lyvonne is a graduate of The Lawrenceville School, Seton Hall University, Yale Divinity School,and Columbia Theological Seminary. She is currently based in New Orleans, LA.

Her new book, "Sensual Faith: The Art of Coming Home to Your Body" is the topic of our conversation. Lyvonne shares her story of breaking free from body and sex shame and invites women to discover a healthier approach to spirituality and sexuality that centers on pleasure rather than shame.

Marcie Alvis-Walker is an author and curator of the popular Instagram handle @blackcoffeewithwhitefriends, which focuses on race, theology, and current events with a companion blog of the same name. She is also the writer and creator of Black-Eyed Bible Stories, a Substack newsletter and podcast focused on Black Womanist readings of the Bible.  In her debut book,  Everybody Come Alive: A Memoir In Essays, Marcie explores intersectionality, diversity, and inclusion in our spiritual lives. In her coming-of-age journey, Marcie touches on the bittersweet pain and joy of what it takes to become a person who embraces being Black, a woman, and holy in America. In this vulnerable conversation Marcie shares more of her deeply personal story with her own mother’s journey with mental illness and its imprint on her life now.

Tina Strawn (she/they) is a joy and liberation advocate, activist, author of "Are We Free Yet? The Black, Queer Guide to Divorcing America," and the owner and host of the Speaking of Racism podcast. The heart of her work is founding and leading Legacy Trips, immersive antiracism experiences where participants visit historic locations such as Montgomery and Selma, AL, and utilize spiritual practices as tools to affect personal and collective change. Most recently Tina is the co-founder of Here4TheKIds, a national movement to ban guns and buy them back.