Oh what a rabbit hole we have fallen into. This is the first in a series on education in America. Hold tight to your umbrellas because this one's got us riled up. 

We begin by telling Lizzie Martinez's story. Lizzie didn’t wear a bra to school one day while recovering from a sunburn. She was asked to put bandaids over her nipples by her school’s administration and shared her story online, which went viral. We discuss school dress codes and the often unfair consequences of these rules. 

We talked to students who brought up the pervasive problem of bullying. Bullying wasn’t even defined until 2014, and it’s proven a complex issue for schools to handle. One program, Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), teaches self awareness and how to make responsible decisions. SEL has shown to effectively lower hostile events in schools but is only used a small number of districts. 

Sexual harassment, assault, and rape are widely reported in schools across the nation. Several students we spoke to felt their schools didn’t take action against these claims. National statistics support this with reports rising, but school action and punishment hasn’t equally increased. Title IX is a federal civil rights law passed in 1972 as part of the Education Amendments. Title IX states, “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” Although this law is in place, many reports go nowhere. 

In an upcoming episode we’ll dig deeper into the racial inequalities in the U.S. school system, so stay tuned! Follow us on Instagram @HoldMyUmbrella and thank you for listening!

If you're feeling a little tired of all the news lately, this is the episode for you. This week’s show was recorded after the election. We knew we didn’t have the energy for our usual research, so we decided to take it easy with a fun, semi-ridiculous Q&A session. Nothing important takes place here, but we sure had a blast.
Tune in to discover our Harry Potter houses (find out yours), what kind of rollercoaster we prefer, Star Wars vs. Stark Trek, and plenty more nonsense. 

Follow us on Instagram @HoldMyUmbrella

It’s getting hot in our metaphorical podcast kitchen as we talk about Wolfgang Puck and dish behind the scenes of working in the food industry. 

Wolfgang Puck is an Austrian-born American celebrity chef and restaurateur, who’s famous for his high end gourmet restaurants, catering services and cookbooks. Kate tells the story of how he was raised and reached his culinary successes. 

Kate studied Pastry Arts and Baking at Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island, receiving her bachelor’s degree and a wealth of food smarts. Natasha worked almost every front of house restaurant job from hostess, to server, to bartender, and barista, with a brief stint back of house as a breakfast line cook. 

Kate shares her culinary adventures, including international travels and an internship at Facebook. She never made the same dessert twice during her internship and biked to and from her AirBnB in Palo Alto, California. 

Natasha dishes on her first restaurant job, which entailed a fluffed-up resume, some culture shock, and an embarrassing first kiss. 

The food industry isn’t for the faint of heart, perhaps a reason why Natasha has recently quit the biz. We don’t hold back in this conversation about our careers in restaurants, bakeries, coffee shops, and the like. 

Follow us on Instagram @HoldMyUmbrella and we’ll talk to you next week!

We’ve wanted to do this episode since we started the podcast. This week we are highlighting a few of America’s most groundbreaking feminists. It was hard to narrow down a list, but we chose to focus on Amelia Bloomer, Frances Perkins, Shirley Chrisholm, and Maya Angelou this time. 

Amelia Bloomer (1818-1894) is most known for her association with bloomers, a more comfortable and realistic women’s dress style of loose fitting pants that cinched at the ankles underneath a knee-length skirt or tunic. She wrote about the style in The Lily, a newspaper she created, written by and for women. The Washington Post recently brought the publication back. Amelia was an activist for women’s rights, temperance, and dress reform. Her passion for temperance, a movement focused on abolishing or reducing alcohol consumption, separated her from other suffragettes. But she continued her activism until the day she died. 

Frances Perkins (1880-1965) was the United States secretary of labor during Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency. She witnessed the famous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire and was the principal architect of The New Deal. She played a decisive role in efforts that lead the landmark Fair Labor Standards legislation. She remained in government after her time as secretary of labor and became a civil service commissioner. She lectured on problems of labor and industry until her death. 

Shirley Chisholm (1924-2005) was the first African-American woman elected to US Congress. Her signature campaign slogan was “Unbought and unbossed” as she fought for higher wages for workers, more public education funding, and demanding respect for black Americans and women. She helped found the National Women’s Political Caucus, which is dedicated to increasing women’s participation in political and public life. She wrote The Good Fight describing her run for President.

Maya Angelou (1928-2014) is well-known for her long list of accomplishments, writing, and activism. The United Nations called her to write a poem for the world after her recitation of “On the Pulse of the Morning” at Bill Clinton’s inauguration. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom award in 2011 for her contributions to the world. 

Listen in for the full stories of these historic women. Follow us on Instagram @holdmyumbrella 

Thanks for tuning in for our sixth episode where we’re dishing on our experience through this hell-ish year. We both worked at the same restaurant at the beginning of the pandemic. Listen in to learn which of us didn’t make it very long before switching careers. 

Everyone has had their own nightmares this year, aside from the pandemic, we’ve had tumultuous wildfires here in Colorado, there have been movements, protests, disasters, and all-around chaos. As members of the workforce, we experienced furloughs, quarantine, and a complete change to our work environment and duties. The restaurant industry took an intense turn, with continuously changing requirements and stipulations to reopen. 

We were also both exposed to the virus (you know the one) at the same time, and found out the news after recording one of our already-released episodes. 

Although our quarantine lengths were different, we both turned to creativity and online workouts as outlets. You can find the online workout videos we used: The Studio by Jamie Kinkeade, EMKFIT, PopSugar, and Yoga with Adriene. 

It can be overwhelming intaking all the news we’ve received this year. There is information constantly being released from all sorts of sources. We found it helpful to only read or watch news for a certain amount of time per day, and sometimes skip it all together if that’s what your mental health requires. One way to streamline your news intake is to only find it from a few unbiased (or less biased) sources like AP News, BBC, Reuters, CDC, and NPR. Remember your Facebook feed is only showing you what you want to see! 

There was an overly shared meme about productivity that made the rounds of social media a million times over: “If you don’t come out of this pandemic with a side hustle, you lacked motivation, not time.” We’d like to shout from the rooftops that this is utter garbage! We, as an entire species, are going through an incredibly difficult period of time. 

Toxic positivity will tell you to look at the bright side and make lemonade out of lemons. But it’s OK to feel down in dark times. Everyone’s situation looks different, and pressure to be productive is useless. It’s important to take care of ourselves, to recognize we are far from alone in our suffering, and to offer our help whenever we’re capable. Seek help if you’re in a state of crisis.

Wear your masks, look out for your neighbor, and let’s get through this dumpster fire together. Find us on Instagram @HoldMyUmbrella, and keep coming back!

This week we are discussing three progressive shows on Netflix and Hulu that showcase inclusivity, LGBTQ issues, women’s empowerment, sex positivity and representation. If you are one of those people who say, “there’s nothing to watch,” this episode is for you! 

We start off with Ryan Murphy’s Netflix original drama, Pose, which spotlights the legends, icons, and fierce house mothers of New York City’s African-American and Latino underground LGBTQ and gender-nonconforming ballroom culture scene in the 1980s and early 90s. The show features the largest cast of transgender actors in series regular roles, including MJ Rodriguez, Dominique Jackson, Indya Moore, Hailie Sahar and Angelica Ross. The show premiered on FX and received critical acclaim and numerous award nominations for the Golden Globes, and Emmys.

Many of the characters either battle with HIV/AIDS or know someone dying of the disease. Pose exposes the terrible conditions of these patients and the stigma surrounding their diagnosis. We became obsessed with this show for its portrayal of such heavy matter, done in a beautiful and moving production style. 

Next we discuss She’s Gotta Have It, a daring story of a sex-positive woman, Nola Darling (played by DeWanda Wise) and her three lovers based on the film by Spike Lee. The series displays her struggle to stay true to herself and fulfill her dreams while juggling her personal life. She fights misogyny and uses her artistic gifts to create anti-catcalling posters. The show openly supports the Black Lives Matter movement, and features a mostly Black cast. We loved the show’s racial and sexual message, along with its unique directional approach. 

Lastly, we talk about The Bold Type, a must-watch for women’s empowerment. The show is based on real-life former Cosmopolitan editor-in-chief Joanna Coles, and she serves as executive producer for the show. Although the show fictionalizes the magazine name as and highlights fictional characters, the empowering environment is based on reality. The series chronicles the lives of three millennial women, Jane Sloan (Katie Stevens), Kat Edison (Aisha Dee), and Sutton Brady (Meghann Fahy) who are employed at the fictional global publication called Scarlet in NYC under Jacqueline Carlyle (Melora Hardin).

We hope you enjoy this episode and check out the Pose, She’s Gotta Have it, and The Bold Type. Find us on Instagram @HoldMyUmbrella

*Content warning: This episode contains discussion surrounding eating disorders that could be triggering to those who are currently battling or have recently recovered from disordered eating. Please consider if you are in a safe space to listen to this type of material. The National Eating Disorder Association (neda.org) provides resources, support, and community. *

*Audio warning: in this episode we hit the mic more than a few times... We're still learning and got a little overzealous with our hand gestures. You may hear some hits and pops, but we believe in you. You got this, and we'll hit our mics less frequently next time. *

In our fourth episode, we get personal discussing our journeys to build self confidence. We learned that self-esteem has waves and everyone experiences ups and downs, but the general goal is to have a more confident core. We experienced different backgrounds and battles with our self acceptance during adolescence and young adulthood. 

Natasha’s journey to loving herself includes a history of eating disorders and recovery, hence the disclaimer. As a teenager, she sought control over her life, and ended up being controlled by her behaviors for many years. Her biggest piece of advice is to seek out help. It’s not an overnight process and it takes work, but there is hope for a healthier life. A few options for online therapy are Talkspace and BetterHelp. If you do have insurance, you can find counselors through your plan. If you’re uninsured, look into financial sliding scale therapists in your area. If therapy isn’t an option, reach out to someone you trust who can help you take steps toward recovery.

Kate also dealt with accepting her body type as she gained confidence. A doctor in her teenage years put her on a very restrictive diet, despite her high activity level in various sports. Unfortunately, her medical support at the time didn’t understand that a woman could be curvy and fit, which for the record they most certainly can! Fitness doesn’t come in one size. Kate talks about the Plus Size Movement, which has helped many women embrace their bodies. “I’ve had friends say to me, ‘you’re not plus size!’ as if they’re trying to be complimentary. I’m not mad about it. I don’t feel less worthy,” she said. 

For us and many people, comparison was a major hinderance in our paths to finding confidence. When you compare a few features of your own life to another person, you’re likely not seeing the full picture. Most people have aspects of themselves they wish were different, but it’s our differences that inspire creativity and growth. From singing in the shower to solo dance parties, we found ways to accept the parts of ourselves we once wished would go away. Becoming confident isn’t about changing yourself into a more desirable package, but learning to accept and love what makes us unique. 

Some of our confidence inspirations:

• Iskra Lawrence, Aerie model, global role model
• Jazzmyne Jay, producer, activist, model 
• StylelikeU, mother-daughter platform with a mission to inspire acceptance
• Sarah Cray, watercolorist, co-creator of Let’s Make Art 

It’s time for another episode of Hold My Umbrella. Glad you’re back! If you haven’t checked out our episodes “Native-ish to Colorado” and “Soup for the Soulmate”, go ahead and get caught up. We’ll still be here! 

This week we’re cracking down on the long history of sexism in the comic book and movie industries. The comic book industry began in the 1940s and 50s when what was once just strips in newspapers became episodic tales. Comic book stores started popping up and an immediate sexist trend began. 

Many young women and girls have always read comic books, despite a major misperception that they weren’t interested in these heroic stories. But shortly into the industry’s development, post-war romance comic titles boomed in attempts to appeal to the female audience. These comics were written mostly by men, featuring female protagonists who were framed solely through their relationships to men. If you don’t know about women in refrigerators… brace yourself. 

We talk about the initially female-excluding National Cartoonists Society, the origins and ineffectiveness of the Comic Book Code, and the remaining gender gap to this day. Female comic book fans gained visibility less than a decade ago and the objectification of women in comic book-inspired films is still an issue. 

Notable figures Carrie Fisher, Trina Robbins, and Kelly Sue Deconnick, are among several women who have helped pave a better road for female creators, readers, and viewers. Listen in to learn about these incredible women who inspire us to speak up at injustices to make the world a better place for the next generation. Find us on the ‘gram @holdmyumbrella and stay tuned for more!

Welcome back to another episode of Hold My Umbrella. This week we are talking about soulmates, love, and different routes to finding compatibility and expectations. 

The story of the Taj Mahal embodies both romance and tragedy that included love, loss, and an immense display of admiration. This historic white marble mausoleum was built in memory of Emperor Shahjahan’s beloved former wife and has been a jewel of Muslim art in India for centuries. When the emperor married his wife, he named her Mumtaz Mahal, meaning “jewel of the palace.” The couple met as teenagers and the story told of their love is everlasting. 

The definition of soulmates varies, but a soul connection can be defined when two people feel linked on a “soul” level. Listen in as we discuss our personal views and experiences with the topic of soulmates, our views on relationships and love languages, and the expectations to find your one true love. 

Check us out on Instagram @HoldMyUmbrella 

We are Kate and Natasha, nice to cyber meet you! In our very first episode we discuss our moves to Colorado and some history of the mile-high region. Though we aren’t natives, this mountainous region has become our home. 

Colorado is a gorgeous state! We live in Fort Collins, a continually growing community along the Colorado Front Range and Cache La Poudre River. 

Colorado officially became a state on America’s 100th birthday, rightfully claiming the name Centennial State. Centuries ago it was inhabited by Anasazi cliff dwellers, and then Native American tribes. Spanish explorers arrived in the 16th century and started an exchange between the two. Their economic relationship evolved and even the Catholic Church got involved in exporting. 

Many more explorations took place over the next two centuries as colonization expanded. Following more decades of politics and bloodshed, statehood became an option for what is now Colorado. Black suffrage postponed this process as the 13th amendment was recently passed and Black Americans still didn’t have equal rights. Colorado voted in strong majority to exclude allowing suffrage of African American citizens. Fortunately, the federal government wouldn’t budge on this and statehood took place, black suffrage included. 

Although Colorado has voted democratic in the past three elections, its political history and current status is much more mixed than we realized before moving here. Elected officials and representatives continue to be a variety, although Colorado has been in the leading states on several liberal movements, like marriage equality, environmental efforts, and access to cannabis.  

Listen on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you stream, to hear about our experiences moving here. From being shamed for our non-Native status, to the abundant outdoor activities, our Disney World awe at cannabis dispensaries and more! Listen carefully for our fun, near-death experiences that are only fun because we didn’t die. 

Thank you for taking the time to listen. You can find us on Instagram at HoldMyUmbrella and we hope you stay tuned for our upcoming episodes where we talk about sexism in comics, the concept of soulmates, our journeys of self-confidence, and a slew of other women-oriented topics. See you soon friends.