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It's time for another installment of our Banned Books Series! This month we're discussing Almost Perfect, winner of the first Stonewall Award for Children's & Young Adult Literature, written by Brian Katcher. This book follows Logan, a high school senior, as he works through his feelings about his friendship and budding romance with an 18-year-old trans woman. This is a well-written book worth reading and discussing. Tune in to hear our conversation. 

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In this post-Roe world of fewer states with legalized access to abortion care women are forced to travel to get the healthcare that they need and want. Our guest this week, Rev. Erika Ferguson, founded an organization that helps women make that journey - Tubman Travel Project, a first-of-its-kind travel model for reproductive freedom travel. Tune in to this inspiring conversation to hear how Rev. Erika was fueled by her own experience as a teenager to pay it forward to help as many women and families as she can. 

Where to find Rev. Erika Ferguson and the Tubman Travel Project:

Website: www.tubmantravel.org 

Instagram: @tubmantravel

Facebook: facebook.com/tubmantravel

Podcast: The Repro Report

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So much of the popular lore around midlife leads us to believe that it's just a slog to endure. And, honestly, so many women in midlife feel like that's true. But it doesn't have to be this way. Our midlife years can be full of vibrancy, joy, passion and reinvention. How do we make that happen? Our guest Carla Wainwright knows how. Tune in to find out what she has to say about adding some joy and vibrancy to midlife.

Carla Wainwright is a Holistic Wellness Coach, Sexual Awakening Facilitator, and Midlife Alchemist. She supports women 40+ to boost energy, balance hormones, and reconnect with their pleasure and vitality through a blend of metabolic health strategies, nervous system healing, and feminine embodiment practices. 

With a background in biology, homeopathy, and over two decades of experience in the healing arts, Carla bridges science with sacred wisdom. She is especially passionate about helping women reframe midlife as a transformative rite of passage – a portal to deeper clarity, creative power, and authentic expression. 

Where to find Carla Wainwright:

Website: https://vibrancyreset.com/

Instagram: @carlawainwright

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarlaWainwrightCreatrix/ 

Free Gift ~ Vibrancy Guide: https://vibrancyreset.com/

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Be part of the conversation by sharing your thoughts about this episode, what you may have learned, how the conversation affected you. You can reach Raquel and Jennifer on IG @madnesscafepodcast or by email at [email protected].

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When someone is harmed, whether by an individual or a system, the harm is often holistic - meaning the effect of the harm is not contained to one area of that person's life. That said, it makes perfect sense that the justice and healing be holistic as well. But what does that look like? How is that put into practice? It starts with a new understanding of justice and a new type of justice system - one that is empathetic rather than punitive. That's where today's guest, Leah Brown, comes in. Tune into our conversation to hear more about restorative justice and how it can be utilized by individuals, organizations, systems, and societies.

Leah Brown, a lawyer and accredited mediator, is the founder of The WayFinders Group, a change management consultancy, where she helps organizations navigate high-stakes transitions and institutional crises through restorative approaches. She's also the host of The Longest Day Podcast and the new podcast, Address the Harm. 

Where to find Leah Brown:

TikTok and Instagram: @leahtalks_

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leahbrown-frsa/

YouTube: @leahtbrownfrsa

Websites: www.leahtalks.com, www.thewayfindersgroup.com, www.thelongestdaypodcast.com and www.addresstheharm.org 

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Be part of the conversation by sharing your thoughts about this episode, what you may have learned, how the conversation affected you. You can reach Raquel and Jennifer on IG @madnesscafepodcast or by email at [email protected].

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Women's rights are being dismantled in so many ways around the world. One place where this dismantling has happened in the extreme is Afghanistan. In this week's episode we talk Cara Cruikshank about how some of the women in Afghanistan are surviving, maintaining their humanity, and maintaining connection. 

As a writer, director, producer, advocate and educator Cara brings an artist's vision to humanitarian work, and something rarely seen in crisis response: the understanding that people experiencing trauma need more than survival skills—they need spaces to imagine, to heal, and to become.

After the Taliban seized Afghanistan in 2021 and the world watched its women disappear from public life, Cara asked Afghan women what they needed most—then listened deeply to their response. The result is Voices Unveiled, a holistic underground school and self empowerment program that stands nearly alone in the digital education landscape for recognizing what Afghan women themselves identified as their deepest need: not just marketable skills, but psychological healing, feminist consciousness, and the reclamation of their right to dream. What began as a comprehensive 12-week self-empowerment course has blossomed into a full educational ecosystem, now offering over a dozen elective courses spanning the humanities, arts, mindfulness, sciences, and technology—all grounded in the principle that sustainable transformation requires addressing the whole person: mind, body, and spirit.

Today, Voices Unveiled works with hundreds of women and girls ages 13 to 30 across Afghanistan and beyond. As founder and executive director, Cara leads a global network of over 30 volunteers creating what one student calls “a revolution within me”—proving that education, when it addresses the whole person, becomes a powerful act of resistance.

Where to find Voices Unveiled and Cara Cruikshank:                                                    Website: voicesunveiled.org

IG: @VoicesUnveiled_Afghan

Facebook: @CafedelaCulture

LinkedIn: Voices Unveiled

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What is the purpose of education, of schooling, of the school system? How was the American education system developed? What were the reasons behind how and why certain practices and programs were put into place? How were Black and Native children considered in the system? In Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism, Eve L. Ewing goes into great detail to chronicle how the American system of education was created and how it was specifically designed with regard to Black and Native people. 

This book is a must read, especially for anyone interested in education, history, and racial and social justice. Listen in to hear our discussion and how learning this history affected us personally. This was a tough one, but knowledge is power. Stay informed!

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Jesse Andrews' Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is the next installment of our Banned Books Series. It has been banned and removed from library shelves for sexual explicitness, profanity, and degrading content. Tune in to hear our review of the book.

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Resistance movements are happening all over the world. Some are in their infancy, and some have been in existence for decades. Case in point, Iran. Our guest this week, Zolal Habibi, joins us to talk about Iran's women's rights and human rights resistance movements. Her connection to the movement and her work to support it are incredibly interesting and powerful. We can learn so much from her story and the resistance at large. 

As a human rights and women's rights advocate and member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), Zolal Habibi works to amplify the voices of Iranians fighting for freedom and justice.

Her activism began as a teenager, shaped profoundly by the loss of her father - a celebrated Iranian writer - who was killed by the regime in 1988. Today, she engages with policymakers, journalists, and civil society leaders worldwide to expose human rights abuses in Iran and support the movement for a democratic, secular republic.

Where to find Zolal Habibi and learn more about her work:
X/Twitter: x.com/ashrafi4ever                                                                                                               

Instagram: instagram.com/ashrafi4ever

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/zolalhabibi/

Websites: ncr-iran.org, maryam-rajavi.com/en

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Be part of the conversation by sharing your thoughts about this episode, what you may have learned, how the conversation affected you. You can reach Raquel and Jennifer on IG @madnesscafepodcast or by email at [email protected].

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What can we learn from myths, archetypes, and goddesses? Specifically, what can we learn from the goddess Inanna? And what does Carl Jung have to do with any of this? This week's guest, Mari Castle, joins us to discuss it all, and then some. 

Where to find Mari Castle:

Website: www.breathwork9.com

Email: [email protected]

Support the show

Be part of the conversation by sharing your thoughts about this episode, what you may have learned, how the conversation affected you. You can reach Raquel and Jennifer on IG @madnesscafepodcast or by email at [email protected].

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In this month's installment of our Banned Books Series, we discuss Shaun David Hutchinson's YA novel We Are the Ants. Tune in to hear our thoughts on the book. Have you read this book or any of Hutchinson's other books? What did you think? Let us know - join the discussion!

Support the show

Be part of the conversation by sharing your thoughts about this episode, what you may have learned, how the conversation affected you. You can reach Raquel and Jennifer on IG @madnesscafepodcast or by email at [email protected].

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Thanks!