Ep 131: From Black and White to Living in Color with Alexis "Lexi" Williams of Aloha Glamour

Part of noseyAF's 31 Days of Black Business series 🖤

A Black woman from Mississippi became a Queen Mother in Ghana. It was not on her bingo card.

Alexis "Lexi" Williams founded Aloha Glamour after losing her daughter Lauren Taylor, who was born and died in Hawaii in 2015 while Lexi was stationed there. Everything was black and white for a long time after. When she started seeing color again, she started the business. Every head wrap and every pair of earrings is handmade by artisans in Ghana she's known for years and calls family.

What We Talk About

• Where the name comes from: aloha means both hello and goodbye, and glamour is the confidence you find after life knocks you down
• Her beginner's guide to African fashion — take 80% of what you already wear and add 20% new, and no, you don't have to start with a three-piece suit
• How her artisan relationships started with African print masks during COVID and turned into sewing machines, hired staff, and her picture on the wall as their CEO
• The unexpected turn: what happens when you stop visiting Africa as a tourist and start investing in a community, and what being responsible for a village of 10,000 people actually means

If you love origin stories that don't skip the scary parts, this episode is for you.

Chapters:

• 00:08 - Celebrating Black Business: Aloha Glamour
• 02:47 - The Story Behind Aloha Glamour
• 11:43 - Living in Color: A Journey of Personal Style and Heritage
• 25:54 - The Journey of Aloha Glamour
• 36:28 - Cultural Connections: Bridging Communities
• 39:01 - Transitioning Aloha Glamour: The Next Chapter

All about Alexis "Lexi" Williams

You're gonna love Lexi — she's a veteran turned Queen Mother who will tell you to just start with the earrings. She serves as Nkosuohemaa, Development Queen Mother of Pokrom Nsabaa village in Ghana, and founded the Healing Crown Alliance Foundation, a grief support and diaspora cultural development nonprofit. She's the creator of Protect Your Crown, a cultural education program running in schools, churches, and corporate spaces, and holds the title of Ms. Black Ghana International Ambassador 2026, competing at the MBIA International Pageant in Belize this August. Aloha Glamour has been featured by Forbes and Oprah and received funding from Beyoncé. She describes the brand as a love letter to Black women who have survived something, and asks: what's the color of your story?

Things We Mentioned

• Aloha Glamour
• Healing Crown Alliance Foundation
• Protect Your Crown cultural education program
• Pokrom Nsabaa, Ghana, where she serves as Nkosuohemaa
• MBIA International Pageant, Belize, August 2026

This series is supported by Off the Grid, a podcast for small business owners who want to leave social media without losing their clients. Find them at offthegrid.fun 🖤

Connect with Alexis "Lexi" Williams

• IG: @alohaglamour
• Aloha Glamour

Stay Connected

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• Email: [email protected]
• Follow on IG: @stephaniegraham
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Episode Credits

Produced, Hosted, and Edited by Stephanie Graham

Lyrics: Queen Lex

Instrumental: Freddie Bam Fam

Cover Art: Emma McGoldrick

Ep 130: Day 13 Explaining Investing Through a TJ Maxx Run with Nadia C. Vanderhall of Brands + Bands

Part of noseyAF's 31 Days of Black Business series 🖤

She lost her job in the Great Recession and drained her 401(k) before she knew the first thing about money.

Nadia C. Vanderhall learned it the hard way, then learned it the real way working in product marketing at a bank, where she kept noticing the products weren't built for the people who needed them most. She started posting what she was learning on Facebook. The first big one explained how to invest by walking through building a wig. Now she runs The Brands + Bands Strategy Group and calls herself the girl in the finance bro lane.

What We Talk About

• Why the 50/30/20 budgeting rule doesn't work when housing eats your whole budget, and what to do instead
• The Dash: the roadmap between the wallet you have now and the wealth on your vision board, and why financial planning should really be life planning
• Why she says stop calling money hard, and how to reframe budgeting as expense planning
• The unexpected turn: she was an overdraft queen too, and she breaks down exactly how to stop — push notifications, splitting your accounts, and money dates with your own app

If you love a good analogy and a plan you can actually follow, this episode is for you.

All about Nadia C. Vanderhall

You're gonna love Nadia — she's a marketer's brain in a financial planner's chair. Founder of The Brands + Bands Strategy Group, she's been featured in Good Morning America, The Wall Street Journal, and Essence, and she's gone from working in financial services to becoming one herself. She builds budgets for people who hate building them, audits the ones that aren't budgeting, and answers your one-off money questions without shaming you. She was making $10.71 an hour when she got laid off, so when she says she's been there, she means it.

Things We Mentioned

• The Brands + Bands Strategy Group
• The wig video that started it all
• Her budgeting workshop, active now, and her budgeting workbook
• The Dash method, available through her retainer service
• Her budget build, budget audit, and Ask Me Anything services
• Her emergency fund plan and guide workbook
• Her newsletter, which she describes as a voice memo in written form
• Her YouTube video on her own money fumbles

Chapters:

• 00:10 - Introduction to Black Business Month

• 00:57 - Navigating the Financial Landscape: A New Perspective

• 15:42 - Navigating the Birthday Dinner Trend

• 21:53 - The Importance of Financial Planning

• 33:11 - Navigating Overdrafts and Financial Awareness

This series is supported by Off the Grid, a podcast for small business owners who want to leave social media without losing their clients. Find them at offthegrid.fun 🖤

Connect with Nadia C. Vanderhall

• IG: @thebrandsandbands
• Brands and Bands Website

Stay Connected

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More ways to connect

• Email: [email protected]
• Follow on IG: @stephaniegraham
• Listen to more episodes: noseyaf.com

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Episode Credits

Produced, Hosted, and Edited by Stephanie Graham

Lyrics: Queen Lex

Instrumental: Freddie Bam Fam

Cover Art: Emma McGoldrick

Episode # 129 Dark Fantasy, Black Authors, and a Toxic Hottie or Two with Cheryl Hodges of The Obsidian Archive

Part of noseyAF's 31 Days of Black Business series 🖤

She decided to write a book. Then figured she should probably start reading again. Then opened a bookstore.

Cheryl Hodges kept watching the girlies on Instagram open romance-only bookshops and realized nobody had built one for dark fantasy and speculative worlds. So she did, in January of this year, while writing her own novel, working a full-time job, and raising a kid. Indie authors and Black authors in the genre are the whole point.

What We Talk About

• What dark fantasy actually is, why Maleficent counts, and why all our millennial fantasy obsessions trace back to Disney
• How she decides which books to carry, what she's looking for in author submissions, and why she'll point you to a different bookstore if you're not a fit
• What indie authors are still fighting for against publishers with real marketing budgets
• The unexpected turn: her nonprofit plans are about literacy as comprehension, shaped by teaching her own son to read and by knowing a grown man who can't

If you love origin stories that don't skip the scary parts, this episode is for you.

Chapters:

• 00:10 - Celebrating Black Business Month
• 03:27 - The Journey to Opening a Bookstore
• 18:01 - The Struggle of Indie Authors in Today's Market
• 25:55 - Literacy Initiatives and Challenges
• 34:24 - Launching a Bookstore and Publishing House
• 38:44 - The Vision for the Future Bookstore

All about Cheryl Hodges

You're gonna love Cheryl — she's a Brooklyn library kid turned bookstore owner. Founder of The Obsidian Archive, an online bookstore for dark fantasy and speculative worlds, and author of Crown of the Morning Star, a dark mythic fantasy that follows Lucifer after the fall. She reads six books a month on her Kindle and listens to four or five more. Book two, a vampire duology following Lucifer's son Cain, drops at Halloween. Where she's headed: a brick and mortar with a cafe, a nonprofit running book drives and book clubs, and the biggest selection of indie titles she can build.

Things We Mentioned

• The Obsidian Archive → theobsidianarchive.org
• Crown of the Morning Star by Cheryl Hodges, available on Kindle and paperback
• Legendborn by Tracy Deonn, her beginner's guide to fantasy pick
• The Daggermouth pre-order campaign, and Lee Rivers
• Her banned books section, including Animal Farm and 1984

This series is supported by Off the Grid, a podcast for small business owners who want to leave social media without losing their clients. Find them at offthegrid.fun 🖤

Connect with Cheryl Hodges

• IG: @the_obsidian_archive_bookshop
• Website: theobsidianarchive.org

Stay Connected

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More ways to connect

• Email: [email protected]
• Follow on IG: @stephaniegraham
• Listen to more episodes: noseyaf.com

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Episode Credits

Produced, Hosted, and Edited by Stephanie Graham

Lyrics: Queen Lex

Instrumental: Freddie Bam Fam

Cover Art: Emma McGoldrick

Ep 128: Neurodiversity in Black Families with Rosemary Sanders-Price of Rose in Bloom Therapy

Part of noseyAF's 31 Days of Black Business series 🖤

She spent twenty years in retail management. Then a friend asked her one question in church.

Rosemary Sanders-Price went back to school to become a therapist because when her son was diagnosed with autism, she couldn't find anyone in her corner with the information she needed. She figured other mothers were in the same place. Now she runs Rose in Bloom Therapy and wrote a book about raising him.

What We Talk About

• Why she wishes people understood that neurodiversity in Black families isn't a curse and isn't something to cure
• What effective advocacy actually looks like day to day, including what it means to give a kid a place where they don't have to mask
• What shadow work really is, why it's not a witchcraft girlies thing, and how to forgive the version of you who didn't know better yet
• The unexpected turn: she was sitting in church listening to a pastor tell mothers that autism was their fault, and she started thinking about every woman who went home carrying that

If you love second-act reinventions that don't skip the hard part, this episode is for you.

All about Rosemary Sanders-Price

You're gonna love Rosemary; she's a straight-shooter with a wise voice. A licensed mental health therapist, author, and mom, she founded Rose in Bloom Therapy to make mental health support more accessible, affirming, and culturally responsive. She works with individuals, couples, and families, specializing in trauma, anxiety, depression, neurodiversity, personality disorders, eating disorders, and LGBTQIA+ affirming care. Her belief: healing happens when people feel seen, supported, and empowered to bloom at their own pace.

Things We Mentioned

• Rose in Bloom Therapy
• Her book, Different Not Deficient: Raising a Black Son on the Spectrum, available directly through her website
• Healing Spaces, the group she co-founded, and their restorative justice project
• Psychology Today, where she's also listed
• Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy
• Carl Jung and shadow work

Chapters:

• 00:09 - Introduction to Black Business Month
• 01:03 - Introduction to Rosemary Sanders Price
• 12:37 - The Journey of Advocacy and Understanding Neurodiversity
• 19:38 - Challenges of Community Health and Entrepreneurship
• 25:44 - Navigating Mental Health in the Community
• 28:42 - Understanding Shadow Work
• 32:32 - The Impact of Motherhood on Therapy
• 37:30 - Healing and Grief: A Continuous Journey

This series is supported by Off the Grid, a podcast for small business owners who want to leave social media without losing their clients. Find them at offthegrid.fun 🖤

Connect with Rosemary Sanders-Price

• IG: @rose_in_bloom_therapy
• Website: Roseinbloom.com

Stay Connected

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🏡 Grab the Good Neighbor Playbook → Download it free

More ways to connect

• Email: [email protected]
• Follow on IG: @stephaniegraham
• Listen to more episodes: noseyaf.com

Support & Feedback

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Episode Credits

Produced, Hosted, and Edited by Stephanie Graham

Lyrics: Queen Lex

Instrumental: Freddie Bam Fam

Cover Art: Emma McGoldrick

EP # 127- Empowering Women Through Firearm Safety with Javondlynn Dunagan of JMD Defense

Part of noseyAF's 31 Days of Black Business series 🖤

She cried and left her first firearms training early. Now she's taught hundreds of women to shoot.

Javondlynn Dunagan spent 25 years as a US probation officer, retired at 49, and built JMD Defense around a thing she used to be terrified of. Her Ladies of Steel Gun Club® has grown from seven members to 760, ages 20 to 80, and a documentary about them is making its way through film festivals right now.

What We Talk About

• Why she wants you using your brain before anything else, and how to actually build situational awareness — where you park, why she recommends dusk to dawn lights over motion detectors, and what she's watching during church service
• Why your partner can't teach you to shoot, and what she noticed watching men and women train differently at the range
• Why firearm education can't stop after one concealed carry class, and the once-a-month practice she recommends
• The unexpected turn: when her male instructors would introduce her as the owner, she'd watch the energy in the room shift and men walk away

If you love origin stories that don't skip the scary parts, this episode is for you.

All about Javondlynn Dunagan

You're gonna love Javondlynn she's prepared and paranoid, in her own words. She founded JMD Defense in November 2016 and The Ladies of Steel Gun Club® the following April, and she teaches from her own testimony: she was scared of guns first, so she walks people through the fear at their pace and never rushes anybody. Over 600 five-star reviews and not a single safety incident.

Things We Mentioned

• JMD Defense → jmddefense.com — classes held at 111th and Kedzie
• The Ladies of Steel Gun Club®
• JMD Defense Safety Academy, her foundation
• The Ladies of Steel documentary, currently submitted to film festivals across the country
• Services offered: situational awareness training for organizations and corporations, intro to firearms, concealed carry, gun cleaning, how to purchase a firearm, draw from concealment, private lessons, and a service for families who find a firearm after a loved one passes

Chapters:

• 00:08 - Celebrating Black Business Month
• 02:17 - Transitioning from Law Enforcement to Firearm Education
• 18:01 - The Rise of the Ladies of Steel Gun Club
• 31:20 - The Importance of Ongoing Firearm Education
• 41:37 - Embracing Fear and Leadership in a Male-Dominated Field
• 47:29 - Understanding Value and Pricing in Business

This series is supported by Off the Grid, a podcast for small business owners who want to leave social media without losing their clients. Find them at offthegrid.fun 🖤

Connect with Javondlynn Dunagan

• TikTok: @jmddefensellc
• Website: jmddefense.com

Stay Connected

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More ways to connect

• Email: [email protected]
• Follow on IG: @stephaniegraham
• Listen to more episodes: noseyaf.com

Support & Feedback

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Episode Credits

Produced, Hosted, and Edited by Stephanie Graham

Lyrics: Queen Lex

Instrumental: Freddie Bam Fam

Cover Art: Emma McGoldrick

Ep 126: From CFO to Venue Owner with Nadia S. Anderson of Lavender Hill

Part of noseyAF's 31 Days of Black Business series 🖤

What do you do when you buy the building, follow every rule they gave you, and then they change the rules?

Nadia S. Anderson left her CFO job at lunch one day and never went back. Ten years later she runs Virginia Grace Event Management and owns Lavender Hill, a 1934 brick colonial in Richmond she turned into an event venue with garden grounds and a coworking space. She's fighting her city right now over whether she's allowed to gather people outside on her own property.

What We Talk About

• Why she walked out that day, and what she heard that made it feel like permission rather than quitting
• How a cake decorating class turned into catering, then event planning, then a building
• Where the name Lavender Hill comes from, and what Black excellence and everyday luxury mean to her
• The unexpected turn: she spent $3,000 on a fence and $600 restriping a parking lot to satisfy zoning rules that changed right after, and the fight she's in now started with one night of live music and a neighbor looking over the fence

If you love second-act reinventions that don't skip the hard part, this episode is for you.

Chapters:

• 00:08 - Introduction to the 31 Days of Black Business
• 03:58 - The Journey to Event Planning
• 09:38 - The Journey to Embracing Uncertainty
• 19:37 - Navigating Bureaucracy in Commercial Real Estate
• 23:46 - Creating a Cozy Coworking Space
• 35:23 - The Challenges of Zoning and Community Gatherings
• 37:55 - The Importance of Community Spaces
• 44:18 - Navigating Entrepreneurship Challenges

🎉 Two anniversaries. Virginia Grace turned ten in December, and Lavender Hill turned five in June. Nadia has commemorative merchandise and a social membership in the works. Sign up for her newsletter to catch the details as they drop.

All about Nadia S. Anderson

You're gonna love Nadia — she's a calm problem solver with a taste for everyday luxury. Equal parts creative and analytical, she's a CPA who provides comfortable space for folks to celebrate and collaborate with ease. Beyond Virginia Grace and Lavender Hill, she shares her accounting and management expertise with small business owners through The Anderson Accounting and Advising Group. She's a champion for Black-owned businesses, and she says she's noseyAF too.

Things We Mentioned

• Lavender Hill
• Virginia Grace Event Management
• The Anderson Accounting and Advising Group
• Support Nadia's legal fees
• Boomerang (1993), and Eartha Kitt's Lavender Hill
• Beats and Blockbusters, her outdoor music and movie series

🙋🏾‍♀️ Nadia is looking for a land use attorney in Virginia. If that's you or someone in your network, reach out to her or email me at [email protected] and I'll connect you.

This series is supported by Off the Grid, a podcast for small business owners who want to leave social media without losing their clients. Find them at offthegrid.fun 🖤

Connect with Nadia S. Anderson

• IG: @experiencelavenderhill
• Website: Experience Lavender Hill

Stay Connected

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More ways to connect

• Email: [email protected]
• Follow on IG: @stephaniegraham
• Listen to more episodes: noseyaf.com

Support & Feedback

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Episode Credits

Produced, Hosted, and Edited by Stephanie Graham

Lyrics: Queen Lex

Instrumental: Freddie Bam Fam

Cover Art: Emma McGoldrick

Ep #124 — Closing the Health Literacy Gap with Dr. Madalyn McKnight of Project Healthvocate

Part of noseyAF's 31 Days of Black Business series 🖤

Did you know 9 out of 10 people don't understand basic health information, and that the fix might just be talking like real people talk?

Dr. Madalyn McKnight built Project Healthvocate to close the gap between complex medical language and the way people actually speak, born out of her time in the Southern Poverty Law Center's Advocacy Institute. What started as a summer project has grown into a nonprofit, a podcast, a newsletter, and a published journal.

What We Talk About

• How a lifelong journaling habit (inspired by Moesha, if you're wondering) turned into a doctorate, a nonprofit, and a published author career
• Why Dr. Madalyn believes health literacy is a community issue, not just a patient problem, and how she's working to train providers in cultural competency, not just patients in self-advocacy
• The unexpected turn: the sobering stat that only 18% of new doctors received culturally competent training last year, and what that means for Black maternal health outcomes in Mississippi specifically

If you love origin stories rooted in real research and real stakes, this episode is for you.

All about Dr. Madalyn McKnight

You're gonna love Dr. Madalyn. She's a data analyst, nonprofit founder and executive director, author, and media entrepreneur dedicated to advancing health, wellness, and community impact. As founder and executive director of Project Healthvocate and founder of MadalynMedia LLC, she combines data-driven insight, storytelling, and advocacy to educate and empower communities through her writing, speaking engagements, and media platforms.

Things We Mentioned

• Project Healthvocate, projecthealthvocate.com (free resources, a Substack newsletter, and provider training/CEU coursework in the works)
• Improving Perfection: A Black Girl's Guide to Being Better, Dr. Madalyn's journal/self-help book, available at Madalynmedia.com Amazon, and major retailers
• Do You Hear Yourself, Dr. Madalyn's podcast on health, wellness, and community impact
• Six Dimensions, a Mississippi-based organization Dr. Madalyn partners with to address health disparities

Chapters:

• 00:07 - Introduction to the Black Business Series
• 00:26 - Introduction to Project Health and Holistic Approaches
• 15:15 - Advocating for Health Equity
• 29:22 - Navigating the Challenges of Perfection
• 43:20 - The Importance of Sleep and Wellness Practices

This series is supported by Off the Grid, a podcast for small business owners who want to leave social media without losing their clients. Find them at offthegrid.fun 🖤

Connect with Dr. Madalyn McKnight

• Website: Project Healthvocate (contact form for speaking requests)
• Website: Madalyn Media
• Project Healthvocate on Instagram
• Madalyn Media on Instagram
• Email Dr. Madalyn

Stay Connected

📬 Get the noseyAF Dispatch → Subscribe here

🏡 Grab the Good Neighbor Playbook → Download it free

More ways to connect

• Email: [email protected]
• Follow on IG: @stephaniegraham
• Listen to more episodes: noseyaf.com

Support & Feedback

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Episode Credits

Produced, Hosted, and Edited by Stephanie Graham

Lyrics: Queen Lex

Instrumental: Freddie Bam Fam

Cover Art: Emma McGoldrick

Ep #123 — From Camera Gift to Creative Empire with Rhonda Nunn of Just Keep Smiling Productions

Part of noseyAF's 31 Days of Black Business series 🖤

What happens when you refuse to pick just one lane — camera, director's chair, mic, or sewing pattern?

Rhonda Nunn got her first camera from her dad in sixth grade, walked onto Chicago State's campus determined to be known as "the photographer," and built that into Just Keep Smiling Productions — an apparel line, photography and videography business, and independent film studio, all rooted in a philosophy she landed on one night in prayer at 18 years old.

What We Talk About

• How Just Keep Smiling started as a clothing line in 2013 before growing into photography, videography, and directing — and the three words that came to Rhonda during a moment of prayer that became the whole philosophy
• Why Rhonda refuses to niche down, and how being a "one-stop shop" — from weddings to music videos to short films — actually funds her own creative projects
• The unexpected turn: Rhonda's honest talk about difficult clients, the wedding where she had to refund a couple after a hard drive dropped, and how she's learned to protect her time and rates

If you love origin stories about turning a childhood gift into a full creative practice, this episode is for you.

All about Rhonda Nunn

You're gonna love Rhonda — she's a visionary creative from the South Side of Chicago who leads with faith and purpose. She's an independent director, producer, writer, photographer, videographer, and music producer, and the founder of Just Keep Smiling Productions, where she brings powerful stories to life. She's also an active professional in the film industry and a dedicated humanitarian, hosting an annual charity basketball event, Just Keep Giving Day, each November.

Things We Mentioned

• Just Keep Smiling Productions — photography, videography, directing, and apparel
• Daniel McKnight (The Dreamer Who Manifested Love) — Rhonda's short film, written, produced, and directed by her, starring Julian Williams and Bria Jackson, currently in post-production and on the film festival circuit. Filmed at Chemistry in Hyde Park.
• Just Keep Giving Day — Rhonda's annual charity basketball event held each November at Dalton Park District

Chapters:

• 00:12 - Introducing Rhonda Nunn
• 00:26 - The Journey of Becoming a Photographer
• 12:00 - Transitioning from Passion to Professionalism in Photography
• 18:45 - Navigating Client Relationships in the Creative Industry
• 23:30 - The Creative Journey: Embracing Versatility in Art
• 29:21 - The Importance of Community Service
• 33:59 - Building a Legacy: Reflections on Kindness and Authenticity

This series is supported by Off the Grid, a podcast for small business owners who want to leave social media without losing their clients. Find them at offthegrid.fun 🖤

Connect with Rhonda Nunn

• Business: Just Keep Smiling Productions
• Rhonda’s Instagram
• IG: @justkeepsmilingproductions

Stay Connected

📬 Get the noseyAF Dispatch → Subscribe here

🏡 Grab the Good Neighbor Playbook → Download it free

More ways to connect

• Email: [email protected]
• Follow on IG: @stephaniegraham
• Listen to more episodes: noseyaf.com

Support & Feedback

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Episode Credits

Produced, Hosted, and Edited by Stephanie Graham

Lyrics: Queen Lex

Instrumental: Freddie Bam Fam

Cover Art: Emma McGoldrick

Ep #122 — Building Community for Autism Moms with Sabrina Bonaparte of Monochromatic Mommies

Part of noseyAF's 31 Days of Black Business series 🖤

What do you do when you love your child fiercely, but no one around you understands what your life actually looks like now?

Sabrina Bonaparte built Monochromatic Mommies — a nonprofit supporting mothers of children with autism and special needs — after her son Aiden was diagnosed at age two and she realized there were plenty of resources for him, but almost none for her. What started as a Facebook post looking for other moms who understood has grown into a nonprofit spanning 15 states, with a recent grant to match.

What We Talk About

• How a Facebook group of 25 moms turned into a nonprofit, and the story behind the name — pulled straight from a dream and the surprising biology of flamingos
• Why "maternal wellness" looks completely different depending on each family's needs, and how Sabrina works to integrate rest into moms' lives in five-minute increments, not spa days
• The unexpected turn: Sabrina's own burnout story, including the panic attacks that led her to a psychiatrist, and how she's learned to set — and defend — real boundaries

If you love origin stories that don't skip the scary parts, this episode is for you.

All about Sabrina Bonaparte

We love Sabrina and you will too! She's a storyteller, creative visionary, and founder of Monochromatic Mommies, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting mothers raising children with autism and special needs. Her work centers on maternal wellness, healing through storytelling, and creating spaces for women to feel connected, empowered, and understood — turning her own experience with her son Aiden's diagnosis into a mission to make sure caregivers get care too.

Things We Mentioned

• Monochromatic Mommies — monochromaticmommies.com (free to join; donation and partnership info on the site)
• The Spectrum Story Series — Sabrina's storytelling initiative for moms to share their journeys (currently being moved to the blog section of the website)

Chapters

• 00:09 — Celebrating Black Business Month
• 02:08 — The Birth of Monochromatic Mommies
• 09:43 — Supporting Mothers in Need
• 15:27 — Establishing Boundaries and Community Support
• 19:31 — The Need for Community Support and Expansion
• 25:41 — Navigating Maternal Burnout
• 35:13 — The Importance of Storytelling in Motherhood
• 37:04 — Understanding Autism: Awareness and Diagnosis
• 44:29 — Navigating Sensory Needs and Early Development
• 46:14 — The Vision for Monochromatic Mommies

This series is supported by Off the Grid, a podcast for small business owners who want to leave social media without losing their clients. Find them at offthegrid.fun 🖤

Connect with Sabrina Bonaparte

• Website: monochromaticmommies.com
• IG: @monochromaticmommies

Stay Connected

📬 Get the noseyAF Dispatch → Subscribe here

🏡 Grab the Good Neighbor Playbook → Download it free

More ways to connect

• Email: [email protected]
• Follow on IG: @stephaniegraham
• Listen to more episodes: noseyaf.com

Support & Feedback

noseyAF is listener-supported; thank you for being here. 💛🫶🏾

⭐ Rate & Review the Show

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Episode Credits

Produced, Hosted, and Edited by Stephanie Graham

Lyrics: Queen Lex

Instrumental: Freddie Bam Fam

Cover Art: Emma McGoldrick

Ep #121 — From Coloring Books to Culture Trips with Tiffany Heard of Hues of Africa

Part of noseyAF's 31 Days of Black Business series 🖤

What if the way we learn about Africa has been broken this whole time — and the fix is a coloring book?

Tiffany Heard built Hues of Africa, coloring and activity books plus culture immersion trips after a six-week study abroad trip to Ghana left her crying because she didn't want to leave. What started as one book has grown into three, with group trips to Ghana, Tanzania, and Thailand and nearly 100 travelers taken across the world.

What We Talk About

• Why Tiffany chose coloring books, not a novel, as her entry point for teaching African history and culture — and how her social work background shaped that choice
• How a chance conversation in a Target parking lot turned into five years of hosting group trips to Ghana, Tanzania, and Thailand
• The unexpected turn: what a naming ceremony actually feels like, and why Tiffany believes you should never host a trip somewhere you haven't been yourself

If you love origin stories that turn a personal obsession into a business, this episode is for you.

All about Tiffany Heard

You're gonna love Tiffany; she's a proud Howard University graduate, author, social worker, and world traveler who has explored more than 20 countries. As the founder of Hues of Africa LLC, she creates books and experiences that use coloring, culture, and conversation to inspire learning, connection, and exploration. She also speaks at schools and organizations about culture, travel, and entrepreneurship.

Things We Mentioned

• Hues of Africa - (books: Hues of Africa, Hues of HBCUs, and the newest release, Hues of Love, which pairs coloring and conversation cards to talk through love, grief, self-love, and more)
• Culture immersion trips: Tanzania (late October), Thailand (November 9), Ghana (December 28–January 5)
• Sweet Tiffys- Tiffany's personal travel page
• International Interludes Tiffany's podcast on love and dating abroad

Chapters

• 00:07 — Introduction to Black Business Month
• 03:31 — The Impact of Travel on Cultural Understanding
• 11:22 — Cultural Immersion and the Spirit of Travel
• 20:19 — Misconceptions About Group Travel Costs
• 27:02 — The Journey of Hosting Trips
• 34:22 — The Journey of Entrepreneurship
• 42:40 — Navigating Dietary Preferences on Trips

This series is supported by Off the Grid, a podcast for small business owners who want to leave social media without losing their clients. Find them at offthegrid.fun 🖤

Connect with Tiffany Heard

• IG: @hues_of_africa
• Travel page IG: Sweet Tiffys
• Website: huesofafrica.com

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Episode Credits

Produced, Hosted, and Edited by Stephanie Graham

Lyrics: Queen Lex

Instrumental: Freddie Bam Fam

Cover Art: Emma McGoldrick