Salt The Podcast

What is a memory that you have that had an impact on your life? is a question I was asked in episode 37 by Ina from indieslittlecrafts . Her question triggered something unexpected and as a result, I have been asking all my guests about their memory ever since. Because something happens when we unleash our untold stories, when we remember them, and share them. They lead to unexpected openings and gatherings, connections and breaking of silences. 

This is both Salt's 50th episode and its 2nd anniversary episode. I am dedicating it to our memories, to those unexpected openings and to Audre Lorde who said: "I was going to die. Sooner or later. Whether or not I had even spoken myself. My silences had not protected me and your silences will not protect you. What are the words you do not yet have? 

Host: Stella Saliari  

At Salt the Podcast my guests and I contest and deconstruct narratives, and passionately recreate with the aim to change systems and perceptions. We want to elevate a generation that is feminist, antiracist and empathetic. Our conversations flow into each other and leave room for the unexpected. Salt is love, community, solidarity, a collective, healing, creating. It is intersectional, full of stories, movement and change. It insists, evolves and transforms. It is a commitment.

#memories #astronomer #burnout #thenetherlands #amsterdam #mothers #unexpected #spiderweb #leaves #founderstories #memory #saltthepodcast #forgiveness #love #migrantstories #diasporic #Suriname #antisuperwoman #untoldstories #audrelorde #mayaangelou #indieslittlecrafts

Follow Salt @salt_thepodcast

Subscribe to Salt The Podcast on Soundwise

After 7.5 years as an innovation and concept designer, Mérida Miller decided to leave the corporate world to follow her passion: learning and working hands-on with people to create a ripple effect impact. Driven by human-centric design and a love for empowering solutions Project Fearless was born. A non-for-profit organization that offers after school courses for girls and genderfluid youth between the ages 9 and 14 to get hands-on, break stereotypes and find their voice. To be part of an organization that inspires bravery and leadership and focuses on shaping and amplifying a new generation. Since it founding in 2019, Project Fearless has welcomed over 895 kids across 72 one-of-a-kind programs. 

In this episode we speak about Project Fearless, the anti-perfectionist reminder, artivism. We learn about the draft mode journey, create space for Mérida to relive a memory that impacted her life. But above all we share joy and life together. 

Host: Stella Saliari   

At Salt the Podcast  

my guests and I contest and deconstruct narratives, and passionately recreate with the aim to change systems and perceptions. We want to elevate a generation that is feminist, antiracist and empathetic. Our conversations flow into each other and leave room for the unexpected. Salt is love, community, solidarity, a collective, healing, creating. It is intersectional, full of stories, movement and change. It insists, evolves and transforms. It is a commitment.

#problemsolver #activism #afterschoolprograms #skateboarding #thenetherlands #amsterdam #snowboarding #mentorship #buildmakebe #hypegirl #girls #founderstories #nonprofit #girlsgarage #mentalhealth #projectfearless #memories #anonymousnotes #antiperfectionism #saltthepodcast #teenagers #nonbinary #youth #doer #nonprofitleadership #artivism #nieuwwest #depijp

Follow Salt @salt_thepodcast

Subscribe to Salt The Podcast on Soundwise

This is part 2 of 'Activism Works - Black Pete is Racism' where Lieke Koningen, Simone de Bies and I discuss why Black Pete is racism, and how it is connected to the Dutch colonial legacy and linked to institutional racism. We focus on the importance of recognizing power relationships and being antiracist. An we discuss how an inclusive Sinterklaas festivity can look like and how kids are ready to be educated on racism.  

Above all though, we recognize the long-lasting resistance struggle around Black Pete is Racism, the people who have been speaking out in the streets, in schools, in nurseries, workplaces, at family dinners and so forth. 

We honour activism as a creative endeavour and are inviting you all to be worthy of our times, to step up and say not in my name to racism, oppression, intimidation and injustice! Choose your model of activism, what speaks best to you, be artistic and creative about it and let's continue making positive changes together. 

Host: Stella Saliari  

At Salt the Podcast  

my guests and I contest and deconstruct narratives, and passionately recreate with the aim to change systems and perceptions. We want to elevate a generation that is feminist, antiracist and empathetic. Our conversations flow into each other and leave room for the unexpected. Salt is love, community, solidarity, a collective, healing, creating. It is intersectional, full of stories, movement and change. It insists, evolves and transforms. It is a commitment.

#blackpeteisracism #activism #resistance #stopblackface #thenetherlands #amsterdam #thetimeisup #socialjustice #decolonizing #antiracist #gloriawekker #representation #representationmatters #equitymatters #saltthepodcast #intersectionality #antiracism #personalnarratives #kickoutblackpete

Follow Salt @salt_thepodcast

Subscribe to Salt The Podcast on Soundwise

This episode (which consists of two parts) is about the Dutch Sinterklaas festivity and specifically the figure of Black Pete. It firmly states that activism works and that Black Pete is Racism. 

To discuss this important and challenging topic I gathered with two fabulous people: Lieke Koningen and Simone de Bies. 

Lieke is a mother, a life coach, community builder and event producer. An award winning teacher, dancer and workshop developer who lives with her family in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. From a very young age she felt the need to stand up against injustices and her passion for social justice has been part of her life ever since. 

Simone was born in Suriname, in South America and moved to Amsterdam, the Netherlands at the age of 9. This is where she lives together with her daughter Zoe. Simone works for the Dutch government and is passionate about making our society more equal and inclusive.  

In this first part of the episode we introduce the topic, listen to statements from people on the topic, outline parts of the resistance struggle and provide some analysis on why Black Pete is racist. 

Host: Stella Saliari  

At Salt the Podcast  

my guests and I contest and deconstruct narratives, and passionately recreate with the aim to change systems and perceptions. We want to elevate a generation that is feminist, antiracist and empathetic. Our conversations flow into each other and leave room for the unexpected. Salt is love, community, solidarity, a collective, healing, creating. It is intersectional, full of stories, movement and change. It insists, evolves and transforms. It is a commitment.

#blackpeteisracism #KOZP #nederlandwordtbeter #gloriawekker #racism #killjoy #stopblackface #nederlandkanhet #blacklivesmatter #sinterklaas #decolonize #coloniallegacy #colonialism #activism #ZwartePietIsZwartVerdriet #representation #luluhelder #saraahmed #representationmatters #resistance #equitymatters #intersectionality #antiracism #blackpeteisblacksadness #amsterdam

Follow Salt @salt_thepodcast

Subscribe to Salt The Podcast on Soundwise

Subscribe to Salt The Podcast on Soundwise

J.A.D.E full name Joanna is a 23 year old multifunctional artist from Amsterdam. She makes music, creates beats, sings, creates drawings, works as a model and studies at the Herman Brood Academie in Utrecht in the Netherlands to be a music industry professional. 

Regarding her music Joanna feels mostly at home in NEO soul. She started her music career in 2018 and her songs talk about trauma, heartbreaks, and things we experience as people, things that are part of our journeys. Joanna finds it important to share feelings, talk about our challenges, stories and connect through those with each other.

In this beautiful conversation on a Friday evening, that felt like a gathering and very intimate chat with a wonderful soul, we speak about music and beats as a faithful companion in Joanna's life, music and modeling as a means towards healing Joanna's inner child, we speak about our bodies and how they remember trauma and injustices. Joanna shares her spiritual practices with us. We discuss art as healing, the importance of creating, community, love languages, our mothers, pictures as a means of representation and listen to one of Joanna's songs. Enjoy hanging out with us beautiful people😍 

Host: Stella Saliari 

At Salt the Podcast 

my guests and I contest and deconstruct narratives, and passionately recreate with the aim to change systems and perceptions. We want to elevate a generation that is feminist, antiracist and empathetic. Our conversations flow into each other and leave room for the unexpected. Salt is love, community, solidarity, a collective, healing, creating. It is intersectional, full of stories, movement and change. It insists, evolves and transforms. It is a commitment.

#healingjourney #diversity #diversityandinclusion #diversitymatters #innerchild #amsterdam #artist #beats #blackgirlsrock #blackgirlmagic #blackwomen #multifunctional #creating #spirituality #representation #representationmatters #equitymatters #saltthepodcast #intersectionality #antiracism

Follow Salt @salt_thepodcast

Subscribe to Salt The Podcast on Soundwise

Melanie Jacob (she/her/hers) is a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging Consultant (DEI&B). She holds a BA (Hons.) in French & Spanish from the University of the West Indies and an MA in Communications, Media & Public Relations from the University of Leicester.

Originally from the Caribbean island of Saint Lucia, she has lived in Barbados, Martinique, Lyon and now, Paris. As a result of her diverse personal and professional experiences, she became intent on exploring matters surrounding intersectional feminism, discrimination and media representation. This is what led her to launch Melanie Jacob Consulting. 

As an experienced DEI&B specialist, she advises multinational companies – through webinars, workshops and one-on-one coaching – on how to create and implement best practice strategies that focus on amplifying and respecting the uniqueness of each individual’s background.

In this episode we speak about Melanie's work as a DEI&B consultant, the story behind choosing this path in her professional life which is linked to her personal life, because we all know that the personal is political. We speak about racism, sexism, feminism, diversity washing, and misogynoir, about Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie and her book Americanah and we speak about black hair - a topic that is inextricably linked to historical, structural and racial discrimination. A subject that is part of the long-lasting intention to control black and brown bodies and further reflects the predominance of Eurocentric beauty standards. Thank you Melanie. 

Host: Stella Saliari 

At Salt the Podcast my guests and I contest and deconstruct narratives, and passionately recreate with the aim to change systems and perceptions. We want to elevate a generation that is feminist, antiracist and empathetic. Our conversations flow into each other and leave room for the unexpected. Salt is love, community, solidarity, a collective, healing, creating. It is intersectional, full of stories, movement and change. It insists, evolves and transforms. It is a commitment.

#diversitytraining #diversity #diversityandinclusion #diversitymatters #blackhairispolitical #saintlucia #unconsciousbias #misogynoir #blackgirlsrock #blackgirlmagic #blackwomen #femmesnoires #femmes #leadership #diversityequityandinclusion #diversityintheworkplace #womenleaders #genderequality #women #culture #equitymatters #saltthepodcast #intersectionality #antiracism #blackfeminist #paris

Follow Salt @salt_thepodcast

Subscribe to Salt The Podcast on Soundwise

Maryanne O’Hara is the author of the memoir LITTLE MATCHES, FINDING LIGHT IN THE DARK, published by HarperCollins. LITTLE MATCHES was inspired by a blog that Maryanne kept while her daughter Caitlin, who was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis at the age of 2, was waiting for a lung transplant. Caitlin got her transplant, finally, but it was too late. She’d had to wait too long. Her family lost her in December of 2016. She was 33. The book LITTLE MATCHES was Maryanne's way of making sense in order to live. 

Maryanne family's story has been featured in The New York Times, TIME Magazine, The Boston Globe, Psychology Today, and LITTLE MATCHES is also a People Magazine Book of the Week. 

Moreover, Maryanne is the author of CASCADE, a novel, and many short stories and articles. She holds an MFA in creative writing, has taught creative writing at the college level, and was a longtime fiction editor at the Boston literary journal, PLOUGHSHARES.

After many years of volunteering with the sick, in 2019 she trained as a certified end-of-life doula at the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine so she could better speak to the state of end-of-life care in our culture. She lectures on topics including chronic illness, bereavement, and secular spirituality; and with two other medical memoirists, speaks to “why medicine needs memoir” at Medical Grand Rounds programs at hospitals around the country. 

In this episode we speak about motherhood, grief, death, Caitlin's legacy, synchronicities, learn about the work of an end-of-life doula and the importance of legacy work, we speak about Maryanne, the relationship with her husband and of course much more. Thank you Maryanne for everything. 

Host: Stella Saliari 

At Salt the Podcast my guests and I contest and deconstruct narratives, and passionately recreate with the aim to change systems and perceptions. We want to elevate a generation that is feminist, antiracist and empathetic. Our conversations flow into each other and leave room for the unexpected. Salt is love, community, solidarity, a collective, healing, creating. It is intersectional, full of stories, movement and change. It insists, evolves and transforms. It is a commitment.

#saltthepodcast #motherhood #cysticfibrosis #parenthood #memories #author #grievingmother #endoflivedoula #legacywork #littlematches #virginiawoolf #thelighthouse #motherdaughter #salt #mothertoomany #synchronicities #endoflifecare #memoirs #maryanneohara #grievingparents

Follow Salt @salt_thepodcast

Subscribe to Salt The Podcast on Soundwise

Djanifa da Conceicao is a a midwife with her own practice in South Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Through her work Djanifa realized that important information that can be extremely helpful before, during and after childbirth does not reach everyone. It is either hard to find or you have to have to pay for it. 

Therefore, Djanifa started the Youtube channel Verlosmoeder to offer education, motivation and advocacy for (almost) moms, parents and birthing people. It is where she shares her experiences as a mother but also her expertise as a midwife. The YouTube channel has grown rapidly with more than 30,000 subscribers. In April 2021 Djanifa launched VerlosMoeder the Podcast.

Djanifa believes that everyone should have access to this information as it provides many health benefits and is a step towards achieving birth equity. Through her channel she shares her knowledge (for free) in a way that is easy to understand and fun to watch or listen to. 

In this podcast episode we speak about compassion and kindness in birth, how important it is to feel listened to when giving birth, institutionalized racism in and around birth, the importance of midwives and doulas, the importance of holding the government, and the health system responsible when it comes to changing the narrative around birth and not putting it all on the shoulders of the individual and birthworkers. Djanifa also shares some glimpses of her strong and loving relationship with her husband Edson, and why she became a midwife which is inextrricably linked to her own childhood. 

Thank you Djanifa for this wonderful conversation, your spirit and important work. 

Host: Stella Saliari  

At Salt the Podcast my guests and I contest and deconstruct narratives, and passionately recreate with the aim to change systems and perceptions. We want to elevate a generation that is feminist, antiracist and empathetic. Our conversations flow into each other and leave room for the unexpected. Salt is love, community, solidarity, a collective, healing, creating. It is intersectional, full of stories, movement and change. It insists, evolves and transforms. It is a commitment. 

#saltthepodcast #motherhood #birth #parenthood #memories #racism #midwives #doulas #kindness #Verlosmoeder #babies #birthingpeople #intersectionalfeminism #birthequity #compassion 

Follow Salt @salt_thepodcast 

Subscribe to Salt The Podcast on Soundwise

Charissa Promes is a journalist, podcast host, coach, writer and mother of three. After more than ten years of experience as a performing dancer and six years in the media, she changed her life. Because when motherhood came to her she experienced uncertainty, mental challenges and social isolation. Therefore, she decided that she wanted to support and connect with others to experience a more beautiful beginning of motherhood. So Charissa founded mommy conversations where she brings together mothers to support each other. She also launched the podcast Top Mothers to go on a quest and look into the different forms of motherhood, discuss topics such as motherhood and career, love after having kids, selfcare and guilt. The podcast has become part of her own healing journey and has allowed her to reflect on her own motherhood journey.

In this episode we talk openly about our own motherhood journeys, the complexities that come with it, love after kids, being a mother in a capitalist society. Talking to Charissa was wonderful, raw, honest. We vented, laughed and cherished each other and I want to thank Charissa for being so open. 

This episode also underlines that reproductive work which includes raising kids, cleaning, cooking, caring for the elderly and sick is work!! Unfortunately though it is most of the time unpaid, or poorly paid, it is gendered and racialized, not acknowledged enough, given little value, exploited. However, reproductive work is labour, that comprises of life making activities and without those our society would not exist, would not flourish. Reproductive work is not women's work, it is not something that we do naturally, it is not something we are born with. It is unwaged work that is undervalued while provided society with the next generation of workers. So let that sink in and enjoy the episode wonderful people :)

Host: Stella Saliari

At Salt the Podcast my guests and I contest and deconstruct narratives, and passionately recreate with the aim to change systems and perceptions. We want to elevate a generation that is feminist, antiracist and empathetic. Our conversations flow into each other and leave room for the unexpected. Salt is love, community, solidarity, a collective, healing, creating. It is intersectional, full of stories, movement and change. It insists, evolves and transforms. It is a commitment.

#saltthepodcast #motherhood #reproductivework #parenthood #memories #racism #selfcare #topmoeders #loveafterkids #childrearing #labouroflove #intersectionalfeminism #domesticwork

Follow Salt @salt_thepodcast

Subscribe to Salt The Podcast on Soundwise

Rochelda Kemper is a 19-year old girl who is following her dreams. Everything in her life is about rest and relaxation. Rochelda grew up in a loving family with three younger sisters and is very close to her family and relatives. At a young age she was very quiet, felt things around her, captured energies, situations but she did not do anything with that. She thought it was nothing when you feel something that is not right. 

In recent years, Rochelda has focused on her self-development, increased her self-awareness, and her life revolves around rest and self-care. Now she knows who she wants in her circle, how important relaxed energies are for her and has found a way to live in peace. In this podcast episode she shares her story from having several panic attacks a day and being a very passionate kickboxer to healing herself and opening her own massage business called refreshment.  

It has been a pleasure meeting Rochelda who is from a younger generation than mine, one that demands and does not negotiate that much. Talking to her made me happy, gave me hope because for me it has been a painful process to find rest, however, I have embraced the journey and understood that my achievements are not my worth and that by resting I revolt against the system that measures us on our productiveness. Thank you Rochelda.

This is also the last episode before the summer break. Salt will be back in September. 

Host: Stella Saliari 

At Salt the Podcast my guests and I contest and deconstruct narratives, and passionately recreate with the aim to change systems and perceptions. We want to elevate a generation that is feminist, antiracist and empathetic. Our conversations flow into each other and leave room for the unexpected. Salt is love, community, solidarity, a collective, healing, creating. It is intersectional, full of stories, movement and change. It insists, evolves and transforms. It is a commitment.

#saltthepodcast #rest #relaxation #peace #massage #kickboxing #selfcare #selflove #boundaries 

Follow Salt @salt_thepodcast 

Subscribe to Salt The Podcast on Soundwise