Spilling Chai

The kitchen is normally thought of a space confined to women or rather where women have been confined. Anushay speaks with food writer, baker, and passionate eater, Marissa Rothkopf Bates about her work and her podcast, "The Secret Life of Cookies" where she flips the script on how we think of the spaces women occupy. And of course, the love that goes into baking and eating cookies.

In her second book, The Other, Daniela Pierre-Bravo shares her journey and those of other women to help you recognize your power in the workplace outside of the white gaze. She spills the tea with Anushay about reshaping the way you think about career advancement without losing your sense of identity.

How do you learn to not only live with a chronic illness but thrive with it? That's the mission of talk show host, beauty and lifestyle expert, chronic illness advocate, and founder of Chronicon, Nitika Chopra. Whether you're battling cancer or going through a divorce, Chopra spills the tea with Anushay on not only living your best life but how to be more committed to your happiness than your sufferring.

What role to white women play in upholding white supremacy and racist systems? A pretty big one! Even though we tend to leave them out, historically (most) white women always stood by white men when it comes to social orders that place whiteness as superior to well, everything else. To this day, majority of college women in America vote for their race over their gender and played a huge role in ushering in white nationalist and misogynist, Donald J. Trump. So what’s their problem? Bestselling authors, Saira Rao and Regina Jackson spill the tea with Anushay in this must-see episode.

Anushay talks personal branding, fashion designing, healing from childhood trauma with power sisters, Cipriana Quann and TK Wonder. The power duo also dishes on their new YouTube show, "Chew on This" and spill the tea on why this was the time to launch a cooking show.

One of the key themes in Anushay's book is the power of women telling their stories. During her research, Anushay became obsessed with the stories women don't tell and what we keep to ourselves. One of the most powerful stories she came across in her work is that of Tomeka Isaac who started the nonprofit organization, Jace's Journey after the loss of son. Isaac's story embodies the message that when women share our narratives, everything changes. How we view an issue changes. The season finale of Spilling Chai on the Pain Gap is a tribute to women who have the courage to share their experiences with the world to remind all of us that the life of every woman and birthing person's life counts.

One of the biggest messages in Anushay's book, The Pain Gap is that maternal health is that America's maternal health crisis is solvable. We already have the tools and expertise to ensure no woman dies giving life. Yet, America's maternal mortality numbers, especially for Black women and women of color, are not only the highest amongst rich nations but that number is increasing. Layo George, the creator of the digital community, Wolomi, is a nurse and entrepreneur who has developed a tech intervention to change the dangerous pregnancy and birth experience in America.

Learn more about Wolomi - the first online pregnancy community for women of color, by a nurse of color

https://www.wolomi.com/

 Anushay describes herself as being “obsessed” with motherhood in America, largely because of its constant cultural contradictions. The image of motherhood in America is so white, yet its Black & Brown women who are more likely to die giving birth in the US. We claim to worship mothers but remain the only industrialized nation without paid maternity leave. 

And what about the women who don’t want to be mothers? Is it possible to do something more meaningful than mothering? The latter is the question at the heart of Theologian Erin S. Lane‘s book, Someone Other than a Mother. 

In this episode, Lane spills the tea on overturning dominant narratives about motherhood and inspiring women to write their own stories.

Anushay has been a long time fan of American lawyer, politician, civil servant, founder of Girls Who Code, the Marshall Plan for Moms, five-time author, Reshma Saujani. Saujani is a warrior for women’s rights, using her platform to encourage us to raise brave not perfect girls and demand we pay moms in the workforce. Saujani joins Anushay to talk about her new book, “Pay Up,” a battle cry for working moms to finally get what their owed, and calls on companies and policymakers to do their part.

When Anushay began researching her book, it didn’t take long for her to discover gaps in addition to the pain gap in women’s health. While our previous episode analyzed the credibility gap, this episode we ideal with Dr. Alyson McGregor and her work exposing the serious lack of research in women health aka the knowledge gap.