Spilling Chai

Hello my fabulous chai drinkers! How are you? Welcome to episode 10 of season three of the show coming to you as always from Washington, DC. I’m your host, Anushay Hossain.

When we think of stand-up comedians, we don’t really think about mindful masculinity and raising strong daughters. The #MeToo movement wreaked havoc on the stand-up comedy world but honestly, the deep-rooted misogyny was already well- documented.

But our guest today shatters stereotypes not only of the stand-up guy but also of the clueless, privileged white guy. I am talking about the one and only Pete Dominick!

Hello my fabulous chai drinkers! How is everyone doing? Welcome to episode 9 of season three of the show, coming to you from Washington, DC. I’m your host, Anushay Hossain.

When you hear the words “Iran nuclear deal” what are the images that come up in your mind? I think of men-- mainly American and Iranian diplomats sitting across one another in the conference room of some major hotel in Vienna, Geneva, or New York.

But it’s an Iranian woman that many in the US have come to rely on when it comes to decoding diplomacy with Iran.

I am talking about Negar Mortazavi!

Hello my fabulous chai drinkers! How are you? Welcome to episode 8 of season 3 of the show coming to you from Washington, DC. I’m your host, Anushay Hossain!

One of my favorite things about living in DC as a University of Virginia (UVA) alum is having so many friends you went to college with so close by. And when you find yourselves working on the same core goals professionally, well that makes life that much sweeter.

Which brings me to our guest today! You may know Atima Omara as one of Washington, DC’s top political consultants and strategists. But did you know that she and I went to college together?

Hello my fabulous chai drinkers! How are you? Welcome to episode seven of season three of the show, coming to you from Washington, DC. I’m your host, Anushay Hossain!

We hear so much talk about diversity in the media but every now and then there is a journalist who becomes iconic just by doing their job. And when that person is a person of color? Well, that’s even better.

Hello my chai drinkers! How are you? Welcome to episode 6 of season 3 of the show, coming to you from Washington, DC. I’m your host, Anushay Hossain!

When you think about American mainstream media, the image that naturally comes to mind is that of a white, middle-aged man or woman, and with good reason. Whiteness has been synonymous with journalism and media in the U.S. since forever. From Walter Cronkite to Dan Rather to Wolf Blitzer to Diane Sawyer and Barbara Walters.

But there have always been people of color, pioneers who shattered barriers from day one, like our guest, Maria Hinojosa.

Hello my fabulous chai drinkers! How is everybody doing? Welcome to season 3, episode 5 of the show, coming to you from Washington, DC. I’m your host, Anushay Hossain.

It’s such a weird time to be alive and the duality is even more jarring if you’re South Asian-American: You watch the Indian subcontinent gasping for air while simultaneously watching America reopen.

Lucky for us, our guest today is an expert in planning during uncertain circumstances and has even written a book about it. I am talking about Bina Venkataraman, author of The Optimist’s Telescope: Thinking Ahead in a Reckless Age, described as a groundbreaking exploration of how to make long-term decisions.

Hello My Dear Chai Drinkers! How are you? Welcome to episode 4 of season 3 of the show, coming to you from Washington, DC. I’m your host, Anushay Hossain.

When we think of spies, we think of iconic, leading Hollywood men (read: white men) like Sean Connery, Pierce Brosnan, or Daniel Craig. But in real life, patriotic immigrants, men of color also go undercover, risking their lives for love of country.

And no one knows what it’s like to play spy games with dangerous enemies more intimately than our guest today.

Sending you episode covers as soon as Annie is done.

Thank you!!

Hello my lovely chai drinkers! How are you? Welcome to episode 3 of season 3 of the show, coming to you from Washington, DC where the cherry blossoms and azaleas are just bursting all over the city.

As COVID continues to ravage America and the world, domestic violence is also surging. According to the American Journal of Emergency Medicine, when the pandemic began, incidents of domestic violence increased 300% in China; 25% in Argentina, 30% in Cyprus, 33% in Singapore, 50% in Brazil, and in the U.K., where calls to domestic violence hotlines soared.

The United Nations has dubbed domestic violence the shadow pandemic and reports that for women around the world, the pandemic has created a double threat-- the risk of getting COVID and the danger of being trapped in lockdown with their abusers.

Hello My Amazing Chai Drinkers! How are you? Welcome to episode 2 of season 3 of the show, coming to you from Washington, DC. I’m your host, Anushay Hossain.

If you follow me on Instagram, my favorite social media platform, you may have figured out that I am a big lover of all things food.

I am not only an excellent eater and dessert connoisseur, if I do say so myself, but I am also a closet cook. Not something I do too often, but you’d be surprised at culinary talents.

But when I come across the page or work of our guest today, I realize I am really nothing more than a mere mortal.

Hello Spilling Chai Listeners! How are you? It’s been three very long months. I’ve missed you but am so excited to be back on the mic with season 3 of the show coming to you LIVE from Washington, DC.

You would think with the U.S. battling so many different kinds of pandemics-- from race to poverty to COVID-- that America’s love affair with guns would be cooling off. However, the numbers paint a very different reality.

Not only was 2020 one of the deadliest years for gun violence in America, but gun sales, right alongside domestic violence numbers, surged even as COVID ravaged America and the world.

There’s been a boom in gun sales as Americans armed themselves over worries about the rise of crime and protests over police brutality and the deadly Capitol riots of Jan. 6.

But one woman remains as determined as ever to change America's Gun violence culture. I am talking about Shannon Watts, the founder of the nation’s largest grassroots group fighting against gun violence, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.