Episode 10. Double digits. And I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate than sitting down with someone who's using art to heal, reclaim, and remind us who we are.

Meet Jessica Bethel. Jamaican-American photographer, curator, and art director based in Los Angeles. She just launched her first installation, Light in Love: Contours of Self, and let me tell you—it's the kind of work that makes you stop, breathe, and actually feel something.

We talked about a lot. Like, a LOT a lot.

🖼️ How Jessica uses love as an actual creative tool (not just a concept, but a methodology)
📸 What it means to reclaim the Black woman's body through photography—especially when history has spent centuries doing the opposite
💔 The weight of Sarah Baartman's story and why we still need to talk about her in 2026
🎨 Those "controlling images" Black feminist scholars talk about—mammy, jezebel, matriarch—and how Jessica's work actively dismantles them
✨ Why safe spaces for Black women in art aren't a luxury. They're necessary.
🌟 And yes, we played a fun game. Because we gotta laugh sometimes too.

This conversation was vulnerable. It was honest. It was the kind of talk that reminds me why I started this podcast in the first place.

If you've ever felt like your body wasn't yours, like you had to perform for a world that wasn't built for you, or like you're still searching for permission to just be... this episode is for you.

Press play. And don't forget—you are the art. Not the object. THE art.

🎧 Listen now.

41% of autistic adults are queer—and their mental health is in crisis. Sandilands is overflowing, churches call depression ‘weakness,’ and COVID cracked open the silence. So why does Bahamian culture still treat mental health like a bad Wi-Fi connection?

This week, Travis sits down with advocate Clachara Hamilton to dissect the Bermuda Triangle of Bahamian mental health: God, shame, and systemic neglect. They’ll unpack:

• The survival tactics we mistake for ‘strength’ (spoiler: crying doesn’t make you weak).

• Why ‘pray it away’ isn’t a healthcare plan—and how Sandilands became a metaphor for limited options.

• The toxic phrases we normalize (‘You’re not mentally strong’) vs. the small acts of resistance (‘Go sit by the sea’).

Plus, a raw game of Stigma or Survival? (DM us your examples!), and Clachara’s answer to: ‘If you could rewrite one Bahamian ‘rule’ about mental health—what would it be?’

✨ Closing Thought: ‘Your pain isn’t ‘too loud’—the world’s just too quiet.’ Subscribe, share with someone still on mute, and remember: healing isn’t a solo call. It’s a conference line.

🔗 Relevant Tags: #MentalHealthAwarenessMonth #Bahamas #CaribbeanMentalHealth #EndTheStigma

"What if everything we’ve been taught about strength is wrong?"

This week, Jayvon T. Howard—writer, educator, and revolutionary thinker—joins me to dismantle the myth that masculinity means emotional armor. We’re talking:

🔥 The Grocery Store Test – When a chat about hot sauce turns into a heteronormative interrogation ("Why are y’all so invested in my choices?")
💡 The Gym Paradox – How fitness culture became a breeding ground for emotional avoidance (Spoiler: No amount of deadlifts can heal unresolved trauma)
🎭 "Mask Off" Moment – The absurd stereotypes we’ve worn (and why we’re burning them now)
💧 Why Softness ≠ Weakness – How vulnerability becomes your greatest strategic advantage

For the brothers who:
▪️ Were told to "man up" instead of heal up
▪️ Feel trapped between authenticity and expectations
▪️ Are ready to lead from the inside out

This conversation isn’t just theory—it’s a blueprint.

🎙️ EPISODE 7: "Life Is... Radio Silent"
✨ Featuring special guest Dr. Jeremy Divinity

You ever graduate with a doctorate and suddenly feel like the Wi-Fi went out on your future plans? Yeah—same.

In this episode of The Safe Space, I’m joined by the brilliant Dr. Jeremy Divinity to unpack what life really looks like after the cap and gown come off. From the eerie silence of job rejection emails to the mental toll of being a Black man with a doctorate in a world that doesn’t always know what to do with you—we’re talking all of it.

We get real about:
🎓 Post-grad depression and the "ghetto" of adulting
📉 Why 50% of doctoral students drop out (and how we made it)
🧠 The invisible weight Black men carry in academia
💰 The wild trade-off between education and financial stability
🔥 And yeah—we ask the question: Is higher ed a scam?

Dr. Divinity drops gems on Black fugitive spaces, radical love, and why healing is not just personal—it's political.

This one’s for the overqualified, underpaid, and radio silent.
Tap in. Let’s break the silence together.

📲 Don’t forget to follow, rate, and send this to someone stuck in the post-grad void.

Dating apps: the good, the bad, and the straight-up racist. In this episode, we dive into the complex reality of queer dating platforms for Black and Brown folks. From No Fems. No Fats. No Blacks. bios to toxic masculinity and femme-shaming, we unpack how these apps shape our self-worth and reinforce exclusion. Are we using these platforms out of necessity or just following the trend?

We’re joined by the brilliant Raquel Jones, a psych nurse and mental health advocate, as we explore personal stories of fetishization, rejection, and the struggle to find genuine connections. Plus, we discuss whether dating apps are helping or harming us—and what healing looks like in a digital-first dating culture.

🔥 Stat Alert: 99% of young sexual minority Black men report experiencing racialized sexual discrimination online.

🎙️ Tune in for raw conversations, real experiences, and maybe a round of Fk, Marry, Ghost—because we all have those dating app stories. 💀👻❤️

Episode V: Gawd Damn Grief talks about what it means to be a person of color experiencing grief. How do we deal with it when it's something that can’t be taught? This episode is rather personal and rather important. As black men, we are conditioned to be tough, and in this safe space, I allowed myself to take ownership of my feelings, while sharing the space.  According to Berely MCCoy, Grief is that emotional state that just knocks you off your feet and comes over you like a wave. Today’s episode will feature Yahnitia Constant. Ms. Constant is a gamer, educator, and culture enthusiast. The Episode intends to bring awareness and educate people about the experience of black people dealing with grief and breaking the stereotype of suppressing emotions to cope with hard life loss.

Where we dish truth and talk big facts. The Safe Space is a space for the individual to tell their narratives as is and to be their authentic selves despite opinions from pop culture’s rhetoric. Episode IIII: The Sacred Space, focuses on the psychological nuances of existing in the African American population from the cultural lens of a Black Professional. Today’s episode will feature Dr. Y’Londa Mitchel is a Licensed Professional Counselor-Supervisor (Missouri), Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (Kentucky), National Board-Certified Counselor, and Registered Yoga Teacher Currently Dr. Mitchel works as a therapist at a federal hospital and Owner/Founder of Urban Ease Counseling & Wellness Collective where she provides therapy. Lastly, she works as a yoga instructor at Urban Ease Yoga. According to Being Black in Corporate America, 58% of Black professionals have experienced racial prejudice at work. The continued display of inequality, respect, and the effort to maintain a sense of belonging within predominantly white spaces continues to be an issue. The Episode’s intent is to bring awareness and educate people about the experience of Black professionals in the health industry and to expand upon the duality of existing in America.

The Safe Space is a space for the individual to tell their narratives as is and to be their authentic selves despite opinions from pop culture’s rhetoric. Episode III: The Other Kind of Blackness, focuses on the psychological nuances of existing in the African American population from the cultural lens of Black Caribbean Educators (who was once a student attending an American University).  Today’s episode will feature Daynah Charlow. Ms. Charlow is a Youth Site Coordinator in Tennessee. According to Jeanne Batalova and Miriam Fedblum of the 19 million students at U.S. colleges and universities in 2018, 28% were either first-generation immigration of or children of immigrants. With Black Immigrants enrolled into a Postsecondary Education program, the numbers prove that 76% of black immigrants are the third generation. With such high numbers in enrollment, one must address hidden nuances of the cultural exposure to this worldly concept of blackness. The Episode’s intent is to bring awareness and educate people about the black experience of Black Immigrants and to expand upon the duality of existing in America.

The Safe Space Episode II has officially arrived, and this time around we are talking about Body Dysmorphic Disorder within Black Men.

For those who don’t know, The Safe Space is a space for the individual to tell their narratives as is and to be their authentic selves despite opinions from pop culture’s rhetoric.

This second episode will feature Courtney Moyer and Charles King. The topic of discussion will be a well-swept under the table topic, Body Dysmorphic Disorder. According to Katherine Phillips, MD, BDD affects 1.7% to 2.9% of the general population –about 1 in 50 people. What this data is saying that more than 5 million people to nearly 10 million people in the United States alone have BDD. Now, which part of that percentage focus on black men in America? Data is scarce; however, this episode is used to specifically address the gap and bring several voices and representations of the prevalent issues that are normally mainstreamed.

The Safe Space Pod

Where we dish truth and talk big facts. The Safe Space is a space for individual to tell their narratives as is and to be their authentic selves despite opinions from pop culture’s rhetoric.

This week’s first episode will feature Bryce Moore and his intersectional leadership theory. As an intersectional leader, one has to explicitly acknowledge the multiplicative influences of marginalization centering race and gender, and across planes of identity. Unapologetically.

Episode I: And Just Like that, NotYourCis