Ep. 203: Travel Journalist Nneka Okona

On our last episode of Season 2, we’re joined by a very special guest: our very own audio engineer, Cato Zane! As Cato has had the pleasure of listening to all our episodes, she’s the perfect candidate to help us reflect and sign off on another great season.

Cato gives us some insight on her life as a female audio engineer and dealing with sexism in a male-dominated career. She also tells us about her work with Playing for Change and Music for Peace San Diego. For her, choosing gigs that align with her personal/political interests, like working with inner-city kids, is her own form of self-care.

Cato also gives her own unique take on navigating cultural appropriation and the history of “whiteness.” She recounts her journey on finding out she has native lineage and the confusion that arises for many white-passing people. For her native relatives, assuming white culture serves as a way to evade oppression

You can check out Cato on her website and on Twitter. She’s also got a Youtube channel where she gives her own sound editing tutorials. Tune into her episodes here. As always, you can find this episode and much more on our Twitter and Instagram at @SelfCareSundays and on Facebook at @SelfCareSundaysPodcast.

This episode can also be found on Spotify, GooglePlay, Stitcher, and RadioPublic. You can access the transcription for this episode here.

On Part I of our two-part episode on gun violence, we’re speaking to Maj Toure, Chicago youth educator and founder of Black Guns Matter.

Maj believes that communities of color should bear arms as a form of self-defense against oppressive forces. He also informs us on the racist history of gun control, mass incarceration, and bias within law enforcement. He uses his organization to give young people an understanding and responsibility for the tool so they know how to safely resolve conflicts and protect themselves.

Black Guns Matter provides gun safety education and resources to students in urban areas as a way to support community relations. But Maj also sees the value in individual self-care. He asserts that having a gun is similar to self-care as they both require discipline and habitual training. To him, we can only sustain safe and healthy communities by supporting these individual acts and creating spaces where young people can feel seen and heard.

You can learn more about Black Guns Matter on their Twitter. And be sure to connect with Maj, too @MAJTOURE. As always, you can find this episode and much more on our Twitter and Instagram at @SelfCareSundays and on Facebook at @SelfCareSundaysPodcast.

This episode can also be found on Spotify, GooglePlay, Stitcher, and RadioPublic. You can access the transcription for this episode here.

Be sure to listen the second part of this series with Mike Martin of RAWTools streaming now!

On Part II of our two-part episode on gun violence, we’re talking to Mike Martin, the founder and executive director of RAWTools.

RAWTools is an organization based in Colorado that focuses on restorative justice and conflict mediation. Mike uses non-violence education and community development to combat gun violence and keep communities safe. A former youth pastor turned blacksmith, Mike is on a mission to turn destruction into creation with Swords to Plows. Through this program, you can send your guns to RAWTools and they will turn it into gardening tools or art pieces.

Mike shares his perspective on community care, combating toxic masculinity, and using faith as a guide for peaceful conflict resolutions. He also unpacks his own privilege and how he’s come to learn about self-care from gun violence survivors.

You can learn more about RAWTools on their website and on Twitter. As always, you can find this episode and much more on our Twitter and Instagram at @SelfCareSundays and on Facebook at @SelfCareSundaysPodcast.

This episode can also be found on Spotify, GooglePlay, Stitcher, and RadioPublic. You can access the transcription for this episode here.

Be sure to listen the first part of this series with Maj Toure of Black Guns Matter streaming now!

On this episode, we’re talking to Canissa Grant, a science educator based in Avon, Connecticut.

With experience as both a private and public school teacher, she shed a light on some of the disparities in curriculum and expectations. She also calls for a heightened sense of transparency and inclusivity in STEM classes, especially for students with disabilities. Teaching through a social justice lens, she aims to give her students a well-rounded and transformative learning experience.

Canissa also tells us some of her struggles as a black woman in an all-boys high school and why that makes self-care all the more important. In these situations, it is likely that teachers of color experience burnout at much higher rates because they are expected to share their expertise on racial issues at the drop of a hat. But to Canissa, going the extra mile to build a sense of familiarity and community in her classes is always worth it.

Although Canissa’s not a huge fan of social media, you can buy her biology and chemistry lesson plans and resources on teacherspayteachers.com on her store, Ninth Grade Shenanigans! As always, you can find this episode and much more on our Twitter and Instagram at @SelfCareSundays and on Facebook at @SelfCareSundaysPodcast.

This episode can also be found on Spotify, GooglePlay, Stitcher, and RadioPublic.

The transcription for this episode is available here: 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/16ToUDNE3qvq6BNZTdLYW4yjzVrv1bHFBlDJOylpby4Q/edit

Angie Coleman joins us on the show to tell us how to put the self back in self-care!

The tech aficionado is the founder of Reboot America and the Director of Community at Lesbians Who Tech. She joins us on the show to talk about reaching health goals, disconnecting once in a while, and relying on your team to pick up extra work while you’re away on vacation.

Angie also unpacks how she approaches self-care, particularly by way of creating challenges for herself. She argues that our fast-paced culture makes us feel bad for taking care of ourselves. Self-care then becomes a competition, not just with ourselves, but with our peers on social media.

Want to hear more from Angie? You can connect with her on Instagram and Twitter. If you want to keep up with more of her projects, be sure to check out her website and follow the Lesbians Who Tech on Twitter and Instagram. As always, you can find this episode and much more on our Twitter and Instagram at @SelfCareSundays and on Facebook at @SelfCareSundaysPodcast.

This episode can also be found on Spotify, GooglePlay and RadioPublic.

The transcription for this episode is available here. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uJCj0_DLPYI9qa5tW2F6PYq0R0Od9O1B29sk4K33rT8/edit?usp=sharing

On this episode, we’re talking with Jehmu Greene, a Democratic strategist, Fox News contributor, Board Chair of Vote Run Lead, and former candidate for DNC Chair.

Jehmu shares how she came about cultivating self-care habits while battling exhaustion on the road with Rock The Vote. For her, the decision to make space for things outside of work was life or death.

We talk to Jehmu about her civic engagement with VoteRunLead, keeping her cool during heated discussions on Fox News, and taking charge of your media consumption. She also unpacks the “angry black woman” stereotype as a black woman in media.

Although she’s not online very often, you can still find Jehmu on both Facebook and Twitter. As always, you can find this episode and much more on our Twitter and Instagram at @SelfCareSundays and on Facebook at @SelfCareSundaysPodcast.

This episode can also be found on Spotify, GooglePlay and RadioPublic.

The transcription for this episode is available here.

On this episode, we’re talking to Chicago-based artist and activist, Maxwell Emcays. Maxwell got his start with t-shirt design and eventually made a name for himself with Never Forget Chi, a project that aims to memorialize the lost lives of young Chicago residents who are often forgotten in the world of fast-paced media consumption.

We talk to Maxwell about his work as a youth mentor and his goals to teach kids in underserved areas to value themselves and overcome the hardships they face. In this way, Maxwell strikes a balance between his own self-care regimen and his passion for community care.

Maxwell recounts how he developed his artistic identity as a child of immigrants, considering the meaning of “toughness” in masculinity. He also sheds a light on artistic classifications such as “fine” and “low” art and the hidden prejudice within these words.

You can find more from Maxwell on his website and be sure to check out Never Forget Chi on Facebook! As always, you can find this episode and much more on our social media @SelfCareSundays.

The transcription for Maxwell's episode can be found here.

Jerico Mandybur is a culture writer and editorial director at GirlBoss. She’s also the host of Self Service, a weekly podcast on a mission to empower women through tarot and astrology.

On this episode, we talk to Jerico about some of her favorite cosmic forms of self-care, astrology’s newfound trendiness, and finding a sense of community in spirituality. She also sheds a light on her struggles as a woman in media and taking pride in her beliefs in the workplace.

As a native Australian, Jerico also provides some perspective on the differences between American and Australian work culture, generational gaps in self-care literacy, and striking a balance between work and relaxation.

You can keep up with GirlBoss on their Twitter and be sure to tune in with Jerico on her own podcast, Self Service. You can also connect with her on Twitter and on Instagram. As always, you can find this episode and much more on our social media @SelfCareSundays.

Have you found us on Spotify yet? All episodes of Season 2 can be found here! We're also available on RadioPublic!

The transcription for this episode can be found here.

Carla Gaskins-Nathan (she/they) is a licensed massage therapist and owner of Rooted Bodywork based in New York. As a queer person of color, Carla’s work places an emphasis on self-care for people of all backgrounds, body types, and gender identities.

As this is Carla’s second time on the show, we touch on some topics we weren’t able to address back in 2017 and expand upon some of their views on Eastern medicine, spirituality, and religious self-care practices. This time, Carla unpacks their ideas on self-soothing, cultural alienation, and the difficulty of setting boundaries with others as a gender non-conforming person.

The transcription for Carla's episode can be found here. 

You can schedule an appointment with Carla on the Rooted Bodywork website. You can also connect with Carla on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Episode: 117, Carla’s first time on the show can be found anywhere Self Care Sundays is streaming. As always, you can find this episode and much more on our social media @SelfCareSundays.

Did we mention we’re also on Spotify? All episodes of Season 2 can be found here!

On this episode, we’re talking to the editor-in-chief of Bitch Media, Evette Dionne. Evette offers some insight on a topic even we struggle with: preserving your mental health while navigating news media and pop culture.

As a black feminist and writer, Evette helps us define black and intersectional feminism and how it differs from feminism through the white lens. She also sheds a light on her experience as a former HBCU student, the good, the not so good, and how attending an HBCU be a form of community care.

She also offers some guidance on how to manage that relationship with your problematic favorites. In her opinion, we must focus on the person being called out just as much as we focus on the agendas of the outlets doing that calling out. Are mainstream journalists educated and experienced enough to handle intersectional news reporting?

Be sure to keep up with Bitch Media on their social media. Their podcast can be found here: Propoganda BackTalk. You can also connect with Evette (@freeblackgirl) on Instagram and Twitter. As always, you can find this episode and much more on our social media @SelfCareSundays.

The transcription for this episode can be found here.