Unapologetically Grown

Gray divorce is rising, and Black women over 50 are leading the conversation. In this episode, divorce attorney and mediator Kimberly A. Cook joins Unapologetically Grown to talk honestly about why more Black women are choosing themselves later in life, from 8% in 1990 to nearly 40% today, and what it really takes to do it well. Kimberly breaks down the pressures so many of us know too well: famil...

Grown women pulled up a chair and told us the truth about starting over, taking care of themselves, building businesses, and finding their voices after 50. Now Audra Madison and Val Royal are looking back at what stuck. In this recap, we share our biggest takeaways from the guests who shaped this season: the health wake-up calls, the leaps into entrepreneurship, the self-care that finally put us f...

Fitness after 50 isn’t about punishing your body or trying to become the woman you were 20 years ago. It’s about getting stronger for the life you’re living now. Audra Madison and Val Royal sit down with Trish Andrews, CEO of TAF, LLC and founder of Trish Andrews Fitness , for a real conversation about what fitness looks like as our bodies and our lives change. Trish shares how she reinvented her...

What if eating healthier didn’t mean giving up the food you grew up loving? Dr. Monique May is proving that plant-based eating can still have flavor, culture and a little bit of Grandma in it. In this episode of Unapologetically Grown , Audra and Val sit down with Dr. May, a physician turned food entrepreneur known as The Physician in the Kitchen , for a conversation about food, health and what ha...

Who told us intimacy had an expiration date? Not us. This week, Dr. Jeannelle Perkins pulls up a chair to talk about what real connection looks like after 50; the emotional kind, the physical kind, and everything grown women actually want but rarely say out loud. We get into it: How the culture we were raised in shaped the way we love, why your attachment style still shows up in your relationships...

Black women face hysterectomies younger, and more often, than their peers. Monica Wood joins Audra Madison and Val Royal to get real about hers: the decision, the surgery, and what nobody talks about after - the grief, the identity questions, the mental health toll. Monica breaks down the different types of hysterectomies and why informed decision-making matters, but this conversation goes deeper...

Carla Truitt joins Audra Madison and Val Royal to share how she traded a career in the music industry for founding Eight Royale, her high-end women's footwear brand built for women who refuse to choose between style and comfort. Carla walks through the moment a broken heel in Manhattan cracked open a whole new path, and why that experience shaped her mission to design shoes, including her signatur...

Ashunta Kendricks returns with Audra and Val for a conversation about what beauty actually looks like after 50, and who gets to define it. They talk through the evolution of beauty standards, the racial dynamics that still shape the beauty industry, and practical skincare advice for women navigating this stage of life with intention. This isn't a conversation about chasing youth. It's about embrac...

Ashunta Kendricks, celebrity makeup artist and cultural architect, joins Audra and Val to explore the rich history and cultural significance of Black beauty pioneers, and why giving credit to those who paved the way still matters. Ashunta shares her own journey into makeup artistry, her pivot to entrepreneurship during the pandemic, and the story behind building her Magnetized lash brand. At the c...

Audra Madison sits down with Dr. Paula Orr, MD, to talk menopause, specifically what it looks like for Black women. Dr. Orr breaks down why Black women reach menopause earlier than their peers, why hormone therapy is so often withheld or avoided, and how fibroids, medical mistrust, and the "strong Black woman" stereotype all shape the care women actually receive. This conversation covers real grou...

Desiree Rew joins Audra Madison and Val Royal to talk about leaving the U.S. to live as a digital nomad and what it took to unlearn a lifetime of conditioning. A conversation about boundaries, freedom, and redefining success after 50.

Nobody sat us down and warned us about the quiet shifts. The subtle changes that show up in your body, your relationships, your confidence, and the way the world starts to see you. There's no announcement. They just arrive. In this episode, we're naming the things most women go through but rarely talk about out loud. The invisible moments, the shifting friendships, the quiet grief, and the unexpec...

Who told us that turning 50 means starting over? In this debut episode of Unapologetically Grown, we're throwing that idea out completely. We're not starting over. We're starting from experience. Welcome to the show. We're two Gen X Black women redefining what it means to be "grown," and this first conversation sets the tone for everything ahead. Society said we should slow down, play small, and f...

Welcome to Unapologetically Grown . In our very first episode, we're redefining what it means to be "grown" in this season of life. Somewhere along the way, society convinced many women that reaching our 50s and beyond means slowing down, fading into the background, or starting over. We disagree. We're not starting over; we're starting from experience. After decades of les...