Decolonize to Thrive

In our final episode of Decolonize to Thrive we share the highly anticipated title of our new podcast, thank all those who participated in our giveaway, share our new launch date and set the intention for our upcoming podcast!

Listen in to find out how to collaborate with us on choosing a title for our next podcast. We’ll take a poll and award the top three picks with gift cards to support a Black or Indigenous woman owned business. Find our latest Instagram post @decolonizetothrive with the instructions to enter. The opportunity ends on January 10th at 12:01 AM!!!

If you could title this chapter of your life, what would it be? As we embrace the culmination of the Decolonize to Thrive podcast we discuss this and much more. Listen in to learn what our plans are beyond Decolonize to Thrive and how you can collaborate with us on our next journey! Remember there are no endings, just new beginnings✨✨✨

For the first time in 3 podcast seasons, we came to the table with blank canvases. No topic to explore, no questions or premeditated stories to share, just our open minds and honest thoughts. We let the conversation flow how and wherever it chose, with the hopes that something meaningful could come from it. Tune in now to hear what came up for us, including: • Why we want to get out of our heads a...

Larissa Valeriano serves as the Clinical Director for an intensive outpatient program, providing individual counseling, and working closely with individuals in processing childhood and adulthood trauma and teaching emotional regulation skills and other DBT and CBT coping skills. She is trained in EMDR therapy and specializes in supporting individuals living with trauma and substance use disorders....

On the day this episode aired, 11/8/2023, many of us continued to observe the horrific genocide of the people of Palestine in Gaza, distressingly. In this episode, Ina and T aim to create space for one other and the podcast audience to promote the importance of community and solidarity in moments such as these. They discuss many topics along with their individual and shared feelings, thoughts, and...

Meredith Nnoka is a Chicago-based writer, educator, and prison abolitionist originally from Southern Maryland. They teach poetry in carceral facilities in Illinois and have worked with the Parole Illinois and Defund CPD campaigns. Meredith’s writing explores questions of interpersonal harm and generational trauma. In this important conversation, we explore how our current prison system disappears...

Kamal X is a self-taught documentary photographer currently based in Brooklyn, New York. Photography found Kamal in 2015, after deciding to quit everything to travel the world in honor of his best friend who passed away from colon cancer. Most recently, Kamal is releasing his 2nd photography book, BLACK ASTRONAUT, which highlights a nationwide revolution ignited by the pandemic and the passing of...

Christie Edwards rejoins Decolonize to Thrive to catch us up on what she’s been up to since our last episode. She shares details about the powerful ceremony with a shaman where she used a psychedelic plant medicine and how transformative it was for her healing and awareness. In this unparalleled conversation between Ina and Christie, so many topics were explored including past life regression, dre...

In episode 22, Candice (they|she) brings her critical lens to the conversation and shares essential truths and little known realities about the mental health field. Throughout our conversation we also touch on • Surviving as a complex ptsd survivor • Why we have to identify and disrupt toxic positivity and colonial spirituality disguised as healing • How alienation and envy are features of capital...

In this final episode of our series on dating, our guest Crissonna brings a fresh outlook and the perfect amount of wit and humor to the conversation. Identity-wise, they proudly embrace being cisgender, bisexual, pansexual, and queer, reflecting the vibrant tapestry of their experiences as a biracially black individual.

Brandon Worix is no stranger to the dating field. As a cis man who has been divorced, dated & back on the dating scene in search of a new relationship, he can attest to the challenges and nuances of dating within a colonized system. He lives by the phrase "If the path be beautiful, let us not question where it leads." - Anatole France In our episode together, we continue the conversation on dating...

In this episode Ina and T explore ways to define and redefine love, dating, and relationships through a critical lens - calling out the ways whiteness and colonization shape and influence society’s attitudes towards them.

Christie R. Edwards is an intuitive healer who uses her training in Angelic Reiki, crystal healing, sound healing, and Herbology as a means of holistic spiritual wellness. In this episode she shares her insights into living purposefully, tips for connecting with our spiritual world, the power of listening to our intuition, and more.

Danny Vazquez is a mental health professional who specializes in working with Black and Brown teen individuals identifying as boys. He shares stories of empowerment and reminds us of the importance of offering the young people in our lives consistent support. Parents and caregivers-especially of teens and adolescents, there are so many gems in this episode that you don't want to miss!

Six months in and we're grateful for all of the wisdom and knowledge we've gained from each of our guests on this exploration of what it means to decolonize. We've just started to scratch the surface and there's so much left to learn. In this episode we share our biggest lessons from the unique stories of each of our guests and listener reflections as well as our own definitions for what it means...

Candice Rose Valenzuela, (they|them, she|her) opens up our hearts and minds to the world of healing justice, a term coined by Cara Page. As a QTBIPOC healing entrepreneur, coach and facilitator, Candice Rose Valenzuela shares why they believe true healing can only be achieved through a justice lens. **Important note - In the beginning Candice read from the book Healing Justice Lineages (akpress.or...

Brittney Autry Cole, (She| Her) is a champion for creating access to equitable, culturally responsive, and trauma-informed mental wellness opportunities for people of color. Brittney launched the Cent(her)ed Collective, a mental wellness social enterprise designed to empower Black women and girls to engage in transformative healing practices and gain mastery over their healing processes. In this e...

Rachael Stewart (she|her) is a licensed clinical social worker, therapist and owner of Amaris Counseling LLC. In our episode together, we had fun bringing light and life to conversations about mental health. We discuss reasons why we need to be in community with one another in order to take care of ourselves, how we can break generational barriers by embodying community care, and how our identity...

In episode 12, Aaron shares how their experience as a mixed American of the BIPOC community raised in a mix of diverse and homogeneous communities helped them learn to “live as themselves” unapologetically. We discuss the role of colonization in developing identity, and how fear is at the core of self hatred.

Dr. Crain (she|her) helps us to redefine our most painful experiences through the lens of empowerment. She explains how healing and decolonization are synonymous, and reveals the ways colonialism influences our viewpoints on love, death, and more! As a bonus, we get to chat it up about the start of her journey in creating the Everly Collective - a revolutionary healing justice center located in Fl...

T. Lacy (they/them/per/pers) joins Decolonize to Thrive.  Out with the old and in with the... New Dope Deep & Collaborative Experience, that is Decolonize to Thrive 2.0! We're kicking off a new season with an amazing addition and co-host, T. Lacy!!! Listen in to meet and learn more about our newest collaborator and what unique contributions they will bring to the D2T community.

Self-regulation is one of the most powerful tools for overcoming life's obstacles, and learning to conquer our emotions is key. Medical student and self-proclaimed emotional conqueror, Genese Dadzie and I talk about overcoming the 4 D’s- depression, despair, death, and disappointment to reach the highest versions of ourselves.

Inspirational community leader, activist, and 2023 mayoral candidate Ja’Mal Green shared what motivates him to fight for a city that ALL Chicagoans can believe in. In this conversation we discuss what it means to be on the right side of the truth, why we need more youth in leadership, and how we can each create a better future through unity and collaboration.

In response to episode 6: 2022 Year of Reinvention, podcast listener Thelisia Samuels reflects on the areas of her life that did not serve her well in the year 2022 and how she wants to be more intentional in 2023.