The Charleston Chicks

We say it all the time: we want a man who is emotionally available. One who opens up, shares his feelings, lets us in. So why did one of us get the tiniest bit of the ick the moment a man actually did? Lisa was not in the mood for this one, and Melanie made her do it anyway. We get honest about what happens when a man finally gets vulnerable, the conditioning that taught all of us that a strong ma...

We finally got her, y'all. Melanie's big sister Amber is in the chair, and she is not here to hold back. Amber is two years older than Melanie and has been keeping her in line since they were little. She raised her kids on her own after her divorce, with a village of family, church friends and one very involved mom behind her. Today the three of us talk about what that was really like: the hardest...

It keeps popping up in Lisa's newsfeed, so we're asking it out loud: would you date a man who makes significantly less money than you? The short answer is yes. The long answer is where it gets good. Melanie and Lisa have each built their own lives and their own money, and neither one is looking for someone to take care of her. But that doesn't mean money doesn't matter. We get into the threshold,...

"The ick" started as a dating term, but at our age it shows up everywhere: at networking events, in group texts, at the bar, in the car. And no, it doesn't go away after 45. If anything, we have more of them. We trade our biggest icks, from a business card that turned into a pickup line to men who send selfies (and worse), cheap mentalities, road rage, fishing for compliments and men who disregard...

You know that moment with your best friend when you say, "I probably shouldn't say this, but..."? This whole episode is that moment. We worked our way through a list of things women think but aren't supposed to say out loud, and we said every single one of them. Some made us laugh, some made us think, and a few we're still a little surprised we said on camera. In this episode: "I love my kids, but...

How many decisions have you made based on what would keep everyone else happy.. not what you actually wanted? In this episode of Charleston Chicks, Melanie and Lisa unpack the “good girl” conditioning that teaches women to be agreeable, avoid conflict, overperform, and make life easier for everyone around them. They get honest about people-pleasing in marriage, motherhood, friendship, and the work...

What if employer-sponsored healthcare helped people address the root causes of illness, not just manage symptoms? In this episode of The Charleston Chicks, we sit down with David Thedinga, founder of Tikvah Health, to discuss his vision for connecting employees with functional, complementary, and whole-person care through the workplace. Drawing on two decades of experience in insurance, and his fa...

What if your chiropractor, functional medicine provider, massage therapist, acupuncturist and primary-care team actually worked together? This week, Melanie and Lisa sit down with their longtime friend, Dr. Stephen Khouri of Khouri Chiropractic, to discuss his vision for more connected, compassionate and accessible healthcare. Stephen explains how his expanding integrative model brings multiple di...

Protein. Steps. Sleep scores. Supplements. Hormones. Creatine. Red-light therapy. Cold plunges. Gut health. Morning sunlight. Are we healthier yet, or just completely overwhelmed? In this episode, Melanie and Lisa unpack the increasingly complicated world of wellness. They’re both believers in taking care of themselves, natural health and functional medicine.. but when every expert offers a differ...

Can we still be friends—or remain close as family—when our beliefs don’t align? This week, Melanie and Lisa examine how politics, religion and social media have made relationships across different viewpoints increasingly difficult. They discuss family boundaries, social media assumptions, outrage-driven algorithms, cancel culture and the value of choosing respectful conversation over immediate rej...

At this age, we’re officially retiring the phrase “guilty pleasure.” 🥂 In today’s episode, Melanie and Lisa are talking about the things women are made to feel guilty for enjoying - from Poshmark deals, Botox and DoorDash to canceled plans, late nights, reality TV, dessert first and staying in pajamas all day. Because why should we apologize for the things that make life easier, more peaceful or...

Choosing a traditional marriage isn't the problem. Losing your ability to leave one is.  In today's episode, Melanie and Lisa are digging into the TradWife movement - what it actually means to choose a traditional lifestyle versus being trapped in one by money, dependency or fear. Because there's a real difference between a woman who chooses to stay home and one who has no financial security, no i...

What happens when Charleston style, personal legacy, and a little well-dressed swagger come together? In this episode of The Charleston Chicks, Lisa and Melanie sit down with Charleston native, designer, stylist, model, father, and founder of Kenneth Beatrice, Chelsie Ravenell. Chelsie shares his unexpected journey from college basketball to fashion design, including teaching himself to sew by tak...

🧬 Can we actually cure Type 1 diabetes and cancer in our lifetime? This week on Charleston Chicks, we sit down with Dr. Leonardo Ferreira, immunologist at MUSC and Founder & CEO of Torpedo Bio, to talk about engineering immune cells, the future of medicine, entrepreneurship, venture funding, and what it really takes to build life-changing science from the ground up. Leo shares his journey fro...

Men's mental health, modern dating, and the male loneliness epidemic: are men lonely because the world changed, or because they refused to change with it? On this episode of The Charleston Chicks, hosts Lisa and Melanie break down what's really behind the rise in male loneliness, and they don't sugarcoat it. They trace the term back to its source (a 2023 U.S. Surgeon General declaration on lonelin...

Lieutenant Renate on Breaking Every Barrier What happens when a dancing cop goes viral — and not everyone's cheering? In this episode of Charleston Chicks, hosts Lisa Nicole and Melanie sit down with Renate, a Police Lieutenant with the North Charleston Police Department and one of the highest-ranking women in her agency. After a video of Renate dancing at a Flo Rida concert at Riverfront Park wen...

Wardrobe stylist and creative director Andrea Serrano has spent 30 years dressing photo shoots, TV shows, and ad campaigns — from an MTV Latino internship in Miami to styling luxury hospitality brands like The Ritz-Carlton and Saint Regis. On this episode of Charleston Chicks, she walks us through her wildest career pivots: opening one of Charleston's first streetwear and sneaker boutiques in 2004...

Are women too emotional to make good leaders? Lisa Nicole and Melanie are tackling one of the most controversial questions in leadership today. In this episode of the Charleston Chicks Podcast, they dive deep into the outdated stereotypes that have shaped leadership for decades and why the old school model built on dominance, control and assertiveness is no longer effective in modern organizations...

In this episode, hosts Lisa Nicole and Melanie sit down with TEDx speaker and AI founder JT White for a candid, no fluff conversation about where artificial intelligence is really taking us, and what we should actually be worried about. JT brings a rare perspective: an evolutionary psychology background meets a career building and selling tech companies. He's not here to hype AI. He's here to tell...

Fifty doesn't look anything like we thought it would, and that's the best news we've ever gotten. In this episode, co-hosts Lisa Nicole and Melanie get real about the unexpected gift of your 50s: finally having the space, the self awareness, and the courage to ask who am I now? After decades of marriage, motherhood, and quietly putting themselves last, they're sharing what it actually feels like t...

If Part 1 was the highlight reel, Part 2 is where we get to the heart of it. We dig into Mookie's concept of "heartlosophy",  the idea that love isn't just a feeling, it's an action, and what happens when you build your whole life around that. He reflects on his lowest lows and highest highs and why having nothing sometimes feels like everything looking back. Then we get into his late mother Linda...

In this episode of The Charleston Chicks, we sit down with Jonathan "Mookie" Morant- Charleston musician, songwriter, producer, and now five time author, on the day his newest book hits #1. Mookie takes us behind the scenes of a remarkable life: from crashing Maurice Starr's birthday party (and somehow still landing his first music industry break), to working alongside the Backstreet Boys and Will...

In this powerful episode of The Charleston Chicks, we sit down with Megan Manigault, a 2026 TEDx Charleston speaker, survivor leader, and Executive Director of I AM Voices, a local nonprofit providing housing and long-term support services to survivors of sexual violence and trafficking in the tri-county area. Megan opens up about her deeply personal journey from survivor to systems builder, shari...

What if your hardest moments weren't punishment - but preparation? In this episode of The Charleston Chicks, we sit down with Kevin Waits: retired police chief, FBI National Academy graduate, author of Favorite: From Last to First, and TEDx Charleston speaker. Kevin grew up climbing 14 flights of stairs in a Harlem housing project with chronic asthma and metal leg braces, and went on to lead a pol...

What if your body could heal itself, not with drugs, but with its own cells? In this fascinating conversation, we sit down with Dr. Leonardo Ferreira, immunologist and assistant professor at the Medical University of South Carolina's Hollings Cancer Center, ahead of his 2026 TEDx Charleston talk. Originally from Portugal, Dr. Ferreira earned his PhD at Harvard, completed a postdoctoral fellowship...