Softly Unfiltered Podcast

Softly Unfiltered is a podcast exploring Black womanhood, identity, relationships, healing, self-worth, friendship, career, and the unspoken experiences of modern Black women. Why does saying no feel so uncomfortable, even when you already know you do not want to do something? In this episode, Blake and Ashlyn unpack why women are so often taught to soften, justify, apologize for, and over-explain...

Softly Unfiltered is a podcast exploring Black womanhood, identity, relationships, healing, self-worth, friendship, career, and the unspoken experiences of modern Black women. At some point, certain things stop feeling fun, dramatic, or worth entertaining and start feeling exhausting. In this episode, Blake and Ashlyn talk about the things they're officially too grown to still be doing: passive-ag...

Softly Unfiltered is a podcast exploring Black womanhood, identity, relationships, healing, self-worth, friendship, career, and the unspoken experiences of modern Black women. The glow up after a hard season is rarely just about how you look. It is about the boundaries you finally set, the patterns you stop repeating, the peace you protect, and the version of yourself you become after life forces...

Everybody has an opinion about your life, but they are not the ones who have to live with the consequences of your choices. In this episode, Blake and Ashlyn talk about self-trust, discernment, projection, people-pleasing, intuition, and what it actually looks like to stop asking other people to approve a life they will never have to live. We get into the subtle ways people sow doubt, why success...

Episode 100. Almost two years of showing up, evolving, changing our minds, changing our standards, and becoming women our episode-one selves might not fully recognize. In this episode, Blake and Ashlyn reflect on what has changed since the beginning of the podcast — from relationships and friendships to career, confidence, generosity, dating standards, and the way they see themselves. We talk abou...

Softly Unfiltered is a podcast exploring Black womanhood, identity, relationships, healing, self-worth, friendship, career, and the unspoken experiences of modern Black women. Your feelings are valid, but that does not mean every emotion needs to become an immediate reaction. This week Blake and Ashlyn are talking about emotional maturity, anger, hurt, boundaries, self-awareness, and what it actua...

Softly Unfiltered is a podcast exploring Black womanhood, identity, relationships, healing, self-worth, friendship, career, and the unspoken experiences of modern Black women. Have you ever looked back at an old version of yourself and thought, who the hell was that? This week Blake and Ashlyn are laughing lovingly at the things they used to tolerate, believe, excuse, and over explain while unpack...

Softly Unfiltered is a podcast exploring Black womanhood, identity, relationships, healing, self-worth, friendship, career, and the unspoken experiences of modern Black women. Who gets called a leader, who is actually doing the leading, and how many of our beliefs about men, women, submission, and power did we inherit without ever questioning them? This week Blake and Ashlyn use the dynamics of th...

Softly Unfiltered is a podcast exploring Black womanhood, identity, relationships, healing, self-worth, friendship, career, and the unspoken experiences of modern Black women. In this episode, Blake and Ashlyn are talking about what it really means to make yourself your number-one priority — especially as Black women who have been taught to carry, care, show up, and put everybody else first. They...

Softly Unfiltered is a podcast exploring Black womanhood, identity, relationships, healing, self-worth, friendship, career, and the unspoken experiences of modern Black women. In this episode, Blake and Ashlyn are talking about how easy it is to spend your whole life chasing the next milestone and completely miss the life happening in between. For high achievers especially, slowing down can feel u...

Softly Unfiltered is a podcast exploring Black womanhood, identity, relationships, healing, self-worth, friendship, career, and the unspoken experiences of modern Black women. In this episode, Blake and Ashlyn unpack a question many Black women know intimately: did independence protect us, or has it started keeping us from receiving the support and connection we actually want? For many of us, inde...

In this episode, Blake and Ashlyn are asking a question that sounds simple but carries a lot of weight: why is it so hard for Black women to be average? From childhood, many Black women are taught to be twice as good, overly prepared, polished, resilient, and constantly improving. We talk about what happens when those lessons follow us into adulthood and excellence stops feeling like a choice and...

Softly Unfiltered is a podcast exploring Black womanhood, identity, relationships, healing, self-worth, friendship, career, and the unspoken experiences of modern Black women. In this episode, Blake and Ashlyn are unpacking the “Good Black Girl” identity and what happens when the traits that earned you praise growing up start following you into adulthood. Being responsible, accomplished, dependabl...

In this episode Blake and Ashlyn are talking about the thing nobody wants to admit. The half-finished projects. The goals that started strong and lost steam. The new ideas that keep replacing the old ones before any of them get finished. This episode is about the psychology of starting without finishing, and why finishing the damn thing is one of the most powerful things you can do for your confid...

Softly Unfiltered is a podcast exploring Black womanhood, identity, relationships, healing, self-worth, friendship, career, and the unspoken experiences of modern Black women. In this episode, Blake and Ashlyn sit down with Coach Zha, Nike Well Collective trainer, certified Pilates instructor, marathoner, founder of The League, and creator of Black Girl Pilates Club. What starts as a conversation...

Softly Unfiltered is a podcast exploring Black womanhood, identity, relationships, healing, self-worth, friendship, career, and the unspoken experiences of modern Black women. In this episode Blake and Ashlyn are talking about knowing when to leave. A job. A relationship. A friendship. And why so many of us stay way longer than we should, waiting for some dramatic event to justify the exit. The tr...

In this episode Blake and Ashlyn are talking about something that a lot of women, and especially Black women, have a really hard time with. Asking for help. Why do we resist it so much? What does it actually cost us to always say we are fine? And what does it look like to finally let people in without losing ourselves in the process? We got into: • The difference between being genuinely strong and...

In this episode Blake and Ashlyn are talking about something that every Black woman in a predominantly white space has felt but does not always have the language for. The invisible labor of performing palatability. The exhaustion of scanning every room. The pressure to shrink yourself, over-explain yourself, and apologize for taking up space. And the very real question of how you stay pro-Black wh...

Welcome to Season 3 of Softly Unfiltered . Formerly known as Suburban Black Girl Podcast , we're back with a new name, the same mission, and a season opener that felt only right. Because what better way to kick off a rebrand than by talking about what happens when life forces you to change direction? In this episode, Blake and Ashlyn unpack the pivots, redirections, fear, and even grief that come...

In this episode Blake and Ashlyn are getting into something every woman has experienced but rarely says out loud. Why do female friendships sometimes come with unspoken competition instead of pure support? Why does the energy shift the moment you start surpassing someone? They get into jealousy, passive aggression, social media as a hater detector, and what it actually means to protect your peace...

In this episode Blake and Ashlyn are getting into something a lot of women have felt but couldn't always name. The difference between being fed up and being truly done. What settling actually looks like in real life, not the dramatic version but the quiet everyday version where you're pretending you're happy and dimming your light to keep the peace. And why you were never asking for too much. You...

In this episode Blake and Ashlyn are talking about something that does not get said enough. Why is a woman's life never allowed to just be enough on its own? Why does a successful, accomplished, thriving single woman still get treated like she is missing something? And why is it always a man that is supposed to complete the picture? They get into the double standards, the societal pressure, the da...

In this episode Blake and Ashlyn are breaking down something that a lot of high achieving women have felt but could never fully name. You can be the most confident, accomplished, successful woman in the room and still not believe you deserve the things you have built. That is the difference between self-esteem and self-worth. And in this episode they get deeply personal about where that gap comes...

In this episode Blake and Ashlyn are getting into something deeply personal and rarely talked about. The dating insecurities that come from growing up invisible. They talk about what happens when you grow up as a Black girl in predominantly white spaces, how not feeling chosen early on shapes your confidence, your standards, and your entire approach to love and dating as an adult. We got into: • H...

In this episode we are getting into something that a lot of women have experienced but not always been able to name. Dating the potential rich man. What happens when you believe in someone so much that you start abandoning your own timeline to help them stay on track with theirs? When does patience become emotional labor? And at what point do you have to look yourself in the eye and say this poten...