Black Boomer Besties from Brooklyn

Starting a YouTube channel in your 60s might sound daunting, but what if it could lead to newfound freedom and self-discovery?  The Besties encourage older folks to start a podcast or YouTube like this 62 year old did Take My Journey Starting a YouTube Channel at 62. Am I Crazy! https://youtu.be/-ROSryh65XE?si=QHGuKjilCB9nu55N Here are 5 positive things The Besties’ learned:  Things are gonna be s...

Leslie woke up one morning, went in to work and said to her boss, “I need a break, I’m going to take several months off”.  As a full time anesthesiologist she put aside concerns of what her absence would do to the busy OR schedule or the pinch her colleagues would experience being on call.  What she knew (for sure) was that she was fatigued, her mind was distracted, her body was rebelling and she...

Angella dishes about her recent  “date”, her house-sitting adventure in Los Angeles.  She and her adventurous sister swapped plans for a trip to Mexico for a local escapade instead, finding joy in the simple pleasures of life in a beautiful home and area of LA with a sweet dog (it was all love!)  She  described the transformative potential of house-sitting as a way to experience life in new places...

Get ready for a Master Class that is perfectly timed to position you for financial success in the new year.  This week Besties Angella and Leslie introduce you to two guests who bring a dynamic thought-provoking discussion about their upcoming webinar. Drs. Kimani Norrington-Sands and Rosche Brown are psychologists who lead the charge for Black women against toxic work environments by unlocking th...

Imagine navigating almost five decades of friendship without needing to explicitly say  "I'm sorry". Besties Angella and  Leslie give you a view of their  unique connection where grace and understanding have forged a path through conflicts without the need for conventional exchange of apologies. Inspired by Malcolm Gladwell's TED Talk, "The Tipping Point I Got Wrong,"...

Get out your travel docs because the Besties are taking you on a trip.   Angella is beginning  to realize her travel dreams of circling the world and ‘dating a city” by accepting a house-sitting opportunity on the West coast.  Inspired by the Exodus Summit community and the chance to “bop around the world” (as Stephanie Perry puts it), she explains her excitement around using house and pet sitting...

In her enlightening book The Afrominimalist’s Guide to Living With Less, Christine Platt invites us to imagine a world in which we curate a life of intention free of clutter and chaos (but not the monochromatic, rigid guidelines often linked to the Euro-centric minimalism)  This week, Besties Angella and Leslie consider the question of whether embracing Afrominimalism could transform not just thei...

Besties Angella and Leslie wonder why they hold on to things they don’t actually need.  All the ‘stuff’ that fills their homes, their closets and too often their expensive storage units.  Angella describes her painful experience with downsizing and ultimately losing items that once anchored her and her family. Leslie, on the other hand, is at the beginning of that very journey - trying to navigate...

How do you reconcile feelings of belonging and alienation in a country that seems to shift beneath your feet?  This week, Besties Angella and Leslie are joined by guest Elizabeth Jenkins - the most recent honorary Bestie - as she opens up about the emotional turmoil of recent political events and  the deep impact this climate has had on her mental health. The ladies mull over the complexities of i...

Leslie has been feeling quite tired lately. Actually, she would say she was exhausted. It was so bad that for only the first time in more than 20 years she overslept for work.  For Leslie, an anesthesiologist, oversleeping means that there is a surgeon, staff of nurses and a patient being delayed and waiting for her.  She came up with what she saw as a simple solution- she would buy an alarm clock...

What happens when your country’s political decision leaves you feeling anxious and uncertain? In this episode of Black Boomer Besties from Brooklyn Angella and Leslie recount personal feelings of navigating the emotional aftermath of the 2024 US presidential  election. Angella describes how she found solace in the power of community, connecting with like-minded women through a chat group, highligh...

Besties Angella and Leslie are outraged when they come across an image of a T-shirt worn by former Pittsburgh Steelers player Le’Veon Bell labeling Vice President Kamala Harris as a tramp.  They discuss this offensive wardrobe choice and how it serves as a disturbing reminder of the persistent stereotypes and unrealistic expectations placed on Black women. They unpack these issues, urging a re-exa...

What if you could start a life transformation by "dating a city"? Consider that intriguing idea inspired by The Exodus Summit, a virtual conference co-founded by Stephanie Perry and Rashida Dowe designed to empower Black women to embrace the possibilities of global living. In this episode of Black Boomer Besties from Brooklyn, Angella shares her experience of attending this year’s Exodus...

Besties Angella and Leslie contrast recent interviews with authors Coleman Hughes and Ta-Nehisi Coates in which they discuss their respective books dealing with racial politics, racism and identity.  In his 2024 book, The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America , Hughes discusses the possibilities and implications of a ‘colorblind’ America while in The Message , Coates describes h...

Have you ever wondered what it takes to reinvent yourself after decades of sticking to the same roles and routines? Besties Angella and Leslie, inspired by Dana Findwell's compelling video, " Not Too Late to Start Over: Finding Purpose After 40, 50, 60, or at Any Age ," walk you through the exhilarating yet challenging experience of embracing new things at any age. The ladies  unrav...

Listener feedback from our YouTube channel to the Bestie’s previous episode on Colorism was so engaging that Angella and Leslie felt compelled to revisit their conversation and discuss a few of the online responses.  They dive deep into some of  the language around colorism, for example “fair-skinned”, “good-hair” and the “one-drop rule” and wonder if such terms unintentionally uphold harmful beau...

Angella has written a juicy and joyful eBook called “We’re Too Old for This Shit: The Inquisitive Older Woman’s Guide to More Joy’. It begins with a bold reminder that older women are ready and the time to put joy front & center is now: …as mature women, we literally are too old for some of the draining things we still allow to loom large in our life. We’re too experienced, too accomplished, t...

As a child, Leslie's great-grandmother habitually scrubbed the knees and elbows of her and her siblings at bathtime in hope of banishing the darker areas of their bodies. Ouch! and WTF! Nana Lena, born in the early 1900s, experienced first hand the societal advantages of being a Black woman with a lighter skin tone. She believed it right and proper to afford her beloved great grands the same...

The Besties take you on a journey back to a cherished time in their lives when they were children being doted on by their grandparents.  Leslie grew up in Brooklyn in a brownstone where up to five generations lived at one time whereas Angella recalls fond early years in Jamaica being loved and cared for by her grandparents.   This is a nostalgic episode full of funny memories, family dynamics and...

Back in the day (that’s in the mid-70s for Leslie & Angie), Saturday mornings meant cartoons interspersed cereal commercials and Schoolhouse Rock. Schoolhouse Rock is a series of educational cartoons with catchy songs that made learning things like science, math, and civics fun and made the information stick. As political discourse increases around the impending 2024 election, The Besties reca...

The Besties celebrate rejecting societal norms and embracing their true selves. This episode delves into the complexities of body image, especially within the Black community, and how societal and cultural perceptions shape our self-esteem. By prioritizing joy and self-compassion over dieting, Ang has begun to experience a deeper love for her body, just the way it is, without the need to cover up...

This episode is a rebroadcast of a previously aired recording from 2022, around the time the Besties started their podcast.  It is revisited this week as a reminder of the importance of embracing flexibility, stepping out on faith and having the courage to make life altering changes. The message remains as timely now as it had been two years ago. Original Notes: During a roller coaster work situat...

Can you imagine Leslie on a pommel horse? This week’s Black Boomer Besties from Brooklyn kicks off with some fun banter about  the speed of current events, namely the closing of the 2024 Paris Olympics. Of course The Besties have opinions. In particular about gymnast Jordan Chiles’ lost bronze medal and the performance of the Australian breakdancer Rachel Gunn. Cultural appropriation, misappropria...

Something has been nagging Ang. She just couldn’t let go of a listener's question from The Besties’ live guest spot on Dr. Kimani Norrington-Sands'  @liftingasweclimbconsulting; “How do you know what your joy is?” A spark of insight surfaced during her Morning Writing and, of course, she took it to her bestie, Les. Most people have felt at some point that they don’t quite fit in; do you...

Can the relentless pursuit of excellence be more performative than purposeful?  In the continued conversation with NC Poet Laureate Jaki Shelton Green, the Besties inquire about Jaki’s views on the Black Excellence archetype with the hopes and realism placed on the potential of a Kamala Harris presidency. Reflecting on her personal journey and her mother's wisdom, Jaki challenges the notion o...