Brave Space LIVE

In our last episode of Season 3, we are joined by our producers (name of guest & title) in a conversation centering Black & Queer joy. We talk about what it means to be Black and Queer - two targeted identities, and their journey to claim (or reclaim) "radical" self-love in the intersections. Madison Butler is a New Englander at heart but moved to Austin in 2017. Her work is focused around...

You've heard of the glass ceiling, which describes the invisible (are they really?) barriers women face when advancing in their professional careers or organizational hierarchies. But did you know that racialized women (or we can use the term women of color, feel free to change as you see it) face different barriers made up of completely different (and more solid) material? The US Bureau of Labor...

Cultures across the world deal with death differently, and the United States is no exception. How do we practice liberation and anti-oppression when we are grieving?   This week our special guest is hospice chaplain Rev. Yung Me Morris. When it comes to death, we often associate the concept of a dignified death with medical aid in dying, referencing physician-assisted suicide. These conversations...

How do we imagine a future where discipline and nonviolence seamlessly coexist? In this week's episode we discuss a more compassionate, radically empathetic and neurodevelopmentally-informed approach to parenting and raising children. Education expert and former teacher Joy Marilie joins us this week for an all Black-women conversation as we talk about the gentle parenting movement and how we can...

From the attacks on DEI initiatives to the Supreme Court destruction of affirmative action… how do we process all that is happening in colleges and universities? Tune in this week as talk about justice in higher education with special guests Letitia Tajuba & Qasim Rashid (Qasim joins the conversion at 25:52). Letitia Tajuba is a former educator (K-12 and higher education) and public servant wi...

Content Warning: This episode contains references to missing and murdered indigenous people and violence and assault against native children.   Over the past couple of years, we have seen the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) go to the Supreme Court, fights for indigenous water rights and environmental protections at Standing Rock and the Willow Project, increased visibility for missing and murdered...

What about our culture actively produces lonely, angry, and isolated white men? This week we discuss the dynamic we often don't talk about - the manufacturing white supremacy, toxic masculinity, and an American-hypercapitalist image. We are joined by special guest, chaplain Bentley Stewart to explore how we can challenge the "loneliness epidemic" bred from whiteness and capitalism and work towards...

From banning books to anti-LGBTQ laws to the war on "wokism" to defunding DEI - what lengths will today's US politicians go to legislate away our rights and slowly chip away at our freedoms? ...It's Giving Fascism. Join us as we kick off Season 3 discussing the alarming escalation of anti-liberation legislation sweeping the United States. Also sorry about the low quality of Mel's mic, we fix it ab...

On our last episode of Season 2, we speak with two of our producers, Darling and Ben, who both identify as LGBTQIA2+. We talk about gender identity, sexual identity, the many forms of attraction, trauma, and radical love and acceptance. Join us for a conversation on what it means to center and celebrate queer voices.

This week, Tychelle and Mel talk about cultural appropriation vs. appreciation: how to spot the difference and what it means to be in relationship instead of commodifying communities who are different from us. 

On tonight's episode we'll be joined by friend to the show Rebecca Larsen & new friend to the show JC Goodhart, we'll be talking about dating preferences and if our preferences are ultimately related to prejudice and what any of it even means

This week, Tychelle and Mel sit down with Dr. Rev. Monica Cross to discuss transgender identities and issues. From her journey in the US Navy to her love for science fiction to her work as an author and activist, we are excited to welcome Dr. Cross to Brave Space Live!   Dr. Rev. Monica Cross serves as Pastor at First Christian Church of Oakland in Oakland, Ca., Associate Minister at Tapestry Mini...

There are a lot of myths floating around out there about affirmative action in higher education and the workplace. Join us for an enlightening discussion about what affirmative action is, how it works - and whether or not it's good for society.

This week we welcome special guest Adam Jackson to the show, an anti-racism educator, transracial adoptee, and good friend of Tychelle. Adam will be talking to us about his experiences with transracial adoption and the challenges and pain many people are not aware of.  Adam Jackson has been a leader in a Fortune 100 company for many years.  In his work, he has focused on associate and community we...

This week we are excited to welcome special guest Britt Dorton - an incarceration and disability rights advocate. Britt will be talking to us about prison abolition and making a case for why it's so needed in today's world.   Britt Dorton is a law student whose advocacy focuses on the intersections of prison abolition and disability rights. Since 2019, she has worked closely with current and forme...

Join us this week for a cross-racial discussion of one of the most controversial and offensive words in the English language. Tychelle, Mel, and producer Jo have an honest conversation about the N-word - its history, its pain, its power, and the road to reclaiming it. 

This week's episode will be a conversation you don't want to miss! Tychelle and Mel are sitting down with museum professional Seema Rao to talk about an uncomfortable but important topic: the fact that many of the items housed in the great museums of the world have been stolen from other peoples. What does that mean for the future of museums and museum curators?   Special guest Seema Rao has more...

Welcome to the kickoff of Season 2! In this episode, Tychelle shares her recent experience of driving across the country while Black. Hope you can join us for this important and powerful conversation.

In the final episode of the season, Tychelle and Mel invite Brave Space LIVE producers Alicia Govens and Jonadad Fequiere to discuss what it means to de-center whiteness. Join us for an honest and courageous conversation between women of color and white women.

The legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. often gets romanticized in the ways we teach civil rights history - and his work is widely taken out of context of his radical advocacy for economic justice. Join Tychelle and Mel this week for an in-depth look at the figure and person of MLK.

Many of us don't think about the idea that participating in outdoorsy culture is not only a privilege but in many ways holds hidden racial discrimination, from the history of lynching to native treaty violation. From the National Parks service to Mt. Rushmore to inter-generational trauma to shopping for hiking boots, nature activities hold a legacy of problematics for BIPOC folks. Join Tychelle an...

How have white women's tears been weaponized against people of color? How has the term "Karen" been appropriated? We are speaking tonight with Rebecca Larsen - a social media anti-racist activist who has taking audiences on her journey of education and self-growth for the last year. Join us for this conversation on racism, patriarchy, and intersectionality.

It can be tough to navigate multiple identities in different social spaces. Join us for a conversation on comedy, code switching, and respectability politics with standup comic and award-winning podcast host, Shereen Kassam.

A lot of us use the terms race and ethnicity interchangeably, but these words have different meanings and histories. This week Tychelle and Mel discuss the question of "white ethnicity" and what it means for white folks to claim an ethnic identity.

Jolly Good Ginger is a military veteran who grew up with a confederate flag in his front yard and was taught racism from a young age in the mountains of North Carolina. Today he is an anti-racism activist, speaking to audiences around the country on ways to white America can work to resist and overcome learned racism and systemic oppression. In this episode, he joins Tychelle and Mel for a convers...