Episodes Archives - Shades of Strong

My strong is empowering Black women. Get ready for a powerful new season of Shades of Strong! Hosted by Shirley Hubbard and Natalyn Bradshaw, this podcast empowers Black women to embrace their authentic selves and challenge societal stereotypes. Launching on April 9th, this season features compelling conversations with inspiring guests. From discussing the dangers of overextending without reciproc...

My strong is soft, feminine , and receptive.  Long gone are the days when Black women are overextending and back bending all in the name of being strong, because contrary to poplular belief, Black women get to be be soft and strong.  Tap in to this week’s encore episode for a conversation with Ivory Benneet on how she’s one of many Black women embracing being soft and strong.  RESOURCE...

My strong is creating an emotioanlly safe space. One of the most harmful things about having emotional walls is missing out on great experiences with those you love and care about.  We build these walls with the hope of keeping harmful things out, not realizing that walls not only shut others out, they shut you in.  Tap in to this week’s encore episode for a conversation on how you can prote...

My strong is  “resolute and standing firmly in my truth” Angela Bassett.  They tell us to take risks – take lots of them. They tell us not to settle for mediocrity – fight for the life we want. So, we do! We fight with everything in us – not being easily intimidated. Not letting people walk all over us. We boldly speak up against unfairness and injustices in our personal and business l...

My strong is  not strong all the time and I’m okay with that. I cry. I feel. I heal. Letting go of the past and healing from trauma is challenging in and of itself, but when the trauma is a result of unhealthy parental relationships, it becomes even more challenging.  In today’s episode I chatted it up with Angela Roulette as she shared her journey of freeing herself from the emotional burde...

My strong is knowing what I bring to the table. Unlearning people pleasing behavior is challenging, not only because it’s a part of the Black female’s social fabric, but also because as Black women often existing in predominantly white spaces, pleasing others first is [undoubtedly] a survival mechanism. Hello code switching and shape shifting! The only way to unlearn what’s been...

My strong is honoring the sacredness of friendships. Have you ever found yourself in the middle of friendhsip or sisterhood that suddenly became toxic? Are you able to accept responsibility for the role you played in it?  You don’t have to answer that (outloud), but the truth is we all play a role (in one way or another) in the toxcity we sometimes find ourselves – even if that role is...

My strong is healing in a way that feels right for me. We gotta stop telling people that they can choose to be happy when they’re in the thick of a traumatic event because sometimes CHOOSING happiness is not possible in that moment. Though well intentioned, our words can be harmful when we’re not sensitive to the emotional needs of those we’re trying to support.  Tap in to this w...

My strong is NOT sociaiizing Black girls to be strong. We’re on summer break, but we didn’t want to leave you with no SOS, so for the next several weeks we’ll be dropping some of our most listened to episodes. Unlike Beyonce most Black women didn’t wake up like this. Before we were strong Black women we were little Black girls being socialized to be strong.  Tap in to this...

“ My strong is honoring my full body yeses, and trusting even the quietest whispers of my no’s ”   In today’s episode Tšhegofatšo Ndabane shares how she spent so much time caring for others til she didn’t know how to care for herself.  She goes on to share how a bout with extreme burnout not only isolated her from her community, but also sat her down and forced her to...

“I don’t  know who needs to hear this, but check on your strong friends.” How many times have you seen this statement floating around social media? How many times did you actually check on your strong friend? How many times did she say, “I’m good.” … and how many times did you hear I’m good and kept it moving?  Listen, we’re not here to judge b...

“What if you’re having a tough day and you manage to get out of bed? That’s worth celebrating.” In today’s episode Paballo Rampa gives us a peek inside her journey to healing from the Strong Black Woman Syndrome. She paints us a picture of how she spent years dismantling the label that had been thrust upon her and how she is now showing herself love and compassion and...

Mothers, they’re human, they’re flawed, and they have their own stories. But their stories don’t have to dictate how we live our lives.  Mother’s Day is peeking over the horizon which means we’ll soon be flooded with commercials, social media posts and  Hallmark card images of the perfect mother-daughter relationships, but the reality is that’s not everyone&#821...

It kinda feels like we’ve been living in a pandemic state of mind for decades now, when the reality is it’s only been about three years. The world around us seems to be crumbling both on the inside and the outside and some days it feels like it’s impossible to pull yourself out of that sunken place. All of your wants and desires suddenly feel meaningless and not worth pursuing an...

Going to a job you hate is a dreadful experience most of us are all to familiar with. You wake up every morning miserable, frustrated, and unmotivated. You know you need to make a change — you want to quit without notice, but you’re not financially able to without having another opportunity lined up.  In today’s episode we share our own expereinces of being on jobs we hate and of...

Safe spaces for Black women matter because sometimes we need to be around other Black women who get it. In today’s episode we talk about the importance of Black women having a safe space to gather and chat it up about the unique challenges we face as a culture and how those challenges are often overlooked and unheard. Having a space where we can pour it all out with people who look like us h...

Being independent [in the Black female community] seems to be giving strong Black woman vibes and we think it’s time to have a conversation.  Listen sis, you CAN indeed do all the things. You’ve undoubtedly proven that time and time again, but the gag is you don’t have to. When you try do everything on your own, you may find yourself gradually slipping back in the habits of being...

Creating space for vulnerability is a magical thing,  but that magic can only happen when Black women are brave enough, courageous enough to become one with their bodies.  In today’s episode we talk about why we’re seeing so much discourse around the phrase strong Black woman and how that phrase contributes to how challenging it can be for Black women to not only sit with their feeling...

Checking in with yourself requires “asking all them questions” and truth be told, some of y’all ain’t ready for that. But no worries that’s why we’re here — to help you get ready and stay ready.  Come on in and get comfortable, sis because we got things to say about the importance of Black women checking in with themselves and how asking yourself a few sim...

Nancey B. Price, collage artist, writer and performance story teller joined us in the virtual studio to chat it up with us about all things Strong Black Woman and why  she doesn’t live her life from that space.  In today’s episode, Nancey gets real about why she hates being called strong and how she’s not rocking with the term Queen either.   Trust! You don’t want to miss t...

Black History Month, the  one month some of us love and hate simultaneously — love because we get to shine a light on the greatness that is Black History and hate because it really didn’t have to be this way. In today’s episode we BRIEFLY talk abou WHY it didn’t have to be this way,  how Black history was intentionally and deliberately left out of American history and how w...

Godly love dictataes that we show others what God is like, but is exemplifying such love causing Black women to dehumanize themselves?   Today’s conversation is a toucy one, but definitley one worth having. According to Biblical passage Godly love shows up in how we treat each other, but how does it show up in how we treat ourselves?  Before you go clutching your pearls sis, this is NOT a le...

Loving yourself FIRST opens the door for you to unlearn the things people have told you about who you are.  Happy Valentine’s Day, sis!  In today’s episode, we’re talking about all things LOVE — self love that is. If you’ve ever strugggled with loving ALL of you, you absolutley MUST tune in to this episode. Today we’re sharing our experiences of how challenging...

Cultivating healthy girlfriendships is about creating a culture of trust — a culture where honesty is appreciated and reciprocated. Today’s episode is an early celebration of Galentines Day, so in honor of the same we thought it would be fun to write a love letter of sorts to each other and we’re sharing those letters with you.  So go ahead and tap in, sis so you can hear us love on ea...

Wins, challenges, and revelations oh my! It’s the last day of the first month of the year and things have happened that need to be talked about. … and we’re talking about all of them — well not all of them, but it’s still a pretty dope conversation. In this episode we share how we’re  GROWING into our “ my strong is” declarations since we declared th...