Mixed Up

The one where we have to trust we know our bodies best Proudly supporting Coppafeel and Black Women Rising and their campaign ‘The Checklist’ which focuses on raising awareness around Black women and breast cancer - an underserved demographic within medicine when it comes to cancer. Emma and Nicole speak to Nina Lopes, a menswear designer, dancer, and mother behind the account @frodayss. Just befo...

The one where you've never met another Asian Jew before Emma speaks to Maryam Chishti and Jenni Rudolph who are the co-executive directors of LUNAR Collective, which originally began as a film series highlighting the lived experiences Jewish Asians, but has now evolved into a cross-country collective to cultivate connection, belonging and visibility for Asian American Jews through intersectional c...

The one where we talk about who the Good Mixed Person™ is Emma and Nicole reflect on the last three seasons of the podcast: why we started it, how we've grown, if the discourse around mixed race identity has changed (if at all), finding the language to talk about ourselves, who the Good Mixed Person™ is, and cultivating a space where people feel like they can be open as their whole selves.  Preord...

The one where you’ve never seen an Asian that looks like him Ryan Alexander Holmes is an actor, content creator, influencer and public speaker based in Los Angeles, California. He has appeared in TV shows including The Morning Show, Dear White People and For The People. He was recently awarded the Changemaker of the Year award by Act To Change in 2023 to highlight the impact of his work in the AAP...

The one where the labour movement hits Hollywood Kale Futterman is a TV and screenwriter who has worked on hit shows including Netflix’s Ginny and Georgia, and films including Lifetime’s Black Girl Missing starring Garcelle Beauvais. Kale joins Nicole solo this week to speak about the Writer’s Guild of America strike. Writers are fighting for fairer residuals from streaming platforms, and the conf...

The one where they chant “oyinbo” when you score Emma and Nicole talk to women’s World Cup star Ashleigh Plumptre about her experience playing in the 2023 women’s World Cup and her decision to play for Nigeria’s Super Falcons. She took her opportunity to experience the Nigerian side of her culture and heritage while coming face to face with the girls she grew up with playing with back in the UK in...

Emma and Nicole speak to Afua Hirsch, award-winning journalist and media stalwart on the fight for collective liberation,  why the struggle is an undeniable part of us and how we need to lean into it to find home. Afua discusses the diasporic phenomenon of feeling the link to your culture is precarious, finding your mission, liberating us from our ideas of imperfection because we are mixed, and th...

Emma and Nicole speak to bestselling author, TV presenter, agony aunt, and style guru Candice Brathwaite. She is considered one of our modern day icons and has recently released her first YA fiction book, Cuts Both Ways. Candice gets honest about growth in marriage, beauty standards, financial stability equating to freedom, and identity beyond parenthood. We discuss her new book, Cuts Both Ways, a...

Emma and Nicole speak to bestselling author, TV presenter, agony aunt, and style guru Candice Brathwaite. She is considered one of our modern day icons and has recently released her first YA fiction book, Cuts Both Ways. Candice spills the tea on the aftermath of being bullied publicly online, being relegated to the sidelines of conversations she began, gives advice on boundary setting and protect...

The one where we see how the racism against mixed race people is part of our history In honour of Black History Month, Emma and Nicole speak to Rosemary Adaser, the founder and former CEO of the Association of Mixed-Race Irish. Rosemary was a member of the Collaborative Forum on Mother and Baby Homes, and campaigned to ensure the commission examined the experiences of children who had Irish mother...

The one where everything is intersectional Emma and Nicole speak to Tori Tsui, a Bristol-based climate activist, speaker and consultant from Hong Kong. She is the co-founder of the space Bad Activist Collective and a member of the climate coalition Unite For Climate Action. She sailed across the Atlantic with the thinktank Sail to the COP 25 and  work is centered around climate justice and making...

The one where we are Black flamingos  Nicole is solo this week speaking to Dean Atta, an author, writer and poet from London who is of Greek Cypriot and Caribbean heritage.  His award-winning YA book, The Black Flamingo, is a moving coming of age story published in 2019 with inspiration drawn from Dean’s life and experiences coming of age as a mixed-race teenage boy. His latest YA book is called O...

The one where we are both not half  Emma and Nicole speak to British-Punjabi actor, writer and filmmaker, Jassa Ahluwalia. He created the hashtag and online movement, #BothNotHalf, which he uses to explore mixed identity and his own British-Indian heritage, and is currently developing into a book.  We spoke about the casting process and how that has changed for mixed actors and specific roles for...

The one where we have to trust we know our bodies best Emma and Nicole speak to Nina Lopes, a menswear designer, dancer, and mother behind the account @frodayss. Just before she turned 37, she was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer - an aggressive type of cancer which spreads quickly. She is currently at stage four. We spoke to Nina about her mixed heritage, being ignored by medical prof...

The one where we push back against our bodies not being our own Emma and Nicole speak to content creator, speaker and author Natalie Lee for Mixed Up Book Club on her new book, Feeling Myself: How I Shed My Shame to Find Sexual Freedom and You Can Too. Natalie walks us through her early journey from fashion and blogging about motherhood, her adult ADHD diagnosis, divorce and uncovering sexual free...

The one where it's borne upon you to take yourself home Emma and Nicole speak to Rebecca Achieng Ajulu-Bushel, a British-Kenyan swimmer turned filmmaker. Rebecca was the first black woman to swim for Team GB, but she retired from the sport and moved into documentary filmmaking. Her documentary, Breakfast In Kisumu follows an interview with her father, Rok Ajulu, a leading Kenyan academic and revol...

The one where trans is always punk Emma and Nicole speak with Travis Alabanza - fashion icon, award-winning performance artist, and author of None of the Above: Life Beyond the Binary. Travis is one of the most prominent voices in the LGBTQIA+ space in the UK and their work has garnered international recognition over the years. They spoke about the freedom in being trans, the state’s consistent co...

The one where it wasn't #everyonesgame but we speak to a man who's on a mission to make it so. Emma and Nicole chat with former professional footballer Anton Ferdinand on racism in footbal‪l, THAT John Terry Incident, activism and advocacy in the sport, growing up in Peckham and losing his mum to cancer. He also talks about how opening up about mental health - especially for men - can be lifesavin...

The one where it’s suddenly safer to inhabit your Black identity than your white one   Emma and Nicole speak to Florence Kollie Raja, founder of Ethical Era and former professional ballerina to talk about her life and experience as refugee having lived through two civil wars and living across the cultural divide of the Russo-Ukraine war of 2022. Preorder our book The Half Of It:  https://amzn.to/3...

The one where we find out if passing really is a choice Emma and Nicole speak to Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga on their new film for Netflix, Passing, an adaptation of Nella Larsen's novel, first published in the late 20s. Set in Harlem the film explores the reunion of two childhood friends, Clare and Irene, who as an adult, Irene finds Clare has been passing as white and living with her white hus...

The one where we talk to a Black British icon born of a Black British icon This Black History Month, Emma and Nicole speak to actress Lenora Crichlow - a Black British icon herself and daughter of Black British icon Frank Crichlow, owner of the Mangrove and one of the Mangrove 9. You may have recently connected with Frank’s story via Steve McQueen Small Axe series.   Lenora spoke about growing up...

The one where we humbly request that parents to talk to their children about race and difference Emma and Nicole continue the discussion with white mums about their worries around fetishisation, whitesplaining to your children and holding yourself accountable, fetishisation, white fragility, privilege and accepting your own racism even as a parent of mixed children. Preorder our book The Half Of I...

The one where we learn that modern day mums have a plan for raising mixed kids Emma and Nicole speak to white mums about raising mixed kids. In part one of this two part conversation, the mothers discuss having a different experience from your children as a white parent, when to bring up race and othering, and having a plan or strategy in raising mixed kids according to their lived experiences. Pr...

CW: Domestic abuse Emma and Nicole speak with Paula Rhone-Adrien, an award-winning family law barrister with over two decades of experience as a domestic violence lawyer. Knowing that COVID has meant restrictions on leaving the home during the pandemic, they felt moved to share this conversation.  Paula Rhone-Adrien is an award-winning family law barrister with over two decades of experience as a...

The one where its ALL just a metaphor for being mixed Emma and Nicole have an incredibly candid conversation Ben Bailey Smith aka Doc Brown. They discuss football as a unifier, class, identity politics, being fetishised as a mixed man, and how the Britain he grew up in bears little resemblance to the one today. Ben is a multitalented creative - a comedian, rapper, actor, writer, presenter, all-aro...