Soul Salon with Ayandastood

in this episode, I speak from the heart on my own struggles with finding and accepting my voice. I discuss the dual need to both be visible/seen and invisible/hidden. I am following the echo and calling of Audre Lorde's essay "On the transformation of silence into language and action" in which she asks, "what are the words you do not yet have? what do you need to say?". I weave in some of the voic...

Join me for a fun and energetic convo with journalist, storyteller, and podcast host  Zanele Mji as we discuss connected conflict, friendship, relationships, and growth. Zanale is a South African award-winning investigative journalist based in Joburg whose work marries narrative non-fiction, hard news, and analysis. She is the host of the Golden City Podcast which you can find on Spotify and on Ap...

Today I am delighted to be in conversation with Rafia Zakaria, an American Muslim author, attorney, and political philosopher, to discuss her powerful book, Against White Feminism: Notes on Disruption. In this book, Rafia challenges white feminism’s global, long-standing affinity with colonial, patriarchal, and white supremacist ideals.  Covering such ground as the legacy of the British feminist i...

I am so thrilled and honored to be in conversation with Ruha Benjamin, a Professor of African American studies at Princeton University, founding director of the Ida B. Wells JUST Data Lab and author of three books, Viral Justice (2022), Race After Technology (2019), and People’s Science (2013), and editor of Captivating Technology (2019). Today, we discuss her incredible latest book, Viral Justice...

In this episode, I am joined by Kalpana Mohanty, writer, Ph. D. Candidate and Trudeau Scholar at Harvard University. She works on disability, colonialism, and gender in South Asia. Kalpana grew up in Portugal, Canada and India. Her proposed PhD topic focuses on the history of disability in India, particularly during high colonialism.  Inspired by her own lived experience as someone with chronic il...

Welcome to another episode of Reimagining with Ayandastood. I am so thrilled to introduce our guest for today: an incredible human being, creator, singer, songwriter and activist– Black, Trans, Queer, Nigerian, UK-based creator Asherah, aka @therealasherah. Asherah is passionate about liberation for all the oppressed and uses her content to educate her audience on feminism, LGBTQ+ rights, desirabi...

We continue our grand tour of the Ugliness of Beauty. This will be an ongoing series. Don't forget to listen to Part 1 first! In this episode we dive deeper into the paradoxes and ironies underlying Beauty and the role Beauty plays in upholding and normalizing systems of oppression. Once again, I invite you to interrogate Beauty as a normalized social heirarchy, and move towards reimagining what B...

The response to eurocentric Beauty standards has been to diversify and include more people of marginalized identities. But this vital response alone is not enough. Our society regards Beauty as something inherently aspirational, noble, and good.  Is it?  Full transcripts to all episodes are available here. Even as more people are included, the terms and conditions of inclusion are exclusive and ro...

Hello Sunshine! Welcome to another episode of Reimagining with Ayandastood. Today, we are joined by the one and only Mia Mingus.  In this episode, we explore Beauty, Desirability, Ugliness and Magnificence. Full transcripts to all episodes are available here. Mia Mingus is a writer, educator and trainer for transformative justice and disability justice. She is a queer, physically disabled, Korean-...

Hello sunshines! Welcome to the first episode of Reimagining with @ayandastood– a podcast where we reframe, rethink, and reimagine everything standing in the way of love and liberation. I am so excited to be on this journey with you! Don’t forget to tune in, share it with a friend if you like it, and don’t miss out on my next episode– The Ugliness of Beauty.  Full transcripts to all episodes are a...