The Hats Podcast

The wedding is over and it's time to take a break from it all - the planners, the family, the wedding party, the OPINONS!! Your honeymoon is designed to be a moment in time to help you and your new spouse transition from your single days into married life. A little break before reality sets in! Melissa and Kerri have very different honeymoon stories. Listen in to hear how they honeymooned, and get...

As they say, perception is reality. Your perspective in life, how you see the world, is based on how you choose to perceive things around you. Do you view things through the lense of a victim? Do you assume that people around you are there to support you? Do you see the glass as half-empty or half-full? Does your perspective differ based on the environment in which you find yourself? Listen to Ker...

Wedding bells are ringing! Actually, neither Kerri nor Melissa got married in churches where said bells would likely ring. They have very different wedding stories, but they have each yielded marriages the co-hosts feel blessed to be in. Listen to their wedding stories and get tips you can use when planning your wedding, being in someone else ceremony or sending off your child in matrimony. Connec...

It's been decided - you can't imagine life without this person and you want to get married. Yay! It's an exciting time. But, how do you get from that thought to the ring on the finger? Kerri and Melissa's husbands, Sanford and Khalel, joined them for The Engagement Hat. Listen in to how these guys proposed and get some tips to figure out if you (and your partner!) are ready to pop the BIG QUESTION...

The new component to this season - Kerri and Melissa will welcome their husbands for evey guest episode! It's a big twist, and maybe a little bit of a gamble. But, we are excited to share more from the guests whose episodes have gotten the most listener downloads than anyone else. In the Supportive Partner Hat, Kerri and Melissa (who will still bring you "just them" episodes every other week) talk...

Hello Hatters! We are so happy to finally be back with you again! This has been our longest hiatus ever - thank you for continuing to listen while we prepared to bring you a season like no other. No, we are not going all Gossip Girl as the title would suggest. Instead, we are bringing you what we have to say on the topics, as well as that of our most populat guests - OUR HUSBANDS!! When we bring o...

A lot of planning and thought go into publishing The Hats Podcast. We have a LOT of ideas. Some of the episodes from Season 7 have been brewing for years, others a few months. But, they are all topics co-hosts Kerri and Melissa have been passionate about bringing to the listeners. What a rich season it has been! Here's a recap you can listen to and see if your highlights are the same as ours! Conn...

What most of us know about incarceration comes from television shows and movies. As we all know, things are not always as Hollywood would have them seem. Prison rights activist Yolanda Williams gives us an up close and personal look at life behind bars - how a preacher's kid could end up there and redemption that can be found in the act of wrongdoing. Yolanda's story is fascinating and inspiring. ...

It's a presidential election year. So, it is only right that we hear from a politician, right? The Hats Podcast is excited to welcome Pasadena School Board Member Patrice Marshall McKenzie to the show to discuss the transition from supporting elected officials to becoming one. Patrice shares with us how politics can be conciliatory and practical, and serve the best interests of all constituents. H...

The Brady Bunch. The most iconic American blended family. With a few bumps in the road smoothed over by a loving mom and dad, they made combing two families into one all look so easy. But, navigating stepparenting, disciplinary styles, new spouses, new siblings and many other issues that arise in the course and scope of creating a new family where one previously existed can be extremely challengin...

If you are going to wear many hats in life, you will have to hold yourself accountable to yourself and others. Accountability to yourself allows you to set boundaries that prevent you from becoming overwhelmed. Accountability to others opens the door to trust and relationship building. Listen to this episode which answers the following questions about accountability: What does it mean to be accoun...

What is the little thing that makes you speak a little softer, kinder, or more gently? How does that little thing interact with the impulse to drive hard to get results and advocate forcefully? Some say that we are describing the competing energy forces inside of all of us - feminine versus masculine energy. This was not a topic co-hosts Melissa and Kerri knew much about. So, unbeknownst to them,...

Are you driven to always be number one? Do you jump through hoops to be the best of the best? If you answer either of these questios yes, you may have a strong competitive spirit. But, does being competitive mean always going against others? Does it also mean detracting from the success of others who inevitably beat you sometimes? Find out the answers to these questions and consider whether your c...

People of color have mixed experiences with law enforcement. Rarely do we get an insider's perspective behind the badge. And, even less frequently do we hear the voices of women officers. The Hats Podcast wanted to have this conversation, and former Secret Service Agent Holli Draines agreed to have it with us! Holli's story of life in law enforcement is inspiring, and a wonderful reminder of those...

If you are listening to this episode, then you may not be in the middle of a digital detox because you have to find us digitally! But, we hope that what you get out of this episode is that a digital detox, while necessary from time to time, can take many different forms. You can go cold turkey and sequester away in a cabin in the woods with no electricity, keep everything the same but reduce socia...

Pioneering podcaster Dr. Joy Harden Bradford of the wildly successful podcast Therapy For Black Girls joins The Hats Podcast to talk about how women can heal through sister relationships. There is nothing quite like that moment when passing another woman and receiving the smile and nod that say "Sis, I see you!" And, those laughs and tears shared over brunch? Whole television series have been root...

Hope is the fuel that keeps us charging forward during the most difficult circumstances. When we consider the state of world - or, even our own lived experiences - living in a state of hope can feel naive. This episode of The Hats Podcast helps you see why hope is not naive, but necessary. And, co-hosts Kerri and Melissa give tips to move through the inevitable bouts of hopelessness you will encou...

Any time we discuss death, the subject is emotional. This time it's emotional and controversial. The law in California changed some years ago to make the state one of the 11 that allow doctors to give people a lethal dose of medicine to end their lives. There are rules and circumstances that must be followed and exist, respectively. Returning to the show for a third time, guest therapist Thomas Pi...

"Girl, did you know that ...." Anytime a conversation starts this way, there is a good chance you are gossiping. But, what exactly is gossip, what are its consequences, and are there moments when gossip is a good thing? These are the issues Kerri and Melissa explore in this episode, while sharing personal stories about how gossip has impacted their lives. Connect with us:   Facebook   Twitter   In...

Foreplay is not what you think it is. Well, it probably includes things that automatically come to mind. But, it can (and, arguably should) be so much more than something that leads to sex. If you've never thought of vacuuming as a form of foreplay, this episosde is a must-listen for you! Sex therapist and radio show show Dr. Jeshana Avent-Johnson schools us on many of the ways foreplay extends be...

Happy 50th Anniversary hip hop!! Tracing the roots, trunk and branches of hip hop music in one podcast episode is an impossible task. Festivals, documentaries, movies, articles and so much other media has been produced this year alone to celebrate this iconic, unapologetically Black art form. Co-hosts Kerri and Melissa could not think of a better way to usher in the next 50 years of hip hop than t...

In the past 159 episodes, co-hosts Kerri and Melissa may have led you to believe that they are living the dream of perfectly balanced lives. Not so much! In this episode, the co-hosts explore the idea of whether true "balance" is possible; and, if it is how do we get there; and, if it isn't, how do we reconcile with not showing up 100% in every area all the time. Their discussion is enriched by th...

Drugs. Gambling. Food. Pleasure. Thinness. We can become addicted to anything. In this episode, guest therapist Gali Barak gives us an inside view into her own struggle and recovery from addiction, insights on how to help loved ones seized by addiction and help understanding and responding to the humanity behind addiction. Co-host Kerri, a self-proclaimed sweet treats addict (she explains this in...

Apologizing has become an art form everyone needs to master. It used to be that apologies were about preschoolers hitting each other on the yard, a spouse betraying a spouse, a boss being overly critical. Now, an apology can be the difference between international humiliation, death threats and losing you entire livelihood. Cancel culture is real. In this episode co-hosts Kerri and Melissa talk ab...

Having been personally touched by suicide death, co-hosts Kerri and Melissa have been wanting to talk about suicide for quite some time. The word suicide gives rise to so many emotions - fear, shame, guilt, remorse, frustration and more. Listen to two bold and beautiful Black women discuss their lifelong and ongoing struggles with mental illness and suicidal thoughts. Together, T-Kea Blackman and...