Two Mothers, One Aché: A Grief Dialogue

Content note: This episode holds open conversation about child loss, death anniversaries, and grief. Grief doesn't end when the funeral is over — love asks us to remember, again and again. Dionne and Yvette pull up to the kitchen table to talk rituals: birthday cakes and favorite-food plates, altars and an empty seat set with love, candle lighting, Día de los Muertos, sitting shiva, the novena, an...

Content note: This episode explores grief, child loss, and the death of loved ones. In this re-release, Dionne and Yvette open up about grief and the afterlife — the butterflies, the angel numbers, the dreams and visitations, and the quiet signs that remind us our loved ones are still close. A tender conversation about staying connected and finding your way through. New here? Watch the full episod...

Content note: child loss and grief. What happens to your faith when the prayers don't get answered the way you were promised? Dionne and Yvette welcome Rev. Dr. Liz Rios — pastor, scholar, activist, and Daniel's mother — for an unflinching conversation on grief and religion: being angry with God rather than at Him, the gap between knowing and feeling, and a theology that accompanies pain instead o...

Content note: this episode discusses the loss of children, a fatal hit-and-run, gun violence, and suicide. What happens when grief refuses to stay quiet — and starts demanding a reason? Dionne and Yvette welcome Shamayim "Mama Shu" Harris — educator, activist, and founder of Avalon Village, the urban oasis she built from reclaimed land in Highland Park, Michigan. A CNN Hero finalist and USA Today...

What do you say to someone who is grieving? In this heartfelt and at times laugh-through-the-tears episode, Dionne and Yvette unpack the well-meaning but wounding things people actually said to them — "at least you have other children," "time heals all wounds," "how are you doing with your guilt?" — and why they land so wrong. But this is an episode about empathy, not shame. The sisters in grief s...

What do you do with grief when no one died? Dionne and Yvette name something most of us have lived through but rarely have language for: ambiguous grief — the loss of relationships that didn't end in death, but ended just the same. The ghosted friendship. The decades-long bond that finally snapped. No funeral. No closure. Just a quiet, open wound. Dionne shares the story of the silver bracelet she...

Three bereaved mothers. One aché. Dionne and Yvette welcome Myra Sack, author of 57 Fridays and founder of E-Motion. After losing her daughter Javi to Tay-Sachs disease, Myra turned to movement and ritual as a path through grief. Together they explore how grief lives in the body, the power of the "quiet mile," and the micro-rituals that keep us tethered to life. Plus a guided breath practice you c...

RE-RELEASE Grammy-winning singer, actress, and mom Adrienne Bailon-Houghton joins Dionne and Yvette for a raw, tender conversation about the quiet grief of pregnancy loss and her long road through eight rounds of IVF, a failed implantation, and a heartbreaking miscarriage. With honesty and faith, Adrienne shares the shame, self-blame, anger, and desperation so many women carry in silence — alongsi...

Grace Harry joins Yvette and Dionne for a deeply honest conversation about what it really means to heal. Together, they explore the “advanced math” of holding joy and grief at the same time—while unpacking motherhood, loss, emotional patterns, and the courage it takes to choose joy again. This episode is a reminder that joy isn’t something you earn… it’s something you remember. Come sit with us. T...

Not polished. Not resolved. Just real. In this intimate episode, Yvette and Dionne reconnect across distance and grief, sharing what it means to keep healing while life is still unfolding. Through breathwork, honest reflection, and lived experience, they explore how grief evolves, how joy and pain can coexist, and why listening to your body is part of the journey. This is healing as it happens—in...

This episode was originally released on February 17, 2026. In this listener-led episode of Two Mothers, One Aché, Dionne C. Monsanto and Yvette Davila open with a grounding practice—the humming bee breath (Brahmari)—to calm the busy mind and bring the body back online. From there, they answer real questions from the community with care, privacy, and safe messaging: How do I ask for support without...

This episode was originally released on December 2, 2025. Hip-hop legend Bun B joins Two Mothers, One Aché for a raw and deeply human conversation about brotherhood, loss, and healing. He opens up about the morning he learned of Pimp C’s passing, the identity-shifting grief that followed, and why he chose to grieve publicly in a culture that often equates vulnerability with weakness. Together, Bun...

This week on Two Mothers, One Aché, Yvette and Dionne welcome the legendary Kelvin Mercer, better known as Posdnuos of De La Soul, for a deeply moving conversation about grief, remembrance, and the rituals that keep our loved ones close. With honesty, tenderness, and hard-earned wisdom, Pos reflects on memorializing his mother Hattie Mae, honoring the life and legacy of his brother Dave, and how g...

In Part 2 of this deeply moving conversation, Dionne and Yvette stay at the kitchen table with Adrienne Bailon-Houghton as the story turns toward what carried her through: faith, ritual, acceptance, and the sacred path that led her to surrogacy. Adrienne opens up about the grief she didn’t realize she was still carrying—the quiet sobs in the shower, the heartbreak of another loss during COVID, and...

This week at the kitchen table, Dionne and Yvette welcome Adrienne Bailon-Houghton for an intimate conversation about miscarriage, IVF, and the kind of grief that often goes unseen. With their signature breathwork and gentle disclaimers (no medical advice—just lived experience), they create space for Adrienne to share what her body remembers: the shock of failed cycles, the ache of embryos that di...

This week on Two Mothers, One Ashé, Dionne and Yvette sit with Shamayim “Mama Shu” Harris, founder of Avalon Village, for a conversation that moves far beyond titles and accolades. After grounding together in breath, Mama Shu opens up about the losses that reshaped her life—her mother, Christine, and her sons, Jakobi Ra and Chinyelu. She shares what it meant to survive the kind of grief that feels...

In this listener-led episode of Two Mothers, One Aché, Dionne C. Monsanto and Yvette Davila open with a grounding practice—the humming bee breath (Brahmari)—to calm the busy mind and bring the body back online. From there, they answer real questions from the community with care, privacy, and safe messaging: How do I ask for support without feeling needy? Is it normal to feel guilty for living afte...

In this episode of Two Mothers, One Aché, Dionne and Yvette explore grief, the afterlife, and the signs our loved ones leave behind. They reflect on dreams, symbols, intuition, and spiritual experiences that often follow loss—and why so many of us question or silence them. Through personal stories and ancestral wisdom, they discuss how grief can expand our awareness, how to stay grounded while hon...

This week on Two Mothers, One Aché: A Grielf Dialogue, we hold space for what’s hardest to say. Dionne C. Monsanto and Yvette Love Dávila are joined by Dr. Denisse Centeno-Lamas, whose work in suicide prevention is rooted in culture, faith, and lived experience. This episode moves beyond facts into the body of grief itself—migration, loneliness, burnout, depression, and the silence that keeps peop...

No funeral. No ritual. No “closure.” Just a relationship that ends while everybody’s still alive and a grief we’re rarely taught to name. In this episode of Two Mothers, One Aché, Dionne and Yvette ground the space and dive into ambiguous loss: friendships that fade, people who ghost, and relationships that rupture without an ending. The kind of grief that lingers because there’s no ritual, no per...

Grief doesn’t come with a script… but somehow everybody shows up holding one. Dionne C. Monsanto and Yvette Love Dávila get real about the phrases people say when they mean well but cause real harm—“At least you have other children,” “God has a plan,” “Time heals all wounds,” and even “How are you?” They break down why these lines minimize pain, rush healing, and miss the moment entirely—and what...

Grief doesn’t just break your heart—it can rewire your theology, your body, and your whole relationship with God. In “Grief and Religion,” Dionne C. Monsanto and Yvette Love Dávila are joined by Rev. Dr. Elizabeth “Liz” Rios—Afro-Boricua pastor, scholar, justice leader, and founder of Passion2Plant—for a candid conversation about what faith looks like when the miracle you prayed for doesn’t come....

This episode is an invitation back to the kitchen table, where grief and love tell the truth together. Yvette and Dionne explore how community can feel like refuge and overwhelm at the same time, how grief can make you crave connection while needing to disappear, and how protection can look like sunglasses, silence, or staying upstairs. We talk about who shows up when everything falls apart, who s...

In Part 2 of Grief and Addiction, the conversation deepens—and so does the truth. Yvette shares the moment her grief was fundamentally reshaped: learning that addiction played a direct role in her son Dasan’s death. With compassion and courage, she reflects on the question that changed everything—What would life have looked like if addiction had continued?—and how that reckoning opened a path towa...

In Part 1 of 2 about Grief and Addiction, we open a tender, necessary conversation about the kind of grief that begins long before a goodbye. Dionne and Yvette name the quiet losses that live inside addiction—the loss of safety, trust, time, potential, and the versions of people we hoped might still emerge. Joined by licensed professional counselor and addiction specialist Jill Mackey, the three e...