UNDISTRACTED With Brittany Packnett Cunningham

Sophia Bush ruled the small screen in TV hits like “One Tree Hill” and “Chicago PD”—but on both those sets, the workplace abuse was real, she tells host Brittany Packnett Cunningham. Together, they unpack what three-plus years of #MeToo has and hasn’t changed for working women, and get into Sophia’s activist work—including how white women can better show up for women of color. Plus, Brittany bring...

Headlines are already calling 2021 “the year of anti-abortion legislation.” State lawmakers have so far introduced more than 500 bills restricting the procedure. Host Brittany Packnett Cunningham speaks to Alexis McGill Johnson, the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood, who says “abortion access is hanging on by a thread.” Plus, Brittany brings you the latest Un trending news. To learn more abo...

People may believe that gun violence went away during the pandemic because mass shootings slowed down—but in reality, gun violence overall hit a two-decade high in 2020, killing 20,000 Americans. On the heels of mass shootings in Atlanta and Boulder, host Brittany Packnett Cunningham speaks to Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action and self-described “worst nightmare of the NRA.” They shed n...

Amber Ruffin is breaking boundaries in late-night television with her witty and insightful takes on race, politics and history. She’s a writer and performer on NBC’s “Late Night with Seth Meyers” and the star of “The Amber Ruffin Show.” In this laugh-packed conversation, host Brittany Packnett Cunningham talks to the comedian about everything from the rise of Black women in late-night to why racis...

U.S. Rep. Cori Bush made history last fall when she became the first Black woman from Missouri to be elected to Congress. Host Brittany Packnett Cunningham—a St. Louis native—talks to her Congresswoman about the long road to Washington, from Rep. Bush’s roots as a Ferguson activist to her no-holds-barred, wholly authentic approach to governing. Plus, Brittany brings you the latest Untrending news....

Lisa Ling, the award-winning CNN host, was sounding the alarm about anti-Asian threats long before the current rise in violence hit most headlines. Here, she unpacks the troubling issue with host Brittany Packnett Cunningham—from why racism against Asian Americans is so often overlooked to what everyday people can do to take action. Plus, Brittany shares her thoughts on Meghan Markle’s mental-heal...

With International Women’s Day coming up, host Brittany Packnett Cunningham talks to Padma Lakshmi, the “Top Chef” host and advocate for immigrants’ and women’s rights. And they go deep on the politics of food, from why home cooking is so often overlooked to what Lakshmi would cook for dinner with new V.P. Kamala Harris. (There’s “nothing more political than the food we eat and the bread we break...

To round out Black History Month, we turn to a woman making history of her own: U.S. Representative Ayanna Pressley, who’s holding Congress’s feet to the fire on issues from student-loan forgiveness to vaccine equity. (She says policy is her love language.) The Congresswoman sits down with host Brittany Packnett Cunningham to talk about her political and her personal journey—in a talk that ranges...

Calls for criminal-justice reform have built over the last year—and this week, with jail uprisings in St. Louis, the focus is on prison abolition. That’s personal for both host Brittany Packnett Cunningham and her guest, organizer Kayla Reed, who break down what’s happening in their mutual hometown, and take on common myths about abolition. It’s a revealing discussion—and required listening for an...

Black Lives Matter was just nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize—so this week, host Brittany Packnett Cunningham sits down with co-founder of the Black Lives Matter organization Opal Tometi. How did the movement go from being seen as radical to more widely accepted? And what’s next in the fight for racial justice? They cover it all—plus, Brittany brings you the latest Un trending news. To learn more...

President Biden signed new protections for LGBTQ people on Day One of his presidency—but new anti-trans legislation is cropping up everywhere, and violence against gender-nonconforming folks, especially Black trans women, remains high. How can we fix this? Host Brittany Packnett Cunningham sits down with activist and writer Raquel Willis to talk about everything from the new administration to the...

The Capitol attacks were shocking...but, to many Black women, who had been sounding the alarm on online hate and disinformation for years, not wholly surprising . Host Brittany Packnett Cunningham tells her own story of being targeted on Facebook—and sits down with media justice expert Brandi Collins-Dexter of Color of Change for a conversation about everything from foreign agents impersonating Bl...

We’ve got a new president. A new, historic  vice  president. And so much work to be done! But in order to truly change the world, says Tricia Hersey, founder of the Nap Ministry, we’re going to have to stop running ourselves ragged. Rest isn’t just a wellness fad, she tells host Brittany Packnett Cunningham—it’s a deep racial justice issue and the only path to freedom. Plus, Brittany talks inaugur...

With Inauguration Day only a week away—and impeachment proceedings raging around us—host Brittany Packnett Cunningham talks to a woman who’s seen it all: Valerie Jarrett, the longtime Obama advisor now consulting for the Biden-Harris transition team. They talk insurrection, justice, what needs to happen in the first 100 days—and what Jarrett herself has learned about being a woman at work. Plus, B...

This was a rollercoaster of a week—but before there was a white nationalist coup, there was a major, momentous Senate victory in Georgia. How did it happen? And how can we do it again, and again? Host Brittany Packnett Cunningham unpacks those questions with writer, producer and activist America Ferrera, who helped rally the Latinx vote with her new organization She Se Puede. They get into everyth...

Reflections on a day of white supremacy run rampant. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Who do you call for perspective on the craziest year in recent memory? Two expert dreamers— New York Times critic Jenna Wortham and curator Kimberly Drew, co-editors of the ambitious new book Black Futures. They talk to host Brittany Packnett Cunningham about why it’s important to write our stories (and not just on social media), and what they expect 2021 to hold. Plus, we hear about the lessons o...

Vaccines are here. We can almost, kind of, sort of see the light at the end of the tunnel. But what world will we be coming out into? That’s what we’re exploring this week—from an intersectional feminist point of view. Host Brittany Packnett Cunningham hears from Dr. Esther Choo, a professor of emergency medicine at Oregon Health & Science University, about our medical futures; Fatima Goss Graves,...

Fresh off her fourth WNBA championship and newly engaged to soccer star Megan Rapinoe, basketball phenom Sue Bird sits down with host Brittany Packnett Cunningham to talk about her own leadership on social justice—and the path it took her to get there. They discuss Breonna Taylor, Black Lives Matter, the Georgia Senate races...plus Brittany brings you the latest Un trending News. Check out the lin...

How do the roles we see influence our own choices in life? That’s a subject Tracee Ellis Ross has thought a LOT about. As the 7th season of “Black-ish” returns to TV—and early-2000s fan favorite “Girlfriends” hits Netflix—host Brittany Packnett Cunningham talks to the actress, producer and activist about her political (and quite personal) evolution, and why she’s on a mission to expand the humanit...

Living legend alert: On this Thanksgiving—or "Friends and Family Day,” as we call it around here—host Brittany Packnett Cunningham talks to much-celebrated poet Nikki Giovanni. And Giovanni brings all her warmth, wit and, yes, poetry, to a discussion about everything from VP-elect Kamala Harris to the global Black Lives Matter movement. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices v...

Yes, we just had an election that promises to make life better for many women. But our guest this week—New York Magazine writer-at-large Rebecca Traister—is “wary of the feel-good narrative.” She tells host Brittany Packnett Cunningham why we all should be, and gets into what the framing of Kamala Harris's win says about our continued fear of full-grown women. Plus, they discuss whether the activi...

With the election of a lifetime just days behind us, host Brittany Packnett Cunningham talks to one of the organizers who made the Biden-Harris victory happen—Black Voters Matter co-founder LaTosha Brown. They get real about everything from the past and present power of Black women to the runoff races coming up in Georgia. Plus, LaTosha sings—and Brittany brings you the latest Un trending News. Ch...

In our election special—recorded the day after election day—host Brittany Packnett Cunningham talks to award-winning journalist Soledad O’Brien about the big question this week: How did this election get so close? They go deep into the underpinnings of media racism, O’Brien tells a few tales from her own career—and we share an all-election edition of Un trending news. You can learn more about the...

We are UNDISTRACTED! In our debut episode, host Brittany Packnett Cunningham gets real with Supermajority co-founder Cecile Richards, who’s been working for over a year to mobilize a historic number of women voters. They get into that, the appointment of Amy Coney Barrett, what Jared Kushner has to do with abortion, and lots more—plus Brittany brings you up-to-date on the latest Un trending News....