What Do You Mean By That?

When you think about liberation, what comes to mind: Intentional action? Physical protests? Thoughtful contemplation? One thing we didn't really think about was minimalism as a form of liberation. We didn't see the connection then between liberation and simplifying until after we spoke with our guest, and read her book. Now we believe: less can be liberation. Today we interview Christine Platt, wh...

After what seemed like five years rolled into one in 2020, it's hard to believe that we are now approximately halfway through 2021. We hope that our earlier summer episodes have given you all some ways to practically and intentionally think differently about small, yet impactful, decisions that we make as part of our everyday lives. But as we think of summer, we also think about the Summer Olympic...

As we're still in our summer of action, we had a conversation lately behind the scenes to ask ourselves: are these episodes actionable enough? And we really believe that to make all of this work sustainable, sometimes it has to be in the little things. It has to be in which link you send to your friend about a book you're recommending - Amazon or Bookshop? - and it has to be in looking deep within...

We're continuing our summer of action and diving deeper. And as we're releasing this episode, we're also in the midst of a summer that's been filled with more friends and family and conversation and ability to BE TOGETHER in a way that we haven't been able to be since March of 2020. #vaccines It makes us think of friendship, community, and how much we learn from each other - not only through our s...

If you've been listening to our episodes in order, you know we've been focused on the role of community, as well as small business in community - and how we can show up for one another when we support the amazing people who run these. Today we have Bunnie Hilliard, the owner of an Atlanta-based bookstore called Brave+Kind, on the podcast.  She talks about her move from corporate America to opening...

Let's face it: we are an app-based, "easy button" based, instant gratification kind of society. One click of a button and we get something brought to our house: food, alcohol, flowers - basically anything you can ask for. If it's not instant, you can get it for free shipping and in two days if you're an Amazon Prime member. But, as we've often asked on this podcast, what is the true cost of your p...

Every once in a while, we both read a book that makes us immediately text the other to say: have you read this?  Isn't it amazing?  That's what happened when we read A Radical Awakening . We were blown away by the revolutionary way of thinking and being that is suggested for women in this book, and were so deeply grateful to find that Dr. Shefali's energy and authenticity match her reputation. The...

Mamas, here's a real question for you: How Whyte are your spaces? We write that word that way because the censors seem to be limiting our ability to write it as w-h-i-t-e without being hurt by the algorithms. But really, when we talk about a summer of action, we mean starting within your very own spheres of influence.  And as moms, we have a lot of influence.  So let's start by looking at our own...

If you've been listening to our podcast for a while, you know that we lean into heart-led action to create change - and today we get to interview an expert on where that heart-led action comes from. Terri Givens is a woman of many talents, but one of them is author, and we're talking to her about her book Radical Empathy , which provides a framework as to how we reach radical empathy for ourselves...

We're here, just over one year after the murder of George Floyd, with a question: now that we've spent a year in discussions centered on being more open about racism, systemic racism, and how we can be more anti-racist, what have we actually done about it?  How do we feel?  Where do we go from here, and more importantly - where should we collectively be moving as a country? Today's episode is a co...

This episode is personal, as we're both Japanese women. We've been called exotic. We've had White men visibly change their reactions to us when they find out we're Japanese. We've then had to hear about their "other Asian girlfriends". For the record?  That's disgusting. But we need to talk.  We need to talk about what we've personally experienced, what our Asian female friends have experienced, a...

When's the last time you had a conversation with someone of Asian descent? Not just a transactional conversation, or a "hi how are you" mumbled in passing, but one where you saw them as a product of their history and experiences and asked them something perhaps more sensitive and interesting than "where are YOU from?" Something about their goals, their passions, and how their identities may have p...

Continuing with this focus on our Asian stories during Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month this May, we want to dismantle one of the most harmful stereotypes of Asian Americans:  that of the "model minority."  But what is it, exactly? It's many things - we've got tons of examples.  But fundamentally, it's the thing that has us believe that all Asians are subservient, meek, and inher...

In your elementary, middle, and high school years - what did you learn about Asian American history?  Can you name even one specific thing that you learned about the role of Asians in American history?  If you can't name many, you aren't alone - these weren't generally taught in schools when we were growing up.  And given how things are slow to change, there's a high chance your children aren't le...

We're kicking off a five-episode series that takes a deeper look into what it means to be Asian/Asian-American in this country - looking at the history behind anti-Asian discrimination, but also really talking about what being Asian means for us, and for our guests. Today we talk about all of that, and more, with Sara's dear old friend Alan Mak, who is the co-founder and CEO of Version Tomorrow as...

If you're listening to this episode while scrolling through your phone, we want you to stop and pay attention.  This episode, after all, will be all about attention - how we use it, where we spend it, and why some people are so good at pulling attention towards them, good OR bad. We want to thank Charlie Warzel at the NY Times for bringing this week's guest, Michael Goldhaber, to our attention.  A...

The filibuster is a political tool that we've been hearing more about in the media - but what is it really, and what role does it play in not only stalling political agendas but importantly, in keeping Black and Brown people suppressed? If we're going to see it stay - or possibly go away - we need to know more. We're talking about this today on why we should all care about the filibuster. Have que...

While "socialism" has often been the catchphrase used to instantly dismiss any talk of building social safety nets, people in a society do need some fundamental assurances of safety in order to function - and function well.  Particularly if you're a woman, love a woman, or are a person of childbearing age, one specific angle of social safety nets is going to be considered before the Supreme Court....

2020 was a record-setting year for voting.  As Politico noted, the United States saw the largest raw turnout ever, with 81 million voters backing Biden over Trump, whose 74 million votes are the second-most in U.S. history.   But as many news sources noted recently, states nationwide are about to make it harder to vote.  Acting partly in response to widespread false allegations of fraud in the 202...

We are two Asian American women sitting here, shaken, devastated, and ANGRY about the senseless loss of life in Atlanta.  Yet at the same time that we heard that eight people, including six Asian women, had been murdered in their place of business by a sole white male shooter - we were waiting for the excuses. For the lone shooter story. And for the lack of white accountability. And we weren't dis...

Love and Logic is a parenting philosophy that's taken the parenting world by storm, showing adults how to discipline their children without losing their love and respect.  Yet in the "real world," we continue to use a punitive (carceral) system to discipline juveniles and adults alike - a system that disproportionately impacts people of color.  Given our recent conversations on intersectionality a...

It's time we talk about the power that women have - and to be clear, we mean anybody who identifies as a woman. We need to talk about the state of womanhood today, the power we don't even realize we have, and the division and self-hate we need to step away from so we can embrace our whole selves and each other. Why? Because we can MAKE CHANGE TOGETHER.  Let's lean into intersectionality, look for...

Learning about the Black Panther Party and its grassroots community programs informs not only our understanding of history but how the modern-day Black Lives Matter movement has been treated.  The Black Panther Party put many of its community programs in place in a remarkably short time, which also caused the FBI to sit up and take notice.  But the key point we keep coming back to is that these pr...

If you ask many current activists fighting anti-Black racism and inequity today, they'll tell you that the influence of the Black Panthers is immeasurable. But as TIME magazine pointed out in February of 2021, for the past half-century, depictions of the Black Panther Party in mainstream media have largely glossed over their ideas or their community activism. "They've been reduced to leather peaco...

Have you heard the term fake news?  It's been around for a while, but it was popularized by Trump who continues to dismiss all checks to his Big Lie and tries to continue muddying the waters around truth, facts, and reality.  We bring you a conversation with Professor Emily Bell of Columbia University School of Journalism.  In it, you'll get the tools to fight for reality, for facts, for science,...