Truth Be Told Presents: She Has A Name

In season four, we explore what nourishment means for us outside of diet culture and white notions of what our Black bodies should be. 2022 WEBBY WINNER: BEST ADVICE PODCAST  Twitter: deartruthbetold Instagram: deartbt Email: [email protected]

Bonus Episode: Comedian Kevin Fredericks aka KevOnStage joins Tonya to talk about family, faith, and what liberation truly looks like in the midst of social media fame. 2022 WEBBY WINNER: BEST ADVICE PODCAST  Twitter: deartruthbetold Instagram: deartbt Email: [email protected]

Bonus Episode: This week, we talk to acclaimed journalist and host of the Black Girl Songbook podcast, Danyel Smith about her new book Shine Bright: A Personal History of Black Women in Pop, including the wise words of Rihanna and the lasting power of Donna Summer. 2022 WEBBY WINNER: BEST ADVICE PODCAST  Twitter: deartruthbetold Instagram: deartbt Email: [email protected]

Bonus Episode: This week, we talk to musician Anthony Hamilton about his new tour, Black love, and what he learned from the pandemic. 2022 WEBBY WINNER: BEST ADVICE PODCAST  Twitter: deartruthbetold Instagram: deartbt Email: [email protected]

We’ve heard of burnout and “zoom fatigue,” but what are practices we can take to let ourselves pause and not be made to feel guilty about it? This week we talk to the founder of the Nap Ministry, Tricia Hersey about how to treat our bodies, not as hustle machines, but as living, divine beings that need rest. And what does that even look like? 2022 WEBBY WINNER: BEST ADVICE PODCAST  Twitter: deartruthbetold Instagram: deartbt Email: [email protected]

They say honesty is the best policy, but what does it really take to be radically honest with ourselves for the benefit of our relationships? This week we’re joined by sex educator Ericka Hart and her partner and manager Ebony P. Donnley, as they share how a relationship founded on honesty can be a pathway to our collective liberation. From open relationships to body image, nothing is off the table in this conversation! 2022 WEBBY WINNER: BEST ADVICE PODCAST  Twitter: deartruthbetold Instagram: deartbt Email: [email protected]

What does sexual freedom really look like? This week we interrogate the messages we’ve internalized about sex and we ask ourselves: Can we decolonize our sex lives to aid in the larger quest towards liberation for us all? To help us unpack some of the layers we called on Ev’Yan Whitney – a sexuality doula, author, and sensualist – who helps people better understand their core desires, needs, and how to put into action what they feel. The hosts of the Inner Hoe Uprising podcast also help us explore this topic by providing a few burning questions they’ve been sitting with. Author, essayist, and digital activist Sherronda J. Brown rounds out our convo by bringing deep clarity to the identity of asexuality and pushes back on the idea that the act of sex is what makes us human. 2022 WEBBY WINNER: BEST ADVICE PODCAST  Twitter: deartruthbetold Instagram: deartbt Email: [email protected]

How do we raise Black children who feel free? One way, according to conscious parenting coach Yolanda Williams, is for caregivers to first deal with their own childhood trauma. Williams sat down with Tonya to offer some actionable tips on how to raise “free-thinking Black children” - and stop the tradition of spanking as a form of discipline. We gained so much insight from Yolanda in this episode and you will too. Click here to access Yolanda’s “Be Intentional Checklist.” 2022 WEBBY WINNER: BEST ADVICE PODCAST  Twitter: deartruthbetold Instagram: deartbt Email: [email protected]

In our society, Black parents may breathe a bit easier at night knowing their children are safe and accounted for. But when a tragedy takes that breath away, how do you persevere? What does it take to keep going after a painful loss?  Perseverance is defined as the continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition. This week, Tonya travels to Seattle to speak with Ayanna Brown, a mother who has done just that. In 2010, Ayanna and her family endured the heart-wrenching loss of her son, Alajawan Brown, who was murdered by gun violence in a case of mistaken identity.  In this intimate and thought-provoking conversation, Ayanna takes us through how she converts hate into love, reveals that anger once fueled her, and shares a vulnerable truth –– that she is just now learning who she is. The ways in which Ayanna propels herself forward each day can inspire us all to persevere.   We wrap up this powerful episode with the author of “Grief is Love: Living With Loss,” Marisa Renee Lee. Marisa shares insights on why we need to give ourselves permission to grieve more. 2022 WEBBY WINNER: BEST ADVICE PODCAST  Twitter: deartruthbetold Instagram: deartbt Email: [email protected]

Black men have it hard in America.  And by and large, Black women have felt an obligation to show up, love, and support them. Is it too much to ask that they show up for us? That’s the topic we’re taking on this week with writer and cultural critic Jamilah Lemieux. She recently wrote a piece for Vanity Fair where she coined the term “the Black Ass Lie,” pointing out the harm that comes from the ongoing narrative that straight Black men have it the worst in our society. She believes this lie is to the detriment of Black women, queer and trans people. In this raw and unfiltered conversation, Jamilah unpacks the layers of obligation Black women have to Black men with writer and professor Kiese Laymon. We explore the use of the b-word used to rhetorically destroy Black women — and what holding Black cishet men accountable actually looks like. 2022 WEBBY WINNER: BEST ADVICE PODCAST  Twitter: deartruthbetold Instagram: deartbt Email: [email protected]