The Longest Shortest Time

EPISODE #258: The Pressure to Be the Perfect Black Father

After a panic attack nearly made him lose control on the highway, Mark Anthony Neal continued to bottle up his anxiety and pretend everything was fine. Years later, when he secretly started therapy, he unpacked how the pressures of Black masculinity led him to a mental health crisis.

EPISODE #257: Jamilah Lemieux on Black Single Motherhood

Jamilah Lemieux’s greatest fear was becoming a single mom. When she found herself pregnant without a partner, she panicked and tried to convince her daughter’s father to get back together with her. But over time, she’s come to embrace single motherhood — and the unexpected joys of co-parenting. 

EPISODE #255: Preventing Teens from Joining the Manosphere

Most consent education focuses on survivors, and rightly so. But that leaves perpetrators without resources to repair harm. Drew Davis, a die-hard feminist, aims to fix that with a new online tool.

EPISODE #252: Embracing Your Abortion Story

Renee Bracey Sherman and Regina Mahone proudly share their abortion stories, which led one of them to realize she wanted to be a mom and confirmed for the other that she didn’t. Plus: the problematic ways we talk about “readiness” for parenthood… and sex after abortion.

EPISODE #251: Managing Your Perimenopausal Rage

Feeling enraged lately? Dr. Kameelah Phillips gives us the facts about perimenopausal mood swings — and gets personal about her own. (Red lipstick while listening is not mandatory, but highly encouraged!)

EPISODE #250: When Rumors Spread Like Wildfire About the Fire Commissioner

Laura Kavanagh knew she would encounter challenges as the first female fire commissioner of the FDNY. But she didn’t anticipate the false rumors that she slept her way to the top — or the nastier rumors about her supposed pregnancy. Now, for the first time, she shares what was actually going on in her reproductive life when she ran the fire department.

EPISODE #288: Xyla vs. the FAA

Xyla Foxlin started flying as a teenager. By her twenties, she was piloting her own plane and building another from scratch. But when a private health crisis went public, she wound up in a battle with the FAA that could ground her for good.

EPISODE #226: The Insidious Power of Men Over Motherhood

Ali Yarrow thought her childbirth experience would be hers to guide. Instead, she found it was guided by the American obstetrics system — a model that was designed by men.