Brown Ambition

This week on Brown Ambition, Mandi sits down with Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist, author, and MSNBC contributor Trymaine Lee to discuss his powerful new book, A Thousand Ways to Die: The True Cost of Violence on Black Life in America.

From reporting on Trayvon Martin and Ferguson to confronting his own family’s legacy of gun violence, Trymaine opens up about what happens when decades of unprocessed trauma take a phys...

Hey BA Fam! It’s been a minute, but Mandi, Yanely, and Chris are back at the table with a rich, reflective conversation on life, culture, and community. This week’s episode dives into how our identities, skills, and values shape the way we move through an ever-changing world.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

In this week’s episode, we’re joined by the radiant and multi-talented Edwina Findley, actress, author, and faith-driven creative, for a deeply inspiring conversation about walking in purpose, trusting divine timing, and showing up for the vision on your life.

From her early beginnings in Washington, D.C. t...

In this week’s episode, Mandi sits down with Lisa Cunningham, a powerhouse creative and the Head of Marketing at the Black Women’s Health Imperative, to unpack her incredible journey from directing music videos to becoming a champion for health equity.

Lisa shares how personal loss and self-discovery shaped her purpose, leading her to use storytelling as a tool for change—especially in women’s health. Throug...

The U.S. housing market feels impossible to navigate — high prices, rising taxes, low inventory, and mortgage rates that just won’t budge. This week on Brown Ambition, Mandi sits down with Daryl Fairweather, Chief Economist at Redfin, to cut through the noise and explain what’s really going on.

From the “lock-in effect” keeping homeowners stuck, to why renting may actually be more affordable than ...

What does it look like to redefine family and build a support system rooted in friendship? In this episode of Brown Ambition, host Mandi Woodruff-Santos sits down with NPR’s Ayesha Rascoe and her best friend Jasmin Melvin Hudson to talk about their bold decision to buy a home together and raise their five children under one roof.

From meeting as young journalists to becoming inseparable best friends, Ayesha and Jasmin sh...

This week on Brown Ambition, Mandi sits down with Cheryl McKissick Daniel — President and CEO of McKissick & McKissick, the oldest Black- and women-owned design and construction firm in the U.S. With five generations of legacy behind her, Cheryl has literally changed skylines while paving the way for women and people of color in an industry that wasn’t built for us.

In this inspiring conversation, Cheryl shares...

Welcome back for a special episode 10 years in the making. Today, Mandi unpacks the real cost of speaking out in a climate where your voice can cost you your job, especially if you’re a Black woman.

She celebrates 10 years of Brown Ambition (yes, 800+ episodes!), but the focus quickly shifts to the headlines: journalists, teachers, and professionals are losing their livelihoods for what they say online, with Karen Attiah (Was...

This week on Brown Ambition, Mandi welcomes back powerhouse guest Jannese Torres entrepreneur, author of Financially Lit, host of the award-winning Yo Quiero Dinero podcast, and now, a new mom.

Together, Mandi and Jannese sit at the “Brown Table” to get real about:

• How motherhood reshapes entrepreneurship, boundaries, and time management

• Breaking free from people-pleasing and stepping fully into self-advoca...

This week on Brown Ambition, Mandi sits down with powerhouse lawyer, author, and TV host Eboni K. Williams for an inspiring and transparent conversation about life, career, and motherhood.

Eboni opens up about her journey to becoming a solo mom by choice, navigating a 45-hour labor, and the support system that helped her through postpartum. She also shares hard truths about the maternal health crisis for Black women, the realities ...

This week’s listener, “Beth,” is stuck between tax debt and credit card debt—plus the anxiety that comes when you’re a little bit of a rebel, chasing that nonprofit art life immigrant parents never signed off on. (We see you, Beth!) Mandi shares lessons from her own contractor journey, breaks down why the IRS is no joke, and gets honest about how hard it is to face down those phone calls and official f...

On this week’s episode of Brown Ambition, Mandi dives into the latest jobs report and how the government issued ANOTHER correction that shows we actually added 911,000 FEWER jobs than they calculated last year. That's half as many jobs as they reported. WTF?

She also digs into what the data really says about the state of the economy, especially for Black women. With over 300,000 Black women pushed out of the workf...

BA Fam, we’ve got a special one for you today! 🎉 Tiffany is back in the studio and she didn’t come alone — she brought along her powerhouse financial advisor Anjali Jariwala.

If you’ve ever wondered what it really looks like to build wealth after financial setbacks, this convo is for you. Tiffany opens up about her journey from foreclosure to financial freedom, and how she learned to let go of control and f...

This week on Brown Ambition, Mandi sits down with the brilliant Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman award-winning researcher, speaker, and author of The Double Tax: How Women of Color Are Overcharged and Underpaid.

Anna breaks down the reality of the “double tax”  that compounded cost of racism + sexism that women of color know all too well. From hair discrimination to pay inequity, resume “whitening” to brok...

BA Fam, today’s Wash Day Woosah is a treat. We’ve got our girl Giovanna “Gigi” Gonzalez aka The First Gen Mentor,  author of Cultura & Cash, and three-time BA guest back on the mic. But this time, she’s not joining us from Chicago… she’s calling in from Spain!

In this episode, Gigi shares the money moves and life decisions that made it possible for her and her husband to pack up a...

This week, we’re doing something different, BA Fam! Mandi takes us on a trip down memory lane, looking back at her five favorite moments from the summer of 2025. From thought-provoking conversations to laugh-out-loud guest appearances, these episodes stood out not just while recording, but even more when listening back with fresh ears.

What You’ll Hear in This Episode:

-Why replaying past episodes feels so different fro...

It's the podcast crossover you probably never saw coming, BA Fam. For today's Washday Woosah show, I sit down with Victoria L. Johnson, founder of the Sailor Moon Fan Club podcast. In each episode of the Sailor Moon Fan Club, Victoria L. Johnson interviews incredible fans of the '90s anime including bestselling authors, comic book and manga creators, influencers, musicians --baddies like Saweetie, WWE Superstar Sasha Bank...

BA Fam, this week’s BA QA Mandi is joined by her girl, Yanely Espinal aka Miss Be Helpful and author of Mind Your Money — to answer a listener question that so many of us can relate to: How do you financially support aging parents when there’s little to no retirement savings in place?

Yanely shares the systems she and her eight siblings built to cover their parents’ expenses, including:

• Setting up a joi...

Hey BA Fam! Mandi, Yanely, and Chris are back at the Brown table with real talk about life, business, and the news that’s shaping our money and our sanity.

This week, Mandi kicks things off with a story about her busted laptop, a wild Apple Store experience, and how she stumbled onto a secret financing program for small business owners. From cracked screens to unexpected leases, we’re breaking down the ways solopreneurs...