When Langston Hughes Gives You a Name...It Sticks

Joy Goddess.That’s what Langston Hughes called her. Because A’Lelia Walker didn’t just exist—she illuminated. She knew how to create an experience that put people in their feelings. Sound familiar?She made spaces sacred, turned gatherings into history, and brought the Harlem Renaissance to life.She mastered personal branding before it was ever even a phrase!

And now, her great-granddaughter, the incredible A'Lelia Bundles, is telling her story in Joy Goddess—a book that’s as rich and radiant as the woman herself.Tomorrow, for Women’s History Month, I’m sharig my conversation with my friend A’Lelia Bundles on The Culture Soup Podcast® to talk about legacy, liberation, and the lessons we can learn from one of the most fascinating women in history.🎙 Streams TOMORROW (Thursday) wherever you listen to podcasts. Don’t miss this one.

SHOW NOTES:

The Culture Soup Podcast® – Women’s History Month Episode

🎙 Guest: A’Lelia Bundles, Award-Winning Author & Journalist

📖 Joy Goddess: A’Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance

✨ What if you were so extraordinary—so magnetic, so dazzling—that Langston Hughes himself called you “Joy Goddess”? ✨

A’Lelia Walker wasn’t just the daughter of Madam C.J. Walker. She was the heartbeat of the Harlem Renaissance—a woman who turned salons into sanctuaries for Black brilliance, who made a space where art, activism, and ambition could thrive. She owned her story, commanded her presence, and lived as a beacon of joy and power.

This Women’s History Month, we celebrate her legacy with someone who knows it intimately—her great-granddaughter, award-winning journalist and author A’Lelia Bundles. In her newest book, Joy Goddess, Bundles unearths the layers of A’Lelia Walker’s life—the glamour, the grit, the business, and the burden of being her mother’s daughter.

In this episode, we explore:

✨ The power and influence of A’Lelia Walker during the Harlem Renaissance

✨ The art of legacy—how we shape it, carry it, and redefine it

✨ What it means to lead in your own right, beyond expectations and history

🔥 This is one you don’t want to miss. Streams Thursday, March 20, wherever you listen to podcasts.

Names That Made This Episode Shine

✨ A’Lelia Bundles – Award-winning journalist, historian, and author of Joy Goddess. The great-granddaughter of Madam C.J. Walker and the storyteller who brings this legacy to life.

✨ A’Lelia Walker – The original Joy Goddess, a woman who turned salons into sanctuaries for the brightest minds of the Harlem Renaissance. She was a visionary, a patron, a tastemaker—Black excellence personified.

✨ Madam C.J. Walker – An empire builder, America’s first self-made female millionaire, and a mother whose legacy both empowered and weighed on her daughter’s path.

✨ Langston Hughes – The Harlem Renaissance poet who saw something so radiant in A’Lelia Walker that he named her the Joy Goddess of Harlem’s 1920s.

✨ Jean Toomer – Author of Cane, a defining literary voice of the Harlem Renaissance.

✨ Countee Cullen – A poet whose work captured the spirit and struggles of Black life, often a guest at A’Lelia Walker’s legendary salons.

✨ James Reese Europe – A jazz legend, a conductor of cultural shifts, and a force in Harlem’s music scene.

✨ Addison Scurlock – The brilliant photographer who captured some of the most iconic images of Madam C.J. Walker and A’Lelia Walker.

✨ Scott Joplin – The King of Ragtime, whose music was part of the vibrant culture that influenced A’