The UNKAGED™ Woman Podcast with Brig Johnson, APN, MSNA. Where high-achieving Black & Brown women reclaim themselves.

In this episode, Brig Johnson talks about the pressure to follow the “right” timeline and what happens when your life does not match the road you were told you should take.

She speaks to the quiet grief that can come with missed milestones, delayed dreams, career pivots, motherhood, rebuilding, or starting later than expected. Brig also challenges the shame that says a different path means you are behind.

Through her ow...

In this episode, Brig breaks down why protecting your confidence is not optional. It is the foundation for chasing your impossible.

Using Michelle Kwan’s response after winning Olympic silver as the central story, Brig shows how quickly someone else can try to define your win as a loss. Kwan’s response, “I didn’t lose the gold. I won the silver,” becomes the anchor for this episode and a reminder that ...

In this episode, Brig explores the societal pressures dictating a woman's worth based on age, challenging the ingrained belief that women have an expiration date. 

At 61, Brig reflects on her own journey from feeling like used goods at 35 to embracing a fulfilling life today. She uncovers the traditional rules that keep women trapped in fear and scarcity, urging women to break free from these limits. 

What You Will Learn

What if the voice you have been calling your inner critic is actually trying to protect you?

In this episode, Brig introduces the idea of your “inner cutie,” the part of you that gets loud when you are about to do something new, uncomfortable, or important. That voice may sound like fear, hesitation, or self-doubt, but Brig encourages you to stop treating it like the enemy.

Instead of trying to silence that voice, she s...

In this episode, Brig speaks to the high-achieving Black woman who has worked hard, planted faithfully, and built so much, but still feels guilty slowing down long enough to receive the harvest.

If rest feels like falling behind, or receiving feels harder than doing, this conversation will hit home. Brig breaks down the old thoughts that keep you proving, producing, and pushing, even when you have already done the work. She challen...

It's time to unpack the pictures in your head that shape your reality, because they often aren't the truth. In this episode, Brig breaks down the mental images we create about how life is "supposed" to be, and how these pictures can lead to unnecessary frustration and pain. Join in as she shares a personal story about a flat tire that showed her a massive lesson about expectations and reality. You'll learn how these constructs can ...

Queen, you've been giving wife-level loyalty on a girlfriend-level container — and it's time to name that pattern without shame.

In this episode, I'm getting into something tricky but necessary: the gap between what you're giving in a relationship and what's actually been established. This isn't about weakness, desperation, or low self-esteem. It's a program — and once you can see it clearly, you get to choose something...

Queen, the question you've been asking after the betrayal isn't the one that will actually give you peace.

If you've ever been blindsided by someone you trusted, this episode is for you. Grab your tea, find a quiet space, and let's talk — as friends, as women who've been there. Because there's something we do after we've been hurt that feels like healing but isn't. And today I want to give you the one question that actually g...

Queen, your decision is the sentence. Everything else is just a footnote — and it's time to stop leading with the footnote.

In this episode, I'm getting into something I caught myself doing in real time: building a full legal brief for a woman I'd met once, just to say no. Big decisions, small transactions — the pattern runs everywhere. And today we're going to name it, trace it to its roots, and start dismantling it.

W...

Queen, you were never the problem. You were just given a tool that wasn't built for you — and then blamed when it didn't fit.

In this episode, I want to introduce you to Bob. Bob is fine. Bob starts every attempt at growth from baseline — neutral, stable, rested, regulated. You? You start already carrying. And that changes everything. This is the conversation bro self-help has never been willing to have.

What You'll Lea...

Queen, you didn't give up — you just stopped seeing yourself as the one who gets to create.

In this episode, I'm getting into something that almost slipped past me completely — because it doesn't look like giving up. It looks like being responsible. Mature. Realistic. But here's the truth: at some point, protection becomes a prison. And if you've been living in the middle ground — no big dreams, no big risks, no b...

Queen, you've been a foreigner in your own life for long enough — and it's time to come home.

After a real, unfiltered season away, I'm back. In this episode, I'm pulling back the curtain on what actually happened: the financial reality of my coaching business, the d...

Queen, let's talk about the elephant in the room: that exhausting dance you're doing in your relationship where you're solving his problems before he even names them, managing his emotions while yours get pushed aside, and wondering why love feels like a second job. If you're tired of performing for love instead of receiving it, this episode is your wake-up call.

It's time to stop auditioning for partnership and start demanding the...

Queen, let's talk about the mindfuck breakup that's been keeping you stuck—the one with Mr. "Perfect on Paper" who left your soul starved despite checking every box society told you mattered. You know the type: well-dressed, well-traveled, well-paid, and wildly unavailable emotionally. This episode is your permission slip to finally name what you've been feeling and stop gaslighting yourself into believing something was wrong...

Queen, let's talk about the confusion that nobody prepared you for: when your high-value man checks every box society told you mattered, but your nervous system is screaming that something ain't right. You're not crazy, and you're not asking for too much—you're just dealing with an emotional project disguised in designer suits and six-figure success.

In this episode, I'm breaking down why status doesn't equal safety and how t...

Hey, it’s Brig! In this episode, I’m diving into de-centering men without dismissing them. This isn’t about being anti-men but becoming "pro-you." I unpack the stress women carry when our worth is tied to relationships with men, and how we can reclaim sovereignty. 

What You'll Learn:

• Historical Conditioning: How laws and culture, like credit restrictions until 1974, mandated centering men.
• Everyday Condi...

In this powerful episode, I sit down with a special guest, CJ, who recently completed the UNKAGED™ six-month coaching program. CJ shares her transformative journey from feeling unsafe and overwhelmed in her high-powered career to reclaiming her sovereignty and creating space for her passions.

What You'll Learn:

• How feeling "unsafe" in professional spaces is a common experience for Black women that drains our capacity
• Why the "...

Today, I'm talking about a pattern that's silently robbing high-achieving Black women of money, joy, and energy: self-abandonment. 

Self-abandonment happens when you leave yourself emotionally, mentally, or physically to secure someone else's comfort, approval, or validation. It's when you side with others over yourself.

We do this because somewhere along the line, we learned being fully ourselves was...

In this episode, I’m getting real about internalized wrongness — that quiet, exhausting belief that your identity is a defect to fix instead of something to celebrate. I’ve lived this, and I know how sneaky it is. From code-switching until you don’t recognize your own voice, to chasing every receipt and title jus...