Shades of Strong® | Supporting Black Women in Redefining Strength, Rewriting Narratives & Celebrating Authenticity
Welcome to Shades of Strong®, a podcast by Black women, for Black women. Join us as we support hyper-independent Black women in redefining strength, releasing emotional overwhelm, and embracing the power of community. It’s time to stop trying to do it all by ourselves.
Episodes
May 14, 2024 • 36 mins
My strong is vulnerability and acceptance
Hey, sis! Shirl and Natty here! Today, we're joined by Traci Neal for an impactful conversation about navigating life on the spectrum.
Traci shares her experience of being diagnosed with ADHD and Autism at the age of thirty-four and how she's leaning into vulnerability to support her in embracing the labels, highlighting the journey of self-acceptance and growth that will certainly res...
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May 7, 2024 • 66 mins
My strong is confronting the mother wound with resilience and grace.
Heeeeyyy!!! Shirl and Natty here! Today, we're joined by Alyson Brown for a deep dive into a topic that deeply resonates with a lot of Black women, the mother wound.
Alyson walks us through what it is, how it impacts us, and strategies for healing.
We know that navigating the complexities of our relationships with our mothers can be challenging; and society...
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April 23, 2024 • 43 mins
My strong is acknowledging my mistakes and holding myself accountable.
Hey there, it's Shirl and Natty! In this episode, we dive deep into a topic that hits close to home: acknowledging our vulnerabilities and mistakes, and the importance of taking accountability, especially within our Black female community.
We know how challenging it can be to navigate the pressures and expectations placed on us as Black women. Society often ...
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April 16, 2024 • 48 mins
My strong is my belief that Black women are sick of riding and dying
We're thrilled to welcome award-winning author and advocate Shanita Hubbard to our show for an enlightening discussion. Shanita shares her unique perspective on the “Ride or Die” narrative in hip-hop and its profound impact on Black women, drawing from personal experiences and a deep understanding of the cultural evolution of these stereotypes.
Our conversatio...
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April 9, 2024 • 55 mins
My strong is humanizing myself.
In a world that often demands Black women to be strong at all costs, there is a growing recognition of the need to humanize ourselves — to acknowledge our vulnerabilities, set boundaries, and prioritize self-care.
In this episode of Shades of Strong Podcast, hosts Shirley Hubbard and Natalyn Bradshaw delve into the importance of fostering a discipline of humanizing ourselves and dismantling the s...
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March 26, 2024 • 6 mins
My strong is empowering Black women.
Get ready for a powerful new season of Shades of Strong! Hosted by Shirley Hubbard and Natalyn Bradshaw, this podcast empowers Black women to embrace their authentic selves and challenge societal stereotypes.
Launching on April 9th, this season features compelling conversations with inspiring guests. From discussing the dangers of overextending without reciprocity to unmasking imposter syndr...
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August 8, 2023 • 48 mins
My strong is soft, feminine, and receptive.
Long gone are the days when Black women are overextending and back bending all in the name of being strong, because contrary to poplular belief, Black women get to be be soft and strong.
Tap in to this week's encore episode for a conversation with Ivory Benneet on how she's one of many Black women embracing being soft and strong.
RESOURCES TO SUPPORT YOU IN DOING LIFE WITH...
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August 1, 2023 • 35 mins
My strong is creating an emotioanlly safe space.
One of the most harmful things about having emotional walls is missing out on great experiences with those you love and care about. We build these walls with the hope of keeping harmful things out, not realizing that walls not only shut others out, they shut you in.
Tap in to this week's encore episode for a conversation on how you can protect yourself without building emoti...
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July 25, 2023 • 56 mins
My strong is "resolute and standing firmly in my truth" Angela Bassett.
They tell us to take risks – take lots of them. They tell us not to settle for mediocrity – fight for the life we want. So, we do! We fight with everything in us – not being easily intimidated. Not letting people walk all over us. We boldly speak up against unfairness and injustices in our personal and business lives.
We have the audacity to sit at the...
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July 11, 2023 • 35 mins
My strong is not strong all the time and I’m okay with that. I cry. I feel. I heal.
Letting go of the past and healing from trauma is challenging in and of itself, but when the trauma is a result of unhealthy parental relationships, it becomes even more challenging. In today's episode I chatted it up with Angela Roulette as she shared her journey of freeing herself from the emotional burdens that were keeping her stuck and preve...
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July 4, 2023 • 37 mins
My strong is knowing what I bring to the table.
Unlearning people pleasing behavior is challenging, not only because it's a part of the Black female's social fabric, but also because as Black women often existing in predominantly white spaces, pleasing others first is [undoubtedly] a survival mechanism. Hello code switching and shape shifting!
The only way to unlearn what's been embedded in you is to love yourself the way you lov...
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June 27, 2023 • 47 mins
My strong is honoring the sacredness of friendships.
Have you ever found yourself in the middle of friendhsip or sisterhood that suddenly became toxic? Are you able to accept responsibility for the role you played in it?
You don't have to answer that (outloud), but the truth is we all play a role (in one way or another) in the toxcity we sometimes find ourselves - even if that role is simply accepting the behavior.
Tap in to th...
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June 20, 2023 • 37 mins
My strong is healing in a way that feels right for me.
We gotta stop telling people that they can choose to be happy when they're in the thick of a traumatic event because sometimes CHOOSING happiness is not possible in that moment.
Though well intentioned, our words can be harmful when we're not sensitive to the emotional needs of those we're trying to support.
Tap in to this week's encore episode as we talk about how importa...
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June 13, 2023 • 53 mins
My strong is NOT sociaiizing Black girls to be strong.
We're on summer break, but we didn't want to leave you with no SOS, so for the next several weeks we'll be dropping some of our most listened to episodes.
Unlike Beyonce most Black women didn't wake up like this. Before we were strong Black women we were little Black girls being socialized to be strong.
Tap in to this week's encore episode as we talk about childhold experi...
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June 6, 2023 • 41 mins
"My strong is honoring my full body yeses, and trusting even the quietest whispers of my no's"
In today's episode Tšhegofatšo Ndabane shares how she spent so much time caring for others til she didn't know how to care for herself.
She goes on to share how a bout with extreme burnout not only isolated her from her community, but also sat her down and forced her to take a look at how she was treating herself. That awakening is ...
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May 23, 2023 • 26 mins
"I don't know who needs to hear this, but check on your strong friends." How many times have you seen this statement floating around social media?
How many times did you actually check on your strong friend?
How many times did she say, "I'm good."
... and how many times did you hear I'm good and kept it moving?
Listen, we're not here to judge because the reality is your strong friend is usually out here in these streets stra...
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May 16, 2023 • 36 mins
"What if you're having a tough day and you manage to get out of bed? That's worth celebrating."
In today's episode Paballo Rampa gives us a peek inside her journey to healing from the Strong Black Woman Syndrome.
She paints us a picture of how she spent years dismantling the label that had been thrust upon her and how she is now showing herself love and compassion and creating boundaries that honor who she was created to be.
P...
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May 9, 2023 • 9 mins
Mothers, they're human, they're flawed, and they have their own stories. But their stories don't have to dictate how we live our lives.
Mother's Day is peeking over the horizon which means we'll soon be flooded with commercials, social media posts and Hallmark card images of the perfect mother-daughter relationships, but the reality is that's not everyone's story and those images and posts do nothing to help manage the feelings a...
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May 2, 2023 • 39 mins
It kinda feels like we've been living in a pandemic state of mind for decades now, when the reality is it's only been about three years. The world around us seems to be crumbling both on the inside and the outside and some days it feels like it's impossible to pull yourself out of that sunken place. All of your wants and desires suddenly feel meaningless and not worth pursuing and all you want to know is when it gets better, right?...
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April 11, 2023 • 29 mins
Going to a job you hate is a dreadful experience most of us are all to familiar with. You wake up every morning miserable, frustrated, and unmotivated. You know you need to make a change -- you want to quit without notice, but you're not financially able to without having another opportunity lined up.
In today's episode we share our own expereinces of being on jobs we hate and offer some suggestions to support you in finding pe...
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