Kisses from Kenya
Kisses from Kenya is a social podcast hosted by Brendan and Vuyanzi, two Americans living in Nairobi who see the world through different identities, but share a love of fun chats and tender honesty. One is a gay white American, the other is a Black American, both learning what it means to live far from home while carrying everything that shaped them. Here you will find candid conversations about identity shifts, contradictions, and the odd freedom that comes from living beyond the USA but never escaping it. It is funny, thoughtful, occasionally chaotic, and always grounded in lived experience. Kisses from Kenya is produced by Democrats Abroad Kenya, but this channel is a social space for personal stories and reflections. Nothing said here represents the official positions of Democrats Abroad Kenya, Democrats Abroad global, or the Democratic Party. New episodes weekly(ish) on all Podcast platforms and YouTube. Stay with us as we explore what it means to love, live, vote, and reinvent ourselves a long way from home!
Episodes
EPISODE 33: Is American Democracy in Crisis?
The United States has invaded countries, disrupted governments, and justified wars in the name of democracy.
Now, many Americans are asking whether democracy is even working at home.
What exactly are we defending—and what are ordinary people supposed to do when the system feels like trash?
Before Vuyanzi and Brendan attempt to rescue American democracy, however, there i...
EPISODE 32: The New Rules of Weight Loss
Ozempic and GLP-1 weight-loss medications are changing more than bodies. They are changing how we talk about health, fitness, willpower—and who gets to be considered attractive.
But if the weight comes off, does that automatically make someone healthier? And why are we so invested in how another person loses it?
Vuyanzi and Brendan step onto the scale. Things get personal.
EPISODE 31: Propaganda in the Age of Social Media
Modern propaganda no longer needs a podium. It has cable news, social media algorithms, political influencers, and audiences isolated enough to mistake repetition for truth.
How do once-unthinkable ideas become acceptable—and who benefits when they do?
Vuyanzi and Brendan follow that question into media manipulation, political persuasion, and the stories people wi...
We Talked About Cheating... Then Things Got Honest | Kisses from Kenya
Description
This week, Brendan and Vuyanzi somehow end up talking about cheating, relationship confessions, and the stories we'd probably never planned to tell out loud. Then they dive into New York politics, life in Kenya, the questions people still ask about traveling to Africa, and the little moments that made them smile this week.
Wh...
Sometimes the conversation before the show says more than the show itself.
This week, Vuyanzi opens up about singleness, clarity, and finally knowing exactly what she wants in a relationship—only for Brendan to accuse her of trying to "manifest obsession." From there, they dive into political loyalty, James Talarico's passionate defense of Rep. Jasmine Crockett, the rise of stan culture in American politics, cu...
Sometimes the best conversations are the ones that begin before anyone says, "Welcome to the show."
This week, Brendan leaves Vuyanzi speechless with a conversation that goes somewhere no one expected. Then it's on to a global security warning for Americans abroad, a Trump speech that had the internet talking, Nancy Grace's latest headline-making case, cross-cultural moments that remind us why living in Kenya is neve...
EPISODE 27: 78 Degrees of Separation
An 87-year-old on OnlyFans, a rose toy, and a conversation about sexuality and ageing that sets the tone perfectly for an episode about people minding everyone's business but their own. New York City asks residents to set their thermostats to 78 degrees during a heatwave. The GOP calls it socialism. The Trump administration scrubs energy conservation guidance from the DOE website....
EPISODE 26: The Same Strange Fruit... Again.
Karmelo Anthony. 35 years. Nolan Wells. Trayvon Martin. Ahmaud Arbery. A 16-year-old from the DRC found hanging in early June. A 21-year-old in Georgia in February. Brendan and Vuyanzi sit with Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit" - and the devastating reality that the song still applies. The question at the end of this episode is not rhetorical: where do we actually go from h...
EPISODE 25: Foul Play
Dine Out for Democracy is happening, the U.S. has struck over 90 coastal targets in Iran after Trump ends the ceasefire, and the World Cup host nations just got knocked out of their own tournament in spectacular fashion. Oh, and Trump personally called FIFA to get a red card suspension overturned. Because of course he did.
In this episode:
- Opening conversation - Dine Out for Democracy lands as...
EPISODE 24: Outbreaks, Obstacles & Opening Nights
New York moves to remove barriers to voting, Ebola is back in the headlines, and Brendan has a conversation about sexuality with his gentleman that does not go the way he planned. This week has range.
In this episode:
- Opening conversation - a new bill in New York targeting voting barriers: what it does and why it matters for Americans abroad
- Whose America Is It A...
EPISODE 23: Off the Market & On the Move
It's birthday season, Vuyanzi is taking herself off the market again, and Democrats Abroad Kenya just hosted the first-ever Democrats Abroad AGM on the African continent. No big deal. Brendan explains why Nairobi was the right place to do it - and what it means to bring that kind of gathering to this city.
In this episode:
- Opening conversation - birthday shenanigans and ...
EPISODE 22: National Treasures & Hidden Transgressions
Janet Jackson is a national treasure and this is not up for debate. From there: New Orleans gets a new mayor, Vuyanzi reckons with having outsourced her cooking entirely, Brendan emails a CEO with full Karen energy, and someone slept with a parliamentarian. It's that kind of episode.
In this episode:
- Opening conversation - a not-so-new revelation and what i...
EPISODE 21: Still on the Charts, Still in the Streets
Michael Jackson is back on the charts - 17 years after his death, breaking records ahead of his 30th Anniversary concert. Meanwhile Tanzania blocks an EU delegation from investigating election violence, and Brendan has a point about who gets policed and who doesn't that is worth sitting with.
In this episode:
- Opening conversation - Michael Jackson's comeback fro...
Episode 20: Your Vote Matters - That's Why They Want to Take It Away!
This one is personal. Brendan and Vuyanzi go deep on the Voting Rights Act - the gerrymandering, the protests, and what it means to watch voter suppression unfold when your parents and grandparents grew up in the segregated South. Some conversations you have because you have to.
In this episode:
- Whose America Is It Anyway? - the Voting Rights Act...
EPISODE 19: Death, Data, and Desire
This one starts somewhere tender. Vuyanzi opens up about losing her sister during Covid while she was in Kenya - the distance, the grief, and the network of people who showed up anyway. Brendan shares his own experience losing his uncle in 2021 after making the move. It's a conversation about what it means to grieve from far away, and it earns everything that comes after it.
In this...
EPISODE 18: Who Made These Rules?
It opens with a debate about Uno that is somehow also a debate about culture, community, and who gets to make the rules. From there: Virginia redraws its districts and Black women take it across the finish line, abortion rights get enshrined, New York taxes the rich, and an LA teachers' strike that nearly happened reminds us what happens when people organise. Oh, and Pope Leo. Brenda...
EPISODE 17: Helpless from Here
This one starts mid-conversation - which is exactly how the best ones always do. Vuyanzi is sitting with the weight of having a client whose family is caught in Lebanon: the helplessness, the guilt, the strange expectation that life just carries on regardless. Brendan picks it up from there, and the conversation goes somewhere real before the news even starts.
In this episode:
- Opening...
EPISODE 16: Mixed Signals
Things get personal this week. A kiss changes everything - or does it? Vuyanzi shares a moment that has her rethinking her whole approach to dating, which opens up a bigger and messier question: do you go looking for something serious, or do you wait for it to find you? Brendan and Vuyanzi do not agree, and it gets interesting.
In this episode:
- The big debate - "try...
EPISODE 15: War & Politics
Sometimes you laugh because the alternative is crying. This week Brendan and Vuyanzi sit with the weight of global conflict, the strange experience of being American abroad when the world wants to talk about U.S. politics, and a PSA that needs to be said: please do not move to Kenya just because you heard it's cheap.
In this episode:
- Opening - Vuyanzi reflects on possi...
EPISODE 14: The Strength of Women... According to Who?
From Brendan's VCR days watching The Color Purple to Vuyanzi being told she was "arguing" simply for using her voice - this episode gets into the gap between celebrating women's strength and actually letting women be strong. Two generations, two very different lenses, one conversation worth having.
In this episode:
- Deep Dive - The Color Purple a...
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