No Country For Young Women

We look back on our favourite episodes including some of our biggest and best guests and what they taught us. Plus we say thanks to you, our amazing listeners, for the things you’ve taught us along the way! No, we’re not crying, you’re crying.

We’re hilarious, we’re resilient and we’re a force to be reckoned with, according to actor, dance studio boss and podcaster Kelechi Okafor. We talk about how pre-colonial Yoruba spirituality inspires how she sees herself, the misconceptions of black women in dance and twerk and why we get angry about people calling us angry when we aren’t. In my final solo episode, I wanted to celebrate all things black women!

I’ve never dated outside of my race and I wanted to hear stories from people who are. We chat about why interracial and interethnic dating isn’t the same thing, model and TV presenter Ayesha says that being British in LA actually makes more of a difference than her race and comedian Athena explains why colourism affects what we see on Instagram and the issues her parents faced in their own relationship.

Conversations about money should be really simple, so why don’t we talk more about it? Monty asks Bola Sol and Franklin Asante (aka The Urban Financier) what the receipts really are for drip culture, to share hacks for your bank balance and about their own journeys to getting better with money.

Life for people of colour varies hugely across Europe. We hear what growing up in the Netherlands was like for Dutch-Sudanese artist Gaidaa compared to living in the UK. We talk about outdated Christmas traditions, the Dutch response to Black Lives Matter, the creative scene in Sudan and how she uses her music and performances to highlight what’s happening in Sudan.

We rarely hear from strippers who are women of colour, so I wanted to find out how they feel about being eroticised for their race, what their families think of their jobs and why my preconceptions of their job are wrong. And I learned we have something surprising in common… with Samantha Sun and April Fiasco.

This Bank Holiday weekend in the UK marks the first in 61 years that we haven’t celebrated Notting Hill Carnival. Originally set up to ease race tensions between black and white Britons and to celebrate Caribbean culture, I wanted to take a deeper look at its roots and the impact its cancellation this year will have on the black British community’s economy, spirit and psyche. I speak to three guests, Lil’ C a queer dancehall DJ, Maxine Marshall a mas and Samba dancer and Portia Clarke a Music Marketing Consultant, to hear their views.

Sasha and Kadeen Corbin are more than just sisters, they play Netball for England. I wanted to speak to this very talented duo to discuss the importance of sport and exercise for our mental wellbeing and to see what their experience has been like being Black and British and professional sportswomen.

Lockdown has had us all dreaming about holidays and wanting to get away. I wanted to speak to travel guru, journalist and the first black woman to travel to 195 countries, Jessica Nabongo, along with award-winning podcaster Tolani Shoneye (aka ‘Tolly T’ from the Receipts Podcast) to talk about what their experience is like travelling as a black female.

I wanted to speak to Nadine Batchelor-Hunt, a podcaster and journalist and black Jewish female who recently got caught up in Wiley’s latest Twitter rant in which he made some anti-Semitic comments. Nadine joins me to speak about what it’s like being both black and Jewish in the U.K.

Such A Fun Age is a novel which starts with a racist misunderstanding and kickstarts our chat about race and class, the “pet to threat” phenomenon in business and why we don’t need any more slave movies. With author Kiley Reid, journalist Sarah Shaffi and Natalie and Melissa of Black Girls Book Club.

Should we recategorise dance music to be more racially inclusive? How did it become disconnected from its black queer origins? And why are black and women of colour consistently underpaid in music? Aluna Francis joins us to talk about her open letter to the dance music industry, being a member of the Black Music Action Coalition and getting paid what you’re worth.

I'm often seen as a strong black woman, so how can I make space to heal? Grace F Victory and Coco Khan join me to discuss how going to a protest could be seen as self care, why Grace is training as a therapist and Coco explains how even the concept of the self is very different in some Asian communities.

I’m asking how you can make vegan food using recipes from your own culture, learning what intersectional veganism is and wondering if I should be better at cooking Indian food. Chef Tomi Makanjuola aka The Vegan Nigerian and Celebrity Masterchef contestant Riyadh Khalaf join me to talk all things plant-based…

I wanted to explore what it’s like for fat, black women navigating the treacherous world of sex and dating. Joining me to discuss this was Scotty Unfamous, one third of the sex positive Laid Bare podcast. We swapped stories about our dating experiences, getting in to kink and how to be more confident in the bedroom. I also revealed that the best way to win me over is via cup-cakes and eba, a traditional Nigerian dish. Send us your FAQs to NoCountryForYoungWomen@bbc.co.uk.

I wanted to explore privilege, specifically white women’s privilege, and was joined by the CEO of Chicken Shop Date Amelia Dimoldenberg and historian Dr Charlotte Riley from Southampton University. We talked about diversity in the media and academia and bonded about being followed by famous people on social media (spoiler alert Amelia wins). Charlotte provided us with an insight into the historic context for ‘Karens’ among many other things and we talked about stereotypes, feminism and FAQs too.

I talk to three generations of my family about life in Britain. My parents describe moving to an all-white area and facing down my headteacher, my brother talks about the realities of growing up as a black man and my 15 year old niece tells me her hopes for the future…

We chat all things outrage with the BBC Radio 1Xtra breakfast presenter who’s just written a book all about it. We also talk about ‘that’ Wiley interview, virtue signalling, activism, female rappers, lockdown and feminism. By the way, our interview with Dotty was recorded a few weeks ago before the death of George Floyd and everything that’s happened since. Before getting into it though there’s a chance for us to catch up about how we’re feeling right now.

Sadia’s first solo episode of the series, exploring the different ways to be British and Muslim with Mobeen Azhar and dating expert Thanna Alghabban. We chat fasting, dating experiences, generational and regional differences, secret relationships, safe spaces and social media. Send us your FAQs to NoCountryForYoungWomen@bbc.co.uk

Little Mix’s Jade Thirlwall joins us in lockdown to talk about growing up mixed race in North East England. We ask her how her being bullied at school affected how she portrayed herself when she joined Little Mix, how she’s exploring her Arab heritage and why her DMs are so empty…