Shades of Strong® Podcast | From “Strong Black Woman” to Supported Black Woman

Sometimes support for Black women looks like finally deciding not to keep explaining yourself into emotional exhaustion. In this Support Pause, Shirl explores the emotional cost of constantly going back and forth with people who are committed to misunderstanding you. From family dynamics to friendships, work conversations, and relationships, many Black women have been conditioned to overexplain themselves, defend their boundaries, and stay inside emotionally draining conversations far longer tha

What would you say to your younger self today? In this deeply personal Support Pause, Shirl reflects on sitting crisscross applesauce on the living room floor watching The Mary Tyler Moore Show and dreaming about becoming a writer long before life got loud. This support pause explores what happens when responsibilities, caregiving, survival, and being “the dependable one” slowly push our dreams to the background. It’s a conversation about reconnecting with the parts of ourselves that still need

We just closed the 26 Black Women Storytelling Series, and I’m still sitting with what it revealed. Not just the individual stories, but the thread that ran through all of them. This episode isn’t a recap. It’s a reflection on what happens when Black women are given the space to tell the truth in real time, before everything is figured out, before the voice steadies, before the story is cleaned up. Across this series, women from completely different lives shared what being “strong” has cost them

Radiah Shabazz Harold was doing what so many women are used to doing. Managing responsibilities. Taking care of what needed to be done. Showing up, even when it wasn’t easy. From the outside, it looked like she had everything under control. But inside, she was carrying more than most people realized. In this episode, Radiah shares what it felt like to move through life while managing chronic illness, emotional exhaustion, and the pressure to keep going. She talks about what it’s like to be seen

Didi Hairston is doing something many people don’t fully understand. She’s showing up. Not because everything is okay. Not because she has it all figured out. But because she’s choosing to keep going, even while navigating severe depression. In this episode, Didi shares what it’s like to live with mental health challenges in real time. The kind that don’t just pass, and don’t always have clear answers. She talks about the weight of carrying that while still being expected to function. To be pres

Nikquan Lewis learned early how to handle things on her own. Figuring it out wasn’t optional. It was necessary. From a young age, she was navigating responsibilities that required her to grow up quickly. There wasn’t room to pause, and there wasn’t space to fall apart. So she did what needed to be done. And she kept doing it. In this episode, Nikquan shares what it looked like to move through life in survival mode for years. Showing up, building, achieving, and pushing through, even when her bod