Being Seen

Music shapes who we are—our memories, identities, and the stories we carry. More than entertainment, it can be a force for truth, accountability, and change. So what should we expect from the music—and the artists—that shape our world?  Featured in this episode:  dream hampton (filmmaker & writer)   D. Smith (Singer-Songwriter & Filmmaker)   Dr. Regina N. Bradley (Writer, Professor, Podcaster)

Confront hard truths about exclusion, challenge long-held interpretations of scripture, and reimagine what it means to love and serve one another fully. Can faith be a space where all of us are seen, valued, and free?  Featured in this episode:  Rev. Dr. Kelly Brown Douglas (Author, Scholar, Public Theologian)   Tamela Mann (Grammy Award-Winning Artist & Actress)   Andre G. Brown (Actor, Filmmaker, Educator)

Sex shapes how we understand ourselves, but too often we’re left to figure it out through silence, pressure, or misinformation. What if we reimagined sex education, breaking from outdated frameworks, to begin with truth, empathy, and freedom?  Featured in this episode: Jason Reynolds (Writer) Ariel Shorter (Student Advocate & Youth Empowerment Organizer) Travis Dopson (Student, Advocate & Educator) Semaj T. Bethea (Student Activist & Advocate) Shan Boodram (Certified Sex Educator & Intimacy Expert)

We want to hear from our listening community! We need your input, your feedback, your agreements and your disagreements. Share your thoughts and help shape the future of Being Seen by filling out our listener survey. It only takes two minutes and can be found at beingseenpodcast.com/survey.

How does movement show up in our lives and what power does it hold? With movement comes the future, the ability to grow, to try something new, adapt, and become. Featured in this episode: A’ja Wilson, Ashley Everett and Lady Jess.

The ability to feel safe -- when and how one wishes. How do we define safety, on our own terms? What does the future look like when we create, and dream into being, safe spaces for all Black women? Featured in this episode: Jessamyn Stanley, Aria Sa’id and Mariame Kaba.

Laughter as a salve, a weapon, a commentary, and an intimacy that is often best shared. Where does laughter show up in our lives, and how can we use it as a tool for empathy and understanding? Featured in this episode: Ts Madison.

How can we find our freedoms and ourselves through our stories? Freedom from stereotypes, from stigma, from silence. The freedom of visibility. The freedom of being seen. Featured in this episode: Dominique Jackson, Calida Rawles and Jacqueline Woodson.

All too often motherhood is a narrowly defined space full of bias and assumption. How can we think about it more expansively and in what ways have we provided or received mothering in our own lives? Featured in this episode: Raquel Willis, Ciarra Covin and Kaitlyn Greenidge. ​​The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services guidelines do not recommend breastfeeding but do acknowledge that some women with HIV may breastfeed with risk reduction measures to minimize transmission risk.

A conversation about health and care, with a focus on mental health. How can we create the spaces and systems needed to dismantle stigma for ourselves and for each other? Featured in this episode: Taraji P. Henson.

What are we asked to be responsible for? Do we assume our responsibilities willingly or are they placed upon us? A conversation on the many things we have been asked to carry. Featured in this episode: Sydney Barber, Tiya Miles and Martha Jones.

An exploration of power. How we use it, how it can be used against us, and the many ways it manifests in our lives.  Featured in this episode: Ledisi (Singer & Actress) and Roxane Gay (Author).

A conversation between Darnell Moore, host of Seasons 1 and 2, and Anika Noni Rose, host of Season 3, on occupying this space at this moment and the importance of prioritizing the voices and experiences of Black women.  Featured in this episode: Darnell Moore (Host of Season 1 and 2) and Anika Noni Rose (Host of Season 3) Artwork for this episode provided by Ronald Jackson

We want to hear from our listening community! We need your input, your feedback, your agreements and your disagreements. It only takes two minutes to fill out and can be found at beingseenpodcast.com/survey.

A look behind the scenes at what it means to create in this moment. Reflections on community, fellowship and love from the creators of Being Seen. Featured in this episode: Emil Wilbekin (Founder, Native Son), Darius Brown (Emmy-Award Winning Producer), Gioncarlo Valentine (Visual Narrator, Writer & Curator), and DaShawn Usher (Founder, Mobilizing Our Brothers Initiative (MOBI)).

How gay and queer Black men are reimagining sports, creating space, and discovering new possibility models. Featured in this episode: Nate Burleson (Sports Commentator & Former NFL Player), Jason Collins (Former NBA Player), and LZ Granderson (Award-Winning Sports Journalist).

An exploration of masculinities through the eyes of trans masculine people, gender-expansive individuals, and the ones who love us. Featured in this episode: Guest Host Texas Isaiah (Visual Narrator), Wazi Maret (Producer & Songwriter), Ahya Simone (Multidisciplinary Artist), and Marquise Vilsón (Actor & Activist).

How interconnected identities shape our stories, through the lens of the Afro-Latinx experience. Featured in this episode: Representative Ritchie Torres, Steven Canals (Screenwriter & Producer), and Wilson Cruz (Award-Winning Actor).

An exploration of representation in Hollywood and how entertainment can become a tool for transformation. Featured in this episode: Anthony Hemingway (Director & Producer), Brandon Goodman (Writer & Actor), and Colman Domingo (Actor, Writer & Director).

Finding spaces where we can inhabit shared visions of freedom. Featured in this episode: Quincy Mills (Professor & Author), Marc Lamont Hill (TV Host, Author & Activist), and Lorenzo Lewis (Advocate, Speaker & Author).

An exploration of marking our existence, building community and cherishing our youth.  Featured in this episode: Shangela (Actor, Comedian & Performer), Kalen Allen (Creator, Writer & Actor), and Keiynan Lonsdale (Dancer & Singer-Songwriter).

The power of mentoring to create representative narratives, construct community and build a collective legacy. Featured in this episode: Guest Co-Host Lena Waithe (Writer, Actor & Producer), Gina Prince-Bythewood (Writer & Director), Little Marvin (Writer & Producer) and LaDarian Smith (Writer & Producer).

An exploration of the power, the challenge, the opportunities and the experience of fatherhood. Featured in this episode: Dennis Williams (SVP, WarnerMedia), Jericho Brown (Award-Winning Poet), and Calvin & Tim (Fathers & Advocates) joined by their daughter Grady.

Stories as freedom. Our futures. Transforming culture and ourselves through the power of narrative, community, and our connection to our pasts.  Featured in this episode: Lena Waithe (Writer, Actor & Producer) and a special interview with James Baldwin and Nikki Giovanni (courtesy of WNET and originally recorded for Soul!).

The pain of stigma and the power we have to dismantle it. Building communities that embrace and care for people living with HIV in all the ways. Giving them the love, care and consideration they have always deserved. Featured in this episode: Dr. Kimberly Smith, Emil Wilbekin (Founder, Native Son), Tboy (Community Activist), and Antwan Matthews (Activist & Scholar).

Creating inclusive communities of faith, sexuality and the divine, the church as a “horizon for imagining the terms of Black life.” How can we create spaces of faith that expand and affirm the fullness of all of our existences?  Featured in this episode: Mykal Kilgore (Musician & Activist), Bishop Yvette Flunder (Pastor & Activist), and Josef Sorett (Scholar & Author), and Jordan E. Cooper (Writer & Actor).

Black men loving Black men is, as the deceased Black gay writer Joseph Beam opined in the 1980s, a “revolutionary act” because every moment a Black man is transgressive enough to love what he has been socialized to hate, he commits an act of insurgency. And this is what it is to love, radically.  Featured in this episode: Luke James (Musician & Actor).

How do we define intimacy and in what ways do we cultivate it or allow it to show up in our lives? Are our intimacies many or are they few? And do we ask the people we let into our spaces to show us the care and consideration we both need and deserve? Featured in this episode: Zeke Thomas (Musician & Advocate), Dyllon Burnside (Actor), Kai M. Green (Scholar & Advocate), Ita O'Brien (Intimacy Coordinator).

Double consciousness. Who defines how we are seen and who creates our archives? What is the power of process when creating more accurate representations? The effects of the many gazes that fall upon us and the ones we apply to ourselves.  Featured in this episode: E. Patrick Johnson (Artist & Scholar), Gioncarlo Valentine (Photographer & Curator), Texas Isaiah (Photographer & Curator).

Mississippi, Texas, the Bronx, Camden. The power of context. The places and landscapes that define us from our countries to our bodies. The stories that take place amongst these backdrops and the ways in which our specificity should never be denied or overlooked. Featured in this episode: Kiese Laymon (Author), Diedrick Brackens (Artist), Jerome LaMaar (Fashion Designer & Stylist).

Spaces. Space. The places we occupy and a trip that takes us beyond to a point where we can transcend. Eddie Ndopu plans to be the first disabled person to go to space, the first Black queer disabled person. This quest is confirmation of what we should all already know, that people like Eddie are magnificent in all of their multiplicities. Featured in this episode: Eddie Ndopu (Activist, Author & Scholar) and music by Sun Ra.

What is the impact of the roles we are often asked to play? How do we make more spaces where these roles can be self-defined? How do we use our roles to shift culture and empower others? Featured in this episode: George M. Johnson (Author & Activist), Kenyon Farrow (Activist), Samira Nasr (Editor-In-Chief, Harper's Bazaar).

Who decides what stories will be told and how can we rewrite the narrative of what constitutes the “American” story? How can stories become our proof of life? What will it take to bring forth more stories from places that aren’t officially sanctioned?  Featured in this episode: Saeed Jones (Poet & Author), Ben Cory Jones (Writer, Director & Producer), Yashua Simmons (Fashion Editor & Stylist) and Marc Meachem.

A Strange Loop, making it in Hollywood, getting to Broadway, Billie Holiday. What is the story behind culture firsts that break down barriers, push back against invisibility and refute stereotypes? How does the creation impact the creator? Why are we still fighting to get these firsts made? Featured in this episode: Lee Daniels (Writer, Director & Producer), Jordan E. Cooper (Writer & Actor), Michael R. Jackson (Playwright), and Wesley Morris (NYT Culture Critic).