I’m a mid-30s Xennial black woman who considers herself to be pan-African. What I've always wanted to do with my TiTi Talks platform is give a fresh pan-African perspective. I want TiTi Talks to be educational, yet not laden with useless information. Entertaining, but not ignorant. Inspirational, witty, thought provoking, and above all else, FUN!!
Often times people ask me what my podcast is about. My immediate response is usually, "everything", which then bemuses the inquirer. I cover a broad array of topics that are difficult to be placed neatly into boxes. TiTi Talks hovers in that space between spirit and shenanigans. I have been reflecting over the first 15 episodes and I wanna just give y’all a review and get some of you up to speed on what I'm delivering. I write, edit, produce and create the music to what you hear when an episode drops. I have so many ideas and so many things to share that it gets overwhelming sometimes. I wish I could give you this feeling. My content is as close as I can get to it because much of this feeling is hard to capture in the digital reality. That’s how I know that this feeling and that energy is spiritual.
On episode 2 I had a dialogue with author and filmmaker Dalian Adofo, who is a Ghanian brotha living in the UK. He and his wife produce pan-African content. We we had a conversation dispelling myths about traditional African spirituality and discussed his documentary films Ancestral Voices: Esoteric African Knowledge and Ancestral Voices: Spirit is Eternal. He also has a book with the same title as the latter film.
(Dalian and I at the African & Diasporic Religious Studies Association 2nd Annual Conference at Harvard University in 2014)
Episode 7 was an impromptu show about grossly misnamed “shit hole” countries and how Western conquest shaped them. There was also a deeper discussion about the Haitian Revolution. Shout out to my two scholar sistas Drs. Nzinga Metzger and Funlayo Wood-Menzies. Dr. Nzinga is a professor of Anthropology and History and founder of Dunia Fore (http://duniafore.org) and Asalaye Academy. Dr. Funlayo Wood Menzies is a professor of African Religious studies and is the Founding Director of the African & Diasporic Religious Studies Association (http://www.adrsa.org). She also has an amazing spiritual and scholarly platform called Ase Ire (https://aseire.com).
(Dr. Nzinga Metzger, Dr. Funlayo Wood Menzies, and TiTi before recording episode 7)
Episodes 4, 11, and 16 are about mental health issues in the black community, healing from trauma, and the importance of self care. Thank you to my counselor sisters LaShaundra Cromotee and Yolanda Smith-Ervin for their mental health expertise. Also a special thank you to my brotha Jay English (https://www.honorsyoga.com), spiritual educator, for his insight on meditation, healing from trauma, and overall spiritual health. And shout out to my sistas Kalena, Okovie, and Nadia who I accompanied on a mountain retreat devoted to self care and beginning the New Year fearlessly. I can't wait to drop episode 16 so you can experience the black girl magic!
On episode 8 I’m sitting down with Dr. Gina Paige, co-owner of African Ancestry, to discuss the philosophy and services of the company as well as answer the most frequently asked questions related to DNA testing. I also had the honor of having my maternal ancestry revealed! You can view a snippet of Dr. Paige revealing my ancestry in Ghana:
Episode 9 was a double header with 2 dynamic brothas. The first portion of the show I chopped it up in Ghana with Anwan Glover (Slim Charles from The Wire) founder of the legendary Go-Go band Back Yard Band (https://backyardbanddc.com) after their show on Labadi Beach. We had a great time discussing our time in Ghana as well as participating in the Back 2 Africa documentary that was being filmed during our stay.
The second part of episode 9 I linked with Diallo Sumbry, founder of an African cultural resource collective called The Adinkra Group (http://theadinkragroup.com). This is probably one of the most important segments I've done in terms of pan-Africanism in action. Catch a snippet of our segment here and be INSPIRED!
(Diallo and I recording the second part of episode 9 in DC)
(In Ghana for the Back 2 Africa trip in February of 2018. This group helped pave the way for The Year of Return in 2019. TiTi front row, 3rd from left. Diallo Sumbry front row 5th from left. Anwan Glover, who was in the first portion of episode 9, far right about half way up. Photo credit: Kofi Handon of Loves Life Photography http://www.loveslifephotography.com
Episode 10 was interesting. The tables turned and I was being interviewed on the Home Away Show (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/umbani-radio-podcasts/id1282088751?mt=2) on Umbani Radio. Shout out to my South African brothas Khuli and Ntate for reaching out to me!! This show is an example of how continental Africans and African descendants across the diaspora can connect with each other.
Episode 12 Im speaking with my sista and fellow doula/pediatric P.A. Dzifa Richards Jones (http://www.awombansplace.com) on how to bring our children to this realm safely. Episodes 6 and 13 Im speaking with brotha Lamar Wilson and sista Tavonia Evans respectively about cryptocurrency and how we can use it in the black community. Tavonia Evans is the founder of GUAP Coin. Sista is so bad she created a cryptocurrency for the black community! Go ahead and go to https://guapcoin.com/newsite/about-us/ and read up about her and then get a GUAP Coin wallet! If you don’t know what I mean when I said get a GUAP Coin wallet, go listen to episode 6 and brotha Lamar will break it down.
Episode 14 I put a panel of friends together to discuss the midterm elections and voting in the black community. It was a very dynamic and powerful exchange. Here is a short clip of our discussion:
As I prepare to drop episodes 15 and 16 over the next few days I’m reflecting on all that I have shared with you and I am so proud! This is why TiTi Talks. People talk so much about what we need to do and what we finna try to do and very few are discussing what people are actually doing. If you wanna do something in the community there is somebody in the world who is probably doing it. Instead of reinventing the wheel be resourceful and find out who else is doing it and either help or learn from them. Im aware of everything thats going on on social media. I absolutely enjoy some of the shenanigans and fuckery in moderation! I like silly shit sometimes. But it is imperative to also use social media and the internet to connect, improve our lives, increase our cash flow and learn about the world. Everything is so global. The world is small. I can talk to someone across the world on an app. I can search anything with a hashtag. That’s so amazing to me! We need to be more creative and resourceful. I guess what I’m trying to convey is amazing things are happening. #TiTiTalks is evidence of that. My mission is to make my content accessible, relatable, fresh, interesting, educational, inspirational, entertaining, and maybe even a lil sexy! I desire to connect and build bridges across the diaspora. It doesn’t matter where you are in the world. We need to be more unified. The internet has made it easier. I wanna be that glue that helps to connect us. Now......let's go be great!
~TiTi Talks~
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