Spilling Chai

Dr. Somi Javaid is on a mission to make women’s healthcare exceptional by educating, advocating for, and empowering patients to take control of their health concerns. She spills the tea with Anushay on owning our sexual health, embracing the new menopausal woman and more.

How can you unlearn silence when women, especially women of color, have been told to not use our voice for centuries, by our cultures and families? Women still face grave risks to their personal and professional lives when they do choose to stand up for themselves. Speaker, writer, and facilitator, Elaine Lin Herring spills the tea with Anushay on how women can unlearn their silence.

How do you create a successful news company for South Asians in the diaspora and beyond as a woman of color? How do you get funding? Snighda Sur spills the tea with Anushay on how she did just that and more.

Author, podcaster, political commentator, editor-at-large, and contributor. Is there anything Molly Jong-Fast can't do? She spills the tea with Anushay on having Twitter- famous puppies, staying sober, and the key to being grateful.

Can you be a woman of color and be a Republican? Are you really from the U.S. if you're brown? There was a time when answers to both those questions not only were "yes" but it still should be. And maybe it still can be. Political strategist and analyst, Rina Shah spills the tea with Anushay on making your American dream as a brown girl.

How does whiteness kill? How is it deadly even for white people? Bestselling author Saira Rao is back on the show to answer those questions and explain to us that when it comes to gun violence and mass shootings, we have a choice. But we have to get on our feet and take action. Rao tells us how.

Anushay talks redefining postpartum, having the courage to tell your story, and more with actress and “Anya” Chief Impact Officer (CIO), Freida Pinto.

When we think of stand-up comedians, we don’t really think about mindful masculinity and raising strong daughters. The #MeToo movement wreaked havoc on the stand-up comedy world but honestly, the deep-rooted misogyny was already well- documented. But our guest today shatters stereotypes not only of the stand-up guy but also of the clueless, privileged white guy. The one and only Pete Dominick joins Anushay to spill the tea on his major life lessons.

Most of us believe inclusion is both the right thing to do and good for business. Then why are we so terrible at it? Anushay speaks with bestselling author, Ruchika Tulshyan about creating a culture of belonging at work.

The kitchen is normally thought of a space confined to women or rather where women have been confined. Anushay speaks with food writer, baker, and passionate eater, Marissa Rothkopf Bates about her work and her podcast, "The Secret Life of Cookies" where she flips the script on how we think of the spaces women occupy. And of course, the love that goes into baking and eating cookies.

In her second book, The Other, Daniela Pierre-Bravo shares her journey and those of other women to help you recognize your power in the workplace outside of the white gaze. She spills the tea with Anushay about reshaping the way you think about career advancement without losing your sense of identity.

How do you learn to not only live with a chronic illness but thrive with it? That's the mission of talk show host, beauty and lifestyle expert, chronic illness advocate, and founder of Chronicon, Nitika Chopra. Whether you're battling cancer or going through a divorce, Chopra spills the tea with Anushay on not only living your best life but how to be more committed to your happiness than your sufferring.

What role to white women play in upholding white supremacy and racist systems? A pretty big one! Even though we tend to leave them out, historically (most) white women always stood by white men when it comes to social orders that place whiteness as superior to well, everything else. To this day, majority of college women in America vote for their race over their gender and played a huge role in ushering in white nationalist and misogynist, Donald J. Trump. So what’s their problem? Bestselling authors, Saira Rao and Regina Jackson spill the tea with Anushay in this must-see episode.

Anushay talks personal branding, fashion designing, healing from childhood trauma with power sisters, Cipriana Quann and TK Wonder. The power duo also dishes on their new YouTube show, "Chew on This" and spill the tea on why this was the time to launch a cooking show.

One of the key themes in Anushay's book is the power of women telling their stories. During her research, Anushay became obsessed with the stories women don't tell and what we keep to ourselves. One of the most powerful stories she came across in her work is that of Tomeka Isaac who started the nonprofit organization, Jace's Journey after the loss of son. Isaac's story embodies the message that when women share our narratives, everything changes. How we view an issue changes. The season finale of Spilling Chai on the Pain Gap is a tribute to women who have the courage to share their experiences with the world to remind all of us that the life of every woman and birthing person's life counts.

One of the biggest messages in Anushay's book, The Pain Gap is that maternal health is that America's maternal health crisis is solvable. We already have the tools and expertise to ensure no woman dies giving life. Yet, America's maternal mortality numbers, especially for Black women and women of color, are not only the highest amongst rich nations but that number is increasing. Layo George, the creator of the digital community, Wolomi, is a nurse and entrepreneur who has developed a tech intervention to change the dangerous pregnancy and birth experience in America.

Learn more about Wolomi - the first online pregnancy community for women of color, by a nurse of color

https://www.wolomi.com/

 Anushay describes herself as being “obsessed” with motherhood in America, largely because of its constant cultural contradictions. The image of motherhood in America is so white, yet its Black & Brown women who are more likely to die giving birth in the US. We claim to worship mothers but remain the only industrialized nation without paid maternity leave. 

And what about the women who don’t want to be mothers? Is it possible to do something more meaningful than mothering? The latter is the question at the heart of Theologian Erin S. Lane‘s book, Someone Other than a Mother. 

In this episode, Lane spills the tea on overturning dominant narratives about motherhood and inspiring women to write their own stories.

Anushay has been a long time fan of American lawyer, politician, civil servant, founder of Girls Who Code, the Marshall Plan for Moms, five-time author, Reshma Saujani. Saujani is a warrior for women’s rights, using her platform to encourage us to raise brave not perfect girls and demand we pay moms in the workforce. Saujani joins Anushay to talk about her new book, “Pay Up,” a battle cry for working moms to finally get what their owed, and calls on companies and policymakers to do their part.

When Anushay began researching her book, it didn’t take long for her to discover gaps in addition to the pain gap in women’s health. While our previous episode analyzed the credibility gap, this episode we ideal with Dr. Alyson McGregor and her work exposing the serious lack of research in women health aka the knowledge gap.

Women don’t just face a pain gap when it comes to their health but we also have to deal with a “credibility gap.”

In Anushay’s research, she finds that women are not believed about their bodies period— whether we’re in pain or if we’ve been assaulted or anything else. We are not believed.

In this episode, Anushay speaks with author, Jaclyn Friedman about the crisis of not believing women, having hope, and why sex education in America is more crucial than ever.

We often hear the statistic that women of color are more likely to die giving birth in America. But how many of us know that Black women are 243% more likely to die than their white counterparts? In this episode, Anushay speaks witness Dr. Kanika Harris about birth trauma, Black maternal mortality, and the truth about America’s maternal health crisis.

One of the most important things to remember about maternal mortality is that it’s a crisis that’s solvable. We already have the tools and expertise to save women’s lives. 

So why do so many women, especially Black women, die giving birth in the world’s richest democracy? 

Kimberly Seals Allers, author and founder of the Irth App, speaks to host, Anushay Hossain about using technology to intervene in America’s maternal health crisis and empowering women with life-saving information.

This is Season 4 Episode 6: Can An App Save Women From Dying in Childbirth? with Kimberly Seals Allers

Hosted by Anushay Hossain

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How can you talk about just one topic with multi-hyphenate Hitha Palepu? You can't! That's the first thing our host Anushay Hossain learned when she sat down to speak with author, entrepreneur, investor, writer, speaker, and CEO of Rhoshan Pharmaceuticals, Hitha Palepu. In this episode, the two women talk about pandemic motherhood, women and alcohol, the inspiring life of Vice President Kamala Harris, thriving as women of color, and what we can learn from the development-- and delivery-- of the most anticipated vaccine of our lifetime.

How does US foreign policy impact women's reproductive health and rights around the world? How does America import its domestic abortion politics by creating foreign policies that deny women access to safe abortion and a full-range of reproductive healthcare? Those are the questions Anushay asks this week's guests who have taken the fight for safe abortion global with their work for Population Services International.

What does justice look like for women of color in America? That is the key question for our episode this week as host, Anushay Hossain, speaks with CNN’s chief legal analyst and author, Laura Coates about her new book, and pursuing birth and racial justice as a Black woman in the world’s richest democracy.

Did you know that more women die giving birth in America than in any other rich country? The number of women who die giving birth in America each year has nearly doubled in the last two decades, making the United States the only developed country with a consistently rising maternal mortality rate. How can we make giving birth in America safer? That's a question at the heart of the premiere episode of Spilling Chai on #ThePainGapSeason with our guests Christy Turlington Burns, (Founder, Every Mother Counts), Jennie Joseph (Founder and President, Common Sense Childbirth, Midwife, and Speaker), and Dr. Rebekah Gee (Obstetrician-Gynecologist and CEO of Healthcare Services for LSU Health). 

Hello my fabulous, dear Spilling Chai listeners! How is everyone? Welcome to the final episode of Season 3, coming to you from Washington, DC. I’m your host, Anushay Hossain.

When I was thinking about who we should have as the last guest for our season finale, only one person came to my mind: Bilal Qureshi, who was not only our very first guest on the first episode of the first season of Spilling Chai, but is also the father of this podcast.

Of course, Bilal has many other accomplishments, too.

Bilal is a broadcaster, essayist, and critic. His radio interviews and reporting have aired across NPR’s flagship news magazines; his writing and criticism is published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Foreign Policy and Newsweek.

Hello my Spilling Chai listeners! How is everyone? Welcome to episode 11 of season 3 of the show, coming to you from Washington, DC. I’m your host, Anushay Hossain!

Right before I graduated from college at UVA in 2002, a favorite professor of mine told me something I think of often: “In the real world, you’ll be shocked at how uninformed people really are.”

I’ve been thinking about Professor Robert’s words more as the nation feels like it’s getting ready to go to war over Critical Race Theory (CRT).

From Texas to Pennsylvania to Loudoun County Virginia, why do I get the feeling the people shouting about CRT at the top of their lungs most likely have no idea what they are talking about?

Hello my fabulous chai drinkers! How are you? Welcome to episode 10 of season three of the show coming to you as always from Washington, DC. I’m your host, Anushay Hossain.

When we think of stand-up comedians, we don’t really think about mindful masculinity and raising strong daughters. The #MeToo movement wreaked havoc on the stand-up comedy world but honestly, the deep-rooted misogyny was already well- documented.

But our guest today shatters stereotypes not only of the stand-up guy but also of the clueless, privileged white guy. I am talking about the one and only Pete Dominick!

Hello my fabulous chai drinkers! How is everyone doing? Welcome to episode 9 of season three of the show, coming to you from Washington, DC. I’m your host, Anushay Hossain.

When you hear the words “Iran nuclear deal” what are the images that come up in your mind? I think of men-- mainly American and Iranian diplomats sitting across one another in the conference room of some major hotel in Vienna, Geneva, or New York.

But it’s an Iranian woman that many in the US have come to rely on when it comes to decoding diplomacy with Iran.

I am talking about Negar Mortazavi!

Hello my fabulous chai drinkers! How are you? Welcome to episode 8 of season 3 of the show coming to you from Washington, DC. I’m your host, Anushay Hossain!

One of my favorite things about living in DC as a University of Virginia (UVA) alum is having so many friends you went to college with so close by. And when you find yourselves working on the same core goals professionally, well that makes life that much sweeter.

Which brings me to our guest today! You may know Atima Omara as one of Washington, DC’s top political consultants and strategists. But did you know that she and I went to college together?

Hello my fabulous chai drinkers! How are you? Welcome to episode seven of season three of the show, coming to you from Washington, DC. I’m your host, Anushay Hossain!

We hear so much talk about diversity in the media but every now and then there is a journalist who becomes iconic just by doing their job. And when that person is a person of color? Well, that’s even better.

Hello my chai drinkers! How are you? Welcome to episode 6 of season 3 of the show, coming to you from Washington, DC. I’m your host, Anushay Hossain!

When you think about American mainstream media, the image that naturally comes to mind is that of a white, middle-aged man or woman, and with good reason. Whiteness has been synonymous with journalism and media in the U.S. since forever. From Walter Cronkite to Dan Rather to Wolf Blitzer to Diane Sawyer and Barbara Walters.

But there have always been people of color, pioneers who shattered barriers from day one, like our guest, Maria Hinojosa.

Hello my fabulous chai drinkers! How is everybody doing? Welcome to season 3, episode 5 of the show, coming to you from Washington, DC. I’m your host, Anushay Hossain.

It’s such a weird time to be alive and the duality is even more jarring if you’re South Asian-American: You watch the Indian subcontinent gasping for air while simultaneously watching America reopen.

Lucky for us, our guest today is an expert in planning during uncertain circumstances and has even written a book about it. I am talking about Bina Venkataraman, author of The Optimist’s Telescope: Thinking Ahead in a Reckless Age, described as a groundbreaking exploration of how to make long-term decisions.

Hello My Dear Chai Drinkers! How are you? Welcome to episode 4 of season 3 of the show, coming to you from Washington, DC. I’m your host, Anushay Hossain.

When we think of spies, we think of iconic, leading Hollywood men (read: white men) like Sean Connery, Pierce Brosnan, or Daniel Craig. But in real life, patriotic immigrants, men of color also go undercover, risking their lives for love of country.

And no one knows what it’s like to play spy games with dangerous enemies more intimately than our guest today.

Sending you episode covers as soon as Annie is done.

Thank you!!

Hello my lovely chai drinkers! How are you? Welcome to episode 3 of season 3 of the show, coming to you from Washington, DC where the cherry blossoms and azaleas are just bursting all over the city.

As COVID continues to ravage America and the world, domestic violence is also surging. According to the American Journal of Emergency Medicine, when the pandemic began, incidents of domestic violence increased 300% in China; 25% in Argentina, 30% in Cyprus, 33% in Singapore, 50% in Brazil, and in the U.K., where calls to domestic violence hotlines soared.

The United Nations has dubbed domestic violence the shadow pandemic and reports that for women around the world, the pandemic has created a double threat-- the risk of getting COVID and the danger of being trapped in lockdown with their abusers.

Hello My Amazing Chai Drinkers! How are you? Welcome to episode 2 of season 3 of the show, coming to you from Washington, DC. I’m your host, Anushay Hossain.

If you follow me on Instagram, my favorite social media platform, you may have figured out that I am a big lover of all things food.

I am not only an excellent eater and dessert connoisseur, if I do say so myself, but I am also a closet cook. Not something I do too often, but you’d be surprised at culinary talents.

But when I come across the page or work of our guest today, I realize I am really nothing more than a mere mortal.

Hello Spilling Chai Listeners! How are you? It’s been three very long months. I’ve missed you but am so excited to be back on the mic with season 3 of the show coming to you LIVE from Washington, DC.

You would think with the U.S. battling so many different kinds of pandemics-- from race to poverty to COVID-- that America’s love affair with guns would be cooling off. However, the numbers paint a very different reality.

Not only was 2020 one of the deadliest years for gun violence in America, but gun sales, right alongside domestic violence numbers, surged even as COVID ravaged America and the world.

There’s been a boom in gun sales as Americans armed themselves over worries about the rise of crime and protests over police brutality and the deadly Capitol riots of Jan. 6.

But one woman remains as determined as ever to change America's Gun violence culture. I am talking about Shannon Watts, the founder of the nation’s largest grassroots group fighting against gun violence, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.

Hello My Dear Listeners! How are you? Welcome to Episode 12, the season finale of the show, coming to you from Washington, DC. I’m your host, Anushay Hossain.

For so long, journalism in America has been defined and run by white men-- and some white women. But where do the rest of us fit in and what happens to our stories?

No one is poised to better answer this question than our guest today who is the founding mother of the 19th, a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom reporting at the intersection of gender, politics, and policy. I am talking about the one and only, Errin Haines!

Hello Spilling Chai listeners! How is everyone? Welcome to Episode 11 of Season 2 of the show, coming to you from Washington, DC. I’m your host, Anushay Hossain!

When we first launched this podcast and we were setting up our social media accounts, on Instagram I kept finding myself reposting these incredibly colorful, vibrant, and super-feminist images with this very cool South Asian vibe.

The account was called “Colors of Honey” and the artist’s work led me down this rabbit hole of Desi artists on Instagram whose talent is not only beautiful but makes powerful social & political statements.

Hello Everyone! How are you? Welcome to episode 10 of season 2 of the show coming to you from Washington, DC. I’m your host, Anushay Hossain.

One of the things I love about having this podcast is getting to invite people whose work I’ve admired and fan-girled from a far to be a guest on Spilling Chai. So, of course, I would take this opportunity to reach out to a woman who proudly calls herself an anarchist and a feminist.

I am talking about feminist writer and author, Mona Eltahaway.

Hello fabulous listeners of Spilling Chai! Welcome to Episode 9 of season two of the show. You guys have such great taste in podcasts and I am so happy to have you with us!

It is no secret that publishing in America, much like Hollywood, is not the most diverse business. In fact, a 2016 Diversity Baseline Survey examining race and gender in book publishing found that 79% of the industry is made up of white women.

The nationwide protests against racial injustice over the summer set off conversations in nearly every industry about the treatment of Black workers-- and book publishing was no exception.

Hello Fabulous Spilling Chai listeners! How are you? Welcome to Season 2, Episode 8 of the show coming to you from Washington, DC. I am your host, Anushay Hossain.

While many of you who follow my work may know that I am a massive feminist, how many of you know that I am actually a raging feminist? Feminism for me is more than just believing in women’s equal rights as human beings. I also rely on it in a very spiritual way as well-- to hold me up, to give me hope, inspiration, and motivation.

A lot of this comes from the women in my life, especially the feminist writers and authors who over the course of my career have become mentors and friends, and whose work--and words-- feed my soul. One such person for me is Soraya Chemaly and she is our guest today!

Hello My Spilling Chai, listeners! How are you? Welcome to Episode 7 of Season 2 of the show.

Is there a group of women more stereotyped or more misunderstood than Muslim women? From being collectively labelled as subjugated, oppressed, uneducated, helpless victims, despite the fact that Islam spreads from America to the Middle East to South Asia to Indonesia, when it comes to Muslim women we are immediately reduced to a collective offensive, and incorrect, stereotype.

Well, contrary to well-established misconceptions, Muslim women are not a monolith, and no one’s life and career embodies that truth more than our guest today. I am talking about Saudi businesswoman and activist, Muna AbuSulayman!

Hello my Spilling Chai listeners! How is everyone doing? Welcome to Episode 5 of Season 2 of the show, coming to you from Washington, DC. The word “immigration” brings up so many different kinds of emotions and images for people. In Trump’s America, for me the word brings to mind families being tear-gassed and separated at the border; children in cages sleeping under aluminum blankets. Under Donald Trump, even legal immigration and seeking asylum is treated as criminal.

Well, our guest today knows and understands this issue perhaps better than anyone because of all the time she spent researching and studying Stephen Miller-- Senior Policy Advisor for the Trump admin, and the man in charge of formulating immigration policy.

Hello Spilling Chai, Listeners! Welcome to Episode 5 of Season 2 coming to you from Washington, DC.

Being a writer during a pandemic has made me think a lot about not just our stories but who gets to tell them. Being a brown person in America, an immigrant, a person of color, means that narratives are often framed for you by well, your brownness.

But the work of our guest today has been instrumental in reminding people not only how important representation is but how important it is that we ourselves get to choose, and own, how our stories are told.

I am talking about author and New York Times writer, Sopan Deb!

Hi Spilling Chai Listeners! How are you? Welcome to Episode 4 of Season 2 of “Spilling Chai” coming to you from Washington, DC. I’m your host, Anushay Hossain.

I’ve been a feminist for such a large part of my life and one of the things that makes me the happiest is when men not only support women’s rights but openly call themselves feminists. One of the most frustrating things I have dealt with in my career is having to repeat that being a feminist does not mean hating men. [Insert massive eye roll gif please].

Thank goodness it is a new era because now not only do men openly identify with feminism but people are finally getting the message that when women win, everyone wins.

Hello Everyone! How are you? Welcome to Episode 3 of Season 2 of Spilling Chai! I’m your host, Anushay Hossain.

To say that things are hard right now might just be the greatest understatement of all time. While living in a pandemic intensifies the struggle for all of us in different ways, the gendered impacts of COVID-19 means pivoting around the pandemic has been uniquely difficult for women.

Now we are having to juggle even more from home, with everyone at home, working from home at the same time, it’s unequally falling on women and moms to figure out how to keep our families healthy, safe, fed, alive, and educated.

Hello My Dear Listeners! Welcome to Episode 2 of Season 2 of Spilling Chai, coming to you from Washington, DC. I’m your host, Anushay Hossain.

Today we have a very special episode for you because not only is our guest a fellow Bangladeshi woman, but when I think of fearless journalism, this is who I think of. I am talking about award-winning journalist and producer, Tania Rashid! Rashid’s work primarily focuses on human rights and women’s issues, and you have seen her amazing reporting on Al-Jazeera English, CNN International, PBS Newshour, NBC News, the National Geographic Channel, MIC, Channel 4UK, and Vice News.

Hello, My Dear Spilling Chai Listeners! How is everybody? We are so excited to be back with Season 2 after such a fantastic first season of the show. Thank you for giving “Spilling Chai” so much love and support! When we came up with the concept for “Spilling Chai,” it was meant to amplify #BrownGirlMagic, a hashtag that has really become a mantra in my life, and our guest today really embodies all the qualities of being a true badass woman of color. I am talking about Asha Rangappa-- lawyer, Senior Lecturer at Yale University, and a legal and national security analyst for CNN. Rangappa was also a Special Agent in the New York Division of the FBI specializing in counterintelligence investigations; assessing threats to national security, conducting classified investigations on suspected foreign agents, and performing undercover work.

Hello Spilling Chai, Listeners! Welcome to episode 14, the season finale of the show.

We hear so much about how the GOP under Trump is unrecognizable and basically just the party of Trump. But behind the spectacular rise of the political action committee the Lincoln Project, and their viral videos that mock everything from the president’s leadership to his intelligence to his patriotism, is a group of some of the most prominent Republican figures who call themselves “Never Trumpers.”

While the Lincoln Project aims its content at Republican voters whose support of Trump is wavering and Trump himself, the group is attracting millions of dollars from both Republican and Democrat donors. Lifelong Democrats are even organizing fundraisers for the Lincoln Project.

So does this super-PAC have the recipe to defeat Trump?

Hello, my Dear Listeners! Welcome to episode 13 of Spilling Chai.

When it comes to the issue of immigration, we hear so much about the “Dreamers.” But who are they and what do they dream of? Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is the program that protects Dreamers, young, undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children and grew up here, from being deported.

Early this summer, in two separate cases, the US Supreme Court and a federal appeals court, both ruled that the Trump administration was unjustified in ending an Obama-era program that temporarily halts deportations for hundreds of thousands of “dreamers.” Not surprisingly, the current brazenly anti-immigration administration has refused to comply.

Hello, My Dear listeners! How are you? Welcome to episode 12 of the show, coming to you from Washington, DC on this blistering, corona-raging summer day. Be honest-- when you think of a country music-loving, Republican man, chances are you picture a white male. But our guest today not only breaks outdated stereotypes, but also broke with the Republican party and became a Democrat. 

I am talking about Project Lincoln Senior Advisor, Kurt Bardella. Bardella is a former Congressional spokesman who is an MSNBC contributor to Morning Joe. He’s also a contributing writer for USA Today, and the creator and publisher of the country music industry publication, Morning Hangover. And he joins us today on Spilling Chai!

In the aftermath of George Floyd’s brutal murder at the hands of the police, a racial reckoning spread across the country which is frankly still going strong. But another reckoning is taking place in America’s newsrooms, calling out the media industry for how it contributes to a racist culture that renders Black journalists voiceless. Frankly, most people of color in the media can relate.

Well, one journalist is taking a leading role in confronting outdated newsroom norms. I am talking about Wesley Lowery. Lowery is a journalist at CBS News, formerly with The Washington Post. He was a lead on the Post's "Fatal Force" project that won the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 2016 as well as the author of TheyCan't Kill Us All: Ferguson, Baltimore, and a New Era in America's Racial Justice Movement. 

After becoming a CNN political contributor in 2017, this year Lowery was announced as a correspondent for 60 in 6, a short-form spinoff of 60 Minutes for Quibi, and he joins us today on “Spilling Chai.”

Hello Everyone! Welcome to episode 10 of Spilling Chai. I would normally check-in and ask how everybody is doing, but as Corona rages across America and the world, (but really, America since we do have the highest number of cases), aren’t we all kind of living in the same uncertain-freefall-pandemic reality?

Well, today’s show gives you a much-needed break from all things Corona as we discuss two of my favorite subjects--politics and journalism.

And for those of you who say I’m hard on white men and always insulting them, I present to you my guest today-- iconic American political journalist, David Corn, who also happens to be one of my favorite white men. If you're not following him on Twitter, you are missing out.

Hello, My Dear Listeners! Welcome to episode 9 of Spilling Chai. If I close my eyes and try really, really hard I can (kind of) think back to 2016-- a time pre-Corona and pre- Trump when election campaigns were at fever pitch, the race for the White House was nearing the finish line, and everybody thought Hillary Clinton had the presidency in the bag. Ah, those were the days!

Even though people, especially people of color, were sounding the alarm about the real dangers a Trump presidency would bring, too many of us just didn’t take him seriously and thought there was no way he’d actually win the election.

Well, today’s guest, Sarah Kendzior, was never a part of that crowd. The American journalist, author, anthropologist, researcher, and scholar is widely credited with being the first person to call Donald Trump's election victory in 2016, and she predicted his rise years ago.

Hi Everyone! Welcome to Episode 8 of Spilling Chai coming to you from the capital of a nation on fire-- figuratively and literally. It feels like the America I once knew-- or thought I knew-- is vanishing before my eyes. It is a nation divided over race, paralyzed by a global pandemic; the economy is in ruins, millions are unemployed, and as protests continue across the country, America’s racial wounds and roots lay exposed for all to see. How do we move forward after the brutal murder of George Floyd at the hands of the police? Is America coming together or falling apart?

Hello, My Dear Listeners! Welcome to episode 7 of Spilling Chai. Like so many people that grew up outside of America, American TV shows and movies made up such a big part of my childhood, so this idea about America being all about law and order, and justice, and the bad guys vs the good guys, and legal systems that work was something that was so ingrained in me from what I watched and saw on screen. The message was clear-- no one in America is above the law. I really believed that once. Well, all that went to hell with Trump. Can we even count the ways this man has rendered the American system of checks, balances, accountability, and the whole concept of no one being above the law, to oblivion?