As I have moved across the country at different points in my life, for first for graduate school and then for postdoctoral training and jobs, I have had the opportunity to meet and become friends with a variety of people. Some of them have been a small part of my life or only connected briefly while others have remained in my life for decades. I have been grateful for each of these friendships and the ways in which they have helped me learn, love, laugh, cry, and grow. And Thanksgiving seems like a great time to share my gratitude and celebrate friendship by sharing some amazing things that my friends are doing. The list is too long to share them all, so I want to focus on two podcasts and the amazing women behind them.

Dr. Janaé Taylor, LPC, is the founder of a therapy private practice in Virginia Beach, Virginia (https://www.taylorcounselingconsultingservices.com/about-us.html). Additionally, she gives back to the community by sharing her experience as a Black business owner in her podcast “Minding My Black Business” (https://mindingmyblackbusiness.com/podcast/), which has released its 60th episode! I’d encourage you to check it out to learn more about everything business, from being a business owner and parent, to learning boundaries, to being vulnerable in an online world and more.

Wanda Swan is the director of a violence prevention and advocacy program for a private university in Atlanta, Georgia. Additionally, she owns a small business called Seed of the Free (https://www.seedofthefreellc.com/home.html) where she caters to our petty impulses in the fight against oppression in the form of novelty stationery, pins, and mugs. But what I most want to highlight is the new podcast that she has started with Dr. Shannan Palma of Agnes Scott College: “Once Upon a Patriarchy” (https://onceuponapatriarchy.com). This podcast is quite new, with episode 2 being recently released. The first episode focused on all of the variations of the story “The Little Mermaid” and the second analyzed the stories of “Beauty and the Beast.”

I invite you to check out these amazing women and the good that they are doing in their communities. I am proud to call them friends and grateful that they have been a part of my life.