Speaking Our Language

This time around Elston is solo dolo as we enter into the matrix of the mind. Since Ashley’s episode was about solo traveling, you can think of this as baggage claim. It’s a cool, inviting space to claim and unpack your baggage. Elston dives into faith, working through anxiety, act vs practice, and revelations from a recent journey to spiritual enlightenment with friend Dom Troupe. The episode is true to form, in that just like our minds the conversation ebbs and flows into this beautiful stream of consciousness. Before closing out, Elston shares some of his poetry, thoughts on the world and imagines the possibility of a world with no fear.  Media: Music: Kaleem Taylor, Unplugged Album by Ms. Lauryn Hill  Jay Shetty ft. Will Smith Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDYMizH73cc&t=126s (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDYMizH73cc&t=126s)

Olamide Olowe joins Ashley & Elston this week to discuss the formation of the beauty brand, Topicals. Olamide talks about the Do’s and Dont’s of building relationships and how that has translated to building a team for Topicals. Before wrapping, Olamide shares her top 3 beauty products and how to pitch to investors. Our Voice to The Culture section this week covered the recently aired Oscars. We big up some of our favorite looks and favorite winners, H.E.R. & Daniel Kaluuya *wink wink* And we share some of our favorite songs that we’ve been listening to over the past few weeks. Check out the episode to learn which songs and artists got featured.  Black Business of the Week: Topicals @mytopicals Olamide @olamideaolowe 

This week, Ashley & Elston have the opportunity to chop with Emani, founder of @Blknvegan about starting an online community centered around eating, why she decided to go vegan, and how to remain consistent on this vegan journey. Emani also opens up about her love for cooking, where it comes from, and shares her aspirations for growing the @Blkandvegn platform. This episode is devoid of all meat-eating shame, but Emani shares advice to help us all get comfortable with where to start to become vegan should we choose!  For The Culture this week is a quick dive into astrology. Ashley, Elston, and Emani talk all things astrology. From sharing their signs to discussing what it says about them, listen to learn all the juicy details. Black Business of the Week: @Blkandvegan

The very first guest of the Invest in Yourself, Bet on Yourself series is Bami Aleshe. Bami is a designer and the co-founder of the creative collective, CMMND. In this episode, we dive into Bami’s journey to becoming a designer, how his unique perspective has influenced his work, and the risks and investments are taken to get this far.  In lieu of a Voice to the Culture, Power to the People segment we chat with Bami about what he’s currently watching and fashion trends we can look forward to for the summer to stay fly and comfortable. This week’s Black business is highlighted by our guest, so please go check him and his work at the following Instagram accounts:  @itmightbebami @cmmnd 

This time around Ashley is flying solo bolo! With Elston away this week, Ashley discusses her trip to Jamaica, revelations of self-care and how to love yourself in the different love languages. Take a listen as you relax and find ways to love on yourself some more. 

Invest in Yourself, Bet on Yourself! Ashley and Elston are back after a short break, and they’re entering spring feeling rested and renewed. This episode Ashley and Elston discuss how Speaking Our Language came to be, the experiences that have prepared them for this creative journey and how they decided to bet on themselves and take a risk!  For The Culture this week is focused on Ashley & Elston’s favorite music picks and new movie finds. Elston shoutouts his new favorite artist JAEL, member of Soulection and his fire EP, Unworthy. While Ashley has been obsessed with Blxst, and highlights his song Fck Boys ft. Russ. Be sure to check out both artists, because when it comes to music, they do not miss! In terms of movies, Boogie featuring Pop Smoke and Taylour Paige, as well as Without Remorse featuring Michael B. Jordan will be on their soon to watch list.  Black Business of the Week:  @partakefoods - vegan, gluten-free snack brand! @styleeyesoptical - eye wear boutique offering personal styling and concierge services 

The Black & Love series wraps with its final episode on Revolutionary Love. Ashley & Elston discuss imagination and concepts of Black radical love. They draw connections in everyday life, but not before discussing its role and representation in media. For the Culture is where you’ll find them chopping it up about Judas & The Black Messiah and wrapping with showing love to Black businesses as always. Perfect close to a great series! 

Finally, we are at the part in the series where we explore advice from those in relationships. We asked some of our favorite couples' questions about love & relationships to learn how to better love our significant others. In this episode, Ashley & Elston get to sit back and enjoy listening for a change.

This episode of the Black & Love series focuses on Singleness & Dating with the help of our friend and digital marketing guru, Joy Ofodu. We chop it up about red vs. green flags. Tap in to hear about Joy’s expertise on dating apps and our co-host's outlook on red vs. green flags for relationships. No For the Culture or Black Business this week, but stay tuned for Part 2 about relationships where we’ll hear from some of Ashley & Elston’s favorite couples. 

Ashley & Elston look at love from the eyes of those closest to them. After interviewing each other’s parents, they discuss responses and their initial reactions. And before it’s all over, you get a chance to also hear from Ashley & Elston’s closest friends. Tune in for an episode full of appreciation, reflection, and love. Listen for their takes on culture and as always they highlight Black-owned businesses. 

This is the first installment of our Black History Month: Black & Love series, where we explore Blackness and love in its many dimensions. Ashley & Elston discuss their journey to self-love and the importance of possessing a love for one’s self. The Voice to The Culture segment pays tribute to a pillar of our culture, Cicely Tyson, shows love to Chloe Bailey and features some new Brent Faiyaz. And of course, ends with a shoutout for Black businesses. 

Season Two is starting off real different! Brand new year, new energy, and new segments. Co-hosts, Ashley and Elston, are both in New York this season and they’re ready for all that 2021 has to offer. Before diving into this year, they take a look back at 2020 to discuss what they’re shedding and answer a series of questions for some soulful reflections. With the addition of their new segment, Voice To The Culture, they’ll be shining a light on some of the most popular topics in Black culture and media. And of course, they couldn’t conclude an episode without shouting out a few Black-owned businesses. So get ready to dive deeper, laugh harder, and grow stronger all 2021.

THIS IS IT! Ep. 6: Navigating Expectations, the season finale of our navigation mini-series ft. Grammy award-winning artist and friend of the podcast, H.E.R. Tune in as we chop it up with H.E.R. about trusting the process, staying true to self, making vision boards, and manifesting success. Then, stay tuned as we use our platform to shine a light on local artists you ought ya know. We are so very thankful to all of you for listening to us each week. Please follow us on our social media accounts below. And stay tuned for Season 2...we cooking as we speak! IG: @SpeakingOur Twitter: @SpeakingOur 

Ep 5: Navigating Self-Sabotage is all about embracing and accepting the past. Our co-hosts keep it light and fun as they discuss failures, past mistakes and their regrets over the years. Along with the staples like the music segment and Black business of the week, in addition to some talk about the season finale, you don’t want to miss this one! 

Ep. 4: Navigating Mental Health features special guest, Brittney Moses. Brittney is an LA native who is passionate about seeing this generation live on purpose. While in the study of Psychology and research assisting at UCLA, she leverages her platform to reduce stigma and assist with helpful information at the intersection of faith, and mental health. Brittney is also a certified recovery support group facilitator with NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, and a Crisis Counselor with the Crisis Textline. Tap in to hear us talk through the cultural crises of Covid-19, racial injustices, depression, and all things mental health. We also chime in on the topic of “entanglements” and healing during our newly added Culture segment.

This episode marks the halfway point of our Navigation mini-series and this time around we discussed Navigating Self-Awareness. It’s so easy to cancel others, but do we keep that same energy for ourselves? So tune in as we chop it up about our strengths & weaknesses, self-accountability, making boundaries, and keeping our egos in check.

On this week’s episode of Speaking Our Language, we wanted to explore how we navigate our Blackness, even amongst other Black people. We wanted to highlight the multiple identities where share along with being Black and the beauty and struggles that come with it. Stay tuned as we cover misogynoir, accountability and better ways to have breakthrough conversations about our differences.

Welcome to the very first episode of Speaking Our Language! This episode is titled "Navigating Our Blackness" and is the first of our Navigation mini-series. Tap in for a look into our world and how we've come to love our Blackness. We'll be sharing our experiences, our music picks, Black businesses, and much more. Most importantly , we hope to learn together and grow together as the podcast grows.

The TIME HAS COME! The podcast you didn’t know you needed is finally here. It has most def been a journey, but now we’re ready to share and connect with yall. So get ready for some dope content, special guests, and much more! Tune in for our very first episode next Wednesday, June 24th.