Speaking to the Moment: 10 Podcasts Shifting Culture & Conversations in Black Media
In the same ways that previous generations of Black media makers utilized public access TV and radio as a means to combat misrepresentation and censorship by mainstream media, Black media makers today have found refuge in content creation through podcasting.
As the promises of diversity and inclusion in legacy media are abandoned across all sectors, print media continually declines, and overall media distrust increases, Black media makers are finding fertile ground in the podcasting space to share information and hold critical conversations. In 2022, Nielsen found that the number of Black consumers listening to podcasts increased by 70% in three years. With exponential growth potential and the ability to reach audiences authentically, podcasting has become a culture-shifting ground for Black media makers.
Below is a list of 10 podcasts founded and hosted by Black creators with backgrounds ranging from corporate marketing, healthcare, activism, and comedy, culturally resonant stories, and at times heavily reported through the lens of podcasting.
1. The Cutting Room Floor
With fifteen years of insider industry experience fueled by working for brands like Calvin Klein, Theory, and founding her label OMONDI, Recho Omondi created The Cutting Room Floor, offering creatives, especially fashion, art, and design nerds, deep-dive interviews with innovators and tastemakers in the creative sectors. Nicknamed ‘Fashion’s Only Fashion Show,’ The Cutting Room garnered a cult fanbase as host, Omondi created a space for the industry’s most elusive, artistic voices to host insightful, authentic conversations about craft, process, ownership/agency, distributions, and all things creatives need to navigate the industry.
2. What Now? with Trevor Noah
After his award-winning stint on The Daily Show, Trevor Noah focused his gifts as an interviewer, facilitating intimate, engaging interviews with thought-leaders, celebrities, and entertainers on his podcast What Now? With Trevor Noah. Co-hosted with long-term friends and collaborators, writer-comedians Christiana Mbakwe Medina and Josh Johnson, What Now? is packed with candor and genuine curiosity, and hosts who connect to their audiences.
3. The Naked Beauty Podcast by Brooke DeVard
Brooke DeVard lived a lifetime guided by beauty and wellness, coupled with business acumen gained from serving as a marketing and social media guru for global brands such as Ralph Lauren, Instagram, and Viacom, before she decided to launch The Naked Beauty podcast in 2016. Born from her desire to tell stories of beauty, wellness, and fashion as sacred rituals of self-expression, grounding routines, and points of community for women of color, Naked Beauty has grown into a movement of its own. DeVard has continually facilitated meaningful, vulnerable conversations with hundreds of the thought-leaders in beauty/skincare and wellness as the industries have exponentially grown this decade. Her work attracted the attention of Refinery 29, where she’s recently assumed the role of Chief Content Officer.
4. Olay & Friends
Movement lawyer, public defender, political activist, and journalist, Olayemi ‘Olay’ Olurin made a career of advocating for the marginalized and educating the public on politics, abolition, and systemic racism. On Olay & Friends, Olurin takes on hot topics in pop culture and politics with a revolving panel of issue experts, merging everyone from movement organizers, lawyers, educators, and journalists. Oand lay & Friends is a space for Black intellectuals to playfully discuss nuanced topics with rigor without censoring themselves.
5. Black History, For Real
In a political climate when Black History education and cultural institutions are legislatively targeted, multihypenate host/entertainer Franchesca ‘Chescaleigh’ Ramsey and educator/content creator, George ‘Conscious’ Lee launched, Black History For, Real (2025), a history series on Wondery offering uncensored breakdowns, insights, and historical tea about some of the most overlooked, but impactful contributors to Black history and weaving their narraitves into the stories of changemakers today.
6. Grits & Eggs Podcast
In an era when male-driven podcasts are developing a negative reputation, Deanté Kyle is shifting the tone of the conversation with the Grits & Eggs Podcast. Kyle facilitates pivotal conversations about accountability, trauma, and economic empowerment within the Black community alongside breakdowns of music, film, and conspiracy theories with humor, wit, and grit that resonate with the Black community from all backgrounds.
7. Pod Save The People
DeRay McKesson built equity among Black communities as an activist against police violence in the 2010s. Today, as host of Pod Save the People, alongside co-hosts Myles E. Johnson (writer & editor) and Sharhonda Bossier (CEO), they help listeners make sense of current events in politics. Prioritizing underrepresented voices, intentional guests, and stories resonant to communities of color, Pod Save The People empowers listeners to form their own opinions.
8. Therapy for Black Girls Podcast
Licensed psychologist, Dr. Joy Harden Bradford, created a comprehensive mental health resource for Black women with her podcast, Therapy for Black Girls. This award-winning podcast addresses mental health topics and curates episode collections/series to help listeners find the right advice for their interests. Therapy for Black Girls covers the gamut of self and career development, chats with authors, and physical wellness.
9. Stuck With Damon Young
Award-winning author, critic, and satirist Damon Young built a platform where he can bring the unfiltered perspective he’s known for in his writing to his podcast Stuck with Damon Young. Listener-submitted questions accompany Young as he holds authentic conversations about humanity with some of today’s most trailblazing Black voices in journalism, comedy, and literature, who also happen to be his colleagues.
10. She’s So Lucky
For over a decade, Les Alfred built a name for herself, filling gaps in the wellness space as the creator of the Balanced Black Girl podcast. After 300 episodes, she’s continued to create content that serves what her audience needs, fully rebranded as She’s So Lucky. Alfred’s new podcast seeks to redefine what it means to be ‘lucky’ when discussing successful women, giving listeners an unfiltered look at the lessons accomplished women have learned through their journeys. From founders, entrepreneurs, to bestselling authors, She’s So Lucky breaks down the habits, mindsets, and decisions that helped them achieve the success others diminished as ‘luck.’
About the Author
Kathleen Anaza
Kathleen ‘Kat’ Anaza is a multi-genre storyteller, organizer, and entrepreneur whose works center on narratives and experiences of the Black Diaspora. She has been featured in Vogue Magazine, Lonely Planet, Viator, and more. Connect with her work at https://linktr.ee/Kat_Anaza.
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