In case you haven’t noticed yet, I’m passionate about Black History Month. I did not enjoy learning about Black history growing up. It felt more like grieving than celebrating for me, and because of that it’s my dream to make Black History Mont

Let’s Celebrate Black History Month

Jan 23rd, 2024 28m 8s

Can you believe February is right around the corner?! And with it comes BLACK HISTORY MONTH! Celebrating Black History Month is so important for ALL kids, not just Black children, and I created Bite-Sized Black History to help kiddos everywhere

Work With Me: First Name Basis

Oct 25th, 2023 29m 16s

We’re wrapping up Season 8 with this episode, and it’s got me thinking all about our evolution over the years. From beginning as a tiny Instagram account to starting the podcast, from working with families to working with schools, First Name Ba

We Are Anti-Racist and Anti-Genocide

Oct 24th, 2023 6m 39s

Like so many of you, I have been all consumed the last few weeks by the events going on in Gaza and the genocide that is being carried out against the Palestinian people. We've put everything on pause at First Name Basis to be able to try to sh

Black and Brown Emojis Are Not a Punch Line

Oct 10th, 2023 16m 43s

This episode can be summarized with one sentence: Please stop using Black and Brown emojis if you are not Black or Brown. Skin color is something that should be celebrated, not laughed at, but I have seen people using emojis that don’t match th

Invisible Lynching and What It Says About the Fight for Justice

Oct 3rd, 2023 30m 57s

Trigger warning: Before you continue reading these show notes or listening to this episode, please be aware that it discusses lynching and white supremacist violence. Lynching is a reality both now and in the past. Yet despite the fact that lyn

Raising Multiracial Children

Sep 12th, 2023 54m 34s

Growing up as a multiracial child, I often felt my racial identity shifting and developing — heck, even as an adult I do! Navigating what it means to be multiracial continues to be a journey for me, which is why I was so excited to be able to i

3 Things I’ve Learned On My Anti-Racist Journey

Sep 6th, 2023 44m 45s

This episode is a bit of a role reversal with someone I admire SO MUCH. I have been a longtime fan of Rachel Nielson’s podcast 3 in 30: Takeaways for Moms. Each episode is 30 minutes long and provides 3 ACTIONABLE takeaways for listeners to go

Let's Talk Language: Under-Resourced

Aug 29th, 2023 21m 41s

Language is always evolving and we need to evolve with it. Reflecting on the words we’re using and recognizing opportunities to grow and change is a natural (and necessary) part of our anti-racist journeys. It means breaking down and unlearning

Teaching Children About Disabilities

Jul 25th, 2023 58m 36s

July 26, 2023, is the 33rd anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act. If you’re doing the math in your head, let me give you a shortcut: That means the ADA wasn’t passed until 1990. 1990?! It took quite a while for Americans with disab

My Journey: Resisting White Supremacy Culture and Finding Joy

Jul 18th, 2023 48m 56s

Y’all, I’m gettin’ REAL in this episode. We always talk about how anti-racism is a journey not a destination, and it’s so important to take time to reflect on that journey. So in today’s episode, I’m sharing part of my journey with you! You ma

All Children Need "The Talk"

Jul 11th, 2023 40m 35s

Parents of Black children are all too familiar with “The Talk.” “The Talk” where they teach their kids not to have their hands in their pockets at a store. “The Talk” where they teach their kids how to act around police in an attempt to keep th

The Untold Story of “The Star Spangled Banner”

Jul 3rd, 2023 33m 45s

You probably learned in school all about the story of Francis Scott Key watching the “rockets red glare” and “bombs bursting in air” as a prisoner on a British warship and turning the experience into “The Star Spangled Banner.” But, in reality

The Story of the First Openly Gay MLB Player: Glenn Burke

Jun 27th, 2023 23m 28s

Happy Pride my friends, especially to the LGBTQ+ members in our community! To celebrate Pride, I wanted to share an episode from my Bite-Sized Black History program that features a Black American who was LGBTQ+. So today, we’re learning about G

Motherhood: An Unexpected Act of Resistance

Jun 20th, 2023 24m 12s

This episode is a special one to me, one dedicated to all of the Black and Brown moms out there. A lot of my Black and Brown friends who are stay-at-home moms in the thick of it with tiny kiddos have told me that they feel like they’re not doin

The Untold Story of the Story That I Told: Correcting Mistakes When Teaching Kids About Slavery

Jun 13th, 2023 1h 12m

Did you read the title of this episode? It’s a doozy! As convoluted as “The Untold Story of the Story That I Told” is, I couldn’t resist calling this newest episode that because of the WILD ride I went on making it. Years ago I made an eBook ca

What Is Coded Language?

Jun 6th, 2023 36m 16s

I’ve been thinking a lot about coded language lately. If you’re unfamiliar with that term, coded language is when someone is talking negatively about a marginalized group without explicitly saying who they’re talking about — but the “code” is t

Bite-Sized Black History

Jan 26th, 2023 30m 22s

Bite-sized Black History Bite-sized Black History is a podcast just for kids that empowers you to teach the little ones you love about brilliant Black Americans who have been largely overlooked by our history books. We featured 28 different pe

An Update on Our Cross Country Move

Dec 13th, 2022 46m 58s

It’s been a few months since we moved across the country from Arizona to Maryland, and I’ve gotten questions from so many of you wondering how we like our new home. So this week for our Season 7 finale, my husband Carter and I are giving you al

Jesus Had Brown Skin

Dec 6th, 2022 27m 25s

When we really take a moment to step back and think, it’s easy to agree that Jesus had brown skin because he was from the Middle East. If that’s the case, why is Christ so often depicted as white with light skin, hair, and eyes? In this episode

Your School Has a Diversity Statement. Now What?

Nov 29th, 2022 24m 8s

We all know that 2020 was a wake-up call for a lot of people. It was a time of reflection, a time of change (hopefully), and a time where schools all over seemed to prioritize inclusion by drafting diversity statements. But here we are in 2022,

How to Center Indigenous Peoples During Thanksgiving

Nov 22nd, 2022 33m 41s

I made my “Untold Story of Thanksgiving” episode to help me — and hopefully you — understand the true, accurate history. As I think about the episode, I think it does a good job at correcting the history, but it still centers on the colonizers.

Teaching Our Children About Unfamiliar Accents

Nov 15th, 2022 48m 31s

Have y’all ever driven down the East Coast? I don’t mean to spoil the magic for you but I gotta say, it’s basically a straight shot through a wall of trees. So I was pretty excited when I noticed a few colorful billboards dotting my path. That

The Importance of Black and Asian Solidarity

Nov 8th, 2022 46m 12s

To say I’m obsessed with New York Times bestselling author Joanna Ho’s novel “The Silence That Binds Us” is an understatement. Yes, it’s a book technically written for young adults, but it’s also one adults need to read — because not only is

Real Quick: Black Voting Power

Nov 3rd, 2022 13m 51s

If you’ve been around a while, you’ve heard me say it hundreds of times: Race is a social construct. Race was created and has always been manipulated to make sure that the people in the dominant culture — in the U.S., that means people who are