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An illustration of an office. There's a man wearing a mask sitting at a computer behind a cubicle wall looking up to a man standing with his arms on the cubicle wall. The man who is standing is smiling and talking to the man behind the desk, who also appears to be smiling under his mask. The word "Co-Worked" is in the upper-left corner.

Co-Worked: The Good, Bad & Ambivalent Of The Office Bestie

Anita wouldn't have made it through her 20s without her work friends. But now that she's a manager and working in a hybrid office, she's noticed that work friendships don't come as easily as they used to. A psychologist answers her burning workplace relationship questions and dives into the surprising amount of data about work besties. Plus, a Gen Z writer urges her to re-think the importance of work as a primary social hub.

An illustration of a Black parent on their knees with a calm face looking into the eyes of their Black child, who looks angry. The parent has locs in ponytail and is wearing glasses. It looks like they are talking to the child calmly. The child also has locs. They are standing outside of a building. The word “Intentioned” is in the upper lefthand corner.

Intentioned: Parenting Ourselves And Our Kids

Guest host Omisade Burney-Scott is well aware that gentle parenting is a divisive concept. So she's gets into it! Omi talks with two other Black mothers about their definitions of gentle parenting and how it can break cycles of generational trauma. Then her older son shares how he has seen her parenting evolve over the past three decades.

Plucked: The Calm And Chaos Of A Hair-Pulling Disorder (Revisited)

Anita agrees to a suggestion posed by a listener: Explore why the hair-pulling disorder trichotillomania is so taboo. She talks with an artist who started pulling their hair more than two decades ago but only recently told her parents…after publishing part of their story in a national news outlet. A psychologist on the front-lines of studying trich treatment talks about the importance of acceptance; and a hairstylist with trich takes us into why her salon is a safe haven for other folks with hair loss.

Slayed: Gender Performance Beyond The Binary

After not seeing a drag show for the first 30 years of her life, Anita now dives in. She explores the history and evolution of the artform with a drag scholar-turned-performer; meets a non-binary drag 'thing' pushing boundaries through performance; and talks with a Durham-based drag artist who speaks out against anti-drag violence.

An illustration featuring many different faces: a young girl with dark skin and braids in her hair, a young boy with blond hair, a teen girl with brown hair and green eyes, a brown dog, a young Black man and an older white woman. These faces are scattered across the illustration, mixed with holly, snowflakes, leaves, acorns, speech bubbles and twigs. The word "Navigated" is in the upper righthand corner.

Navigated: The Rao Sisters On Holiday Conversations

Anita has a lot of practice talking about taboo topics with strangers. But when it comes to having these conversations in her own family, especially around the holidays, she gets squirmy like the rest of us. She invites her older sister Priyanka onto the podcast to reflect on tricky — but often inevitable — conversations with family members. Priyanka, a mom and pediatrician, talks about her ongoing journey to broach difficult subjects that come up a lot this time of year: loss, family dynamics and parenting boundaries.

Plucked: The Calm And Chaos Of A Hair-Pulling Disorder

Anita agrees to a suggestion posed by a listener: Explore why the hair-pulling disorder trichotillomania is so taboo. She talks with an artist who started pulling their hair more than two decades ago but only recently told her parents…after publishing part of their story in a national news outlet. A psychologist on the front-lines of studying trich treatment talks about the importance of acceptance; and a hairstylist with trich takes us into why her salon is a safe haven for other folks with hair loss.

An illustration of a hand opening a refrigerator door. On the door are three photos of a masculine-presenting person and a pet cat. Each photo shows the pet and pet guardian at different ages. The word "Remembered" is on the right-hand side of the illustration in the center of it.

Remembered: How To Grieve An Animal Loved One

Anita is a dog mom. Her wire-haired, bearded terrier Oliver has been her companion through heartbreak, job changes and pandemic turmoil. She's never going to feel ready to say goodbye, but she knows from watching others lose family pets, that pet grief can wreck you, and it's better to acknowledge this reality sooner rather than later. She talks with pet owners, a veterinary social worker, a vet and her own parents about making space for pet grief and memorializing the animal companions we have loved.

Aced: Love, Romance And Asexuality

Anita learns from folks who identify as the A on the LGBTQIA spectrum. It's a sexual identity that's long been ignored, minimized and misunderstood. They share their differing experiences of not being sexually attracted to anyone and a reminder we could all use: love and sex are not the same.

Coordinated: The Making Of A Sex Scene

Anita now knows why sex scenes in some of her favorite recent TV shows look a whole lot more like real life: intimacy coordinators. Two of them join her to talk about their work choreographing intimacy and training everyone on set about how boundaries and structure makes things sexier and more fun.

An illustration of two people sitting face-to-face on a purple carpet from the elbows down. One person is sitting with their legs crossed inside of the other person's legs around them, and they are holding hands. The word “Guided” is at the bottom of the illustration.

Guided: Practicing Intimacy & Sex With A Surrogate

Anita first learned about surrogate partner therapy from the 2012 movie "The Sessions," and her curiosity was piqued. It's a widely misunderstood and stigmatized type of therapy work in which touch is a mechanism for healing. Two surrogate partners take her inside the day-to-day of their jobs, and a certified sex therapist shares why she hopes others in her industry will be more welcoming to the practice.

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