Sara Cunningham is an author, activist, and founder of the non-profit organization Free Mom Hugs. Her journey is a surprising one that began in conservative Oklahoma when her son, Parker, came out as gay. As a woman of faith, Sara wrestled with the news until she began to study, research, and reconcile the two worlds. This journey resulted in her book How We Sleep at Night. She found herself on a journey “from the church to the Pride parade,” falling in love with the LGBTQIA+ community. The mission of Free Mom Hugs began in the wake of beautiful glitter-covered hugs and heart-breaking horror stories. Simple acts of love and acceptance turned into a viral sensation, and Sara knew she had the opportunity to lead impactful change. Free Mom Hugs is now a movement across the country and the world. Sara goes Beyond the Hug to educate and advocate organizations of all types, including schools and businesses striving for safe and protected spaces. She has often appeared with her son Parker, on the Today Show and The RuPaul Show and spoke at the 2019 GLAAD Awards. She also has been featured in many national publications, including The Washington Post, Woman’s Day magazine, and People magazine. Sara is currently in partnership with Jamie Lee Curtis, who has purchased the rights to her book and will release a movie based on her story. An upcoming documentary about the Mama Bears movement by award-winning director Daresha Kyi also features Sara and the Free Mom Hugs movement. Sara’s passion is to change the perspective of the outside world toward this beautiful part of our community so that we, as a society, not only learn to affirm but, more importantly, celebrate. Her goal is to help parents, and children have authentic relationships and understanding for each other using her own experience and education as a guide. Sara is passionate about connecting with faith, civic, and business leaders in efforts to make the world a kinder, safer place for our LGBTQIA+ family. She is gifted at inspiring others to join her in this movement that is sweeping the nation and the world.

Hillary Whittington is a mom, author, and advocate who has dedicated her life to her children and to raising awareness about the transgender community. After discovering her son was both deaf and transgender, Hillary began dedicating her efforts to raising awareness about the transgender community. Hillary created a viral YouTube video and co-authored a book titled "Raising Ryland: Our Story Of Parenting A Transgender Child With No Strings Attached." In this episode, Hilary shares her journey of parenting a transgender child, and what she learned along the way. From the earliest stages of deciphering Ryland through clothing choices to examining the difficult conversations that have marked every stage of Ryland’s transition, she shares her experiences as a mother through it all.

When Breonna Taylor was killed, her police report was virtually blank. Feeling as if she was suffocating in the initial silence and lack of public outcry, anti-racism educator and activist Faitth Brooks wondered, “Would the world care about and remember me if I was killed?” In her new book, Remember Me Now, Faitth grapples with the answer, charting the story of her activist grandparents and ancestors, as well as chronicling her own journey as the first-generation suburbs kid who becomes an activist and organizer herself. In our conversation Faitth shares her story of how she has learned to celebrate the fullness of herself and invites other Black women to do the same in a world determined to silence Black voices. Faitth is a writer, speaker, social worker, activist, and co-host of the Melanated Faith podcast. Faitth has served as the director of programs and innovation for Be the Bridge and director of women's empowerment for Legacy Collective.

Saira Rao grew up in Richmond, Virginia, the daughter of Indian immigrants. For forty years, she wasted her precious time aspiring to be white and accepted by dominant white society, a futile task for anyone not born with white skin. Several years ago, Saira began the painful process of dismantling her own internalized oppression. In this episode Saira shares her story of how her eyes finally started to open to her own internalized oppression to start speaking up against white supremacy. Saira is the co-founder of Race2Dinner, co-author of New York Times Bestseller White Women: Everything You Already Know About Your Own Racism and How To Do Better and Executive Producer of the documentary Deconstructing Karen.

In part four  of this bonus podcast series, paying tribute to Black motherhood, I am joined by Marcie Alvis-Walker, Cha Sears-Barefield, Patricia A. Taylor, Dr. Quintrilla Ard and Nya Abernathy as they discuss the theme “In Our Mother’s Gardens.” In this episode the women share their experiences of being multidimensional Black women and how they have fought for dignity in a world that has tried to take it. They share personal stories from their own mothering journeys and talk about some of the hardest chapters where their own lives have been jeopardized . They also share about the legacy their ancestors have left for them and the soil they tend to daily to leave a bounty of dignity for the children that come after them.

In part three of this bonus podcast series where we are paying tribute to Black motherhood, I am joined by Marcie Alvis-Walker, Patricia Taylor and Nya Abernathy as they discuss the Black Motherhood in Media. Not only do they share their own experiences growing up and the Black mothers in media that influenced them but also share their passion for having more representation of Black women and girls in media today. They talk about raising daughters under the heavy influence of whiteness all around them and the very real struggle they face as Black mothers keeping their children’s dignity fully intact. Book bans, censorship and teaching our children more accurate history is also discussed.

In this bonus podcast series we are paying tribute to Black Motherhood. For this episode I am joined by historian Lettie Gore, Marcie Alvis-Walker, and Nya Abernathy as they discuss the The Imprint of Black Mothers on our Country. The women discuss everything from our country's Founding Mothers, to Black domestics raising white children, to Black mothers shaping American Politics. (please note, some content may be triggering.)

In this bonus podcast series we are paying tribute to Black motherhood during the month of February in honor of Black History Month. I hand over the mic to a group of  phenomenal Black women as they bring their voices and expertise to talk about all aspects of Black motherhood. In this episode I am joined by historian Lettie Gore, Marcie Alvis-Walker, Cha Barefield, Nya Abernathy, and Dr. Quantrilla Ard as they discuss the History of the Black Womb. Please note that the content of this episode may be triggering for some and the language may not be for young ears. As always the goal with sharing these stories and true history is not to create more trauma but rather to acknowledge the trauma done to Black bodies in this country thus to bring more Black women’s stories out of the darkness and into the light.

In this episode, I sit down for a conversation with my 20 year-old daughter, Grace Kingsley Miller, for one of the most vulnerable conversations I have had to date.  Grace shares her story of struggling with mental illness starting at the age of 14. She shares about some of her childhood trauma that impacted her mental health as battled self harm and depression for many of her teenage years. At the age of 19, Grace was finally diagnosed with bi-polar disorder, and she shares openly about coming to terms with and accepting this difficult diagnosis. We talk about the stigma associated with mental illness and bi-polar disorder especially and the importance of having real conversations about it. Grace also shares her journey of finding effective treatment and help and just how challenging that can be. Finally she shares about her recent experience with ketamine assisted therapy and how promising and effective it has been for her treatment. This episode is for anyone who has struggled with mental health and for family members that love them through it or want to learn to do better in helping them.

Karen González is seeking to see and love her neighbors as God does. She is a speaker, writer, public theologian, and immigrant advocate, who herself immigrated from Guatemala as a child. Karen is a former public school teacher and attended Fuller Theological Seminary, where she studied theology and missiology. For the last 15 years, she has been a non-profit professional, currently working for an organization that serves asylum seekers. She wrote a book about her own immigration story and the many immigrants found in the Bible: The God Who Sees: Immigrants, The Bible, and the Journey to Belong (2019). Her second book Beyond Welcome: Centering Immigrants in Our Christian Response to Immigration seeks to elevate the discourse in the church beyond just hospitality to immigrants. In our conversation we talk about her new book and why the traditional approach to immigration ministries and activism is at best incomplete and at worst harmful. Karen lives in the heart of Baltimore, Maryland, where she enjoys cooking Guatemalan food, traveling, watching baseball, studying the Mayan language Kaqchikel, and writing while her tabby cat Oscar naps beside her.