Black Girls Bonding

Kianti Brown Whitney

This is a place where Black women can come and feel safe to share their experiences and challenge the status quo.  From managing relationships and career, to navigating day-to-day life, this is a space for community and connection.

  1. APR 10

    Pleasure Is Power: Reclaiming Your Body, Joy, and Yourself with Dr. Nikki

    In this deeply affirming and honest conversation, Kianti sits down with Dr. Nikki,  licensed psychologist, published scholar, and unapologetic advocate for Black women's well-being, to talk about what it really costs high-achieving Black women to keep showing up for everyone but themselves. Dr. Nikki opens up about her own winding path: from university professor to getting tenure at the University of Houston, hitting burnout, navigating an integrity clash at MD Anderson over anti-racism training, and ultimately going full private practice in 2021 at 51. Her story is a masterclass in betting on yourself — even when it's scary. In this episode, we get into: Why high-achieving Black women are often the most disconnected from their own pleasure and how it all starts in childhoodThe link between proximity to white supremacist culture and delayed emotional developmentWhy pleasure (yes, all kinds) is a source of power and reclamation, not indulgenceWhat it actually looks like to advocate for yourself sexually and why most partners want to know but need a roadmapPractical ways to reconnect with your body when masturbation or sex feels off the tablePerimenopause: what nobody told us, what our mamas went through unmedicated, and why we're doing it differentlyWhat "choosing yourself" looks like as a Black woman — and how watching little Black girls be free reminded Dr. Nikki of who she was before the world got to herDr. Nikki is a licensed psychologist currently accepting individual and group therapy clients (high-achieving Black women) virtually in 46 states. 📌 Find Dr. Nikki: @DrNikkiKnows on Instagram, Threads, YouTube | DrNikkiKnows.com 📖 What Dr. Nikki is reading: Criminal Intentions by Cole McCabe — a queer, diverse crime thriller she describes as an absolute chokehold. Instagram @BlackGirlsBonding

    53 min
  2. MAR 13

    The Meantime

    Atlanta is having one of those “fake spring” weeks. Warm sunshine one day, cold temperatures the next. It feels like the weather is faking us out. That idea ended up becoming the perfect metaphor for this season of life. In this episode, I’m reflecting on what it means to sit in the meantime. That period where things are moving, but maybe not as quickly or as smoothly as you hoped. Over the past few months, I’ve had a lot of honest conversations with fellow entrepreneurs, many of them Black women, and we’ve all been saying the same thing. The year isn’t quite popping the way we expected. That realization pushed me to look inward and ask some hard questions. Was I really doing everything I could be doing? Was fear holding me back from taking bigger, bolder steps? What would it look like to trust my track record and move forward anyway? In this episode, I talk about: • The fear that shows up when we try to build something new  • Why remembering your “receipts” matters  • How Black women are often taught to shrink instead of celebrate ourselves  • What it looks like to use slow seasons intentionally  • Finding joy, rest, and growth in the meantime Because the truth is, life rarely lines up perfectly. There is almost always something unfinished, uncertain, or still unfolding. So the question becomes: what do we do with the time in between? Pop Culture Corner This week I’m talking about the HBO series Industry and while I loved the show, I hated each one of the characters. It has all of the makings of your fave new show: the ambition, the cutthroat culture, and the characters you love to hate. Let’s just say… I couldn’t root for any of them. Instagram @BlackGirlsBonding

    21 min
  3. JAN 30

    The Real Deal Holyfield: A Refreshing and Honest Look at Marriage with Carline Hooker

    In this episode, host Kianti sits down with her homegirl, Carline Hooker, the "saleswoman extraordinaire" and founder of NetworkIt. Carline brings 14 years of marriage experience (and 17 years of partnership) to the table for a conversation that moves past the "Instagrammable" version of relationships and into the "real deal Holyfield" truth. Whether you are single, dating, or decades into a marriage, this episode offers a refreshing perspective on what it actually takes to build a life with someone else. Inside This Episode: Moving Beyond "Communication": Carline explains why she "hates" the standard advice that communication is the key to marriage and offers actionable alternatives.The Power of Service: A deep dive into the definition of love as "taking actions to help another person win".Different by Design: Understanding the fundamental biological and psychological differences between partners to remove barriers of tension.Prioritizing Values: How to recognize when your personal priorities, like efficiency, might be inadvertently "poo-pooing" on your partner's strengths.Safe Spaces for Honesty: Identifying safe spaces to discuss challenges and obstacles as they arise in marriage.About the Guest: Carline Hooker is the founder and owner of NetworkIt, a community focused on connecting people for the sake of genuine connection rather than just business revenue. You can find her at networkitcoach.com or on Instagram at @NetworkItCoach or @carline_hkr. Instagram @BlackGirlsBonding

    58 min
5
out of 5
18 Ratings

About

This is a place where Black women can come and feel safe to share their experiences and challenge the status quo.  From managing relationships and career, to navigating day-to-day life, this is a space for community and connection.