How To Not Lose Your Sh!t

Red Wine & Blue

Want to know how you can make a difference without losing your sh!t? Join Katie Paris and LaFonda Cousin, two moms with very different backgrounds who together run Red Wine & Blue – an organization of over half a million diverse suburban women working together to defeat extremism. Katie, the org’s founder, has worked in political organizing for most of her career. LaFonda, the Chief People Officer, is a wellness expert on a mission to reimagine self-care.  Each week, LaFonda and Katie talk to experts and everyday women who are getting involved, building community, and feeling better in the process.

  1. 1D AGO

    Carry Your Torch (with Kate Barr and Jill Barkley Roy)

    We all know elections are important, from president to city council and school board. But have you ever heard anyone talk about running for office as self-care? We hadn’t either — until today! This week on the pod, we were joined by two inspirational women: Jill Barkley Roy and Kate Barr. Jill is the Director of Emerge Action Fund, an organization that trains women to run for office. And Kate has been fighting against gerrymandering in North Carolina for years and now, she’s actually running for office as a Republican as a genius way to beat those unfair maps. Not only did both Jill and Kate share what they’ve been doing to help women (including themselves) run for office, but they both said that the work they do is what helps them not lose their shit on a daily basis.  Jill even said that after training 25 women to run for office at a recent Emerge bootcamp, she was so excited that she couldn’t sleep. That sounds a lot better than lying awake because of nightmares about ICE! Kate, meanwhile, shared this wisdom that she first heard from a Tibetan monk about not spreading ourselves too thin. We should find our torch — the issue we care about most — and carry it in the direction we feel is right and true for as we're able. It's what she and Jill have both been doing for years. For a transcript of this episode, please email comms@redwine.blue. You can learn more about us at www.redwine.blue or follow us on social media! Instagram: @RedWineBlueUSA Facebook: @RedWineBlueUSA YouTube: @RedWineBlueUSA

    44 min
  2. JAN 28

    At The Breaking Point (with Malynda Hale)

    Americans are at a breaking point. But that breaking point looks wildly different depending on who you ask. For many of us who have been protesting and organizing against the Trump Administration since 2016, we’re at an emotional breaking point. How much suffering, how many innocent lives have to be lost, before this country turns back toward democracy? For some who supported Trump (or at least didn’t care one way or the other), it’s a moral breaking point. Confronted with clear video evidence in Alex Pretti and Renee Good’s murders, seeds of doubt are growing in former MAGA faithfuls. Women in particular, regardless of political party, do not support ICE’s brutality. And some lifelong activists, especially Black women, are at a breaking point too. After years of not being listened to, it’s hard to graciously welcome the “Johnny-come-lately”s whose minds were only changed when a white man was murdered. That frustration is so understandable. But we can’t afford to turn people away — no matter how early or late they’ve joined the fight. That’s not to say that there shouldn’t be accountability! But as our pod guest Malynda Hale said to a woman who had posted on Threads that she was leaving MAGA, “Welcome, good for you, let’s get to work cause you have a lot to help fix.” This week’s conversation between Malynda and LaFonda explores that tension between accountability and welcoming people to the cause. Malynda is also the Executive Director of The New Evangelicals, an organization that’s redefining what it means to be an evangelical Christian in America. Her chat with LaFonda goes deep on so many of these topics and more — we hope it helps you not lose your shit! Speaking of redefining Christianity, we're holding a virtual event about Christian Nationalism on Thursday, January 29 at 7:30pm ET. You can learn more and RSVP here. For a transcript of this episode, please email comms@redwine.blue. You can learn more about us at www.redwine.blue or follow us on social media! Instagram: @RedWineBlueUSA Facebook: @RedWineBlueUSA YouTube: @RedWineBlueUSA

    41 min
  3. We're Uniting To Stop Project 2026 (with Rebecca Bramlett and Janice Robinson)

    JAN 7

    We're Uniting To Stop Project 2026 (with Rebecca Bramlett and Janice Robinson)

    Red Wine & Blue is back from the holidays and ready to tackle 2026! So it feels right that we were joined for our first pod of the new year by two of our favorite RWB colleagues, Rebecca and Janice. All last year, Rebecca did the hard work of tracking Project 2025 as Trump put it into place, one dangerous policy at a time. So of course we had to ask what her strategy has been to do this depressing research every day without losing her shit! She told us that the antidote has been seeing the amazing work that RWB and women across the country did in their local communities all year long. So to hear more about that on-the-ground work, we also chatted with our North Carolina Program Director, Janice Robinson. Janice and her team have been training women to run for office, protecting kids from ICE at their local schools, and so much more. The year 2025 may be over, but Project 2025 isn’t going anywhere. The Trump administration plans to continue and expand their authoritarian work in 2026. And although that feels daunting, we know how to counter it: by working in our local communities and talking to our friends, family, and neighbors. As Rebecca put it, Project 2025 was “an enormous horrible group project” that included the work of hundreds of conservative authors. But we have our own group project to protect our communities and our country—and there’s no telling what millions of passionate women can accomplish when we work together. 2026 is going to be a big year. Let’s go! For a transcript of this episode, please email comms@redwine.blue. You can learn more about us at www.redwine.blue or follow us on social media! Instagram: @RedWineBlueUSA Facebook: @RedWineBlueUSA YouTube: @RedWineBlueUSA

    33 min

Trailers

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About

Want to know how you can make a difference without losing your sh!t? Join Katie Paris and LaFonda Cousin, two moms with very different backgrounds who together run Red Wine & Blue – an organization of over half a million diverse suburban women working together to defeat extremism. Katie, the org’s founder, has worked in political organizing for most of her career. LaFonda, the Chief People Officer, is a wellness expert on a mission to reimagine self-care.  Each week, LaFonda and Katie talk to experts and everyday women who are getting involved, building community, and feeling better in the process.

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