Ree Speaks Ree Speaks

*Part of this season's content was recorded at the end of 2021, but due to unforeseen circumstances publishing of the content has been delayed. With that being said there may be some references to New Year Plans and Christmas festivities.

Welcome to season 2 of Ree Speaks, hosted by me Rianna. If you’ve journeyed with me through to this episode - Episode 15 - THANK YOU! I hope you're enjoying the content so far because there are loads more yet to come. If this is the first episode you're about to listen to check the content from Season 1  afterwards

As someone who’s worked in sexual and reproductive health for over 12 years, I’m very much aware of the benefits and challenges of working in the sector. Thankfully there are many activists, educators and practitioners like me who recognise the sector's value but are also committed to improving the sexual and reproductive health outcomes of people who experience inequalities. 

In this episode, I speak with Marc Thompson a dear friend and force within the sector who continues to inspire me and challenge the ways sexual and reproductive health care services have been designed, delivered and accessed.  

In this conversation, I speak with Marc about 


how and why he developed his community interest company The Love Tank
his sexual and reproductive health activism 
His HIV awareness podcast series We were always here
and his thoughts on utilising digital media as a tool for behaviour change and information sharing within sexual and reproductive health.

The intro and outro of this episode is taken from Public Enemy - Fight The Power (Official Music Video) 

The short clip on PrEP is taken from Date PrEP 

The Short clip on the HIV awareness podcast is taken from They Weren't Us | We Were Always Here 

*Part of this season's content was recorded at the end of 2021, but due to unforeseen circumstances publishing of the content has been delayed. With that being said there may be some references to New Year Plans and Christmas festivities.

Welcome to season 2 of Ree Speaks, hosted by me Rianna. If you’ve journeyed with me through to this episode - Episode 14 - THANK YOU! I hope you're enjoying the content so far because there are loads more yet to come. If this is the first episode you're about to listen to check the content from Season 1  afterwards.

As a young east Londoner in my early teens, Grime music meant everything to me. Like many inner-city young people of that era I was consumed by the culture, I embraced the music and the artists and devoted hours of my day glued to radio sets and Channel U in an attempt to keep up with all the new music.

In this episode, I speak with Dr Joy White, an author, and lecturer from East London who has devoted part of her academic career to researching Grime music, effectively leading her to publish her second book in 2020 titled Terraformed - Young Black Lives in the Inner City.

In this conversation, we discuss

- Terraformed

- The dynamics that sparked Joy’s interest in Grime

- and the impact of the genre both nationally and internationally.



The intro of this episode is taken from Kamikaze - Ghetto Kyote (Instrumental)  

The short clip about grime is taken from From Pirate Radio to Mainstream - Grime Story! 

The short clip from Mind is taken from - What are mental health problems? 

*Part of this season's content was recorded at the end of 2021, but due to unforeseen circumstances publishing of the content has been delayed. With that being said there may be some references to New Year Plans and Christmas festivities.

Welcome to season 2 of Ree Speaks, hosted by me Rianna. If you’ve journeyed with me through to this episode - Episode 13 - THANK YOU! I hope you're enjoying the content so far because there are loads more yet to come. If this is the first episode you're about to listen to check the content from Season 1  afterwards.

The growth of social media over the last decade has encouraged many of us to develop a range of skills in media and communication. Some of us have grown up with the technology, whilst others are still getting to grips with its many possibilities, either way, engaging with media and communications have become a function of daily life. 

In this episode, I speak with Richard Ettienne, former official videographer to British Prime Minister Theresa Maya about his journey to date, from working as a self-shooting videographer to becoming a renowned media consultant. We also speak about the skills he’s acquired along the way, some of the amazing projects he’s developed and his future creative plans. 

Richard currently holds senior communications positions within the private and third sectors and has aided the online promotion of global brands in academia, art and politics for over 17 years. He is a personal branding consultant and teaches a Guardian Masterclass series, Self-promotion for introverts, and is also the founder of Black Introvert Week UK. Follow Richard’s brand awareness blog, where you can download free ebooks on introversion empowerment.

The intro and outro for this episode are taken from Che Lingo - Bobbing For Apples.

The short clip about Richard's documentary is taken from The iD Project via YouTube.

The short clip about Introversion is taken from The quiet power of introverts via YouTube.

*Part of this season's content was recorded at the end of 2021, but due to unforeseen circumstances publishing of the content has been delayed. With that being said there may be some references to New Year Plans and Christmas festivities.

*This episode features language that some listeners might find offensive.

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, The Ubele Initiative commissioned a report to understand how voluntary Black and minority ethnic organisations within the voluntary sector were experiencing the pandemic.

Although many organisations had pivoted to respond to the growing need of the communities they served, many were on the brink of closing. Depleted reserves, staff shortages and growing demands for service provision created challenges for many organisations up and down the country.

In this conversation, I speak with Michael Hamilton, Co-director of The Ubele Initiative about


his role in stepping up to lead the response to Black and minority ethnic communities in a time of crisis.
The We Need Answer Campaign which called for an Independent Public Inquiry into the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on the UK’s BAME communities
Young people’s sexual and reproductive health needs
and motivations for the work he does today.

The intro and outro for this episode are taken from Ide Were Were - Aguas Doces

The short clip on transactional sex was taken from Transactional Sex: What it is and why it matters.

The BBC news clip on was taken from Why did the first wave of COVID 19 disproportionately affect people of colour?

The production and sound design of this episode was by Veronique Belinga

*Part of this season's content was recorded at the end of 2021, but due to unforeseen circumstances publishing of the content has been delayed. With that being said there may be some references to New Year Plans and Christmas festivities. 

Welcome to season 2 of Ree Speaks, hosted by me Rianna. If you’ve journeyed with me through to this episode - Episode 11 - THANK YOU! I hope you're enjoying the content so far because there are loads more yet to come. If this is the first episode you're about to listen to check the content from Season 1  afterwards.

For the first episode of this season, I’ll be sharing with you 10 Top Tips for the PhD. Over the last 12 months of my PhD journey, I have gained and embraced a range of skills that I thought would be useful to share.

In this episode, I'll be speaking about:


10 Top tips for journeying through the PhD process
Insights on what a PhD is and why someone may choose to pursue a PhD
Gaining transferable skills for personal, professional and academic 

Although these tips relate to studying for a PhD, I believe they are transferable and I hope that whilst listening they can and will help you with tools for any new project you are pursuing.

The intro and outro for this episode are taken from The Lean & Bop (Extended Mix) 

The short clip titled 'What is a PhD? is taken from Loughborough University YouTube channel.

The production and sound design of this episode was by Veronique Belinga 

Welcome to the tenth episode of Ree Speaks, hosted by me Rianna.

In this episode, I’ll be speaking with a colleague and now friend Parise Carmichael-Murphy who is a third-year PhD student. 

I and Parise both met and connected earlier this year through the Black Health and Humanities Network funded by the Wellcome Trust. 

In this conversation, I speak with Parise about 


Her PhD journey so far
Figuring out a journal format thesis
Celebrating Hip Hop in academia and co-organising the Hip Hop & Higher Education conference
Working with The Ubele Initiative on the research project Navigating Space under Lockdown

The intro and outro for this episode are taken from Common - 'Courageous'

The short clip from Channel 4’s news segment is taken from Young Black people ‘three times more likely to be unemployed’ 

The short clip from the BBC film about Britain's Black Art Group is taken from The Pioneers of Britain's Black Art Movement - BBC 

This is a short clip taken from a conversation between Dr Joy White and Kano is taken from Kano - Newham Talks with Joy White