Fine Beats & Cheeses Leslie Gray Streeter & Lynne Streeter Childress

We get meta today with a podcast episode about... PODCASTS! Our guest is Dr. Briana Barner, who actually teaches about podcasts, and she is really smart, and this is a really great episode!!
You can hear an extended conversation with us and Dr. Barner if you subscribe to our Patreon, where you can get bonus content while supporting us for a small monthly fee!
Go to https://patreon.com/FineBeatsandCheeses
Dr. Briana Barner is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Maryland. She received a doctorate in Radio-Television-Film and a doctoral portfolio in Women’s and Gender Studies from the University of Texas. Briana also earned a Master’s in Women’s and Gender Studies from UT. She is an interdisciplinary critical and cultural communications scholar with research interests in Black podcasts, digital and Black feminism, digital media, Black cultural production and representation. Her work has been published in Radio Journal: International Studies in Broadcast & Audio Media, Film Quarterly, and the edited collection Saving New Sounds: Podcast Preservation and Historiography, Feminist Approaches to Media Theory and Research and Black Sisterhoods: Paradigms and Praxis. Briana is currently working on a manuscript about the cultural production of Black podcasts.
Find her:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/briana.barner
Twitter: briananbarner
Instagram: brianaisgrowing
https://communication.umd.edu/directory/briana-barner

Come with us back to April of 2023 and our conversation about YouTube University, the term people use about learning things on YouTube. Our guest was the DELIGHTFUL Wanda "Godsbratt" Ford, who is a podcaster and makeup artist. We talk about the vast opportunities to learn skills fron YouTube, how Wanda picked up her podcasting and MUA skills on the app (and has changed her life) and how the internet levels the playing field by making the ability to learn a new skill available to everyone. This was a really fun conversation with someone Leslie and Lynne have known since 1985.
Wanda “GodsBratt” Ford is a no nonsense, tell it like it is, what you see is what you get type of person. She doesn’t judge, she’s compassionate, empathetic, and stands in her truth. All of it. The good the bad and the ugly. Wanda has been working since she was fourteen years old, and her first job was in a doctor’s office as a front desk receptionist after school. She was always “different “ but she was ok with that. She wore pumps and skirts with silk blouses to school while most her age preferred jeans and tennis shoes. She’s worked at places like University of Maryland Department of Human Genetics, various Healthcare insurance companies like Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Willse and Associates, a third party administrators, and Optimum Choice. With each position she has made some lifelong friendships and earned the respect of the upper level supervision with outstanding professional references from them all.
However her passion has always been about all things beauty, from clothing, to hairstyles, to makeup. So much so, she used to get in trouble for sneaking and wearing make-up in middle school. Her love of make-up just came naturally. She is a self-taught MUA who learned how to do make-up by watching YouTube videos and endless hours of practicing. For years others have been “speaking life” into her and her “make-up ministry “ and finally she decided to step out on faith to do what comes so naturally to her. Wanda felt like to have so many people to believe so strongly in her talent, who was she to continue to doubt herself? From there she stepped out on faith and hasn’t looked back since.
She’s been using make-up by a black owned company called Playing In Makeup By Yolondo or PIMBY for the last few years. It’s really high quality and budget friendly and she’s always told anyone who would listen about how good this brand is, especially when she does her makeup lives an Facebook and TikTok. Recently the brand owner made her an affiliate of PIMBY. WHAT AN HONOR!!!!
She’s also the host of a podcast called “Watching Wanda’s World “ In doing this podcast, she has found her purpose. #EmpowerUpliftSupportInspireMotivateEncourage. She hosts guests and discuss topics that speak to her spirit. Guests that show people that it’s never too late to turn your life around or reinvent yourself in a positive manner. She also showcases black-owned businesses that deliver a good product as well as excellent customer service.
She’s just a country girl living in the city, trying to make a positive difference in the world.

We know All Too Well that you will enjoy this episode, as we talk all things Taylor Swift with our guest Melissa Leygan, who is a huge fan (or Swiftie, as they are known). Melissa is the first guest of ours to actually bring us thank you gifts (including baked goods and friendship bracelets), and this convo is as enlightening and delightful as she is. Tell all your Swiftie friends!!
You can hear a bonus conversation with us and Melissa on our Patreon page, where you get extra content from FB&C in exchange for a small monthly donation that helps keep us afloat! Sign-up here: https://www.patreon.com/FineBeatsandCheeses
Melissa's Bio below...
I've been a casual Taylor listener since I was in high school, but I became a fan as we listened to the well-crafted playlist my sister made on the drive up for the Eras tour, and it was when I saw her in May 2023 in MA that I became a real Swiftie(tm). I have so much respect for this woman and how she has navigated this world built to tear down people just like her, and she rebuilt and regrew and kept performing in spite of them all. I can't wait to share my love of her Fearless drive, Reputation, and how her Karma is the guy on the Chiefs. Truly, this bio isn't about me, it's about our Goddess and Queen, Taylor Swift. All Rise For the Queen. 👑

Come with us back to April 2023 and revisit our conversation with the delightful Christina James about the Tom Hanks cryfest, "A Man Named Otto".
CW- This episode (and movie) talks about attempted suicide, grief, widowhood and pregnancy loss.
Our producer nicknamed this episode "Hankering To Cry", because we talked A LOT about how this 2022 Tom Hanks movie made us bawl throughout. Our guest is Christina James, radio personality from Baltimore's Bright-FM, where she plays Contemporary Christian hits middays Monday-Friday from 10AM-2PM. She is a fantastic guest and we LOVE her. This was SUCH a fun, thoughtful episode. BRING TISSUES and watch this movie. It's really, really great.
Christina can be found on Facebook, and would love for you to join her Facebook Group, "Christina James I BRIGHT-FM Middays".

Go get your house painter who never finishes the job and join us for this wonderful episode about "Murphy Brown", the classic 80s-90s sitcom. Our guest is Lauren Milberger, actor, writer, and host of FYI: The Murphy Brown Podcast, where she and her co-host Jesi Mullins walk listeners through every Murphy Brown episode. On THIS episode of Fine Beats, we and Lauren talk how this show is both an emblem of its time while also seeming current. This is a great episode and we hope you like it.
To hear us talk MORE Murphy Brown, subscribe to our Patreon, where for $5 a month, you will find bonus content, including extra episodes that go with the regular shows. Support us at patreon.com/FineBeatsandCheeses
Lauren Milberger is an actor/writer/playwright/podcaster in New York and a graduate of the Actors Studio MFA program and The Second City NY Conservatory Program. She is a Writer's Lab, Eugene O'Neill Semifinalist, and a published essayist on funny people such as Burns and Allen, Carrie Fisher, & Lenny Bruce. Lauren has previously co-hosted The Fordcast: A Harrison Ford Podcast and is currently co-hosting FYI: The Murphy Brown Podcast, a podcast decided to the series Murphy Brown, 90's pop culture, and women in media, where she has interviewed guests from Emmy to Tony winners. You can currently catch Lauren's acting in her scripted podcast "The Raconteurs: A Story of George Burns & Gracie Allen" as Gracie Allen, and various voiceovers, film, and theater.
You can find her on Twitter and Instagram @LaurenMilberger, and also at http://www.laurenmilberger.com .
https://www.murphybrownpod.com/

Go with us to April of 2023 as we welcomed the delightful Emily Edwards (who will be on another episode SOON) to talk about marriage!
Is marriage cheesy? Maybe! TV shows and movies sometimes think so, and our wonderful guest Emily Edwards talks about it. We had so so so so so much fun with this, and we can't wait for you to hear it.
Emily J. Edwards is the author of the Girl Friday series. She earned her degree in writing, literature, and publishing from Emerson College and took the long road to becoming an author, working for over a decade as a wine and spirits journalist, radio producer, and podcaster. She currently lives with her husband and several quadrupeds in Connecticut.
She is @MsEmilyEdwards on Instagram and Twitter! Find her!