We’ve got some changes coming at First Name Basis! I started the First Name Basis Podcast back in 2019 when I looked at my tiny daughter and wanted to make the world a better place for her — a place that would be more inclusive, kind and anti-racist.  In the past almost 5 years, we’ve created this beautiful community where we’ve had so many hard but productive conversations both on social media and through the podcast. As I prepare to welcome our third little one into our family, it feels...

In case you haven’t noticed yet, I’m passionate about Black History Month. I did not enjoy learning about Black history growing up. It felt more like grieving than celebrating for me, and because of that it’s my dream to make Black History Month a positive experience for ALL children and students. So today, as part of that, I’m talking about 3 mistakes parents and teachers should avoid when talking to kids and students about Black History: 1. Don’t say “because they were Black.” It’s time...

Can you believe February is right around the corner?! And with it comes BLACK HISTORY MONTH! Celebrating Black History Month is so important for ALL kids, not just Black children, and I created Bite-Sized Black History to help kiddos everywhere be able to learn about Black history in a way that is both meaningful and joyful. In this episode, I’m telling you all about Bite-Sized Black History and including a sample episode for you to check out that is all about singer, actor and activist...

We’re wrapping up Season 8 with this episode, and it’s got me thinking all about our evolution over the years. From beginning as a tiny Instagram account to starting the podcast, from working with families to working with schools, First Name Basis has grown in ways that is a dream come true! I consult with schools across the country to implement anti-racist education. But as some of you have said, you’re not sure what that would look like, so in this episode, I’m giving all the details of...

Like so many of you, I have been all consumed the last few weeks by the events going on in Gaza and the genocide that is being carried out against the Palestinian people. We've put everything on pause at First Name Basis to be able to try to share updates and share actions that we can be taking as a collective to try to support the activists and so many amazing humanitarian workers that are on the ground in Gaza. After having some conversations as a team, we realized that continuing to do...

This episode can be summarized with one sentence: Please stop using Black and Brown emojis if you are not Black or Brown. Skin color is something that should be celebrated, not laughed at, but I have seen people using emojis that don’t match their skin tone time and time again. I think a lot of the time people aren’t intentionally trying to do something racist, but when you peel back the layers you realize that the only reason why doing this could be funny is because of racism, and racism...

Trigger warning: Before you continue reading these show notes or listening to this episode, please be aware that it discusses lynching and white supremacist violence. Lynching is a reality both now and in the past. Yet despite the fact that lynching continues to happen, it took more than 120 years to get an anti-lynching bill passed.  In that time, more than 200 iterations of bills that would make lynching a federal crime were introduced and failed to pass over and over again — including...

Growing up as a multiracial child, I often felt my racial identity shifting and developing — heck, even as an adult I do! Navigating what it means to be multiracial continues to be a journey for me, which is why I was so excited to be able to interview Dr. Jennifer Noble. Dr. Jenn, as she’s known online, is a licensed psychologist, parent coach and associate professor of psychology, who shares her expertise both in her private practice in Los Angeles and online. She focuses on identity and...

This episode is a bit of a role reversal with someone I admire SO MUCH.  I have been a longtime fan of Rachel Nielson’s podcast 3 in 30: Takeaways for Moms. Each episode is 30 minutes long and provides 3 ACTIONABLE takeaways for listeners to go and do. She has over 250 episodes covering a huge variety of topics — from potty training to mental health to tips for not looking at your phone as much — and I’ve been honored to be a guest on her podcast in the past to talk about anti-racism. And on...

Language is always evolving and we need to evolve with it. Reflecting on the words we’re using and recognizing opportunities to grow and change is a natural (and necessary) part of our anti-racist journeys. It means breaking down and unlearning things that we thought in the past, but the result is language that better aligns with our intent. So this week we’re taking a look at the term “under-resourced” and discussing why we need to switch it out for something new. If you’ve been around for...

July 26, 2023, is the 33rd anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act. If you’re doing the math in your head, let me give you a shortcut: That means the ADA wasn’t passed until 1990. 1990?! It took quite a while for Americans with disabilities to officially be named a protected class as neither the 1964 Civil Rights Act nor the 1965 Voting Rights Act included people with disabilities — and the United States still has a long way to go in making our public spaces, businesses and...

Y’all, I’m gettin’ REAL in this episode. We always talk about how anti-racism is a journey not a destination, and it’s so important to take time to reflect on that journey. So in today’s episode, I’m sharing part of my journey with you!  You may have heard of the Characteristics of White Supremacy Culture developed by Tema Okun. She is a white woman who has been doing DEI work for more than 30 years, and she developed this list of 15 characteristics of white supremacy culture in the early...

Parents of Black children are all too familiar with “The Talk.” “The Talk” where they teach their kids not to have their hands in their pockets at a store. “The Talk” where they teach their kids how to act around police in an attempt to keep themselves safe. “The Talk” where they teach their kids about the racism they’re already experiencing and will continue to experience. But the truth is, “The Talk” isn’t something that only families with Black children should be having — it’s something...

You probably learned in school all about the story of Francis Scott Key watching the “rockets red glare” and “bombs bursting in air” as a prisoner on a British warship and turning the experience into “The Star Spangled Banner.” But, in reality, there is a lot more to this story than you learned about in history class — and a lot of what you did learn in school was false.  In this replay of one of our Untold Stories episodes, we unpack the man behind “The Star Spangled Banner,” how it became...

Happy Pride my friends, especially to the LGBTQ+ members in our community! To celebrate Pride, I wanted to share an episode from my Bite-Sized Black History program that features a Black American who was LGBTQ+. So today, we’re learning about Glenn Burke, who was the first openly gay Major League Baseball player! Glenn Burke was an amazing athlete and always the life of the party. He wasn’t afraid to be his authentic self, even when people were discriminating against him. He is even...

This episode is a special one to me, one dedicated to all of the Black and Brown moms out there. A lot of my Black and Brown friends who are stay-at-home moms in the thick of it with tiny kiddos have told me that they feel like they’re not doing enough to contribute to the anti-racism movement. For my friends and anyone else in this community who reads that and thinks “that’s me!” I have a message for you that I hope you hear loud and clear: Being a Black or Brown stay-at-home mother is an...

Did you read the title of this episode? It’s a doozy! As convoluted as “The Untold Story of the Story That I Told” is, I couldn’t resist calling this newest episode that because of the WILD ride I went on making it. Years ago I made an eBook called “Rise and Resist” where I highlighted five different Black people who were alive around the time of Juneteenth. I told their stories and really wanted people to use this eBook to be able to share stories of Black resistance with children and...

I’ve been thinking a lot about coded language lately. If you’re unfamiliar with that term, coded language is when someone is talking negatively about a marginalized group without explicitly saying who they’re talking about — but the “code” is that other people in the dominant culture know exactly who they’re talking about. While coded language is seemingly neutral, it is actually very harmful. In this episode, I share the story from my own life that is the reason why coded language has been...

Bite-sized Black History  Bite-sized Black History is a podcast just for kids that empowers you to teach the little ones you love about brilliant Black Americans who have been largely overlooked by our history books. We featured 28 different people, one for each day of Black History Month! Invest today and use the coupon code BLACKHISTORY15 for 15% off until February 22nd.  Buy Bite-Sized Black History! We take purchase orders! If your a teacher or librarian interested in submitting a...

It’s been a few months since we moved across the country from Arizona to Maryland, and I’ve gotten questions from so many of you wondering how we like our new home. So this week for our Season 7 finale, my husband Carter and I are giving you all the details!  We’re telling you all about our opinions on the East Coast, things we miss about Arizona, how we’ve made friends and what we like most about our new surroundings. Plus, I’m giving some exciting updates about some changes to the podcast...

When we really take a moment to step back and think, it’s easy to agree that Jesus had brown skin because he was from the Middle East. If that’s the case, why is Christ so often depicted as white with light skin, hair, and eyes? In this episode we uncover the roots of white Jesus, explain the impact this depiction has made on us and our communities, and discuss why it’s important to use more accurate depictions of Christ in your home. First Name Basis Patreon Community Support First Name...

We all know that 2020 was a wake-up call for a lot of people. It was a time of reflection, a time of change (hopefully), and a time where schools all over seemed to prioritize inclusion by drafting diversity statements. But here we are in 2022, and I find myself asking: Have the diversity statements made a difference? It’s not enough for a school to just have a diversity statement up on its website — administrators, teachers, parents and students must be doing the work to make sure the...

I made my “Untold Story of Thanksgiving” episode to help me — and hopefully you — understand the true, accurate history. As I think about the episode, I think it does a good job at correcting the history, but it still centers on the colonizers.  Because of that, I’ve been thinking a lot about how I can better make Indigenous Peoples the center of our conversations and learning around Thanksgiving, and I knew just the right person to turn to to help me. On this week’s episode, my dear friend...

Have y’all ever driven down the East Coast? I don’t mean to spoil the magic for you but I gotta say, it’s basically a straight shot through a wall of trees. So I was pretty excited when I noticed a few colorful billboards dotting my path. That excitement quickly turned to disgust when I realized that those billboards were super-duper racist. These billboards not only appropriated Mexican culture but also used broken English and made fun of Mexican accents. Yikes.  In this episode we break...