Black Boomer Besties from Brooklyn
This is what the world needs now: two free-thinking “seasoned” Black women speaking their truth and inspiring others to do the same. Shaped by 45 years of friendship that began at the prestigious Brooklyn Technical High School through the Ivy League, medical school, marriages, divorces, triumphs, parenting queer children, life-threatening illness and many many amazing adventures. Each week, besties Leslie Osei-Tutu and Angella Fraser will push against boundaries in love, culture, careers, faith, politics and out-dated assumptions about women of a certain age. Remember, you’re never too old to change your mind…or your hair! (but more on that later :-)All views are our own and do not reflect the views of our institution/company. Information provided is not intended to serve as medical advice.
Episodes
191 episodes
HBCU Dress Code: Your favorite besties take opposite sides
Fight! Fight! This week, we debate HBCU dress code bans on bonnets and do-rags, and we end up in bigger questions about freedom, culture, and who gets to define “professional.” We sit on opposite sides, but we keep it honest as we discuss re...
Why I Keep My Jealous Bestie
A few days of missing daily checkins with Ang leaves Leslie feeling some kinda way: yeah, she’s a jealous bestie. So join us as Ang gives all the juicy updates of her adventures in Panamá and gives Leslie a few surprises t...
Ep189 Four Supermarkets With A Bag Of Raw Chicken
She was in her fourth supermarket on a 105-degree day, carrying raw chicken store to store like it’s totally normal, all for the right dried peppers to make adobo. Turns out both of us Besties have obsessions. Listen to he...
Ep188 Summer Podcast Club: Learning to Face History Without Looking Away
We close out our summer deep dive on Tara Roberts’ Into the Depths podcast by sitting with the final two chapters, “Healing” and “Rooting,” and the question of how we tell the truth without surrendering our joy. From the Sao Jose shipwreck f...
Ep187 Summer Podcast Club: What is ours and where is our home?
This week, we continue with Tara Roberts’ National Geographic podcast Into the Depths, episodes 3 & 4. Puerto Viejo on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica is where she meets Afro-Costa Rican teen divers bringing up piece...
Ep186 Summer Podcast Club: Tara pursues the humanity of 1.8 million lost souls
12.5 million Africans were brought to the Americas between the 1500s and 1800s. 1.8 million died along the way. More than 40 countries are involved in the commerce of human beings.So, did you do this week's homework assignment?...
Ep185 Summer Podcast Club Kickoff
The Besties kick off a summer “podcast book club” and explain why they’re committed to intentional joy that includes facing fear instead of pretending it doesn’t exist. Leslie and Angella also share a hilarious listening mistake before annou...
Ep184 This Writing Thing Ain’t No Joke
Moving countries is one kind of reset. Writing about your life is another. Angella and Leslie catch up on life in Panama City then talk about what it takes for them to contribute chapters to an upcoming anthology with their friend and ...
Ep183 Eight Suitcases And A Prayer At The Airport
This episode is a quick check in from The Besties while Les is still sweaty after her daily walk and Ang is close to departure in the airport lounge. Despite some unexpected baggage fees, she survived and is excited for what lies ahead.<...
Ep182 She Flip Flopped Again?
Changing your mind can feel like a character flaw, especially when you’ve already said “I’m not doing one more thing.” Then life changes the facts, your schedule shifts, the pressure drops, and suddenly the decision that once felt right need...
Ep181 The One More Thing Trap
Your calendar is full, your body is tired, and then a shiny new opportunity shows up and whispers, just add one more thing. Besties Angella and Leslie know that voice well, and they’re putting it on the table with zero filter. <...
Ep180 Shipping A Life To Panama
What does it feel like to watch your entire life drive away on pallets headed to Panama? Leslie admits she’s in her feelings, and we laugh through the petty moments while still naming the truth: transitions can sting even when they’re good.&...
E179 No, not everyone thinks like you!
Are you the kind of person who is automatically suspicious of people’s intentions? Besties Angella and Leslie are bringing you a real-time example of how fast our brains can write a story that isn’t even true and then treat it like evidence....
E178 Buying Black With Intention (Rebroadcast)
A random Brooklyn day turns into a full-on love letter to Black-owned brands we trust and repurchase, plus a hard look at how we talk ourselves out of supporting Black-made luxury.Our faves for self-care and home:
Ep177 Why Handwritten Letters Still Feel Like Love
Your phone is full of messages, photos, and threads you swear you’ll scroll back to someday. But what happens when the platform changes, an account disappears, or “someday” never comes? We’re Angella and Leslie, two 60-something Black women ...
Ep176 Write our story? We said yes!
We’ve talked for years about writing our story, but talking is safe (and cheap) and the blank page is not. This time we’re doing it: we’re each contributing to a chapter in Kim Coles’ latest anthology Legacy GIFTs, a project built around gra...
Ep175 Who Are You Without That Job Title?
A toxic job doesn’t just waste your time. It can hijack your body, shrink your thinking, and convince you that staying small is “safe.” We sit down with Dr Kimani Norrington Sands, licensed clinical psychologist and founder of Lifting As We ...
Ep174 5 Ways to See The Legacy You’ve Already Started Building
Legacy can feel like a loaded word, like you need a big house, a perfect family tree, and a fortune to leave behind. We don’t buy that. We’re two 60-something Black women, best friends for almost 50 years, and we’re talking about legacy as s...
Ep173 Is Your Ex Still Your Power of Attorney?
Every joy journey includes facing difficult decisions and conversations; the parts few people enjoy thinking about.This week, Besties Angella and Leslie are challenged to plan, and update plans, to prepare for sickness and deat...
Ep172 Downsizing The Things of Life For an International Move
Angella is packing up her apartment and moving to Panama. The dream is real and the joy is real, but so is the day-to-day grind. Turning off utilities, figuring out bins, deciding what can fit in a pod, and realizing that “excited” sometimes...
Ep171 Saying “NO” to alcohol and rice: the power of everyday choices
You know that one thing you swear you could never give up? The nightly glass of wine, the “double rice,” the burger that used to hit just right. We get honest about what happens when your body starts telling the truth and you finally listen....
Ep170 How Everyday Judgment Steals Your Joy
In this episode, the Besties dig into the role judgement plays in impacting one’s joy. In typical fashion, they come to this inquiry by unpacking everyday events that they have differing views about. Do we make assumptions...
Ep169 A Single “Black Experience” is Crazy Talk
Offering tea to a new home health aide who doesn’t speak English spirals into a deeper discussion about how culture, power, and language shape care and dignity. The Besties explore the different worlds they come from. Angella grew up in Jama...
Ep168 Kindness over comfort: What would you do?
CONTENT WARNING: SUICIDAL IDEATION & THOUGHTS (TIMESTAMP 19:03-24:26)The Besties were together again to help Leslie’s son have a smooth transition out of the hospital after a 4 month stay. In their time together three thing...
Ep167 Shedding white supremacist ideals before our move abroad
A recent YouTube video from Stephanie Perry, co-founder of ExodUS Summit, demands that Black people desiring to move abroad, wait until extraction, supremacy, American exceptionalism, and Black excellence (defined here as exalting extraordin...