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
178 episodes
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...
Ep166 Getting Older and Loving It!
Think aging steals happiness? Think again. As Leslie celebrates her 64th birthday. As The Besties celebrate Leslie’s 64th birthday in Costa Rica, they share stories that are both tender and hilarious, including the moment ...
Ep165 How Exploring Your Sexuality Transforms Every Part Of Life
Sexuality often gets boxed into the bedroom, but the truth is it shapes how we move through everything: work, parenting, friendships, faith, and our relationship with our own bodies. That expansive view sits at the heart of The Besties’ conv...
Ep164 Can one partner be everything? Part 2 with Ethical Non-Monogamy Coach Taylor K. Sparks
Ready to rethink the intimacy rules you didn’t know you were following? The Besties continue their conversation with ethical non-monogamy coach Taylor Sparks for a candid, laugh-out-loud and deeply practical tour through radical honesty, jea...
Ep163 Let’s Talk About Ethical Non‑Monogamy, Sexual Wellness, And Dismantling Shame
What if the rules you grew up with about love and loyalty aren’t the only ethical guides for successful relationships? Clutch your pearls this week as Besties Angella and Leslie sit down with Taylor K. Sparks, the 65 yr old Owner of Organic ...
Ep162 What’s Really In The Way Of Our Retirement
What really stands between you and retirement: the numbers, or the story you tell yourself about them? Besties Angella and Leslie open the closet—literally, with a funny cashmere moment—and then open up about the deeper calculus of stepping ...
Ep161 A candid conversation about self-care and burnout
Angella and Leslie discuss caregiver guilt and the risks of letting health gains slip. The Besties of nearly fifty years share how small, steady habits can protect mood, sleep and identity when stress seems to take over life. From intermitte...
Ep160 The Flu, Friendship, And Fresh Starts in 2026
Besties Angella and Leslie ring in the new year with flu-brained humor, a surprise holiday reunion, and a grounded reset on health, money, and meaning. Between tissues and the usual laughs, they share what to watch for with flu symptoms, set...
Ep159 When Family Hurts: Going No Contact And Healing
Angella and Leslie wrestle with how to set boundaries with loved ones without guilt, why the concept of “no contact” is gaining language online, and what healing looks like on both sides of estrangement. As usual, humor li...
Ep158 Rethinking Celebration: Acts Of Care As Resistance
The holidays can feel like two different seasons at once: sentimental and sparkly on the surface, heavy and hectic underneath. Besties Angella and Leslie speak honestly about both and offer a way forward that doesn’t require a shopping cart—...
Ep157 How do you make peace last when life moves on fast?
Ever notice how after the prayers and the crescendo of miracles, the next wave of worry comes to snatch it away? Our family just lived through a medical crisis and a hard-won turn for the better, and we’re honest about the whiplash that foll...
Ep156 The African Hair Braiding Salon: Examining This Messy Nexus of The Diaspora
The Besties return this week after taking a much needed “peace pause”. They return to unpack a viral video of a salon arrest and the deeper tensions it exposes between Black Americans and African immigrants. Angella and Leslie weigh boycott ...
Ep155 A Praise Report to celebrate with us
The Besties reflect on a morning of quiet prayer that turned into a cascade of miracles: a son spoke, moved, answered questions, and became eligible for a transfer to acute rehab. Leslie describes the emotional whiplash o...
Ep154 She Left A Safe Career To Build Joyful Work On Stage
The Besties trace Angella’s pivots from a 30 plus year corporate career in IT to becoming an entrepreneur who works in theater, showing how one bold choice can open a chain of unexpected doors. Craft, culture and courage meet in scenes from ...