Episodes

  • Pleasure is Ours

    Pleasure is Ours
    Dec 14 2022
    It's the last episode of our season, and we’re spending it with Dr. Kaila Story, an Associate Professor of Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies… and an original pleasure ninja. Kaila and Nubia unpack the complexity of experiencing pleasure in a world that expects you to dress and act in certain ways in order to earn respect. “If you're a black woman in the public sphere, your identity has to be digestible, and something that people can consume. And if they can't, they don't know what to do with it,” Kaila says. She says Black women and Black queer women can claim confidence in whatever way feels authentic to them. “So you might not be comfortable showing skin or wearing bold colors, but you embrace the black woman next to you who sees your confidence in that. And you might find confidence in another realm.” Kaila says the key is “to celebrate all those ways that we as individuals access pleasure, joy and power, and we can come to these places of empowerment, and they can be diverse and varied and multifaceted.” Listen in and get ready for a little sprinkle sparkle! This episode is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Ralph Story… the original Doc Story. — That’s it for season one of Sprinkle Sparkle! Please tell us what you think! What did you like, what do you want more of, and most importantly, how did you center your pleasure today?
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    1 hr and 19 mins
  • Pleasure in Depth

    Pleasure in Depth
    Dec 7 2022
    “[W]e can't talk about joy until we talk about the grief. They are two sides of the same coin.” In this episode, Nubia introduces us to her friend Austen Smith, a Louisville writer featured in Taunt and QueerKY. Austen shows us the spiritual side of pleasure and what they do to unlock pleasure from within, and connect even with the ugly parts. “If we're willing to go that deep on joy, if we're really willing to go that hard on pleasure, then we need to talk about all of the trauma, both sexual, physical, emotional, and spiritual, that get in the way of pleasure,” Austen says. Both Nubia and Austen explore the unconventional aspects of pleasure that at first might look like roadblocks, but can add gratitude and humility to your life after you heal. Listen in and get ready for a little sprinkle sparkle!
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    53 mins
  • Pleasure is Imperfect

    Pleasure is Imperfect
    Nov 30 2022
    Felicia Corbett is a unicorn. "When I was 31, I was diagnosed with a super rare form of cancer. It happens to like, one in 10 million people," she says, and it's called Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans. "You know how most cancers have a ribbon and it's a particular color? This one is yellow and purple and has a literal unicorn in it. Yeah, so they call us unicorns." In this episode, she and host Nubia Bennett explore what it means to seek joy, pleasure and happiness in the middle of an uncomfortable journey. Nubia says Felicia makes it safe to have non-sad conversations about things our culture says we should only have sad conversations about... like living with an illness. Listen in and get ready for a little sprinkle sparkle!
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    1 hr and 1 min
  • Pleasure in the Details

    Pleasure in the Details
    Nov 23 2022
    Being the only Black woman in the room in a business setting can make you put your own behavior under a microscope. “You’re always thinking about, what do they think of me?” Jordan Parker Means says owning her own business took away that particular mental and emotional labor. “I've felt great freedom to be able to not have that as a thought,” she says. “We're a Black-owned business, the majority of our clients are Black. It's been a joy to serve our community in the way that we've been able to do it. And that's a big part of what I consider my joy and my happiness and pleasure.” Jordan is a nutritionist at Diet Deconstructed and co-owns By Any Means Fitness. She calls herself the Dame of Details, because planning ahead allows her to more fully enjoy experiences in the moment. She talks with host Nubia Bennett about finding pleasure in your body and what it can accomplish — and tuning out the “highlight reel” of social media.
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    1 hr and 2 mins
  • Pleasure in Transitions

    Pleasure in Transitions
    Nov 16 2022
    Artists create. It’s just something we need to do, for ourselves, like eating and sleeping. And most people would say it’s lucky if we can figure out how to pay the bills with it. But doing art as your business can change your relationship with it. Robin G is a poet who also teaches poetry workshops and founded The Stanza Collective, an apparel company with affirming poetry on the designs. “At first I struggled with, okay, I don't want this to be a business because now I can't find pleasure in this anymore,” she says. “I have to produce, produce, produce. And it kind of took away that pleasure of just writing.” Robin talks with host Nubia Bennett about how she rediscovered and reclaimed the pleasure in words and writing. “I had to allow myself to know that I deserve to just write for me … it’s been a hell of a transition.” Listen in and get ready for a little Sprinkle Sparkle!
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    1 hr and 7 mins
  • Pleasure is Generational

    Pleasure is Generational
    Nov 10 2022
    State Representative Attica Scott and her daughter Ashanti Scott are the mother/daughter version of a power couple. They were on the front lines of Louisville’s racial justice protests in 2020 and have made activism and public service a part of their daily lives. Attica says those values were instilled in her by strong role models in her family. “There are some things I feel like I was born into and that were granted to me by my parents, and that's that sense of justice, and the pleasure of being in community with other people,” she says. "And growing up with this sense of being able to say yes to myself without feeling guilty for saying no to other people." She says 2020 forced us all to interrogate our own priorities and relationship with pleasure. “How do I find pleasure in the midst of such pain and in the midst of a pandemic, but also in the midst of racial uprising and police accountability. How in the world do you find pleasure when you're literally fighting for your life?” They talk with Nubia about how they find time to center joy when the work never seems to be finished. Listen in, and get ready for a little Sprinkle Sparkle!
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    1 hr and 2 mins
  • Pleasure in Balance

    Pleasure in Balance
    Nov 2 2022
    When your business is pleasure-based, the line between work and leisure can feel thin. This episode’s guest, Tiffany Elle, says balance is key in her life. “You can only engulf yourself in your work for so long, even though like what I do with Sensual Bliss and it’s pleasurable for me,” she says. “Then when I come home from that I have to sit on the couch and watch TV.” Tiffany’s company creates body-inclusive lingerie, provides sensuality coaching and more. You might say she’s a pleasure expert. She says her relationship with pleasure has evolved over time, but there’s been one constant: dancing. “It's always been a happy space for me.” Set all this against a day job in the military, often being the only Black woman or the only Black person in spaces filled with mostly white men, and you can see why Nubia just had to talk to Tiffany for Sprinkle Sparkle.
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    1 hr and 8 mins
  • Pleasure as Access

    Pleasure as Access
    Oct 26 2022
    Capitalistic definitions of self-care always involve spending money. Get a massage. Get your hair done. By yourself something nice. Treat yourself. And that might be part of pleasure for today’s guest but it’s not the whole story. Dr. JaBani Bennett is an artist and arts advocate, a scholar, an award-winning arts education consultant and more. And she’s host Nubia Bennett’s sister.  They explore what pleasure meant in their family growing up, and what it means to them now. And for JaBani, that means access, and equity. “My right to quality health care, quality education, quality housing, quality food, access to an array of aesthetics,” she says. “When it comes to widespread equity work that transcends industry, that looks at all different parts of where we are in our humanity on this earth, that has been missed.” Listen in and get ready for a little Sprinkle Sparkle!
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    1 hr and 11 mins