🎉🎙️ Episode 24: Is This a Wrap Party or a Public Group Chat? 🎉

We did it, Joe. 😮‍💨✨

In this bonus episode of Bridges & Breakdowns, Alyzza and Lorryn bring the mics to the people for a live, interactive celebration to close out Season 2—and baby, the vibes were IMMACULATE.

From Thanksgiving reflections 🍽️🥧 and generational side-eyes 👀 to club night nostalgia, dating hot takes, and crowd-sourced chaos, this episode is part family cookout, part group chat IRL, and part BYOB sociology seminar.

We unpack:

• 🧓🏾➡️🧑🏾‍💻 What we secretly admire (and side-eye) about other generations
• 🦃 Holiday dynamics, co-parenting, and building new traditions
• 🍾 “How many drinks?” celebrity hypotheticals that got wild
• 💬 A live debate on toxic masculinity, chivalry, providers, and blurred gender roles
• 🌉 What it really means to be the bridge generation—not all the way wrong, not all the way right, but trying to build something better

It’s funny, reflective, a little unhinged, and very us. A perfect toast to the sweat equity, curiosity, and mistakes that defined Season 2.

🥂 Thank you for rocking with us. Season 3 loading… TBD. 😉

🎧 Tap in, laugh loud, and don’t forget: curiosity creates culture.

#BridgesAndBreakdowns #SeasonTwoWrap #LivePodcast #MillennialVoices #BridgeGeneration #BlackPodcasters #CultureTalk #HolidayReflections #GenerationalConvos #CommunityCare #FunnyAndThoughtful #PodcastBonusEpisode

It’s the season finale of Bridges & Breakdowns (!!!) and the girls did not come to play, they came with their mamas. 💐

In this closing episode of our “Curiosity” season, Alyzza and Lorryn sit down with the women who raised them, taught them to side-eye foolishness, and modeled what it looks like to survive, love, and protect Black children in an unwell country.

In classic Bridges & Breakdowns fashion, there’s cackling, soapbox moments, a few “whew, that was a word,” and some unexpectedly tender reflections on mother-daughter relationships, safety, and what it means to be Black, alive, and paying attention right now.

The episode also closes the loop on Season 2’s core question:

What happens when we let curiosity lead us — even when it’s uncomfortable, political, spiritual, or deeply personal?

If you’ve ever wrestled with your mama’s choices, your own, or the world you’re trying to raise children in (or just survive in), this season finale will feel like sitting in the living room with aunties/cousins/sisters who love you and will also drag you… lovingly.

✨ Thank you for rocking with us this season. We laughed, we ranted, we organized, we healed out loud — and we’re just getting started.

🎧 Listen to Episode 23 now and go call your mama (or the women who mothered you).

Movie Recommendation

One Battle After Another

Podcast Recommendations

ThanksForAsking

Jokes on You Podcast

Good Hang w/ Amy Poehler

Where Should We Begin w/ Esther Perel

Jenkins and Jonez Podcast

Pour Minds

Science Vs.

Book Recommendations

Set Boundaries, Find Peace by Nedra Glover Tawaab

Weathering by Arline T. Geronimus

The Look by Michelle Obama

It's a Vibe Book Series by JD Southwell

The Christmas Catch by Toni Shiloh

Reel by Kennedy Ryan

The Close Up by Kennedy Ryan

Chapters

00:00 Welcome

02:40 Glow & Grow

19:40 Break the Ice, Not the Bridge

23:09 Amend the Record

35:41 Whew Girl, What is Going On?

38:01 Government Shutdown and Its Implications

50:08 The Historical Erasure of Black American’s Contributions to the US

58:58 Democratic Momentum and Future Outlook

01:05:44 Congratulations Misty Copeland!!

01:07:03 Tinfoil Hat Theory: Megan Pete Thompson???

01:15:04 Verzuz: No Limit Smoked Cash Money

01:18:34 TikTok Shenanigans

01:22:34 Keep Our Sick and Shut-in Icons Lifted in Fervent Prayer

01:30:18 Bridges & Breakdowns

02:28:51 Arrivederci Season 2

02:49:40 P.S.

🎙️ Episode 22: Can You Be Soft When Your Mama Survived Adultification, Reaganomics, and Lye Relaxers?

This week, Alyzza and Lorryn get real personal about what it means to be soft 💅🏾 when the women who raised us had to survive everything from adultification to Reaganomics to lye relaxers and hard times 😩💭

Before getting tender, the girls dive into a chaotic breakdown of 🔥Cardi B’s new album—which somehow turns into a deep discussion about:

💊 HIV, PrEP, & responsible sexual health practices 🤰🏾 Postpartum healing while balancing caring for children, unrealistic work goals and the pursuit of hapPENISs 🤭 💬 Parasocial relationships, mental illness, & online feuds 👩🏾‍🍼 The public performance of motherhood and unwarranted albeit sometimes correct critiques of said performance

Then, they bridge generations 🫶🏾 to explore how our mothers’ survival shaped our ideas of rest, resilience, and womanhood—and how we’re finally learning to choose softness, curiosity, and self-definition without shame. 🌿✨

Whether you’re healing your inner child, raising one, or just learning to rest without guilt, this episode will have you laughing, nodding, and maybe… calling your mama. 📞❤️

Chapters

0:00 - Welcome

08:05 - Glow & Grow

28:24 - Whew Girl, What is Going On?

30:02 - Am I The Drama? Album Discussion

50:35 - Nicki & Cardi Take the Gloves Off

1:03:59 - The Complexity of Race and Perception

1:17:06 - Critiques of Parenting Choices in the Public Eye

1:31:36 - The Reality of Postpartum Recovery

1:49:16 - HIV Prevention & PrEP Campaign

2:03:31 - Remembering D’Angelo

2:20:09 - Bridges & Breakdowns

3:25:00 - P.S.

#BridgesAndBreakdowns #SoftLife #BlackMotherhood #MillennialHealing #CardiB #BlackWomenPodcasters #GenerationalHealing #PopCultureAndPolitics #HealingOutLoud #RestIsResistance

✨ It’s Virgo season, baby — and the surprises are surprisingly... welcome 😏💐

This week on Bridges & Breakdowns, Alyzza & Lorryn are celebrating Virgo energy ♍️ with Alyzza’s birthday recap, surprise party shenanigans 🎉, and a deep dive into the power (and struggle) of letting go of perfection 🙃.

From Glow & Grow reflections 🪞 to pop culture Virgo trivia 🤓🎤, we’re leaning into self-trust, dropping the keys to a soft life 💆🏾‍♀️, and living abundantly — even when life doesn’t go according to the to-do list 📋.

But it wouldn’t be a full episode without a breakdown 🔥: the girls also dive into an excerpt from the new book 107 Days 📚, Democracy: The Last Stand🏛️, and why Black excellence ✊🏾 needs more community and less performance.

Plus: navigating racial identity + religion ✝️, remembering legends 🕊️ (shoutout Rollin’ Ray 💅🏾), and the essential Virgo trait of secretly loving nostalgia and structure at the same time 📺🕰️.

🎂 Surprise parties. 🧠 Self-reflection. 💅🏾 Sharp commentary. It’s a celebration of life, legacy, and letting go — with a Virgo-approved eye for the details.

CHAPTERS

Welcome - 00:00

Glow & Grow - 7:49

Break the Ice, Not the Bridge aka Virgo’s Groove - 21:59

Whew Girl, What is Going On? aka Advice From a Virgo - 39:50

I LOVE MEN! aka Build a Bae - 01:22:32

Bridges & Breakdowns aka A Gift From a Virgo - 01:40:22

P.S. - 02:05:34

#BridgesAndBreakdowns #VirgoSeason #BlackPodcasters #PopCulturePodcast #SelfGrowth #MillennialMoms #SoftLifeEra #VirgoEnergy #FaithAndPolitics #RollinRay

This week on Bridges & Breakdowns, Alyzza and Lorryn are joined by their longtime friend and fellow yapper, Arielle (aka BookHeauxTales), to ask the big millennial question: Do we really have time for hobbies in this economy?

Together, they unpack what it means to care for yourself outside of working to survive and hustle culture. We dive into why hobbies matter, how pursuing your interests and the gift of playfulness sustains our spirits, and why every passion doesn’t need to be monetized.

💡 Expect both seriousness and unseriousness:

• Glow & Grow (The Underground Railroad, vacations, Virgo szn birthdays, ER chaos, and long nails gone wrong)
• Whew Girl, What Is Going On? (remembering Chadwick Boseman, the internet prematurely burying Trump, Taylor Townsend vs. OStankHo, and Karen Huger’s Potomac redemption arc)
• Main Segment: The Hobby Files—what hobbies mean for mental health, loving yourself, joy, and resistance against a grind culture that will work you until you’re in the ancestral plane.

It’s laughter, storytelling, and sidebars with several public health PSAs sprinkled in (because this is still Bridges & Breakdowns).

✨ Bottom line: sometimes choosing joy and pursuing our hobbies is the most radical thing we can do.

CHAPTERS

00:00 - Welcome

05:40 - Break the Ice, Not the Bridge

15:58 - Glow & Grow

30:20 - Whew Girl, What is Going On?

30:43 - Long Live the King: 5 Years without Chadwick Boseman

37:39 - Ding Dong We Thought that Orange B*tch was Dead

44:26 - Eat Sh*t Miss Millie: Taylor Townsend Let that Racquet Talk and B*tches was Mad

51:10 - The Grand Dame is Free: Karen Huger is Out of the Pokey!

57:00 - Teenior Citizens Gone Wild: Jim Jones Must STOP!

01:01:50 - I LOVE MEN!

01:08:00 - Bridges & Breakdowns

02:09:18 - P.S.

🎙️ Episode 19: Is the Fourth Trimester the One Nobody Warned us About?

This week on Bridges & Breakdowns, Alyzza and Lorryn are bringing all the curiosity (and all the chaos) to a conversation we wish someone had with us sooner—the fourth trimester. 💅🏾🍼

We’re joined by our friend and postpartum doula Arielle Ware (aka Mommie Arie) to unpack what care, rest, and survival really look like after birth. Together we get into: why postpartum doulas matter, the myth of “bouncing back,” how social media both helps and harms new moms, and the ways our generation is unlearning the idea that suffering in silence equals strength.

This episode is equal parts hilarious and healing—we’re talking why hiring a doula feels like dating, mall births, and how Black women are reshaping the narrative around postpartum care. We also weave in our classic hot takes on joy, politics, and culture: celebrating the life of Vivian Ayers, crowning catfish & spaghetti the officially stamped meal to lock in with your man, word to Meg Thee Stallion, and analyzing the current political landscape while trying not to lose our faith.

At its heart, this episode is about reminding ourselves and our community: you don’t have to do it all, and you don’t have to do it alone, but as the saints say…when you pray, move your feet!

🎧 Full episode streaming now on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube.

#BridgesAndBreakdowns #BlackMaternalHealth #PostpartumDoula #MillennialMoms #HealingOutLoud #PodcastForThePeople

Chapters

Welcome - 00:00

Glow & Grow - 1:52

Whew Girl, What is Going On? - 20:28

I LOVE MEN! - 45:50

Bridges & Breakdowns - 54:32

P.S. - 1:54:17

Follow us: @BridgesBreaksPod

Email us at bridgesNbreakdowns@gmail.com

🎙️Episode 18: Is Leo Season the Blueprint for Doing Life Loud?

It’s a birthday takeover 🥳🎂 for our resident Leo ♌️, Lorryn—and we packed the episode with big joy, big opinions, and big cultural moments.

From solo-date rituals and “glow & grow” reflections, to Clipse deep cuts, DC’s Home Rule crisis, and a teachable moment for men with mics.

We’re reflecting on personal new years as the opportunity to bridge what we should keep and break down what we should leave behind—all in true Leo 🦁 fashion.

Chapters

00:00 — Welcome

03:28 — Glow & Grow

24:00 — Whew Girl—Leo Pride Edition

24:14 —Clipse Album Rollout & Malice the Menace

32:12 — DC Under Federal Control: Home Rule in Crisis

51:26 — Halle Berry & The Ex with a Microphone

1:08:39— I Love Men

1:25:06—Bridges & Breakdown

Follow us: @BridgesBreaksPod

Email us at: bridgesNbreakdowns@gmail.com

🎙️ Episode 17: What If Planning for a Baby Meant Fortifying Your Mind First?

This week on Bridges & Breakdowns, your favorite millennial duo sits down with the brilliant Dr. Chika Foster-Rettig—a board-certified OB/GYN, mother, and Texas-based reproductive health provider—to talk all things pregnancy, preparation, and protecting our peace in an increasingly hostile environment.

From the physical, mental, emotional, and the pspiritual weight of carrying life, we ask: what happens when millennial women start planning for babies by prioritizing themselves first?

✨ Here’s what’s inside: Welcome - 00:00 Glow & Grow - 03:34 Whew Girl, What is Going On? - 22:10 I LOVE MEN! - 01:00:18 Bridges & Breakdowns - 01:05:44 P.S.- 02:11:00

This episode is a love letter to every woman questioning the script, honoring her needs, and being curious enough to ask herself the necessary questions.

🎧 Streaming now wherever you get your podcasts. Link in bio!

#BridgesAndBreakdowns #BlackMomsMatter #PregnancyPlanning #MillennialMotherhood #BlackPodcasters #ReproductiveJustice #HealthIsWealth #BlackMentalHealth #MillennialPodcast #HealingOutLoud #ADHDAwareness #FeministPodcast #TherapyIsDope #PodcastForThePeople