Hey folks! I am back and this time I am talking withLaura Chung from the "Awaken and Align" Podcast about current short and long term astrological transits we are experiencing and how we can work with the changes that the outer planets are bringing as they all change signs this year. The song Laura picked to represent her 2025 was "PacMan" by Jae Park. I'll have a full playlist of songs from guests this season once the season closes. Also, I got some changes coming to the podcast that I discuss at the beginning of the episode. I plan on closing out this season soon and then shifting to creating my new podcast called "Embodied Strategic Dreaming". Stay tuned for more about that.
Music produced by Forest Brooks.
Ways to support and work with me:
MyWebsite for consulting, dreaming, facilitation and speaking engagements.
Patreon - please join and continue to support my work so this podcast can stay open to the public!
Substack
$drnicoletruedell (Cashapp and Venmo), drnicoletruesdell@gmail.com (Paypal and Zelle)
Hey folks, welcome back! This time I am in conversation with my friend Donnell for a Thoughts While High. We are talking about grief and letting go of former versions of ourselves, leaning into creativity, music, hip hop, and the albums that have impacted us the most in 2024. It's a long but good one as the spirit of the plant helped guide us into the conversation we needed to have.
Donnell McLachlan is a writer, theologian, and social justice advocate working to create a more empathetic and inclusive society through writing, research, and storytelling. His research centers on black faith and life, including liberation theologies, womanist theology, and the spiritual and sociohistorical dimensions of hip-hop music and culture. In addition to his academic pursuits, McLachlan has a popular TikTok page with over 315,000 followers, where he shares insights on religious history, discusses religious deconstruction and decolonization, and offers social commentary. He was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. You can find Donnell @donnellwrites on IG , Tik Tok and Youtube
Songs selected by Donnell:
Boundaries by Big Sean
Know That You Are Loved by Cleo Sol
Man in the Garden by Kendrick Lamar
Music produced by Forest Brooks.
Ways to support and work with me:
My Website for consulting, dreaming, facilitation and speaking engagements.
Patreon - please join and continue to support my work so this podcast can stay open to the public!
Substack
$drnicoletruedell (Cashapp and Venmo), drnicoletruesdell@gmail.com (Paypal and Zelle)
Welcome back and Happy Holidays ya'll! This episode I am in conversation with Kristianna Smith (she/they) about what it means to dream as a strategy of liberation. Or what I call "Strategic Dreaming" . What would it look like to lead with your dreams? What would it take for you to bring them into reality? Support for this podcast is always appreciated. Join my Patreon at just $5/month and help me keep the content free for folks to enjoy!
Kristianna Smith (she/they) is a visionary curious about how we bring our collective imagination to life.
They are a liberation cultural worker, published author, facilitator , theatre artist, educator, gardener, experience alchemist, intuitive, and Queer Black Abolitionist Mama intent on bringing the best of our collective imagination to life. They use play and theatre as mechanisms to dismantle institutional oppression and take up practices that move us closer to a structurally care-centered world.
Kristianna is the cultivator of many projects, most recently a written artwork that seeks to affirm and encourage folks as they seek to align their values with their day to day actions, Seed Packets for Liberated Practice: Harvesting Chaos Collection.
Kristianna uses their social media platforms to explore what it means to embody pleasure as a Black Queer Parent asking, "How might we bring what we dream into being?" Most days you’ll find them wandering through her garden (regardless of season) and learning from the lessons it offers.
In their whole, Kristianna practices generative conflict, embodied joy, and radical embodied dreaming.
Learn more about Kristianna and her practice at kristiannasmith.com
Socials
Instagram- @harvestingchaos
TikTok- @mochaeinstein27
Song selected was Lianna LaHavas "Weird Fishes"
Music Produced by Forest Brooks
Ways to support and work with me:
My Website for consulting, dreaming, facilitation and speaking engagements.
Patreon - please join and continue to support my work so this podcast can stay open to the public!
Substack
$drnicoletruedell (Cashapp and Venmo), drnicoletruesdell@gmail.com (Paypal and Zelle)
Hey folks! I am back and this time it is just me and you as I talk about exchange and transaction. And here I argue that solidarity and coalition building require contracts and an understanding that we are all engaging in an exchange and transaction of some kind, so it needs to be stated and clearly understood. This is not capitalism, instead it is acknowledging capitalism has us all messed up and use to exploitation, so another way is being tried. Have a listen to hear more about this!
Check out my podcast playlist for interviews I have done on other platforms that speak more on capitalism, work, and why we have to break our attachments to it.
Music produced by Forest Brooks
Tickets for "Dreaming with the Ancestors: An Immersive Sound Incubator" can be found here.
Ways to support and work with me:
My Website for consulting, dreaming, facilitation and speaking engagements.
Patreon - please join and continue to support my work so this podcast can stay open to the public!
$drnicoletruedell (Cashapp and Venmo), drnicoletruesdell@gmail.com (Paypal and Zelle)
Hey folks! This episode I am in conversation with my friend and former colleague Dr. Atiera Coleman. This time we are talking about both being DEI hires and what the term "DEI hire" really means in this present moment. Our fear of difference has us fearful of differences amongst one another, helping to lead the attack on the work of diversity, equity and inclusion overall. Have a listen as we talk about this and more. The song Atiera selected was Terry Kaye's "That's a Them Problem".
Dr. Atiera Coleman (she/her/hers) is the Chief Equity Officer for the State of Illinois, appointed by Governor JB Pritzker in July 2023. A transformative leader, Dr. Coleman has made substantial contributions to advancing equity and inclusion. Her expertise spans assessment and evaluation, grant writing, research methodology, and teaching. She is an accomplished facilitator and presenter, having spoken nationally on equity initiatives.
Before joining the Governor's administration, Dr. Coleman served as the Equity Manager for Rock County, Wisconsin, where she worked to ensure fair and unbiased access to county services. She also held the role of Associate Dean of Student Success, Equity, and Community at Beloit College, overseeing federally funded TRIO programs and leading the Anti-Racism Liaison team.
Dr. Coleman earned her doctorate in sociology from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee and remains deeply committed to fostering a more just and equitable society.
Music produced by sound architect Forest Brooks
Tickets for "Dreaming with the Ancestors: An Immersive Sound Incubator" can be found here.
Ways to support and work with me:
My Website for consulting, dreaming, facilitation and speaking engagements.
$drnicoletruedell (Cashapp and Venmo), drnicoletruesdell@gmail.com (Paypal and Zelle)
Hey folks, welcome back! This is Season 3 and this time around I am focusing on stories from the margins. To kick off this season I am in conversation with my friend and kick ass intellectual Dr. Moya Bailey. We are talking about what it means and takes to gather people together in this present moment. A moment where folks are more lonely than ever while also being more connected via social media than ever. So than what do we need to shift, break, reimagine about how we come together in order to make the spaces we say we want for our liberation and freedom? Have a listen and see what comes up for you!
Moya Bailey is a professor at Northwestern University, the founder of the Digital Apothecary, and co-founder of the Black Feminist Health Science Studies Collective. Her work focuses on marginalized groups’ use of digital media to promote social justice, and she is interested in how race, gender, and sexuality are represented in media and medicine. She is the digital alchemist for the Octavia E. Butler Legacy Network and the Board President of Allied Media Projects, a Detroit-based movement media organization that supports an ever-growing network of activists and organizers. She is a co-author of #HashtagActivism: Networks of Race and Gender Justice (MIT Press, 2020) and is the author of Misogynoir Transformed: Black Women’s Digital Resistance (New York University Press, 2021). She is the director and producer for the forthcoming documentary, Misogynoir in Medicine.
https://linktr.ee/moyabailey
Music produced by Forest Brooks
Ways to support and work with me:
My Website for consulting, dreaming, facilitation and speaking engagements.
$drnicoletruedell (Cashapp and Venmo), drnicoletruesdell@gmail.com (Paypal and Zelle)
Hey folks - welcome back! This is the end of Season 2 and here I give some overall thoughts on what this season focused on "The Crossroads" is teaching me. Cause I am dead set in the middle of my Uranus opposition that is having me sit at the crossroads and get clear on who I am and what I want. The main lesson I am learning is that I can't say I want a new life and then keep doing things in my old ways. So what does it mean to DO things differently? Well, it means you got to dream. So I get into this and more this episode. And as always let me know what you think in the comments! I will be back for Season 3 in the Fall so please enjoy the first 2 seasons and join me on Patreon for even more exclusive content around strategic dreaming.
Ways to support and work with me:
My Website to book me for Speaking Engagements, Executive Leadership coaching/strategizing, consulting, astrology readings, and more!
$drnicoletruedell (Cashapp and Venmo), drnicoletruesdell@gmail.com (Paypal and Zelle)
Hey folks! I am back and this time I am in conversation with my friend, colleague and fam Forest Brooks who was here back in Episiode 16. This time we are talking about what it means to build community as 42 year old Black queer folks in a new stage of life. How do we learn from past experiences so that we can build more sustainable communities in the present? For us music, dancing, and coming back into the body is what we are experimenting with. Take a listen and let me know what comes up for you in the comments!
Ways to support and work with me:
My Website to book me for Speaking Engagements, Executive Leadership coaching/strategizing, consulting, astrology readings, and more!
$drnicoletruedell (Cashapp and Venmo), drnicoletruesdell@gmail.com (Paypal and Zelle)
Hey folks! This may be a little late but it is a good one as I am back in conversation with astrologer and Reiki Master https://www.laurakchung.com/https://www.laurakchung.com/ from Awaken and Align Podcast. This time we are talking about astrological middle age, the time between 36-45, when life gets real and we are asked to review where we are have come from and reflect on where we are going. This is when generational planets become personal, showing us how connected we are to one another therefore how much we do need each other. So who is the Self showing up as you go through this period of ongoing growth, change and transformation? We get into this and more this episode. As always let me know what you think below!
Ways to support and work with me:
My Website to book me for Speaking Engagements, Executive coaching, consulting, astrology readings, and more!
$drnicoletruedell (Cashapp and Venmo), drnicoletruesdell@gmail.com (Paypal and Zelle)
Hey folks! Donnell and I are back with another "Thoughts While High". This time we are talking about women's basketball and how race-gender-and the state come into play; music and these so call rap battles; and what it means to create community where we can actually breathe and live. This is a good one!
Donnell McLachlan is a writer, theologian, and social justice advocate working to create a more empathetic and inclusive society through writing, research, and storytelling. His research centers on black faith and life, including liberation theologies, womanist theology, and the spiritual and sociohistorical dimensions of hip-hop music and culture. In addition to his academic pursuits, McLachlan has a popular TikTok page with over 315,000 followers, where he shares insights on religious history, discusses religious deconstruction and decolonization, and offers social commentary. He was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois.
You can find Donnell @donnellwrites on IG. Tik Tok and YouTube
Ways to support and work with me:
My Website to book me for Speaking Engagements, Executive coaching, consulting, astrology readings, and more!
$drnicoletruedell (Cashapp and Venmo), drnicoletruesdell@gmail.com (Paypal and Zelle)
Welcome back folks! Alright, this episode is a Sip & Chat with my friend and collaborator Forest Brooks. Forest is a songwriter, producer and artist, with a background as an educator in both the public and corporate sector and as a publicist in the entertainment industry. Aside from that, he's a foodie with a penchant for intellectualizing and sometimes overanalyzing pop culture.
This time around we are talking about what it means to be 42 and recreating our lives cause we believe our experiences. As we both are in the midst of our Uranus Opposition astrologically, meaning we are in middle age, this is a time when things really do get weird. So how then does one take that energy and create the life that makes sense for you? And why do we keep saying the youth will save us when it is up to all us to save ourselves and one another? What is the role of those in our 40s and beyond in the new world building we say we want? Forest and I get into this, dating, and daring to create through our pleasures.
Ways to support and work with me:
The "Believe Your Reality" Black Women Leaders Executive Coaching Cohort Program
My Website to book me for Speaking Engagements, Executive coaching, consulting, astrology readings, and more!
Hey folks! This episode I am in conversation with Alafia Stewart. An Oakland California native, Alafia is a social activist, DEI consultant, and ATR Spiritual safety educator. When not community organizing, she can most likely be found singing karaoke and/or trying all the amazing food anywhere she lands. Alafia lives by the motto: “2+2=4, but so does 3+1. There is almost never just one way to solve a problem so diversity in perspective is vital.” Here we are talking about what it means to be "in" an African Traditional Religion (ATR) as Black folks and how not to get got in these spiritual streets.
For Alafia's courses please see her website. You can Alafia on IG, Tik Tok, X, and YouTube.
Ways to support and work with me:
The "Believe Your Reality" Black Women Leaders Executive Coaching Cohort Program
My Website to book me for Speaking Engagements, Executive coaching, consulting, astrology readings, and more!
Welcome back folks! This time I am in conversation with two friends of mine, Tina & Krista, about the Gay Curriculum Tina started for me when I came out a couple of years ago. Tina hails from Louisville, Kentucky, and is your soon-to-be favorite rich lesbiauntie. A double Scorpio with a dark and brooding mood and fierce loyalty to those she allows into her queendom, she lives life on her own terms. She is a pop culture enthusiast and an unflappable cynic. In her professional life, she manages crisis, curates inclusion, and holds court with her subjects. Krista McQueeney is a sociologist, meditator, grammar nerd, a Gemini with fairy energy, and a lesbiauntie. She is an award-winning professor, a published writer, and a professional editor who loves to help people of all ages discover their passions and connect through writing. She is working on a book about white womanhood where she does the painful but necessary healing work of trying to unlearn white supremacy from the inside out. Here we discuss all kinds of things - from my coming out process and all the emotions attached to it, to them reflecting on their own coming out stories and the histories of queer and lesbian culture, to the impact music has had on all of us coming more into ourselves. This is a conversation you will want to come back more than once because of the richness of queer history given here. For the full unedited 2 hours please go to my Patreon.
Sources mentioned in the episode:
Music/Musicians: Tracy Chapman; Meshell Ndegeocello (albums "Bitter", "Cookie: The Anthropological Mixtapes", and "Comfort Woman")
TV Shows and Movie: "A Luv's Tale" (both show and movie), "L Word"; Black Mirror episode "San junipero".
Books: "Does Your Mama Know: An Anthology of Black Lesbian Coming Out Stories" by Lisa C. Moore; "If Memory Serves: Gay Men, AIDS, and the Promise of the Queer Past" by Christopher Castiglia & Christopher Reed
Ways to support and work with me:
The "Believe Your Reality" Black Women Leaders Executive Coaching Cohort Program
My Website to book me for Speaking Engagements, Executive coaching, consulting, astrology readings, and more!
Welcome back ya'll! This episode I am talking with Donnell A. McLaughlin, AKA @donnellwrites on Tik Tok and IG. This time around we smoked up and had a conversation while elevated about music, hip-hop and the Diddy lawsuits, community, the present moment, and why we have to dream now of the types of communities we WANT instead of focusing on what we don't. What happens if we break repetitive public conversations that keep us in the same discursive loops? And what does the smoke help us make space for so that we can create the realities we say we want? All that and more this episode!
You can find Donnell @donnellwrites on IG. Tik Tok and YouTube
The "Believe Your Reality" Black Women Leaders Executive Coaching Cohort Program
My Website for coaching, consulting, astrology readings, and more!
Hey folks! Well this is a different episode than when I had initially recorded and intended to publish. The Tik Tok Live conversation I had with Robert Peoples on the 15th of the month won't upload properly for either for us, so while I get that sorted I have a different focus this time around. This episode I talk about spiritual work by telling the story of what happened when I decided that I needed to move some energy around to open my roads and in doing so did some working at the crossroads that ended up working me in ways I hadn't anticipated. Again the ancestors are smart, and they work with what they got to help us come into ourselves and living. So lessons were and continue to be learned from those actions, and I share with you all this episode those lessons and more!
I am now enrolling applicants for my Black Women's Cohort Coaching Executive Leadership Program! If you want to work with me and also in a group setting with other Black women leaders, then my program may be for you. Starting April 8th, enrollment is open so sign up today as there are only 6 spots!
For more ways to work with me please see my Patreon, Substack, and website where you can book an astrology reading and executive coaching sessions along with other ways to book me for organizational consulting and/or speaking engagements.
I also accept donations via Cashapp ($drnicoletruesdell), Venmo (drnicoletruesdell), Zelle and Paypal (drnicoletruesdell@gmail.com).
I am back! Welcome to Season 2 of "Abolitionist Dreamscapes". This season I am delving more into what it means to dream in the present as we all face the crossroads of our life and society. And to kick this off I am talking with Tracie D. Hall about the "Rootwork of the Crossroads" as she is someone who works with the sacred and mundane in her own liberatory work.
Tracie D. Hall is an artist, curator, librarian, cultural worker and founder of Rootwork Gallery (2015-2019). A native of Los Angeles and the first generation in her family to be born outside the rural South, she has lived and worked in Chicago for nearly two decades. In 2023, her lifelong commitment to the right to read and advocacy for intellectual freedom and literacy resulted in Hall being named to both the TIME100 list of the most influential people of 2023 and her being selected to receive the Medal for Freedom of Speech and Free Expression from the Franklin D. Roosevelt Institute, an honor previously bestowed on Representative John Lewis. Hall is currently a visiting scholar at the University of London.
You can find Tracie D. Hall via The Rootwork Gallery on IG and FB!
For more ways to work with me please see my Patreon, Substack, and website where you can book an astrology reading and executive coaching sessions along with other ways to book me for organizational consulting and/or speaking engagements.
I also accept donations via Cashapp ($drnicoletruesdell), Venmo (drnicoletruesdell), Zelle and Paypal (drnicoletruesdell@gmail.com).
Hey folks! This is the final episode of Season 1 and this time I do some reflecting on what this first season has taught me about what it means to actually live. And in doing so I know I will be back for a season 2 because this has been a fun ride.
Below are ways to connect with me and support my work.
- Linkedtree - To support my work I accept donations through Cashapp ($drnicoletruesdell); Zelle and Paypal (drnicoletruesdell@gmail.com), and Venmo (drnicoletruesdell) - Virtual Salon Conversation Dec 10th for Black Women, Queer, and Nonbinary folks on "Justice for the Ancestors". - Patreon - Substack - Follow me on Tik Tok, YouTube, and IG! - To book me for speaking engagements, consulting, astrology readings, or 1-on-1 coaching please see my website
Hey folks! This episode is a long, but good one. This time I am conversation with Laura Chung from the "Awaken and Align" Podcast and we talk all things astrology and abolition. In this present moment we need to look to different reference points to help us make sense of the violence we are seeing and experiencing that is being fed back to us as what is needed for "freedom and democracy". What happens if we reject that? What happens if we allow our humanity to come forward instead of allowing these nation-states to dictate our next moves? The stars, planets, and zodiacs can help us with this.
Below are ways to connect with me and support my work.
- Linkedtree - To support my work I accept donations through Cashapp ($drnicoletruesdell); Zelle and Paypal (drnicoletruesdell@gmail.com), and Venmo (drnicoletruesdell) - Virtual Salon Conversation Dec 10th for Black Women, Queer, and Nonbinary folks on "Justice for the Ancestors". - Patreon - Substack - Follow me on Tik Tok, YouTube, and IG! - To book me for speaking engagements, consulting, astrology readings, or 1-on-1 coaching please see my website
Welcome back ya'll! Thanks for your patience for the latest episode. In this episode I ask the question "What is justice for our ancestors?" This is a real flow of consciousness this time around as my body, soul, and mind come to a place of acceptance of what is and focus on what possibilities we can dream and conjure to create new worlds. This is where the ancestors come in, as they have been screaming at us to believe ourselves and come back to other ways of knowing and being. And as we all bear witness to the genocide being enacted in Palestine, the Congo, and Sudan (and there are even more), the reality that we are all living within the colonial project is front and center. So then, what does justice look like for our ancestors who were also suppressed? Because justice for them is justice for us as well. NOTE: I edited the transcript and it seems to not have taken any of my edits. I am my own host, editor and producer so bare with me ya'll as I learn new skills while I go. My goal is to be able to hire an editor and sound engineer in the future so your support is greatly appreciated! Below are ways to connect with me and support my work. - To support my work I accept donations through CA ($drnicoletruesdell); Zelle and Paypal (drnicoletruesdell@gmail.com), and Venmo (drnicoletruesdell) - Salon Conversation: Details coming November 1st - Substack: https://drnicoletruesdell.substack.com/ - For my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/drnicoletruesdell - Follow me on Tik Tok and IG! - To book me for speaking engagements, consulting, astrology readings, or 1-on-1 coaching please see my website #podcast #ancestors #astrology
Welcome back ya'll! In this episode I talk about how my ancestors had to get creative in getting me to hear them. And it came via a reading with a Hougan in Haitian Vodu that began the cracking open process so I could again hear AND trust my dead. I get into that and more, so have a listen and let me know your thoughts and own stories below! I am my own host, editor and producer so bare with me ya'll as I learn new skills while I go. My goal is to be able to hire an editor and sound engineer in the future so your support is greatly appreciated! Below are ways to connect with me and support my work. - To support my work I accept donations through CA ($drnicoletruesdell); Zelle and Paypal (drnicoletruesdell@gmail.com), and Venmo (drnicoletruesdell) - Salon Conversation: https://salonconvo.eventbrite.com
- Substack: https://drnicoletruesdell.substack.com
- For my Patreon:https://www.patreon.com/drnicoletrues... - Follow me on Tik Tok and IG: @drnicoletruedell - To book an astrology reading with me: https://www.drnicoletruesdell.com/ast... - To work with me 1-on-1: https://www.drnicoletruesdell.com/coa... - To book me for keynotes/speaking engagements/podcast interviews/facilitation and consultations: https://www.drnicoletruesdell.com/bookme
