We're closing season 8 of Growing Up with gal-dem in conversation with North London’s very own Nigerian songstress: Bellah. 

Nie & Natty sit down with the singer-songwriter talking all about her musical journey and creative storytelling process. Bellah expands on her ability to connect with her audiences by writing songs that paint a vivid image into telling the truth about her experiences in life.

Through an extract from the first-ever song she wrote after a breakup, Bellah reflects on her growth since writing this at 18 years old, and how she has maintained a deep connection to herself and her emotions through her healing.

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This week on Growing up with gal-dem we're joined by Clarkisha Kent, a Nigerian-American writer, culture critic, former columnist and author of Fat Off, Fat On: A Big Bitch Manifesto.

Clarkisha talks to Natty and Nie about nurturing a safe space for herself within complex family dynamics and whilst writing her book Fat Off, Fat On: A Big Bitch Manifesto. Her book taps into her memories, both pleasant and unpleasant, and traumatic experiences around fatphobia.

In her extract, Clarkisha describes two pictures of herself which reflect on pivotal times in her life that have affected her identity development. Clarkisha reflects on these two identities and how she found herself through the displacement of cultural dissonance.

You can also check out our other podcast series "Reclaimed and Rewritten" hosted by Clarkisha - all episodes live now.

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On this week’s episode of our podcast, Natty and Nie speak to Lava La Rue about growing up as a Black alt kid, co-founding NiNE8 collective with school friends Biig Pig and Mac Wetha, and the importance of collectivism in the creative industries.

Lava reads a poem that expresses her understanding of her identity as a mixed-race person and the politics around it; of being raised by a Black family in a Black community, and navigating the complexities around having a mixed heritage in the UK. 

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In this episode, Natty and Nie are joined by British-Chinese cricket player Issy Wong. Issy shares how she came into her cricket career and the lifestyle she cultivated from this. 

Familial connection is a prevalent value with Issy; and throughout the episode we learn all about her Macanese heritage and hear captivating stories of her family and culture. We hear an extract from 13-year-old Issy, sharing her memories of watching live football with their family and how she connects through her support of the Liverpool Football Club. 

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This week we're joined by fashion designer and creative Priya Ahluwalia. With Nigerian and Indian roots, Priya talks to Natty and Nie all about the intersections between creativity and sustainability in the fashion industry.

We hear more about the values she upholds in herself and within her brand, Ahluwalia, to bring inclusivity and accurate representation of Black and Brown people.

She shares an extract from her notes that touches on the complexities of feelings versus thoughts, body image and perceptions of success and how she nurtures herself throughout.

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Welcome to this week's episode of Growing Up with gal-dem, with Valentine's day around the corner. Tune in to our conversation with 'quintessential' Gemini, queer Chinese-Australian and author of 'Be not afraid of love', Mimi Zhu.

This episode taps into the relationship between love and fear within ourselves and our identities. Mimi, Natty & Nie reflect on how we talk to ourselves during the liberation of complex relationships. Mimi shares how they learned self-love, and self-improvement and reflected upon understanding the reality of oneself after an abusive relationship and the tools they used for growth in the manifestation of their book.

You can buy Mimi’s book Be Not Afraid of Love here

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This episode of Growing up with gal-dem contains mentions of death and grief. So if you don't feel comfortable listening to this episode, please skip this one and listen to one of our others

This week, we're kicking off season 8 with Amaarae, proud to feature her track ‘A Body, A Coffin’, to the latest Black Panther film soundtrack in 2022. She takes us through her journey to develop a track specifically for Wakanda and how her music career materialised through her artistic process.

With Wakanda forever following Chadwick Boseman's unfortunate death, Amaare, Natty & Nie dive deep into topics around grief, staying connected to family and culture and ways they have individually overcome grief.

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In our final episode of season 7 we are joined by the ever-talented Paapa Essiedu, actor and primetime Emmy winner. In this uplifting and hilarious episode Natty, Nie and Paapa discuss the power of representation on stage and screen. 

In his joy-inducing extract we hear about Paapa’s first experience travelling abroad and the pure experience that is going away as an adult for the first time. If you are looking for a laugh while reflecting - this is the episode for you.

Look out for the next season of Growing up with gal-dem when we return later in 2022! Thank you so much for listening.

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In this week’s episode of Growing up with gal-dem, Natty and Nie are joined by Maliha Abidi: artist, author and NFT Queen. Maliha talks us through why her books are about representation and appreciation for all the women of colour who have changed the world through what they do. She discusses with Natty and Nie the infamous problems surrounding NFTs and the best ways for us to tackle them.

For this week’s extract, Maliha shares an entry from a diary she wrote years ago on the patriarchal inequality in her family and cultural expectations as a result. She discusses how stepping out of that cycle allowed her to pave her own way.

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This week on Growing up with gal-dem, Natty and Nie chat to blogger Natalie Lee, also known as Style Me Sunday. They talk all about body confidence and being one of the first people to strip off on social media. Natalie discusses her ongoing journey of self-acceptance and body positivity, and the process of unlearning harmful stereotypes we learn in our youth. 

Natalie brings us a powerful extract about her journey with alopecia. She kindly opens up to Natty and Nie about the ups and downs of dealing with the condition and how she’s come to find acceptance in a variety of ways.

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This week we are joined by Debbie: singer, songwriter and musician who has worked with the likes of Stormzy. Debbie speaks to Natty and Nie about being the middle child of Ghanian and Nigerian parents and how church music started her inspirations to become a musician from childhood. 

In Debbie’s extract we look back on her experience in year 6 when she was reflecting on her time at primary school. When we are younger, we want nothing more than to grow up but Debbie reflects on just enjoying the time you have and letting that help you create a journey for your future.

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Following her debut book release Brown Girls, we are joined by the lovely Daphne Palasi Andreades. Her new book takes a deep dive into the lives of a variety of young women of colour growing up in Queens, New York. Daphne masterfully taps into various diasporas and communities to share their narrative as one whole. 

In a Growing up with gal-dem first, Daphne’s extract is a tactile and colourful visual art piece she created when she was 11 years old. She reminds us of the joys of daydreaming and wondering, as we are taken through an immersive journey of creativity in a playful and inquisitive way. 

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This week on Growing up with gal-dem we’re joined by queer non-binary multi-disciplinary artist Radam Ridwan. Radam talks about how they created an authentic space on social media and the importance of setting boundaries online. We discussed how having safe queer spaces for people of colour are vital, and how the lack of them affected Radam while growing up. 

Radam’s extract, written a few weeks after their 21st birthday, is a poetic narrative in which Radam looks forward on the time they have and what you ‘should’ be achieving by each age milestone. They reflect on deconstructing these timelines and pressures in order to recognise the space you have now.

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Welcome to this week’s episode of Growing Up with gal-dem, Tune in to our conversation with inspiring coach, keynote speaker and founder of Pepper Your Talk, Dior Bediako. 

Natty and Nie talk to Dior all about her drive to build her own business and what it takes to keep it going, including letting go of animosity towards others. In her extract, we take a look at a text Dior sent to her ex and how to maximise every experience for the ultimate form of self-care.

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We’re back with season 7 of growing up with gal-dem, our amazing hosts natty Kasambala and  Niellah Arboine! 

This week, we’re kicking off with the amazing and one of a kind Mahalia who talks to us about her new song Whatever Simon Says and her inspiration growing up as a minority in her hometown environment - growing up with the pressure of being signed so young

and how she’s found self love through that. 

Mahalia, Natty and Nie discuss the writing process for Mahalia’s hit Sober and the complex emotions and feelings of bringing this beautiful song to life. They also discuss how the music industry has developed, changed and evolved for music artists in 2022. Taking us through her music process, Mahalia discusses how her unique perspective from being up north allows her to carve her own journey in the London scene.

Produced by Aiwan Obinyan

Production by AiAi Studios

Production Assistant - Adedamola Bajomo

Creative Producer at gal-dem - Bijal Shah

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Content warning: this episode contains mentions of death

This week on Growing up with gal-dem, Nie and Natty chat to musician Rachel Chinouriri about the vast influences (spanning alternative music to horror films) that have affected her music now and helped her pursue music as the youngest of 5 children. Rachel brings us a different kind of extract in the form of a whatsapp screenshot to her grandma in 2016. She shares how losing her grandma and losing that supportive hand encouraged her to keep going and encouraged her to be happy in music and life. 

You can listen to Rachel’s stunning second EP, Four° In Winter here. 

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Trigger warning. This episode of Growing up with gal-dem includes mentions of sexual violence. So if you don't feel comfortable listening to this episode, please feel free to skip this and listen to one of our other episodes.

This week we are joined by Ruby Rare: sex educator, author and public speaker. Ruby speaks to Natty and Nie about the importance of sex education not only to young people in schools but also to adults everywhere and how this can impact not only your sex life but to your self understanding and any relationships you have. 

Ruby talks about this more deeply as she reads out her extract from 2016 when she was newly heartbroken and figuring out how to move on. We hear how it’s very hard in those moments to see past what’s currently happening but as Ruby kindly explains - it’s not going to last forever!

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