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From Lupita Nyong’o and beauty secrets, to football news and the music industry, any of this week’s podcasts would be great for your morning commute.
1. Mind Your Own
Streaming platform: All streaming platforms
Genre: Life and culture
Lupita Nyong’o is a homesick person. It’s why the Academy Award-winning actress first came up with the idea of working on her new podcast, Mind Your Own, five years ago. It’s a storytelling show that navigates what it means to belong – from an African perspective. It’s a phrase Nyong’o hears being used a lot around the African continent, which can mean “mind your own business” or “minding your own people” and “taking care of them”.
In each episode, Nyong’o tells a personal story from her own life, including things she has never shared before. She then passes the mic over to her guest for the episode, an African, who also shares a story of their own.
Before Yaw, a Ghanian who recently moved to Germany with his wife Mary, shares a heart-warming story about the time he lied about being a musician – a drummer to be precise – while in a queue at the post office, Nyong’o talks about the complicated relationship she has surrounding her voice and Kenyan accent.
Mind Your Own borrows elements used in documentary-style podcasts, which makes it an immersive experience that is intimate, thought-provoking and funny at times.(By Yolanthe Fawehinmi)
2. Naked Beauty Podcast
Streaming platform: All streaming platforms and YouTube
Genre: Beauty
Can double cleansing really make a difference in the health and appearance of your skin? In the latest episode of the Naked Beauty podcast, host Brooke DeVard and make-up artist Sir John – who has joined for a limited run guest co-hosting with DeVard this year – speak to skincare expert and top Shiseido training executive Robert Meyer about what his decades-long career in the beauty industry has taught him, generational shopping habits, staying relevant, and how Shiseido successfully translates 150 years of Japanese beauty history into their products.
But that, the pair catch up about New York Fashion Week and the impact Naomi Campbell has had on the industry, recently hitting number one on the podcast charts for fashion and beauty, and the power of manifesting and stories. They also cover beauty brand trips and why taking a look behind the curtain is so important.
Even though Naked Beauty is classified as a beauty podcast, the conversations go so much deeper, which is what makes it stand out.(By Yolanthe Fawehinmi)
3. To My Sisters
Streaming platform: All streaming platforms and YouTube
Genre: Life and relationships
As part of a new three-part series on To My Sisters, Renée Kapuku and Courtney Daniella Boateng are the guests on their own podcast. Their little sister, friend and mentee Emmanuelle Faith Zoe takes the reigns, and asks the hosts some of the pressing questions they continuously get from their loyal listeners.
The first question Zoe asks is a big one: “Why did you guys decide to be changemakers?” – which opens up the conversation further to explore how we can productively respond to our own anger, intentional friendships, renewing our minds, their Christian faith, why it’s ok to prioritise your mental wellbeing, and more.
From this powerful conversation alone, I’m not surprised Kapuku and Boateng have been able to build such a strong global community over the last few years, and are often invited to events like the International Women’s Podcast Festival, hosted by Content Is Queen and Spotify, which will be taking place on October 3-4 this year.(By Yolanthe Fawehinmi)
4. Dressed To Confess Podcast
Streaming platform: All streaming platforms and YouTube
Genre: Fashion and entertainment
Host Rèy Styles is back with a second season of the Dressed To Confess Podcast, with singer-songwriter Bellah. Though Dressed To Confess is a fashion podcast first and foremost, it’s also where guests – who also co-host the episode – play games, let their hair down, share some of their most vulnerable moments, confess their deepest and sometimes darkest secrets and so much more.
Styles first asks Bellah – who shouts out her stylist Gelmira Manico – to talk listeners through her outfit, and then Styles does the same before moving into a section on the podcast called ‘Let’s Get Into Some Things’, where they discuss the off-putting things men do in the talking stage of dating.
Bellah goes on to share why excellence needs to be the foundation of her music career, having the health condition sickle cell – something she has been very outspoken about over the last few years – embracing full-circle moments, such as getting nominated for the BET Awards, before ending the episode on a high with a game.(By Yolanthe Fawehinmi)
5. Soccer A-Z
Streaming platform: All streaming platforms
Genre: Sport
Sky’s Soccer AM’s beloved hosts, Tim Lovejoy and Helen Chamberlain, have reunited for a brand-new project, Soccer A-Z, to relieve the Nineties “golden era” of football, while also tackling weekly news from the beautiful game. In this week’s episode, the dynamic duo cover the letter B and are joined by Tubes, Robbie Knox and Joe Worsley, which makes for an enjoyable chat.
They catch up on everything from football tunnels at stadiums, TNT, eggs, farms, the wine they serve during communion in a church, pursuing freedom in life, Bradley Walsh, Balotelli and more. The chat is indeed bonkers and a nice mix of comedy, pop culture and razor-sharp football analysis.(By Yolanthe Fawehinmi)
