First Words Podcast & Community

Jazmine and Casey invite their producer, James Hillmer, and parent-writer, Dan Frey, into the studio to reflect on the first season of First Words. Together, they discuss the guests and interviews that impacted them the most along with their hopes for season 2. Follow them on Instagram while they prepare for season 2. You can keep up with Casey on Twitter or Instagram. You can keep up with Jazmine on Instagram and find out more about her work at her website. You can listen to James’ other podcast Kari Assad Ghost Detective here. Dan Frey is the author of The Future is Yours, available wherever books are sold. You can learn more about Dan’s writing at his website.

Nadine Kenney Johnstone is a memoirist, podcaster, and writing coach. In 2017 she published her memoir, Of This Much I’m Sure, which shares her harrowing and life-threatening experience with infertility. Nadine taught at Loyola University before moving her unique writing courses online. Her work has been featured in Cosmo, The Moth, PANK, and many more. She hosts her own podcast called Heart of the Story. Jazmine met Nadine in 2019 when she enrolled in her Story Studio course, Memoir in a Year. She learned so much from her about planning, organizing, and publishing her writing that she continues to take her classes and workshops whenever possible. Nadine is the mother of a nine-year-old son. You can keep up with Nadine on Instagram @nadinekenneyjohnstone You can find her book, Of This Much I’m Sure: A Memoir, on Bookshop.org or Amazon. Listen to Heart of the Story, Nadine’s weekly podcast here. Learn more about Nadine’s publications, classes, and retreats at her website. We highly recommend her class, Publish the Personal.

Ana Bretón is a Latina director and producer who is a very funny lady. She currently works as a producer on The Kelly Clarkson Show on NBC. She also worked as a digital producer at The Drew Barrymore Show and Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, where she was nominated for two Emmy awards. She keeps us laughing with her hilarious and often viral tweets on politics, pop culture, and becoming a mother in a global pandemic. When she’s not making us all laugh, she’s digging more deeply into the human experience with her narrative reporting in Bust Magazine. We enjoyed this conversation with Ana about writing, life, and parenting her two-year-old daughter. You can keep up with Ana on Twitter @missbreton or Instagram @bretonana. In this episode, we discuss her time volunteering at the US-Mexico border. You can read the article she wrote about her experience in Bust Magazine here. Learn more about Ana’s work at her website.

Today Casey interviews First Words co-host and longtime friend Jazmine Aluma. Jazmine is a poet and essayist, currently working on a memoir and finishing her MFA in Creative Writing at Antioch University. She has an 8-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter. Jazmine and Casey have been a source of creative support for each other throughout their many years of friendship. Last year, when Casey’s daughter was just a few months old and before COVID vaccines, Jazmine would drive over and join them on a weekly walk, with masks, to make sure Casey was getting some adult interaction in those early, isolating days of motherhood. It was on one of those walks where Jazmine first pitched Casey the idea for this podcast, and the rest is history. Jazmine’s website. The first reading originally appeared in the Issue 61 of Ruminate Magazine – Beginnings and Endings. The second reading originally appeared in I Wrote it Anyway: An Anthology of Essays, edited by Caroline Donahue and Dal Kular. You can follow Jazmine on Instagram @jazminealumawrites and this show @firstwords.podcast

Bodé Aboderin, also known as Papa B, is a writer, speaker, businessman, and stay at home dad. He is on a mission to communicate his rapidly changing beliefs on fatherhood and masculinity in real-time following his conversion from climbing a corporate ladder to running a household and family business. Bodé’s mission is to deconstruct the stigmas surrounding fatherhood, race, and masculinity, while showing the world that Black fatherhood is nurturing, inspiring, and empowering. Bodé, originally from Nigeria and currently residing in the UK, is the father of three children and the author of Fatherhood by Papa B: A Game-Changing Guide for Parents, Father-Figures, and Fathers-to-Be, recently published by Penguin Random House.  You can keep up with Bodé on Instagram @iam_papab Bodé’s book, Fatherhood by Papa B: A Game-Changing Guide for Parents, Father Figures and Fathers-To-Be, can be found on Bookshop.org or Amazon.com.

Rebecca Phillips Epstein is a screenwriter, essayist, and dramaturg, originally from New York City. She was diagnosed with ADHD at age 35 and wrote about it for The Washington Post. Like her other writing projects, the article is raw and unflinchingly honest. Rebecca is known for writing candidly and humorously about parenting, mental health, and everything in between. Other essays have appeared in publications like Kveller, McSweeney’s, and Human Parts by Medium. Rebecca wrote the pilot episode of the short-form anthology web series Hot Spot, which was a 2020 SeriesFest Special Selection. She was a writers’ assistant on Emily in Paris and the Roseanne revival for ABC, and before that she worked for comedy writer/producer Hilary Winston for four years. You can keep up with Rebecca on Twitter @thephillistein  We highly recommend Rebecca’s articles, “I quit breastfeeding to take ADHD meds. Here’s why I’m glad I did.” published in The Washington Post, and “What to Expect When You’re Not Expecting to Have a Miscarriage on Halloween” published in Human Parts by Medium. Find a full list of Rebecca’s publications on her website. 

Kelly Sue Milano is a writer, mother, and modern oracle. Yet when she discovered she was pregnant, it seemed the stars had something special lined up for her. In this episode, Kelly Sue shares her experience in early motherhood and how raising a neurodiverse three-year-old has impacted her writing. She now publishes a newsletter titled “A Little Different,” where she shares the learnings and musings of raising a son with autism. Kelly Sue is also the Vice President and Head Writer at Hex Comix, an independent comic book publisher nominated for the Dwayne McDuffie Award for Diversity. You can read Kelly Sue’s Substack newsletter here. Her comic book series, Hex11, can be found on Amazon or on the Hex Comics Website.  Keep up with Kelly Sue on Twitter or Instagram.

Cassandra Lane is the author of We Are Bridges, a stunning memoir that explores memory and strength as it moves between twentieth-century rural South and present-day Los Angeles. The book won the Louise Meriwether First Book Prize and was published in 2021 by The Feminist Press. In our conversation, Cassandra shares how she came to the decision to be a mother after years believing it would prevent her from living a writer’s life. As Cassandra also splits her time writing, teaching, acting as editor-in-chief for LA Parent Magazine, and being a mother to her 15-year-old son, she has some valuable words of wisdom for writers aiming to balance family and career.  You can learn more about Cassandra’s work on her website. Her book, We Are Bridges, can be found on Bookshop.org or Amazon.  Keep up with Cassandra on Twitter @casslanewrites or Instagram @cassandra.lane71. Other Resources Mentioned: Toni Morrison and Motherhood: A Politics of the Heart by Andrea O'Reilly Gathering Blossoms Under Fire: The Journals of Alice Walker, 1965-2000 by Alice Walker Sustainable Arts Foundation – Supporting Artists And Writers With Children Pen Parentis – Parenting, Done Write

Meet Anne Terpstra, an award-winning, Chicago-based writer who tells heartfelt, sex-positive stories that are grounded in realism and center LGBTQ+ characters. Her debut women’s fiction novel, Beyond Any Experience, was released this past May with NineStar Press. In addition to being an author, Anne is a skilled potter and photographer. In this episode she talks about finding her way back to writing through other creative pursuits and the scarcity of fiction that reflects her experience as a queer, middle-aged parent to a differently-abled kid. You can learn more about Anne’s creative work on her website. Her book, Beyond Any Experience, is published by Nine Star Press.  You can find it on Amazon or Bookshop.org. Keep up with her on Twitter or Instagram, where she also shares her photography and pottery throwing process. Other Resources Mentioned: This Boy We Made by Taylor Harris

Meet Samara Bay, a speech and dialect coach with clients ranging from the stars of Wonder Woman and Guardians of the Galaxy, to candidates running for congress. In this conversation, she shares what balancing an active career and parenthood looks like for her, how she birthed the concept for her upcoming book, Permission to Speak, and how she ultimately made the choice to center her life around beauty and joy. You can learn more about Samara’s work on her website and preorder her book, Permission to Speak. Keep up with her on Twitter or Instagram @samarabay where she shares weekly tips for finding your voice. Other Resources Mentioned:  Permission to Speak Podcast Permission to Speak on Penguin Random House