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Friends Like Us


A Podcast featuring women of color with different views on hot topics. 

Mar 3, 2021

Charla Lauriston is a Los Angeles based stand-up comedian, television writer, producer, and podcast host who’s written for The Last OG, Ghosted, People of Earth, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and the upcoming Hoops on Netflix. As a standup, she’s appeared on ‘The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail’ on Comedy Central, has performed with Jonathan Van Ness and Team Coco. Hailing from New York by way of Boston by way of Haiti, Charla’s sharp observations on everything from family to race to pop culture and the absurd minutia of everyday life are delivered with a matter-of-fact punch to the gut. Her 2014 web series, Clench & Release, garnered critical acclaim that described her as “self-assured and gleefully sarcastic” (WNYC) and “one of the most exciting and original voices in comedy” (Splitsider). Yes, she’s very tired and plans to retreat to the woods in 2035. 
Dr. Janus Adams is an Emmy Award-winning journalist, historian, entrepreneur, bestselling author of eleven books, and the host of public radio’s “The Janus Adams Show” and podcast. A frequent on-air guest, she has appeared on ABC, BET, CBS, CNN, Fox News, NBC’s The Today Show, and NPR’s All Things Considered.  With more than 500 articles, essays and columns to her credit, her work has been featured in Essence and Ms. Magazines, The New York Times, Newsday, USA Today, and The Washington Post.  Her syndicated column ran in the Hearst Newspapers for sixteen years.  Her commentary has been broadcast on CBS and NPR, and published in the Huffington Post. Her book, Glory Days: 365 Inspired Moments in African American History, was licensed by McDonald’s and reached more than 3 million readers.  A pioneer of issue-oriented African-American and women’s programming she has hosted her own radio and television talk shows for more than ten years.  Her series, “Milestones in African-American Business History,” ran on public radio’s Marketplace. Her 19-hour International Women’s Day marathon broadcasts brought her to NPR as the network’s first National Arts Correspondent and opened the New York News Bureau. An entrepreneur, as founder of BackPax (a children’s publishing company) and Harambee (the first national book club for African American literature), she changed the publishing landscape for authors and audiences. A dynamic speaker and passionate storyteller, she is known for her unique perspectives on current events through the lens of history. Indeed, Dr. Adams has been engaged by history and culture since childhood.  A northern school desegregation pioneer at 8, she was one of the four children selected to break New York’s de facto segregation in the public schools in the wake of Brown v. Board of Education.  A classically-trained pianist, she is a graduate of New York’s High School of Performing Arts.  Her master’s is the nation’s first graduate degree in Black Studies.  Her doctoral chair was author and composer Shirley Graham Du Bois (widow of Dr. W. E. B. Du Bois, the “Father of Pan-Africanism” and co-founder of the NAACP). Her honors include Doctor of Humane Letters degrees from Shaw University and the State University of New York. March 10th – April 30th  Check out her  SISTER DAYS MOTHER/DAUGHTER* BOOK CLUB: a timely, life-affirming, leadership-building, intergenerational 7-week virtual retreat for *mothers, daughter, sisters, sistas, and sisterfriends rooted in her groundbreaking book, Sister Days: 365 Inspired Moments in African American Women's History.  
Hollie Harper is a writer/comedian/actress from Cape May, New Jersey. She’s a co-host of the nationally trending Twitter Storytelling Chat “BlerdDating”. Her blog “Hollie Harper INK” on Medium has Top Writer status in Parenting, Black Lives Matter and Racism.  She's the creator of the popular sketch comedy show AMERICAN CANDY. They have played the Comic Strip, Gotham Comedy Club, BAM Café as well as the Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival. Team CANDY is presently editing a pilot they shot last winter and Time Out Chicago named them one of the five groups to watch. She's a regular host for West Side Comedy Club. Since the pandemic started she's produced three smash shows on Zoom with them. As an actress she recently starred in the Off-Broadway production of Melanie Maria Goodreaux's "The White Blacks". And she works with Gold Comedy and Stand Up Girls, two programs that empower young women by teaching them standup comedy.
Always hosted by Marina Franklin - One Hour Comedy Special: Single Black Female ( Amazon Prime, CW Network), Trainwreck, Louie Season V, The Jim Gaffigan Show, Conan O'Brien, Stephen Colbert, HBO's Crashing, and The Breaks with Michelle Wolf