How We Protect Our Freedom in an Authoritarian America ft. Stacey Abrams

Brown Ambition

iHeartPodcasts

Education, Self-improvement, Business

4.8 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 28 January 2026

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week on Brown Ambition, Mandi is joined by author, activist, and democracy defender Stacey Abrams for a powerful, timely, and deeply grounding conversation about where we are as a country and what we can actually do about it.

Recorded during a moment of collective grief, fear, and exhaustion, this episode centers honesty over platitudes and action over despair. Stacey breaks down her 10 Steps Campaign, explains how authoritarianism takes root in real time, and offers a clear framework for resistance, resilience, and rebuilding without pretending this moment isn’t heavy.

Together, Mandi and Stacey talk about protecting your peace without disengaging, finding joy as an act of resistance, navigating financial shame and career disruption, and why your power doesn’t disappear just because your platform changes.

If you’ve been feeling overwhelmed, frozen, or unsure where to start this conversation is for you.

What We Get Into

Why this moment feels heavier and why that feeling is by design
Stacey Abrams’ 10 Steps to Autocracy and how to recognize them in real time
The 10 Steps to Freedom & Power and how everyday people can activate them
Why we can’t return to “how things were” and must demand something better
How to talk to your kids about what’s happening without passing down fear
What to do when you’re exhausted, caregiving, working, and barely holding it together
Why joy is not escapism — it’s resistance
Financial shame, job loss, and why debt is not a moral failure
Stacey’s unsexy but life-changing money habits
Building freedom funds, changing lanes, and investing in yourself and others
Government shutdowns, budgets, and why “business as usual” no longer applies
Why status is no longer safety and what collective action really looks like

Key Takeaways

You don’t have to do everything — but you do have to do something
Your position may change, but your power stays with you
Nonviolent resistance is effective — and it’s not the same as being passive
Financial setbacks don’t cancel your dreams; they may redirect them
Democracy isn’t abstract — it’s about our ability to thrive

Resources Mentioned

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

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0:00.0	where I ground myself in this moment is what can I do? How do I make certain that I don't save
0:06.7	my small little corner of the world and lose myself? We all have something we can do. We all have a way
0:12.2	that we can be engaged and intentional. We don't all have to be out there. And by God,
0:18.5	no one should be called upon to sacrifice their lives the way we've seen happen in recent days.
0:23.5	But that does not exempt us from holding ourselves responsible for the world that we want to create, the world we want to be a part of.
0:31.0	This is an I-Heart podcast, guaranteed human.
0:39.9	Hey, BAFam, it's your girl, Mandy Money.
0:42.3	Welcome back to Brown Ambition.
0:44.1	I always want to keep it a buck with y'all.
0:46.4	I came into this episode today, to this conversation that you're going to hear, feeling scared, feeling exhausted, feeling a little bit helpless, but honestly
0:56.6	feeling so damn grateful. Because in what world could I have planned a better time to sit across
1:04.1	from even virtually the incredible Stacey Abrams, an icon, a hero of mine, and I know of so many of
1:10.7	yours. I actually booked this
1:12.5	interview last year, I think December, November last year. And yeah, what a time to have
1:18.3	Stacey on this show. We're talking about the killing of Alex Pretty, the death of Renee Good at the hands
1:23.5	of ice, their murders, I should say. They're tragic and unjustified slayings in the street
1:30.0	and broad daylight by an unhinged federal agency that has been given a blank check to
1:36.6	apparently murder American citizens and to kidnap children and their families across this
1:42.1	country and have been able to do it for over a year now.
1:47.3	And on top of that, we're also looking at potentially another government shutdown on January 30th,
1:53.5	that if we do not fight for, and yes, actually fight for a shutdown, and we'll talk about this
1:58.7	with Stacey as well, You'll understand why she says
	...

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