Welcome to the Therapy for Black Girls Podcast, a weekly conversation about mental health,

personal development, and all the small decisions we can make to become the best possible versions

of ourselves.

I'm your host, Dr. Joy Harden Bradford, a licensed psychologist in Atlanta, Georgia.

For more information or to find a therapist in your area, visit our website at therapyforblackgirls.com.

While I hope you love listening to and learning from the podcast, it is not meant to be a substitute

for a relationship with a licensed mental health professional.

Hey y'all, thanks so much for joining me for session 116 of the Therapy for Black Girls Podcast.

If you've been paying any attention this summer, then you've probably heard all of the excitement

from another sister for claiming that she's having a hot girl summer. It has become a rallying

cryo-sorts for sisters to live their lives to the fullest and to enjoy every minute of it.

Every now and then, a moment like this becomes so palpable that it makes its way into our

therapy office. And that's what we'll be digging into today. How you can create your own definition

of a hot girl summer and how therapy might be able to help you in this process.

For this conversation, I was joined by Mariah Seeger de Gear.

Mariah is a licensed marriage and family therapist in both New York and Minnesota.

She's certified in emotionally focused therapy and is the co-founder of BFF therapy in Beacon,

New York. Her work focuses on relationships and intimacy with the specialty in racial identity

development, culturally mixed couples, and queer people of color. Mariah and I chatted about

what it means to be having a hot girl summer, why it's so important to embrace and cultivate

joy in your life, why so many people feel threatened by things that bring Black women joy,

and she shared some books for you to add to your hot girl summer reading list.

...