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 261 of the Therapy for Black Girls.

We'll get right into our conversation after a word from our sponsors.

In celebration of Black Music Month, this week I'm joined by Daniel Smith, the former editor

and chief of vibe magazine, R&B editor at Billboard, award-winning journalist, and host

of the MegaHead Podcast, Black Girl Songbook.

Daniel is also the author of the new and highly celebrated book, Shine Bright, a very personal

history of Black women and pop.

The book is a literary mashup, part biography, part memoir, all while weaving in the history

of Black women's contributions to the genre of American pop music.

During our conversation, we explored the music that has meant the most to Daniel in her

lifetime and shared it about how she prioritized her mental health while writing the book.

And a quick note about the episode, Daniel and I recorded this conversation the week after

our brothers and sisters were killed in the Buffalo grocery store.

And so we did get into that a little bit at around the 15 minute mark.

So I just wanted to give you a heads up to make sure that you take care of yourself

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