How To Not Lose Your Sh!t

“Sin, Glitter, and Lattes.” That’s what Ghiovanna, owner of Coterie Lounge & Cafe, recently started printing on t-shirts. Her friends and customers love it — not just because it’s a catchy phrase, but because it’s a reminder that community love can defeat extremist hate. Ghiovanna and her friend Roxie D. Mocracy had already worked together to put on drag shows at her cafe. The community loved the shows, despite being a fairly conservative suburban area, so Roxie and Ghiovanna thought a Dr...

Transcribed - Published: 3 June 2026

We were so lucky this week to talk to Judy Richardson, who fought for civil rights alongside John Lewis during the original 1964 Freedom Summer. She hasn't stopped fighting in the years since and we were honored to hear her inspiring (and, at times, harrowing) stories of being shot at by white supremacists, years of on-the-ground organizing, and hunger strikes in jail. It was all worth it, Judy says, to pursue voting rights for Black people in the South. When we asked her what kept her ...

Transcribed - Published: 27 May 2026

Memorial Day is almost here, so we thought it was a perfect moment to check in with a veteran. Katie Chorbak isn't just any veteran -- she's passionate about helping other vets in her community adjust to civilian life and heal their mental health. She started a movement called Our Sister's Keeper, which advocates for veterans who survived sexual assault just like Katie herself did. She was also arrested last month at the Capitol for protesting the war in Iran alongside other vets. Basic...

Transcribed - Published: 20 May 2026

Attacks on voting rights got you down? Tired of feeling like you can’t make a difference on a federal level? Have you considered focusing on… sex ed??? Wait, hear us out! We talked to Jaclyn Friedman and Jenny Steadman from EducateUS this week and it turns out that comprehensive sex education has the power to change everything about our culture and our politics. There’s a reason that authoritarian governments crack down on sex ed. It’s not just about sex — in fact, in the younger grades, it’s...

Transcribed - Published: 13 May 2026

This week, we were joined by Tory Gavito, the president and co-founder of Way To Win — they’re an organization that focuses on multi-racial collaboration to win elections. In fact, this episode itself was a microcosm of how we can win: a Black woman, a Latina woman, and a white woman all chatting together about how we save democracy. Tory talked to us about how we can turn this country around, even in places like Texas where it seems impossible. She also shared how community and creativity ar...

Transcribed - Published: 6 May 2026

UPDATE: The Supreme Court just released their ruling on this case today, Wednesday April 29th. It's deeply upsetting, but unfortunately, not that surprising. Red Wine & Blue will be getting together for a virtual event soon to be together and talk about next steps. Stay tuned! When we wanted to talk about the latest Supreme Court case that could completely gut voting rights, we went straight to the expert. This week, we're sharing the audio of our recent event with Janai Nelson, the hard-...

Transcribed - Published: 29 April 2026

There’s no denying that music can help us not lose our sh!t — we’ve discussed it on the pod before with authors, psychologists, political experts, and friends. Chances are, you’ve turned to a song to get yourself through a difficult moment in your life or our current political hellscape. But today, we’re not just talking about music; we’re actually listening to it. On this episode, Katie and LaFonda were joined by folk musician Inda Eaton. Together, they listened to songs that have moved them...

Transcribed - Published: 22 April 2026

On March 31st — just two weeks ago — the Supreme Court ruled that the state of Colorado couldn’t ban conversion therapy for minors. They called it a matter of “free speech.” But to the nearly 700,000 LGBTQ+ Americans who have gone through conversion therapy, it’s a lot more than an abstract issue about free speech. It’s a trauma they’re still dealing with, even if it happened to them years or decades ago. One of those 700,000 is Drew Amstutz, Red Wine & Blue’s Chief of Staff and all-aroun...

Transcribed - Published: 15 April 2026

This week on the pod, we were joined by two of Katie's neighbors: Erin and Dave. Along with a few other members of their community in Shaker Heights, Ohio, they've been working together to stop the AI surveillance company Flock from sharing their data with ICE. It's a complicated issue! First, on the technical side -- how exactly does Flock work, and how are they sharing data with ICE and Border Patrol? It's also tricky on the advocacy side -- how can we know if Flock is sharing our data with...

Transcribed - Published: 8 April 2026

“Optimization” is everywhere. We’re supposed to optimize our health, optimize our parenting, optimize our career and body and every other aspect of our lives. Wellness bros are out there writing articles and producing podcasts about how data can help us optimize our way to perfection. But you know what? Not everyone can start every day by drinking lemon water barefoot outdoors for an hour. Some of us have kids! This week on the podcast, we talked to Emily Oster, the founder of ParentData and ...

Transcribed - Published: 1 April 2026

When Shannon Watts created Moms Demand Action in 2012, her intention was to give moms a way to take action on gun violence. Since then, she hasn’t just seen concrete results like stronger gun laws and closed loopholes. She’s seen the transformative power of getting together in person around shared values. Shannon wrote about this idea in her recent book, Fired Up. She explained that there’s a spark within all of us, a catalyst for our life’s meaning and joy. And when many sparks all ignite at...

Transcribed - Published: 25 March 2026

Are you feeling burned out on politics? If the answer is no... please let us know your secret! But if you are feeling burned out like us (and basically every woman we know), then this episode is for you. We were joined by the wise and funny Amelia Nagoski this week to talk about her book Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle. Amelia wrote the book with her twin sister Emily after Amelia got so stressed and burned out that she ended up in the hospital. What they ende...

Transcribed - Published: 18 March 2026

This week on the pod, we talked to two women in Ohio who have been fighting back against an Amazon data center in their neighborhood. Cathy has been doing environmental advocacy for many years, and young mom Annette has only recently gotten involved, but they both agreed that it was only through the help of one another -- and their entire community -- that they've been able to make a difference. But let's back up, shall we? We've heard terms like "AI" and "data centers" thrown around a lot la...

Transcribed - Published: 11 March 2026

Last year, Amanda Litman and her husband hosted a dinner party every Saturday. She was skeptical going into it, as an introvert and the mom of two young kids, but after a just a few weeks she realized it was one of the best decisions she’s ever made. Not only that, she says it was the most political thing she did in 2025. To really appreciate that statement, you have to understand that Amanda has devoted her professional life to politics. She’s the leader and co-founder of Run For Something, ...

Transcribed - Published: 4 March 2026

In 2024, Win With Black Women held a Zoom call with 44,000 women that raised 1.5 million dollars for Kamala Harris in just 3 hours. You might remember a number of similar Zoom calls around that time, from White Women Answer The Call to White Dudes For Harris, but Win With Black Women was the original. They were the blueprint. That 2024 call wasn’t a one-time thing, either — every Sunday night, Win With Black Women hosts a call where women can learn from each other and be in community. And tha...

Transcribed - Published: 25 February 2026

This week, we were joined on the podcast by two moms in suburban Minneapolis. Their upbringings were very different: Stef is a white woman from a small town in southern Minnesota and Nina grew up in Somalia, where her father was a political prisoner. But this year, these two friends are standing side by side to protect their community against ICE. Their friendship was so sweet (each insisting that the other is the true inspiration) but it’s also strategic: strong connections between neighbors...

Transcribed - Published: 18 February 2026

We all know elections are important, from president to city council and school board. But have you ever heard anyone talk about running for office as self-care? We hadn’t either — until today! This week on the pod, we were joined by two inspirational women: Jill Barkley Roy and Kate Barr. Jill is the Director of Emerge Action Fund, an organization that trains women to run for office. And Kate has been fighting against gerrymandering in North Carolina for years and now, she’s actually running ...

Transcribed - Published: 11 February 2026

Last night, Red Wine & Blue held an emergency community meeting to support Springfield, Ohio against an impending ICE surge. A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from ending protections for Haitians in Springield, but the fight is far from over. The Department of Homeland Security says they are taking the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. 15,000 Haitians in Springfield could lose their status in a matter of weeks and ICE could surge. We stood up for Springfield, Ohio,...

Transcribed - Published: 4 February 2026

Americans are at a breaking point. But that breaking point looks wildly different depending on who you ask. For many of us who have been protesting and organizing against the Trump Administration since 2016, we’re at an emotional breaking point. How much suffering, how many innocent lives have to be lost, before this country turns back toward democracy? For some who supported Trump (or at least didn’t care one way or the other), it’s a moral breaking point. Confronted with clear video evidenc...

Transcribed - Published: 28 January 2026

On the one-year anniversary of Trump’s inauguration, we are exhausted and anxious. That’s why we’re turning to our favorite historian Heather Cox Richardson to help us reflect on the year and how we can and must continue to stand strong together. This conversation is not just about naming what’s gone wrong; it is also about recognizing what’s beginning to shift. Heather shared why the tide may be turning as cracks form in the MAGA movement and more people are rejecting extremism in fav...

Transcribed - Published: 21 January 2026

This week on the pod, we interviewed two moms in Chicago who were arrested last year for protesting outside of an ICE facility. Nikki and Sarah said that they wanted to draw attention to what’s happening in this country by using their privilege as white suburban moms — moms not so different from Renee Good in Minneapolis. Not everyone has to go out and get arrested to stand up for immigrants in their community. There are so many ways to get involved, from helping your school with a food drive...

Transcribed - Published: 14 January 2026

Last night, Red Wine & Blue held a virtual event we called Moms for Good where our community got together to process and grieve for Renee Good, who was killed in Minneapolis last week by a member of ICE. We talked about how it’s okay to feel all the feelings – sadness, fear, anger, overwhelm – but we also talked about how fear is being used to silence us. As moms, neighbors, and friends, we have to stay in the fight. Tomorrow on the pod, we’ll be joined by two suburban moms in...

Transcribed - Published: 13 January 2026

Red Wine & Blue is back from the holidays and ready to tackle 2026! So it feels right that we were joined for our first pod of the new year by two of our favorite RWB colleagues, Rebecca and Janice. All last year, Rebecca did the hard work of tracking Project 2025 as Trump put it into place, one dangerous policy at a time. So of course we had to ask what her strategy has been to do this depressing research every day without losing her shit! She told us that the antidote has been seeing th...

Transcribed - Published: 7 January 2026

Last week, Red Wine & Blue held our last live virtual event of the year. First, Katie Paris shared some of the wins we saw in 2025 elections and how we're approaching 2026. Then we're joined by our favorite political strategist and event guest, Jess McIntosh, to share some tips and tricks for navigating holiday parties. What should you do if a MAGA relative corners you and insists on a debate? What actually moves the needle, and what's a waste of your energy? Thanks so much for joining us...

Transcribed - Published: 24 December 2025

Back in 2020, members of the violent group The Proud Boys jumped a fence and defaced the Black Lives Matter sign at Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church. They filmed themselves destroying the sign while chanting racial epithets. Metropolitan AME wasn’t the only Black church in D.C. to be attacked that night, but their response to the violence was unique. They sued the Proud Boys for damages, and when the group failed to pay, the church won the rights to their trademark. Now, they’r...

Transcribed - Published: 17 December 2025

We were so lucky this week to be joined by Prentis Hemphill: a therapist, teacher, political organizer, and bestselling author of What It Takes to Heal. So often we hear women say that things feel deeply wrong right now and they want to do something about it. But how do we engage without losing ourselves? It can feel like pain is the only way to make change, like we can only heal the world if we’re willing to be exhausted and broken ourselves along the way. Prentis offers a differe...

Transcribed - Published: 10 December 2025

In 2018, Jessica Yellin founded News Not Noise. She’d spent 17 years working in TV news (including as CNN’s Chief White House correspondent) and through those years, she learned that traditional news media is really good at generating anxiety and ratings. What it isn’t so good at is helping people understand what’s really going on (at least, not without a daily panic attack). What we really needed was… well, the news without the noise. Meanwhile, around that same time, Katie Paris was seeing...

Transcribed - Published: 3 December 2025

This week is Thanksgiving, so we're celebrating gratitude with the RWB fam. We heard from our colleagues about what they're grateful for this year -- from brave kids walking out over ICE to the work we get to do every day to the joys of a good book. That's not to say that we're not also pissed off! Trump's latest misogynistic jibe (calling a female reporter "piggy") has Katie and LaFonda fuming. But the response we're seeing online from other women and the ways that our communities are ...

Transcribed - Published: 26 November 2025

As an introvert and first-generation immigrant who moved to her city right before Covid, Lily didn’t know many of her neighbors. But this year, she was inspired to help deliver meals for a local food bank. Once she started hearing the stories of the families she was helping, she says her heart was touched and she was motivated to do more. She organized a group of volunteers to help even more families in need, meeting so many “like-minded and like-hearted people” in the process. “It’s really a...

Transcribed - Published: 19 November 2025

Extremism lost big in Pennsylvania last week, from ICE-loving sheriffs to the State Supreme Court to school boards across the commonwealth. And it didn’t happen because of pundits on cable news or DC-based strategists. It happened because regular Pennsylvanians stepped up, ran for office, and talked to their neighbors and friends about what was on the line. This week on the pod, we’re joined by Sherry Luce, our PA Program Director, and Stacy Kunkel, our PA Deputy Program Director. They shared...

Transcribed - Published: 12 November 2025

By now, you’ve probably heard that Democrats won big across the country last night. From Governor and Lt. Governor in Virginia to Proposition 50 in California to school boards and city councils across the country, the people made their voices heard. And some of the biggest swings, especially in Virginia, were amongst suburban women. This win goes far beyond the races that were on the ballot last night. This is a win for every American who wants to preserve democracy, common sense, and decency...

Transcribed - Published: 6 November 2025

Last Wednesday, Red Wine & Blue was joined by Heather Cox Richardson for a virtual rally that celebrated America. After all, MAGA doesn’t own patriotism or the flag — and the No Kings protests last month were anything but “hate America rallies.” Exercising our First Amendment rights and protecting democracy against authoritarianism is as patriotic as it gets! We wanted to build on that momentum to get us through election day, so we held our own Love America Rally last Wednesday night. And...

Transcribed - Published: 3 November 2025

This week on the pod, we were joined by a Virginia mom named Andrea. For years, she thought she hated politics — she says it just seemed like a reason for “people to be mean to each other.” But as last year’s election drew closer, she noticed that her friends and family weren’t talking about it. Everyone said they were too exhausted after the first Trump presidency. Andrea understood the feeling (who isn’t exhausted by Trump??), but she couldn’t stand by and do nothing. So she started a Troub...

Transcribed - Published: 29 October 2025

This week on the pod, we were so excited to talk to Karen Walrond. She’s the author of books like The Lightmaker’s Manifesto, Radiant Rebellion, and In Defense of Dabbling. Her words about the importance of kindness, self-compassion, activism, and even anger were exactly what we needed to hear coming out of this past weekend of joyful protests. Our mission here is to help women make a difference in their communities without losing their shit, and the subtitle of The Lightmaker’s Manifes...

Transcribed - Published: 22 October 2025

Katie Paris met Jennifer at the gym. It’s a gym of mostly women, where encouragement and high-fives are the norm and pull-ups are celebrated alongside wins for reproductive rights. But neither woman could have predicted that their gym friendship would lead to Jennifer co-creating a TroubleNation group called Hope In The Heights that now has more than 400 members! And still, Jennifer considers herself “humanitarian” rather than “political.” She says it’s just about doing the right thing ...

Transcribed - Published: 15 October 2025

This week on the pod, we are so excited to share wisdom from the one and only Stacey Abrams. The legendary organizer (and author and entrepreneur and state representative and candidate for governor and Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan…) joined Red Wine & Blue last week for a virtual event. She was so inspiring that we just had to share her words with our podcast listeners too. Katie and Stacey discussed the 10 Steps to Authoritarianism (spoiler: we’ve hit them all) but more importantly, they...

Transcribed - Published: 8 October 2025

We are so excited today to share the first episode of our new podcast How To Not Lose Your Sh!t. We’ve been hearing from women in our community that they want to get involved and make a difference, but they’re overwhelmed. They’re scared. And we hear you — we feel the same way so much of the time. But we have a theory: what if self-care and politics aren’t actually opposites? What if connecting with our neighbors and making real positive change can make us feel even better than a bubble...

Transcribed - Published: 1 October 2025

Let’s be honest: this year has been a bit of a dumpster fire. Here at Red Wine & Blue, we’ve been hearing women in our community say they’re not sure how to make a difference — at least, not without totally losing their shit. So we decided to tackle that question head-on with a brand-new podcast. It’s simply called How To Not Lose Your Sh!t and it’s hosted by our very own Katie Paris and LaFonda Cousin. Katie, our founder, has worked in political organizing for most of her career. LaFonda...

Transcribed - Published: 25 September 2025

Ever since last year’s election, suburban women have had more questions than answers. How are we supposed to deal with the firehose of information that’s coming at us all the time? Can we believe what we read in the news or on social media? And, most important of all, why is all of this happening? That’s why we made “Okay, But Why.” Because these days, good information can be hard to find. And no matter what anyone says, facts are not political. If Americans all had access to the same informa...

Transcribed - Published: 24 September 2025

Americans don’t talk about state attorney generals very much. Technically it’s “attorneys general”—like “sisters-in-law” instead of “sister-in-laws”—but don’t get hung up on the wording. It’s what AGs actually do that matters so much. A state attorney general is basically the top legal expert in their state; they’re also known as The People’s Lawyers because they fight for us, their constituents, against bad actors who don’t have our best interests in mind. That can mean prosecuting companies...

Transcribed - Published: 17 September 2025

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Secretary of Health and Human Services, recently announced that he’d be “revealing” the “cause of autism” this month. It’s true that rates of diagnosis have gone up over the past 20 years — from 1 in 150 kids to 1 in 31 — but autism advocates are worried that Kennedy’s mission will do more harm than good. In the past, RFK Jr. has spread disinformation about vaccines, including exhaustively disproven links to autism. (Seriously, we’re talking thousands of stud...

Transcribed - Published: 10 September 2025

When people think of romance novels, the first thing that comes to mind is shirtless Dukes with windswept hair on the covers of mass-market paperbacks. The damsel in distress main character who is waiting for a love interest to come and save her from the clutches of evil. They’re a thing for girls. It isn’t ‘real’ reading, because they are stories typically written by women, for women, and starring women. But what if we told you that romance books, even the most quote-unquote “raunchy” ...

Transcribed - Published: 3 September 2025

In June of 2015, the Supreme Court made history by ruling that Jim Obergefell and other same-sex couples deserve the right to have their marriages legally recognized — not just in a few states, but across the country. It’s strange to think that only happened ten years ago. Gay couples across the country have only had the right to marry the person they love since the year of Jurassic World and the first run of Hamilton and that dress on the internet that nobody could agree was blue and ...

Transcribed - Published: 27 August 2025

Artificial Intelligence, or AI, is everywhere these days. Some people think it’s the solution to all of humanity’s problems and some think it’s going to bring about the end of life as we know it. The truth, as usual, is somewhere in between. But with so many different opinions and so many ways that AI can be used, it’s hard to know exactly what to believe. There’s no denying that AI has enabled some incredible scientific breakthroughs, like new tests for cancer and new tools to communicate w...

Transcribed - Published: 20 August 2025

Gerrymandering is one of those things that makes people tune out of politics. It doesn’t just sound technical and complicated, it feels so far outside our control. But it’s important to understand because we all deserve to have our votes count. Gerrymandering is basically politicians picking their voters, instead of the other way around. And in Texas, Democratic reps like Ann Johnson are standing up for voters. Both parties have been known to participate in gerrymandering, but over the past f...

Transcribed - Published: 13 August 2025

For nearly a century, the suburbs have been a cornerstone of the American Dream. But for almost as long, some people have criticized the suburbs for being too conformist, too dependent on cars, and to be blunt, too… white. We know that the suburbs have been diversifying over the past few decades, and today “suburban woman” isn’t just code for “white woman” — no matter how much the media tries to simplify us. But there’s no denying that the suburbs have excluded families who weren’t whi...

Transcribed - Published: 6 August 2025

The Supreme Court gets to make decisions that affect our most fundamental rights. When it ruled on Roe vs Wade in 1973 and then overturned that ruling in 2022, it determined our ability to access reproductive care. And in 2015, their ruling on Obergefell vs Hodges gave same-sex couples the right to marry the person they love. Just last year, they ruled that Trump has absolute immunity for “official acts” he commits as President. It’s concerning enough to think that they’re ruling along party ...

Transcribed - Published: 30 July 2025

Conspiracy theories might be having a moment, but they’re as old as civilization itself. In 64 AD, for example, the Great Fire of Rome sparked competing theories over who started the fire and why. And just like many of today’s conspiracy theories, it resulted in suffering and innocent deaths — Emperor Nero accused Christians of lighting the fire, which led to many being crucified or burned alive. Conspiracy theories often arise in times of social crisis. When humans are feeling afraid...

Transcribed - Published: 23 July 2025

Since January, Americans have had serious concerns about Elon Musk’s DOGE (the “Department of Government Efficiency”) and the privacy of our personal data. The government used to have careful guardrails in place to protect our information. Only certain people, after careful background checks, were given access. But DOGE was given unprecedented access to all of our data, across departments and agencies. And because Trump fast-tracked DOGE with an executive order, employees didn’t have t...

Transcribed - Published: 16 July 2025

Climate change is a lot of things: big, scary, scientifically-accurate. And as we just saw in Texas, it’s not just a matter of principles or talking points. It’s causing tragedies in our own country and around the globe. In the face of such an overwhelming issue, it can be hard to know what we as individuals can do. Of course we can donate to environmental causes and vote for leaders who prioritize climate policy, but there’s something else that’s as close to home as our own backyard. Gardeni...

Transcribed - Published: 9 July 2025