r/RaisedByHerPodcast

Donnica and Ro Nita discussed the tragic death of Jason Arday, who made history in 2023 as the youngest Black professor appointed at the University of Cambridge. Following a relentless three-year public attack on his credentials, Arday resigned from Cambridge and was found dead days later. Even after an internal review by his PhD-granting institution found no basis to revoke his degree, thousands of hostile articles continued without his institution stepping in to shield him. When a brilliant scholar who overcame severe obstacles to help others is pushed to the edge by public mobbing, the system has fundamentally failed.

How can higher education institutions create real defense mechanisms to protect faculty facing targeted public harassment?

We talked about Essence's recent 50 Greatest R&B Songs of All Time list and pointed out the obvious flaw: it heavily prioritized the 2000s through the 2020s while completely ignoring the 1960s pioneers who built the genre.

Leaving out Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, and Motown powerhouses like The Temptations makes the "all-time" label inaccurate. It should have simply been marketed as the best R&B of the modern era. While putting Stevie Wonder’s "As" at number one was the correct call, omitting the foundation of Black music just to manufacture viral outrage is lazy curation.

What classic track's absence bothered you the most when looking through the list?

Donnica and Ro Nita discussed the discourse around Nara Smith, who actually pushes back on being labeled a trad wife. She earns her own money, contributes equally with her husband, and started scratch cooking to manage lupus. The real reason this content blows up online isn't because women desperately want to return to the 1950s—it's because modern working women are utterly exhausted. Navigating the corporate grind and founder culture while carrying domestic mental load has burned people out, making a slow-paced domestic feed look like a fantasy escape.

Do you think people watch this content for the domestic lifestyle, or because modern work life is completely draining?

Donnica and Ro Nita discussed the high-profile McKenna West case, where an Alaskan nurse acting as a surrogate for a California couple discovered a severe fetal heart defect at 20 weeks. The intended parents requested a medical termination as outlined in their legal agreement, but the surrogate refused and moved to Texas to exploit local abortion bans and carry to term. When someone in the medical profession knowingly signs a binding contract agreeing to specific medical protocols, using jurisdictional loopholes to override the biological parents' decision compromises the entire surrogacy framework.

Where do you draw the line between surrogate bodily autonomy and enforcing binding parental contracts?

We broke down the McKenna West controversy, pointing out the core truth: the baby is not the surrogate's child. West signed up for the job through an agency, but when the fetus was diagnosed with a severe medical condition, she took outside funding and fled to Texas to block the parents' decision. It makes no sense to claim you're protecting a child's best interest when you openly admit you lack the resources to care for them and the child legally belongs to parents in California. Emotional attachment is understandable, but professional surrogates cannot use emotions to void binding legal agreements.

Where do you stand on enforcing surrogacy contracts when emotional bonding causes a surrogate to breach?

Donnica and Ro Nita discussed Buc-ee's suing Beaver's Mini Mart, a local shop in Beavercreek that has operated for over two decades. Buc-ee's claims trademark infringement, but using legal money to target a neighborhood corner store is part of a broader corporate playbook. Whether it's Walmart or massive travel centers, big chains move into new markets and immediately go after long-standing local businesses to monopolize the area. Crushing small family shops isn't "healthy competition"—it's aggressive corporate legal bullying.

Is this legal strategy fair game for corporate expansion, or does it cross the line?

We discussed Sophie Cunningham's recent comments advocating for a blanket ban on trans athletes across women's sports. The issue? There are literally no trans players currently competing in the WNBA.

At a time when the league is experiencing historic growth in attendance and viewership, dropping hyper-political statements about non-existent problems looks like a cheap attempt to piggyback on media controversy. Manufacturing outrage that actively harms marginalized communities just to generate headlines is bad for the sport and bad for the league.

Why do players feel the need to bring unprovoked political debates into a league that's thriving?

We were discussing a listener letter where a mom maxed out her credit cards to buy designer gear for her 5-year-old after getting sucked into viral back-to-school TikTok hauls.

The hard truth? A kindergartner couldn't care less about luxury labels or price tags. They care about comfort and cool colors. Dropping thousands to flex on social media doesn't help your kid—it just puts your household in financial danger. Comparison culture will keep families broke if people don't step back and stick to realistic budgets.

Have you noticed back-to-school spending getting out of control in your community? How do you handle the social media pressure around kids' gear?

Sending threats to a critic like Mister Lewis Lux from an official business page associated with a huge celebrity brand like DJ Khaled is brand suicide.

You can’t control what food critics say or how social media reacts, but you have 100% control over your kitchen, product quality, and customer service. Spending time throwing tantrums online takes all focus off what actually matters: fixing the food so reviews improve naturally.

Would a restaurant owner behaving like this online completely stop you from eating there?

We discussed AOC publicly documenting her egg-freezing process at age 36. When men spend their 30s hyper-focused on career progression, nobody questions their family timeline. But when a woman waits until 36 to prioritize her profession before having a child, she faces constant pushback, invasive questions, and outdated medical labels. High-profile figures documenting their fertility journeys helps destigmatize egg freezing, but the underlying workplace double standard is still very real.

Did you face judgment or workplace friction when making decisions about your fertility timeline?

In a recent Patreon listener letter, a woman asked how to handle catching a stranger filming her and her partner arguing at a rooftop lounge. Donnica and Ro Nita made a crucial safety point: never approach the person yourself. You have no idea what mental state they're in or how they'll react. The safest play is getting venue staff or security involved to protect your space and demand they stop.

We dissect these situations weekly on our Patreon page. Have you ever caught a stranger filming you, and how did you handle it?

Donnica and Ro Nita showed off the Angel Reese doll on Raised By Her, admiring the waist-length hair, detailed makeup, and signature jewelry. While kids get authentic representation to play with, adult fans are treating her as a pristine collectible to keep in the box. Angel negotiating her Mattel deal and Reebok shoe contract early proves her off-court business mind is just as sharp as her game.

Are you keeping athlete collectibles sealed in the original packaging, or do you take them out?