What a whirlwind 2019 has been! So many beautiful things transpired for me personally and for that, I’m so very grateful. My babies are healthy and happy, business is booming, my friendships are solid and I’m all good. What more could a woman ask for?

Of course, a highlight of this year was the debut of my new podcast, Speakeasy with Denene. Each episode features a password into the culture and we dissect all the many ways that word intersects with different facets of the African American experience. Featured passwords included Love, Beauty, Fly, Black and Flower.

To celebrate the success of the show and the end of the year—wait, decade!—I’ve made a list of my favorite things that relate to the passwords of past episodes, as well as the password for an episode that debuts at the top of the year: Freedom.

On my list of favorite things, you’ll find:

  • One of my fav authors, who makes clear with his words that he loves black children
  • My fav makeup brand and MUA—aka makeup artist—who make black people look beautiful
  • Two fine artists I adore, who make black people look fly on the canvas and in the art world
  • This year’s blackest, most provocative movie
  • A workout guru who is helping her clients blossom into healthy, strong women
  • Two music artists whose songs and performances are the very embodiment of what it means to be free.

Have a listen! And if you haven’t listened to the first five episodes—password: LOVE, password: FLY, password: BEAUTY, password BLACK and password FLOWER—get to it! If you have already, thank you!

If you haven’t subscribed, now’s a good time. I don’t want you to miss out on all this fabulousness. Seriously. Get to it. It’s free. And it’s available on all podcast platforms, including Stitcher, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and so many more. Until the next Speakeasy, be easy.