Standpoints

Today, we are presenting a special standalone episode recorded live during a panel discussion hosted by Andrea Baldwin, titled “The Time Is Always Right to Do What Is Right.” The panel was presented in collaboration with the J. Willard Marriott Library at the University of Utah during events commemorating Martin Luther King Jr. Day. This live audience conversation was recorded on January 20 2026. 

Joining Andrea on the panel were three powerful voices in the Salt Lake City area. Ashley Finley is a birth keeper, medicine maker, poet, activist, and educator. Bianca Mittendorf is a community-rooted leader, educator, and candidate for House District 7 in Ogden, Utah. Dr. Chelsea Bouldin is an Assistant Professor whose work engages Black women’s imaginative self-making and archival praxis.  

In their conversation panelists approach the civil rights movement not as a closed chapter of the past, but as an ongoing struggle, shaped by history and intensified in the present by backlash, misinformation, and renewed efforts to narrow who belongs, who is protected, and whose voice counts, in Utah and across the United States. The group takes on the question, “If the time is always right to do what is right, what does it mean to DO what is right?” As individuals? Collectively? And especially within institutions that claim neutrality? 

In this final episode of the five part series on justice, Dr. Andrea Baldwin is joined by  Nana Brantuo, a friend of the show, and a dedicated researcher, policy analyst, and advocate with over a decade of experience, advancing equity focus initiatives. Also joining is Crystal Rudds, an Assistant Professor of African American literature and culture at the University of Utah. Crystal's research interests include Black feminisms, Afrofuturism, and Black geographies. In this episode the three explore the barriers marginalized communities face in accessing safe affordable housing, the historical and contemporary forces that shape housing inequities, and the intersectional struggles that make it even harder for people to find stability.

In this fourth episode of a five part series on justice, Dr. Andrea Baldwin is joined by Rae Duckworth , the operating chairperson for Black Lives Matter Utah Chapter to talk about racial justice. Rae has been at the forefront of activism in Salt Lake City since August, 2021, and her journey has been deeply personal. As a black queer woman and the cousin of Bobby Ray Duckworth, who tragically lost his life at the hands of police during a mental health crisis, Rae's commitment to justice and community empowerment has been shaped by pain, resilience, and an unwavering dedication to the collective well-being of black and brown people in Utah. The two  dive deep into Rae's personal journey to activism, the unique challenges of fighting for racial justice in Salt Lake City, and the ongoing fight for liberation. Rae will also share insights on the intersectionality of race, gender, and mental health within the Black Lives Matter movement, and discuss how communities can contribute meaningfully to the fight for justice.

In this third episode of a five part series on justice, Dr. Andrea Baldwin is joined by Tyneshia Griffin, an environmental policy analyst at New Virginia Majority, whose whose work centers on environmental justice, energy affordability, and public health advocacy. As well as La' Portia Perkins, a scientist, artist, and project manager for the Wind Wildlife research program at the Renewable Energy Wildlife Institute. La' Portia's work merges conservation science with creative expression to illuminate environmental issues.  Together, the three will unpack the meaning of environmental justice, its deep connections to racism, classism, and colonialism, and the critical role of art and activism in shaping a just environmental future.

In this second episode of a five part series on justice, Dr. Andrea Baldwin dives deep into the urgent and essential work of reproductive justice. Joined by Cándida Duran Taveras, an award-winning filmmaker, documenting the sacredness of reproductive experiences, and Ashley Finley, a poet, Medicine maker, and birth keeper, committed to the liberation of all oppressed people. The three explore the intersections of Black feminisms and reproductive justice, the historical and ongoing injustices Black communities face, and the transformative work happening on the ground today.

In this first episode of a five part series on justice, Dr. Andrea Baldwin discusses black feminisms and black liberation with two powerhouse voices in the field of food justice, Chantel Kemp, a dedicated food justice advocate, and Justice Madden, a storyteller, researcher, and seed keeper. Together, the three explore how food justice connects to black feminist thought, challenges and triumphs of community food systems, and what it truly means to nourish liberation.

In this episode, Dr. Andrea Baldwin joins in conversation with leaders from the Eastern Caribbean Alliance for Diversity and Equality (ECADE) former Chair Lysanne Charles and Executive Director Kenita Placide to discuss their work in advocating for LGBTQ rights in the Eastern Caribbean. This interview covers the organization's origins, mission, and challenges, as well as the current state of queer issues in the region. The guests share insights on ECADE's role in the global movement for gender and queer justice, their vision for the future, and upcoming initiatives.

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In this episode, Dr. Andrea Baldwin and Jenaya Amore sit down with a prominent academic, community advocate, and activist Dr. Brandy Faulkner. Known affectionately as the 'People's President' at Virginia Tech, Dr. Faulkner discusses their journey in balancing work within academia and the Black community, exploring the concept of 'Black aliveness' and its significance. They share insights on supporting minoritized and marginalized students in the current national climate, and offer advice for others engaged in similar work. The conversation delves into the guest's philosophy, their impact on both the academic and community spheres, and their vision for the Black community's future. We examine the challenges and importance of advocacy work, while imagining pathways to achieve positive change in the coming years.

Community building serves as a bridge to the collectivity of all Black womxn in and outside of the academy. In our final episode of the season, co-hosts Jenaya Amore and Dr. Andrea Baldwin engage in conversation with Producing Collaborator Shalonda Ingram about the importance of relationality between individuals and organizations which informs how mentoring is (re)defined and practiced.
Shalonda Ingram is a social omnipreneur based in the D.C. area. They are the founder of Born Brown: All Rights Reserved and Nursha Project. They also are a Place-maker at the Church of the Holy City in D.C. and Delaware.

"Womanist is to feminist, as purple is to lavender." Following Alice Walker's sentiment, this episode explores and delves into the intricacies of religion and spirituality for Black women during the 18th century. Co-hosts of Standpoints Jenaya Amore and Dr. Andrea Baldwin join in conversation with Dr. Jaimie Crumley to discuss her research and the mentoring impacts of her personal and professional trajectory.
Dr. Jaimie Crumley is an Assistant Professor in the Gender and Ethnic Studies Divisions with the School for Cultural & Social Transformation at the University of Utah.

In an effort to resist multiple oppressions across various spaces, Black women academics and graduate student often create alternative spaces to center themselves within the academy. In this episode co-hosts Dr. Andrea Baldwin and Jenaya Amore speak with co founders of the North Star Collective, Dr. Tatiana Cruz and Dr. Kamille Gentles-Peart.

Dr. Cruz is an Assistant Professor and Interdisciplinary Program Director of Africana Studies at Simmons University. Dr. Gentles-Peart is a Professor of Communication and Media Studies at Roger Williams University.

Guess who's in the hot seat? This episode highlights the long-standing co-mentoring relationship between co-host Dr. Andrea Baldwin and friend of the show, Dr. Nana Brantuo. Jenaya Amore, co-host of Standpoints, interviews both phenomenal scholars on their perspectives of community care and praxis within their pedagogy. Dr. Andrea N. Baldwin is an associate professor of gender and ethnic studies at the School for Cultural and Social Transformation at the University of Utah. Dr. Nana Brantuo is an interdisciplinary social scientist and founder of Diaspora Praxis, LLC.

Within the African diaspora, dance continues to serve as a medium for cultural and self expression amongst BIPOC communities. Today's guest uses dance as a pedagogical tool to combine the performing arts and education to reconnect the (dis)embodied experience of being in the academic space. Co-host Jenaya Amore speaks with Shani Collins and Truth Hunter, about Black feminisms and how this theory informs their experiences as artists and teachers in and outside of the classroom. Shani Collins is an Associate Professor of Dance at Connecticut College. Truth Hunter is a doctoral candidate at the University of Connecticut.

In this episode, co-hosts Jenaya Amore and Andrea Baldwin engages in a conversation with Kimberly Clark surrounding her leadership within a director role at Virginia Tech. From this dialogue, we learn how mentoring includes not only serving as a buffer, but intentionally centering and caring for students' holistic selves against racial oppression at predominantly white institutions. Kimberly Clark is the director of the Black Cultural Center at Virginia Tech.

Mentorship has provided Black women the agency to define their own success while supported by those who have undergone this arduous journey. Particularly, within PWIs, co-mentorship and community have served as a homeplace and solace for Black women while navigating such spaces. Co-hosts Dr. Andrea Baldwin and Jenaya Amore discuss the impact of mentoring on their academic trajectory and personal lives.  

In this episode, we explore the intersections of race and gender within sports. The aftermath of Brittany Griner’s detainment in Russia allude to pivotal issues of systemic racial injustice that continues to impact the lives of Black athletes. The performance of Black athletes are recognized but the industry ignores their lived experiences that intersect with mistreatment, discrimination and oppressive factors.

Hosts Andrea Baldwin and Trichia Cadette are in conversation with Dr. Letisha Brown and Deshon Foxx. Deshon is a PhD student in Sociology at Virginia Tech. He received his B.A. from UCONN and his research focuses on the intersections of sports, race, education, educational law and culture. Dr. Letisha Brown is an assistant professor in Sociology and a Black feminist sociologist. She studies race and racism, the sociology of sport and Black girlhoods.

In this episode, we examine the ways in which Black women graduates have navigated predominantly White institutions (PWIs). Black feminists for decades have written about this issue and how they are simultaneously invisible yet hypervisible in spaces that are often discriminatory. Host Andrea Baldwin engages in a dialogue with two doctoral candidates Dr. Leslie Roberston Foncette and Dr. Jariah Strozier about their experiences within the academy. Dr. Foncette is a bilingual psychotherapist and gender scholar. Her research focuses on Caribbean and Black diaspora gender systems and factors influencing health and decision making for adolescent girls and women. Dr. Strozier is a public health researcher and her dissertation topic focuses on Black women’s health and the pathologization of Black women’s bodies in the medical space.

The Broke/Rich Paradigm is the perception that as educated Black women with relatively good jobs, that is “the ones who have made it,” we should be doing better; we should be able to afford a lifestyle equivalent to the cultural expectation surrounding a certain level of education or professional attainment.  But the reality is often that not only have Black women faced greater obstacles in the attainment of this social and financial status, but now having achieved some success, responsibilities and expectations with regard to the unmet needs of one's family, friends, and community can conspire to ensure that the rewards of success are often not available to enjoy.

Host Andrea Baldwin teases out the nuances of the "Broke/Rich Paradigm" in conversation with Dr. Nana Brantuo and Jazmin Pichardo. Dr. Brantuo is an independent scholar, researcher, and a policy advocate and strategist. She is also an adjunct lecturer at George Washington University. Jazmin Pichardo is the Assistant Director of Diversity Training and Education at the University of Maryland, College Park, and a doctoral student in the Higher Education, Student Affairs, and International Education program there.

In this episode, we discuss the migration of Caribbean women, and consider the impact of movement upon the individual, the diaspora, and upon the culture of both home and destination countries.

Hosts Andrea Baldwin and Trichia Cadette are in conversation with Sandra Griffith and Dr. Natasha Kay Mortley. Sandra is a seasonal migrant who has traveled to the U.S. and Canada, and she is Andrea's mother.  Dr. Mortley is a Lecturer and Research Specialist with the Institute for Gender and Development Studies Regional Coordinating Office at University of the West Indies.

In this episode, we explore intimacy, sexual agency, and sexual positivity for Black women in western societies. Because of its private and personal nature, and also due to its complex entanglement with morality, biology, and the unique historical arc of dark-skinned peoples in the Americas, Black sexuality can be fraught and difficult to navigate, and often distinctly so for women of color. 

In an attempt to explore the ways in which Black women can unlearn misinformation and equip themselves with the necessary tools to cultivate understanding of their sexuality and to develop healthy relationships with their bodies, hosts Andrea Baldwin and Trichia Cadette speak with Dr. Leslie Roberston Foncette, a bilingual psychotherapist and mental health consultant, and Janice Leonard, a Licensed Professional Counselor and Sex Therapist.

Love can be romantic, platonic, familial, even collegial. It is often unconditional, but where Black love resides it is always political. In this episode, we discuss the spectrum of love's manifestation across Black relationships. Loving oneself or others while Black is an act of rebellion for those whose bodies are racially marked and held outside of society, and at times deemed unloveable. 

Hosts Andrea Baldwin and Trichia Cadette invite Gerlyn Murrell and Kimberly Williams into conversation about the spectrum of Black love. Gerlyn Murrell is a doctoral candidate in the department of Sociology at Virginia Tech. Kimberly Williams is a University of Florida Graduate candidate in English.

In this episode we address the topic of Black women’s birth equity, birth justice and maternal health.  This topic is extremely timely with the recently leaked 1st draft of the Supreme court’s ruling which purports to overturn the 40 plus year precedent in Roe Vs. Wade which makes abortion in the US legal.  Even with Roe still law of the land Black women are more likely than women of all other races to experience reproductive inequities.  They are more likely to seek abortion services,  they are more likely to die during and as a consequence of child birth, they are more likely to have their children taken away by the state and much much more. Today we will be discussing the long standing historical reasons for these inequities, what birthing equity practitioners are doing in our communities to address these inequities and talk about what the future holds for Black women in a projected post-Roe United states.

For this conversation, host Andrea Baldwin is joined by Dr. Natalie Cook and Zuleka Woods. Dr. Cook is an Assistant Professor of Public Health at Virginia Tech, she is a critical educator, transformative evaluator and researcher, as well as a culturally-affirming full-spectrum doula. Dr Cook co-facilitated a week-long module in Making All Black Lives Matter (MABLM) course that I co-taught with Dr. Shannon Bell in the spring semester 2022. The MABLM course has been informing a special series of the standpoints podcast, for which this episode is one.  This series is made possible in part by a  collaborative grant funded by the University Libraries at Virginia Tech.

A big part of loving our blackness is our attention to healing not only for ourselves but for our communities.  As Black people we recognize how living in an anti-black world we consistently experience trauma and loss.  Any yet because we are consistently attending to the immediacy of our physical and financial needs and the needs of others we struggle to identify and address the traumas we experience. In this episode we will be addressing black healing, why is talking about Black healing important, what does this healing look like, understanding that Black folks are not a monolith,  and what are some healing practices Black folks can engage in and be mindful of as a community?

Hosts Andrea Baldwin and Trichia Cadette are joined in conversation by Kimberly Williams and Dr. Portia Moore. Dr. Moore is the Department Head and Assistant Professor of Museum Studies at the University of Florida in the School of Art and Art History. Kimberly is a University of Florida Graduate candidate in English.

In this episode Andrea Baldwin and Trichia Cadette talk with Dr. Anthony Kwame Harrison and Ocqua Gerlyn Murrell about creating and publishing a collection of student essays on Black Feminism as a course objective, and about making Black Feminist interventions in academic, activist, and entrepreneurial spaces.