5 Podcast Recommendations Breaking Cultural & Hierarchical Barriers

What does it look like to test, push, and break our cultural, social, and hierarchical barriers? These podcasts explore.

In partnership with

Curator:

👉🏽 Cesar Cardona

Why this theme?

👉🏽Many cultural, social, and hierarchical barriers are being tested, pushed, and broken these days. What does that look like, and what do we do once we become the ones in control?

These podcasts explore.

Podcast Picks

The Mel Robbins Podcast podcast cover art

The Mel Robbins Podcast

Mel interviews Lorenzo Lewis, who started The Confess Project, which trains barbers and beauticians to be mental health aides for their clients. He shares the challenges of getting it off the ground.

My parents were barbers and beauticians, and I saw firsthand how helpful they were to the people in their chair, beyond the hairstyle. This episode felt really close to home.

We Can Do Hard Things podcast cover art

We Can Do Hard Things

The episode features Dr. Laurie Santos, who discusses where happiness truly resides.

I love the recurring idea that it’s within, not outside of us. Often, our own barriers block our happiness more than the external ones.

Beauty in the Break podcast cover art

Beauty in the Break

Cesar (our curator) and Foster have a personal, societal, and intellectual conversation about what stops us from attaining the goals we want.

They reflect on times they’ve encountered gatekeepers, been gatekeepers themselves, and how the voice in your mind can say, “You can’t do ___.”

My Feelings Over Tea podcast cover art

My Feelings Over Tea

Dr. NaKaisha Tolber-Banks interviews Liku Amadi, Esq., about what it means to be a Black woman today — the endless juggling of motherhood, work, being a “life liver,” a wife, and so much more.

I was raised by a Black mother, so this one touched my heart. It’s beautiful to hear women putting a stop to everything and choosing to be present in the moment.

The Millennial Mind podcast cover art

Shivani Pau interviews Steven Bartlett about a range of ideas: Why does asking questions get you further in life? Does the world determine how you view yourself? Where can you break social norms?

I just love all of these concepts. The old ways are begging for a rebirth.

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Community

🎙️ Stephen Kamugasa speaks with Charlie Gladstone, the great-great-grandson of the influential four-time former UK Prime Minister William Gladstone, in an interview about slavery and reparations.

💰 Level the Paying Field launched a new season. It explores issues related to economics, equity, women, work and money. It’s published by Ontario’s Pay Equity Office (PEO).

🎧 CUNY TV’s first original podcast Audio Maverick, a love letter to audio from a historical lens, is now available in full.

💖In Podcast The Newsletter, Lauren Passell recommends Folktales from Sudan. She writes: “This show totally took me away. Stories are timeless and short, 10-minutes each. Hana is able to perfectly capture them with her voice. I felt cared for, hearing them.”

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Podcast news from Podnews

  • The popular audio show Twenty Thousand Hertz is coming to YouTube. Dallas Taylor writes: “This is not a video version of the podcast. It is its own thing fully designed for YouTube. The podcast will remain beautifully crafted and story-driven. The YouTube series will complement it by exploring sound in ways that have never been seen before.”

  • The Webby Awards ceremony took place last week in New York. The Webby Award for Podcast of the Year went to hosts of The MeidasTouch Podcast, for “groundbreaking contributions to digital political commentary and cultural advocacy.”

  • The Golden Globes are to add a Best Podcast Category to its 2026 Awards show. Variety reports that some podcasters are concerned it’s just about popularity (“just give it to Rogan every year”) — and gives its predictions for the nominees: Rogan, Smartless, Theo Von, Amy Poehler, Alex Cooper, and the team from Up First from NPR.

Spotlight

Those Who Can't Teach Anymore podcast cover art

Those Who Can’t Teach… Anymore is an Ambie nominated, award-winning, seven-part narrative series exploring why brilliant teachers are leaving education in droves and what can be done to stop the exodus.

In February of 2022, the National Education Association reported that 55% of teachers were thinking about leaving education earlier than they had planned. The history and politics surrounding education, portrayls of education in pop-culture, and difficulty of teaching conditions have been feeding into why teachers want to leave. If we don't take time to listen to teachers and work towards fostering an environment that makes them want to stay, great teachers will continue to leave the profession. 

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