All Will Be Well (1ST ANNIVERSARY!)

"Even in the hardest times, that will pass. Give it some time, and all will be well." (Nyasha, from episode 3)

June 19th, 2018 - June 19th, 2019. One whole year. 40 people. I almost can't believe it! Quiet as it's kept I don't even really celebrate my birthday anymore, but I was determined to celebrate today because first of all, it's Juneteenth. And second of all, it's the first anniversary of Young, Gifted and Abroad! I decided to organize this special episode into three segments. For starters, I had many people to thank, so this will probably be the longest you will ever hear me talking by myself on this podcast!

Timestamps:

• Thanks (3:22-30:41)

• Guest Responses (30:41-47:45)

• Closing Thoughts/Advice: (47:45-57:49)

THANKS

MVPs

• My mom

• Irene Li (episode 4),

• Morgan Davis (Morgan Eliz / Distinctly Creative)

• Julia (my dog/associate producer)

Family

• My cousin Kayla (episode 1)

• My cousin Jaqua (episode 6)

• My Aunt Fay (episode 29),

• My Aunt Daune

• My dad

Features/Mentions

• Kisstopher/The Musicks in Japan IG page (August 2018)

• Podcasts in Color Directory ("Travel" section - December 2018)

• "5 Black Expat Podcasts to Follow" (The Black Expat - February 2019)

• Danielle Desir/The Thought Card podcast (episode 27 - April 2019)

Extra Encouragement/Inspiration

• Sho

• Diamond

• WOC Podcasters

First 5-Star review on iTunes/Apple Podcasts!

• Kristin Iris from Melanated Rising podcast

Background Music

• ProleteR ("Basin Street Blues" tribute, "On the Sunny Side of the Street" tribute)

All of My Guests! (episodes 1-40)

• 1-10: Kayla / Cathy / Nyasha / Irene / Kristianna / Patrick / Hope / Sirrita / Ashley / Alieshia

• 11-20: Justin / Courtney / Kenya / Brian / Varsha / Sylvia / Salem / Gerena / Marlee / Jenny

• 21-30: Dory / Ande / Avani / Sharon / Leticia / Meagan / Kevin / Stacy / Fay / Isabelle

• 31-40: Sahar / Amy / Zuri / Lori / Alhia / Gina / Sean / Tiffany / Nailah / Jo

GUEST RESPONSES

I wanted to do something extra special to mark this occasion, so I emailed all of the people who were featured during this first year and asked them to send me their responses to two questions, either in writing or voice memo. The first question was inspired by Juneteenth:

What does "freedom of movement" mean to you?

And the second question was inspired by Ranzo from The Black Experience Japan:

If the world were listening to you right now, what would you say?

Special thanks to Dory (episode 21), Marlee (episode 19), Nyasha (episode 3), Morgan, Justin (episode 11), Irene, and Jaqua for sharing their thoughts with me once again!

MY REFLECTIONS/ADVICE

• Introducing myself again and revisiting why I started Young, Gifted and Abroad

• So far so good! Can't quit yet because I have a magic number in mind...

• Talking about how Lorraine Hansberry has inspired me, where she studied abroad, and reading Looking for Lorraine by Imani Perry

My only advice is this:

"You never know. Go and do that thing, because you never know!"

To you reading this, whoever and wherever you are, thank you for a fantastic first year! I've learned so much, and I will keep going with this as long as I can. See y'all in two weeks! We're back to bi-weekly on July 2nd.

Danielle G. is the creator, host, and producer of Young, Gifted and Abroad. You can find her other writings at DeelaSees.com. The music in this episode is by ProleteR.