Ep 32: Kami Brannon & the Becoming of Who Our Younger Selves Needed

01/19/23 • 47 min

This week's guest is Kami Brannon (she/her). Kami is a therapist based in Columbus, OH. In addition to her therapy practice she and her wife are also working to create a queer campground in Hocking Hills, OH (so cool!). On this episode, Kami lets us into her experience growing up as a Black girl navigating anti-queerness with her family system and religious community. She shares about the challenges this placed in her way and how this continued to impact her as she navigated adolescence and beyond. She lets us into her story of pain and suffering, and then the deeply powerful healing work she engaged in to eventually get to where she is at now. This conversation was such an offering by Kami, I feel so incredibly grateful she wanted to come on to offer her story to this collective work supporting queer healing and liberation.
About the guest:
Kami Brannon (she/her) is a 38 y/o black, lesbian therapist and small business owner based in Columbus, OH. She works full-time, in her business, as a queer therapist. Part-time, Kami and her wife, are working to create a queer campground in Hocking Hills Ohio. Most of Kami’s life work has been focused on turning her personal pain into purposeful action forward for the queer community. Her goal is to create the diverse, accessible, safe, queer spaces she would have benefited from. In her leisure time, Kami enjoys spending time in nature with her kids and pets .

You can follow Kami’s queer campground on Instagram @brannonacres
You can check out Kami’s Queer Therapy EAP Center at @columbusqueertherapist and www.columbusqueertherapist.com.
For more, visit www.secondadolescencepod.com or @secondadolescencepod
Download episode transcript here.

Previous Episode

Ep. 31: Jake Fedorowski &.the Carving Out of Space for All of Us to Thrive

This week’s guest is Jake Fedorowski (they/them) who I believe is changing the running industry with their advocacy work (they created the incredible resource: The Guide to Non-Binary Inclusion in Running). And this conversation isn’t just for runners or people who sign up for 5ks, half marathons, marathons (though if you are then you’ll absolutely want to listen!). We talk about Jake’s advocacy work, but Jake also lets us in to their own story and their own journey of finding themself. They embody such an arc of queer healing that I think is really helpful for folks to be witness to. On this episode, they share with us about their youngest, most purely them self who was so playful and expressive, before the world tried to socialize them into the box of boyhood. They share with us about their process in college and beyond of finding that playful, free self again, and their journey of identity understanding and affirmation.
About the guest:
Jake (they/them) resides on the beautiful, traditional land of the Coast Salish peoples (Seattle). As an advocate for non-binary inclusion in the running industry, they have written The Guide to Non-Binary Inclusion in Running, consulted for major marathons, and founded Run Beyond (RUNN+), a community for non-binary athletes to exist, participate, advocate, and represent. Visit nonbinaryrunning.com to learn more about the movement and give Jake a follow on TikTok, Instagram, or Twitter (@jakefedorowski) if you love running, musical theatre, and makeup as much as they do.
For more visit www.secondadolescencepod.com or @secondadolescencepod.
Download episode transcript here.

Next Episode

Ep 33: Chip Hall & the Advocation of Change

This week's guest is Chip Hall (he/him). Chip is a US Coast Guard Veteran and shares with us his experience of being a gay man in the Coast Guard while the anti-queer Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell legislation was in full effect. He was a leader in bringing internal change to the US Coast Guard and Coast Guard Academy with regards to queerness and queer visibility in the greater effort to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. Chip shares with us about all of this plus his own personal journey of discovering and navigating his identity as a gay man. Chip is a real life friend of mine and so it was an extra treat getting to chat with him in such a focused way, and I am SO excited to invite you into this conversation.
About the guest:
Chip Hall (he/him) is a San Francisco based lawyer and US Coast Guard Veteran.
For more, visit www.secondadolescencepod.com or @secondadolescencepod.
Download episode transcript here.