Shows
Two Mothers, One Aché: A Grief DialogueListener Letters: What Grief Asks of UsIn this listener-led episode of Two Mothers, One Aché, Dionne C. Monsanto and Yvette Davila open with a grounding practice—the humming bee breath (Brahmari)—to calm the busy mind and bring the body back online. From there, they answer real questions from the community with care, privacy, and safe messaging: How do I ask for support without feeling needy? Is it normal to feel guilty for living after someone dies? How do I forgive myself for what I didn’t do? Along the way, they share practical tools like “cancel, cancel” to interrupt spiraling self-blame, reminders about boundaries, and the tru...
2026-02-171h 12
Two Mothers, One Aché: A Grief DialogueGrief and AfterlifeIn this episode of Two Mothers, One Aché, Dionne and Yvette explore grief, the afterlife, and the signs our loved ones leave behind.
They reflect on dreams, symbols, intuition, and spiritual experiences that often follow loss—and why so many of us question or silence them. Through personal stories and ancestral wisdom, they discuss how grief can expand our awareness, how to stay grounded while honoring the unseen, and why trusting yourself is part of healing.
This conversation is an invitation to release shame, embrace curiosity, and remember that love doesn’t end—it transforms.
L...
2026-02-101h 14
Two Mothers, One Aché: A Grief DialogueGrief and Suicide PreventionThis week on Two Mothers, One Aché: A Grielf Dialogue, we hold space for what’s hardest to say. Dionne C. Monsanto and Yvette Love Dávila are joined by Dr. Denisse Centeno-Lamas, whose work in suicide prevention is rooted in culture, faith, and lived experience.This episode moves beyond facts into the body of grief itself—migration, loneliness, burnout, depression, and the silence that keeps people from asking for help. Dr. Denisse shares how loss, community trauma, and her own mental health journey shaped her calling, while the hosts name the harm of stigma in faith spaces...
2026-02-031h 06
Two Mothers, One Aché: A Grief DialogueAmbiguous Grief: Relationship LossNo funeral. No ritual. No “closure.” Just a relationship that ends while everybody’s still alive and a grief we’re rarely taught to name.In this episode of Two Mothers, One Aché, Dionne and Yvette ground the space and dive into ambiguous loss: friendships that fade, people who ghost, and relationships that rupture without an ending. The kind of grief that lingers because there’s no ritual, no permission, and no clear goodbye.Dionne reflects on a bracelet she still wears, a living reminder of a friend who disappeared, and how relational loss can shake ident...
2026-01-271h 03
Two Mothers, One Aché: A Grief DialogueWhat Do I Say?Grief doesn’t come with a script… but somehow everybody shows up holding one.Dionne C. Monsanto and Yvette Love Dávila get real about the phrases people say when they mean well but cause real harm—“At least you have other children,” “God has a plan,” “Time heals all wounds,” and even “How are you?” They break down why these lines minimize pain, rush healing, and miss the moment entirely—and what empathy actually sounds like instead.This conversation also gives practical ways to show up: presence over platitudes, specifics over big questions, and love that looks like acti...
2026-01-2050 min
Two Mothers, One Aché: A Grief DialogueGrief and Religion with Dr. RiosGrief doesn’t just break your heart—it can rewire your theology, your body, and your whole relationship with God.In “Grief and Religion,” Dionne C. Monsanto and Yvette Love Dávila are joined by Rev. Dr. Elizabeth “Liz” Rios—Afro-Boricua pastor, scholar, justice leader, and founder of Passion2Plant—for a candid conversation about what faith looks like when the miracle you prayed for doesn’t come. Because Dr. Rios has also lost a child, the table expands into Three Mothers, One Aché—three women speaking from lived experience, not performance.Together, they explore the silence that follo...
2026-01-131h 00
Two Mothers, One Aché: A Grief DialogueCommunity & IsolationThis episode is an invitation back to the kitchen table, where grief and love tell the truth together.Yvette and Dionne explore how community can feel like refuge and overwhelm at the same time, how grief can make you crave connection while needing to disappear, and how protection can look like sunglasses, silence, or staying upstairs. We talk about who shows up when everything falls apart, who surprises you, and who pulls away—not always out of harm, but out of fear, confusion, or their own unprocessed grief.Together, we reflect on transactional relationships, chosen fa...
2026-01-0650 min
Two Mothers, One Aché: A Grief DialogueGrief and Addiction (Part 2)In Part 2 of Grief and Addiction, the conversation deepens—and so does the truth.Yvette shares the moment her grief was fundamentally reshaped: learning that addiction played a direct role in her son Dasan’s death. With compassion and courage, she reflects on the question that changed everything—What would life have looked like if addiction had continued?—and how that reckoning opened a path toward forgiveness, faith, and self-compassion.Joined again by licensed professional counselor and addiction specialist Jill Mackey, Dionne and Yvette explore the emotional complexity of addiction-related loss: guilt and relief existing side by...
2025-12-1843 min
Two Mothers, One Aché: A Grief DialogueGrief and Addiction (Part 1)In Part 1 of 2 about Grief and Addiction, we open a tender, necessary conversation about the kind of grief that begins long before a goodbye.Dionne and Yvette name the quiet losses that live inside addiction—the loss of safety, trust, time, potential, and the versions of people we hoped might still emerge. Joined by licensed professional counselor and addiction specialist Jill Mackey, the three explore how grief and addiction are deeply intertwined, not just for the person using substances, but for the families who love them.This episode holds space for anticipatory grief, disenfranchised grief, co...
2025-12-1640 min
Two Mothers, One Aché: A Grief DialogueLove, Faith & Spirituality in GriefIn this episode, Yvette and Dionne dive into how love, faith, and spirituality shape our grief—and how they can help us find steadiness when life shakes us to the core.They explore the role of breathwork in calming the nervous system, the rituals that ground us, and the ways signs, dreams, scripture, and nature can offer comfort. Yvette shares the spiritual messages that carried her after losing her son, while Dionne reflects on faith, anger, and the meaning she’s found after her daughter Siwe’s passing.Together they unpack how grief can shift our be...
2025-12-0948 min
Two Mothers, One Aché: A Grief DialogueChanging the Grief Narrative with Bun BHip-hop legend Bun B joins Two Mothers, One Aché for a raw and deeply human conversation about brotherhood, loss, and healing. He opens up about the morning he learned of Pimp C’s passing, the identity-shifting grief that followed, and why he chose to grieve publicly in a culture that often equates vulnerability with weakness.Together, Bun, Yvette, and Dionne explore how grief reshapes us, what community can repair, and the quiet ways our loved ones still reach for us. From faith to hip hop, from depression to legacy, this episode offers a rare look at a man...
2025-12-021h 18
Two Mothers, One Aché: A Grief DialogueGrief and the BodyIn this episode of Two Mothers, One Aché, Dionne and Yvette welcome their very first guest—author, athlete, mother, and fierce grief-advocate, Myra Sack.Together, they explore how grief lives in the body—how it tightens the throat, aches in the heart, disrupts our systems, and demands to be felt. Myra shares the story behind her memoir 57 Fridays and the creation of eMotion, the nonprofit she founded to help grievers heal through movement, ritual, and community.The conversation flows through: • The physical symptoms of grief—and what they’re signaling • Emotional musculature and learning to tru...
2025-11-2555 min
Two Mothers, One Aché: A Grief DialogueRituals, Remembrance and AnniversariesIn this episode, Dionne and Yvette explore the rituals that help us carry our loved ones forward—especially on the hardest days. Sparked by a moving clip from Cardi B about grief, they dive into how culture, creativity, food, altars, anniversaries, and even breathwork become ways to honor memory and move through pain.From candle lighting and birthday traditions to sip-and-paints, playlists, and planting living memorials, they share practices that have sustained them through their own losses. They also talk honestly about the dates that hit hardest—and what to do when grief leaves you too depleted to d...
2025-11-1847 min
Two Mothers, One Aché: A Grief DialogueMotherhood and LossIn this powerful and intimate episode, co-hosts Yvette Love Dávila and Dionne C. Monsanto open their hearts to explore the tender intersection of motherhood and grief. Through laughter, breathwork, and raw storytelling, they hold space for the beauty, guilt, and resilience that come with being mothers after loss.Yvette shares the story of saying goodbye to her son, Dasan, and the difficult conversation of helping her daughter navigate life after his passing. Dionne recalls the moment she had to tell her son that his sister, Siwe, was gone—and the thousand quiet heartbreaks that follow. Together, the...
2025-11-1148 min
Two Mothers, One Aché: A Grief DialogueDefining GriefIn this deeply resonant episode, co-hosts Dionne C. Monsanto and Yvette Love Dávila return to ask a deceptively simple but transformative question: What do we really mean when we say grief?Together, they broaden the definition of grief beyond death—naming the hidden losses that shape who we are and the cultural silences that keep us from healing. Through raw, honest storytelling—from Uncle Al’s childhood heartbreak over a lost stroller to Yvette’s painful reckoning with her father’s disappearance—this conversation invites listeners to rethink how loss lives in our bodies, families, and communities.
2025-11-0453 min
Two Mothers, One Aché: A Grief DialogueMeet the Hosts: Kitchen-Table BeginningsIn the debut of Two Mothers, One Ache: A Grief Dialogue, Yvette Dávila and Dionne C. Monsanto invite you to the kitchen table—bring tea, water, cafecito—while they open the door to who they are, how they met, and the ache that birthed this show.Between laughter about their Hunter College days and “hair did, nails did” glow-ups, they ground the conversation in breathwork, faith, and the Yoruba concept of Aché—life force—explaining why “ache” (the hurt) and Aché (the power to keep going) share the same letters in sacred symmetry.They honor their childre...
2025-10-2847 min
Two Mothers, One Aché: A Grief DialogueIntroducing Two Mothers, One Aché: A Grief DialogueTwo Mothers, One Aché: A Grief Dialogue brings listeners into raw, transformative conversations about love and loss with Dionne C. Monsanto and Yvette Dávila —two mothers bound by grief after the deaths of their children, Siwe at 15 and Dasan at 26. Rooted in faith, culture, and lived experience, the podcast explores grief in its many forms—child loss, identity shifts, estrangement, rage, and renewal—through storytelling, guest voices, and ritual-inspired reflections. Rather than offering neat resolutions, Yvette and Dionne create a sacred space where sorrow and joy co-exist, where vulnerability is honored, and where love outlives loss.Send us...
2025-10-2301 min
Black Women’s Wellness: Inspiring Mental, Physical, and Social Health – Seasonal Sister PodcastPrioritizing Health: In Harmony with Health with Dionne Monsanto In this episode of the Seasonal Sisters podcast, host Janice Saunders sits down with Dionne Monsanto, founder of Joyous Ocean and Chief Joy Connector. Dionne shares her inspiring journey of prioritizing health, overcoming personal challenges, and staying resilient. From struggling with frequent illness in her teenage years to coping with her daughter's tragic mental health struggles, Dionne emphasizes the importance of maintaining healthy habits. She discusses her motivational corporate career shift, yoga's role in her healing process, and the transformative power of mindfulness practices like conscious breathing and body care. This episode is filled with actionable tips for self-care, m...
2024-10-3038 min
The Story ColliderChecking On You: Stories about concern for othersThere are many ways you can ask someone “Are you okay?” In this week’s episode, both of our storytellers navigate the complexities of human connection and how we show concern for those we love.Part 1: Dave Kalema keeps lying to his sick mother about how bad his knee injury is.Part 2: Dionne C. Monsanto doesn’t know how to help her daughter with her mental illness.Dave Kalema is a Ugandan-American documentary filmmaker who tells stories of belonging, identity, and personal transformation. He got his start as the founder of Coin Flyp Media, a...
2024-03-1527 min
Writers R the Best WeirdosGo-To Market Plan with Stephanie Mojica | Writers R The Best Weirdos with Julia Roberts MSc.Drawing on her 17-year tenure as an award-winning journalist with publications such as “USA Today,” “The Philadelphia Inquirer,” “San Francisco Chronicle,” and “The Virginian-Pilot,” among many others, Stephanie Mojica’s greatest passion is working with entrepreneurs, coaches, and licensed professionals such as attorneys and psychologists to craft their stories into books that draw clients to them.She has coached dozens of authors through the book writing process, including Andrew Wilkinson (“The Blessings of My Storms”); Zia Poe Eubanks (“Becoming Zia: A Tale of Transformation” and “Becoming You!: Interactive Workbook”); and Dionne Monsanto (“101 Ways to Live Life INjoy”).https://www.linkedin.com...
2023-12-2636 min
Our Body PoliticOBP Rewind: The Gift of Health And Deb Haaland on Being an Indigenous LeaderOn this episode of Our Body Politic, host Farai Chideya listens back to some of the conversations she is thankful for this year. First, is Farai’s most recent interview with Secretary of the Interior, Deb Haaland. Then Farai speaks with Renata Joy, founder of Pure Joy Wellness and Dionne C. Monsanto, Founder of Joyous Ocean about gratitude for good health. We round out the show with guest host Imara Jones and her interview with Oklahoma State Representative Mauree Turner, and then hear The Grio’s Natasha Alford in conversation with Jemele Hill about the gift of allyship in women’s spor
2023-11-2449 min
MetroFocus: The PodcastMetroFocus Student Mental Health Week: Night 3 - A Mental Health Conversation: Black Youth SuicideAll this week, MetroFocus will bring you stories on mental health from a variety of perspectives. We'll hear families, students, and doctors discuss this urgent issue and explore emerging solutions. Tonight, the deaths of former Miss USA Cheslie Kryst and musician Ian Alexander Jr., the son of actress Regina King, have put a spotlight on the rise in suicide rates in the Black community. The disturbing trends show that Black children and teens are being impacted more than ever: from 1991 to 2019, self-reported suicide attempts among Black adolescents rose nearly 80%. Though in the past, suicide was historically viewed as a “wh...
2023-09-2827 min
Talking with the Experts: Business Insights2023 EP438 Stephanie Mojica - How to Attract Ready-To-Buy Clients by Publishing a BookBusinesses have a harder time standing out in the crowd nowadays, especially if it's a service-based businesses. Writing and publishing a book has helped my clients increase their visibility, credibility, market reach, and profitability.Drawing on her 17-year tenure as an award-winning journalist with publications such as “USA Today,” “The Philadelphia Inquirer,” “San Francisco Chronicle,” and “The Virginian-Pilot,” among many others, Stephanie Mojica’s greatest passion is working with entrepreneurs, coaches, and licensed professionals such as attorneys and psychologists to craft their stories into books that draw clients to them.She has coached dozens of authors through the book writing process, including...
2023-02-1526 min
Talking with the Experts2023 EP438 Stephanie Mojica - How to Attract Ready-To-Buy Clients by Publishing a BookBusinesses have a harder time standing out in the crowd nowadays, especially if it's a service-based businesses. Writing and publishing a book has helped my clients increase their visibility, credibility, market reach, and profitability.
Drawing on her 17-year tenure as an award-winning journalist with publications such as “USA Today,” “The Philadelphia Inquirer,” “San Francisco Chronicle,” and “The Virginian-Pilot,” among many others, Stephanie Mojica’s greatest passion is working with entrepreneurs, coaches, and licensed professionals such as attorneys and psychologists to craft their stories into books that draw clients to them.
She has coached dozens of authors through the book writing process, including...
2023-02-1526 min
Business Recharged Radio PodcastBusiness Recharged Podcast Season 3, EP 2- Recharge and Birth Your BookWelcome back to Business Recharged Podcast. I can’t believe that we are kicking off Season 3 already. I am so grateful for your support and for all your love in sharing and reviewing our Podcast.
This season is fire!!!!
New Guests! New Giveaways! New Content to Recharge Your Business!
For complete show notes, future guests, brand deals/promos visit www.businessrecharged.biz
We are kicking things in high gear with my second guest of the season,
Stephanie Mojica
Drawing on her 17-year tenure as an award-winning journalist wit...
2023-02-0922 min
Real Talk With Deb & NiaSurviving to Thriving: Living INjoy!Have a note you want to share with us? Text us! Most of us desire to live joyfully. But how do we do that? How do we maintain our sense of joy in face of overwhelm, stress, fear, and grief? Is it even possible? Good news…IT IS! Today, Chief Joy Connector, Author, Yoga Teacher, and Life Transformation Coach, Dionne C. Monsanto joins us to discuss how we can live “Injoy”. Tune in for guidance on ways we can raise our vibrations, attract good things, strengthen our relationship with ourselves, reach our goals, and thrive in the fa...
2023-02-011h 11
The Big Fat Talk Show with NajdaThe monsters I knew and the scars they left with Dionne MonsantoDionne Monsanto shares her chilling story on the sexual molestation and subsequent suicide of her daughter "I wanted her first time to be with someone who cared for her (me)", "He was the best father until he wasn't"
Link:
Dionne Monsanto: https://www.instagram.com/dionnecmonsanto/
Connect with us:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bftwithnajda/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bftwithnajda
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeDepCkFLXQemu7xFoTy0jw
Connect with Najda Khan: https://www.instagram.com/iamnajda/
2021-12-2939 min
Conscious CompassionEpisode 15 - Dionne MonsantoDionne Monsanto is a successful business woman, a mother of three, a dancer, and a God loving, Church going woman. None of which prepared her to handle becoming a parent who's child committed suicide. This may be one of our most important episodes. Dionne takes us on a deep dive into the intimate and compounded events that lead up to this tragedy. We come to not only understand how suicide has affected her life and the lives of her friends and family, but also how she has came to terms with her role as mother and protector. How she has be...
2021-11-281h 20
Mortality MindedA candid look at suicide—and suicide preventionSuicide is a major public health problem and a leading cause of death in the United States.Its consequences often go well beyond the person who acts to take their own life: it can have a lasting effect on family, friends, and communities.Since September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month here in the U.S., it’s a good time to shed light on this topic, which can be especially difficult for many people to talk about.In this episode, I speak to some surprising stats about suicide and what’s behind the numb...
2020-09-2821 min
Namaste Bitches Podcast -8) Failure is the condiment that gives success it's flavor."- Dionne MonsantoLife Coach, Bikram Yoga Instructor, and African Dance Teacher DIONNE MONSANTO comes on Namaste Bitches. Her piece of advice is a quote! “Failure is the condiment that gives success it’s flavor.” -Truman CapoteFind Dionne:@JoyousOceanjoyousocean.comafsp.orgthesiweproject.org
2016-07-2719 min
Namaste Bitches Podcast -8) Failure is the condiment that gives success it's flavor."- Dionne MonsantoLife Coach, Bikram Yoga Instructor, and African Dance Teacher DIONNE MONSANTO comes on Namaste Bitches. Her piece of advice is a quote! “Failure is the condiment that gives success it’s flavor.” -Truman CapoteFind Dionne:@JoyousOceanjoyousocean.comafsp.orgthesiweproject.org
2016-07-2700 min