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Passionate about modern feminist issues? Want to learn more about how today's political, academic, and cultural leaders strive for a future of universal equality and justice?
Join NOW in a podcast dedicated to intersectional feminist discussions in American society with leaders in entertainment, sports, politics, and science. From conversations on constitutional equality, to economic justice and reproductive rights, listeners will find new ways to learn, engage, and get empowered.
Listen for new episodes released every other Wednesday.
Blair Imani (00:01)
I think that feminism is the most important thing that we can be in a society built by the patriarchy for the benefit of men. We have to stand up for one another and really, you know, not just say that, but align ourselves politically to the feminist movement and cause because it is so necessary and so vast.
Kim Villanueva (00:21)
you
Hello and welcome to Feminism Now. I'm Kim Villanueva, the president of the National Organization for Women. You probably know that feminism faces a lot of challenges. One of them is getting people to sign up. A 2025 survey showed that 53 % of Gen Z women describe themselves as feminist, but only 32 % of men do. It's the biggest gap of any of our current generation. How do we reach younger people with a message that everyone deserves equality?
Today, Rose and I are delighted to talk with a creator who reaches our audiences with joy, humor, and a lot of education. We're talking with Blair O'Mahony, creator of the viral video series Smarter in Seconds and Now's new social media influencer. And of course, we want to hear from you. Are you trying to engage young feminists? Maybe you are a young feminist yourself. You can call now at the number in our show notes and send us a voice message or email us a voice memo at feminismnow at n-o-w.
⁓ We'd love to put your voice on the show. And now, Rose, take it away. ⁓
Rose Brunache (01:30)
Thank you, Kim. We're happy to be here today with Blair Imani, creator of the viral web series, Smarter in Seconds, LA Times bestseller author of Read This to Get Smarter, and co-host of the podcast Thoughts About Feelings. We are also proud that Blair is also now social media influencer. Blair, it's good to have you here. Thank you.
Blair Imani (01:50)
Thank
you so much for having me. This is fantastic. Now is such an incredible organization and I'm really excited to be joining y'all as your social media influencer. Yes.
Rose Brunache (01:59)
And our first one.
First, everyone has a different story about how they got into content creation. How did you start Making a Living educating people about history on the internet?
Blair Imani (02:10)
So it all started back in 2020. And that was a really interesting time because we have COVID lockdowns, but we also saw this big swell of interest in racial justice, particularly around the murder of George Floyd. And I noticed that there were so many conversations happening, but it seemed like, you know, one part of our society was having one conversation about the deep trauma that we have experienced as it relates to racism and police violence. And then a big other part of the world was like,
I didn't realize it was so bad and there was a lot of incongruence there. And so I kind of saw my role as, ⁓ well, I can't be in the streets protesting, but I can hopefully provide some clarity about how we got to this place and what we can do about it. And so that's where I saw my role and social media was the vehicle to do that. Previously I had maybe done lectures or teachings and stuff like that. And I was like, well, let's just do the teaching online. And so I started teaching about different things.
like not just related to race, but very much related to race, know, but also talking about LGBTQ plus rights, sexism, a variety of different topics. And I felt, oh, okay, if I can start helping people understand these things, maybe we can build more compassion. If we have more compassion, maybe we can come to a better understanding. And so I've just consistently been doing that. I created the show Smarter in Seconds back in 2020, and it's just taken off. I started just building it in front of my wardrobe, like.
We had 15 seconds at the time just saying different interesting facts. And then I started pushing more and more doing sketches and then dialing it back a little bit. And I'm really enjoying it.
Kim Villanueva (03:40)
Good. As you said, you've expanded from 15 seconds to worldwide. So a lot of the content that you make is about women's rights, as you said, and gender equity. Do you consider yourself a feminist?
Blair Imani (03:53)
absolutely. I'm raised by a feminist. My mom was a feminist who was raised by a feminist. And I think, you know, I'm trying to raise a feminist myself. You might hear a little baby, cute coos in the background because I'm holding and juggling my daughter while we do this. Isn't that right, baby? Yes, it is. But absolutely. I think that feminism is the most important thing that we can be in a society built by the patriarchy for the benefit of men. We have to stand up for one another and really, you know, not just
not just say that, but align ourselves politically to the feminist movement and cause because it is so necessary and so vast. so, yes, absolutely.
Kim Villanueva (04:28)
Good to hear that.
Rose Brunache (04:29)
You make a lot of daily videos on different topics and a lot of people who don't make content might not realize how much hard work and time that is. How do you determine what to post? What goes into creating these videos?
Blair Imani (04:41)
So it's actually a whole production. you're right, a lot of people don't realize it, like my parents, for example. I don't think that my mom and dad realized how much work goes into it until I started featuring them in videos. And then they had to learn the script and do little takes over and over again and make sure the outfits don't clash with the backgrounds. So this whole process, I have a full-time team member named Kat Wheeler who helps me do the research, helps to write the scripts alongside me. And we do a lot of back and forth. And so Kat's actually taken a lot of improv classes to build that repertoire as well.
So it might look like something happening in the media. For example, last year during the Super Bowl, Kendrick Lamar, from one of his songs, has a line that says, 40 acres and a mule, this is bigger than the music. And during that time, the Google searches for 40 acres and a mule went way up. People were like, what is that? Because not a lot of folks have that historical context to understand what that is as it relates to chattel slavery and Jim Crow and segregation. And so I saw an opportunity there. And so I made a video about 40 acres and a mule and Jim Crow.
to explain those different things, which is a good thing that I should probably repost, because I'm also thinking about, OK, how does this relate to the current moment? How does this relate to different things? And then you want to kind of capture that. Then I also have my own content schedule, because I think it's important as a content creator to not just let trends dictate what you're doing. That's similar to anything. If you're a nonprofit, you might use fundraising opportunities like this conversations in the news, like the SAVE Act is really being discussed often. And so now it's taking an opportunity to talk about why the SAVE Act is dangerous to women.
But you also want to have your own programming at the same time because you can't let your life be dictated by the news cycle, especially because the news cycle is so fleeting. So I also had different programming like, you know, for February, I'm thinking about Black History Month. For March, I'm thinking about Women's History Month. For June, I'm thinking about Juneteenth. I'm thinking about Pride. I'm thinking about Disability Pride Month for July. And so trying to meet those different moments while also just having my own interests. Sometimes people reach out to me and they're saying, hey, you know, Blair, have cerebral palsy and I'd love for people to know what cerebral palsy is.
Why don't we collaborate to make this video? So I really love collaboration too because content creation can be an isolating job. A lot of people are doing it by themselves, but you can also collaborate with people. So I feel like I have this network of coworkers in various industries and lanes and we can all come together to help people get smarter in seconds.
Kim Villanueva (06:52)
I've noticed that when you that you're willing to admit that you don't know something about a topic like cryptocurrency and so you'll ask for help, which is wonderful because you're engaging the audience.
Blair Imani (07:01)
Not just that, but I think I remember when I was a little girl and I asked the teacher a question and it was a substitute teacher and he got so mad at me. And I went home and I was in tears because I was like, mommy, why did he get so mad at me? And my mom explained to me that sometimes when adults don't know something, they take it out on other people. And so I like, you know, have held onto that since I was a little girl, like, okay, well, I'm never going to be too proud to admit that I don't know something. And I think it's important for the social media ecosystem because if you're an educator,
and you show people, I'm also learning, it can maybe empower them to recognize, I can learn too.
Kim Villanueva (07:33)
lifelong learning is so important. So a lot of the education that you do is about feminist issues, you know, including abortion, pay leave, the SAVE Act, as you mentioned, and, now it's focusing on the cost of being a woman, you know, as part of our anniversary year. What sort of issues do you consider for your audience when you make posts about feminist topics?
Blair Imani (07:52)
I'm thinking of timeliness. I'm also thinking about things that are important to me. Recently, we've seen RFK talk about Mephepristone and misoprostol and how, quote unquote, claiming that they're dangerous when in fact they're not. I actually took one of those medications to induce contractions for baby Smartie to be born. It's something that's used routinely. And so I'm thinking about hitting those different moments and collaborating with different people. One thing I was really excited to do, I was very inspired by former director of communications at Clampin parenthood, Erica Sacken.
who delivered a petition on the steps that I think of the Capitol building when she was very pregnant. And I was like, I love that energy. love the, our bodies are used as political playgrounds. What does it look like to use that for yourself, for your own narrative? So when I was eight months pregnant with baby Smartie, I was gearing up to make a video about abortion because I felt like it was an important conversation because I would have conversations with people who would say, well, you use Sork at Client Parenthood, you're pregnant now, do you feel differently about abortion? And I was like,
Well, having gone through pregnancy, I'm even more committed to talking about abortion rights because no one should have to go through this experience. Not only can it be white threatening in certain contexts with the black maternal mortality rate, but there's a great mental and physical toll that's taken. then also I believe all children should be wanted children. And I even have on my cup a sticker from Sarah Epperson that says motherhood should be a choice. And I really believe that. And so I think I'm trying to meet those moments. And then I think about different things like bodily autonomy.
and how all these conversations evolve and lend to one another, and just kind of what do people need to hear in this moment. And I also love the challenge of like, can we do this in this amount of time? Is it too controversial? And again and again, I'm impressed by my audiences because they'll meet the moment and they're also very excited to have those conversations.
Rose Brunache (09:38)
What do you think your audience is looking for when they come to your post? And how does your audience react to feminist posts in particular?
Blair Imani (09:45)
I think they really enjoy it. I did a video a while back on, I think it was like male privilege. And it was kind of around like International Women's Day. Why don't we have International Men's Day? And it's like, we do, but nobody looks it up. It's sometime in November because it's all about, oh, what about men? What about this? And that one did really, really well. And in that video, I think I actually did drag where I gave myself like a chiseled jaw line and a little stubble. Skating. Yeah, a little bit of that too.
add some comedy to it, but to really like kind of represent, know, don't be this guy. I what is this guy really saying? What are the implications? I did that again in a video where I talked about the friend zone and how it's a mythical place that doesn't exist. And it was just really fun to kind of like play with those characters. And I think that people respond really positively because they're like, my gosh, finally somebody's saying this. Now I can send this to my, you know, my ex or I can send this to my friend or we can, you know, kind of like settle that debate we had at brunch.
at the same time, think people are looking for action items. And so I've also been able to explain to people like, this is how you call your reps. This is how you paid leave. Here's a petition. Here's how we can take action. Here's how we can move forward. And one thing that I also see is that people are looking for community. They don't want to have to be going through something alone. When I made my videos on ⁓ post-partum mental health, there are lot of conversations in the comments about, I didn't have this support. This is what I did. And people kind of having a shoulder to cry on and someone to lean on.
And so I think that's a really beautiful thing too, because comment sections are notoriously toxic. I actually have a Smarter in Seconds coming up about how people suddenly become very brave in comment sections, very bold, very rude, very dehumanizing and why that happens. And so it's really nice to know that I've curated a community of people that are dedicated to learning and lifting each other up.
Rose Brunache (11:32)
going to keep talking about education, entertainment, and edutainment. But first, we will hear from one of our chapters.
Blair Imani (11:39)
you
Rose Brunache (11:43)
My name is Irene Strobin and I am president of the Appleton Area Now chapter, which is located in Northeast Wisconsin. I am so proud that my chapter has grown so rapidly since we first started. We are the only chapter in the state of Wisconsin. We started in April of 2024 with our first meeting and right away we grew, grew, grew. At our high point, we probably were...
about 230 members in a year's time. The issues that are most important to my chapter really parallel the core issues that National calls out. Within the first couple months of our existence, we had the opportunity to hold a protest against the Supreme Court jobs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. We had over 200 people come.
We were just blown away at how we could get that kind of reach in such a short amount of time. But that was such an important issue, not just here in Northeast Wisconsin, but to women across the country. And we heard that loud and clear. And that was, I believe, the first anniversary of the Dobbs decisions. And then we verged into violence against women. We ended up holding several actions to highlight
The reduction in funding from the federal government for agencies that help victims of violence, which are primarily women who are victims of domestic violence. So we go from reproductive rights to violence against women. These are really key issues for our members and our chapter. For 2026, we will be hosting a town hall discussion in March. We're inviting our
local elected officials. probably are inviting about 15 state legislators to come listen to these stories. So you can find out more about Appleton Area Now at either our Facebook page, which is simply Appleton Area Now, or our website, which we're very proud of, appletonareanow.org.
This is Rose and we are back talking with Blair Armani, the talented creator of the video series Smarter in Seconds. Blair, we are talking about your audience. Video audiences tend to be younger. Do you think your audience looks at educational content differently than the way that an older audience?
Blair Imani (14:22)
You know, I'm glad you asked that because there's a recent study from Pew that I was able to actually make a video about talking about the different social media trends and like where people are getting their news and their information. And it does fall along generational lines. see Gen Z is definitely looking at social media as a credible source of news in a way that the baby boomer or Gen X isn't necessarily looking at it. But then also we expect different things like, you know, Gen Z expects people who are authoritative voices on different educational topics and journalistic sources.
to also share their political beliefs and views. So I think it does vary. But one thing about social media is that it reaches everyone. If you have a phone in your hand and you have the app installed, the way these algorithms work, the information might reach you even when you don't expect it. But I'll talk about something ⁓ like different laws that existed preventing women from being able to get a loan or a credit card. And then I'll see people in the comments section who are like, I remember what it was like to go through that. And so we'll see these intergenerational conversations. And I think that's really important.
And I think that's a fundamental feminist value of, you know, looking to the older generation, looking to the younger generation, taking the best from both worlds and combining them to move forward and to improve our movement. And I think when we can learn from people who have had different life experiences in that comment section, it can be so powerful. So I definitely see younger folks, but I see everybody. And I really value all the different voices, even if folks are coming to it. Yeah. Even if folks are coming to it from different places.
Kim Villanueva (15:50)
I think building bridges between the generations is really important and that is part of feminism. And that's why we're doing this podcast with such a variety of voices. So a lot of the feminist content, you know, can be controversial sometimes, but we're excited that you're going to be creating some feminist contests for us. How does your audience respond to some of the content that you do? Do you get a lot of pushback when you have feminist topics?
Blair Imani (16:13)
So there was one time, I think it was a few years ago, right around the time that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry had done the Oprah interview. And I had done two Slaughter and Seconds back to back. One was on abortion and one was on the monarchy. And let tell you, the one on the monarchy got a lot more hate and pushback than the one on abortion. Really? Which baffled me. I was like, how did that even happen? That doesn't make any sense to me. So I think that it's interesting, you know, but I want to kind of constantly push people. And I think sometimes folks who
are really on board with a feminist conversation may have some room to grow when it comes to talking about trans rights or LGBTQ plus rights or disability rights. And so I'm trying to incorporate all of those different things and do so boldly and be willing to have those conversations with people and remember that we are raised and kind of socialized in a way that's very, sometimes where our default is to dehumanize somebody else. That's why feminism is so important because our society defaults to men, defaults to patriarchy. So I try to have patience with that.
But there's definitely been moments where maybe kind of a moms for liberty type group might get a hold of one of my videos and it kind of spiraled out of control. ⁓ The good news is that I used to work at Planned Parenthood and part of my job was crisis communications. And so I've gotten really adept at being able to navigate those conversations and to remember that when people don't understand, it's the opportunity for learning, even though they might phrase the question in the least respectful way humanly possible. Trying to remember that.
Okay, we can grow from here. But I think as Smarter in Seconds has continued to grow, I've noticed that there will be people who DM me privately who are like, you know, I really didn't understand this when you first mentioned it, but now I see it. I think that's where the guest educators really make an impact because then they can see from folks directly and they can start to demystify these things. I did a four or five part video series with my friend, El Dorian, about trans rights. And one of the videos we did was about this, you know, language of protecting the children.
and how important it is to protect children and how we see the people in leadership at this administration do not protect children, but they'd consistently villainize transgender people as being the villains and the people who harm children. And one of the lines we had in that video was something to the effect of when you claim that everybody in one group is dangerous, you're saying that everybody in another group is safe and that allows predators to hide in plain sight. And I think that was really beneficial because people sometimes latch onto this enemy rhetoric and they don't recognize
what it means and then when you give them the opportunity to unlearn it by, you sometimes I'll play the uninformed person or I'll, you know, put myself twice on screen, then they don't have to take that ownership over their mistakes and they can really just kind of learn freely and maybe take accountability later down the line.
Kim Villanueva (18:50)
Yeah, so you're creating a safe space as well as a smarter space.
Blair Imani (18:54)
try to. And I love the phrase not just a safe space, but a brave space.
Rose Brunache (18:59)
Do you think your audience considers themselves feminist? What do you think younger viewers in general think of feminism?
Blair Imani (19:05)
I think that the latter half of millennials, which I would consider myself, really struggled with the language of feminist and feminism in a way that I don't think Gen X or the baby boomer generation did. think people like my mom are very much like, no, I am a feminist. Of course, I'm a feminist. My mom gave me the name Blair because it's more of a unisex name. And so I could have an equal opportunity when it came to filling out a resume and things like that. And that was something she taught me from a very young age. And I just thought that was normal.
I would have friends who would say, I would love to cut my hair, but my dad won't let me. And my mom would always be like, well, why doesn't your dad grow out his own hair? It was just kind of that, why are we letting a man control us? But I think my peers really struggled with that language because that's when we started to see, maybe I have that recency bias, maybe it's older than I know, but the language of feminazi or feminist killjoy and things like that portraying feminists or socially conscious women as the enemy to a good time.
And it's like, well, what is a good time have to be dominated by case regulates really interrogate that. And so I remember like heated debates in class, even in my gender studies class, which was baffling. It's like, you've agreed to take a gender studies class and you're against feminism. Okay. I don't know what you're doing in your free time, but sounds I would have taken a different, a different elective, but you know, maybe you're here to grow. And so I think that sometimes in my audience, it can be the same thing. There are people who are just like there to be convinced or who are there to
hear me out but don't necessarily agree with everything, which I think is great. I think it's much better to have, you know, spirited conversations where people are growing and learning. And there's no requirement when you come into my classroom except to be respectful. You don't have to necessarily come in with a certain understanding, but maybe you believe that people should have equal rights regardless of gender, but you don't necessarily know the language around feminism. Okay, that's fine. How can we get you to continue moving forward?
or maybe you call yourself a feminist, but you're actually really exclusionary to different groups that you shouldn't be to. So how can we move you forward? And I think that the younger generation, from what I've seen at least, not just from my own social media page, but from conversations I've had, is that there are a lot more people who are very progressive, who are willing to call themselves feminists. And I think part of that is because there's been more positive media portrayals of strong women that they've grown up with, and not just
that they've grown up with, but they've also grown up seeing me too, seeing, know, predators being held accountable. Of course, that's a big conversation we're having now around the Epstein files and how the lack of accountability, but I think it's the fact that young people are expecting this accountability ⁓ that really speaks to how much things have changed. And so I would like to believe that the younger generation has kind of fallen more towards this like righteousness, but they also have grown up.
fighting against school shootings, doing walkouts. know, we're seeing a really politically active group of young people and that makes me really excited. But of course, with any group of progressive people, there's always gonna be a small faction of folks who are trying to be trad lives with these traditional values. But even in that community, you're seeing them start to become fed up with this idea of trad life. Like, you mean I have to do all of the duties of the house and do this and my husband expects this? This is fed up. So you're even seeing anti-feminist communities.
circle back to feminism because it is the way.
Rose Brunache (22:26)
Do you think that some younger people just don't like labels in general? You know, I think sometimes people say, labels.
Blair Imani (22:33)
think we saw that more with younger millennials than what I've seen with Gen Z because Gen Z, for example, think GLAAD did a study, like they're openly identifying themselves as being gender nonconforming or non-binary in ways that I don't think millennials have a language for. Gen Alpha is really interesting too because they're growing up in these environments. And so I think that the label thing was the huge conversation like a lot. And I think that tends to be what I see.
If people don't describe themselves as feminists, it's not because they're anti-feminist, it's because they're uncomfortable with labels in general. And I'm like, hey, as long as you're here, as long as you're doing the work, I don't need you to wear a flag, that's fine, as long as we're getting it done. ⁓ But I'd love to see more understanding of what these different things mean. And I see people also identify with things like womanist or intersectional feminists really wanting to get even more specific. So not necessarily a rejection of labels, but wanting to get even more specific about what they stand for.
Kim Villanueva (23:27)
be more comfortable with how they describe themselves, finding the term for that. Now, when you post about feminist topics, what topics do you think draws people the most?
Blair Imani (23:38)
I think it's any topic where an argument can be defeated with the video, if that makes any sense. If they can send this video and like on Instagram, you can see likes, comments, and then shares as well. And also reposts. And so the shares one, I can see people posting it to their stories and it will say like, see Derek, we had this conversation and da da da, you know.
And so I love those because I just imagine like, what are all the arguments that they're winning suddenly? And that's how I use the different hooks. So like the different elements that I have right at the beginning of a video, that can be the hook to really like capture people's attention. I was just talking about that. I should sit down and listen. Or I think winning an argument, that's really what social media tends to be used for. Like, is it teaching? Is it making you laugh? Is it persuading you? ⁓ And does it resonate? And Francesca Ramsey, who's another amazing content creator who's been doing this work.
much longer than me. She talks about me stories versus we stories. And the way that she talks about that is like, okay, a story that is just about you. If your audience is really invested in your life, that might do well. Like I might told a super specific story about me and my baby. But if I can make it a we story and actually talk about, you know, difficulties and challenges that come with motherhood, as much as it's also a blessing, that's a we story. That's a shared experience. And so I think those shared experiences stories.
What I try to do is layer in some stats and facts in there too. Like I'm going to be doing a video soon talking about being a working mom and how, you know, I'm still very privileged because I don't have to go to an office every day or I don't have to be on my feet every day. And I think it's 25 % of people in this country have to go back to work two weeks after, you know, giving birth because of our lack of pay to eat policies. And so...
I'm trying to tell that story that's specific to me by also expanding it out. And I think that's also something that Roxanne Gay does incredibly well. I remember reading so much of her works when I was a young feminist in my gender studies classes. I loved how she would take these personal stories and add in research and add in data and information to make it more broad because it brought the data to life and it made the personal stories more relevant broadly. So I try to do those same things when I talk about online. And I think that sometimes people just see a viral video and they
just take it at face value or they don't think about all the intricacies behind it. But there's a lot of like speculation and planning and strategy that goes into it too.
Rose Brunache (25:55)
Do you find certain specific topics really push people away? what are those and why?
Blair Imani (26:01)
I think when I kind of deviate from my main conversation, so the video I did on crypto, I've never really talked about crypto before, so a lot of people were like, what the heck is this? And I think it's just like, depends on how you phrase it, because sometimes, so for example, I did a video on DEI, and I did this when Biden was still president, and they weren't really having conversations about DEI the way that it was when Trump first got elected. So I reposted that same video.
And that same video that didn't do so well the first time got a million views instantly because it was a topic of conversation. So I think it's not a matter of like pushing people away. It's a matter of timing. Cause the other thing you have to think about is like, what are you competing against? Cause the other thing is with the crypto video, I posted that on the same day as the state of the union. So are people paying attention to the state of the union and maybe not, you know, tuning in. So you kind of have to, it's kind of like this moving target where you have to be really agile and to be willing to pivot. It's pretty wacky.
Kim Villanueva (26:54)
Do you have any advice for groups like now that are trying to reach out to a younger audience or a younger membership? I mean, how do we encourage young people to get involved?
Blair Imani (27:03)
think that I haven't seen it as much and that's why I'm really excited to be working with now because I think these organizations, like I think we had one of our first calls when we were talking about this opportunity was how much legacy and impact and archive and work that, you know, like how historic and iconic now is. And I think we're just now starting to see, especially from a content creation standpoint, these legacy organizations reach out and start to collaborate with content creators.
to bring us into the fold. And there's so much research. The Pew Night Initiative has done research on social media journalists and social media influencers, showing that that's where people are headed. Social Current is another organization that has also looked at how young people are looking at their social media. And so I think for a while, understandably, social media has been kind of this oddball, this oddity. What is this thing? How do we approach it? But it's also been around for 10 years. So there's two things with that. That means that when I was in school, the job I had did not exist.
And so that means that there's been a learning curve. And I think now these legacy organizations, whether it's now, whether it's the Legal Defense Fund, the Brennan Center, ACLU, are starting to see the reach and power that social media can have and start to move forward that way. And I think it's been from two things. I think it's been from content creators reaching out directly and saying, hey, I'd to collaborate. Or in the case of now, you all reaching out to me, us coming to an understanding, figuring out how we could collaborate. But I think it's about when it comes to legacy organizations.
The way that you have an institution stick around is by constantly transforming it. And I think the institutions that recognize it are the ones that are going to have the most staying power. But I also think about people like Dr. Kimberly Crenshaw, who's been using social media as a vehicle for, has been recognizing how social media is a vehicle for movements and then incorporating that into her academic work. And so this whole like ⁓ claims that there's animosity between academia and social media movements or social media trends.
It's not a real thing because we've seen time and time again these feminist icons, whether it's an organization or whether it's individual people like Dr. Crenshaw, use it for their benefit and use it for the benefit of these movements. Specifically speaking about the hashtag, say her name, which became the social media movement talking about how women victims of police brutality were not as discussed and when it came to the Fight for Black Lives Matter movement for black lives. so.
It's this like ebb and flow, but I think we're seeing it more and I think it's fantastic because we need that credibility. We need that reach and we have to introduce younger people to these organizations, to this work. So that way they know who they can call on because what we have as like, when I tell people to take action, I wouldn't be able to do those things that there weren't organizations like now who have the infrastructure to move those actions forward, to get policies changed, to meet with legislators.
So I think it's really important.
Rose Brunache (29:50)
Of course you get nasty comments. It's the internet. It could be a very dark place. And the world is a very dark place too. What gives you hope?
Blair Imani (29:58)
I mean, obviously I think my baby gives me a lot of hope. just kind of, as I'm making different videos, I think I did a video recently where I was talking about climate, the climate disaster. And it was so sweet because as I'm talking to camera, talking about these different things, the baby starts cooing. Like I was like, not only are they, you know, feeling the fossil fuel crisis, but they're also destroying the planet. And when I said that, the baby went, ooh. You know, I was like, yeah, the baby's like right on.
And that keeps me going. But I think also I've had conversations with friends about this. Like, why are things so bad? Is it because everybody knows how bad it is and they refuse to take action? And I was kind of her position, which I felt was very sad and very doom, you know. But it's also kind of a real perspective. Like, you know, I'm not really shading her for that. I understand why she feels that way. But I really believe that people don't have the time to know how bad things are. They don't realize how bad things are.
You know, I think like the average person doesn't know what the say back is, doesn't even realize this is on the horizon. So I'm excited to make a PSA about that very soon, especially for Women's History Month. But I think that it's not that everybody knows this and they're just kind of sitting back and being like, ⁓ things are terrible. well. But once you can explain the intricacies of something, they can say, I didn't even know that was a thing. I didn't even know that existed. How can I take action? And explaining to people that you can call your reps, even if you're not registered to vote, even if you're under 18.
even if you're not a U.S. citizen. If you're a constituent where somebody lives, you can call them. And like explaining that to my loved ones, I see like this light turn on and it's great to do it with social media because you get to see it happen all over the place. Obviously, there are a lot of negative comments, but for every negative comment, there will be 10 positive ones or neutral ones at least. And even with negative comments, I try to see, is there something that we can learn from this? Is there something that we can salvage? Because maybe we can come to a better understanding. Usually not, but it's something worthwhile, know, something worth
we're thinking about. I have a really good time with social media because I love seeing people learn their own power. And I think that's what differentiates my platform from a lot of other people. Sometimes people will be like, no, follow me. I'm your leader. And I love to say, no, you're your own leader. How can you lead yourself? How can you identify your own power and move forward and under your own strength? And seeing people do that time and time again, it just, it's almost addictive. You're like, oh, let's do that again. Let's teach more people.
Kim Villanueva (32:16)
Yeah, spoken like a true educator. you.
Rose Brunache (32:20)
Laramani, thank you so much for the great work you do and for coming to speak with us.
Blair Imani (32:25)
Thank you so much for having me. This was fantastic. ⁓
Rose Brunache (32:32)
We have a special segment for you today. You might know that women in this country have fought for their rights for hundreds of years. They did more than fight. Sometimes they drove. We've got a short segment from Gerald Schriever, author of the book Driving the Vote for Women, An American Journey for Suffrage, about two bold women who drove alone around the United States in 1916. And now more women are about to drive in their tracks, this time for the Equal Rights Amendment. Let's hear from Gerald.
Irene Strohbeen (33:00)
My name is Gerald Schriever. I am president of the board of the Seal Cove Auto Museum in Maine and the author of a book, Driving the Vote for Women, about the first two women to drive cross country and back for suffrage in 1916. So the story starts in April of 1916 in Manhattan. And these two women, their names were Alice Burke and Nell Richardson. And Nell was 26 and from Virginia.
And Alice was 39 and she was from California. The two met in Manhattan. Alice was a driver. She was a mechanic. They teamed up and they got the Saxon automobile company to donate a car to them because they wanted to do this trip. So Saxon motor car company said, I tell you what, we will donate the car. We'll take care of it along the way. But every time you're in a town that has a Saxon
dealer, you need to write a letter to the paper and say how much you enjoy the car and make it sound like this is the car that's easy enough for a woman to drive. So it was a little bit of a I'll pat your back, you pat mine. So anyway, on April 6, they're in Manhattan at Columbus Circle. And Carrie Chapman Catt is there. And she's going to christen this bright yellow golden saxon car.
with a bottle of gasolines. They christened the car and they started their drive. This was supported by the National American Women's Suffrage Association. It was planned by the home organization to be 100 miles per day, approximately. And every time they came into, they were being hosted by the local women's organization. And they would give speeches.
to the crowd wherever it was. When they got to Mobile, Alabama, that's where somebody handed them a cat. And it was like, well, okay, now we have a cat. So this black kitten put a yellow ribbon around his neck, called him Saxon, and he traveled with them for the rest of the time. The whole trip was six months. They left on April 6th, they got back to New York at the end of September.
It was 10,700 miles, according to reports. And each time they stopped, they showed they were strong, they were capable, they were smart, they were still wearing flowers and their lapels, and they were still feminine. And they were also talking men into letting women have the right to vote. The story of the traveling was followed by newspapers.
And it gave a reason for the story of why women need the vote to travel even beyond where the ladies were in the car. So they had maybe had a small audience, but because of the uniqueness of the women driving and what they were saying got to papers that were going national. And so it was inspiring to those who hadn't even thought about why would women need the right to vote.
And Alice and Nell gave the reasons why women needed the right to vote. And it leads right into what's happening 110 years later. So let's take the perseverance of these women, taking the drive, let's loosely follow the route those ladies took, go to historical societies and say, this is what has happened in the past. This is what's happening now.
Blair Imani (36:34)
you
Irene Strohbeen (36:49)
let's work with that. that's where we are all through March. We'll be traveling from New York to Phoenix and we'll be talking about the importance of the Equal Rights Amendment. You can find out more information about the drive. It's e-r-a-n-o-w. So e-r-a-now.org.
Kim Villanueva (37:16)
Thank you so much for joining Rose and I this week as we talk with Blair Armani about creating feminist content for a new generation. Of course, we'd love to hear your thoughts, our numbers in the show notes. You can call and record a voice message or email us a voice memo at feminismnow at n-o-w dot o-r-g. We'd love to play your message. Thanks for listening and stay tuned for our next episode in two weeks.
Rose Brunache (37:38)
you
Blair Imani (37:47)
Like that.