

The Stoop
Hana Baba and Leila Day
The Stoop podcast digs into stories that are not always shared out in the open. Hosts Leila Day and Hana Baba start conversations and provide professionally-reported stories about what it means to be Black and how we talk about blackness. Come hang out on The Stoop as we dialog about the diaspora.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Apr 4, 2024 • 33min
Self Love and Basketball
“When can we allow somebody to cry and be transparent?” WNBA player Chamique Holdsclaw asked at the height of her career as a pro basketball player. Chamique's willingness to address her mental health changed her life. In this episode, Chamique talks about the Black pride that can get in the way of healing, what she’d like for people to consider when they have loved ones struggling, and she shares her story of survival and choosing to love herself.
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Mar 21, 2024 • 31min
Love Song for Sudan
Hana is trying to enjoy the Sudanese music she loves, but something isn’t feeling right. The war in Sudan continues, and has destroyed with it a lot of the country’s cultural landscape, including places where the country’s music once lived. She’s wondering - what will happen to Sudan’s musical heritage? She talks it out with Leila and with Haneen Sidahmed - someone who is preserving music on her site Sudan Tapes Archive, plus she visits a Sudanese choir that’s singing the classics in California.
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Mar 7, 2024 • 41min
Wildin' Out(side)
Many children dream of being wildlife experts after watching hours of nature shows, but as grown-ups, it’s rare to meet a Black nature ecologist. Today we hear some unbelievable nature stories with carnivore expert Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant. She shares the most fascinating challenges in her career from facing the racialized history of conservation work to the time she had to solve the mysterious death of a Black bear.
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Feb 22, 2024 • 39min
S10 E2 Lights...camera...LOVE!
Get your popcorn! It’s movie night on The Stoop. Whether during filmmaking booms or busts, Black entertainers and filmmakers found a way to show Black love on screen. We explore the history of love in Black movies with film scholar Dr. Artel Great. From the first Black kiss filmed in the 1800s, to the 90's romance renaissance and beyond, we go down Black film memory lane to dissect some iconic moments of Black love on the silver screen.
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Feb 8, 2024 • 28min
S10 E1 Croissants in the Sky
This season we're leaning into love in all its forms — starting with the city of love, Paris. Leila meets with Sutanya Dacres, an American in France, who transformed her life after heartbreak through the joy of cooking. She also lets us in on the secret ingredient that makes French life feel so romantic.
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Feb 2, 2024 • 1min
The Stoop Season 10 Trailer
The Stoop is back with season 10! This season, Leila and Hana are exploring love in its many forms.
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Sep 28, 2023 • 33min
To Be Honest
Sometimes it’s easier to hold back than be completely honest, especially when talking about some of the themes that are brought up on The Stoop. Today Hana and Leila share some moments that made them uncomfortable but also made them realize the importance of sharing the discomfort. As we approach our 100th episode, let’s be 100% real.
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Sep 8, 2023 • 33min
Hope in Nairobi
Hana spends a day in Nairobi with Kenyan Instagram comedian, Hope Hajir. Hope made it to the U.S. and was living her life when a tragic event gave her pause.
While many people who reach the U.S. find ways to stay, Hope decided to return to Nairobi and talks about the experience of not wanting to live the American Dream.
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Aug 24, 2023 • 31min
The Moth on The Stoop
This summer, The Moth and The Stoop are getting cozy and sharing stories. Today, we invite special guest, Suzanne Rust, the host of The Moth storytelling series, to share a tale she loves. This story is by Ivan McClellan, a photographer who lives in Portland, Oregon. Ivan found something very unexpected in his hometown of Kansas City, Kansas when he learns about the black rodeo. In this double feature, we also stoop it out with Suzanne about The Stoop’s episode —episode 75 —“Black don’t crack?” and how we really feel about aging.
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Aug 10, 2023 • 32min
Mother Tongue
What’s it like when everyone at home speaks a language you don’t understand? That’s the story of Claudia, a Ghanaian American who grew up not speaking her home language —her ‘Mother Tongue’. But everybody else did, including her own siblings. The effects were real: disconnect, frustration, shame, and at some point a full on identity crisis. We also ask other people in the diaspora if they speak their home languages, and Hana contends with her own kids’ lack of fluency, and what it means.
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