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Listen To Black Women: How To Show Up For Your Sister Friends

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Listen To Black Women: Cultivating Sisterhood

Source: Listen To Black Women / MadameNoire

Co-hosts Taryn Finley, Jessie Woo, and Chris Miss welcome guest Latham Thomas, founder of doula and maternity lifestyle brand Mama Glow to the latest episode of MADAMENOIRE‘s Listen To Black Women to discuss the importance of sisterhood and all that–friendships that embody a familial bond–truly entails. The conversation among the hosts weighs in on four key rules of engagement.

How to balance differences of opinions in your sister tribe

Joyful woman Black ethnicity, smiling furing gathering with her friends at the coffee shop

Source: miodrag ignjatovic / Getty

Finley questions the group on what to do when there’s a difference of opinion in their friend group.

Woo says that this happens often in her friend group and that’s okay – that her friends aren’t meant to be “Yes men.” They let her know when they think she should have handled something differently. It doesn’t cause a fight – they just talk through it. And then they go to brunch.

On the topic of communication, Finley brings up a lack thereof —for example, ghosting. Most of the ladies agree they hate ghosting, but Thomas admits she actually does it often.

“Communication skills…are for people that we want to be in a relationship with,” Thomas said.

Credential Check + Sisterhood in Pregnancy

Pregnant woman with doula touching baby bump

Source: kali9 / Getty

Thomas shares that the birth of her son opened her eyes to the importance of doulas. Realizing how sacred and transformative birth is, Thomas decided, “I have to protect this experience for women.”

Thomas also says you need to have that group of women who are supportive during pregnancy.

“Cultivation of friendship is a self-care practice,” says Thomas, explaining that it gives you a circle of people you can really lean on. “That Sister Circle will get you through even when you’re under resourced.”

The Nitty Gritty: How Do You Celebrate Sisterhood?

A black woman shares her impressions after her first yoga practice with her friends and yoga instructor

Source: Kosamtu / Getty

For Woo, celebrating sisterhood is all about going on trips. But when her friends are too busy, they’ll go to brunch.

“If you really are intentional about your sister friends, you will get a lot of intimacy,” says Woo. “That intimacy is top tier.”

Finley agrees, saying that some of her friendships are more romantic than a real romantic relationship.

“We make sure we are feeding each other’s love languages in a very intentional way.”

Friends vs. Acquaintances

Smiling Woman Using Mobile Phone in the Bedroom

Source: miniseries / Getty

Miss says that friends are people around whom you don’t need to censor yourself. If you feel you can’t say certain things around someone,

“That’s automatically like your intuition letting you know that’s not your friend.”

Thomas shared that she finds herself with fewer friends as she gets older, and that’s a good thing.

The episode wraps up with a game of “Who Said That?: Sisterhood Edition.” The ladies guess from which show or movie certain quotes are from. “Dream Girls,” “Insecure” and “Sisterhood” are all in the mix.

Stay tuned for the next episode of Listen To Black Women and be sure to share and tag @Madamenoire on Twitter and Instagram if you’re feeling this episode.

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