This is a show about the moments that change us, fundamentally and forever. Each week, host Stephanie Wittels Wachs (Lemonada’s co-founder and award-winning queen of darkness and light) is sitting down with a new guest to explore happy/sad stories of survival, resilience and transformation. After three seasons of exploring the "last day" of people’s lives in an effort to understand mass epidemics, Steph was ready for a change herself. Some “last days” are hopeful. Some are tragic. But at the heart of every “last day” is also a new beginning. Laugh/cry with us.
On this Christmas Day, we’re sharing the last episode of Squeezed, fittingly about the end of life. Alua is a renowned death doula, author, and educator who believes that living fully requires all of us to face mortality head-on. Whether it’s providing support at the bedside or making end-of-life-plans well in advance, Alua works with clients at every stage of life to embrace the inevitable with heart and humor. Death can be scary, but doulas like Alua are revolutionizing end-of-life-care by teaching us how to live more presently… so we can die peacefully.
Squeezed is a Lemonada Media original. Yvette Nicole Brown is the host of this show. Chrystal Genesis is our senior producer. Giulia Hjort, Tess Novotny, and Hannah Boomershine are our producers. Ivan Kuraev is our engineer. Our theme music is by Andi Kristinsdottir, with additional music by APM music. Jackie Danziger is our VP of Narrative Content. Executive producers are Yvette Nicole Brown, Jessica Cordova Kramer, and Stephanie Wittels Wachs.
This show was created in partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a leading national philanthropy dedicated to taking bold leaps to transform health in our lifetime and pave the way, together, to a future where health is no longer a privilege, but a right.
Follow Squeezed wherever you get your podcasts, or listen ad-free on Amazon Music with your Prime Membership. You can also get premium content and behind the scenes material by subscribing to Lemonada Premium on Apple Podcasts.
Follow Yvette Nicole Brown on Instagram at @yvettenicolebrown. Stay up to date with us on X, Facebook and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia.
Want to become a Lemonada superfan? Join us at joinsubtext.com/lemonadasuperfan.
Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this and all other Lemonada series: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors.
To follow along with a transcript, go to lemonadamedia.com/show/ shortly after the air date.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jessica Guthrie is squeezed. A decade ago, at 26 years old, Jessica unexpectedly became a caregiver for her mom, Constance, who is now living with late-stage Alzheimer’s. Over the years, Jessica has left behind a life in Texas, moved back home to Virginia, and quit her job to focus on caregiving full-time. While so much of her life is on hold, Jessica has gained a lot and found a powerful community of caregivers online.
Squeezed is a Lemonada Media original. Yvette Nicole Brown is the host of this show. Chrystal Genesis is our senior producer. Giulia Hjort, Tess Novotny, and Hannah Boomershine are our producers. Ivan Kuraev is our engineer. Our theme music is by Andi Kristinsdottir, with additional music by APM music. Jackie Danziger is our VP of Narrative Content. Executive producers are Yvette Nicole Brown, Jessica Cordova Kramer, and Stephanie Wittels Wachs.
This show was created in partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a leading national philanthropy dedicated to taking bold leaps to transform health in our lifetime and pave the way, together, to a future where health is no longer a privilege, but a right.
No one should face Alzheimer’s or dementia alone. The Alzheimer’s Association is there to help. The Association has a free 24/7 Helpline – available day or night – and a robust website with education and support services. Call the Association’s Helpline at 1-800-272-3900 or visit its website at alz.org
Follow Squeezed wherever you get your podcasts, or listen ad-free on Amazon Music with your Prime Membership. You can also get premium content and behind the scenes material by subscribing to Lemonada Premium on Apple Podcasts.
Follow Yvette Nicole Brown on Instagram at @yvettenicolebrown. Stay up to date with us on X, Facebook and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia.
Want to become a Lemonada superfan? Join us at joinsubtext.com/lemonadasuperfan.
Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this and all other Lemonada series: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors.
To follow along with a transcript, go to lemonadamedia.com/show/ shortly after the air date.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Sadé is squeezed. Five years ago, she became a first-time parent. She expected her parents to help her out with the day-to-day work. But a series of unforeseen diagnoses left Sadé in an all-hands-on-deck caregiver situation – taking care of a new baby and her aging parents. Sadé is the family’s “Goddess of Efficiency,” and while she’s busy caring for everyone else, her own debilitating health needs often end up in last place.
Squeezed is a Lemonada Media original. Yvette Nicole Brown is the host of this show. Chrystal Genesis is our senior producer. Giulia Hjort, Tess Novotny, and Hannah Boomershine are our producers. Ivan Kuraev is our engineer. Our theme music is by Andi Kristinsdottir, with additional music by APM music. Jackie Danziger is our VP of Narrative Content. Executive producers are Yvette Nicole Brown, Jessica Cordova Kramer, and Stephanie Wittels Wachs.
This show was created in partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a leading national philanthropy dedicated to taking bold leaps to transform health in our lifetime and pave the way, together, to a future where health is no longer a privilege, but a right.
Follow Squeezed wherever you get your podcasts, or listen ad-free on Amazon Music with your Prime Membership. You can also get premium content and behind the scenes material by subscribing to Lemonada Premium on Apple Podcasts.
Follow Yvette Nicole Brown on Instagram at @yvettenicolebrown. Stay up to date with us on X, Facebook and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia.
Want to become a Lemonada superfan? Join us at joinsubtext.com/lemonadasuperfan.
Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this and all other Lemonada series: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors.
To follow along with a transcript, go to lemonadamedia.com/show/ shortly after the air date.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
It’s hard enough being Squeezed. But helping others who are, too? That’s a superpower. And Shilpa is our hero. She’s a mom to one son and also runs CARES, a world-class therapeutic school and rehabilitation program for vulnerable teens at Mount Sinai Morningside, a hospital located in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan. She supports young people on the rocky road from childhood to adulthood. But caregiving at home and at work while also caring for herself is a constant balancing act.
Squeezed is a Lemonada Media original. Yvette Nicole Brown is the host of this show. Chrystal Genesis is our senior producer. Giulia Hjort, Tess Novotny, and Hannah Boomershine are our producers. Ivan Kuraev is our engineer. Our theme music is by Andi Kristinsdottir, with additional music by APM music. Jackie Danziger is our VP of Narrative Content. Executive producers are Yvette Nicole Brown, Jessica Cordova Kramer, and Stephanie Wittels Wachs.
This show was created in partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a leading national philanthropy dedicated to taking bold leaps to transform health in our lifetime and pave the way, together, to a future where health is no longer a privilege, but a right.
Follow Squeezed wherever you get your podcasts, or listen ad-free on Amazon Music with your Prime Membership. You can also get premium content and behind the scenes material by subscribing to Lemonada Premium on Apple Podcasts.
Follow Yvette Nicole Brown on Instagram at @yvettenicolebrown. Stay up to date with us on X, Facebook and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia.
Want to become a Lemonada superfan? Join us at joinsubtext.com/lemonadasuperfan.
Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this and all other Lemonada series: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors.
To follow along with a transcript, go to lemonadamedia.com/show/ shortly after the air date.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
We’re back to share Episode 3, featuring another person who is feeling Squeezed from all sides. Matt is a native Londoner. He is also single dad co-parenting 11-year-old triplets with his ex-husband in one of the most expensive cities in the world: New York. To be able to afford childcare for all three, Matt had to make a tough choice – job security or spending enough time with his kids?
Squeezed is a Lemonada Media original. Yvette Nicole Brown is the host of this show. Chrystal Genesis is our senior producer. Giulia Hjort, Tess Novotny, and Hannah Boomershine are our producers. Ivan Kuraev is our engineer. Our theme music is by Andi Kristinsdottir, with additional music by APM music. Jackie Danziger is our VP of Narrative Content. Executive producers are Yvette Nicole Brown, Jessica Cordova Kramer, and Stephanie Wittels Wachs.
This show was created in partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a leading national philanthropy dedicated to taking bold leaps to transform health in our lifetime and pave the way, together, to a future where health is no longer a privilege, but a right.
Follow Squeezed wherever you get your podcasts, or listen ad-free on Amazon Music with your Prime Membership. You can also get premium content and behind the scenes material by subscribing to Lemonada Premium on Apple Podcasts.
Follow Yvette Nicole Brown on Instagram at @yvettenicolebrown. Stay up to date with us on X, Facebook and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia.
Want to become a Lemonada superfan? Join us at joinsubtext.com/lemonadasuperfan.
Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this and all other Lemonada series: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors.
To follow along with a transcript, go to lemonadamedia.com/show/ shortly after the air date.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Hey listeners, we’re back with Episode 2 of Squeezed. This episode features another person who is feeling very Squeezed. Jessica is a stay-at-home mom with three kids under six. She is a former daycare worker who didn’t plan to be a full-time mom, but since money is tight and childcare is expensive, she has no other choice. Jessica fell through the cracks of our system that does not support care workers — but she’s discovered profound meaning in her life as a stay-at-home mom and is using this time to break generational cycles.
Squeezed is a Lemonada Media original. Yvette Nicole Brown is the host of this show. Chrystal Genesis is our senior producer. Giulia Hjort, Tess Novotny, and Hannah Boomershine are our producers. Field production by Beth Wallis. Ivan Kuraev is our engineer. Our theme music is by Andi Kristinsdottir, with additional music by APM music. Jackie Danziger is our VP of Narrative Content. Executive producers are Yvette Nicole Brown, Jessica Cordova Kramer, and Stephanie Wittels Wachs.
This show was created in partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a leading national philanthropy dedicated to taking bold leaps to transform health in our lifetime and pave the way, together, to a future where health is no longer a privilege, but a right.
Follow Squeezed wherever you get your podcasts, or listen ad-free on Amazon Music with your Prime Membership. You can also get premium content and behind the scenes material by subscribing to Lemonada Premium on Apple Podcasts.
Special thanks to early childhood nonprofit Zero to Three for their help on this episode.
Follow Yvette Nicole Brown on Instagram at @yvettenicolebrown. Stay up to date with us on X, Facebook and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia.
Want to become a Lemonada superfan? Join us at joinsubtext.com/lemonadasuperfan.
Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this and all other Lemonada series: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors.
To follow along with a transcript, go to lemonadamedia.com/show/ shortly after the air date.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Stephanie is off in the exciting (and terrifying) world of book writing. In the interim, we want to share another show that’s near and dear to our hearts. So near, in fact, that it features Stephanie’s entire family! Squeezed, hosted by the incomparable Yvette Nicole Brown (yes, from “Community”), explores the lives of caregivers across America. It’s hard, hard work – but also full of joy and connection. This episode focuses on Stephanie and her dad, who has Parkinson’s disease. If you love Last Day, you’re going to love Squeezed, which brings the same tenderness and compassion to storytelling.
Squeezed is a Lemonada Media original. Yvette Nicole Brown is the host of this show. Chrystal Genesis is our senior producer. Giulia Hjort, Tess Novotny, and Hannah Boomershine are our producers. Ivan Kuraev is our engineer. Our theme music is by Andi Kristinsdottir, with additional music by APM music. Jackie Danziger is our VP of Narrative Content. Executive producers are Yvette Nicole Brown, Jessica Cordova Kramer, and Stephanie Wittels Wachs.
This show was created in partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a leading national philanthropy dedicated to taking bold leaps to transform health in our lifetime and pave the way, together, to a future where health is no longer a privilege, but a right.
Follow Squeezed wherever you get your podcasts, or listen ad-free on Amazon Music with your Prime Membership. You can also get premium content and behind the scenes material by subscribing to Lemonada Premium on Apple Podcasts.
Follow Yvette Nicole Brown on Instagram at @yvettenicolebrown. Stay up to date with us on X, Facebook and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia.
Want to become a Lemonada superfan? Join us at joinsubtext.com/lemonadasuperfan.
Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this and all other Lemonada series: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors.
To follow along with a transcript, go to lemonadamedia.com/show/ shortly after the air date.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
We did it, y’all. We reached the end of our countdown, which leads us back to where it all began: the very first episode of Last Day, the first-ever Lemonada Media podcast launch. This week, we’re revisiting “Meet Stephanie, Meet Harris (with Sarah Silverman & Aziz Ansari).” Five years later (to the day!), Stephanie returns to the mic to reflect on what we learned that first season and where we’re headed next. Walk with us down memory lane, and have your tissues handy. ALSO: Some cool news announced, so be sure to tune in!
In this inaugural episode, meet Stephanie Wittels Wachs, host of Last Day, and sister of the late Harris Wittels, comedian-writer-producer-actor, who died in 2015 of a heroin overdose. Harris’ close friends, Sarah Silverman and Aziz Ansari, also join Stephanie as she introduces the concept of the show and why it’s critical that it exists.
Last Day contains strong language, mature themes, and may not be appropriate for all listeners.
Everything Is Horrible and Wonderful: A Tragicomic Memoir of Genius, Heroin, Love, and Loss, by Stephanie Wittels Wachs
Humblebrag: The Art of False Modesty, by Harris Wittels
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Before we finish this countdown to Last Day’s fifth anniversary, we are resharing an episode from season one. This episode was chosen by Lizzie, our Senior Vice President of Growth and Marketing.
Most of us have seen an opioid overdose depicted on TV or in movies, but what happens in real life? On this episode, Stephanie talks to Karen Host, Senior Director at Cataldo Ambulance, and Dr. Jay, an emergency room doctor, about the anatomy of an overdose, what it’s like to save a life, the immediate aftermath, and the complexity of prescribing opioids for pain in the midst of an opioid crisis. Continue the conversation on your phone at https://flick.group/lastday.
Last Day contains strong language, mature themes, and may not be appropriate for all listeners. Transcriptions available shortly after air date at https://www.lemonadamedia.com/show/last-day/.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
To commemorate Last Day’s fifth anniversary, we are revisiting the season two finale. This episode was chosen by Jackie – one of the first people to work on the show, and a previous Last Day guest herself.
Season 2 Finale! We started this season on a bridge but told you not to get caught up in the romantic notion of saviors and last minute interventions. Suicide isn’t about one moment in time. But if you or someone you love is suicidal, a single moment can be the difference between life and death. So, this week we’re doing a toolkit episode all about crisis response. What do you do when help is needed right now? This week, we role play with a suicide hotline employee, give the Cliff’s notes version of QPR suicide prevention training, and hear about what happens when therapists go on strike.
This episode features a host of talented people, including Tara Consolino (director of suicide prevention and substance abuse, Detroit V.A.), Dr. Julie Goldstein Grumet (director, Zero Suicide Institute at the Education Development Center), Dr. John Draper (executive director, National Suicide Prevention Lifeline), Susan Whitney (licensed marriage and family therapist, Kaiser), and Sal Rosselli (president and co-founder, National Union of Healthcare Workers).
Resources from the episode:
If you or someone you know is struggling emotionally or feeling hopeless, it’s important to talk to someone about it now. Contact one of the resources below for a free, confidential conversation with a trained counselor anytime.
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255
Crisis Text line: Text “Connect” to 741-741
The Trevor Project: 1-866-488-7386
Follow Stephanie on Instagram at @wittelstephanie. Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia.
Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our show and get bonus content. Subscribe today at bit.ly/lemonadapremium. And if you want to continue the conversation with other listeners, join the My Lemonada community at https://lemonadamedia.com/mylemonada/
For a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this and every other Lemonada show, go to lemonadamedia.com/sponsors.
To follow along with a transcript, go to www.lemonadamedia.com/show/lastday shortly after the air date.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Today, we are dropping into your feed to share another podcast from Lemonada Media called Everything Happens.
Duke Professor Kate Bowler is an expert in the stories we tell about success and failure, suffering and happiness. She had Stage IV cancer. Then she didn’t. And since then, all she wants to do is talk to funny and wise people about living with the knowledge that everything happens.
In this episode, Kate speaks with one of the funniest people on the entire planet, comedian Samantha Bee, about the people who made her, her. What virtues did they create? What absurdity ensued? How does she think about how she impacts her own kids?
New episodes premiere next week! To hear more of Everything Happens, head to https://lemonada.lnk.to/everythinghappensfd
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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