Gettin’ Grown – "Peas and Kombucha" (Feat. Hey Fran Hey)

Release date: December 23, 2025
Hosts: Jade & Dr. Kia, Loud Speakers Network
Guest: Hey Fran Hey (“Fran”)

Episode Overview

In this reflective and sisterly episode, Jade and Dr. Kia welcome their beloved friend and podcast favorite, Hey Fran Hey, to join them for a deep Kitchen Table Talk. As 2025 draws to a close, the trio processes what they describe as a “muddy” year—one that demanded collective and personal resilience—and discuss the evolving meaning of success, the necessity of boundaries, and the power of intentional rest and reflection. The conversation brings out laughter, deep insights, and even a little prepping talk as the hosts (and Fran) consider new realities for Black women, adulting, and navigating a persistently wild world.

Main Themes

• Collective Burnout & Introspection: Processing a challenging, “molasses-thick” year that forced everyone to slow down.
• Redefining Success & Self-Worth: Moving from external validation (numbers, campaigns) to intrinsic measures.
• Setting Boundaries & Personal Development: Creating limits for self-care, not depletion.
• Purpose, Not Just Productivity: Unlearning grind-culture and embracing being—especially as Black women.
• Practical Safety & New Realities: From dealing with unwell people to buying a Mossberg and discussing concealed carry.
• Community, Connection, & Reclaiming Joy: Volunteering, reading more, savoring the little things.
• Black Nostalgia: Missing the Huxtables and classic sitcoms, and reckoning with the tainted legacy of beloved shows.

Key Discussion Points & Memorable Moments

1. Holiday Vibes & Burning Out

[03:30]

• Jade and Kia admit to being right up against a “hard deadline” for holiday prep—recording just before Christmas.
• Both hosts stress the importance of intentionally carving out rest after a draining year.
  Quote:
  Jade: "I smushed everything in to make sure there was a hard boundary, a hard deadline...so that I could have intentional rest and rejuvenation." (03:30)
• Dr. Kia appreciates gifting each other “the next couple of days.”

2. Kitchen Table Talk: Hey Fran Hey Joins

[18:18]

• Fran reflects on a “quiet” and “interesting” year in the Pacific Northwest (PNW).
• Weather woes, random Portland news, and Black girl joy on local TV are discussed.
• Driving anxieties in the rain and the “exposure therapy” of new experiences.

3. Road Rage & Safety for Black Women

[22:06]

• The women dive into recent personal experiences with reckless and aggressive drivers.
• Fran shares a harrowing incident being followed home and verbally assaulted over an imagined car accident.
  Quote:
  Fran: “My heart drops because I didn’t even know what was happening...I’m just here with my bag of kombucha and peas.” (23:46)
• The group reflects on the unpredictable ways stress shows up on the road and praises the grounding practice of praying before and during drives.
  Quote:
  Jade: “I might need to pray, actually. I never thought about praying in the car. That’s crazy.” (29:34)

4. The “Muddy Year” – Burnout & Re-Assessment

[37:50]

• All admit 2025 felt like “muddy,” “molasses,” “sticky”—forced slow-down, hard to move, but “rich” with lessons.
  Quote:
  Fran: “It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good, if that makes sense…It felt muddy.” (40:27)
  Kia: "Molasses is thick, it’s sticky, but it’s rich...such a sign of our own resilience.” (43:51)

5. Redefining Success, Productivity, and Purpose

[41:05]

• Both Fran and Dr. Kia talk about stepping away from hustle culture, questioning if (fewer) numbers mean failure, and the dangers of external validation.
• Volunteering and community work brings “real fulfillment.”
• Focus shifts from proving worth through work to finding purpose that honors their full selves.
  Quotes:
  Dr. Kia: “What if we were to invest all of that [energy] into really learning who we are and unlearning who we’re not?” (54:22)
  Jade: “I do these things because I love them. I don’t do them for what I receive from them.” (45:41)

6. Growth, Unlearning, and Self-Parenting

[57:03]

• The trio discusses lessons unlearned: overextending service to others, perfectionism, self-imposed busyness, and glorification of multitasking.
• Emphasize the necessity of strong boundaries to prevent self-depletion.
  Quotes:
  Jade: “You can show up for people, but you’ve got to show up in a way where you are not depleting yourself.” (58:01)
  Fran: “Who is putting this pressure on you? ...It’s me setting the schedule!” (58:54)
  Kia: “Nothing about our cognitive function is designed to be fragmented.” (67:14)

7. Structure, Regulation, and Spiritual Practices

[68:46]

• Structure is described as love—especially for kids, but also adults.
• Reading, nightly kitchen rituals, and focused presence as tools for regulating anxiety in a fast world.
• Fran offers the wisdom of parenting yourself with compassion and structure during hard times.

8. Doing vs. Consuming – It’s About Application

[72:49]

• They discuss the dangers of overconsuming self-help but never applying it: “There’s some people that I know that are so well-read...but their life is a mess because there’s no application.” (73:08)
• Emphasis on doing, not just knowing (or praying, or theorizing).

9. "Do Better" Energy & Boundaries for 2026

[77:38]

• The sense that 2025 was the year to get “sick of yourself” and prep for collective and personal action in 2026—a “do something year.”
  Quote:
  Fran: “Something about this year felt like you had to be tired of yourself…Next year, it’s really a year where we just have to be like, I need to step into the new.” (78:49)

10. Personal Safety & Black Women Protecting Themselves

[79:37]

• Fran shares buying a Mossberg pump shotgun and prepping for a concealed carry class—reluctantly but pragmatically.
  Quote:
  Fran: “It was so funny because I’ve been against guns…Something about the unhinged nature of someone being able to come into my bubble, I was like, you know what? ...It needs to be able to be handled.” (79:38)
• The trio discusses how “people are not well these days” and the new world of armament and even archery as essential skills for Black women’s safety.

11. Joy, Rest & Reading Resolutions

[89:31]

• A collective aim to read more physical books in 2026; inspired by their friend Claude, who reads 100+ per year.
• Reflection on the importance of cultivating attention span and slowing down.
  Quote:
  Fran: "What better way than to sit your ass down and slow your heart rate down, slow your mind down?" (91:10)

12. Collective, Nostalgia & Legacy

[08:14 - 15:10]

• Nostalgia for The Cosby Show (“I miss the Huxtables, Theo and Denise...Rudy, Pam...”), with a sober reckoning over Bill Cosby’s crimes—“Millennials need a refund.”
• The generational grief of learning so many ‘90s/2000s icons were problematic.
• Laughter about ‘Y2K’ fashion and the unique burdens and joys of growing up Black in the '90s/2000s.

13. Closing—Community & Compassion

[105:31+]

• Rather than closing with their usual “Petty Peeves,” the hosts choose to end with a message of gratitude and encouragement to rest—and a reminder to show compassion and awareness for those worldwide who cannot rest this season.

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• “I’m burnt and I’m, you know, I’m now like defrosting...You know what I mean?” — Jade [03:30]
• “This was a weird year...It still felt like a weird year. Like, I won't say it was bad, but it wasn't good, if that makes sense.” — Fran [40:32]
• “Molasses is thick, it’s sticky, but it’s rich...such a sign of our own resilience.” — Jade [43:51]
• “What if we pour and invest all the energy and the time that we invest in sort of education and building skill sets for a career?...What if we were to invest all of that into really learning who we are and unlearning who we’re not?” — Dr. Kia [54:22]
• “I do these things because I love them. I don't do them for what I receive from them.” — Jade [45:41]
• “You can show up for people, but you've got to show up in a way where you are not depleting yourself.” — Jade [58:01]
• “There's no bigger metric than your human development.” — Fran [46:51]
• “Structure is love.” — Dr. Kia [68:46]
• “Something about this year felt like you had to be tired of yourself…Next year, it’s really a year where we just have to be like, I need to step into the new.” — Fran [78:49]
• “I'm a gargoyle. I'm a perch on top of an suv.” — Jade [84:59]
• “What better way than to sit your ass down and slow your heart rate down, slow your mind down?” — Fran [91:10]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [03:30] Holiday burnout, intentional rest, holiday check-in
• [18:18] Fran joins, weather chat, Portland randomness
• [22:06] Road rage & PNW driving horror, self-protection wisdom
• [37:50] “Muddy”/“Molasses” year, collective struggle
• [41:05] Redefining productivity, success, and fulfillment
• [57:03] Unlearning unhealthy habits (boundaries, self-pressure, multitasking)
• [68:46] Structure as love, nervous system regulation, reading
• [72:49] Doing vs. just reading/consuming; applying knowledge
• [77:38] Preparing for action in 2026, “do something” energy
• [79:37] Concealed carry, Mossberg pump, self-protection shift
• [89:31] Reading goals for new year, inspiration from the community
• [105:31] Closing with global compassion, not petty peeves

Tone & Style

The conversation is warm, irreverent, humorous, and deeply real. At times, it’s philosophical and meditative; at others, it’s unfiltered and laugh-out-loud funny. The language and cultural references are vibrant, distinctly Black, millennial, and woman-centered.

For Listeners Who Haven’t Tuned In

• This episode is a masterclass in grace and resilience—a safe space for Black women navigating modern mess.
• It’s about giving yourself permission to rest, re-evaluate, and move at your own (not hustle-culture) pace.
• The episode brims with practical wisdom, laughter, petty/sweet shade, and the hard-won freedom to say “enough” to old patterns.
• Whether you’re reflecting on your own year or just need to feel seen, heard, and connected, this one is for you.

Final Blessing from the Hosts

“We hope you have a beautiful holiday week. …remember all the people…around the world who don’t get the moments sometimes to…rest and celebrate and, you know, rejuvenate…We love y’all.”
— Jade & Dr. Kia [106:35]

Next episode: Year-end wrap-up, “just a little something so that we all walk away thinking about each other, thinking about ourselves, thinking about what’s important.”