Welcome to the end of February; you made it! While you were busy falling in love, our team was reading, eating, listening, and watching anything we could get our hands on– all in all, we were bingeing everything. The good news is that we curated the creme-de-la-creme, worthwhile things for you to spend time on that you can brag to your friends about.
Read, listen, and watch interracial love stories, dolphins, the downfall of Uber, and more.
Books We Couldn’t Put Down
1
Consumed, Aja Barber
What we loved about it: This book is helping us achieve our goal of consuming more thoughtfully. Aja completely spins the narrative of buyer-culture by outlining the history of consumer industries – how they are built on inequalities and how they damage the environment and society around us. Prepare to feel empowered when reading Aja’s words that encourage us to learn from the past and unlearn the future.
Why it’s consciously cool: Written by Aja Barber, an advocate of sustainability pertaining to the fashion industry.
2
Party of Two, Jasmine Guillory
What we loved about it: What doesn’t this book have? Politics, steamy scenes, banter, flawed characters, and deep romantic love. This is the type of book you turn to after a difficult day and stay curled in throughout the weekend.
Why it’s consciously cool: Jasmine Guillory has repeatedly ended up on best-seller lists with her body-positive, plus-size, Black heroines navigating life and finding love within her interconnected series.
3
Weather Girl, Rachel Lynn Solomon
What we loved about it: We weren’t quite sure what to expect when we started this book, besides a classic parent-trap (except instead of twins and their parents, it’s coworkers and their bosses). We quickly fell in love with the unsure heroine who struggles with clinical depression, and the love interest who feels insecure in his plus-size body. Read for scenes that’ll make you giggle, cry, and fall in love.
Why it’s consciously cool: Rachel wants to write real characters who look and feel like her and like others too. This means seeing Jewish, neurodiverse, characters of various body types out in the world making us smile from their place on the page.
TV Shows That Had Us Hooked
4
Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber, Showtime
What we loved about it: We all know and use Uber, so when a show broke out that claimed to give us a behind-the-scenes look of co-founder and CEO Travis Kalanick’s many scandals we knew we had to watch it. The show only just came out, but we’re already hooked!
Why it’s consciously cool: This show outlines the toxic workplace environment of Uber’s start-up days, specifically the sexual harassment scandals encircling the co-founder. Viewers will probably (at least we did) sit back and consider the importance of a safe and healthy workplace.
Podcasts We Couldn’t Stop Listening To
5
Forests on Forests, RadioLab
What we loved about it: What we liked the most about this podcast was that you don’t even have to think about it! In quite a literal sense, the canopy of trees and what occurs in them completely goes over our heads. But this podcast reveals how much life brims on the top of trees, where an entire garden is thriving.
Why it’s consciously cool: Dive deep into the complex ecosystem occurring right above our heads, and learn to appreciate the complex natural world around us.
6
The Life Cycles of Cities, TED Radio Hour
What we loved about it: There are more than 10,000 cities in the world, so obviously we were curious about the cycle of how humanity converged into these tight spaces. We loved this podcast because of the multiple experts they brought together: archeologists, architects, and landscape architects.
Why it’s consciously cool: Discover community and history in this podcast, focusing not only on how cities were formed but how they will continue to grow and innovate the future.
7
Hello, RadioLab
What we loved about it: We always hear about dolphins, whether it’s about how smart they are or how gorgeous they look cutting across the water. This podcast goes a step further and tried to bridge the gap by, well, talking to the dolphins. Relax and unwind as we eavesdrop on them.
Why it’s consciously cool: Focus and learn to appreciate nature as it occurs around us. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that we are not the center of the universe, but listening to other creatures chat and gossip really helps us see the bigger picture.
8
The Room Podcast
What we loved about it: We love podcasts because of how they make knowledge accessible, and The Room is no different. Our Co-Founder Jaclyn is obsessed with this one- she mostly listened to it during her commute and let it empower her! It features stories of innovative founders you might know, and some that you’ll immediately Google-stalk after.
Why it’s consciously cool: Founded by Claudia Laurie and Madison McIlwain, this podcast delves deep into the journey of tech founders and funders giving you the behind-the-scenes look you never knew you needed.
Videos We Couldn’t Stop Replaying
9
Yoga with Adriene
What we loved about it: Health comes in all shapes and sizes, and without time constraints and Adriene knows this. Her classes are easily accessible on Youtube, range from 10 minutes to 60, and all feature her adorable dog, Benji. Put some time aside to relax, as we did.
Why it’s consciously cool: It’s important to take some You-time every now and then for your mental health, and Adriene offers that with her comforting movements and lulling instructions.
Food We Couldn’t Stop Munching
10
Oat Haus
What we loved about it: Everyone knows that oats are THAT girl, doing today what cauliflower did years ago. Oats are milk, flour, meal, and now butter too. We replaced peanut butter this month with this delicious granola butter which tastes like cinnamon graham crackers– and we loved it! Lifehack is to double down and add it to your oatmeals.
Why it’s consciously cool: Oat Haus was founded by a woman (Ali Bonar) who wanted her nut butter to do more, only to find that the solution was to leave nuts behind entirely.
