Cashmere & Collard Greens

About Cashmere & Collard Greens

My name Takara and I'm a founder, communications and narrative strategist, and media and culture researcher. Cashmere and Collard Greens (cashmereandcollardgreens.substack.com) is a place where I write (and sometimes have conversations with experts) about style, beauty, culture, and the stories that make us, us. cashmereandcollardgreens.substack.com (https://cashmereandcollardgreens.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)

Publisher

Takara

Category

arts · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

18 Dec 2025

Latest episode

12 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

11 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   12 Sept 2026

   Starting a Business with your Sister Feat. Chelsea Fuller

   Module 4 of the Summer 2026 Syllabus. Engage with the full module here: It’s summer, which means it’s time to tell you what’s coming for the Cashmere & Collard Greens Summer Syllabus! If you’re new here, my name is Takara, and I’m a writer, communications and narrative strategist, and media and culture researcher. I publish this Substack called Cashmere & Collard Greens, a space where I write about style, beauty, culture, connection, and the stories that make us, us. Read more about my Syllabus series here: https://cashmereandcollardgreens.substack.com/p/the-cashmere-and-collard-greens-summer (https://cashmereandcollardgreens.substack.com/p/the-cashmere-and-collard-greens-summer) Each module is designed to help you notice patterns rather than prescribe outcomes, and hopefully will offer structure without flattening your experience. Across every module, you will find a few consistent elements that work together: Written or recorded guest conversations with designers, writers, artists, storytellers, curators, and thinkers whose work and lives help frame each theme and open new ways of seeing. Reading and media guides that include books, essays, photography, films, artwork, and cultural references that deepen the questions being explored, with occasional travel inspiration because place has a way of shaping perspective. My own reflections on style, culture, narrative, beauty, and taste, shared not as expert conclusions, but as points of inquiry. Journal prompts designed to help you name what is already true for you and surface patterns you may not have noticed yet. Exercises and practices that are meant to be realistic and doable, connecting you more closely to your own voice, rhythm, and sense of self.

2. 

   22 Aug 2026

   Living in the In-Between | Module 2, Summer 2026 Syllabus Feat. Anayo Awuzie

   Anayo Awuzie is the creator and Editor-in-Chief of Carefree Magazine. She is the editor and curator of Black Women in Bloom, a limited-edition coffee table book and global storytelling experience celebrating the becoming journeys of Black women across the diaspora. This conversation is part of the Cashmere & Collard Greens Summer 2026 Syllabus series, hosted on Substack. Find the full module here:

3. 

   15 Aug 2026

   Principled Struggle in Pretty Clothes Feat Tashira Halyard of Politics and Fashion

   Module 1, Summer 2026 Syllabus

4. 

   16 May 2026

   Spring 2026 Syllabus | The Art of Second-Hand Shopping Feat. Chani Ra (The Fashion Nap)

   Welcome to the Cashmere and Collard Greens (cashmereandcollardgreens.substack.com) Spring 2026 Syllabus! Every single one of us is shaped by the things we take in. From the fabrics we prefer in our closets and the art we linger in front of, to the stories we internalized before we had language for them. I love second-hand shopping. Love. It. The RealReal, What Goes Around Comes Around, local shops, estate sales, vintage markets. All of it. I love the hunt, I love the find. So, when it came time to build out different topics for the Spring 2026 Syllabus, this felt like a natural addition! I knew I wanted this to not just be a module about where to find good pieces, though we do get into that. I also wanted it to be about: Why second-hand and vintage is having such a moment and what it says about taste, economics, sustainability, and cultural memory. Why intentionally seeking out Black-owned, brown-owned, and women-owned resale spaces is about so much more than just shopping. How resale functions as a site of curation, preservation, and storytelling. This module’s guest lecturer is Chani Ra! She is a London-based fashion commentator, Who What Wear UK Editor in Residence, and the voice behind The Fashion Nap (https://thefashionnap.substack.com/), where she brings brilliant runway analysis and fashion history! Be sure to visit my Substack to better contextualize this conversation!

5. 

   9 May 2026

   Spring 2026 Syllabus | The Upgrade From Mom to Human Feat. My Mom!

   What does it look like when the relationship between a mother and daughter grows into something more fully human? And what was planted early that made that possible? For Module 2 of my Spring 2026 Syllabus, I'm joined by my mom, a recently retired professor of Pan-African Studies, Women's Studies, Native American Studies, and English, and my North Star, for an honest conversation about stewardship over ownership, ambition and single motherhood, and what it means to raise a child who belongs to themselves! We talk about a story in which she apologized to me in front of someone who didn't believe in extending apologies to children , the difference between joy and happiness, and what it looks like to refuse the false choice between being great at your work and being fully present in your relationships. This one is for anyone who was shaped by the women who raised them, or wants to be that person themselves.

6. 

   25 Apr 2026

   Spring 2026 Syllabus | Longing for a Friend Group Feat. Danielle Bayard Jackson

   In this episode of the Cashmere & Collard Greens Spring 2026 Syllabus, we're talking about collective friendship, the longing for a friend group, and what it actually takes to build one. I incorporated recorded insights from Danielle Bayard Jackson, women's relational health educator, director of the Women's Relational Health Institute, and author of Fighting for Our Friendships, woven throughout my own reflections. This conversation is the audio companion to Module 01 of the Spring 2026 Syllabus, and I'd encourage you to read the full module on Substack alongside this episode for the full experience.

7. 

   31 Jan 2026

   Winter 2026 Syllabus: Module 4 Featuring Jessica Carmichael

   In this module of my the Cashmere and Collard Greens Winter 2026 Syllabus Series, I’m joined by writer and journalist Jessica Carmichael, author of The Full Picture, for a conversation about how art shapes our imagination and expands what feels possible in our lives! We talk about growing up without seeing yourself reflected in books, the power of finally encountering stories that feel familiar and affirming, and how fiction, in particular, can widen our capacity for empathy, self-discovery, and connection. Jessica shares the personal experiences that inspired her debut novel, including her first trip to Ghana as an adult and the longing that followed to find more stories rooted in return, grief, self-discovery, and diasporic life! To engage with the full module, visit the following link:

8. 

   24 Jan 2026

   Winter 2026 Syllabus: Module 3 Featuring Lenora Houseworth

   This episode is part of my Cashmere and Collard Greens Syllabus Series, and it’s a preview of Module 3, How Stories Shape Us. In this conversation, I’m joined by Lenora Houseworth, a journalist, multi-creative writer, and content strategist whose work explores meaning, identity, and the narratives we live inside of. On its own, this is a rich, thoughtful conversation. We talk about the stories we inherit, the ones we repeat without realizing it, and how narrative quietly shapes our sense of possibility, identity, and belonging long before we consciously question it. Inside the full Module 3, though, this conversation is more deeply contextualized. It sits alongside reflections, readings, and prompts designed to help you trace which stories have been organizing your life, and decide which ones still deserve that authority. You can find the full module and subscribe to my Substack here:

9. 

   17 Jan 2026

   Winter 2026 Syllabus: Module 2 Featuring Nicci Harrell Hicks

   This episode is part of my Cashmere and Collard Greens Syllabus Series, and it’s a preview of Module 2, Style as an Origin Story. In this conversation, I’m joined by Nicci Harrell Hicks, a friend, an attorney, a former Fortune 100 executive, and the owner of the incredible fashion boutique Pivot. We talk about the early influences that shape how we dress, the rules we absorb about what feels allowed, and how clothing becomes a language long before we know how to name it. If this conversation resonates, the full Module 2 includes the complete interview, reflections, readings, and prompts designed to help you think more deeply about the story your style has been telling all along. You can find the full module and subscribe to my Substack here: https://cashmereandcollardgreens.substack.com/ (https://cashmereandcollardgreens.substack.com/)

10. 

    10 Jan 2026

    Winter 2026 Syllabus: Module 1 Featuring Tyka Pryde

    This episode is part of my Cashmere and Collard Greens Syllabus Series. Welcome to the Cashmere and Collard Greens Winter 2026 Syllabus! Every single one of us is shaped by the things we take in. From the fabrics we prefer in our closets and the art we pause in front of, to the stories we internalized before we had language for them, the culture that raised us, and the spaces we build around ourselves over time. I started Cashmere and Collard Greens because I love style, culture, beauty, and the ongoing work of building a life that feels like my own, but as a narrative strategist and a researcher of media and culture, I also carry a lot of questions. I am always paying attention to context and meaning, curious about why something resonates, why certain things feel grounding while others don’t, how taste develops across seasons of life, and why some stories stay lodged in us long after we should have been able to set them down. Each module in this syllabus is designed to help you notice patterns rather than prescribe outcomes, and hopefully will offer structure without flattening your experience. Module 1 is all about home. The spaces that raised us, the objects we keep, and the meaning we assign to all of it, consciously or not. I’m in conversation with Tyka Pryde, Emmy-nominated interior and production designer, about memory, inheritance, taste, and the emotional life of rooms. We talk about how homes hold stories long after people leave them, and how space quietly shapes who we become. If this conversation resonates, the full Module One experience lives on my Substack. It includes the complete conversation, a reading and media guide, and reflective exercises designed to help you think more deeply about your own relationship to home. You can find the full module and subscribe here: https://cashmereandcollardgreens.substack.com/ (https://cashmereandcollardgreens.substack.com/) I’m really excited for you to listen and spend time with this one.

11. 

    18 Dec 2025

    Inside Tyka Pryde’s Creative Practice, Where Artistic Expression and Career Coexist

    Wow. Just wow. This conversation was so incredible. I’ve been thinking a lot about what we mean when we talk about creative work being “serious.” Who gets to claim that designation, and who doesn’t. What kinds of labor are seen as legitimate, necessary, even noble, and what gets dismissed as indulgent or ornamental, even when it’s doing real emotional work in people’s lives. That tension sat at the center of my recent conversation with the brilliant and incomparable Tyka Pryde. What struck me most wasn’t just the impressive breadth of Tyka’s career, from television and interior design to launching her own furniture line, but the clarity with which she understands why she creates. I don’t mean in a branding sense, but in a purpose-driven, I know who the hell I am sense. Her work responds to people’s emotional lives, and it answers a need for safety, meaning, and orientation when the world feels unstable and uncertain. There’s a way so many of us have been trained to think about creativity as something separate from survival, almost as if beauty, pleasure, and imagination live on a lower rung than productivity or “impact.” Those controlling the levers of power would have us believe that creative work is secondary to politics, law, medicine or finance, or art is something you return to once the “real” work is done. This conversation with Tyka pushes back against that hierarchy with a real clarity about the role of the artist. She talked about interior design not as aesthetics, but as nervous system regulation, which gave me language for something I’ve long felt, but never really articulated. She dug into the history of how the way we arrange our spaces helps our bodies understand whether we are safe or not, and about how color, texture, light, and intention shape how we move through our days, how we rest, how we create, how we recover, and how we work. That framing feels majorly important right now, especially when so many people (it’s me, I’m people) are carrying persistent low-grade dread while carrying on as if everything is normal. What also stayed with me was how honest she was about the messiness of building a creative career. Again, with real clarity, she pushed back on the false idea that creative work should arrive fully-formed, highlighting the idea that we need push back on the pressure to be perfect before we begin, and let go of the fear of being seen trying. Tyka was clear that if she had waited until everything was refined, optimized, and pristine, she would never have started. Instead, she building her stunning furniture collection (http://tykapryde.com) in public, and learning in real-time alongside her audience. Note: This conversation is separate from the Cashmere and Collard Greens Syllabus series. The syllabus is its own project, with a different structure and intention. That said, if you enjoyed this exchange and the kind of thinking it holds, the Cashmere and Collard Greens Syllabus series launches January 10th (https://open.substack.com/pub/cashmereandcollardgreens/p/introducing-the-cashmere-and-collard?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=post%20viewer) and explores many of these themes through longer conversations, reflections, and guided prompts. You can subscribe now to receive it when it goes live. Get full access to Cashmere & Collard Greens at cashmereandcollardgreens.substack.com/subscribe (https://cashmereandcollardgreens.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

5 ratings

Contact Cashmere & Collard Greens

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

Shows with a similar audience

• 

  Ratchet & Respectable

• 

  The Friend Zone

• 

  The Read

• 

  It's Been a Minute

• 

  The Daily

• 

  Relationsh*t with Kamie Crawford