Shedding the Shame

About Shedding the Shame

Shedding the Shame is a women’s empowerment podcast where we talk openly about the experiences society tells women to keep quiet. Every episode explores a different experience that can leave women carrying shame, whether that's infertility, emotional abuse, widowhood, alopecia, divorce, career loss, eating disorders, or something else entirely. For generations, women have been conditioned to push through, downplay pain, and stay silent. This podcast challenges that. Shedding the Shame was created by Tami Wong (https://www.instagram.com/hairlosspride/), Founder of Hair Loss Pride (https://therealtamiwong.com/), who knows firsthand what it means to carry shame in silence, Each episode features honest conversations about women’s mental health, healing, identity, personal growth, and resilience. Guests share the shame they carried, how it shaped them, and how they rebuilt their lives with strength and self-trust. There’s no trauma mining and no fixing. Just respectful, thoughtful dialogue and space to be heard. If you’ve ever felt broken, dramatic, or alone because of what you’ve lived through, this podcast is for you. This is for women who are done whispering. Let’s shed the shame.

Publisher

Tami Wong

Category

health & fitness · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

Yes

First episode

23 Feb 2026

Latest episode

16 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

30 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   16 Oct 2026

   The Parts of Breast Cancer No One Talks About with Natasha Golinsky

   What happens when you survive breast cancer, but the life and body you return to look nothing like the ones you had before? In this episode of Shedding the Shame, I'm joined by Natasha Golinsky, who was diagnosed with stage two triple-negative breast cancer in September 2024 at age 43. Despite living a healthy, active lifestyle and having no family history of breast cancer, Natasha found a lump that wasn't detected by her initial mammogram. When she knew something wasn't right, she kept pushing for answers. That decision changed everything. Natasha has since completed treatment and is in remission, but she's incredibly open about the parts of the breast cancer experience that don't always make it into the conversation. We talk about the physical realities of a bilateral mastectomy and reconstruction, chemotherapy, hair loss, medical menopause, changes in her body, and the unexpected complications that affected her everyday life long after treatment. We also get into the emotional side of recovery, including the grief of losing the body you once knew, changes to your sex drive and sense of identity, worries about how your partner sees you, and the guilt that can come with admitting you're struggling when you're grateful to be alive. One of the most powerful parts of our conversation is Natasha's realization that you can be grateful to be alive and still be devastated by what you've been through. You don't have to minimize your pain because someone else has it worse. You don't have to pretend you're fine just because treatment is over. And you don't have to feel ashamed of the parts of recovery that are difficult, uncomfortable or hard to talk about. We also discuss the importance of advocating for yourself when something doesn't feel right, why breast cancer isn't something you cause by failing to live a perfectly healthy life, and how finding people who understand your experience can make you feel less alone. Natasha shares how cancer ultimately changed her life in unexpected ways, strengthening her relationships, changing her priorities and helping her let go of the pressure to be a superwoman who can handle everything herself. Natasha's story is a reminder that surviving something doesn't mean you have to be okay with everything that came with it. You can acknowledge the good that has come from a difficult experience without pretending the hard parts didn't hurt. A note on health: Natasha shares her personal experience, not medical advice. If you notice a breast change or lump, seek medical assessment even if an initial screening result is reassuring. Natasha on IG: https://www.instagram.com/neverlaunchonafriday/ (https://www.instagram.com/neverlaunchonafriday/) Natasha's Website: https://neverlaunchonafriday.pro/?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio&fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAcGRvZgJzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA85MzY2MTk3NDMzOTI0NTkAAadiSH6_oWM8fH3Uj16N-OUu_9c8uq-Ht91_dnYq88SNOjmVFOFZNhNkpu6RKg_aem_4nOakmNANpNuVuAJWgg98w (https://neverlaunchonafriday.pro/?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio&fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAcGRvZgJzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA85MzY2MTk3NDMzOTI0NTkAAadiSH6_oWM8fH3Uj16N-OUu_9c8uq-Ht91_dnYq88SNOjmVFOFZNhNkpu6RKg_aem_4nOakmNANpNuVuAJWgg98w) Canadian Breast Cancer Network: https://www.cbcn.ca/en/ (https://www.cbcn.ca/en/) Breast Cancer Canada: https://breastcancer.ca/ (https://breastcancer.ca/) Breast Cancer.Org: https://www.breastcancer.org/ (https://www.breastcancer.org/) How to do a breast exam: https://www.breastcancer.org/screening-testing/breast-self-exam-bse (https://www.breastcancer.org/screening-testing/breast-self-exam-bse)

2. 

   13 Oct 2026

   It's Okay Not To Be Okay with Tami

   This is a different kind of episode. It's just me, sharing what's been happening in my life over the past few weeks, and being honest about something I don't always find easy to admit: I'm not okay right now. I thought 2026 was going to be my year. There have been some incredible highs, but also some devastating lows, and the past few weeks have been especially hard. In this bonus episode, I share what happened when my husband, Eric, experienced a grand mal seizure in the middle of the night, followed by frightening panic attacks and complications that we later learned were likely related to a medication change. I talk about the terror of not knowing if the person you love is going to be okay, the exhaustion of trying to hold everything together for your family, and the anxiety that lingers long after the immediate crisis has passed. I'm still processing what happened, struggling with sleep and trying to figure out how to take care of myself while my husband recovers. I'm incredibly grateful for the friends, neighbours and community members who have shown up for our family in ways that have made an overwhelming time a little more manageable. But that's not the only thing I'm dealing with. I also share a painful update about my estrangement from my parents and a recent conversation between my husband and my dad that brought some old wounds back to the surface. After years of working through childhood emotional abuse, neglect and abandonment, I'm once again confronting the expectation that I should stay silent about what happened to me to protect my family's image. I'm not willing to do that anymore. I talk about the shame of speaking up, the damage that comes from being told your experiences don't matter, and why we have every right to tell our own stories, even when the people in them don't like what we have to say. What happened to us is part of our story, too. We deserve to process it, talk about it and heal without being shamed into silence. This episode is raw, emotional and very personal. I'm sharing it because talking helps me process what I'm going through, and because I know I'm not the only woman navigating trauma, family estrangement, fear, anger or the pressure to pretend everything is fine when it isn't. Sometimes we need to stop trying to be strong for everyone else and admit that we're struggling. We can be grateful for the good in our lives and still be overwhelmed by the hard. We can love our families and still need boundaries. We can have compassion for others without accepting mistreatment. We can be a work in progress without having to pretend we're okay. It's okay not to be okay. You don't have to turn your pain into a lesson before you're ready. You don't have to protect other people's feelings at the expense of your own well-being, and you don't have to go through difficult things alone. If you're struggling right now, I hope this conversation reminds you that you're allowed to ask for help, take a step back and give yourself the same compassion you so readily offer everyone else. Thank you for being here, for listening and for creating a space where we can talk about the things we're so often expected to keep quiet. Sending love to all of you who are going through a hard season. We deserve to be heard, believed, respected and safe. This is Shedding the Shame. And today, I'm reminding myself of the message at the heart of this podcast: we don't have to hide the parts of our lives that hurt.

3. 

   9 Oct 2026

   When a Friendship Breakup Hurts More Than a Romantic One with Jenniah Minchin

   What happens when you lose someone who has been your friend for most of your life? In this episode of Shedding the Shame, I’m joined by Jenniah Minchin, who came to me wanting to talk about something we don’t talk about nearly enough: friendship breakups. Jenniah and her best friend met when they were just six years old and remained friends for roughly 16 years. But over time, the friendship became increasingly one-sided. Jenniah found herself constantly showing up, offering support and putting the other person’s needs ahead of her own, while rarely feeling that same care in return. We talk about what it feels like to stay loyal to someone because you believe they need you, even when the friendship is hurting you. We get into people-pleasing, guilt, questioning yourself, feeling needed rather than wanted, and the difficulty of walking away from someone when you have so much history together. Jenniah also shares what happened when she finally ended the friendship, why she gave it another chance, and what ultimately made her realize that she couldn't keep doing the emotional heavy lifting alone. This conversation is about the grief of losing a friend, the anger that can come with finally recognizing how badly you were treated, and the complicated process of accepting that someone can have been incredibly important to you and still not be good for you. We also talk about what came after: making space for healthier friendships, recognizing what she had been missing, and realizing that sometimes losing a relationship can make room for the relationships that were there all along. Friendship breakups deserve more space to be talked about. They can hurt deeply. They can change you, and you are allowed to grieve them. This is a conversation about friendship, loyalty, boundaries, grief, self-worth, growing apart and learning that you don't have to keep carrying a relationship by yourself.

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Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

1 ratings

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