Send us a text

Don't call it a comeback. Sam and LT look back on a year of school visits, book chats, and pop-up events that turned a memoir into a community project, where first-gen stories, fandoms, and everyday art met in classrooms, clinics, and even a 24 Hour Fitness.

We also get tactical about what worked, i.e., adding visuals—childhood photos, book inspirations, family snapshots—pulled people in. Shifting the live reading to the Len Bias chapter created a bridge for sports fans and non-fans alike, blending grief, research, and the campus library into a single thread. Along the way, teen boys connected with Smart Girl through sports and comics, proving that identity and joy can share the same seat. We kept hearing the same worries about majors and careers, especially from first-gen and working-class students, and we broke down how humanities paths can lead to writing, leadership, and meaningful work.

Support came from surprising corners: a Body Pump class that built a book table out of gym gear, oncologists who opened appointments by asking about the tour, and a barbershop wall that turned our book cover into neighborhood iconography. We push back on higher ed taboos—talking openly about money, branding, and writing books people actually read—because visibility matters.

We’re turning the page toward season two with a wider guest list, fresh topics, and the same commitment to saying names right, meeting people where they are, and keeping the conversation brave and warm.

If this resonated, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review. Tell us what film, show, or fandom you want us to explore next. Your ideas shape what comes next.

Go here for the Smart Girl experience:

https://www.smartgirlbook.com/

Send us a text

What if campus events felt less like ceremonies and more like sanctuary? We sit down with Doctora Alexia Fernanda Pineda Soto to rethink how universities design gatherings for first-generation students—from the invitation to the furniture to the final song. Our conversation moves past turnout metrics and prestige speakers to something deeper: events as living archives that teach belonging, honor family, and affirm first-gen wisdom as academic power.

We trace the origin story of LMU’s First To Go program and the student-led practices that shaped it: cafés where stories lead, human libraries that replace lectures, and an annotated campus map that reframes familiar buildings through first-gen eyes. Lexi shares why “community must be primed for community,” offering practical ways to slow the pace, lower the guard, and cultivate vulnerability with care. Together, we unpack how to swap “fix-the-student” programming for design that centers agency—down to the flyer fonts, room textures, and the soundtrack that cues the heart as well as the mind.

Expect concrete takeaways for academic and student affairs teams: how to onboard student staff as culture keepers, design spaces that feel like home, and measure success by connection rather than headcount. We also talk event formats for book talks and fireside chats, with vibe-setting picks from BrassTracks to Billy Joel to Bad Bunny. If you build gatherings where students are seen as sanctuary, the learning deepens, the room softens, and the archive of belonging grows.

Subscribe, share this episode with a colleague who plans campus events, and leave a review with one change you’ll make to create more third spaces on your campus.

Go here for the Smart Girl experience:

https://www.smartgirlbook.com/

Send us a text

In this episode, LT and Sam are joined by two students from the fall Smart Girl roadshow: Liz Hardy (UCSF) and Maliah Siyoum (SMC). Together, they unpack what happens when Smart Girl moves from the page into real college and grad school spaces.

Liz and Maliah share what the book unlocked for them, including recognition, discomfort, joy, ambition, and that unmistakable moment when a class shifts from “discussion” to real talk. They also reveal how the memoir resonates far beyond first-gen students, opening up conversations about why we go to college, what keeps us there, and how stories shape both individual and institutional change.

Go here for the Smart Girl experience:

https://www.smartgirlbook.com/

Send us a text

It's a Bruin reunion! This week we welcome fellow Smart Girl and self-published author, Melanie Ho, as we discuss the hidden curriculum of self-publishing.

We get into the nuts and bolts: hiring a developmental editor who protects your voice, finding seasoned designers and copy editors on Reedsy, and using IngramSpark’s print-on-demand to skip boxes-in-the-garage risk while keeping control of pricing and distribution.

If you’ve wondered whether a big publisher is the only path, or how to turn your story into a sustainable creative business, this conversation is your candid field guide. Subscribe, share with a friend who’s “between seasons,” and leave a review with the one value that’s guiding your next move.

Go here for the Smart Girl experience:

https://www.smartgirlbook.com/

Send us a text

We trace how Black feminist networks form, sustain, and transform lives, from a painful academic slight to a thriving community rooted in mentorship, writing, and everyday care. Prof. Sharon Harley (University of Maryland) joins us to unpack bias, honor invisible labor, and share a living philosophy of mentoring across generations.

• black feminist networks as infrastructure for survival and joy
• the hidden curriculum and practical mentoring that meets basic needs
• bias in the academy and how community counters it
• allies within and beyond Black studies strengthening the web
• writing as resistance, archive, and liberation
• re-centering women builders like Nannie Helen Burroughs
• soundtracks that score struggle, study, and celebration

Go here for the Smart Girl experience:

https://www.smartgirlbook.com/

Send us a text

In this episode, LT reconnects with longtime friend and colleague Professor Jim Lee (Asian American Studies, UC Irvine), who played a pivotal role in her transition from undergrad to graduate school. Together they reflect on their shared journey through UCLA in the 1990s—navigating the promises and limits of multiculturalism, coalition-building between Black and Asian students, and the hidden curriculum of academia.

From memories of the Rodney King era and Prop 209 debates, to pop culture touchstones like Dawson’s Creek, The X-Files, and Buffy, LT and Jim weave together stories of scholarship, friendship, and first-gen identity. They also explore how chosen family, imposter syndrome, and parenthood continue to shape their lives and teaching today.

This conversation is as much about solidarity and survival as it is about joy, fandom, and building lasting first-gen coalitions.

For more info:

https://www.smartgirlbook.com/

https://www.faculty.uci.edu/profile/?facultyId=5634

https://tupress.temple.edu/books/pedagogies-of-woundedness

https://www.humanities.uci.edu/news/james-kyung-jin-lee-honored-prestigious-book-award

Go here for the Smart Girl experience:

https://www.smartgirlbook.com/

Send us a text

It all started with a routine self-exam.

In this episode, LT and Sam get specific in all the ways search results rarely do. We talk costs in plain numbers, coordination with surgeons and oncologists, and the difference it makes when a Black nurse names what darker skin may experience and pushes a prescription through before travel. Along the way, a small community forms in the clinic: therapists who notice the sneakers, remember your name, and walk you down the hall.

We also unlearn the media script that equates “real cancer” with chemo and visible decline. LT names cancer imposter syndrome, the pressure to fit a narrative, and the relief of replacing it with truth: early is still cancer. The final note is an anthem: keep writing, keep traveling, keep cheering the WNBA, keep choosing the life you built. It’s far from over.

If this conversation helps you or someone you love, share it with a friend, follow the show, and leave a rating or review—your support helps more listeners find honest, practical stories like this one.

https://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/breast-cancer-awareness-month/

https://www.pinterest.com/firstgenation/breast-cancer-diagnosis/

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/123027172

Go here for the Smart Girl experience:

https://www.smartgirlbook.com/

Send us a text

In What is a Graduate Student: Learning the Higher Ed Hidden Curriculum on the Fly, LT and Sam welcome special guest Dr. Tracy Buenavista—professor of Asian American Studies at Cal State Northridge and the very person who first named LT’s first-gen identity—to unpack what it really means to navigate grad school as a first-gen student. From late-night “mentoring on the run” to underfunded programs and hidden rules no one explains, LT and Tracy swap stories about how they stumbled into graduate school, survived its financial landmines, and built pathways to lift up the next generation through the UCLA McNair Program and beyond. They dig into the cornerstones of real first-gen grad student support, the importance of expanding what kinds of fields students dream about, and what keeps them fighting for access—especially in today’s climate of attacks on DREAMers and shrinking support programs. Plus, they time-travel back to the songs and albums that defined their own grad school days.

Perfect for current and aspiring graduate students, first-gen professionals, educators, and anyone curious about higher ed’s unspoken rules, this episode blends real talk with practical insights—and will leave you inspired to fight for access and equity.

Go here for the Smart Girl experience:

https://www.smartgirlbook.com/