This week on the podcast returning guest, Baze Mpinja takes us nearly five years to the date on a flashback forward journey to her new now as a podcaster and Phoenician. Her new podcast, Reflections with Baze Mpinja comes at a time when she’s now calling one of her childhood hometowns home again and she’s finding a new sense of home in the work of translating and transcribing a career in beauty onto a new platform.
true to form, she describes adaptability as her superpower. She’s navigated startup-style multicultural magazines, national media powerhouses, and the creative side of theatrical advertising. Along the way, she’s honed the ability to dive into unfamiliar topics, collaborate cross-functionally, deliver clean, accurate work on tight deadlines, and tailor her writing to resonate with diverse audiences.

As a project-based writer and strategist, brands trust her to shape their voice, develop storytelling strategies, create compelling branded content, and craft executive communications. Her latest project, Reflections with Baze Mpinja is a sharp, witty podcast that holds up a mirror to beauty and society—exploring what’s beautiful, complex, and everything in between. The show goes beyond trends and product talk to unpack how beauty shows up in pop culture, sports, media, and everyday life. Listen and learn about how we’re both navigating the wide world of podcasting and more!

Where to find Baze and Reflections?
bazempinja.com
On Apple Podcasts
On Glocal Citizens

What’s Baze reading, watching and listening to?
Loneliness & Company by Charlee Dyroff
The Diplomat on Netflix
The Pitt on HBOMax
The Agency: Central Intelligence on Showtime
In the Dark, a New Yorker podcast

Other topics of interest:
The Phoenician Resort
About Paradise Valley
About Tempe
Who is Curtis Flowers?
Revisit our conversation on AI in healthcare with David Hutchful

Special Guest: Baze Mpinja.

This week "B" stands for "beauty" and Baze Mpinja, a Congolese-American writer, editor and consultant based in Brooklyn, New York.

Born in New Hampshire after her parents emigrated to the US and raised mostly in Arizona, Baze considers herself the most unlikely beauty writer ever. She’s the first woman in her family to graduate from a university and her grandmothers never learned to read—when they were growing up, girls didn't go to school. While her career as a writer at times seems unfathomable, Baze is no doubt the real thing when it comes to telling stories for leading brands and beauty publications.
She's gone from working at multicultural, niche magazines with startup environments (Suede and Vibe Vixen) to becoming a staffer at one of the most widely read women’s magazines in the country (Glamour), to working as a writer at the world's leading theatrical advertising and branding agency (SpotCo). Be sure to check out her cover article for the November 2020 issue of Allure Magazine!

Where to find Baze?
www.beautybybaze.com
On LinkedIn
On Instagram

What’s Baze watching?
Homeland
The Undoing

Other topics of interest—
• Glocally Speaking: Mzungu
• The Whistling Thorn
• Uoma Beauty
• Salwa Petersen

Special Guest: Baze Mpinja.