Harry and Meghan Appreciation Thread

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#121

Meghan Markle Podcast ‘Archetypes’ Stays No. 1 on Spotify Charts for Second Straight Week​

By Todd Spangler

Meghan Markle continued her reign atop Spotify’s podcast charts worldwide for the second week in a row, as the Duchess of Sussex’s “Archetypes” continues to attract a robust listenership.

As of Friday, “Archetypes” ranked as the No. 1 podcast on Spotify in seven countries: the U.S., Canada, U.K., Ireland, India, Australia, and New Zealand. It shot to the top of the charts soon after premiering Aug. 23 with featured guest Serena Williams, who recently announced plans to retire from pro tennis.

The weekly show, hosted and executive produced by Markle, aims to “dissect, explore and subvert the labels that try to hold women back,” as she put it in the trailer for the series. “Archetypes” is available exclusively on Spotify.

Note that “The Joe Rogan Experience,” the popular and controversial show that is consistently the top Spotify podcast in the U.S. and other regions, has released just one episode this week.

That said, “Archetypes” also dropped just a single new episode this week: Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, spoke with five-time Grammy-winner Mariah Carey about growing up as mixed-race, finding their freedom, and the complexities surrounding the label “diva” — from a diva’s glamor, power and elegance to the negative connotations associated with the word. The 46-minute episode also features an intro from actor and comedian Amanda Seales riffing on the connotations of “diva,” as well as a conversation about the term with Dr. Mashinka Firunts Hakopian, a scholar of feminist and media studies.

On next week’s episode of “Archetypes,” set to release Tuesday, Sept. 6, Markle will be joined by actor, comedian, writer, director and producer Mindy Kaling. Other upcoming guests include comedian, actor and activist Margaret Cho, journalist and author Allison Yarrow, comedian Robin Thede, and Nigerian American comedian and writer Ziwe Fumudoh.

“Archetypes” is produced by Archewell Audio in partnership with Spotify’s Gimlet Media. It’s the first podcast series on Spotify under the exclusive deal Markle and Prince Harry’s Archewell Audio inked in December 2020.

variety.com
 
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#122

Leadership from Conservation Organisation African Parks Led a Tour Across National Parks in Mozambique and Rwanda.​


Last month, African Parks – led by African Parks’ President, Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex and CEO Peter Fearnhead – welcomed groups of U.S. public officials, conservationists, and philanthropists as they toured national parks in Mozambique and Rwanda to learn about best practices in protected area management on the continent. During the trip, the visiting delegations were given a firsthand look at our innovative and well-established model of park management, which brings local communities and government stakeholders together with conservation experts.

The public-private partnership model, pioneered by African Parks, is an example of how to successfully develop long-term solutions to park management in partnership with government and local communities. The official delegation led by U.S. Senator Chris Coons included Senators Rob Portman and Gary Peters, as well as Representatives David Price, Dave Joyce, and Chrissy Houlahan. They were joined by an independent group including executives from the ICCF Group - which supports the leadership of the International Conservation Caucus in the U.S. Congress and parliamentary conservation caucuses in 20+ countries across the globe - as well as additional leaders from the conservation and community development sector. Both delegations visited Bazaruto Archipelago National Park in Mozambique (the first marine reserve to fall under African Parks’ management) and Akagera National Park in Rwanda (Central Africa's largest protected wetland). The African Parks and ICCF leadership team also independently and separately travelled to Kafue National Park in Zambia.

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This trip was an opportunity to show global leaders that conservation and community development can be mutually reinforcing. African Parks demonstrates that the right kind of conservation model is one that works in partnership with sovereign African nations to find local solutions to the holistic and long-term management of their vital national parks, which also benefit the communities that live in and around them, and are dependent on them.

Throughout, there were multiple stops at local projects and businesses – including an initiative in Mozambique that turns plastic pollution collected by local women’s groups into construction materials, a successful community cooperative in Rwanda for families to sell harvested goods, a number of community and education facilities, and a recently launched local fish farm.

africanparks.org
 
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#123
djuna1 said:
I actually liked this episode more than last weeks. They had really good chemistry. I think that Mariah's embrace of the word diva is great. Like she said "who wants to be basic?". Love that! It was really interesting looking back at how the the title diva started positive and then became a negative label. According to the experts who spoke on the word diva within the podcast - the negativity around the word, goes back to women and/or minorities defying the status quo to be unapologetically themselves, becoming successful and powerful, which makes people uncomfortable. This also tied back into last week's topic about ambition.

I like that Meghan still included that part where she feels uncomfortable in the episode, it could have easily been edited out. It really shows how words do have power.
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I liked the Mariah podcast episode more than the Serena podcast episode and I really liked the Serena podcast episode. The Serena podcast episode discussed "Ambition" but at the same time it very much felt like you were hearing this conversation between these good friends.

I personally found the Meghan and Mariah conversation really relatable. Yes some of the conversation was about the label "Diva" but also they had a very real conversation about the reality of being a mixed person. I've said before on this forum I'm a light-skinned mixed person myself like Meghan and Mariah. I've dealt with some of the same issues I heard them both mention in the podcast (the hair issues, the feeling like you don't fit in, what is said/felt by some people once they realize you are mixed, etc.)

When you're a light-skinned mixed person you definitely experience the world differently a lot of the time. You can feel like you are not light enough to fit in certain spaces yet at the same time you never feel black enough to fit in other spaces. It is a weird reality that is honestly hard to explain unless you truly lived it.

The most relatable part to me was them talking about their hair issues. When your mixed you never know what hair type you are going to get. For me my hair is really tight curls which is similar to how Meghan's natural hair is (would say mine is curly though). With my siblings their hair is different than mine. When my brother use to have his hair grown out his hair was loose curls but with my sister her hair is naturally straight like our mom's hair is. Meghan and Mariah's conversation about hair is very much the real experience because you do have to figure out what would works for your hair texture like they mentioned Murray's hair products and Pink Hair lotion but for me the TCB hair products worked on my hair when I was younger, I used a few other hair products during my teenage years, and now I've used the African Pride hair products for years because they are what has worked best for me after years of trying so many other hair products.
 
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