Well Read Baddies, We Blinked and It’s April?! A Q1 Catch-Up
Okay, let’s be real—this was supposed to be a New Year’s blog post. We had every intention of kicking off 2025 with a reflective, “new year, new books” moment, but life (and podcasting) had other plans. So here we are, a whole three months in, wondering where the time went. If Q1 had a theme, it would be: Booked and Busy... Literally.
What We’ve Been Up To
If you’ve been keeping up, you know that we didn’t ease into 2025—we hit the ground running. We’ve released bi-weekly minisodes with some incredible guests, including The Love Lyric author Kristina Forest and singer Cecily Bumbray, who had us deep in our Bell Hooks feels. We also got the chance to talk to Happy Land author Dolen Perkins-Valdez and made it to the final round of the Black Girls Who Write 2025 It’s Lit Literary Awards for two categories (casual flex, but also, thank y’all for voting!).
Oh, and did we mention we’re the official podcast partner for the 2025 Black Romance Book Festival?! Yeah, that’s happening. We’ve been plotting some amazing content to bring y’all from the festival, and some goodies for those of you that will be in attendance. 👀
A Little Podcast Glow-Up
Behind the scenes, we’ve been cooking up a slight rebrand for the pod. She Well Read started as a way for us to reconnect with reading, but over the years, our reading habits (and lives) have evolved. We’ve embraced audiobooks more, fallen into niche reading obsessions (Lana’s in her Black romance bag, Samra is deep in the Substack world), and realized even further that being well-read is more than just books—it’s a lifestyle. Expect more personal reading journeys, and more pop culture convos coming soon.
New season, new energy, same Well Read Baddies.
Lana & Samra’s Post Q1 Check-In
We’re always checking in on books, but let’s check in on us for a sec:
📖 Lana’s Q1 Vibe: “Main character energy, but make it soft girl era.”
Right now, she’s living in her Black romance world, balancing work and health goals, and making more time for slow mornings with a good audiobook on her hot girl walks.
📖 Samra’s Q1 Vibe: “Self-care, but like, actually.” She’s been deep into Substack essays and think pieces, building up and working towards creating her own marketing agency (more on that soon…), and squeezing in some thought-provoking non-fiction when the mood strikes.
What’s Next
We’re in full prep mode for Season 6 (coming in August!), but in the meantime, we’re keeping the minisodes rolling. We’ve got more author chats, more pop culture deep dives, and—per your requests—more of us just talking about life.
So tell us: how was your Q1? What books have y’all been loving (or hating)? And most importantly… does anyone else feel like time is moving at 2x speed?
Drop a comment, send us a DM, or scream into the void with us. Here’s to another chaotic, book-filled quarter ahead.
XOXO,
Lana & Sam
P.S. We just launched our very own Substack! Thought daughters unite at shewellread.substack.com.
