Kisses from Kenya
Kisses from Kenya is a social podcast hosted by Brendan and Vuyanzi, two Americans living in Nairobi who see the world through different identities, but share a love of fun chats and tender honesty. One is a gay white American, the other is a Black American, both learning what it means to live far from home while carrying everything that shaped them.
Here you will find candid conversations about identity shifts, contradictions, and the odd freedom that comes from living beyond the USA but never escaping it.
It is funny, thoughtful, occasionally chaotic, and always grounded in lived experience.
Kisses from Kenya is produced by Democrats Abroad Kenya, but this channel is a social space for personal stories and reflections. Nothing said here represents the official positions of Democrats Abroad Kenya, Democrats Abroad global, or the Democratic Party.
New episodes weekly(ish) on all Podcast platforms and YouTube. Stay with us as we explore what it means to love, live, vote, and reinvent ourselves a long way from home!
Episodes
34 episodes
Why Americans Distrust Both Parties
EPISODE 34: Why Americans Distrust Both PartiesDemocrats distrust Republicans. Republicans distrust Democrats. Increasingly, Americans distrust both major political parties.So where does that leave everyone else?In a...
Is American Democracy in Crisis?
EPISODE 33: Is American Democracy in Crisis?The United States has invaded countries, disrupted governments, and justified wars in the name of democracy.Now, many Americans are asking whether democracy is even working at hom...
The New Rules of Weight Loss
EPISODE 32: The New Rules of Weight LossOzempic and GLP-1 weight-loss medications are changing more than bodies. They are changing how we talk about health, fitness, willpower—and who gets to be considered attractive.But if...
Kisses from Kenya Episode 31: Propaganda in the Age of Social Media
EPISODE 31: Propaganda in the Age of Social MediaModern propaganda no longer needs a podium. It has cable news, social media algorithms, political influencers, and audiences isolated enough to mistake repetition for truth.H...
Kisses from Kenya Episode 30: We Talked About Cheating... Then Things Got Honest
We Talked About Cheating... Then Things Got Honest | Kisses from KenyaDescriptionThis week, Brendan and Vuyanzi somehow end up talking about cheating, relationship confessions, and the stories we'd probably neve...
Kisses from Kenya Episode 29: James Talarico, Jasmine Crockett & Brendan's Dating Advice
Sometimes the conversation before the show says more than the show itself.This week, Vuyanzi opens up about singleness, clarity, and finally knowing exactly what she wants in a relationship—only for Brendan to accuse her of trying to "ma...
Kisses from Kenya Episode 28: We Started This Episode VERY Wrong
Sometimes the best conversations are the ones that begin before anyone says, "Welcome to the show."This week, Brendan leaves Vuyanzi speechless with a conversation that goes somewhere no one expected. Then it's on to a global security wa...
Kisses from Kenya Episode 27: 78 Degrees of Separation
EPISODE 27: 78 Degrees of SeparationAn 87-year-old on OnlyFans, a rose toy, and a conversation about sexuality and ageing that sets the tone perfectly for an episode about people minding everyone's business but their own. New York...
Kisses from Kenya Episode 26: The Same Strange Fruit... Again.
EPISODE 26: The Same Strange Fruit... Again.Karmelo Anthony. 35 years. Nolan Wells. Trayvon Martin. Ahmaud Arbery. A 16-year-old from the DRC found hanging in early June. A 21-year-old in Georgia in February. Brendan and Vuyanzi s...
Kisses from Kenya Episode 25: Foul Play
EPISODE 25: Foul PlayDine Out for Democracy is happening, the U.S. has struck over 90 coastal targets in Iran after Trump ends the ceasefire, and the World Cup host nations just got knocked out of their own tournament in spectacul...
Kisses from Kenya Episode 24: Outbreaks, Obstacles & Opening Nights
EPISODE 24: Outbreaks, Obstacles & Opening NightsNew York moves to remove barriers to voting, Ebola is back in the headlines, and Brendan has a conversation about sexuality with his gentleman that does not go the way he planne...
Kisses from Kenya Episode 23: Off the Market & On the Move
EPISODE 23: Off the Market & On the MoveIt's birthday season, Vuyanzi is taking herself off the market again, and Democrats Abroad Kenya just hosted the first-ever Democrats Abroad AGM on the African continent. No big deal. Br...
Kisses from Kenya Episode 22: National Treasures & Hidden Transgressions
EPISODE 22: National Treasures & Hidden TransgressionsJanet Jackson is a national treasure and this is not up for debate. From there: New Orleans gets a new mayor, Vuyanzi reckons with having outsourced her cooking entirely, B...
Kisses from Kenya Episode 21: Still On the Charts, Still In The Streets
EPISODE 21: Still on the Charts, Still in the StreetsMichael Jackson is back on the charts - 17 years after his death, breaking records ahead of his 30th Anniversary concert. Meanwhile Tanzania blocks an EU delegation from investi...
Kisses from Kenya Episode 20: Your Vote Matters - That's Why They Want to Take It Away!
Episode 20: Your Vote Matters - That's Why They Want to Take It Away!This one is personal. Brendan and Vuyanzi go deep on the Voting Rights Act - the gerrymandering, the protests, and what it means to watch voter suppression unfol...
Kisses from Kenya Episode 19: Death, Data, and Desire
EPISODE 19: Death, Data, and DesireThis one starts somewhere tender. Vuyanzi opens up about losing her sister during Covid while she was in Kenya - the distance, the grief, and the network of people who showed up anyway. Brendan s...
Kisses from Kenya Episode 18: Who Made These Rules?
EPISODE 18: Who Made These Rules?It opens with a debate about Uno that is somehow also a debate about culture, community, and who gets to make the rules. From there: Virginia redraws its districts and Black women take it across th...
Kisses from Kenya Episode 17: Helpless from Here
EPISODE 17: Helpless from HereThis one starts mid-conversation - which is exactly how the best ones always do. Vuyanzi is sitting with the weight of having a client whose family is caught in Lebanon: the helplessness, the guilt, t...
Kisses from Kenya Episode 16: Mixed Signals
EPISODE 16: Mixed SignalsThings get personal this week. A kiss changes everything - or does it? Vuyanzi shares a moment that has her rethinking her whole approach to dating, which opens up a bigger and messier question: do you go lookin...
Kisses from Kenya Episode 15: War & Politics
EPISODE 15: War & PoliticsSometimes you laugh because the alternative is crying. This week Brendan and Vuyanzi sit with the weight of global conflict, the strange experience of being American abroad when the world wants to talk abou...
Kisses from Kenya Episode 14: The Strength of Women... According to Whom?
EPISODE 14: The Strength of Women... According to Who?From Brendan's VCR days watching The Color Purple to Vuyanzi being told she was "arguing" simply for using her voice - this episode gets into the gap between celebrating women's stre...
Kisses from Kenya Episode 13: When They Go Low Do We REALLY Go High?
EPISODE 13: When They Go Low, Do We REALLY Go High?Michelle Obama gave us the mantra. But in 2026, Brendan and Vuyanzi are asking the harder question: is going high actually costing us something? As the late Flint City Council Member Er...
Kisses from Kenya Episode 12: Is the Grass REALLY Greener?
Premiered on 20 Apr 2026 Kisses From KenyaEPISODE 12: Is the Grass REALLY Greener?Is the grass actually greener on the other side - or ...
