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
19 episodes
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 ...
Kisses from Kenya Episode 11: Has the Sky Fallen Before?
Premiered on 13 Apr 2026 Kisses From KenyaEPISODE 11: Has the Sky Fallen Before?Is what's happening in America truly unprecedented - or...
Kisses from Kenya Episode 10: Home Away From Home
Premiered on 6 Apr 2026 Kisses From KenyaEPISODE 10: Home Away from HomeThey're back. After a longer-than-planned break, Vuyanzi and Br...
Kisses from Kenya Episode 9: From Morals to Morale
Premiered on 30 Mar 2026 Kisses From KenyaEPISODE 9: Morals to MoraleWhat's the difference between morals and morale - and why does liv...
Kisses from Kenya Episode 8: Left Right & Center
Premiered on 23 Mar 2026 Kisses From KenyaEPISODE 8: Left, Right, CenterIn Kenya, the driver sits on the right, the traffic comes from ...
Kisses from Kenya Episode 7: Celebrations & Complications
Premiered on 16 Mar 2026 Kisses From KenyaEPISODE 7: Celebrations & ComplicationsChristmas trees in 35-degree heat. Eggnog at the E...
Kisses from Kenya Episode 6: Global Erasures
Premiered on 9 Mar 2026 Kisses From KenyaEPISODE 6: Global ErasuresVisible and invisible at the same time - that's the reality of being...
Kisses from Kenya Episode 5: Mouthpieces & Mirrors
Premiered on 22 Dec 2025 Kisses From KenyaWhat does it mean to live abroad as an American without becoming a spokesperson, a saviour, or a walk...
Kisses from Kenya Episode 4: Language Games
Premiered on 18 Dec 2025 Kisses From KenyaHow much of identity sits inside an accent, and what happens when you realise that English is not as ...
Kisses from Kenya Episode 3: Voting Tales
Premiered on 8 Dec 2025 Kisses From KenyaWhat does it mean to vote for a country you no longer live in, and how does distance change your relat...
Kisses from Kenya Episode 2: Comfort Vs. Safety
Premiered on 6 Dec 2025 Kisses From KenyaWhat happens when two Americans living in Kenya realise that comfort and safety are not the same thing...
Kisses from Kenya Episode 1
Two Americans living abroad explore race and queerness in global contexts, and what identity looks like when you move to East Africa. Welcome to Episode 1 of Kisses from Kenya, a Democrats Abroad Kenya social podcast exploring Blackness, queern...
