Invisible Black Girl

Invisible Black Girl is Christi G's solo podcast about navigating her 40s after a move to Atlanta. It sounds like a journal kept out loud. She opens with greetings and a sprawl of life updates, sometimes with an apology for time away from the mic, and only then settles into what she came to talk about. She even names the parts of an episode like courses in a meal, with an appetizer of personal news leading into the main event. Those updates carry real weight. One episode marks a full year in Atlanta and notes that the pandemic left much of the city unexplored. Another reports a finished grad school poetry class, an A, and a collection of poems written at roughly two a week. A much-needed break turns into a rough trip home to Louisiana, with fleas on both dogs and a hotel check-in that becomes its own story. The main subjects move between the personal and the cultural. In 'Ep 21: No Hair Don't Care' she goes back to being a 20-year-old in a dermatologist's office, told to give up perms, then grinding through a hot-comb phase because she was not yet confident enough to cut everything off. Now she finds it inspiring to watch so many women return to their natural texture. The same episode still finds room for a sideways confession about a bra fitting at a new job. In 'Ep 16: Mo to the E to the...' she talks about Moesha and Brandy, and what it meant, growing up in a strict household, to see a brown-skinned Black girl on television who looked like her. Her point is that people can take seeing their own reflection on screen for granted. 'Ep 27: Belatedly Thankful' works through a numbered gratitude list that includes her pets and the podcast itself, which she calls her baby and the foundation for other ideas she hopes to build. The delivery is long, looping and conversational, full of restarts, asides and plenty of y'all. Frustration shows up, but it usually bends back toward humor or gratitude. With no co-host, the whole show rests on her company, which makes it feel closer to a voice memo from a friend than a produced talk show. The hair episode is a strong way in for anyone drawn to personal history, and the Moesha episode suits a listener who wants pop culture memories. Either way, expect the scenic route.