About the host

Given the title, “The love child of Oprah, Beyonce, and Michelle Obama”, Briona Jenkins is a public speaker, and activist for the LGBTQIA+, female, and people of color communities, and has years of experience using her platform to evoke change.

Originally from Hamden, Connecticut, Bri attended Albertus Magnus College, in New Haven, CT., which is where she completed her undergrad as a Sociology major with a concentration in Social Work.

Bri has over ten years of experience in the nonprofit sector. She has worked for a variety of organizations where she was able to serve as a Direct Client Support Specialist, Development Coordinator, and Associate Director of Development.

Since October 2019, she has hosted a podcast called The Tea with Bri where she sits and chats with a different guest every week about whatever topic the guest chooses. Bri started ‘The Tea with Bri’ so that she could have a deep dive conversation with her friends and colleagues in Austin, TX. She is a strong believer in sharing stories and having conversations as a way for all of us to expand our views. As she always says, “Change happens in the uncomfortable spaces.”

In the summer of 2020, Briona decided to start her consulting business, Briona Jenkins Consulting and in September 2021 she went into consulting full-time.

She has served on six nonprofit boards: Keep Austin Fed, Austin Black Pride, Lone Star Victims Advocacy Project, and New Leaders Council’s Austin Chapter Board, and currently sits on the board of Random Acts and The Equality Alliance.

She has spoken at the 2020 Women’s March Rally in Austin, Future Front Texas’s Annual State of the Uterus event, Texas State University’s Business Week, on a virtual SXSWEdu panel, two GISH panels about Racial Equality & Justice, and was an SXSW 2022 Wellness Panelist.

In January 2022, she signed on to be the Austin-based host of BARE by Giddy, the world’s largest sexual health platform.

On December 4, 2019, she won the Austin LGBT Chamber of Commerce's Rising Star Award’. In February 2020, she was the subject of a documentary entitled, “Uncomfortable Spaces”. In May 2021, she was awarded the Premier Achievement Award from her Alma Mater, Albertus Magnus College.

To learn more about Bri please visit brionajenkins.com.

About the show

The show is the brainchild of the host, Briona “Bri” Jenkins, and was started as a passion project.

Bri started this show because she was having such in-depth, raw, honest, vulnerable conversations with friends, in a time where a lot of our conversations are centered around work, kids, partners, etc. Bri started ‘The Tea with Bri’ so that she could have a deep dive conversation with her friends and colleagues in Austin, TX. She is a strong believer in sharing stories and having conversations as a way for all of us to expand our views. As she always says, “Change happens in the uncomfortable spaces.”

She started recording on October 31, 2019 and the goal was to have chats with a different guest every week about whatever topic the guest picked so that they would be more comfortable. The show is completely unscripted, except for the intro, outro, and guest’s bio.

When the pandemic hit, she learned how to record via Zoom (she was recording at a local podcast studio) and started releasing episodes on Monday and Tuesday. The Monday episodes, “Small Cups of Tea”, focused on surviving the pandemic and politics and Tuesday episodes, “The Kettle is Hot” focused on racial and social justice.

Thank you

Capital Factory for allowing me to use your podcast studio.
Justin Densen for being the best podcast producer around.
Mama Duke for creating the theme song and ad music.
Madyson Russell for creating the logo.
Kaia Moore and Blaine Young for your help editing the show.
Myrriah Gossett for your advice around Zoom recording.
My guests for your vulnerability and honesty.