Slate Daily Feed Care and Feeding | Slate's parenting show - Becoming ‘Smarter In Seconds’ w/ Blair Imani
Mar 30, 2026
Blair Imani, educator, historian, and creator of the Smarter in Seconds series, talks about staying informed as a busy parent and breaking down big topics for kids. She covers teaching systems and geopolitics in age‑friendly ways. They discuss involving children in civic action, modeling curiosity, and practical approaches to news and sensationalism.
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Reaction To Being Called Mama
- Blair describes being angered when people called her “mama” after her pregnancy announcement because it felt like an identity loss.
- She later reclaimed the label humorously as "a breastfeeding Mama" while acknowledging varied reactions from followers.
Pumping On The Red Carpet Moment
- Blair pumped on a red carpet to avoid losing her spot at an event and found the public act unexpectedly empowering.
- A clip of her using a hand pump at the Essence Black Women in Hollywood brunch inspired viewers who wished they'd seen that normalization earlier.
You Can Learn What School Missed You
- Insight: Different kinds of intelligence matter; learning is accessible even if you struggled in school.
- Blair frames Smarter in Seconds as proving that if she could learn complicated topics later, listeners can too.
