We love Angela Rye. You love Angela Rye. And now, we’re all about to get a lot more of her, with her new podcast On 1 With A Rye.
Ahead of a very special episode of the podcast featuring Blavity hero Representative Maxine Waters, Rye stopped by our offices to have a chat about her career, how she got started and what we can expect from her new show.
Rye told us that it all began “my fall semester in law school; I went to work for Congresswoman Maxine Waters, who I now call Queen Maxine because she’s the queen of the resistance.”
Preach.
Waters, she says, taught her something very important: that through politics a “macro-level change opportunity … can occur.”
Too, Waters changed the way she saw activism. Rye told us that her father was an activist, and that growing up, she’d always believed that activism opposed politics. Waters taught her that the two can work “hand-in-hand.”
That realization led to her becoming the Angela Rye we all know and love: CNN commentator, NPR contributor and head of the political advocacy firm IMPACT Strategies.
Adding to all that, Rye, who says she’s “just trying to balance … like every other black woman in this country,” has launched On 1.
The name comes from her friends, who, according to Rye, constantly tease her that she goes “zero to not 100, but zero to 1,000 real quick” and that “some of those moments have gone viral thanks to the community and the culture over the last year.”
Those moments are great, aren’t they? Shall we wax nostalgic for a moment?
Yes we shall!
There was the Tomi Lahren clapback. Epic.
There was that time Rye told Joe Walsh all about himself. Excellent.
And there was the time spoke for the people when she came face-to-face with the president’s former campaign manager. 10 out of 10.
If you liked all those moments, then the podcast is for you. Rye says that she hopes her show will create “an opportunity for our folks to hear politics through our language, through our lens.”
And not only will Rye address politics, but she’ll delve into culture as well.
Balancing politics with culture is only natural, according to the self-professed Basketball Wives fan, because “one of the coolest things about black folks is that we’re always on the front line of developing culture and shifting paradigms, and I hope that this podcast in some way contributes to that.”
You can watch Rye’s full interview with us above.
And you can check out her podcast on all the major streaming outlets. In between episodes, be sure to watch Angela Rye live on CNN. If you miss her, don’t worry — we’ll be sure to share the highlights with you right here on Blavity.
