‘We Talk Back’ Hosts AJ And TamBam Speak On The Different Perspectives Of Black Women In Podcasting

‘We Talk Back’ podcast hosts Tamela “TamBam” Bowen and Ashley “AJ” James

By Okla Jones ·Updated August 6, 2023

Since We Talk Back debuted in January of 2021, the show’s hosts – Ashley “AJ” James and Tamela “TamBam” Bowen – have provided listeners with the tools to navigate this unforgiving society through important conversations about sex, relationships and culture. Now, they are creating a name for themselves by challenging the negative stereotypes that are sometimes associated with Black women in podcasting.

With almost 150 episodes currently in rotation, AJ and TamBam have explored a range of topics with notable figures such as Anthony Hamilton, KendallKyndall, Drew Sidora, Karlous Miller, and many more. In staying true to their cause of promoting and connecting with other female podcasts, in 2021 We Talk Back featured Drea and Lexi P, the hosts of Pour Minds, in what was a hilarious main discussion about how to address sexual partners with a significant other. “It’s good to have different women in this space,” James tells ESSENCE. “You can get all these different perspectives across the board.”

Ashley “AJ” James

As time progresses, these two South Carolina natives continue to get better at their craft. Outside of their own endeavors, AJ and TamBam have appeared on several other programs, including The 85 South Show, WHOREible Decisions, and Brilliant Idiots, in addition to co-hosting iHeartRadio’s The Breakfast Club alongside DJ Envy and Black Effect Podcast Network founder Charlamagne Tha God.

Today, with thousands of viewers weekly and a growing fanbase, the ladies of We Talk Back vow to never lose sight of the task at hand, regardless of how successful they are. “It’s really just about staying focused,” Bowen explains. “Me and AJ understand what we’re trying to accomplish, and nothing is going to get in the way of that.”

Tamela “TamBam” Bowen

ESSENCE: All right, so I kind of want to start a little bit before the podcast, when did you guys first meet and can you tell me about that experience when y’all first met?

Tammy: Dang, when we first met? Are you trying to ask us how old we are? When did we meet?

Ashley: We actually went to the same HBCU, Benedict College at Columbia, South Carolina. So we just always knew of each other. Tammy and I really didn’t start hanging out per se until I moved to Charlotte in 2015.

I got there in 2016.

After that, we just started talking all the time, and maybe a year or two later, we were like “we need to do a podcast.”

So that’s how the podcast started. It was simply a conversation?

That’s all it was for real. After that, Charlamagne, who owns Black Effect – both of us have known him for many years. I met him when I was probably 16 or 17 because he’s from Moncks Corner, which is right outside of Charleston. When he was in the works of doing the deal with iHeartRadio, he was telling me about one of the beaches in Isle of Palms when we were vacationing there. I told him that Tammy and I wanted to do a podcast, and the next day he put us on the phone with iHeartRadio – so here we are.

I really like the format of the show. You talk about current events and everything, but you also have the main discussions of the show. Who comes up with those topics and how does that work when you all do that on a week to week basis?

Really it just depends on what’s going on in the world, what’s going on in our personal lives, what we see other people experiencing. That’s how we determine what our topics are going to be, typically. I’ve been working with a financial advisor, who wants to come on the show. I’m sure other women can understand and relate to having money woes, so why not bring somebody on that can help them too? Things like that.

Yeah, oftentimes, it is real life. I like to say all the time that our target markets for me, women in their twenties. So the things that we’re going through, I want to talk about them so that people can possibly live vicariously through us, so they don’t have to deal with them. We want to talk about the day-to-day real life events, then we try to throw in self-help type stuff just so we’re just not talking about men and relationships every single episode.

Right.

We’ve done real estate, we’ve had conversations about life insurance, even fitness. We usually try to do that at the beginning of the year. We’ll sprinkle it in throughout the year, but it’s usually something people have as their New Year’s resolutions, so we try to promote that in the beginning of the year.

We also love to have people who have a sense of humor. We want people to come on the show and just spread some joy.

Do you record in South Carolina or is there a central station that y’all go for Black Effect shows?

We’ve been all over the place with our recording. Honestly, we don’t have a central home right now. We have found a place in Charlotte to record that we really like, and we go there and record four episodes at a time – Ashley is all the way in Charleston, so it is a commute for her. We went to Atlanta and recorded at 85 South Studios for a little while, but now we’re in Charlotte.

Absolutely. Now, we’re recording four episodes a month and then weekly we’ll do a 15, 20 minute intro, and have our producer piece it together. Black Effect does have a satellite studio or a podcast creative studio in Atlanta, but it wasn’t open at the time when we were in there a couple of months ago working at 85 South, getting our content out. But yeah, they do have spots they’re opening now. iHeartRadio also has satellite radio stations in multiple cities, so that works out.

So I know that this can be difficult at times, but you two are friends as well as business partners. How do you guys deal with conflict when creating these concepts and topics for the show?

I mean for the most part I feel like we get along, but we do have those moments where we disagree. Yeah, we bump heads, we yell, we scream, and we hang up on each other but we know that we’re sisters and we’re going to come back together to get this right because we have an overall goal in this to make this show beautiful, and to make it grow.

Like Tam said, the common goal, that’s always my focus. Even if I’m mad, I’m going to put all that aside so that we can do this thing that we’re both committed to. I try to be solution based for the most part, but sometimes ego, pride, and all those things get in the way just like any other relationship.

People on the outside may think podcasting is just having fun on camera, but this is a business. It’s a lot of work. You have to show up for it every day. You have to be consistent with it. Aside from the recording, now you have social media. Back in the day people would just have radio, and never saw the people on radio. Right now, everyone wants to see and hear you. There’s a learning curve for both of us because we are from a different age, so there’s a learning curve for both of us.

How do you two feel about the representation of black women in the podcast space? Do you think there are enough opportunities?

I love to see women in the podcast space. I love to hear other people’s perspectives on things. I try not to listen to other people though – I like to have my original thoughts on things. But I mean social media, you come across people and a lot of people are doing this thing, but we are not all the same. So it’s good to have different women in this space. You can get all these different perspectives across the board.

Yeah, I agree. I think oftentimes; especially on TV, you have your Love & Hip Hop, and you have these shows that were very big and many people thought that all black people fall under this category. Whereas with podcasting you get to see so many different facets of blackness, especially in females. So that’s what I love so much about it, honestly.

So correct me if I’m wrong, y’all, the Black Effect Podcast Festival that was your first live show, correct?

Yes.

How was that experience, and are there more live shows planned for the future?

I was super nervous but I was excited, and I can’t wait to do it again. There were some hiccups, but we did the best we could with what we had out there. But it was so much fun! We want to plan a small tour before the end of the year. I want to go to the cities with our largest fanbase soon.

I can’t wait to do a live show of our own! That way, we can have a little bit more creative control on how long we want to perform, because the live show was scary. The venue opened at 11 I think, and we thought people weren’t going to show up on time, but when we walked on stage, it was about 3000 people looking at us.

It was so nerve-racking!

But we definitely have some live shows coming up in the near future. We want to do other things, even speed dating. I love women, man. I want more women to communicate. I want more women to talk. You have all these different platforms where it’s men telling a woman how to get and keep a man, how to go talk to some men. Well, if you’re a good man, go talk to some other good men. Stop talking to us – I want to be able to talk to our girls. I do want men to show up too. I want men to show up to our events as well. But mainly I want women to show up and support each other.