Identified with Nabil Ayers

From an Army household in Washington, D.C. to New York’s creative community, Meshell Ndegeocello reflects on the people who shaped her life, and the love that expanded her world.

In this episode of Identified, Nabil Ayers sits down with Meshell Ndegeocello for a conversation about family, music, identity, mentorship, and belonging.

Meshell reflects on growing up in a musical household, where her father played tenor saxophone ...

In this episode of Identified, Nabil Ayers sits down with Matt Berninger of The National to explore family, creativity, friendship, and the communities that shape us.  

Matt reflects on growing up in Ohio, the artistic influence of his parents, discovering music through his older sister, and the local scenes that first made him believe a creative life was possible. From college bands and design school to moving to New York in ...

In this episode of Identified with Nabil Ayers, Michelle Zauner of Japanese Breakfast explores family, Korean identity, mixed-race identity, grief, language, heritage, and belonging. The conversation traces her family’s history, her upbringing in Oregon, and the experiences that shaped her understanding of herself and her place between cultures.  

Michelle recounts discovering a diary written by her mother in 1978, learn...

“Family to me is the feeling of safety without even understanding the concept.”

In this episode of Identified, Nabil Ayers sits down with Bedouine for a conversation about family, heritage, migration, and belonging. As they begin tracing her family’s history, Bedouine uncovers new details about her Armenian roots, including stories she had only learned days before the interview.

They discuss generations of di...

In this episode of Identified, Nabil Ayers sits down with Show Me the Body's Julian Pratt to explore the people, communities, and experiences that shaped his identity. Growing up on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, Julian was surrounded by family. With twin mothers, a sprawling network of cousins, and a household full of music, conversation, and chaos, belonging was never in short supply. But despite that foundation, he often fel...

In this episode of Identified, Nabil Ayers sits down with bestselling author and literary agent Betsy Lerner to explore identity, family history, and the complicated path to becoming a writer. Betsy reflects on her upbringing, the influence of her family, and how personal experiences eventually shaped both her writing and her career in publishing.

Known for her work as a literary agent as well as her acclaimed memoirs and books on ...

Have you ever found community through your art?

In this episode of Identified, Nabil Ayers sits down with musician Ryan Kattner to talk about growing up in an Air Force family, moving every three years, and never quite feeling rooted in one place. Ryan reflects on being mixed race, with a Filipino mother and a white father, and how navigating different cultural spaces shaped his sense of identity.

He shares what it was like to feel...

How much of who we are is shaped before we ever have a say? In this episode of Identified, Nabil Ayers sits down with musician Damon McMahon, formally Amen Dunes, to explore how family history, inherited trauma, and cultural identity shape who we become.

Damon reflects on growing up between two very different worlds: his mother’s side of European Jewish Holocaust survival and his father’s working-class Irish American ro...

What does it mean to raise yourself across cultures—and carry tradition forward through food? In this episode of Identified, chef and author Camille Becerra sits down with host Nabil Ayers for a heartfelt conversation about family, identity, and the life-shaping power of memory. Born in Puerto Rico to a Puerto Rican mother and Cuban father, Camille moved to New Jersey at just one year old and grew up between cultures, languag...

Is Blood Really Family? In this episode of Identified, host Nabil Ayers sits down with Traci Thomas, creator and host of The Stacks Podcast, to explore the deeply personal terrain of identity, family, and legacy. Traci opens up about growing up mixed-race with older parents, navigating loss at a young age, and the impact of her Black and Jewish heritage on how she views belonging.

Their conversation weaves through themes of grief, ...

In this episode of Identified, Nabil Ayers is joined by acclaimed comedian, actor, and musician Tim Heidecker for an unexpectedly candid conversation about ancestry, grief, and identity. Tim traces the impact of family tragedy across generations—from the death of his grandfather’s mother in childbirth, to the s...

What if your most formative identity traits come from people you didn’t grow up with?

In this powerful episode of Identified, rapper and queer icon Cakes Da Killa reflects on growing up in Teaneck, New Jersey, raised by his teenage mother and ...

In this episode of Identified, host Nabil Ayers speaks with Bandsplain host Yasi Salek, who shares a moving, honest account of growing up Iranian-American in 1980s Los Angeles. Yasi discusses her family’s immigration story post-Iranian revolution, her experience being the &ldq...

In this episode of Identified, Nabil Ayers speaks with Massima Bell—music producer, model, activist, and co-creator of Transa—about her journey through gender, place, and chosen family.

Massima grew up between two vastly different worlds: a 100-year-old farmhouse in rural Iow...

In this episode of Identified, host Nabil Ayers is joined by Jad Abumrad—artist, musician, journalist, and creator of Radiolab, Dolly Parton’s America, More Perfect, and 

Nabil Ayers is joined by writer Casey Kahn, who opens up about her personal journey through adoption, identity, and ancestry. Casey was adopted at two days old, raised by a deeply loving family in a tight-knit home—but everything changed when she had her own children and began searching for answers about her origins.