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From Suitcase to Store: Zia on Building a Fashion Brand, Trusting Instinct & Doing It Afraid | For Mannerless Women

Legally Clueless

Release Date: 12/18/2025

When Shame Turns Life Into a Performance | For Mannerless Women show art When Shame Turns Life Into a Performance | For Mannerless Women

Legally Clueless

What happens when shame quietly teaches you to perform instead of be? In this episode of For Mannerless Women, Adelle Onyango sits down with Kenyan comedian, activist, and writer Justine Wanda for a deeply honest conversation about shame, identity, adoption, grief, and unlearning survival modes. Justine shares how growing up adopted shaped her sense of belonging, why humour became a shield, and how much of her early life, from school to university, was spent performing to avoid being questioned or exposed. She reflects on the slow breaking of that performance, and the relief that came with...

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The Loneliness After Boundaries | Mid Week Tease show art The Loneliness After Boundaries | Mid Week Tease

Legally Clueless

Setting boundaries is often framed as empowering and it is. But what we don’t talk about enough is what comes after. The quiet. The emotional exhaustion. The loneliness that settles in when you stop over-giving, over-explaining, and abandoning yourself for the comfort of others. In this Mid Week Tease episode, Adelle Onyango explores the rarely discussed emotional aftermath of boundaries, especially for women who have spent years being the strong one, the reliable one, the emotionally available one. This conversation is not about “how to set boundaries.” It’s about what it feels like...

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The Loneliness After Boundaries | Mid Week Tease show art The Loneliness After Boundaries | Mid Week Tease

Legally Clueless

Setting boundaries is often framed as empowering and it is. But what we don’t talk about enough is what comes after. The quiet. The emotional exhaustion. The loneliness that settles in when you stop over-giving, over-explaining, and abandoning yourself for the comfort of others. In this Mid Week Tease episode, Adelle Onyango explores the rarely discussed emotional aftermath of boundaries, especially for women who have spent years being the strong one, the reliable one, the emotionally available one. This conversation is not about “how to set boundaries.” It’s about what it feels like...

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Why I Chose to Be Childfree as a Kenyan Man PART 1 | Legally Clueless Ep 361  show art Why I Chose to Be Childfree as a Kenyan Man PART 1 | Legally Clueless Ep 361

Legally Clueless

In Episode 361 of the Legally Clueless Podcast, we share Part 1 of William Genga’s story, a Kenyan man who made the decision to be childfree at a very young age and spent years defending that choice in a society that insists everyone must eventually become a parent. Born and raised in Kericho, William reflects on growing up parentified as the firstborn, constantly caring for younger relatives, and how those early experiences shaped his relationship with responsibility, autonomy, and choice. In this deeply honest episode, William opens up about: Why he decided he never wanted children, as...

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Becoming a Shame-Free Woman: Desire, Pleasure & Personal Liberation | For Mannerless Women show art Becoming a Shame-Free Woman: Desire, Pleasure & Personal Liberation | For Mannerless Women

Legally Clueless

In this episode of For Mannerless Women, Adelle Onyango sits down with writer, filmmaker, and cultural commentator Abigail Arunga for an expansive, deeply honest conversation about shame, desire, pleasure, and what it truly means to arrive as a liberated woman. Together, they explore how women are socialised to shrink themselves, emotionally, physically, sensually and what it takes to begin unlearning that conditioning. From confronting internalised shame to reclaiming pleasure, body autonomy, and self-trust, this episode invites listeners to reflect on their own relationship with desire and...

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Choosing A Life Others Didn’t Imagine For You: Being Childfree | Mid Week Tease show art Choosing A Life Others Didn’t Imagine For You: Being Childfree | Mid Week Tease

Legally Clueless

What does it mean to choose a life that doesn’t come with a ready-made script? In this episode of Mid Week Tease, we sit with the quiet, complex reality of being childfree, not as a debate, not as a defence, but as a lived truth.   Inspired by Part Two of Hekaya’s story in Episode 360 of Legally Clueless, this conversation explores what it really means to opt out of motherhood in a world that assumes it is every woman’s destiny. We talk about the grief that can coexist with certainty, the identity work that begins when womanhood is no longer anchored to caregiving, and the ways...

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Family, Shame, and Becoming Yourself Part 2 | Legally Clueless Ep360 show art Family, Shame, and Becoming Yourself Part 2 | Legally Clueless Ep360

Legally Clueless

In Part Two of Hekaya’s story, the conversation deepens into reproductive choice, healing, and what it means to consciously choose a childfree life. Hekaya reflects on getting pregnant while in university, choosing to terminate the pregnancy, and navigating the experience largely in silence. She speaks candidly about relief, guilt, and the shame that followed and how she continued with life before she had the language or space to process what had happened.   This episode also explores Hekaya's journey toward identifying as childfree, not as a reaction, not as fear, but as clarity. She...

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Same Home, Different Childhoods: Sibling Dynamics | Mid Week Tease show art Same Home, Different Childhoods: Sibling Dynamics | Mid Week Tease

Legally Clueless

What happens when siblings grow up under the same roof, but carry very different emotional experiences into adulthood? In this Mid Week Tease episode, inspired by Hekaya’s story on the Legally Clueless podcast, we explore the quiet complexity of sibling dynamics, birth order roles, comparison, and emotional safety within families. Many of us were raised believing that shared parents automatically meant shared childhoods. But psychology tells a different story.   Drawing from the work of trauma-informed physician Gabor Maté and psychologist Alfred Adler, this episode gently unpacks why...

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Family, Shame, and Becoming Yourself | Legally Clueless Ep359 Part 1 show art Family, Shame, and Becoming Yourself | Legally Clueless Ep359 Part 1

Legally Clueless

In this first episode of 2026, we open the year with Part One of Hekaya’s story, a deeply reflective and honest conversation about family, identity, and the long road toward becoming yourself. Hekaya  shares what it was like growing up as the last born in a family where expectations, religion, and control shaped how safe she felt to express who she truly was.   She reflects on sibling dynamics, loneliness within family systems, creativity as a lifeline, and the subtle ways shame can be inherited and internalised. This episode lays the emotional foundation for a larger story, one...

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Surviving An Abusive Relationship Part 2 | Legally Clueless Ep 358 show art Surviving An Abusive Relationship Part 2 | Legally Clueless Ep 358

Legally Clueless

In episode 358 of the Legally Clueless Podcast, Victoria shares Part 2 of her story, a powerful journey of leaving an unsafe marriage, rebuilding life as a single mother, navigating fear and displacement, and eventually experiencing deep love and devastating loss. Picking up from childhood trauma and survival patterns explored in Part 1, this episode focuses on healing, agency, community support, and what it means to choose life after years of endurance. In this episode, we explore: Leaving an unsafe marriage with children Rebuilding life from scratch during COVID Community support and...

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More Episodes
What does it really take to build a sustainable fashion brand in Kenya, without overnight success, investor hype, or a perfect plan? In this episode of For Mannerless Women, Adelle Onyango sits down with Zia Nyamari, fashion entrepreneur and founder & creative director of Zia Africa, for an honest conversation about building a business from the ground up, fear, faith, intuition and all.
 
Zia takes us back to her very first business idea at 10 years old (selling popcorn on the street), through years of importing clothes in suitcases, quitting employment, navigating family pressure, and eventually opening a flagship store at Village Market. She shares the behind-the-scenes realities of growth, the fear of dead stock, imposter syndrome, and why consistency matters more than speed. This episode is especially for women who are:
  • Thinking about starting a business
  • Growing slowly and wondering if they’re “behind”
  • Learning to trust their intuition alongside logic
  • Navigating fear, faith, and self-belief
In this episode, we talk about:
  • Starting a business with what you have
  • Why growth is rarely overnight
  • The fear of dead stock and financial risk
  • Quitting employment to bet on yourself
  • Consistency as a business strategy
  • Trusting intuition and feminine leadership
  • Sustainability and slow fashion
  • Affirmations, faith, and doing things afraid
ZIA’s reminder is simple but powerful:
“Believe in your idea so much it has no choice but to materialize.”
 
🔗 Connect with Zia Africa
@nandigirl_ on instagram
@zianyamari on TikTok
@ziafrica on both IG & TikTok
website: www.ziaafrica.com.
Physical location: Village Market, New Wing, 1st floor.
 
🔗 More from Legally Clueless Africa If this episode resonates, share it with a mannerless (or almost mannerless) woman in your life and don’t forget to follow or subscribe so you never miss a new episode.