Burnout doesn’t always announce itself.
Sometimes it just asks you to sit down.

In this episode of The Secret Life of TK Dutes, a late-night scroll turns into a flight to Minneapolis, an upholstery class, and a quiet reckoning with rest and healing. TK meets furniture designer/curator/editor Nicole Crowder, and what starts as a conversation about chairs becomes one about creative burnout, self-trust, and leaving hustle culture without making a scene about it.

They talk about making things with your hands, about why comfort feels political, about how Black women creatives have always known how to make home out of whatever’s available. About chairs as witnesses. About the right to rest. No big reveal - just the slow realization that burnout recovery might look less like escape and more like listening.

After the episode, TK sits with producer Tre’ Jones to briefly unpack what this episode shifted inside of them. The full post-episode reflection lives on Patreon.

This episode doesn’t rush.
It pulls up a chair and waits.

Welcome back to The Secret Life of TK Dutes.
Episode 2: An Invitation to Sit.

Special thanks: Nicole Crowder, Tre' Jones (Producer), Manny Faces (Engineer), Faybeo’n Mickens (Marketing), Pat Mesiti-Miller (Theme Music), Gabrielle Smith (Art)

👉🏾 Follow Nicole Crowder on IG @nicolecrowderupholstery | nicolecrowderupholstery.com

👉🏾 Follow TK on IG: @tastykeish | @philosfuturemedia
👉🏾 Go behind the scenes on Patreon: patreon.com/c/SecretLifeofTK

★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Ep 2: An Invitation to Sit ft. Nicole Crowder

The Secret Life of TK Dutes

Ep 2: An Invitation to Sit ft. Nicole Crowder