Part 2: For the first time, host Victoria Fortune shares the story that inspired Sunshine & Rain.

In conversation with guest host Yvette Noel-Schure, Victoria reflects on losing her father to cancer, navigating the weight of grief, and rebuilding her life after one of its most defining losses. She shares how running became a source of healing, how her father's death expanded her empathy and understanding, and how the experience ultimately sparked a mission to create space for honest conversations about joy, pain, healing, and growth.

Together, Victoria and Yvette revisit the day everything changed, the friendship that carried them through it, and the ways love continues to shape us long after someone is gone.

For the first time, host Victoria Fortune shares the story that inspired Sunshine & Rain.

In conversation with guest host Yvette Noel-Schure, Victoria reflects on losing her father to cancer, navigating the weight of grief, and rebuilding her life after one of its most defining losses. She shares how running became a source of healing, how her father's death expanded her empathy and understanding, and how the experience ultimately sparked a mission to create space for honest conversations about joy, pain, healing, and growth.

Together, Victoria and Yvette revisit the day everything changed, the friendship that carried them through it, and the ways love continues to shape us long after someone is gone.

Many know Patina Miller for her portrayal of the fierce matriarch Raquel Thomas on Power Book III: Raising Kanan. What they may not know is how she navigated the recent loss of her brother, first by throwing herself back into work and later by taking up running in his honor.

In this episode, she joins host Victoria Fortune for a conversation about discovering her love of performance, bringing complex and often unlikable characters to life, and the ways running has helped her both confront and escape life's challenges.

This week on Sunshine & Rain, Victoria sits down with Omari Leonard—an advocate, artist, and one of the central voices in the fight for Black maternal health. You may recognize Omari as a subject of the documentary Aftershock on HULU, where his story helped bring national attention to the ongoing crisis facing Black mothers.

After losing his partner to childbirth, Omari transformed unimaginable grief into action. He’s since created a support group for men who have lost partners during childbirth, collaborated with families to create art honoring mothers who should still be here, and helped spark a growing movement demanding accountability and change.

In this conversation, Omari opens up about single parenting while grieving and what it means to carry that loss while building something larger than himself. Together, we explore how grief can evolve into purpose—and how love, storytelling, running, and art can become tools for healing and advocacy.

This episode is about honoring what’s been lost, while fighting for a future where fewer families have to carry this kind of pain.

Pretty early into her career as a lawyer, Francesca Hogi realized that her true passion was love. Through her years as a matchmaker, she’s advised clients to start with their own self-awareness, identifying their patterns so heartbreak could be a lesson instead of just devastation.

In this episode, she sits down with host Victoria Fortune to discuss foundations for connection, grieving the life you thought you’d have, her best tips for flirting and finding love after heartbreak.

Her book, “How to Find True Love: Unlock Your Romantic Flow and Create Lasting Relationships” is out now.

Simone Stolzoff often grapples with life’s biggest questions as an author, journalist, and TED talk presenter. In his book, “The Good Enough Job,” he brought a new perspective to what role work should have in our lives. Now, in his latest book, “How to Not Know," he asks how we can see uncertainty as an opportunity for discovery.

In this episode, he sits down with host Victoria Fortune to discuss living through unpredictable times, embracing the uncertainty of death, and finding community after a miscarriage.

Jonathan Singletary is a producer, songwriter, and the founder of “Piano and Prayer,” an Instagram Live series created to help others find healing, regardless of where they are in their spiritual journey. Music became a balm for Jonathan after he was falsely accused of a felony in his youth, but in 2020, it became a conduit for an entire community.

In this episode, he sits down with host Victoria Fortune to talk about the power of processing grief through music when words fail, as well as how he and media icon Elaine Welteroth spread joy through their public pandemic wedding.