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Anita Rao

Host and Executive Editor, "Embodied"
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Anita Rao is an award-winning journalist, host, creator, and executive editor of "Embodied," a weekly radio show and podcast about sex, relationships & health.

She has traveled the country recording interviews for the Peabody Award-winning StoryCorps production department, founded and launched a podcast about millennial feminism in the South, and served as the managing editor and regular host of "The State of Things," North Carolina Public Radio's flagship daily, live talk show. Anita was born in a small coal-mining town in Northeast England but spent most of her life growing up in Iowa and has a fond affection for the Midwest.

You can send Anita an e-mail at [email protected].

  • An illustration featuring a brain in the middle with scrabble letter tiles along the brain spelling out "dyslexia" with a backwards E. There are other random scrabble letter tiles placed around the rest of the illustration, and the word "Embodied" is at the top in pink bubble letters.
    Dyslexia And The Reading Brain
    Kaia Findlay
    Up to 20% of the population experiences symptoms of dyslexia, a lifelong neurological disorder that makes it difficult to read fluently. Examining why dyslexia happens — and how we intervene — has ripple effects for all literacy learners.
  • An illustration showing a couple from behind their medicine cabinet. In the foreground of the illustration are the two shelves in the medicine cabinet with various pill bottles on them. In the background you can see the couple nuzzling each other. The person on the left is male-presenting and has medium-brown skin, short brown hair, a beard without hair on his cheeks and freckles. He is wearing a wedding ring and taking a bottle with the label "H.I.V. Pills" on it from the cabinet. The person on the right is male-presenting with medium tan skin, short brown hair and a full beard on his face. The word "Embodied" is at the top of the illustration.
    Dating, Sex & Love With HIV
    Audrey Smith
    About half of all HIV-positive people in long term relationships have HIV-negative partners. This mixed-status life affects everything from sex and intimacy to immigration.
  • An illustration of two people with brown skin kissing. One person is sitting on a pink and green moped, with pink-framed glasses, a blue shirt and yellow shorts. They're holding on the handlebars of the moped with the second person in their lap facing them, wearing a yellow jumpsuit and white-framed glasses. The background of the illustration is purple.
    Our Lips are Unsealed: Exploring the Science & Culture of Kissing
    Kaia Findlay
    Kissing-like behaviors exist across the animal kingdom. But why? A scientist explains why humans are so drawn to each other's lips, and a photographer documents the power of a kiss.
  • An illustration from above, looking down on two parents leaning over a bassinet. In the bassinet is a newborn wrapped in a blue and white striped blanket, wearing a blue hat with three thin white stripes on it. The parents' faces are not visible, and the person on the left has one hand down on the baby and the other around the other parent's shoulders.
    How Parents Make the Circumcision Decision
    Kaia Findlay
    When the time comes to decide whether or not a child will be circumcised … how do parents choose? The answer is not only answered medically but culturally.
  • An illustration featuring the silhouettes of two people facing each other. The silhouette on the left is masculine-presenting, and inside the silhouette is a bird's-eye-view of a house with a sign in front of it, two stacks of large coins in front of hte house, and a document that says "Divorce Decree" at the top woth hands and a pen hovering over the document. The silhouette on the right is feminine-presenting, and drawn inside the silhouette is a big dollar sign, a front view of the same house in the other silhouette with a "SOLD" sign in front of it. The word "Embodied" is at the top of the illustration.
    Life After A Gray Divorce
    Kaia Findlay
    In the past 30 years, the divorce rate for Americans over 55 has doubled. After a decades-long marriage, serving the papers is just one small act before what comes next.
  • Illustration of 16 different erotic symbols in purples and pinks arranged in a grid on top of a purple and white textured background. The symbols are: a biting lip, a corset, furry handcuffs, a stiletto, a computer, a candle, a mask, a journal, a microphone, a bed with a heart over it, a pair of underwear, a pencil writing a heart, a bottle of lube, a v*brator, a whip, a block of cheese.
    The Making Of Great Erotica
    Kaia Findlay
    It’s easy to recognize great erotica when you come across it — the reactions are physical and palpable. Embodied goes behind the scenes to learn how the steamiest of sex scenes get made.
  • An illustration featuring two people sitting on a couch with a blanket and pillows. The person on the left has brown skin, short dark hair and is wearing a hearing aid. That person's fingers are in the hair of the person on the right, who is sitting with their knees up and laughing. They have long brown hair and light skin. There is a hearing aid matching the one worn by the other person tangled in their hair.
    How Hearing Loss Informs our Intimate Relationships
    Audrey Smith
    Hearing aids are sometimes presented as a silver bullet for communication issues arising from hearing loss. But hard of hearing folks already on their hearing aids journey know that the reality of adjusting to these devices is much more complex.
  • An illustration featuring a Black masc-of-center person talking with their hands in motion, looking into their laptop. The person is wearing a teal long-sleeved shirt, has dark brown skin, short dark hair, a dark beard and is wearing glasses in thick, dark frames. Their laptop is white and open in front of them on a desk. There's a yellow notebook, a pen and a phone also on the desk. On the wall behind them is a shelf featuring books, including "Self-Care for Black Men" and "But What Will People Say?" There is also a plant on that shelf and another shelf above it, featuring books. The wall behind them also features a hanging work of art. The word "Embodied" is at the top of the illustration.
    Why We Need More Therapists Of Color
    Kaia Findlay
    The majority of mental health professionals in the U.S. are white. Therapists of color are working to expand the diversity of their field and increase access to meet a rising demand for their services.
  • An illustration featuring a femme-presenting person sitting on a bed with her knees close to her chest. She has dark long hair and is wearing a hospital gown and blue socks. There are three different-colored books in the foreground of the illustration, and in the background is a window that looks out onto the New York City skyline. The words "Embodied Committed" are in the upper left hand corner of the illustration.
    Committed: Life Inside a Psychiatric Hospital
    Paige Miranda
    Tens of thousands of Americans each year are voluntarily and involuntarily committed into psychiatric institutes. A memoirist and an organizer share their experiences inside the wards.
  • An illustration of a person coming out of the page of a large open book. You can see their body from the waist up. They have light-tone skin and short, dark hair, and they're wearing a green striped shirt. Their right arm is amputated from the elbow down, and they're reaching up with their left arm, almost touching fingers with a wheelchair user who is on the outside of the book. The wheelchair user is femme-presenting with dark-tone skin and medium-length dark hair in a ponytail. She's wearing a pink button-down dress. There is a heart behind the two hands that are almost touching, and the words "Embodied Written" are in the upper left hand corner of the illustration.
    Written: Disability Love Stories
    Paige Miranda
    An essayist, activist and novelist discuss love, disability and how writing has shifted their relationship with others and themselves.
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