Presented by The Shade Room and Care for the Culture
Welcome Back, Roomies. Season 3 Goes Deeper.
For too long, conversations about love, dating, and intimacy have been filtered, leaving out the real talk. Season 3 of Roomie Diaries goes there. Hosted by Dustin Ross and presented by The Shade Room and Care for the Culture, this season sits down with eight guests for eight conversations about the rules we were taught, the doctors we avoid, and the health conversations that never happened growing up.
It's still the show you know: real people, real stories, real love and dating talk. But this season goes deeper, because the same silence that kept us from talking about heartbreak and first times also kept a lot of us in the dark about STD's, HIV, and getting tested. Nobody handed us that chapter. So we're getting into all of it.
Meet this season's guests below, and start the conversation, even if nobody started it with you.
"Keep going to different doctors until you find someone who's going to hone in on exactly what's wrong with you. You are not crazy."
Dear Roomies, What Did You Have To Unlearn About Your Body?
Music artist Big Boss Vette joins Dustin for one of the most personal conversations of the season. She grew up believing you only go to the doctor when something is horribly wrong, a lesson that followed her into adulthood and nearly cost her everything.
Vette walks through what happened when persistent headaches and nosebleeds got written off as a sinus infection, again and again, until she finally found a new doctor who ordered an MRI and found a brain tumor. She went through biopsy, chemo, and thirty-five rounds of radiation before ringing the bell. Her advice to anyone who feels dismissed: keep going to different doctors until someone actually listens. You are not crazy.
That same advocacy carries into the conversation about sexual health. Vette and Dustin talk about why so many women assume their annual visit automatically includes STD's and HIV testing. It usually doesn't, unless you ask. They also discuss why she believes there's no such thing as a bad question when it comes to your own body.
Learn more about protecting your sexual health at Care for the Culture!
"It's about learning your body, and taking it as seriously as you take your job, or anything else in your life."
Dear Roomies, When's The Last Time You Went To The Doctor?
Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Iggy sits down with Dustin, who opens the episode with one question for the guys: not the ER, not urgent care, the doctor. When was the last time? If you had to think about it, Dustin says, this episode is for you.
Dr. Iggy gets personal, telling the story of his own father, who lived with untreated hip arthritis for years out of fear, even while working inside a hospital. It took Dr. Iggy and his siblings, walking their dad through it step by step before he finally got the hip replacement he needed. Today he walks without a cane. That same fear comes back up later in the conversation, when Dustin points out that a lot of men will get tested for everything else and still skip the HIV test specifically. Most people don't even know you have to ask for it. It's not part of a routine physical.
The two talk honestly about the history behind that fear, including the legacy of the Tuskegee experiments, and what it would take to make checkups a flex instead of a chore. Dustin closes it out simply: taking care of your health isn't weakness. It's leadership. That's ownership.
Learn more about protecting your sexual health at Care for the Culture!
"It doesn't matter what you look like on the outside
if you're not taking care of the inside."
Dear Roomies, What Were The Rules You Grew Up On?
Actor, singer, and author Terrell Carter joins Dustin to talk about the rules he was raised on. His grandmother's version was simple: wait until marriage, no discussion needed. He admits he didn't listen, but the silence that came with that rule stuck with him for years.
Terrell opens up about growing up without his father in the house, and how the absence of any real conversation about sex or his own body left him without direction. It wasn't shame exactly, he says, it was just quiet. The first honest conversation he ever got about any of it came from a sixth grade sex ed class, not from home.
He and Dustin get into how that same silence still shows up today, especially around STD's, HIV, and testing. Terrell doesn't sugarcoat it: shame still keeps people out of the clinic. His answer isn't complicated: keep having the conversation. Dustin closes the episode with the same message: start it, even if nobody started it with you.
Learn more about protecting your sexual health at Care for the Culture!
The Conversation Doesn't Stop Here
Know your status. Ask the question. Start it, even if nobody started it with you.
Find More ResourcesUntil next time, stay safe out there, Roomies.
