Isa Nakazawa is the host of Stars and Stars with Isa, the acclaimed SiriusXM and Futuro Studios podcast where astrology becomes a doorway into intimate conversations that uncover the patterns and stories shaping our lives. On the show, Isa sits down with some of the most compelling artists, writers, musicians, journalists, and cultural thinkers of our time to explore what their birth charts reveal about how they love, create, and move through the world. Across two seasons, Isa has interviewed an eclectic range of influential voices, including W. Kamau Bell, Jia Tolentino, Vic Mensa, Saul Williams, Kiese Laymon, adrienne maree brown, Raquel Willis, Hala Alyan, Akwaeke Emezi, Sudan Archives, Kelsey Lu, Tourmaline, J Wortham, Molly Crabapple, and Maria Hinojosa.
A host, writer, astrologer, and cultural storyteller, Isa's work spans journalism, public radio, arts and culture, and podcasting. For more than a decade, she has created spaces for dialogue, creative expression, and cultural exchange. Her path has taken her from performance poetry and youth arts at Youth Speaks to cultural production, music journalism, community radio, and arts leadership. She has helped produce cultural gatherings including Brave New Voices and Life Is Living; hosted The Parked Car on Oakland's AllDayPlayFM; interviewed artists including Robert Glasper, Digable Planets, Alex Isley, and Affion Crockett for publications including Okayplayer; and served as Director of Marketing and Communications and an artistic producer at BAVC Media. She is also a National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures (NALAC) Leadership Institute Fellow.
Known for her warm, incisive, and deeply human interviewing style, Isa brings deep research, cultural fluency, and genuine curiosity to conversations that move fluidly between the personal and the political, the intimate and the cultural. Her work has been featured in and on NPR's Code Switch**,** Latino USA**, KQED Arts & Culture, KCRW,** Normal Gossip**, and** Best Friends with Nicole Byer & Sasheer Zamata. Through her writing, readings, and interviews, she creates experiences where conversation becomes a catalyst for reflection, connection, and transformation.
KQED Arts
PRESS & FEATURES ✦
KQED Arts & Culture
“Isa Nakazawa has a gift for making guests feel seen when they sit down for an astrological reading on her podcast, Stars and Stars With Isa. In a wide-ranging 2024 conversation that covered mutual aid, Desi futurism and channeling ancestors for guidance, R&B singer Raveena told Nakazawa, “You know what this show feels like? It feels like a spiritual Nardwuar.”
Like Nardwuar, the music journalist known for shocking artists with his hyper-specific insights, Nakazawa carefully studies her guests’ birth charts and creative output to ask uncanny, poignant questions. Her vulnerable conversations zoom out from the interview subjects’ inner emotional landscape to their life’s purpose and contributions to broader culture and social movements.”
NPR Code Switch
“PARKER: It's CODE SWITCH's 10th birthday, so I wanted to see what was in the stars for the show. I reached out to someone who wouldn't laugh when I said that CODE SWITCH was a perceptive and curious Gemini.
NAKAZAWA: I'm Isa Nakazawa. So I'm currently an astrologer, and I'm - as of the last six months, I'm a full-time astrologer, so my bread and butter right now is client work.
PARKER: Isa's based in Oakland and hosts a podcast called "Stars And Stars With Isa."
NAKAZAWA: And it really uses astrology as a conceit for meaning-making and to invite deeper conversation with philosophy and kind of the ways that all of us make meaning in our lives.
PARKER: She's also someone who clearly understands that a lot of people might be skeptical of her job because she started out that way, too.
NAKAZAWA: I started and came to astrology as a skeptic. I do believe that doubt and faith are always in dialogue with each other. And I think, for me, I've always observed the way that human beings are enchanted by the cosmos, and we're very enchanted by mystery - right? - like the deep sea, the deep outer space. I think we're seeing people be captivated by sources of mystery and meaning-making, where we feel a sense of interconnection with something greater than ourselves.”
01 - The Astrology Podcast: giving astrology consultations
It was an honor to join Chris Brennan on The Astrology Podcast to talk about how to give an astrological consultation — especially meaningful for me, as much of my early learning came from Chris’s generous and rigorous free resources.
In our conversation, we explored the transition from studying astrology to practicing it professionally, the importance of preparation and presence, and how my background as an arts educator shapes my client-centered, collaborative approach. We also discussed reading style, ethics, boundaries, and the practical realities of holding space for someone’s chart.
This episode felt like a milestone in my journey as a practitioner, and a chance to share what I’ve learned about making consultations meaningful, accessible, and alive.
02 - Bad Faith Podcast
Appearing on Briahna Joy Gray’s podcast Bad Faith was a milestone for me—not only because I deeply respect Brie’s work, but because it was one of the first times in my career that I faced such intense backlash about astrology as a “pseudoscience.”
The reaction reminded me just how polarizing—and powerful—this ancient symbolic system actually is. It pushed me to clarify why I do this work, and how astrology, when practiced with rigor and self-awareness, can illuminate the emotional, political, and relational patterns that shape our lives.
In the episode, Brie and I talked about how I found my way into astrology, why sun-sign stereotypes fall flat, why she keeps attracting Cancer men, Trump’s Leo rising, and how understanding ourselves through celestial language might support leftist communities struggling to connect in a fractured world.
This conversation reaffirmed my conviction in astrology’s relevance—its ability to deepen connection, build symbolic literacy, and offer a shared language for meaning in a time when so many of us feel unmoored.
03 - Best Friends Podcast with Nicole Byer and Sasheer Zamata
I had the opportunity to record an episode of Best Friends at the Conan O’Brien Studio in Larchmont with Nicole Byer and Sasheer Zamata. I gave both Nicole and Sasheer a chart reading and shed light into their relationship as it relates to the stars. Nicole is a double Virgo and Sasheer’s Moon is in Aries.
04 - KCRW’s How’s Your Sex Life? with Myisha Battle
I had the pleasure of being a guest of KCRW’s advice podcast “How’s Your Sex Life” hosted by sexologist Myisha Battle. On this episode, Myisha and I field questions from listeners and offer advice for the astrologically inclined while challenging the idea that you have to be fully healed to be with someone.