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 influential artists, writers, musicians, and cultural thinkers of our time to explore what their birth charts reveal about how they love, create, and move through the world.
A writer, astrologer, and cultural storyteller, Isa's work spans journalism, public radio, arts leadership, and podcasting. For more than a decade, she has created spaces for dialogue, creative expression, and cultural exchange, working as a performance poet, cultural producer, and a National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures (NALAC) Leadership Institute Fellow. Her work has included supporting young artists through Youth Speaks, producing cultural gatherings like Brave New Voices and Life Is Living, hosting The Parked Car on Oakland's AllDayPlayFM, interviewing artists including Robert Glasper, Digable Planets, Alex Isley, and Affion Crockett for publications including Okayplayer, and serving as Director of Marketing and Communications and an artistic producer at Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC Media).
Known for her warm, incisive, and deeply human interviewing style, Isa has built a reputation for transforming astrology into some of the most revealing conversations in podcasting. 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.
Features & appearances ✦
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.