Angela Yee, co-host of “The Breakfast Club,” a syndicated morning radio show, knows plenty about hip-hop. But she also knows how to give advice on everything from getting out of debt to saying “I love you,” which she does through her segment “Ask Yee.” Her podcast, “Lip Service,” which she produces with three other friends, has a more intimate focus: Sex and relationships..
Ms. Yee, 43, a Brooklyn native, lives in a two-family brownstone in Bedford-Stuyvesant that she bought in 2014 and calls the best purchase of her life: “The value has gone up tremendously, and it gives me a sense of security,” she said. Ms. Yee’s downstairs tenant is her makeup artist; around the corner is the pressed juice bar she opened three years ago, Juices for Life.
OFF AND RUNNING I’m so used to getting up at 4 a.m. for work that sleeping ‘til seven on a Sunday feels like sleeping in to me. So that’s what I do. Then I get up and, if the weather’s nice, I go for a run in Prospect Park.
I never eat breakfast first, because I might get a cramp. But I will have one of my pressed juices that has cucumber, kale, celery, apple, ginger and lemon, just to give me some energy. I also have a NutriBullet, so I might make a juice with bananas, blueberries, strawberries, kale and sometimes some almond milk. Usually it’s just myself running. I find that if you go with other people, you end up waiting for them a lot.
CLEAN UP Sunday is the day I do my laundry and clean. I’m always trying to get rid of stuff. Truthfully? I have a housekeeper that comes once a month, and I tend not to make things too messy for her. But I do have clothes everywhere. A lot of times what I’m doing is putting together the dry-cleaning I haven’t dropped off. I also empty the garbage cans and make sure the laundry is done and take stuff out of the fridge that’s expired. Then there’s the leaves that fall in the back yard.
CATCH UP During the week I’m not big on being on the phone, so Sunday is my catch-up-with-family-and-friends day. While I’m cleaning my house, I’m walking around with the phone. Every 10 minutes I’m like, Let me take a break and call this person, or let me call this person back. It’s an all-day process.
BRUNCH AND THE BOYFRIEND Around 2 or 3 I like to have brunch. But I never like to leave Brooklyn. So I have a few different places I’ll go. There’s Negril BK in Park Slope. There’s Imani in Fort Green. There’s Caribbean Social in Flatbush. And the last one is MangoSeed in Flatbush. If my boyfriend’s here he’ll come, but he doesn’t live here, he’s in Detroit.
So that’s another thing: I’m on the phone with him all the time on Sunday. He calls me for every little thing. But it’s usually the same six or seven of us who get together for brunch. Sometimes we’re there so long it turns into dinner. When it comes to eating I try not to go overboard. Instead of a fried something I’ll get a grilled something. Maybe I’ll have a waffle, but I’ll share it with somebody. I treat myself, but I do it responsibly.
CLUTTER, CONTINUED After brunch I have to pass the grocery store. I’ll stop at Key Foods in Park Slope. Or if I’ve thought about it I’ll order from Whole Foods at 9 a.m., and because I have Prime they deliver by around two. It’s so practical.
If I’m not stopping at the grocery store I head right back home after brunch because I like to keep my evenings free. Also I usually still haven’t finished cleaning so I’ll put more clothes away. The problem is I accumulate a lot of things at work. People are always sending us stuff. Plus I’m a big online shopper. A lot of times I’ll take everything out of the closet and put it away again.
ASPIRATIONS Sundays are the one day of the week I might cook for myself. I’ll make a stir-fry with kale and black rice and quinoa. I’ve been making tacos too with Beyond Meat fake meat. I would love to be a vegetarian. I’ve cut back tremendously on poultry and I don’t eat red meat. But all I really care about is cleaning my house. I can’t stand going through the week with my house being messy. It depresses me.
SOFT LIPS, STRONG STORIES I like to turn the TV off and get into bed with a good book, a glass of water and some Vaseline on my lips by 11. Sometimes I’ll read a book to prep for an interview, or sometimes it’s a book like this book I just read about this woman called Diamond Doris. She was an international diamond thief. I also just read Tina Turner’s book “My Love Story.” I love Tina Turner.
Sunday Routine readers can follow Angela Yee on Instagram and Twitter @angelayee.
