Let's Talk Podcasts from Feminist Podcasters Collective

Christi Johnson has hosted The Dream Biz Podcast for six years under three different names. She makes the case for podcasting as a neurodivergent business owner: why audio fits ADHD brains, how she handles the weekly grind (often uploading the day an episode goes live), and why her podcast is her best content engine and networking tool. We also get into repurposing old episodes, turning guests into connections and clients, and why the best hosts stop repeating what their guests just said.

 00:24 Why Christi podcasts
 03:03 Three show names in six years
 05:12 Why podcasting fits neurodivergent brains
 06:20 The hard part: weekly consistency with ADHD
 10:52 Breaking the rules: a podcast recorded on a phone
 13:05 Going podcast-first with your content
 16:22 Why repeating yourself is a good thing
 20:22 Podcasting as a networking tool
 25:22 Listening is the core podcasting skill
 29:47 Worst podcasting advice
 30:27 Best podcasting advice

Resources

• The Dream Biz Podcast: https://christijohnsoncreative.com/podcast/
• Christi on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christijohnsoncreative
• Christi’s website: https://christijohnsoncreative.com/
• Transistor (unlimited shows for one price): https://transistor.fm/?via=becky
• Kandas Rodarte's episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUwBMTaoVi4&t=1s

🎤 JOIN US IN THE Feminist Podcasters Collective: https://feministpodcasterscollective.com

Jodi Krangle, a voice actor, didn’t want to start a podcast. Seven years and 360+ episodes later, the Audio Branding Podcast has earned her client work, industry relationships, and a jury seat at the International Sound Awards. It hasn’t earned a single ad dollar. In this episode of Let’s Talk Podcasts, Becky and Jodi discuss using a podcast to become the go-to expert in your field. They cover why guests are relationships rather than transactions, how to let your guests shine, and what it takes for a raging introvert to get comfortable on video.

Timestamps
00:14 Starting a podcast reluctantly in 2019
01:56 Going from audio to video at episode 150
02:56 Falling in love with the power of sound
04:25 Why most indie podcasts aren’t about ad dollars
07:32 Relationships over revenue
09:26 Right-sizing podcast expectations
13:32 You don’t have to do it all yourself
15:53 Pre-chats and post-release follow-up with guests
20:42 Guest info pages and a dedicated tech producer
24:05 Why she added YouTube, and describing visuals for listeners
25:55 Getting over yourself on camera as an introvert
29:06 Best and worst podcasting advice: “Just do it”

Resources Mentioned
• Feminist Podcasters Collective: https://feministpodcasterscollective.com/
• Jodi Krangle, voiceover work: https://voiceoversandvocals.com/
• Audio Branding Podcast: https://voiceoversandvocals.com/podcast/
• Riverside for podcast recording/editing: https://riverside.sjv.io/Wy5qzn
• Lindsay Johnson on video-first podcasting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDcxFi8xKR8&t=2s

Shanti Joy Gold hosts Stories We Haven't Shared, a campfire-style interview series where underrepresented people talk about the extra layers they navigate in their careers. The show grew out of her "LinkedIn coming out," when she posted about coming out at work and friends told her they'd had no idea she'd gone through it.

Two years in, Shanti talks with Becky about getting help to launch (shout-out to FPC member Alicia Galati), switching from biweekly to monthly without losing listeners, keeping her coaching business and her podcast in "orbits" that sit close together without forcing it, and why the vulnerability of her guests still takes her breath away.

Timestamps

00:00 Meet Shanti Joy Gold and Stories We Haven't Shared
04:52 Why hearing someone's story makes it hard to hate
06:58 Hiring a consultant to get past perfectionism and overthinking
09:53 Season two: moving from biweekly to monthly
13:12 What happened to downloads after going monthly
14:20 Keeping the podcast and the business in close orbit
15:38 Unexpected business results: clients, side gigs, and planting seeds
20:44 How hosting has shaped her as a person and a coach
23:45 Worst podcasting advice: believing there's one right formula
24:26 Best advice: make sure you still love doing it
26:39 Why community matters for independent podcasters

Links

• Shanti Joy Gold: https://shantijoygold.com/
• Stories We Haven't Shared podcast link: https://shantijoygold.com/podcast/
• Shanti on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@shantijoygold-coach

🎤 JOIN US IN Feminist Podcasters Collective: https://feministpodcastcollective.com/

Heather Vickery (Was It Chance, The Brave Files, author of Fck Fearless: Making the Brave Leap*) joins the Feminist Podcasters Collective to talk about why she podcasts, the origin story behind her first show, and what five years of co-hosting with Alan Seals of the Broadway Podcast Network has taught her about partnership, division of labor, and keeping a show fun and sustainable.

Timestamps:
00:00 – Welcome & why Heather podcasts
01:52 – The Brave Files origin story & the Brave Method
03:43 – How a kitchen brainstorm became a 6-week podcast launch (2016)
05:12 – Why quitting early is the biggest podcasting mistake
07:03 – Sunsetting The Brave Files: capacity over cash
09:28 – Meet "Was It Chance" with co-host Alan Seals
10:22 – The Podcast Movement meet-cute & how Broadway Podcast Network began
13:00 – Choosing a podcast partner: opposites, values & division of labor
16:06 – Five years in: what keeps a co-hosting partnership alive
18:11 – When co-hosts disagree (the on-air joke that almost didn't make the cut)
20:44 – Advice for anyone considering a co-hosted show
25:10 – Why the "why" matters more than the "how"
26:34 – Would Heather ever go solo again?
27:52 – How co-hosting changes you
30:04 – Final advice & love for the podcaster community
31:36 – What "Was It Chance" is about + where to find it

Resources & links mentioned:

• Was It Chance: https://www.wasitchance.com/
• Broadway Podcast Network: https://broadwaypodcastnetwork.com/
• "F*ck Fearless: Making the Brave Leap" by Heather Vickery: https://link.amazon/B0fIc69cK

🎤 JOIN US IN THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE: https://feministpodcastcollective.com/

What if the way people find your podcast has nothing to do with the algorithm gods — and everything to do with what they're actually typing into a search bar? Kandas Rodarte, host of Gratitude Geek and a longtime FPC member, has spent two years turning her show into an SEO case study, and she's sharing exactly what's working.

Kandas walks through how she splits her SEO strategy across Apple, Spotify, and YouTube (they're not the same game), why she moved her intro music to the 60-second mark instead of the first 15 seconds, and how running every episode through Auphonic changed her retention. She talks candidly about relaunching Gratitude Geek mid-metastatic breast cancer treatment, why she turned down a "superstar" guest because he didn't fit her niche, and the worst podcasting advice she keeps hearing ("just start" — she disagrees). Plus: the best advice she ever got, from her auto mechanic, about compassion.

Learn more about Kandas and her podcasts at https://kandasrodarte.com/

Join us in the Feminist Podcasters Collective at https://feministpodcasterscollective.com/

Nicole Havelka almost burned herself out before her podcast, Just Rest, even launched, so she did something most indie podcasters don't: she crowdfunded it. Feminist Podcasters Collective member Nicole breaks down how she raised nearly $5,000 to hire a launch partner, why Kickstarter's all-or-nothing model backfired on her (and how she recovered), and why asking for money turned into one of the best relationship-building things she's ever done. She also gets real about the "messy middle" of a crowdfunding campaign, the 8-10 hours she spent per episode in season one, and why she built her show around sustainable "good enough" instead of burnout-driving perfectionism.

• 00:00 – Welcome + introducing Nicole Havelka and her podcast, Just Rest
• 00:22 – One year "live," but two years in development
• 00:51 – What Just Rest is about: burnout tips for everyday radicals
• 01:20 – Nicole's reason for podcasting: sparking a "rest revolution"
• 01:55 – Why podcasting as a medium (auditory learning, the intimacy of being read to)
• 03:02 – The intimacy of podcasting and building relationships with listeners
• 05:06 – The rise of AI-generated podcasts — and why human voices matter more
• 05:44 – Human design and being "built" for podcasting
• 06:22 – Idea: hosting quarterly gatherings to connect podcast guests with each other
• 07:14 – Treating podcast guests as long-term relationships, not one-off bookings
• 07:49 – Why Nicole chose to crowdfund her podcast launch
• 08:27 – The real cost spectrum of podcasting (free to thousands per episode)
• 09:34 – Avoiding burnout by budgeting for help from day one
• 10:14 – What the money was actually for: hiring launch partner Alicia Galati of Galati Media
• 11:20 – The risk of Kickstarter's all-or-nothing funding model
• 12:14 – Pivoting to a direct Square donation link after falling short
• 13:02 – How Alicia produced Nicole's first three episodes soup to nuts
• 13:47 – Why crowdfunding was about preventing burnout, not just raising cash
• 14:04 – The final tally: about $5,000 raised
• 14:28 – Taking over after launch — plus a computer crash that derailed January
• 16:30 – Templates, systems, and the real time cost of show content (it's not just recording)
• 16:54 – Time per episode: 8-10 hours early on, versus Becky's ~2 hours now
• 17:38 – Learning to embrace "good enough"
• 17:54 – Building a sustainable every-other-week cadence
• 19:06 – What's next: two seasons a year, more solo episodes, and going nomadic
• 20:35 – Why Nicole isn't crowdfunding her next season
• 20:57 – Pro #1: getting comfortable asking for money
• 21:04 – Surprise benefit: asking for money deepened old relationships
• 22:43 – Pro #2: months of talking about the launch built awareness before day one
• 23:53 – The numbers: 17 episodes, almost 900 downloads
• 24:38 – Cons and cautions: why you need a "quiet phase" before you go public
• 26:00 – Getting laser-clear on your podcast's purpose and repeating it constantly
• 27:30 – The "messy middle" — and the workload of running a campaign solo
• 28:47 – What to do if you don't hit your goal
• 29:11 – Tip: use Kickstarter's free prep resources even if you don't launch there
• 30:11 – Right-sizing your funding goal to your actual audience size
• 31:00 – How the FPC community helped amplify the campaign
• 32:01 – Rethinking crowdfunding: visibility as the real goal, not just money
• 32:23 – Where to find Nicole and Just Rest

🎤 JOIN US IN THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE: https://feministpodcastcollective.com/

Podcasting doesn't come with rules other than the ones we make up. In this episode, Becky Mollenkamp talks with SuperKate (Kate Slepicka), host of Connecting with Super Kate, about ditching the "shoulds" of show format, working through fear and perfectionism, and using somatic check-ins to tell the difference between what's aligned and what's just scary.

SuperKate shares how a sound engineering background, a years-old idea, and a podcast accelerator course finally got her show off the ground, and why she now mixes solo episodes, guided meditations, and guest conversations instead of forcing a rigid weekly format. We dig into video vs. audio, YouTube-first podcasting, trauma responses vs. conditioning, and how listening to your body can tell you when fear is protecting you and when it's just holding you back.

🎧 Listen to Connecting with Super Kate: https://www.thesuperkate.com/
 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@connectingwithsuperkate

Join the Feminist Podcasters Collective, a community for independent podcasters centering equity and social justice: https://feministpodcasterscollective.com

Becky Mollenkamp sits down with Feminist Podcasters Collective member De'Nicea Hilton Harper to talk about her podcasting comeback. A decade ago, De'Nicea co-created Sisters of Flow, one of the first podcasts to openly discuss menstrual cycles, earning a Podfest award along the way.

Now she's launching Perfect Care Play-Versations, a show exploring the connections between body, environment, and systems in holistic women's health, where evidence-based practice meets practice-based evidence.

They dig into what changed the second time around: letting go of algorithm-chasing and "best practices" noise, building a podcast around joy instead of metrics, and starting a listener community ("Besties") from day one instead of waiting. De'Nicea also opens up about the real vulnerability of talking publicly about health and sovereignty in an age of AI confusion and parasocial risk.

If you're an independent podcaster thinking about relaunching, building community around your show, or podcasting with a social purpose, this one's for you.

Learn more about De'Nicea and her podcast: https://playground.mvt.so/

🎤 Learn more about the Feminist Podcasters Collective: https://feministpodcastcollective.com/

Rachel Duncan runs the Money Healing Club, helping people heal their relationship with money — and she's been podcasting about it for almost two years. In this conversation, Rachel gets real about the parts of podcasting nobody warns you about: burning out on a weekly schedule, learning to say "good enough," and finally hiring a producer (and what that actually costs, financially and emotionally, for a solo business owner).

We also dig into how her podcast fits into her marketing ecosystem (hint: it's nurturing, not top-of-funnel), the surprising ways it's deepened client retention, why her solo episodes consistently outperform her interviews, and how one Speakpipe voicemail turned into her most sustainable content habit. Plus: the unexpected PR and networking wins that came from putting her voice out into the world.

If you've ever wondered whether hiring help is "worth it," whether you're posting too much or too little, or how to repurpose two years of episodes instead of letting them disappear into the archive — this one's for you.

Find Rachel and the Money Healing Club podcast: https://www.moneyhealingclub.com/

Learn more about the Feminist Podcasters Collective: https://feministpodcasterscollective.com/

Nadine Stille always had the questions — as a kid, as a journalist-in-training, as a coach. Now she's turning that curiosity into Fangirl Your Life, a podcast built on a simple, radical idea: what if you gave yourself the same devotion you give your favorite artist, book, or sports team?

In this conversation, Nadine and Becky talk about why podcasting feels more intimate than any other platform, the real (steep) learning curve of year one, and how community — both in the Feminist Podcasters Collective and beyond — kept her from flaming out. Nadine also gets honest about workload, systems, and what it actually looks like to let a podcast build your business slowly instead of overnight.

Topics covered:
00:00 – Intro
00:23 – "The reason I podcast is..." — curiosity, advocacy, and connection
02:38 – How Fangirl Your Life started
04:51 – The goal of the show: inspiring people to dream again
07:38 – Why podcasting (over blogging or social) for this message
09:26 – The real talk on podcast workload
13:02 – Systems, planning, and the Podcasting While the World's on Fire workbook
16:16 – Using the podcast as a business tool, one season at a time
19:54 – The unexpected payoff: joy
22:07 – Why community is what keeps her going
23:38 – The worst podcasting advice she's heard
24:22 – The best podcasting advice she's received: plan ahead
26:41 – Where to find Nadine

Guest: Nadine Stille (she/her), host of Fangirl Your Life 🔗 fangirlyourlife.com

About this series: Conversations with members of the Feminist Podcasters Collective about their shows, their why, and what they're learning along the way. Join the community at feministpods.com.