Meet The Podcasters

Titi Shodiya and Zakiya Whatley host Dope Labs, which is part of Spotify’s growing podcast network. 

Dope Labs is founded on the belief that science is for everyone, not just academics locked away in ivory towers. The show is all about revealing the science behind stories and topics that are trending right now - everything from coronavirus, to plant based meat substitutes and even vibranium, the fictional metal from the Black Panther movie. By ditching the usual jargon and replacing it with compelling narratives and on-point pop culture references, Titi and Zakiya are bringing important research to a much wider audience. 

In 2018, the pair entered Dope Labs Spotify’s “Sound Up” competition - which is an accelerator program dedicated to lifting and amplifying the voices of women of colour in podcasting. After being selected as finalists from a pool of more than 18,000 applicants, Titi and Zakiya eventually went on to be crowned winners. Since then, they’ve worked with Spotify to produce and distribute Dope Labs. The show is currently in the middle of its third season. 

In this interview, James Deeney talks to Titi and Zakiya about winning Sound Up, creating Dope Labs, and the important intersection between science, society, and culture.

Eric Zimmer hosts The One You Feed, which has had more than 15 million downloads and is currently part of the Wondery podcast network.  

The podcast is based on an old parable about two wolves at battle within us. One represents our positive traits like kindness, bravery, and love. The other represents our negative traits like greed, hatred, and fear. As the parable goes, we’re ultimately in control of which wolf wins based on the side of ourselves we choose to “feed” each day. 

This parable acts as a jumping-off point for meaningful conversations with scientists, authors, psychologists, spiritual teachers, and other public figures. Each episode offers practical tools listeners can use to live better, more fulfilling lives. And the formula has been a proven success. The Huffington Post listed The One You Feed as one of the best health podcasts of all time, and iTunes  previously named it as one of their Best Podcasts of the Year.

In this interview James Deeney chats to Eric about how first-time podcasters can overcome common challenges like procrastination and fear of failure.

Noah Labhart hosts Code Story, which is all about exploring the human side of building a tech startup - in the words of the founders themselves. 

As CTO and co-founder of Veryable, Noah has the first-hand knowledge and experience needed to ask the right questions. And in each episode, he walks listeners through how guests went from an idea sketched on the back of a napkin to a fully functioning product with thousands of users. 

Inspired by How I Built This with Guy Raz, Noah consciously kept a high bar on quality from day one. Interviews are edited to craft a narrative arc. Introductions are carefully scripted to set the scene. Hand-picked backing music helps convey the key stages of each guest’s journey. And all this is pieced together and promoted with the help of a dedicated podcast team.  

All that effort and investment is now paying off. Code Story has continued to build momentum throughout its second season and has now secured sponsorship from numerous different brands.

In this interview, James chats to Noah about leading a podcast team and the parallels that exist between starting a company and starting a podcast.

Sal Di Stefano hosts Mind Pump, one of the most popular health and fitness podcasts in the world. From humble beginnings in 2014, the show now brings in more than a million downloads every month.

Fed up with pseudo-science and snake oil in fitness, Sal got together with producer Doug Egge and co-hosts Justin Andrews and Adam Schafer to launch Mind Pump. Their mission was simple - use their combined years of experience as personal trainers to bring quality fitness information to the masses with integrity and honesty. 

The Mind Pump team have been truly prolific in their output, releasing new episodes on an almost daily basis. Alongside podcasting they’ve also built a YouTube channel with more than 390,000 subscribers. Over the past five years they’ve experimented with their content to hone in on what works and grow their audience. Today, the story of Mind Pump offers a textbook example of how to build a successful business from a podcast. 

In this interview, James Deeney speaks to Sal about why podcasting is the gold-standard medium for building trust, credibility, and audience loyalty.

Tony Loyd is a leadership development consultant with an impressive track record. He’s a former Fortune 500 executive, best-selling author, TEDx speaker, and the host of two podcasts. 

He launched his first podcast, Social Entrepreneur, in 2015. It focuses on sharing stories from underrepresented voices who are making a positive impact on the world through their business. To date, it’s had more than half a million downloads across 180 countries. 

In March this year, Tony launched his second podcast, Thrive. Connect. Contribute. - a really unique short-form show which shines a light on all kinds of individuals who thrive in life, connect with others, and contribute to the world in the process. Through the power of crowdsourcing, Tony has found a highly efficient way to produce and share high-quality, inspiring audio.

In this interview, James Deeney talks to Tony about his experiences as a podcaster, and how he managed to live a year of personal bests in 2019.

Vanessa Kanbi is a YouTuber and host of the Magnificent Mothers podcast, where she interviews Mums who have overcome challenging circumstances and have inspirational stories and advice to offer others. 

With more than 26,000 subscribers, Vanessa’s YouTube channel is growing quickly. She started vlogging in 2017 and subsequently carved out her own niche, recording documentary-style videos in Ghana. Vanessa’s interviews and guides offer viewers a unique perspective on life in Ghana, covering everything from hotels and restaurants to business and property investment. 

Alongside her YouTube channel, Vanessa recently launched season two of Magnificent Mothers. Building on lessons learned from season one, she outlines what worked well, what she’s changing this time around, and how having her own podcast helped open the door to new creative opportunities. 

In this interview, James Deeney speaks with Vanessa about the growth of her YouTube channel and her ongoing journey with Magnificent Mothers.

Hishem Azzouz is host of The Recruitment Rollercoaster Podcast - which brings to life the successes, failures, and wisdom of some of the world's best recruiters through open and honest conversation.  

Hishem launched the podcast two years ago after spotting a gap in the content market. Back then, most recruitment podcasts were bland and uninspiring. So by ditching the industry jargon and talking about the true reality of job, warts and all, Hishem found an audience of other like-minded recruiters eager to learn from the best. 

In this interview, James Deeney speaks with Hishem about how his podcast has evolved, the importance of building a personal brand, and how to organise and host a live podcast event.

Amy Woods is founder of Content10x, which offers content repurposing services for podcasters and businesses. She also hosts The Content10x Podcast which teaches listeners how to create more content in less time and reach a bigger audience. 

Every podcaster wants more listeners. And to maximize the reach of your podcast, it needs to have a presence wherever people spend time online. Amy breaks down exactly how do that in this episode.

Learn some of the most effective techniques to grow your audience.

Daniele Bolelli defies stereotypes. He is an author, university professor, professional martial artist, and podcaster. He hosts two shows, The Drunken Taoist and History on Fire, the latter of which was nominated as one of iTunes Best of 2015. 

He got started with The Drunken Toaist in 2013 and a couple of years later he launched History on Fire, which is now a part of the Luminary podcast subscription network. One of Daniele’s many passions is bringing history to life through brilliant audio storytelling - and he is a true master of that craft. 

In this interview, James Deeney speaks with Daniele about the fundamentals of storytelling and how being on Luminary allows him to devote more time to producing fantastic narrative audio.

Chris Williamson is the host of Modern Wisdom - a podcast that helps listeners understand more about themselves and the world around them through conversations with some of the most interesting humans on the planet. From fitness tips and relationship advice to astronomy and biotechnology, it has virtually all bases covered. 

With more than 1.3 million downloads to date, the story of Modern Wisdom is testament to the power of perseverance and consistency in podcasting. With no virality factor to rely on, success doesn’t happen overnight. As Chris explains, every regular listener he has was hard won through a labour of love. 

In this interview, James Deeney speaks with Chris about the mindset, discipline, and strategies needed to be successful as a podcaster.