What a great pleasure to welcome the wonderful Helen Zaltzman onto Podcast Divas.  Helen is without doubt one of the most accomplished and long serving podcasters in the UK (and world) and thoroughly deserving of the ‘queen of British podcasting’ title I’ve bestowed on her here.

Helen says of herself; ‘I make podcasts: mainly Answer Me This! and The Allusionist, part of Radiotopia. I sometimes turn up on the radio; I write stuff; and I make things.’

This typically modest description belies the fact Answer Me This is a multi award-winning show, one of the longest running British podcasts and an iTunes classic, and the Allusionist was an iTunes show of the year 2015.

‘For so many years that I’ve been podcasting it was not a thing that people recognised, not just as a job, but as a thing!’

Helen has what many of us would consider the perfect job – she gets paid for podcasting. It was a joy to talk to Helen about her experience of podcasting over many years and thoughts about possible future directions. Listen in for many insights, observations and lessons, whether you’re a longtime podcaster or just getting started.

‘I could be a bloke with a recorder.’

There’s simply so much good stuff in this interview it’s hard to pull out the good bits without ending up with a massive long list – so just listen, enjoy and learn. But here’s a taster of what you’ll hear:

• How Helen got into podcasting way back when
• How having a musician physicist for a husband proved useful
• How Helen taught herself the mysteries of the RSS feed
• What Answer Me This is about and how it’s changed (or not) since January 2007
• The beauty of audience generated content
• Why a successful show is created in the edit
• How long it takes to edit Helen’s shows and the editing rule of thumb
• The sexist world of radio presenters
• What ‘Sound Women’ is all about
• How Helen got involved with Radiotopia and came to make The Allusionist
• What’s The Allusionist and why it’s Helen’s best ever job in spite of the challenges a show like this presents
• The different ways Helen monetizes her podcast
• What has kept Helen podcasting for such a long time
• What podcasting’s done for Helen
• The potential future of podcasting
• Podcasting in the US and UK and getting non US voices heard
• Podcasting and the BBC

‘I think a lot of people think starting is the hard thing, but it’s a lot less hard than carrying on… Don’t want to put you off.’

Just get on with it. 

‘There are so many reasons not to do something but just ignore them.’

‘Don’t worry about it being perfect.’

That stops people wanting to do creative pursuits.  They’ve heard shows and they want to be as good as the shows they like straight away, and that’s not how that happened.  The shows you like started out not very good as well.’

Just have a go and keep doing it.

Set a schedule because then you have to keep going and it’s that regular practice that forms the habits. Persistence is key.

‘Try the biggest idea you can, then figure out how you can make it workable…How imaginative can you make it within the technological and time resources you have.’ 

Helen’s favourite episodes

• Episode 25 on Toki Pona, a minimalist invented language Helen tried to learn (with difficulty) that impacted her psyche but she still thought was fun http://www.theallusionist.org/allusionist/tokipona

• Pick any episode at random or episode 200 featuring their families

‘Everything benefits from a bit of an edit.’

A Podcast Diva Helen likes listening to

• Criminal with Phoebe Judge 

‘Now there are so many podcasts, I think people should think very hard before they launch one, whether it’s a worthwhile use of internet – and their own time.’

Where to find Helen Zaltzman

• Helen on Twitter @HelenZaltzman
• Helen's website: helenzaltzman.com
• 'Answer Me This' podcast 
• 'The Allusionist' podcast 

‘I think it takes a long time to make a bad podcast so it doesn’t take much more time to make a good one.’ 

Thank you

Thanks to Helen for being a fabulous and fun guest and to you for listening and being here. 

If you enjoyed the show it would be great to let Helen and I know, and help get the word out by sharing it and leaving a review on iTunes.

Iszi Lawrence is an international stand up comedian from

Podcasting since 2008 with Sundays Supplement – a

In that time Iszi has produced hundreds of episodes and shares

‘You have to do stuff as well as you can for the purpose of

‘Bore yourself rigid and look at how to do sound and

Do an idea that interests you – don’t worry if it interests

Give it your all.

‘Get a co-host who does all the editing!’ 

Iszi’s favorite episodes

Z List Dead List:

‘There are opportunities, but the main reason I’m doing it

Sundays Supplement

Where to find Iszi

‘If I can’t put headphones on and listen to you because I’m

Thank you

Thank you to Iszi Lawrence for being a wonderful guest and

If you liked the show please let Iszi know, tell your friends

Amanda Cook is the fabulous featured Podcast Diva for episode 15. Amanda recently reached the 100th episode of The Wellpreneur Podcast - a weekly show on digital marketing and business inspiration and advice, especially for wellness entrepreneurs. 

‘What if I did a podcast, that could be fun.  That’s been the best decision!’

Reaching 100 episodes is a special milestone that deserves congratulations (and the title of Podcast Diva). It takes commitment and resilience to produce a podcast week after week. It also means Amanda knows what she’s talking about when it comes to podcasting, as you’ll hear in this episode as we talk about: 

 ‘I’ve got to do something, I’ve got to save myself,  I’m basically dying inside.’ 

‘There’s no way you can start out of the gate with everything perfect…until you start you don’t know what your audience wants.’

Episodes 43 – 45 are a part step by step series on how to hire an assistant.

‘Don’t let money be a limiting factor.’

At her website: wellpreneuronline.com

If you’ve enjoyed the show please let me know by way of a review or by liking and commenting on the Podcast Diva Facebook page and following and sending a tweet. Most importantly please subscribe to the show to automatically download every episode.

‘I like to talk. I felt like that was something I could do well.’

Episode 14 of Podcast Divas puts Nicole Keating in the spotlight. Nicole is on a mission to live a life of Epic Wellness, and to inspire and help others do the same through her podcast The Art of Epic Wellness.

If you’re wondering what the art of epic wellness is, Nicole describes it as a life of physical, spiritual and emotional vitality – surely something we all want! Nicole’s podcasting journey has been one of highs and lows, challenges and triumphs, and most of all of self-discovery and a love of the medium of podcasting and what it’s done for her.

‘I’m becoming this podcast-obsessed woman …I’m driving and I’m listening, I’m walking and I’m listening and I’m doing my clothes and I’m listening.  Every moment I could get I started listening to podcasts.’

Listen to episode 14 to find our more, including: 

‘I was so scared to jump off.’ 

‘My podcasting became the most epic networking experience ever. I met so many great people and deepened all these relationships.’

Get out of your head and start creating. the path only becomes clear as you start taking action.

Write up your intro before your interview and record it live as you record your show

‘Just go back and listen to everyone’s first show and you’ll feel much better.’ 

Episode 50 John Vroman - The Art of Living Life in the Front Row

Episode 30 Paleo, Bliss and Making Happines the World’s Default with the Merrymaker Sisters

‘As a medium it excited me to be able to reach people in this way.’ 

Get in touch with Nicole

Thank you for listening

If you’ve enjoyed the show please let us know by way of a review on iTunes, a tweet, or by liking the Podcast Diva Facebook page . Don’t forget to subscribe to the show and never miss an episode.

‘We own our podcast and are very precious about it, even though there’s a sense of fun and silliness, we are serious about the quality of it and the jokes.’

Episode 13 of Podcast Divas puts, not one but, two ladies in the spotlight – Ellie Gibson and Helen Thorn of The Scummy Mummies Podcast – a popular fortnightly chat show for less-than-perfect parents, which regularly tops the kids and family category on iTunes in the UK.

‘We do like a cat suit – preferably gold lame.’

This was such a fun episode to record and I think you can tell that Helen and Ellie are both also stand-up comedians, in fact that’s how they met.  Listen to find out how they came to co-host the Scummy Mummies Podcast and much much more including: 

‘Editing is like reading music.’

Ellie uses Audacity to edit their show.

Scummy Mummies started with a Blue Snowball microphone and recently upgraded to a Blue Yeti.

‘You feel like you’re chatting to friends and forget that the mic is on.’

‘Feel passionate about, and love what you’re doing.  Don’t just think oh there’s a niche or don’t try to predict what there’s a gap in the market for.  Just do what you really love and that will come across in what you say and who you interview.’ Helen

‘Edit it. It takes time and it’s a pain but as a listener, the podcasts I listen to are the ones that are nice and tight and edited. When it’s just people rambling on for two hours I can’t deal with it, I don’t have time for it – so edit. Be good’. Ellie

Suggested episodes of Scummy Mummies to start with

‘Some of the best moments of my entire life have been on the podcast.’

Helen and Ellie’s recommended Podcast Divas

Where to find Ellie and Helen

If you enjoyed this episode please tweet @podcastdivas and @scummymummies and let us know.

And if you’re feeling particularly wonderful today it would be fabulous if you would leave a review for Podcast Divas on iTunes – it’s much appreciated!

Stepping into the spotlight today is Social and Podcast Diva, Amy Schmittauer. Amy is the founder, face and voice of Savvy Sexy Social, as seen all over YouTube where she has an amazing following. Amy is a professional vlogger, speaker and all-round social media expert. She is President of the video content and social media marketing agency Vlog Boss Studios in Ohio, and host of the Social Authority Podcast.

As well as talking about her podcasting journey and experience, Amy is full of great tips and insights on how to use social media as social marketing for your podcast. Get ready to be inspired to up your social media game.

‘Marketing is not a department. It's a lifestyle.’ 

‘Marketing is really critical but it doesn’t have to mean you have to be all things to all people.’

Amy’s suggested podcast episode

‘Who is your target and where do they hang out?’ 

A Podcast Diva recommendation from Amy

‘People think they have to be on every single platform and that’s what holds them back’

Where to find Amy

‘If there is fear, you should lean into it’.

Thank you

Thanks to Amy for being a fab guest and to you for sharing your time with us.  If you enjoyed the show please share it and let us know.  It would be fantastic if you could leave a rating and review of Podcast Divas on iTunes as it’s great to read the comments and helps increase the visibility of the show.

Our Podcast Diva for episode 11 is Jo Milmine. Jo went from being a military officer in the Royal Air force to becoming an award winning podcaster. Since August 2012 Jo has hosted the Shiny Bees podcast, a show about knitting and yarn mixed with snippets of Jo’s life sprinkled with comedy.

“Don’t mess with the knitters!”

The Shiny bees podcast won the award for the Most Engaged Audience at the UK Podcasters’ Awards of 2015. The main criteria for this award is community engagement, so it’s great to get a chance to find out from Jo how to build and engage a podcast community and how she keeps them coming back for more.

And you don’t need to know about knitting to pick up some useful hints and tips from Jo. I know very little about knitting - as will become apparent in this episode – and it gave me a fascinating insight into a whole new world. Who knew there was such a thing as a knit along!

“There’s something from audio podcasts that you don’t get from video – it feels like a more intimate medium because you can’t see the person, so you’re engaging your imagination as to what they look like… It’s like reading a book versus watching a film."

"For people to love things the way you love them, and to hang around with those people, it’s something really special.”

“Our internet was beamed from on top of a mountain…to a little aerial on our house"

“Caring for people and having time for them is the key to engagement.”

An episode of the Shiny Bees podcast

If you want to listen to an episode of Jo’s show, Jo suggests episode 55 about Susan Crawford’s 4-year heritage knitting project. This is a fascinating inspiring story of social history, fashion, design, ethnography and Shetland archives.

“I think ‘If I was them what would I want?'”

Other Podcast Divas to listen to

“If they’re sitting, they’re knitting.”

Where to find Jo

Shining brightly in the Podcast Diva spotlight today is the marvellous Kate Erickson. Kate is host of the podcast ‘Kate’s Take’ - the audio blog for Entrepreneur on Fire - where she shares a behind-the scenes look at how to run a 7 figure business and step by step lessons on how to create, grow and monetise a business. That’s because Kate is content and community leader at EOFire and the other half, in business and life, of Entrepreneur on Fire host John Lee Dumas. Kate is also the author of The Fire Path - a beginner’s guide to growing your online business.

If you’ve listened to Kate’s Take or know anything about Entrepreneur on Fire you’ll know Kate and John have achieved massive success through the podcast and the related activities coming out of EOFire. But you might not know that much of that success is down to the way they run their business and the fantastic systems and processes Kate has put in place to make this multi-faceted business work.

We might not all be running million dollar enterprises but we can all make use of systems and processes to improve our own podcasting work flow, businesses and lives. So I’m delighted and excited to talk to Kate about how she got into podcasting, her fears and how she overcomes them, what podcasting’s done for her, and how implementing systems and processes transformed her life and business, and can do the same for you.

It’s all there in episode 10 of Podcast Divas; Podcast systems for success with Kate Erickson. It’s certainly got me fired up to do more work on my systems and processes and I hope it inspires you to do the same.

“Recording a podcast and having my own podcast was the scariest thing in the world to me at the point I launched my podcast.”

“This is the fun part, this is when we get to actually start saving ourselves time.”

Figure out who your perfect listener is:

Because once you find out who that person is, you can go and out and start finding them, in online communities, in the comments section of other people’s blogs, (even if you don’t have your own blog,) and join that conversation. Start a conversation with your audience and people will listen when you start your podcast because you’re giving them what they want to know.

“When we have this huge thing that we’re afraid of, we don’t have to go from where we are today to overcoming that, but we just need to take one step towards overcoming that fear.”

How to find Kate

Links mentioned

Thanks to Kate for sharing her time with us and for being an inspiring Podcast Diva, and thanks to you for spending your time with us. If you enjoyed the show, we’d love to hear from you and please share it to help get the word out.

Would you like more people to know about your podcast? Do you want more people to listen to your podcast? Of course, because as a podcaster you want to get your message out and your voice heard.

In episode 9 of Podcast Divas we put PR for podcasters in the spotlight with PR expert, journalist and podcaster Janet Murray.

Janet has been writing and editing for national newspapers and magazines like the Guardian, Telegraph, Independent and Times, for the past fifteen years. Pitching and placing

Janet’s pitched and placed countless stories in the national media and commissioned hundreds of stories (turning down many more). So it’s true to say she knows a thing or two about what journalists are looking for in a story, and what they’re not. 

The good news is Janet believes PR doesn’t have to be difficult and in episode 9 of Podcast Divas we talk about how podcasters can go about getting PR for their shows. After hearing how Janet started her new podcast, Soulful PR.

‘I knew I could do it but it was more the mechanics of it, what do I do first, what’s the first step to take and then what do I do next and what do I do after that... So it was really breaking it down into small manageable pieces.’

‘PR is about how you show up in the world.’

The 3 principles to get coverage

‘If you want to get PR for your podcast don’t talk about your podcast!’

Links mentioned in episode 9

'I just wanted something I could plug in and go with'

Find Janet at

Thank you for listening

If you’ve enjoyed the show please let me know by way of a review or by liking and commenting on the Podcast Diva Facebook page and following and sending a tweet. Most importantly please subscribe to the show to automatically download every episode.

Get in touch (you can even leave a voice mail message!)

Sarah Williams steps into the Podcast Diva spotlight to talk about getting started in podcasting and what it’s done for her and her business after just a few months.

In 2013 Sarah quit her banking career of 8 years. Since then, she’s written two books, and travelled the world seeking adventures like climbing Kilimanjaro in Africa, working as a chalet host and cycling Death Road in Boliva. Sarah’s also set up Tough Girl Challenges and gives talks in local schools to encourage and motivate young girls to do more and be more.

As well as being host of the Tough Girl Podcast, interviewing inspirational women from around the world, Sarah’s a panellist for Bay TV in Liverpool, where she talks about women's issues. 

Sarah’s enthusiasm, insights and story provide practical advice, information and encouragement to anyone thinking of starting a podcast or simply seeking inspiration and motivation.

“I’m so proud of my first podcast, because actually it is something I’ve put together, something I’ve created. And it may not be perfect, it may not be the best recorded, it may not be the best edited… but all these little things I learned how to do myself”.

“It’s a way for me to build a deeper connection with my audience. They can really get to know me as a person and what I’m about.”

The tools Sarah uses to produce and promote her show

“Having the best microphone doesn’t mean you’re going to produce the best podcast. Yes you’ve got to have the quality to be able to hear your guests, but it’s more about the content you’re producing”.

“I thought this is an amazing way and another way to communicate with my audience and also to spread these messages.”

An episode of the Tough Girl Podcast to listen to

Tough girl – Stacey Copeland – British Boxer 2015 Nations Cup gold Medallist - November 3rd, 2015

Sarah says:

“I loved recording this episode, there are so many learning points, and for me, it really does show no matter what happens, its never to late to go after your dreams and with hard work, commitment and focus you can make it happen and you can achieve amazing things. You just need to go for it.”

Get in touch with Sarah

Website – www.toughgirlchallenges.com

Sarah is on Twitter @_TOUGH_GIRL and Podcast Divas is on Twitter @PodcastDivas – we’d love to hear from you.

If you like Podcast Divas

You can support Podcast Divas by subscribing to the show on iTunes and leaving a rating and review – thank you.