In a corner conference room in Spotify’s Manhattan offices, 10 women go around a table talking about the podcasts they want to make. Their ideas are all wildly different, from video games and the Muslim dating world to nature and the history of cats. But all the women there have the same goal: to tell stories the podcast world has largely ignored, until now.
Advertisement – Continue Reading Below
Spotify had developed the training, called Sound Up Bootcamp, as part of their yearlong Black History Is Happening Now program. In March, the company put out a call for entries from women of color who wanted to make podcasts—and got 18,000 applications. For 10 spaces.
The company quickly learned there were thousands of women of color who just hadn’t had the chance to tell their stories yet. And by giving these women resources, they could make podcasting more open to both creators and listeners who don’t see, or hear, themselves represented.
