Elsie Escobar on Leading From the Front for Women and Diversity in Podcasting

Elsie Escobar is a highly respected member of the podcasting industry who has been podcasting since 2006. She is the co-host and co-partner of She Podcasts, a podcasting movement whose mission is to empower women to continue to share their voices while creating a safe community of podcasting education and support.

She is also the community manager for podcast hosting company Libsyn, where she has been since 2007. In this episode, Elsie discusses her impressive career in the podcasting industry, including her work with She Podcasts.

Yoga as an Introduction to Podcasting

Elsie shares how her very first podcast was as a teacher of yoga, and how that wasn't as strange as it might sound (teaching yoga via an audio format as opposed to a visual medium). It's through this podcast that her career at Libsyn began.

From Life Changes to A Podcast Career with Libsyn

Not long after this, Elsie was chatting with Rob Walch of Libsyn, and mentioned she was going through some big life changes, and as things would have it, this tied in perfectly with something Rob was looking for with Libsyn. The rest is history.

Leading From the Front

It wasn't long after Elsie started at Libsyn that she wanted to have an official podcast from the team, to help podcasters with their questions about the medium. Despite being the new person, she was driven to create the show, and pitched it to Rob, and from there The Feed was born.

The Multiple Sides of Diversity in Podcasting

Elsie shares where she sees advances have been made in podcasting when it comes to diversity, and where we still struggle, as individuals and the bigger medium, at promoting and lifting more diverse voices up. For Elsie, this really needs to start at the board and decision-makers level.

How Bad Podcasting Advice Led to She Podcasts

As a regular attendee of various podcast shows, Elsie soon realized that a lot of the advice given at these events was pretty generic, and wouldn't help with the goals she had. Along with Jessica Kupferman, she co-founded She Podcasts, where women could find a private, supportive space that shared the type of advice needed to grow, and flourish.

The Power of Being Undeniable as a Woman in Podcasting

The theme for this year's She Podcasts Live event is "undeniable", and this is something that Elsie is very passionate about for all women in podcasting. It goes beyond the goal for the event itself, and looks to make sure every woman can say "I won't be denied".

Key points:

02:23 Podcasting and Yoga: How Elsie Found Her Balance

09:59 How to Balance Work and Life

18:05 The Importance of Diversity in the Podcasting Industry

26:58 The Rise of She Podcasts: How Two Women Created a Safe Space for Women Podcasters

43:20 The Impact of the Role v. Wade Decision on Women's Lives

47:17 The Importance of Supporting BIPOC Podcasters

50:54 Podcast Recommendations for Leaders in the Industry

Connect with Elsie:

• She Podcasts
• She Podcasts Live
• Elsie on Twitter
• The Feed

Contact me: [email protected]

Products I use for Pod Chat

Note: these contain affiliate links, so I may get a small percentage of any product you buy/use when using my link.

My equipment:

• Electro-Voice RE320
• Motu M2 Audio Interface
• Sony MDR-7506 Studio Monitor Headphones
• Podcast Pro Boom Arm by Accu-Lite and O.C. White

Recommended resources:

• Captivate.fm
• Aweber email marketing
• Boomcaster remote interviewing
• My Podcast Reviews
• Reel.so audiogram creator

Mentioned in this episode:

Enjoy Pod Chat? Leave a review or rating on your preferred app and show the world you care!

Did you know every time Pod Chat gets a new review, a baby podcaster takes their first steps? Help a baby podcaster walk today, by leaving a 5-star rating or review on the likes of Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. Just head on over to podchat.ca/review and do your magic - these little feet are counting on you!

Review the show

Get your daily podcasting newsletter with Podnews

Pod Chat is sponsored by Podnews - get a daily email with all the latest news about podcasting. It's free at podnews.net. From jobs across the industry to events and conferences, you'll find the latest podcasting info in the daily newsletter. You can add podnews.net to your daily briefing on your smart speaker too - just search for it in your smart speaker app.

Visit Podnews

Check out Trailer Park Podcast

Trailer Park Podcast focuses on the art of the audio teaser, and is hosted by Arielle Nissenblatt and Tim Villegas. Season 1 consists of 8 episodes featuring trailers from very different podcasts.

Trailer Park Podcast

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy
Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp