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Meraki Mentors

I have not always been as brilliant as I am now. Despite the fact that I am not all that brilliant now, I would be much less so if there hadn’t been people who consistently stepped into my life that were much wiser than I and very willing to help me along the way. These have been people from school, church, work, and family and they have spoken into a wide range of my interests to answer questions or encourage me in ways that were very much needed.

I think that most people can look back at their lives and see the people who have acted as mentors, and if they can’t they can probably look back and see where they wish they had had someone to bounce ideas off of and hear wisdom from. For women in the arts, Meraki Mentors, hosted by Candace Howze, is looking to step into that role of mentoring.

We do our best to feature women in different fields of the arts, women who are living or working in creative ways. So we might think of that in the different fields of the arts, or any other way that someone might expand that idea… and basically just kind of create a community where they have a platform to share what they do and that women who are doing the same thing or aspiring to do that kind of work themselves can kind of hear from these women and get insight into how they were able to pursue the work that they do.

Born from the desire to ask successful women questions about how they did it, Candace started playing with the idea of Meraki Mentors at the beginning of this year. Then, when she entered a contest to earn start-up money for a podcast, she got her ideas solidified and down on paper. She didn’t win the contest, but it did inspire her to start the show.

Even before Candace began releasing episodes the show had begun building a community of supporters around it.

I think [the support’s] been because there’s been so much dialogue about how women have always been in the arts but you don’t see them as much in the literary canon or in museums when you talk about visual arts and all those things. So I’ve found that most people who are interested in anything creative have been really excited about [the show].

I had the awesome chance to interview Candace before she put her first season of the show up to be listened to and she let me in on a bit of the pre-show work she had been doing.

If there’s something that surprised me, it’s definitely been more work than I thought. Not just interviewing, but figuring out the logistics of it, and scheduling and getting everything together. And once you’re editing you’re like, ‘okay that’s done, but now you have the social media aspect.’ And are you gonna do show notes and transcripts of your podcasts?

The work has been a lot, but it’s paid off now that Candace has posted the first episodes of Meraki Mentors. So, if you’re interested in the arts, need some advice, or just love a good interview with some fascinating women, Meraki Mentors is the show for you.

 

Chasing Pods is a Podchaser blog series dedicated to letting our readers know about podcasts they may not have heard of or provide a sneak peek into the making of their favorite podcast. We talk to podcast creators about their journey into podcasting, the creation of their shows, the ups and downs of the work, and what they’re looking forward to for their podcast

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