#25: Finding Your Community, with She Podcasts Co-Founder Jessica Kupferman

Today’s guest is Jessica Kupferman, co-founder of She Podcasts (the podcast, the brand and the live event). She Podcasts has an incredible community, primarily through an awesome female-only Facebook group. The She Podcasts brand currently supports over 13,000 female podcasters and has a digital marketing reach of over 50,000 content creators. And October 11–13 in Atlanta, for the first time, She Podcasts is becoming a conference: She Podcasts LIVE, which was funded through Kickstarter. Jessica talks about how she got started in podcasting around 2013—when very few women were podcasting and especially not about entrepreneurial topics. As her then-podcast, Lady Business Radio, became popular, she was getting pitched a lot of guests and saying yes to many of them. Then, she realized her show was becoming an opportunity for guests to use her show for their gain, but she wasn’t having the conversations she wanted. She decided to let that show go and focus on She Podcasts. Jessica talks about how she met Elsie Escobar, her She Podcasts co-founder, about the same time Jessica realized that the men in the podcasting world weren’t giving advice that was conducive to women or those busy raising children or doing podcasting while holding down another full-time job.  Jessica has been an entrepreneur since 2005, but until 2011 she didn’t have a community of like-minded, supportive people in her industry. But then she took an online course that came with an online community and she realized what she was missing. Jessica talks about all the benefits of forming your own community. Jessica explains how She Podcasts LIVE came about. Hint: The travel bug plays a role. She Podcasts LIVE is happening thanks to a very successful Kickstarter campaign—an idea Jessica and Elsie got from Podcast Movement, which started six years ago with a Kickstarter. The She Podcasts LIVE Kickstarter was a huge success, doubling the $25,000 goal and selling 200 event tickets. Jessica explains how she is planning for a different vibe and aesthetic for this conference, as well as having amazing speakers. She wants the event to have  an atmosphere that is nurturing, that encourages people to ask any questions they have and to feel like they’re in a room full of friends. Diversity is also important to Jessica and Elsie. The 100+ speakers are about 45 percent women of color and/or LGBTQ. Biz Bite: Notion is an all-in-one workspace. Resources: She Podcasts LIVE She Podcasts LIVE Announces Speakers (press release) She Podcasts (the podcast and website) She Podcasts Facebook group—only for women podcasters She Podcasts on Twitter Jessica Kupferman on Twitter Lady Business Radio—Jessica’s first podcast