Years ago I wanted to make a podcast called The Wonder Years – Extraordinary tales of Ordinary People… I had the logo made but that was as far as I got. Podcasting was in its infancy in the UK, we’re talking about a decade ago.. so I parked that idea and then explored a few other ideas. Made a podcast about the city I lived in for a time for a local magazine, then I started one about cycling called ‘Curls on Wheel’s’ – don’t laugh but I wasn’t really that into it. At the time I was hosting a breakfast radio show for Heart. I’d been working in radio for over a decade and was in a world of counting every second ‘word efficiency and punchy ‘outs’ were drummed into us, with our daily coaching sessions. I wasn’t really in a position to just chat… it was all very carefully orchestrated. It wasn’t scripted, but we knew how to deliver a story extremely briefly.
During my time on air I met my husband, moved in with him, got engaged and then planned my wedding – much to the joy of my listeners who got to hear all the highs and lows. What I didn’t share with them was once married, and trying for a baby, the fact that we needed fertility treatment.
Instead, once I’d navigated my way through it silently on air I developed The Fertility Podcast which was my home for 8 years and during this time I shared many examples of people’s complicated routes to parenthood, talking about loss, failed treatment, solo parenting, accepting a life childless, surrogacy, adopting. Alongside these patient-led conversations, I spoke to numerous experts explaining the why and the how in what is a totally overwhelming and life-changing scenario – to have to rely on science to have a baby. Today is becoming more the norm and spoken about more openly, but that wasn’t the way when I started my podcast. Luckily things have changed, there are more than a dozen podcasts talking about fertility now, I like to think I led the way and am proud of the hours I spent on my first big podcast, reaching almost a million downloads.
I’m talking in the past tense as this year 2022, I decided to stop publishing on my feed in July.. and have switched my focus to new projects. The Fertility Podcast has exciting plans for 2023 with my co-host at the helm but for now, I’ve been developing another niche conversation called The F Word at Work alongside my new business venture Fertility Matters at Work which is educating the working world about the many struggles people have when they are trying to grow their families and how essential it is for managers to better understand these issues so people are supported.
In this work I’ve found myself doing alongside my voiceover I’ve become a patient advocate and the one thing I have done consistently is to share people’s stories. I’ve hosted events, and led panel discussions and in the new business I’m running in the workplace well-being space, we’ve once again been using the power of storytelling to share the many routes to parenthood people go on because it is the most authentic way to hear about something. From the horse’s mouth ( I was going to share the origin of this phrase and then started reading about counting the horse’s teeth ahead of a sale and knew I’d end up down a rabbit hole)
Hearing a story from its source is powerful and it brings me onto another new venture I’m excited to be a part of and that is Story Locker, which is the brainchild of a lovely chap called Dhillon who I was introduced to by a voiceover pal of mine Beth Davies. Dhillon has created a unique gift experience where you can capture the story of a loved one, using an experienced interviewer such as myself, who will interview said person and the conversation will be expertly produced into a special podcast, for you and your family to keep.
It’s a brilliant idea and the whole process of becoming a part of Dhillon’s team of storytellers has been nothing short of lovely. He’s such a friendly guy and has been keeping us informed on every step of the development with his trusty team, including Hope and Spike. I’ve been sent a podcasting kit and we had a great get-together in Covent Garden where we all met one another, had our photos taken, and recorded a little snippet. We ate some delicious Mexican food and I even met a fellow Story Locker interviewer JP, who is an old pal of my hubby’s. Small world. I’m excited to see how the power of storytelling takes off in 2023, and if it’s something you’d like to use to capture the story of someone special to you, let’s do it.
