Resonate Podfest🎙️

My perspective on the weekend at Resonate

This past weekend (October 25th-26th) a group of us ascended on to Richmond. For what? You may be asking…well for the Resonate Podcast Festival. Resonate is a podcast festival created by Chioke I'Anson and Kelly Jones. Resonate Podcast Festival is the place where producers meet their peers and newcomers meet their heroes. Over two days at the Institute for Contemporary Art in Richmond, VA, attendees are treated to workshops from skilled producers, a special live performance, and the opportunity to get private pitch feedback from industry veterans. Between sessions, we got to enjoy snacks, visit the cafe, see the art exhibitions, and converse with people who love podcasts. (source resonatepodfest.com)

I gotta tell you this was my first time at Resonate and I hadn’t heard of it til last year. So I didn’t know what to expect. All I was told was it was a great place for creatives. I was interested because the way those tickets sold out…I knew there had to be something! So I didn’t want to do another year with FOMO! I had to see what was it all about. Well, I gotta tell ya… Resonate most certainly delivered! Other pod fests I’ve attended have been more industry based, and big brand / businesses lead but this one seemed to be very innovative, creatively and production / editorially lead. It was a space of conceptualizing and sharing ideas around content and creation. It really got your mind really flowing!

The sessions were refreshing and ranged from speakers like Nichole Hill, creator of the podcasts The Secret Adventures of Black People and the upcoming series Our Ancestors Were Messy. Her session Fabulously Real broke down the steps in her approach to content creation.

From learning about getting that Schmonneeeyyyy with one of our faves Juleyka Lantigua, founder of LWC Studios; to hearing the stories that truly touched your heart. Those of story telling from Ronald Young Jr ‘s emotional story telling on the loss of his mother to those in journalism. We heard direct reporting from Africa with Lesedi Mogoatlhe and Dhashen Moodley from radio workshop. They shared powerful accounts reporting on LGBTQ+ issues in Uganda. These sessions truly resonated with you…see what I did there! 😅

And ya see that’s the thing that made this festival unique to me, was everyone wanted to know everyone. Everyone wanted to share ideas and solutions, and their was such a big emphasis on collaborating and story telling. And these were enriching stories that pulled you in. Like the amazing story sharing with Dr.Ray Christian ! And I gotta tell ya, it was such smart decision to have him there, at a festival like this! He had all of our attention locked in!

This festival was literally for everyone, full of accomplished, novice, and those seeking to learn, create and produce in the story telling space!

Oh and those snacks 😚 I know I sound crazy but when ya arrive somewhere and haven’t had a chance to eat they certainly come in a clutch. Those crepes had quite a few people in a choke hold—you know who you are! 🤣🤣

By far the biggest take away…and challenge I’d like to put out there to you, would be there pitch competition. The Resonate Pitch Party brought together 3 finalist to share their pods and give a resounding pitch that would earn them a cool 10k. I enjoyed it…and I implore us all next year to take the opportunity to apply cause you never know…the next winner might be you!

Also, the winner was announced by Lupita Nyong'o, so that was an added bonus!

I can go on and on about how amazing this festival was, and it was good to see our pod people from our community. Though we all agree we’d like to see more of us there. I know I would love to go again and find my people cause we just had to do a group photo! I truly enjoyed meeting more people in this awesome community and also kicking it with my “PodSquad”!

Also…I gotta say after the networking, the parties, the sessions….hanging in Richmond was actually a lot of fun. I didn’t expect the food to be so good!…Every place I went to didn’t miss!

So…hopefully I’ll see ya next year?!