We're opening the search for our next podcast correspondent
Join our team for a (paid!) crash course in podcasting. No experience necessary.
Over a year ago, we (Bailey, Kevin, and Kai of People & Company) started a podcast called “Get Together.”
Inspired by our book, the show spotlights ordinary people building extraordinary communities.
Pictured: Recording an episode together one year ago in New York City.
Our philosophy is “build with your people, not for them” and that approach is woven into everything we do. So over the last year we’ve built a small but mighty team around this podcast. Mia, Maggie, Greg, Mika, Katie, Bill and Wildsound are the experts in editing, engineering, promotion, and design behind “Get Together.”
And today we are excited to share that our team is looking for a new correspondent to help expand the stories we tell.
Learn more about the correspondent program here.
No podcasting experience is necessary. Think of this program as a hands-on, mini crash course. With our team’s coaching and support, this new correspondent will be responsible for sourcing and leading three interviews over the course of three months.
You’ll walk away with the experience of hosting and producing interview-style podcasts. Plus, you’ll be compensated ($900) and get a microphone that’s yours to keep.
✍️ Request an application
If you’re passionate about communities that are bridging the gaps between us and are eager to develop your interviewing and podcasting muscles, we’d love to meet you.
You can learn more about becoming a correspondent and request an application on our website.
Applications are due by July 14, 2020 at 10pm ET.
⭐️ Backstage with Bailey
To date, we’ve shared the stories of more than 40 remarkable community leaders on our podcast in hopes of inspiring listeners around the world to also bring people together.
Katie sat down with Bailey, the host of Get Together, to learn about the early days of the podcast, the highlights, and hopes for the future.
Why did you decide to pick up the mic and create a podcast?
Bailey: We started the “Get Together” podcast originally in the simple spirit of sharing. We found ourselves in many inspiring research conversations while we were writing our book. We thought it’d be a shame to keep these learnings to ourselves, so we recorded them for others to learn from too.
But interviewing people, informally and formally, has also been a passion of mine for a long time.
After I left my job at Instagram and before we started People & Company, I went deep into learning how to do live, audio interviews. With some friends, I traveled from Nashville to Miami interviewing strangers in their home about what art they keep around them and why. I’ve interviewed people like Casey Neistat live onstage and also spent time alongside great storytellers at StoryCorps, Pop-Up Magazine and a few other media teams. So this podcast is a labor of love for me.
Photos on the road from Nashville to Miami as part of Bailey’s Art in the American South project.
How has the concept of the show evolved since the early days?
Bailey: Today, the goal of the podcast is the same as the goal behind our book and the coaching services we offer: we want to help more people build communities with passionate people, not for them.
Our podcast unearths the stories behind the most extraordinary communities around the world because we know great stories can inspire us more than anything else. They show us what’s possible. We hope the stories we share move listeners who are considering getting a new community off the ground, joining an existing community, or making a community-building investment across the line to action.
And heading into this year, we want our podcast to become even more inspiring to listeners. One way we intend to do that is by expanding the voices we feature, both in terms of the leaders we interview and the people we bring onto our team. This new correspondent program is a part of that investment.
Pictured: (Left) Bailey interviewing Hector Espinal, founder of We Run Uptown, a very special run club in Washington Heights.
You started working in community during the early days of Instagram and then developed the communities around IDEO, StoryCorps, Pop-Up Magazine and The California Sunday Magazine before starting People & Company with Kevin and Kai.
Why community? Why do you continue to elevate the stories in this space?
Bailey: Community leaders and organizers never cease to inspire me.
The people who get people together are sacred. Humans are at our absolute best, and most fulfilled, when we feel we are part of a benevolent group that is pushing forward something we collectively care about–whether that’s personal, political or professional. Community leaders facilitate that for us. They make it all possible.
Yet despite how important these community leaders are to the world, they receive virtually no external validation or recognition for their work. They often make far too little money, and seldom experience the fame or acknowledgement that their hard work merits. I find that mismatch strange and upsetting.
Spending my time seeking out extraordinary community leaders and celebrating them feels like a small action to take to support such remarkable people.
How do you choose the people you interview on the podcast?
Bailey: The first thing we look for in a possible interviewee is that the community they’re building is a true community. A community is not a euphemism for a mere audience, affiliation or user base. A community is a group of specific, passionate people who keep coming together over something they collectively care about.
We also seek out the leaders who are doing extraordinary community building work. They are going above and beyond the average. For us, that means the community they’re building is benevolent and is also very important to its members. Members might use language like “meaningful” and “life-changing” or “a breath of fresh air” to describe these kinds of communities.
Finally, we want to shine a spotlight on underrepresented voices. We look for community leaders from racial backgrounds, gender identities, or parts of the world that are underrepresented in mainstream American media. We expect our new correspondent to share that drive.
Are there stories that stand out among the 40 interviews you have shared?
Bailey: I’ve been amazed, moved and made smarter by so many of the interviews we’ve done. To name a few: Lola Omolola of Female IN (one of the fastest-growing, and most meaningful, groups in Facebook’s history), Nobu Adilman of Choir! Choir! Choir! (a long-time hero of mine), Courtland Allen of Indie Hackers (his methodical approach made me so much smarter), and Dan Madsen of the Star Wars Fan Club (you’ll never believe his story…!).
Pictured: (Left) Lola in her home in Chicago, (Middle) Nobu at a Choir! Choir! Choir! sing-a-long, (Right) Courtland hanging out at Stripe.
You often ask interviewees: “If we could wave a magic wand and give you what you need to support your community, what would you ask for?”
What would you ask for the “Get Together” podcast?
Bailey: Simple! We’d love to know you better. It motivates us and makes us smarter when we get to know listeners.
If you feel like sharing a bit about yourself, our new survey is a great way to do that. (And we’ll follow up with an invite to join us in a private little digital space with other listers and guests of the podcast…)
If you are curious about community-building and want to build your podcasting muscle, Bailey and the team would love to meet you!
We hope you request an application for the Get Together correspondent.
More on all things People & Company and Get Together here.
We have a book, podcast, and coach organizations on how to make smarter bets with their community-building investments.