Ease You Into Real & Uncomfortable Conversations About Racial & Social Justice

My name is Misasha Suzuki Graham and my co-host is Sara Blanchard. We are the half-Japanese, half White hosts of the Dear White Women Podcast. Dear White Women is an award-winning weekly podcast dedicated to easing you into real and uncomfortable conversations about racial and social justice. We are mothers with very mixed race children, and we believe that when we learn about our nation’s history and look more deeply at our personal experiences with race and identity, we gain the power to effect personal and systemic change.

Our listeners are (largely White) women between the ages of 18-60, who are actively interested in being more anti-racist and want to learn more about how to make change in their own spheres of influence.

We started this podcast because we want to save our children's lives. Misasha's fear for her half Black sons was that they would walk out of her house one day and not come back, simply because of the color of their skin. That wasn't the same fear that White parents had for their children, and while she would discuss that with Sara, they quickly realized that this conversation wouldn't be happening in White homes, and they wanted to change that.

Misasha's a huge podcast listener; Sara doesn't listen at all. But they both love writing, thinking, and talking - so podcasting seemed like a natural medium. They came up with the idea for their show in January of 2019, released their first 3 episodes in April of 2019, and are releasing episode #100 in the first week of February 2021!

We release episodes every week, and depending on the type of episode (interviews, historical references, etc.) it can take several weeks to produce. We make time for this (Misasha's a practicing attorney, and both Sara and Misasha have young kids at home!) because we know that this topic is urgent, and again - our why is trying to save our kids' lives.

We do have an editor but try and keep costs to a minimum by doing much of the work ourselves (writing, social media, promotions, etc.) as we are self-funded at this point.

We do not have sponsors at this point, but are open to the right sponsors if they align with our podcast message and allow us the creative control to say what we want to say and how we say it. At this point we have about 8300 downloads per month.

Podcasting allows us to feel like we are making a difference in the world for our children; it allows us a platform to meet and talk to super interesting people with narratives outside of the dominant one in America; it allows us to share those stories, make new friends, and cultivate community in a time when we are largely apart.

We use Zoom (and Zoom recording) to interview guests and record episodes. We have an editor who uses Libsyn, and sometimes we use transcription services on a on-off basis if we need additional support. We use different mics (Blue Yeti for Sara, Samson Satellite for Misasha) and our Apple Macbooks for our recording needs.

We get our best guests through our network, or through referrals from others (sometimes PR people, sometimes other connections), and we LOVE those types of referrals.

In terms of preparing episodes, if we're interviewing someone, we create and send questions about a week in advance so that everyone's on the same page (and the interviewee can give feedback!). If we're doing an educational or other type of episode, we write the episode out fairly fully and edit it up until the moment we record... and even then we still ad lib at times. But it is typically a several week process.

The vast majority of listeners find our show through Apple Podcasts/Apple Core Media, but we also have listeners coming from Spotify, Stitcher, iTunes, Chrome, Overcast, PodcastAddict, CastBox, and Safari!

Typically, word of mouth is our best marketing channel (no joke!) as our social media followers aren't necessarily podcast listeners. We do have a loyal email marketing following, and our Patrons on Patreon are the MOST loyal ever.

Just do it! It is daunting to think that people want to hear what you have to say - but the more voices we get out there, the more we can share different viewpoints. Definitely write out what you'd like to say in advance, and guests are WONDERFUL - they change up the style of your podcast and draw new listeners in!

You can find more about us at www.dearwhitewomen.com (or on social at @dearwhitewomenpodcast on FB/IG, or @DWWPodcast on Twitter!) Please drop us a note at hello@dearwhitewomen.com, we love mail!

Here are all of the ways to find us:
Website: dearwhitewomen.com
Social: @dearwhitewomenpodcast (FB/IG), @DWWPodcast (Twitter)
Email: hello@dearwhitewomen.com
Patreon: patreon.com/dearwhitewomenpodcast

Please reach out! We can't wait to hear from you.