May 20, 2026 • 38 mins
Season 11 kicks off with a confession: this season almost didn't happen. Diosa and Mala get real about the limbo that nearly ended Locatora Radio. They reflect on building a business without safety nets, the state of podcasting, and the pivots that kept Locatora alive.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
O La la Lo motis. You're listening to Look At
Radio and I'm Theosa.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
And I'm Mala. Welcome to season eleven, the season that
almost didn't happen, and this episode almost didn't happen. But
here we are back in the studio recording another episode
for all of you at home.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
So you might have noticed that we kept putting out
episodes even though we were technically off season, but there
was so much going on behind the scenes, and honestly,
each episode might have been our last episode. That was
the energy we were caring for the first months of
the year.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
We had each other to lean on, thank god, thank God,
and we talked about it with a few people, but
as our listeners, you didn't know what was going on
behind the scenes and how hard it's been for us
to continue podcasting without a formal contract, without a formal
green light, and without a budget. But we're here to
talk about it, to talk through it, and tell you
(00:58):
all the story of how how we came back for
an eleventh season of Look at What Our Radio.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Yeah, we're talking about this season that almost didn't happen
and how we push through the uncertainty. So let's get
into it.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Let's get into it.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
I want to start by talking about just the state
of podcasting, the state of the industry, because I think
anyone who consumes media knows that this is true, that
things get.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Canceled all the time, all the time, constantly.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Your favorite TV show, your favorite podcasts, they don't get renewed.
Think about all of the Latino led shows that have
been canceled over the years, like Pultzer Prize winning podcasts
that don't get renewed. Since we're a podcast, let's talk
about the podcast industry.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Let's talk about the podcast industry, which this includes video
podcasts because podcasting is video forward. Podcasts are now streaming
on Netflix. Apple Podcasts is introducing video on the platform.
Spotify's introducing video on the platform. There's a whole host
of shows that are adapted from existing podcasts. There are
(01:58):
scripted shows that are based off of podcasts, like Only
Murders in the Building is a show about podcasters inspired
by a podcast that Steve Martin was listening to. So
the industry is evolving, it's changing, it's constantly in flux.
But in general, podcasting favors always on celebrity hosted podcasts
(02:20):
and millions of downloads per month. So we love podcasting.
It's a recognized medium. Podcasts are winning Emmys, podcasts are everywhere,
but it's really hard to keep a podcast going and
to keep a podcast renewed without being celebrity hosted and
without millions of downloads every month. Enter look atload our radio.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
We have seen this industry change so much since we
started in twenty sixteen, and we're honestly so proud to
still be here. We've said this so many times before.
So many of our beloved podcast peers are no longer
producing their shows because it's a lot of work, takes
a lot of money, and sometimes there's very little payoff.
(03:03):
And speaking of millions of downloads, right, like, we probably
have like over one point six million listens and counting
and counting, but now it feels like that doesn't even
scratch the surface, right And that's that's hard, you know,
because we started as an indie podcast. We podcasted for
five seasons solo like no network backing, no like ad budget,
(03:29):
no marketing budget, just like Pure Vibes, Pure vibes and
a dedicated audience and like us, dedicated to the craft,
gossip and lots of tiement lots of political analysis, lots
of stories.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Yeah, a lot.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Oh g'z no, right, And then in twenty twenty two,
our lives changed. We signed with Michael Podcast Network and
now we've produced five seasons with them. We're like equally now,
like it evens out we've been with the network as
long as we were Indie.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
That's that's wild to think about wild. I hadn't connected
those dots. I hadn't really thought about that. But yeah,
this is our fifth season now with iHeart with Michael Dura. Yeah,
and we're happy to be here and we want to stay.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
And we want to stay. Yeah. It's been an incredible
opportunity to focus on creative work full time. As we've
shared on the podcast, we've been able to really grow
our podcast production company and have it be multi media
and go back to school and try different things, and
so we're really grateful that this network deal gave us
that opportunity the last several years. And so when our
(04:36):
contract was up for renewal and we faced the very
very real possibility of not being renewed, it was scary.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Mm hmmm, it was scary. It was a nail bitery, y'all.
For months, our nails are down to the quick metaphorically,
because if we're not in season and we're not hosting
and producing and publishing, that means we're not getting paid.
So although we putting out episodes, we need y'all to
know that we were not under contract. Those were like
(05:05):
off season episodes, and we wanted to keep the show going.
We wanted to keep the feed alive. We wanted to
give you all episodes to tune into because we love
what we do. We're lucky that we're able to do it.
Not everybody gets to do this for as long as
we've been doing it, and to get paid to do it.
So even when we weren't getting paid, we wanted to
(05:25):
keep going.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Yeah, yeah, we wanted to be at the top of
your feeds every week. When we didn't really announce that
we were still going, we just kept putting out episodes
posted on social media. Like just the listeners who kept
tuning in knew we were still going. But at the
start of this year, we found ourselves in a place
that we never expected to be in, which was contract limbo.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
It's a scary, scary place, our own personal purgatory, honestly,
padcasting purgatory.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Yes, if I'm thinking about Dante's Infernal of Hell, that's
like the one that I would be in. That would
be the purgatory contract limbo Us and all the other
podcasters and independent creators.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
It's true. We're in LA. We're literally physically in Hollywood
right now. And this is something very common that creatives,
especially living working in LA, Like this is a common experience,
right like, we're not renewed. We're waiting for our next renewal,
We're waiting for our next green light. We're pitching, we're pitching,
(06:24):
we're pitching, we're pitching. We're waiting for something to land.
And the thing that you've been working on might be
pulled out from under you. And now what do we do?
What's our pivot? What's our next move? And so we
had to really think about the very real reality that
we might not get renewed, we might not have another
season of Look at the Rat And we had to
(06:44):
ask ourselves a lot of really really hard questions. After
all these years of podcasting, what happens if we have
no contract, what happens if we have no budget? How
do we survive? What's our next step?
Speaker 1 (06:55):
We do have the power and independence to continue look
at wherever whatever happens, renewer or no renewal. Right, But
it came down to, well, what do we want?
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (07:07):
Right, do we want to bootstrap this again? Do we
want to shop this around with another network? And we
know that that could take months, it could take a year,
it could take longer, you know, and in the meantime,
what else do we do? Do we go back and
get regular nine to five jobs, which is totally fine.
Honestly missed the stability. Honestly, I do, I really do
miss the stability. And then I think the biggest question
(07:29):
that we had not faced in like the ten years
of doing this and eleven seasons is well, what if
we fold the show? Like, what if it's time to
move on and do something else because we're at this
breaking point and if there's ever a time to end, well,
this is a natural end. This is a close and
is that something that we do instead?
Speaker 2 (07:50):
It's it was a very real question that we were
asking ourselves and each other. And yeah, talking about the
stability piece. You know, I think if you're on like
I don't know, like founder TikTok, founder Instagram, if you
follow business owners or like you know, like women who
are talking about starting your own business and investing and
(08:12):
things like that. It seems very glamorous. There's a lot
of content about it about starting your own thing, building
your own thing, leaving your job. But it's really fucking hard. Yes,
it's really hard. And the stability piece is real. You
have to create your own stability and it's not as
easy as it looks on an edited reel. You know,
you go and work for a company and organization, they've
(08:34):
already found the money to pay pay you your paycheck
every month. You just deliver the deliverables and you get
your check. But when you own your own business, you
have to find the money, yeah, to pay your own check,
you know. And it's it's constant, constant work. And so
the idea I think of not having the network support,
(08:55):
not having the contract and bootstrapping again, it's exhausting, right,
and where do we go and where do we look
and how do we ask? And when does something land?
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Right? I think that something that really clicked for me
during this uncertainty and Limbo is yes, we've been podcasting
for a decade. We have eleven seasons under our belt,
but actually as a business we've only been in business
since twenty twenty one, we're like formally, so I'm like,
we're actually still in this growing pains. We're still learning,
(09:27):
like what it means to run a business, yeah, right,
and all the complexities that go behind it. And I
think for me personally, it was really challenging to start
the year with so much uncertainty, right, and like, at
the top of the year, longtime listeners know, I set
my goals, I make my vision board. I like I'm journaling,
I'm honestly dreaming about like, Okay, what do I want
(09:50):
to focus on this year aside from you know, the
podcast and the business, Like, are there other things that
I want to dream up and try and like obtain?
But our biggest project was on the chopping block.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Yeah. Yeah, like the.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Biggest thing for me at least, like has been such
a core part of my identity for the last decade
and it's on the chopping block.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
And so there was just so much uncertainty that I
honestly like the first month moreth and a half of
the year, I was like completely frozen. I was frozen.
Didn't know what we were doing. I knew we needed
to take action, we needed to take things into our
own hands. We needed to like move forward and like
hustle and strategize and do all these things. But when
(10:33):
you have anxiety you plaguing you, You're like, okay, actually
can't do any of that. Like my brain is not
letting me think about, you know, the next couple of months.
I'm only focusing on my day to day right now.
And so you know, there was a part of me
that was like, you know what, we're just going to
end it all and we're just gonna let I'm just
gonna go get a job somewhere and like be a
(10:55):
creative after my nine to five on the weekends like
I did. If it was good for Tony Morrison, it's
good enough for me.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Sure. You know.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
My best friend gave me really sage advice. She said,
don't quit on your worst day, and I was like, okay,
I really like channel that. I was like, don't quit
on your worst day. This is like the worst month,
this is the worst couple of weeks, this is a
really hard it's that bad that we're in and like,
this is not the time to quit. And if I
really think about it, have I given the business, specifically
(11:26):
the business, not the creative side, not look at but
the actual business. Have I given it one hundred percent?
Have I given it my all? The answer was no,
My intuition is telling me like there's still so much
left to do. So no, I'm not folding. We're not
folding right, And of course this is the decision we
both make together. We both have to be invested in it, right,
(11:47):
and so so if one of us is like I'm out,
we're out right, And so it was I think both
of us like being in this really uncertain place and
really working through it and thinking about, Okay, what's what's
an next and what's out what else is out there?
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Yeah, I and I'm still in my master's program at USC,
so I'm also in this like student mindset.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
You know, at the same time that we're facing our
struggles as a show as a production company, because we
look at what our productions LLC and very important or of.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Your Little Edition LLC, and that is legally who we are.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Legally, that is who we are according to the California
Secretary of State and the Treasury. You know, it's like
really important to remember that we have invested so much
in building the business and also we did not inherit
this business. This is not a family business. We got
no startup or seed money. Like we bootstrapped. We raised
(12:47):
our funds. We raised our funds on I fund.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Women, and shout out I Fund Women.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
By the way, amazing platform. If you are a woman
in business or you want to be in business, do
your fundraising on fund Women. They were incredible, they were
so supportive. It's an amazing platform. And then after we
fundraised to fund our startup costs like our articles of
incorporation and our attorney and hiring an accountant, they then
like funneled us into this grant opportunity and Sophia Bush
(13:16):
presented us a Johnny Walker Blue Grant for ten thousand dollars.
So shout out I Fund Women. It's a great place,
and it was starting a business.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
It was a secret like funnel, like they didn't tell
us we're, you know, selecting y'all. We're gonna put this
application in for y'all. Like they just selected us and
told us, oh, by the way, you won a grant.
Sophia Bush is presenting it to you. We thought it
was spam at first, right or Pasadena Queen.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Yes, our rose Peres Queen so we did our own fundraising.
We didn't receive like a big chunk of money from
an investor. We went to our listeners. It was all
very grassroots and like being in school and uh being
around other artists who are just starting on their creative
(14:02):
professional journeys. I'm like, we're already there where these these
people want to be. They want to start their own companies,
they want to have network contracts, and we have these things,
you know, So like it would feel like going backwards
and like erasing what everybody else is trying to build
for themselves. We've already done.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Absolutely, you know.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
And so it's just really about learning how to run
a business, which is not something that I know how
to do. I don't know how to run a business.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
No, in the creative business realm, like we have not
had anyone mentor us from our families at least like
mentor us or guide us or tell us like this
is what you need to run a business.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
Not at all.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
It's been us figuring it out, having an incredible like
accountant and in some ways like functions as our business codes.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Yes, she's great.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
We have like friends who are entrepreneurs who have been
doing it a lot longer who have mentored us along
the way as well. But like, we don't have family
seed money. We don't have family members working in Hollywood. No,
that are you know, putting our name through Like no.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Yeah, none of that, none of that, And it's its
own world. We're not business majors. We were not business majors.
You know.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
I was a creative writing major, yes, okay, and then
I went and got a master's in journalism, thank you.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
You know. My my degree is in MFA and film
and television production. So we know how to make the
thing the thing, but it's the infrastructure and the taxes
and the revenue and the this and the that, like
all of that we are learning as we go. So
I also like had to have my own moment of
everybody is striving to build for themselves what we've already
(15:40):
built for ourselves. Number one. Number two, we have the
network contract, Like that's huge, you know, we can't underestimate
like how big that is to be where we are
and do what we're doing. And number three, we have
to give ourselves grace for not being millionaires by year
(16:02):
five of the business. Yeah, you know, because we are
figuring it out. We're learning, but we're doing pretty damn
good given everything we are.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
And you know something that Anna Flores told me years ago.
So when we first signed our contract, our very first
network year, I was at this little intimate gathering for
Latino Latina Lane creators and storytellers, and she was there
and there was this circle where we were sharing things
that maybe we were struggling with or we were feeling
(16:31):
nervous about. And I shared, like, this is the first
year with the network, and I'm worried, like what happens
if this goes away? I think that's a very real
fear for anyone, Right, you have this big opportunity. What
happens if it's not here tomorrow? And I remember her saying,
like everything it took for you to get here, think
about where you'll be like further down the line, right,
(16:51):
that knowledge is not going to go away. Everything that
you've learned you're going to take with you and whatever happens, Like,
you're going to have a base, You're going to have
the knowledge, and you're not starting from the place you
were now. And I think it's to your point, right,
we're not starting like ground zero. It's not year zero
like year five, as a business. But ten years like
(17:12):
working and building this project, and there's still so much
to do. There's still so much going.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
On and things that we hadn't even considered because we
didn't know. And so I think all of these things,
you know, keeping all these things in mind. At the
top of the year, no contract, no budget, no money
coming in, like zero dollars for months, but we said,
we have to keep working, and we cannot work in isolation.
(17:41):
We're not going to grow like by ourselves. So we
started branching out and collaborating and expanding and growing, and
so we started looking at other ways to get work
made and to stay busy and to grow the business.
And so things kind of like popped up rights. As
(18:01):
this happens every year, we send ourselves like links and
posts and blasts that we receive and we say, oh
my god, we have to participate, we have to pitch,
we have to do it. And this year we fucking
did it. We're doing it right. So, like one thing
we did was we collaborated with Isis and Cato, who
are two Latina podcasters who are like living parallel lives
(18:22):
to us on the East Coast, and they have their
own production company called Pizza Shark and they podcast and
we teamed up with them and we put together a
really cool pitch and we presented at on AirFest in Brooklyn.
We have a whole episode about this, you can tune
into it. You know, that was new for us. We've
never done anything like that before.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
We had always wanted to present it on AirFest for
years four years, we weren't really sure what we would pitch,
and then when we had this really idea from Isis
to collaborate together, we jumped on it. And she took
this really beautiful idea and we all like shaped it
into something and then we were able to present and
it was for us incredible and I think planted the
(19:02):
seed for something else. And we really see this project
that is in Space as something that will continue to
grow and something that's not staying at on AirFest, something
that we want to continue to grow and explore because
the heart of that project is storytelling and there's so
many storytellers that we want to include in this living
time capsule. So that's definitely something that was new for us.
(19:26):
And it costs money to participate. It costs money to work.
We pay to work sometimes and that's the name of
the game, which I don't know if everybody knows this,
but when you're in the creative field, you sometimes pay
to present. You pay your own way to do things
in the hopes that it's going to give you a contact,
(19:48):
give you a connection, help you really take this to
the next level. Right, So it's a creative risk that
you take, and it's really about like investing in yourself
and betting on the project or the idea, right, And
that's the position that we were in for this project.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
It's treating everything as an audition for the next thing
and treating everything as a proof of concept. We can't
approach every opportunity as a paid gig because that's just
not always the case. And it's like, we get to
participate here, it's an honor. It's a privilege to be
(20:35):
in the space and on the stage and to have
the time. And I think that's so much of the mindsets.
We get to do this, not we have to do this,
you know, we really like I've just over the years
have learned to come from a place of gratitude to
have the stage time absolutely because nobody has to book
you on their stage, nobody has to book you on
(20:56):
their stage. But stage time time is money. Time has value,
and stage time airtime has so much value to it,
so we're willing to invest in it to put our
best foot forward, to create this proof of concept that
might become that might become something else down the line.
(21:16):
And so we took that energy and we continued meeting
with the Pizza Shark girls. We continue to work with them.
We've pitched shows other places. We are developing new show
ideas because that concept of publish or perish is very
real for us in our industry. You have to keep
making things to grow and to move forward. So on
(21:39):
the creative side, like that's a piece of what we've
been working on. And then on the business side, talking
about like focusing on the business on the LLC I've
been looking into like the La Chamber of Commerce.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
Yes, you know that wasn't her business, Lady Era.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Like, I'm like, I don't know what else to do.
I don't know how else to do it other than like.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
My homegirl, Jackie would be so proud of you.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
I am thrilled. All I want to do is make
Jackie prowd. I just want to make Jackie prowd. Obviously
we grew up on Instagram. Like as creatives and as
a project and as a business, we grew up online
and that's where we grew it. But then I'm like
sitting back and thinking, like, there's all these other businesses
that like are operating outside of the digital space. Yes,
we have to go there. That's where we have to go. Yes,
(22:22):
And we have to find the resources and the organizations
and the groups in the city that are going to
connect us to funding and to work that is not
on Instagram and TikTok if we're going to do this
for real. And so I've been like looking at the
LA Chamber of Commerce and then I get this email
(22:43):
about registering our business as a certified small business through
the State of California's Office of General Services. So I'm like, Yosa,
I'm going we are now a certified small business. We
can do a lot.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
We can do a lot.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Yeah, So like not limiting ourselves but allowing ourselves to
try everything. And because our accountant told us we have
to diversify.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
That's something that I think a lot of creatives know
is that you can never have all your eggs in
one basket. You can never rely on just one thing
because what happens if it's gone tomorrow, right, And although
we have work towards and strive towards having these different
streams of income, they haven't been as substantial as the
look at radio budget, and so it's just taking a
(23:26):
hard look at like, Okay, we want to keep this going,
we want to keep doing it, but if the rug
is pulled out from under us tomorrow, we need to
still be able to sustain what we're doing. So that's
really the journey that we've been on the last couple
of months and that we will continue to be on. Well,
I think for the rest of our lives.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
Oh yeah, as long as we're doing this, that's what
we're doing. It's projects, projects, projects, pitching, pitching, pitching, and
chasing green lights. Yeah, and chasing budgets and that's but
you know what, I love it. It's horrible, but I
love it.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
Maist.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
I am totally a masochist in that way. I don't know.
It's just it's like we're living the dream. In a
lot of ways. We are the thing is we are.
The dream is like is also a nightmare, but it's
a dream.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
Yes, they're one in the same.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
Sometimes we're here, we're in Hollywood. We're making media. We're
doing the thing, and anybody who works in media knows
that you have to have multiple projects. And there are
people that we know who are MacArthur Genius fellows, who
are Grammy Award winners who have jobs.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
That's what I'm saying. Tony Morrison had a job. She
was a book editor at Random House Fabulous, you know,
like it is. I think there is so much they pressure, like,
I'm not a credible artist. I'm not a working artist
until I can do it full time, until I make
enough money to sustain it full time. In actuality, if
(24:49):
we look at history, there are so many talented artists,
Pulzer Prize winning MacArthur Genius grantees who had day jobs
because they had to. It's still part of the equation,
you know, for all artists. And I think it's just
depending on what you're prioritizing or what makes the most
sense for you, right because being an entrepreneur does not
(25:09):
make a lot of sense sometimes and that might not
be the path that you want to take as an artist.
As a creative. And even folks working outside the digital space,
they're outside of media. It's been a tough year like globally, Yeah,
there's so many wars right, Like, economy is terrible worldwide.
So I know we're not the only ones feeling this
(25:31):
type of instability, this pressure, this anxiety, because it's across
job sectors, it's across industries, Like this is not just
a media specific stressor this is across all sectors.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
I feel our guest this season, like, these are the
guests that we are inviting onto the show. They make
it look easy on on the Gram and on TikTok
because they're good at what they do. And these are
women who are business owners, who are entrepreneurs, who are
award winners, who are creatives in their own right, and
(26:03):
they face similar struggles to what we're describing here. They
come up against their own obstacles behind the scenes, and
they keep it pushing and they keep it going and
they keep working and they overcome those obstacles because they
love what they do. And these are the stories that
we want to tell this season because this is the
story that we're living, and we know that a lot
of our listeners are walking a similar path in your
(26:25):
own right, in your own worlds and your own careers,
and that's the focus of the season. It's not about luck,
but we feel lucky to get to do what we do.
And it's season eleven, and this is what we're leaning into.
We just want you to follow the journey, our own
journey as we grow the business, as we fight to
survive and hear from others who are fighting their own
(26:49):
fights to keep doing what they love, even when there's obstacles,
even when there's war, even when there's ridiculous Republican regimes,
you know, like threatening our very existence. We know that
the world is nuts and that things are going to shit,
but we keep going. And this is what we're focusing
on this season.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Yeah, we are dreaming big. We'll still be bringing our
tried and true commentary our segments, but we're expanding in
the way that we think about the show. It's been
an archive for so long. We'll continue to be an archive.
But I think the season we really want to focus
on the stories that our guests have to share, not
just them talking about their work, but what they've done
(27:32):
to survive, what they've done to be successful, because sometimes
it does look like luck, but we know that there's
so much work that goes into a quote successful business
life move like whatever that may be for them, right,
And so that's really like the energy that we're carrying
this season because it's, like Ma said, what we've been
(27:53):
living through and we're so happy to be back another season.
It does feel like a little bit of luck, but
we know it's been a lot of hustle and a
lot a lot of like our listeners like coming back
season after season, episode after episode, who deal with the
changes of the show. Embrace the changes of the show.
Embrace the ads, you know.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
Yes, embrace ads.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
Skip there's a button for it, you can skip through it.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
Skip right through. But we need those ads. Yes, we
embrace the ads. We embrace that as we are grateful
for the ads.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Yeah, we don't co sign all the ads. Like we've
said before.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
It's true, you don't appreciate something until it's been threatened
to be taken away from you. No, we love Coca Cola.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
Yeah, I'll drive it an hour traffic just to get
to the studio. I love driving in traffic, Like what
do you mean? Like honestly, that perspective is like, yeah,
I get to drive to Hollywood to work so work
on my podcast that we built from nothing, and I
get to do it for another season for the eleven season.
What a privilege that we get to do that, And
(28:56):
so it is not in a toxic positivity way, but
it's like, Okay, look at the blessing girl. Like you
get to drive to the studio in Hollywood, you're gonna
put out your project, You're putting out your art. You're
growing in the different ways.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Like it's great, it's great. We we live to fight
another day, or as we like to say, we live
to cry another day. But what a privilege it is
to be able to cry over something that you love.
It's tears of joy, it's tears of happiness. It's a
little bit of pain and also a little bit of pain,
but pain can be pleasurable. Pluck guys out of our massacres, don't.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
Go anywhere locomotives.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
So in all of this melee, in all of this chaos, like,
there have been other developments, other new things have sprung
up for us. For example, we are now in our
film producing era. We just got attached as consulting producers
on a feature film, a feature length documentary which is
in development, which is extremely exciting, which is also a privilege.
(30:04):
And I think over the years we've seen really cool
projects get made and get screened and be developed into features,
and the question is always like, how how do we
do it? How do we become involved, how do we
get attached? And it has happened. This film started as
(30:24):
a student documentary short at USC at the School of
Cinematic Arts. These film students graduated before me, so this
film got made like when I was still early in
my program. But once the film started doing the festival
circuit and winning awards, they got a fiscal sponsor, and
now the short is being developed into a feature. I
(30:46):
can't exactly share the name now because there was going
to be an official announcement, but even when we were
not under contract and stressing out about the future of
our show, we got a DM from the crew. They
reached out to us and said, we love you as storytellers,
we love the work you do. We'd love to talk
to you about how you can be involved with the
(31:09):
feature that we're developing. So now we are attached. We're
consulting producers and we're working with the team and it's
really really, really exciting, and it feels like a next
chapter and a new arm of the production company.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
Which we really have been working towards for years, for years.
It's not out of the blue, and it's not out
of nowhere. It's something that we have talked about for
years and years. And one of the reasons you're in
film school. Yeah, it's like we need someone to grow
out that side and that's what you like and that's
what you want to do, So that's what we're going
to do.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
Yeah, And I think that it's all happening in the
right at the right time because for years we've also
talked about like a look, I thought out documentary. Yes,
you know, but there's definitely a skill and a craft
to documentary filmmaking. And it's very different than like a
studio recording or clipping for so or YouTube video. It's
(32:02):
its own type of narrative storytelling. And so I'm really
happy that we're in this space so we can learn
about it, learn about producing a feature and funding a
feature and getting it made and distributed because I think
eventually we want to do our own and it's it's exciting,
and like we talked about at the top of the episode,
(32:22):
podcasts are now video forward, So I think learning the
cinematic arts and the filmmaking is just imperative to continuing
to grow the production company, and we've always considered ourselves
a multimedia production company. So now we're really putting the
multi in multimedia at this point, which is exciting.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
I mean, honestly, Yeah, we've been doing multimedia since before
we really even called it multimedia. We were on YouTube.
We were at twenty eighteen, we were putting our full
episodes on YouTube, and twenty eighteen in so many ways,
we were ahead of the curve, but it's hard. It
was hard to sustain, so you know, we kept it
audio only, and we've always made short films. We've always
(33:06):
made shorts attached to the season as like a season drop,
a season announcement, So that film narrative has always been
a part of Look at Dora, even before we were
in an official capacity of like producing or you in
film school, it was always still in the mix of
what we were doing. And we produced a short film.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
Yes we did. So we're just we're just continuing and
doing it more professionally and more creatively and collaboratively.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
Something else that we've been working on that we're so
excited to tell our listeners about because it involves you directly.
We launched a partnership with Live Nation to bring free
concert tickets to our listeners. And so far we've given
away tickets to Monta Ferte. She's incredible. She's going to
be in La in November and we already did ticket
giveaway and next up top Secret. We haven't done the
(33:55):
giveaway yet, but like literally check out check it out
on Instagram when we drop it. But we're going to
be giving away tickets for young Miko ooh.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
Follow us for a chance to win. Truly.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
Yeah, that's such an exciting partnership. We love live music,
we love concerts, We love a ticket giveaway. We love
being able to give tickets away to our listeners. We
did that last year with a Podcastalduda as they were
having a show in La and we did a ticke
giveaway with them as well. We've done it on and
off over the years, but we're really excited to be
partnering with Live Nation.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
We love giving you guys free stuff, truly. Yes, it
makes us happy to make you happy.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
Yes. And another thing that we're doing we quietly We
should be louder about it, but we quietly soft launched
look at Ora Studios. Now this is a digital studio
for new and aspiring podcasters where you can clock in
and get to work on your podcast. We have podcast
students launching their own original shows. Some of them have
(34:57):
already launched, and we're so so proud of them. And
so the idea behind this is to really harness that
momentum and creativity. And we know that podcasting can sometimes
be a silo. You're doing it by yourself, you're working
really hard at it. You can share your goals, keep
each other accountable, move the needle on your project, and
(35:17):
really build that momentum to keep it going. So you
can sign up. You can join lok at Dora Studios
on our Patreon So that's Patreon dot com, slash look
at Dora Underscore Productions. Okay, Mala, so what are you
looking forward to the most this season.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
I'm looking forward to being back in studio, Like this
is so nice. Yeah, I missed it and it's been
months since we were here last and the studio even
looks different, there's a different setup. I just feel different
as a person, and I just feel this renewed, like
invigorated energy to create and to record. And again, it's
(35:56):
a privilege, it's a privilege to be on the mic.
So I'm just I'm excited.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
Yeah, I agree with you. It is a privilege to podcast,
it's a privilege to be behind the mic. Something I
always think about is that, especially now in this very
wonderful way that podcasts are so accessible, right, anyone can
make a podcast, But there's something to be said that
a mic and a podcast does not signal authority. And
(36:22):
so the fact that our listeners trust us, that our
listeners come back each episode year after year, that they
want to hear from us when something like breaking news happens,
Like we're not a newsroom, but they want to know
what we're thinking about this specific topic. And so there
is so much gratitude that I have that we are
(36:42):
a trusted podcast for our listeners, because again, not everyone
with a mic is an authority. And I'm not saying
we're an authority, but I think we have a track
record of not spreading misinformation, of verifying our soul horses,
interviewing credible people, never interviewing bad actors. And I really
(37:06):
take that seriously. And I'm really grateful to be back
for another season. It's gonna be our best season. Yet
we do feel so lucky but we also know that
there's so much that went into getting to season eleven
and to getting here today.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
Right again, it's not about luck, but we feel lucky
to do what we love.
Speaker 1 (37:25):
All right. Look, i'motis. Thank you for tuning in to
another Gafitolo. Thank God, we will catch you next time.
Bessie thus local Landier
O La la Lo motis. You're listening to Look At
Radio and I'm Theosa.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
And I'm Mala. Welcome to season eleven, the season that
almost didn't happen, and this episode almost didn't happen. But
here we are back in the studio recording another episode
for all of you at home.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
So you might have noticed that we kept putting out
episodes even though we were technically off season, but there
was so much going on behind the scenes, and honestly,
each episode might have been our last episode. That was
the energy we were caring for the first months of
the year.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
We had each other to lean on, thank god, thank God,
and we talked about it with a few people, but
as our listeners, you didn't know what was going on
behind the scenes and how hard it's been for us
to continue podcasting without a formal contract, without a formal
green light, and without a budget. But we're here to
talk about it, to talk through it, and tell you
(00:58):
all the story of how how we came back for
an eleventh season of Look at What Our Radio.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Yeah, we're talking about this season that almost didn't happen
and how we push through the uncertainty. So let's get
into it.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Let's get into it.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
I want to start by talking about just the state
of podcasting, the state of the industry, because I think
anyone who consumes media knows that this is true, that
things get.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Canceled all the time, all the time, constantly.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Your favorite TV show, your favorite podcasts, they don't get renewed.
Think about all of the Latino led shows that have
been canceled over the years, like Pultzer Prize winning podcasts
that don't get renewed. Since we're a podcast, let's talk
about the podcast industry.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Let's talk about the podcast industry, which this includes video
podcasts because podcasting is video forward. Podcasts are now streaming
on Netflix. Apple Podcasts is introducing video on the platform.
Spotify's introducing video on the platform. There's a whole host
of shows that are adapted from existing podcasts. There are
(01:58):
scripted shows that are based off of podcasts, like Only
Murders in the Building is a show about podcasters inspired
by a podcast that Steve Martin was listening to. So
the industry is evolving, it's changing, it's constantly in flux.
But in general, podcasting favors always on celebrity hosted podcasts
(02:20):
and millions of downloads per month. So we love podcasting.
It's a recognized medium. Podcasts are winning Emmys, podcasts are everywhere,
but it's really hard to keep a podcast going and
to keep a podcast renewed without being celebrity hosted and
without millions of downloads every month. Enter look atload our radio.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
We have seen this industry change so much since we
started in twenty sixteen, and we're honestly so proud to
still be here. We've said this so many times before.
So many of our beloved podcast peers are no longer
producing their shows because it's a lot of work, takes
a lot of money, and sometimes there's very little payoff.
(03:03):
And speaking of millions of downloads, right, like, we probably
have like over one point six million listens and counting
and counting, but now it feels like that doesn't even
scratch the surface, right And that's that's hard, you know,
because we started as an indie podcast. We podcasted for
five seasons solo like no network backing, no like ad budget,
(03:29):
no marketing budget, just like Pure Vibes, Pure vibes and
a dedicated audience and like us, dedicated to the craft,
gossip and lots of tiement lots of political analysis, lots
of stories.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Yeah, a lot.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Oh g'z no, right, And then in twenty twenty two,
our lives changed. We signed with Michael Podcast Network and
now we've produced five seasons with them. We're like equally now,
like it evens out we've been with the network as
long as we were Indie.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
That's that's wild to think about wild. I hadn't connected
those dots. I hadn't really thought about that. But yeah,
this is our fifth season now with iHeart with Michael Dura. Yeah,
and we're happy to be here and we want to stay.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
And we want to stay. Yeah. It's been an incredible
opportunity to focus on creative work full time. As we've
shared on the podcast, we've been able to really grow
our podcast production company and have it be multi media
and go back to school and try different things, and
so we're really grateful that this network deal gave us
that opportunity the last several years. And so when our
(04:36):
contract was up for renewal and we faced the very
very real possibility of not being renewed, it was scary.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Mm hmmm, it was scary. It was a nail bitery, y'all.
For months, our nails are down to the quick metaphorically,
because if we're not in season and we're not hosting
and producing and publishing, that means we're not getting paid.
So although we putting out episodes, we need y'all to
know that we were not under contract. Those were like
(05:05):
off season episodes, and we wanted to keep the show going.
We wanted to keep the feed alive. We wanted to
give you all episodes to tune into because we love
what we do. We're lucky that we're able to do it.
Not everybody gets to do this for as long as
we've been doing it, and to get paid to do it.
So even when we weren't getting paid, we wanted to
(05:25):
keep going.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Yeah, yeah, we wanted to be at the top of
your feeds every week. When we didn't really announce that
we were still going, we just kept putting out episodes
posted on social media. Like just the listeners who kept
tuning in knew we were still going. But at the
start of this year, we found ourselves in a place
that we never expected to be in, which was contract limbo.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
It's a scary, scary place, our own personal purgatory, honestly,
padcasting purgatory.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Yes, if I'm thinking about Dante's Infernal of Hell, that's
like the one that I would be in. That would
be the purgatory contract limbo Us and all the other
podcasters and independent creators.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
It's true. We're in LA. We're literally physically in Hollywood
right now. And this is something very common that creatives,
especially living working in LA, Like this is a common experience,
right like, we're not renewed. We're waiting for our next renewal,
We're waiting for our next green light. We're pitching, we're pitching,
(06:24):
we're pitching, we're pitching. We're waiting for something to land.
And the thing that you've been working on might be
pulled out from under you. And now what do we do?
What's our pivot? What's our next move? And so we
had to really think about the very real reality that
we might not get renewed, we might not have another
season of Look at the Rat And we had to
(06:44):
ask ourselves a lot of really really hard questions. After
all these years of podcasting, what happens if we have
no contract, what happens if we have no budget? How
do we survive? What's our next step?
Speaker 1 (06:55):
We do have the power and independence to continue look
at wherever whatever happens, renewer or no renewal. Right, But
it came down to, well, what do we want?
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (07:07):
Right, do we want to bootstrap this again? Do we
want to shop this around with another network? And we
know that that could take months, it could take a year,
it could take longer, you know, and in the meantime,
what else do we do? Do we go back and
get regular nine to five jobs, which is totally fine.
Honestly missed the stability. Honestly, I do, I really do
miss the stability. And then I think the biggest question
(07:29):
that we had not faced in like the ten years
of doing this and eleven seasons is well, what if
we fold the show? Like, what if it's time to
move on and do something else because we're at this
breaking point and if there's ever a time to end, well,
this is a natural end. This is a close and
is that something that we do instead?
Speaker 2 (07:50):
It's it was a very real question that we were
asking ourselves and each other. And yeah, talking about the
stability piece. You know, I think if you're on like
I don't know, like founder TikTok, founder Instagram, if you
follow business owners or like you know, like women who
are talking about starting your own business and investing and
(08:12):
things like that. It seems very glamorous. There's a lot
of content about it about starting your own thing, building
your own thing, leaving your job. But it's really fucking hard. Yes,
it's really hard. And the stability piece is real. You
have to create your own stability and it's not as
easy as it looks on an edited reel. You know,
you go and work for a company and organization, they've
(08:34):
already found the money to pay pay you your paycheck
every month. You just deliver the deliverables and you get
your check. But when you own your own business, you
have to find the money, yeah, to pay your own check,
you know. And it's it's constant, constant work. And so
the idea I think of not having the network support,
(08:55):
not having the contract and bootstrapping again, it's exhausting, right,
and where do we go and where do we look
and how do we ask? And when does something land?
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Right? I think that something that really clicked for me
during this uncertainty and Limbo is yes, we've been podcasting
for a decade. We have eleven seasons under our belt,
but actually as a business we've only been in business
since twenty twenty one, we're like formally, so I'm like,
we're actually still in this growing pains. We're still learning,
(09:27):
like what it means to run a business, yeah, right,
and all the complexities that go behind it. And I
think for me personally, it was really challenging to start
the year with so much uncertainty, right, and like, at
the top of the year, longtime listeners know, I set
my goals, I make my vision board. I like I'm journaling,
I'm honestly dreaming about like, Okay, what do I want
(09:50):
to focus on this year aside from you know, the
podcast and the business, Like, are there other things that
I want to dream up and try and like obtain?
But our biggest project was on the chopping block.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Yeah. Yeah, like the.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Biggest thing for me at least, like has been such
a core part of my identity for the last decade
and it's on the chopping block.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
And so there was just so much uncertainty that I
honestly like the first month moreth and a half of
the year, I was like completely frozen. I was frozen.
Didn't know what we were doing. I knew we needed
to take action, we needed to take things into our
own hands. We needed to like move forward and like
hustle and strategize and do all these things. But when
(10:33):
you have anxiety you plaguing you, You're like, okay, actually
can't do any of that. Like my brain is not
letting me think about, you know, the next couple of months.
I'm only focusing on my day to day right now.
And so you know, there was a part of me
that was like, you know what, we're just going to
end it all and we're just gonna let I'm just
gonna go get a job somewhere and like be a
(10:55):
creative after my nine to five on the weekends like
I did. If it was good for Tony Morrison, it's
good enough for me.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Sure. You know.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
My best friend gave me really sage advice. She said,
don't quit on your worst day, and I was like, okay,
I really like channel that. I was like, don't quit
on your worst day. This is like the worst month,
this is the worst couple of weeks, this is a
really hard it's that bad that we're in and like,
this is not the time to quit. And if I
really think about it, have I given the business, specifically
(11:26):
the business, not the creative side, not look at but
the actual business. Have I given it one hundred percent?
Have I given it my all? The answer was no,
My intuition is telling me like there's still so much
left to do. So no, I'm not folding. We're not
folding right, And of course this is the decision we
both make together. We both have to be invested in it, right,
(11:47):
and so so if one of us is like I'm out,
we're out right, And so it was I think both
of us like being in this really uncertain place and
really working through it and thinking about, Okay, what's what's
an next and what's out what else is out there?
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Yeah, I and I'm still in my master's program at USC,
so I'm also in this like student mindset.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
You know, at the same time that we're facing our
struggles as a show as a production company, because we
look at what our productions LLC and very important or of.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Your Little Edition LLC, and that is legally who we are.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Legally, that is who we are according to the California
Secretary of State and the Treasury. You know, it's like
really important to remember that we have invested so much
in building the business and also we did not inherit
this business. This is not a family business. We got
no startup or seed money. Like we bootstrapped. We raised
(12:47):
our funds. We raised our funds on I fund.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Women, and shout out I Fund Women.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
By the way, amazing platform. If you are a woman
in business or you want to be in business, do
your fundraising on fund Women. They were incredible, they were
so supportive. It's an amazing platform. And then after we
fundraised to fund our startup costs like our articles of
incorporation and our attorney and hiring an accountant, they then
like funneled us into this grant opportunity and Sophia Bush
(13:16):
presented us a Johnny Walker Blue Grant for ten thousand dollars.
So shout out I Fund Women. It's a great place,
and it was starting a business.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
It was a secret like funnel, like they didn't tell
us we're, you know, selecting y'all. We're gonna put this
application in for y'all. Like they just selected us and
told us, oh, by the way, you won a grant.
Sophia Bush is presenting it to you. We thought it
was spam at first, right or Pasadena Queen.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Yes, our rose Peres Queen so we did our own fundraising.
We didn't receive like a big chunk of money from
an investor. We went to our listeners. It was all
very grassroots and like being in school and uh being
around other artists who are just starting on their creative
(14:02):
professional journeys. I'm like, we're already there where these these
people want to be. They want to start their own companies,
they want to have network contracts, and we have these things,
you know, So like it would feel like going backwards
and like erasing what everybody else is trying to build
for themselves. We've already done.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Absolutely, you know.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
And so it's just really about learning how to run
a business, which is not something that I know how
to do. I don't know how to run a business.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
No, in the creative business realm, like we have not
had anyone mentor us from our families at least like
mentor us or guide us or tell us like this
is what you need to run a business.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
Not at all.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
It's been us figuring it out, having an incredible like
accountant and in some ways like functions as our business codes.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Yes, she's great.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
We have like friends who are entrepreneurs who have been
doing it a lot longer who have mentored us along
the way as well. But like, we don't have family
seed money. We don't have family members working in Hollywood. No,
that are you know, putting our name through Like no.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Yeah, none of that, none of that, And it's its
own world. We're not business majors. We were not business majors.
You know.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
I was a creative writing major, yes, okay, and then
I went and got a master's in journalism, thank you.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
You know. My my degree is in MFA and film
and television production. So we know how to make the
thing the thing, but it's the infrastructure and the taxes
and the revenue and the this and the that, like
all of that we are learning as we go. So
I also like had to have my own moment of
everybody is striving to build for themselves what we've already
(15:40):
built for ourselves. Number one. Number two, we have the
network contract, Like that's huge, you know, we can't underestimate
like how big that is to be where we are
and do what we're doing. And number three, we have
to give ourselves grace for not being millionaires by year
(16:02):
five of the business. Yeah, you know, because we are
figuring it out. We're learning, but we're doing pretty damn
good given everything we are.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
And you know something that Anna Flores told me years ago.
So when we first signed our contract, our very first
network year, I was at this little intimate gathering for
Latino Latina Lane creators and storytellers, and she was there
and there was this circle where we were sharing things
that maybe we were struggling with or we were feeling
(16:31):
nervous about. And I shared, like, this is the first
year with the network, and I'm worried, like what happens
if this goes away? I think that's a very real
fear for anyone, Right, you have this big opportunity. What
happens if it's not here tomorrow? And I remember her saying,
like everything it took for you to get here, think
about where you'll be like further down the line, right,
(16:51):
that knowledge is not going to go away. Everything that
you've learned you're going to take with you and whatever happens, Like,
you're going to have a base, You're going to have
the knowledge, and you're not starting from the place you
were now. And I think it's to your point, right,
we're not starting like ground zero. It's not year zero
like year five, as a business. But ten years like
(17:12):
working and building this project, and there's still so much
to do. There's still so much going.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
On and things that we hadn't even considered because we
didn't know. And so I think all of these things,
you know, keeping all these things in mind. At the
top of the year, no contract, no budget, no money
coming in, like zero dollars for months, but we said,
we have to keep working, and we cannot work in isolation.
(17:41):
We're not going to grow like by ourselves. So we
started branching out and collaborating and expanding and growing, and
so we started looking at other ways to get work
made and to stay busy and to grow the business.
And so things kind of like popped up rights. As
(18:01):
this happens every year, we send ourselves like links and
posts and blasts that we receive and we say, oh
my god, we have to participate, we have to pitch,
we have to do it. And this year we fucking
did it. We're doing it right. So, like one thing
we did was we collaborated with Isis and Cato, who
are two Latina podcasters who are like living parallel lives
(18:22):
to us on the East Coast, and they have their
own production company called Pizza Shark and they podcast and
we teamed up with them and we put together a
really cool pitch and we presented at on AirFest in Brooklyn.
We have a whole episode about this, you can tune
into it. You know, that was new for us. We've
never done anything like that before.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
We had always wanted to present it on AirFest for
years four years, we weren't really sure what we would pitch,
and then when we had this really idea from Isis
to collaborate together, we jumped on it. And she took
this really beautiful idea and we all like shaped it
into something and then we were able to present and
it was for us incredible and I think planted the
(19:02):
seed for something else. And we really see this project
that is in Space as something that will continue to
grow and something that's not staying at on AirFest, something
that we want to continue to grow and explore because
the heart of that project is storytelling and there's so
many storytellers that we want to include in this living
time capsule. So that's definitely something that was new for us.
(19:26):
And it costs money to participate. It costs money to work.
We pay to work sometimes and that's the name of
the game, which I don't know if everybody knows this,
but when you're in the creative field, you sometimes pay
to present. You pay your own way to do things
in the hopes that it's going to give you a contact,
(19:48):
give you a connection, help you really take this to
the next level. Right, So it's a creative risk that
you take, and it's really about like investing in yourself
and betting on the project or the idea, right, And
that's the position that we were in for this project.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
It's treating everything as an audition for the next thing
and treating everything as a proof of concept. We can't
approach every opportunity as a paid gig because that's just
not always the case. And it's like, we get to
participate here, it's an honor. It's a privilege to be
(20:35):
in the space and on the stage and to have
the time. And I think that's so much of the mindsets.
We get to do this, not we have to do this,
you know, we really like I've just over the years
have learned to come from a place of gratitude to
have the stage time absolutely because nobody has to book
you on their stage, nobody has to book you on
(20:56):
their stage. But stage time time is money. Time has value,
and stage time airtime has so much value to it,
so we're willing to invest in it to put our
best foot forward, to create this proof of concept that
might become that might become something else down the line.
(21:16):
And so we took that energy and we continued meeting
with the Pizza Shark girls. We continue to work with them.
We've pitched shows other places. We are developing new show
ideas because that concept of publish or perish is very
real for us in our industry. You have to keep
making things to grow and to move forward. So on
(21:39):
the creative side, like that's a piece of what we've
been working on. And then on the business side, talking
about like focusing on the business on the LLC I've
been looking into like the La Chamber of Commerce.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
Yes, you know that wasn't her business, Lady Era.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Like, I'm like, I don't know what else to do.
I don't know how else to do it other than like.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
My homegirl, Jackie would be so proud of you.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
I am thrilled. All I want to do is make
Jackie prowd. I just want to make Jackie prowd. Obviously
we grew up on Instagram. Like as creatives and as
a project and as a business, we grew up online
and that's where we grew it. But then I'm like
sitting back and thinking, like, there's all these other businesses
that like are operating outside of the digital space. Yes,
we have to go there. That's where we have to go. Yes,
(22:22):
And we have to find the resources and the organizations
and the groups in the city that are going to
connect us to funding and to work that is not
on Instagram and TikTok if we're going to do this
for real. And so I've been like looking at the
LA Chamber of Commerce and then I get this email
(22:43):
about registering our business as a certified small business through
the State of California's Office of General Services. So I'm like, Yosa,
I'm going we are now a certified small business. We
can do a lot.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
We can do a lot.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Yeah, So like not limiting ourselves but allowing ourselves to
try everything. And because our accountant told us we have
to diversify.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
That's something that I think a lot of creatives know
is that you can never have all your eggs in
one basket. You can never rely on just one thing
because what happens if it's gone tomorrow, right, And although
we have work towards and strive towards having these different
streams of income, they haven't been as substantial as the
look at radio budget, and so it's just taking a
(23:26):
hard look at like, Okay, we want to keep this going,
we want to keep doing it, but if the rug
is pulled out from under us tomorrow, we need to
still be able to sustain what we're doing. So that's
really the journey that we've been on the last couple
of months and that we will continue to be on. Well,
I think for the rest of our lives.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
Oh yeah, as long as we're doing this, that's what
we're doing. It's projects, projects, projects, pitching, pitching, pitching, and
chasing green lights. Yeah, and chasing budgets and that's but
you know what, I love it. It's horrible, but I
love it.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
Maist.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
I am totally a masochist in that way. I don't know.
It's just it's like we're living the dream. In a
lot of ways. We are the thing is we are.
The dream is like is also a nightmare, but it's
a dream.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
Yes, they're one in the same.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
Sometimes we're here, we're in Hollywood. We're making media. We're
doing the thing, and anybody who works in media knows
that you have to have multiple projects. And there are
people that we know who are MacArthur Genius fellows, who
are Grammy Award winners who have jobs.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
That's what I'm saying. Tony Morrison had a job. She
was a book editor at Random House Fabulous, you know,
like it is. I think there is so much they pressure, like,
I'm not a credible artist. I'm not a working artist
until I can do it full time, until I make
enough money to sustain it full time. In actuality, if
(24:49):
we look at history, there are so many talented artists,
Pulzer Prize winning MacArthur Genius grantees who had day jobs
because they had to. It's still part of the equation,
you know, for all artists. And I think it's just
depending on what you're prioritizing or what makes the most
sense for you, right because being an entrepreneur does not
(25:09):
make a lot of sense sometimes and that might not
be the path that you want to take as an artist.
As a creative. And even folks working outside the digital space,
they're outside of media. It's been a tough year like globally, Yeah,
there's so many wars right, Like, economy is terrible worldwide.
So I know we're not the only ones feeling this
(25:31):
type of instability, this pressure, this anxiety, because it's across
job sectors, it's across industries, Like this is not just
a media specific stressor this is across all sectors.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
I feel our guest this season, like, these are the
guests that we are inviting onto the show. They make
it look easy on on the Gram and on TikTok
because they're good at what they do. And these are
women who are business owners, who are entrepreneurs, who are
award winners, who are creatives in their own right, and
(26:03):
they face similar struggles to what we're describing here. They
come up against their own obstacles behind the scenes, and
they keep it pushing and they keep it going and
they keep working and they overcome those obstacles because they
love what they do. And these are the stories that
we want to tell this season because this is the
story that we're living, and we know that a lot
of our listeners are walking a similar path in your
(26:25):
own right, in your own worlds and your own careers,
and that's the focus of the season. It's not about luck,
but we feel lucky to get to do what we do.
And it's season eleven, and this is what we're leaning into.
We just want you to follow the journey, our own
journey as we grow the business, as we fight to
survive and hear from others who are fighting their own
(26:49):
fights to keep doing what they love, even when there's obstacles,
even when there's war, even when there's ridiculous Republican regimes,
you know, like threatening our very existence. We know that
the world is nuts and that things are going to shit,
but we keep going. And this is what we're focusing
on this season.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Yeah, we are dreaming big. We'll still be bringing our
tried and true commentary our segments, but we're expanding in
the way that we think about the show. It's been
an archive for so long. We'll continue to be an archive.
But I think the season we really want to focus
on the stories that our guests have to share, not
just them talking about their work, but what they've done
(27:32):
to survive, what they've done to be successful, because sometimes
it does look like luck, but we know that there's
so much work that goes into a quote successful business
life move like whatever that may be for them, right,
And so that's really like the energy that we're carrying
this season because it's, like Ma said, what we've been
(27:53):
living through and we're so happy to be back another season.
It does feel like a little bit of luck, but
we know it's been a lot of hustle and a
lot a lot of like our listeners like coming back
season after season, episode after episode, who deal with the
changes of the show. Embrace the changes of the show.
Embrace the ads, you know.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
Yes, embrace ads.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
Skip there's a button for it, you can skip through it.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
Skip right through. But we need those ads. Yes, we
embrace the ads. We embrace that as we are grateful
for the ads.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Yeah, we don't co sign all the ads. Like we've
said before.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
It's true, you don't appreciate something until it's been threatened
to be taken away from you. No, we love Coca Cola.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
Yeah, I'll drive it an hour traffic just to get
to the studio. I love driving in traffic, Like what
do you mean? Like honestly, that perspective is like, yeah,
I get to drive to Hollywood to work so work
on my podcast that we built from nothing, and I
get to do it for another season for the eleven season.
What a privilege that we get to do that, And
(28:56):
so it is not in a toxic positivity way, but
it's like, Okay, look at the blessing girl. Like you
get to drive to the studio in Hollywood, you're gonna
put out your project, You're putting out your art. You're
growing in the different ways.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Like it's great, it's great. We we live to fight
another day, or as we like to say, we live
to cry another day. But what a privilege it is
to be able to cry over something that you love.
It's tears of joy, it's tears of happiness. It's a
little bit of pain and also a little bit of pain,
but pain can be pleasurable. Pluck guys out of our massacres, don't.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
Go anywhere locomotives.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
So in all of this melee, in all of this chaos, like,
there have been other developments, other new things have sprung
up for us. For example, we are now in our
film producing era. We just got attached as consulting producers
on a feature film, a feature length documentary which is
in development, which is extremely exciting, which is also a privilege.
(30:04):
And I think over the years we've seen really cool
projects get made and get screened and be developed into features,
and the question is always like, how how do we
do it? How do we become involved, how do we
get attached? And it has happened. This film started as
(30:24):
a student documentary short at USC at the School of
Cinematic Arts. These film students graduated before me, so this
film got made like when I was still early in
my program. But once the film started doing the festival
circuit and winning awards, they got a fiscal sponsor, and
now the short is being developed into a feature. I
(30:46):
can't exactly share the name now because there was going
to be an official announcement, but even when we were
not under contract and stressing out about the future of
our show, we got a DM from the crew. They
reached out to us and said, we love you as storytellers,
we love the work you do. We'd love to talk
to you about how you can be involved with the
(31:09):
feature that we're developing. So now we are attached. We're
consulting producers and we're working with the team and it's
really really, really exciting, and it feels like a next
chapter and a new arm of the production company.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
Which we really have been working towards for years, for years.
It's not out of the blue, and it's not out
of nowhere. It's something that we have talked about for
years and years. And one of the reasons you're in
film school. Yeah, it's like we need someone to grow
out that side and that's what you like and that's
what you want to do, So that's what we're going
to do.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
Yeah, And I think that it's all happening in the
right at the right time because for years we've also
talked about like a look, I thought out documentary. Yes,
you know, but there's definitely a skill and a craft
to documentary filmmaking. And it's very different than like a
studio recording or clipping for so or YouTube video. It's
(32:02):
its own type of narrative storytelling. And so I'm really
happy that we're in this space so we can learn
about it, learn about producing a feature and funding a
feature and getting it made and distributed because I think
eventually we want to do our own and it's it's exciting,
and like we talked about at the top of the episode,
(32:22):
podcasts are now video forward, So I think learning the
cinematic arts and the filmmaking is just imperative to continuing
to grow the production company, and we've always considered ourselves
a multimedia production company. So now we're really putting the
multi in multimedia at this point, which is exciting.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
I mean, honestly, Yeah, we've been doing multimedia since before
we really even called it multimedia. We were on YouTube.
We were at twenty eighteen, we were putting our full
episodes on YouTube, and twenty eighteen in so many ways,
we were ahead of the curve, but it's hard. It
was hard to sustain, so you know, we kept it
audio only, and we've always made short films. We've always
(33:06):
made shorts attached to the season as like a season drop,
a season announcement, So that film narrative has always been
a part of Look at Dora, even before we were
in an official capacity of like producing or you in
film school, it was always still in the mix of
what we were doing. And we produced a short film.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
Yes we did. So we're just we're just continuing and
doing it more professionally and more creatively and collaboratively.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
Something else that we've been working on that we're so
excited to tell our listeners about because it involves you directly.
We launched a partnership with Live Nation to bring free
concert tickets to our listeners. And so far we've given
away tickets to Monta Ferte. She's incredible. She's going to
be in La in November and we already did ticket
giveaway and next up top Secret. We haven't done the
(33:55):
giveaway yet, but like literally check out check it out
on Instagram when we drop it. But we're going to
be giving away tickets for young Miko ooh.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
Follow us for a chance to win. Truly.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
Yeah, that's such an exciting partnership. We love live music,
we love concerts, We love a ticket giveaway. We love
being able to give tickets away to our listeners. We
did that last year with a Podcastalduda as they were
having a show in La and we did a ticke
giveaway with them as well. We've done it on and
off over the years, but we're really excited to be
partnering with Live Nation.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
We love giving you guys free stuff, truly. Yes, it
makes us happy to make you happy.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
Yes. And another thing that we're doing we quietly We
should be louder about it, but we quietly soft launched
look at Ora Studios. Now this is a digital studio
for new and aspiring podcasters where you can clock in
and get to work on your podcast. We have podcast
students launching their own original shows. Some of them have
(34:57):
already launched, and we're so so proud of them. And
so the idea behind this is to really harness that
momentum and creativity. And we know that podcasting can sometimes
be a silo. You're doing it by yourself, you're working
really hard at it. You can share your goals, keep
each other accountable, move the needle on your project, and
(35:17):
really build that momentum to keep it going. So you
can sign up. You can join lok at Dora Studios
on our Patreon So that's Patreon dot com, slash look
at Dora Underscore Productions. Okay, Mala, so what are you
looking forward to the most this season.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
I'm looking forward to being back in studio, Like this
is so nice. Yeah, I missed it and it's been
months since we were here last and the studio even
looks different, there's a different setup. I just feel different
as a person, and I just feel this renewed, like
invigorated energy to create and to record. And again, it's
(35:56):
a privilege, it's a privilege to be on the mic.
So I'm just I'm excited.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
Yeah, I agree with you. It is a privilege to podcast,
it's a privilege to be behind the mic. Something I
always think about is that, especially now in this very
wonderful way that podcasts are so accessible, right, anyone can
make a podcast, But there's something to be said that
a mic and a podcast does not signal authority. And
(36:22):
so the fact that our listeners trust us, that our
listeners come back each episode year after year, that they
want to hear from us when something like breaking news happens,
Like we're not a newsroom, but they want to know
what we're thinking about this specific topic. And so there
is so much gratitude that I have that we are
(36:42):
a trusted podcast for our listeners, because again, not everyone
with a mic is an authority. And I'm not saying
we're an authority, but I think we have a track
record of not spreading misinformation, of verifying our soul horses,
interviewing credible people, never interviewing bad actors. And I really
(37:06):
take that seriously. And I'm really grateful to be back
for another season. It's gonna be our best season. Yet
we do feel so lucky but we also know that
there's so much that went into getting to season eleven
and to getting here today.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
Right again, it's not about luck, but we feel lucky
to do what we love.
Speaker 1 (37:25):
All right. Look, i'motis. Thank you for tuning in to
another Gafitolo. Thank God, we will catch you next time.
Bessie thus local Landier
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