Ep 150 | Workforce Ed: What if a student hosted our podcast?

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey, Meritive, what's your occupation and you're like podcasting? How would you answer what is your specialty?

SPEAKER_01 0:07

Ooh, that's a good question. I would say interviews.

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Interviews, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:12

Because there is another specialty of being a solo podcaster where you are engaging with an invisible audience, and it is so hard. Welcome to the Voices United in Education podcast. Each week we showcase the teachers, administrators, and community members who go the extra mile to contribute to the success of every student in Escambia County. You'll meet the real people behind the titles and learn about the amazing resources to support every student's success.

SPEAKER_00 0:50

Sometimes the cure for curiosity in life simply starts with talking with strangers. You may have noticed that I'm not the usual host for Voices United in Education. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Bethany Gurley. I'm the videographer intern for Skimmy County School District. In today's episode, me and Meredith are swapping seats to unpack the mystery of the beloved host and figure out who is Meredith Packwith Edwards. Who is she? Who is that girl? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Must be a very hard question for you to answer, huh? Oh, hopefully that's not the first question.

SPEAKER_01 1:23

Nope, nope. Oh, good. Because that's like the essay we all dread. Yeah. Describe yourself.

SPEAKER_00 1:29

It's like an icebreaker when the teacher's like, How do you describe yourself? And everyone has to go in a group. Oh, yeah. As an introvert, that is my worst nightmare. So Voices United in Education. How long have you done this podcast?

SPEAKER_01 1:47

I think we're going on two-ish years now, which is really exciting.

SPEAKER_00 1:52

How were you able to be the voice behind Voices United in Education?

SPEAKER_01 1:56

It was a lot of happy coincidences, actually. So I've been podcasting since 2019. And I noticed as I was continuing to podcast and run into people in Pensacola that they were saying, Oh, you know, my company is gonna start a podcast. My business did start a podcast and then it faded away, or we want to start a podcast, but there's no one who has the knowledge or the time to do it. I thought, oh wow, that's really interesting. I wonder if I could help with that problem and use my skills at the same time. And so that's when I made actually like a pitch packet to be like a podcaster for hire. I hadn't sent the packet out to anyone yet, but then I got an email the very next day from someone that said, Hey, we have some questions about podcasting. And that led to Voices United in Education.

SPEAKER_00 2:50

Wow. Isn't that crazy?

SPEAKER_01 2:51

Yeah. It was like a huge coincidence.

SPEAKER_00 2:53

That's amazing though. Small world too. What like really made you want to do podcasting?

SPEAKER_01 2:59

I was a little late to the podcasting game. I used to watch clips on YouTube, and someone, one of friend of ours kept saying, you know, you can actually listen to these things on an app. And I was like, Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. I'll just continue to watch clips. But he showed me how to listen. And I I love interviews. I'm like you. You know, I think that interaction is so fascinating when you get two people together that really have a quality conversation. And I realized the more I listened to these interviews, that it had so much in common with my experience as a salesperson. Because during that experience of 17 years in sales, I met so many people from different backgrounds. And it changed my outlook on the world. I was more closed-minded. And those experiences really opened me up to how people really are. It was anthropological, you might say. And I thought, well, wait a minute, how do other people have an opportunity to expand their worldview if they don't have a weird sales job? You know, because if you're waking up next to the same person every day, you're going to the same job, talking to the same folks at the same water cooler, and then you drive home and just wash, rinse, repeat, you don't have that opportunity. And so I thought, well, what if I create something that allows people to have that experience digitally? And it was just so intrinsically satisfying that I just kept doing it. And now I do it for a living.

SPEAKER_00 4:30

Wow, that is like the dream job right there. Especially since your life is not like the typical boring office job. You're able to go out and you meet so many different people. You talk to so many different people. And every single day it seems like your life changes. Is that how you feel when you do the podcasts and these interviews?

SPEAKER_01 4:53

It is, but I want to point out that there's opportunities to have that in your life, regardless of your job. You're just not asking the right questions. And that's kind of the point of the art of podcasting, is it's good question asking. It's being present for the answer and then pulling the strings and seeing what else is there. So when you go to the grocery store, you know, you have an opportunity to meet someone interesting. You just have to ask the right questions. Publics on Ninth Avenue, for example. There's a guy there that taught biology for, you know, 20 years and he bags the groceries. He is so interesting. So you just have to ask, you know, and so it's not that these sorts of conversations are paywalled behind a profession. It's really accessible to anybody as long as you practice a little bit. You just gotta put the initiative. Yeah, you have to have the curiosity.

SPEAKER_00 5:49

Yeah. That's amazing. So you can say, like, even just going to a neighbor of yours or like not even a neighbor, a complete stranger at like Walmart, and be like, hey, how are you? It that can start a conversation where you can ask questions and you can learn soft skills, right? From like doing this kind of thing.

SPEAKER_01 6:11

Yeah. And it's okay to be awkward at first. I think that's when I was in sales, I found that I was very awkward and I was really young. I was just not even 21 when I started that. And I remember not having very much in common with the women that I was selling to. And they would say, Oh, well, I'm in the military. I'm a doctor. Oh, I'm a lawyer. And I just felt like the conversation just died right there because I had no follow-up skills. I felt intimidated immediately. They're older than me, they're more educated, they're smarter. I told myself all these stories about a person based on their profession. And so instead of staying in that intimidated space, I asked people who are also salespeople with me, hey, what if someone says I'm a nurse, for example. What do I say? And she laughed and she said, ask them what their specialty is. And I learned actually, what is your specialty? Is a follow-up question you can ask to nearly any profession. So if someone says, I'm an attorney, oh, what's your specialty? You know, what what area do you practice in most? And then they'll it opens up a conversation because you've shown interest. You can also say, Oh, I bet that industry has changed a lot in the last 10 years. You can use that for anything, but it really makes the conversation a lot more multidimensional than, oh, which is yeah, which was the low bar that I was coming from at first. Like, yeah, oh, interesting.

SPEAKER_00 7:50

Wow. Especially if someone were to, like, for example, me, hey, Merative, what's your occupation? And you're like podcasting. How would you answer what is your specialty?

SPEAKER_01 8:01

Ooh, that's a good question. I would say interviews.

SPEAKER_00 8:04

Interviews, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:06

Because there's another specialty of being a solo podcaster where you are engaging with an invisible audience, and it is so hard. Wow. It is so hard. I have so much respect for people who do it that way.

SPEAKER_00 8:19

See, as a like a consumer of listening to podcasts, I never would have thought of like the different sides of podcasting, like the podcast with interviews and a solo podcast. That's very impressive. And I'm assuming people who do solo podcasting, they can say the same for how people with interviews can be more intimidating than just them talking to an invisible audience.

SPEAKER_01 8:46

Yeah, a hundred percent.

SPEAKER_00 8:47

So would you consider podcasting like a form of journalism in a career?

SPEAKER_01 8:54

No, I would not, unless you are already a journalist. I have a lot of respect for journalists, and I am not one of them. I think on the surface, it can look like journalism simply because it's questions and answers, but journalism is so much more than that. However, I do think that all podcasters can learn from the processes that are behind the scenes for journalists, you know, the research, the reading, the putting on a different hat. Like if you're interviewing someone and you find yourself just all in on what they're saying, what can you do to put on another hat to ask a different question that's maybe an objection to what they're doing or what they're saying? And actually, I find Reddit is a great place for the answer.

SPEAKER_00 9:46

Oh, yeah, you Reddit, of course. Yes. You learned all the amazing tricks and answers to many hard questions. Rabbit holes. Yeah. You know, I guess journalism with just talking to an average listener, people would always assume like videography, like interviews and podcasting interviews are a form of journalism. But journalism is so much more than that.

SPEAKER_01 10:13

I think it's a tool of journalism. But when you are a podcast host specifically, your audience also wants to know you a little bit. And so it's a delicate balance of you know, revealing enough to keep it feeling warm and intimate, but professional enough that you don't feel like you're just listening in on two people at a coffee shop. I know that does work for some shows, but there's, I think there's a fine balance. And it's the balance is different for each audience. So it's really the skill of the podcaster to kind of guess along the way.

SPEAKER_00 10:53

That's like a great way we can like connect with podcasts because there's so many different varieties. Like you can listen to a podcast about trees or whatever someone's hobby is. And since you've done podcasting for so much and for so many people that you've seen different varieties of podcasts, and that is like truly amazing. And so, like, what form of podcasting do you truly like listening to?

SPEAKER_01 11:23

I still like interviews. Interviews? Yeah, I still like them. When I started podcasting, there wasn't one podcast that I was like, oh, this is my show. It was a variety, and so I kind of used that desire to have variety to put into my own show. So now as a podcast listener, I've found more podcasts that kind of fit into that society culture category. But I I know I've found a good podcast when it's fun, not too serious. I learn something and it gives me talking points in real life. Yeah. And that's kind of like my, you know, behind the scenes mission for Voices United in Education is to create real life talking points and an audio cache of resources for parents in Escambia County. Because we we were definitely all talking about the season finale of White Lotus. But like, why not also talk about the amazing resources at the local YMCA or you know, Valerie's house, or you know, what what the what teacher of the year? Oh my gosh, did you hear about the teacher of the year? She did this really cool thing for her class. And there's just so much to to talk about that it doesn't always have to be, it doesn't have to be gossip. Yeah. It can be it can be helpful because when a parent is struggling, what's the first thing that they do? They complain to another parent. And so why not respect how humans work? That's how we work, you know, that's how we're hardwired for community, whether you love it or hate it. So let's leverage that by creating a modern resource, a podcast that is entertaining, that you can listen to on your commute to work that creates helpful talking points when you are the listening ear for a complaining parent.

SPEAKER_00 13:16

On that note, podcasting is a form of communication, like a topic starter with parents and families. And people like will tell, hey, the other day I listened to this podcast about how we have an archery place that's nearby. And like you hear everyone's like different stories. Do you in particular have a story where you connect with someone or that you were involved in?

SPEAKER_01 13:46

Well, we've done a lot of episodes, so it's hard to pick one. But what my first reaction to that is that my impression of people who work in education has been elevated. I come from a family of teachers. My uh grandmother was a one-room schoolhouse teacher in Nebraska, which sounds like it's made up, but that's a real story. And then her daughter, my aunt, taught special education and then eventually came into a role of leadership in that area. And we all kind of have that teacher spirit, right? So I had this baseline, but it totally was elevated after just even a year of doing Voices United because I realized how much work behind the scenes, not just the teachers, but everyone is doing. And that leaves me as kind of like this weird fangirl. So I'm like an influencer out in the community, I feel like, for the stuff that Escambia County public schools are doing because I see like the behind the scenes of it. And it's there's so many good resources. It's not just the schools, it's everyone. Like everyone is really trying to do what they can do to secure our future, right? Because it's not just about padding a resume, you know, like, oh, look, I volunteered, or oh look, I started this nonprofit, or I worked at this nonprofit. Like the people they genuinely want kids to be whole and happy and healthy and ready to go out and be contributing members of the community.

SPEAKER_00 15:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:19

Because it benefits all of us. So it's really painted a picture of how interconnected we all are and just how salt of the earth everyone is here.

SPEAKER_00 15:29

I mean, especially with this podcast, you hear those stories. Like you, a lot of people, like you mentioned earlier, parents, if the first thing they'll look up is they'll see like negativity. But this podcast is an opportunity for them to hear it the other side, to listen to those happy stories and be like, wow, they really do put so much effort into my kids' education. So this might be a tricky one, but oh what makes podcasting special to you?

SPEAKER_01 16:06

I think it's a combination of ingredients. And those ingredients are the creators and the listeners. It's like a special match. It's not really like podcasting itself, but it's that combination that makes podcasting. And the reason that's special is because podcast creators have a certain message that they want to get across to the listener. And because they choose podcasting, that's how you know that whatever that message is, it has multiple layers to it because otherwise they wouldn't choose podcasting because then you would run out of stuff to stay four episodes, right? So that means there's a story to be told, multiple stories. There's a picture, a perspective that they're painting. And so that's thing one. And then thing two is the people listening to the podcast, they want the layered story. And that's what's so cool about that match because it's it's intimate, it's complex, it's paradoxical at times. And I think it's more representative of how our real world is than other forms of media. Certainly the short forms that we see on social, but I would argue even the longer form interviews on television, those are also heavily edited, you know, and and they are there's behind the scenes producers that are telling those interviewers what to say and what to ask. Whereas interviewing in a podcast setting is, I don't know, it seems a little bit more indie.

SPEAKER_00 17:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:41

And I think that's what makes it more believable.

SPEAKER_00 17:44

It's more like at home, yeah. Compared to television, where you can sometimes tell it's scripted why podcasting you can't feel that. You you hear the inner thoughts, well, it's being spoken out loud with the individual, and that's very remarkable. Yeah. So you do a lot of podcasts. What helps you prepare? Like, do you have a ritual to help you get into the mood to like start all these interviews? Do you do you drink tea or do you party?

SPEAKER_01 18:20

I don't party. No, I don't I'm drinking the tea right now. It is throat coat. It smells like black licorice, and some people hate it, but it is the best for your throat when you're podcasting. So it depends on the show, what my prep process is. For Voices United, it's a pre-chat with each guest that's 30 minutes, and that's over a video call. And I ask them questions like, you know, what do people tend to misunderstand about the services your organization offers or what you're doing? I sometimes paint a picture. Imagine you're in a coffee shop and you've got, you know, all the parents in Escambia County there and they're ready to listen to you. What is the first thing you want to make sure that you don't forget to say? Like, what would you be sad if we recorded and you forgot and you left the building and you'd be like, oh, I forgot this. What comes to mind? And just kind of get an idea of what it is that they do because the stuff that we talk about on the show isn't easily Googleable. So, unlike other public figures that I can easily look up past interviews that they've done, watch YouTube videos that they're featured in, I don't really have that for this show. So it's all from the person in that pre-chat. And that's how I curate my questions. That's how I kind of form the outline. I call it the conversational neighborhood. I say we don't want to wander around in the woods. We want to have a nice conversational neighborhood. We'll go here, here, and here. And because the people that are on this show are not usually comfortable on a microphone, that gives them a lot of ease, knowing that everything that you want to talk about, we're gonna talk about. Because if you don't do that, something that can happen is you say, Hi, welcome to the show. And then 15 minutes later, they're still saying everything that they want to say because they're afraid that you're not gonna ask the right question. So they data dump. Yeah. And then it's like, oh, that was a TED talk. So yeah. So that prep process is so great because that also gives me an idea of who they are as a person, how talkative or untalkative they are. So I know to write more or less questions. And then I write the questions and the introduction usually a week later, because that pre-chat is a week or two before. And then the morning of I spend about an hour before I even show up to the building practicing all the intros and every question out loud. It kind of warms up my voice, but gets my brain flowing too. I'll walk around as I do it. Yeah. Then I drive here, get here a little bit early, kind of say hello to everyone. And then we are off to the races. And it's usually back to back, one person right after another. It's barely time for a potty break. We do five or six interviews in one day. So that's kind of a fun behind the scenes. Maybe people don't realize.

SPEAKER_00 21:13

Yeah. It's especially we can connect this with like filming too. A lot of people don't realize how time-consuming setups can be. And but I think a part of that is kind of like the fun thing about it though. Like it keeps you on the edge a little bit, but it feels like when you're finally like sitting down having these interviews, you're like, let's get this started. Do you feel that way whenever you do these types of interviews? Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:44

I have an extrovert hangover. After all this is done.

SPEAKER_00 21:49

Oh boy.

SPEAKER_01 21:50

I like my husband knows you're on your own for dinner. Like, I'm not cooking dinner. I'm usually sitting my hiny on the sofa and And just watching TV, or sometimes I'll just be outside, you know, hanging out with my plants. Like there is no more brain work, no more social. Yeah. Cause I I'm all stoked afterwards. And then the adrenaline wears off. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Which is part of the reason why I do them back to back like I do, because that only allows us to have, I think, three months off of no recording a year. So it prevents burnout. But it also is kind of like a biohack.

SPEAKER_00 22:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:29

Because I use the cortisol and adrenaline. All those things make your brain sharp. And you can remember questions, you can stay present a lot easier. My ADHD is best controlled on recording days, believe it or not. Yeah. Because all the cortisol, probably caffeine that I consume, helps too now that I think about it, if I'm being really honest. But yeah, so but you're right. After I'm just trashed.

SPEAKER_00 22:49

Yeah. With doing this podcast, it affects so many parents and mostly teachers too. A lot of educators listen to this podcast. What like fun events can stem from this podcast that people will, hey, I want to be a part of like this community. What can they go to to be more informed other than just listening to the podcast?

SPEAKER_01 23:12

Well, I really hope that people would meet up in real life at each other's, you know, events. Like someone would say, Oh, there's a summer camp, and they meet up, hey, and then they have this like shared trauma of being on the podcast. Did you have to do anything? Oh, I did too. I thought it was bad, and then we made it, and you know, they're together. So I hope that it creates those real life relationships. But I feel like the more obvious answer is Podcast Apalooza, because that's the annual event where it's essentially a pop-up. So we all know what a pop-up is. You know, you've got an online business that comes to your town and suddenly you can go try on the clothes that you would normally have to buy online. The same idea is we fill Booker T. Washington High School gymnasium with booths, and every booth is a guest from the show. And every guest, as you know, represents a business or a resource that are helpful to families. And so you can go up to the Bright Futures lady and talk to her about scholarships, and you can go up to the video game team and talk to them. There's really a team for a video game, you know, and of course, very popularly, Leanne Jenkins has the, you know, the bunny rabbits and the FFA stuff. And yeah, it's a really cool event. But even being outside of a cool event, it's actually a really helpful event. This last time I was able to connect with some parents and grandparents who really had some specific needs for their kiddos. And I was able to go, okay, I think this person at this booth can help you. And if they can't, I think they'll know more than me of who can. And so it was very grassroots-y, like, okay, who do you know that can help this person in this area? And that feels really good because that's definitely the point. The point is not to go, oh, look at this back catalog of 200 episodes that we have. The point is that people would get what they need.

SPEAKER_00 25:13

Yeah. It's like a reward, especially when someone asks you, like, I've been struggling with trying to figure out activities or like opportunities for my child. And then you're like, hey, we have a podcast about that. But hey, since you're at this fun event, you can talk to the people face to face. And not only they be like, oh, there's my answer, they also can form a connection right then and there.

SPEAKER_01 25:40

Exactly. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:42

So now here's where the heart question. Okay. Now I hope you're prepared for it. I'm ready. But how in your own words? Let's do it in five words if you can. Oh my gosh. I believe in you. Okay. Describe Meredith Hackwith Edwards. Oh, sister.

SPEAKER_01 26:02

Curious. Actually, I am relentlessly curious. Side story. Last night I had a dream, and this person called me something in the dream. Like it was like a title of a like a profession or something. And I had never heard the word before. And I asked him what it meant. And he told me in the dream. I don't remember the word in case you're wondering. In the dream, I said to myself, that is really interesting. I need to wake up so I can Google that. And that basically sums me up. I am so relentlessly curious, reluctantly introverted, because it does feel like a little bit of a disability sometimes. I don't always love being introverted. And I don't know if it's one word, but what's a good word for like have this need to know people? You know, I gotta know people. Like that's where like the introvertedness is sort of conflicting a little bit because ever since I was little, I lived in this tiny small town in Nebraska, population 4,000. And every there was not a lot of diversity there. Yeah. But I had this inner burning need to know people different than me, to travel or to go where they were at, even if it wasn't far from my town. Just like to know them. Like if someone speaks a language I don't know, it yeah, it bothers me because I'm like, well, how will I know them?

SPEAKER_00 27:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:30

You know? So whatever that is. Yeah, that's my that's my fifth word.

SPEAKER_00 27:35

That's amazing. Well, thank you so much for being the hot seat. How do you feel?

SPEAKER_01 27:41

I feel pretty good. I feel like you did a pretty dang good job. So I have a question for you.

SPEAKER_00 27:46

Oh no.

SPEAKER_01 27:48

Part of being a good interviewer is having a solid center and sense of self because that is the difference between reading off questions and truly asking them. And I noticed right away that you are truly asking questions. Like the first day that I met you, I was like, who is this girl? And then they were like, Oh, that's a student. She's 18. And I was like, What? Are you kidding me? So, where does that come from for you? Where does that sense of self come from at such a young age? Because you're in an interesting liminal spot. Like you are considered a student by everyone here in this building, and yet you're doing the work of like an adult. Legally, you have that title, but it's still like this in-between world for you, which would lead me to think you wouldn't have an anchored sense of self, but you do.

SPEAKER_00 28:50

You know, you're the second person today in the like span of an hour. Because, you know, I start conversations with people, and there was a lady at my school, and she said, Are you an adult? Are you a student? I was like, Technically, yes, on both. And she's like, I'm not used to students talking to me, like having a conversation that's not about, hey, where's my grade? You know? But I don't really it to me it feels natural. Like I love, I'm the same way. I love to talk to people and understand them. I love to be informative. Like, oh wow, this person loves avocados. Avocados are fun, but I never would, you know, like I never would have bonded with someone if I didn't ask. And I think it's just because of how I grew up, I always felt the need to bond with people because you never know when will be the last time you see them. And I think that's something I like to do. Like, hey, I remember talking to that person five years ago at Walmart. You form that connection with someone, even if it's just like a hey, how you doing? You still connect with people that way. And I live every day trying to have that moment every day talking to people.

SPEAKER_01 30:07

That's beautiful. Always keep that.

SPEAKER_00 30:09

Thank you. Thank you so much for having me be a guest host, putting pressure on me, but also putting a little bit more pressure on you for the audience to be like, hey, what's the personality behind Maritive? You know, she always asks these questions, but we never hear much from her. Well, they hear your voice, of course, but they don't hear like your personal insight. So thank you so much for having me and having you as our interviewee.

SPEAKER_01 30:35

You did a great job. Thanks for listening. Be sure to subscribe and share. Voices United in Education is a production of Scambe County Public Schools.