Building Real-World Community in the Age of Loneliness with Whitney Pollard

Building Real-World Community in the Age of Loneliness with Whitney Pollard

In this episode, you'll hear from Whitney Pollard — engineer, former corporate leader, world traveler, and founder of Homii — a community platform designed to bridge the gap between our digital lives and our desperate need for in-person connection. After getting laid off in 2023, Whitney gifted herself a year of travel, ended up in Vietnam, and stumbled into building something the world urgently needs: curated, trust-based spaces where strangers become community. She and Becky dig into why third spaces are disappearing, how technology has made us afraid to strike up a conversation with a stranger, what it means to belong somewhere when you look different from everyone around you, and how one karaoke night with 70 people from 10 countries can quietly dismantle a lifetime of stereotypes. Topics Covered: • From layoff to Vietnam to Homii. How losing her corporate job became the catalyst for a year of travel, a TikTok channel about Black American life in Vietnam, and eventually a full-blown community platform, all connected by Whitney's lifelong orientation toward people and belonging. • Why people are desperate for in-person connection but can't find it. Whitney's market research reveals that the barrier isn't desire, it's anxiety, scattered information, and not knowing where you'll be safe or welcomed. Homii is designed to close that gap. • The problem with existing platforms. Facebook groups, Eventbrite, Meetup, none of them are actually built for how humans connect. Whitney breaks down what's missing and what Homii is doing differently, including vetting hosts and training third spaces. • What it means to belong somewhere as a Black woman in Vietnam. Whitney shares what it's like to be a constant source of shock in your own neighborhood, and how finding "home base" spaces that feel safe became the seed of everything she's building. • Third spaces are disappearing, and that's a crisis. Whitney makes a passionate case for why we need the adult equivalent of a college student union: places where you can just show up, exist, and be, without rushing or performing. • How technology has eroded our ability to connect in person. The skills we're losing — striking up a conversation, sitting with a stranger, making eye contact — and what Whitney has learned from living abroad about what we've traded away. • Designing for the introvert, not just the connector. Whitney is building Homii specifically for the ninety percent of people who aren't naturally wired for community-building, matching by identity and interest, curating group size, and training hosts to make the small human gestures that lower the stakes. • Why you can't trust reviews anymore, and what Homii is doing instead. Real belonging requires real accountability. Whitney's review framework asks not "was it five stars?" but "would you bring your mom here?" • A Christmas Eve karaoke moment that captures everything. 70 people from Norway, Vietnam, the US, and beyond, and the beautiful, visible process of strangers unlearning stereotypes in real time. • Whitney's personal offline practice. Salsa dancing four nights a week, phone-down presence with people, and the Vietnamese cultural norm of sitting with someone in real life before talking business, what she's learning about balance while building a tech platform. Resources Mentioned: • Homii: https://homiiworld.com/ [https://homiiworld.com/] • Homii on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/homiiglobal/ [https://www.instagram.com/homiiglobal/] • Whitney's Instagram & TikTok: @WhitneyDagail • Whitney's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@whitney.dagail [https://www.youtube.com/@whitney.dagail] 🎤 JOIN US IN THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE: http://feministpodcastcollective.com/ [http://feministpodcastcollective.com/]

How to Market Your Business Without Being Online All Day with Andria Singletary

In this episode, you'll hear from Andria Singletary — podcast strategist, host of Evergreen Marketing Era for Women Entrepreneurs, and mom of (almost) three — about how she stopped building her business on borrowed land. What started as a necessity when her daughter was born became a full philosophy shift: ditching the social media hamster wheel in favor of long-form content that works while you sleep. Andria breaks down how she replaced Instagram with podcasting, blogging, and strategic collaborations — and how that switch didn't just save her sanity, it brought in better clients. If you've ever felt like you'd lose your business the moment you put your phone down, this episode will make you think again. Topics Covered: • Why motherhood forced a marketing reckoning. Andria realized she was missing her kids' childhoods trying to keep up on Instagram — and that wake-up call became the catalyst for completely rethinking how she showed up for her business. • The fear of being forgotten. What it actually felt like to scale back social media when it had been her primary lead source, and how she moved through those fears instead of letting them keep her stuck. • Long-form content as a business foundation. Andria makes the case for podcasting and blogging over short-form social, explaining how evergreen content compounds over time in a way that Instagram posts simply cannot. • Quality over quantity, and what that actually means. One weekly podcast episode plus one blog post per month versus daily posting: why less, done intentionally, outperforms more, done frantically. • Dopamine hits vs. real business growth. The moment Andria realized that likes and comments don't pay the bills, and how she found a more meaningful (and more profitable) version of that reward through long-form content engagement. • Why podcast listeners make better clients. Andria explains how being "in someone's ears" while they do laundry or go for a walk creates an intimacy that social media's flat, curated feed can never replicate, and how that translates to warmer leads and shorter sales cycles. • Letting go of perfectionism in content creation. The accidental Christmas recording-on-her-phone moment that changed how Andria thought about production quality, and what she learned when her listeners loved it. • Content ownership and platform risk. Getting locked out, censored, or watching your platform collapse overnight, Andria talks about why building on rented land is a genuine business risk and how long-form content gives you something no algorithm can take away. • Her current social media diet. Instagram is basically a dead zone; Threads gets 30–45 minutes a week; and her business is just fine. What that looks like in practice, and what she actually focuses on instead. • Starting before you're ready: the case for podcast guesting. Not sure if podcasting is for you? Andria's advice is to go be a guest first, and her broader reminder that blogging and YouTube are also legit long-form paths. Resources: • Evergreen Marketing Era for Women Entrepreneurs podcast: https://mamaturnedmompreneur.com/podcast [https://mamaturnedmompreneur.com/podcast] • Andria's Threads: https://www.threads.com/@evergreenmarketingera [https://www.threads.com/@evergreenmarketingera] • Andria's website: https://mamaturnedmompreneur.com/ [https://mamaturnedmompreneur.com/] 🎤 JOIN US IN THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE: http://feministpodcastcollective.com/ [http://feministpodcastcollective.com/]

Why Zines Are Making a Comeback with Maz George

In this episode, you'll hear from Maz George (they/them), a queer neurodivergent astro coach, artist, and avid zine maker, about why the DIY publishing format is experiencing a radical resurgence. Maz shares the evolution of zine-making from the pre-internet days of typewriters and rubber stamps to today's intentional analog rebellion against algorithmic content. We explore how creating physical, uncensored media offers focus, human connection, and creative freedom that social media can't replicate — and why choosing to make something tangible in a digital-first world is its own form of resistance. Whether you're curious about launching your first zine or just craving more offline creative practice, this conversation will inspire you to get your hands dirty (literally). Topics Covered: * How zine-making has evolved from necessity in the '90s and early 2000s to intentional resistance in the algorithm age, and why choosing print feels so different now * The unexpected emotional difference between 100 social media likes and 100 people holding your physical zine in their hands * Why zines remain uncensored, unfiltered, and un-algorithmed, and how zine distros and festivals are building alternative distribution networks * The concept of "skeuomorphism" (digital design mimicking physical objects) and what it reveals about our innate human need for tactile experiences * How the zine community creates serendipitous human connection, like meeting the maker of your favorite zine at a festival six months after buying it * Why children growing up in a digital-first world need the opposite of skeuomorphism: translation tools to help them understand offline, embodied experiences * The power of slowing down with a typewriter, embracing typos, and treating imperfection as part of the creative process * Simple zine ideas to get started: "shit I saw on my walk," color collections, lists of things you love, scavenger hunt finds * How making zines with kids can build creativity, focus, and appreciation for physical making * Why you don't need to escape the internet entirely to benefit from analog creative practices—it's about balance, not binaries Resources Mentioned: * Book Riot's history of zines [https://bookriot.com/history-of-zines/] * The Newspaper Club [https://www.newspaperclub.com/] * Quimby's (Brooklyn) [https://quimbysnyc.com/] * New York Art Book Fair (by Printed Matter) [https://www.printedmatter.org/programs/4-art-book-fairs] Maz's Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/ma_george/] Maz's zine: Astrology and creativity guide [https://kindlingkind.myflodesk.com/big-3-kind] 🎤 JOIN US IN THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE: http://feministpodcastcollective.com/ [http://feministpodcastcollective.com/]

Cuqui Magazine is Bringing Back Print for Gen Alpha Girls (with Paula James Martinez)

In this episode, you'll hear from Paula Goldstein, former fashion director at Refinery29 and founder of Cuqui Media [https://cuqui.club/], about why she's bringing print magazines back for Gen Alpha girls. Paula shares her journey from UK teen magazines to working at indie fashion mags in London and Paris, and why the collapse of print publishing taught her what we lost when everything moved online. We dig into why kids who've never known life before the internet are somehow more bored by it than we are, how nostalgia isn't a strategy but presence is, and why Paula turned down venture capital to bootstrap a magazine that prioritizes magic over metrics. If you've ever felt the sting of your kid calling you out for doomscrolling, this conversation will hit home. Topics Covered: * How the shift from print to digital happened in real time in the fashion magazine world, and why editors dismissed Instagram as "bad photos on phones" before it changed everything overnight * The moment commerce overtook art in publishing (2008 financial crisis) and opened the floodgates for digital-first media * Why Gen Alpha kids are somehow more bored by the internet than Millennials and Gen X, they've "reached the end of the internet and there's nothing new under the sun" * The difference between nostalgia (what we miss) and what kids are actually craving: magic, presence, and something tactile to hold * Paula's philosophy: "Nostalgia isn't a strategy, Cuqui is," building something new instead of trying to recreate the past * Why turning down venture capital was essential to building a magazine on her own terms, without growth-at-all-costs pressure * The painful moment when your kid calls you out for being on your phone when you should be present, and why it stings so much * How doomscrolling has become a parental habit we model for our children, and what breaking that cycle looks like * The magic of getting something in the mail that isn't a bill, why physical magazines create a reading experience digital media can't replicate * Paula's challenge: go somewhere without your phone for two hours and see if the world collapses (spoiler: it won't) Resources Mentioned: * Cuqui.club [https://cuqui.club/] is currently accepting pre-orders for journals to support the launch * Ms. Magazine [https://msmagazine.com/] 🎤 JOIN US IN THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE: http://feministpodcastcollective.com/ [http://feministpodcastcollective.com/]

Third Spaces and Building Community Offline with Altagracia Montilla

In this episode, you'll hear from Altagracia Montilla, a visionary community architect, facilitator, and founder of the 7th Space Art Gallery and Wellness Center. Altagracia breaks down what third spaces actually are, and why they matter more than ever in our hyper-individualistic, screen-saturated culture. You'll explore the difference between a place and a space, why building community feels as scary as dating, and how to practice connection in small, low-stakes ways. From printing flyers in coffee shops to striking up conversations with strangers, Altagracia offers grounded, creative strategies for reclaiming in-person community and restoring your humanity, starting with yourself. Topics Covered: • What third spaces are and why they matter, Ray Oldenburg's definition and the key characteristics of true third spaces (free, come-and-go access, no social hierarchies) • Why our community-building skills were eroding long before 2020, and how American hyper-individualism makes it even harder • The difference between a "place" and a "space," and how intention transforms physical locations into sites of belonging • Why building community feels scary (hint: it's a lot like dating), including the risk of harm, rejection, and vulnerability • How to sustain third spaces financially without capitalist extraction, pay-what-you-can models, creative reciprocity, and trusting that generosity returns • Creating norms instead of rules, establishing a "spirit of culture" that invites people to relax, show up authentically, and share generously • Practical first steps for the community-rusty, striking up conversations with strangers, asking about someone's book, attending free library events, and printing flyers offline • Why restoring humanity starts with yourself, and the radical act of journaling to reconnect with your own humanity before seeking it in others Resources Mentioned: • 7th Space Art Gallery and Wellness Center [https://the7space.com/] • Freedom Readers Book Club [https://altagraciamontilla.com/freedom-readers/] Connect with Altagracia Montilla • Threads [https://www.threads.com/@alta_monti] • Website [https://altagraciamontilla.com/] 🎤 JOIN US IN THE FEMINIST PODCASTERS COLLECTIVE [http://feministpodcastcollective.com/]