What inspired you to create a podcast?

For the Love of Climbing Podcast originally started as a blog in 2014 when I was living in Brooklyn, NY. It has since evolved into a community storytelling platform that shares personal stories through a climbing lens. Climbing media was lacking something, and beyond the sickest sends and hype Instagram posts, we wanted to explore the human stories behind the archetypal and (somewhat) machismo narrative.

The podcast shares stories about vulnerability, healing and connection but it’s also about humanizing people. Opening the floor to these kinds of conversations and acknowledging someone else’s reality allows people to show up as they really are—which I think is really important in a world where we often pretend that everything is ok when it's not.

We wanted to create a podcast that empowers us to speak our truth. When we’re transparent about our journeys, it does this sneaky thing where it empowers others with the courage to live and speak their truth, too. In my mind, *that’s* how we bridge the empathy gap.

How can I recommend someone who would be a great fit for your podcast?

If you know someone or would like to recommend someone who has a compelling story that would be a great fit for the podcast, feel free to reach out to us through our contact page!

You can also connect us by emailing: inheadlights@gmail.com.

I have a compelling story that I would like to share. Who should I talk to?

Likewise, if you are interested in sharing your own personal story with the podcast, please feel free to reach out to us through our contact page. There is an audio submission option as well and we highly encourage you to record a few sentences about yourself to give us more context. This gives us an idea of who you are, and if it’s a good fit for the podcast, we will be in touch!

Will you come out with more than one episode a month?

At the moment, we are slated for one episode per month because the creation a single episode is a long, in-depth process! We’d say pacing and taking snack breaks are a good 70% of the process. Until podcasting can be our full-time job, our goal is to produce one episode a month (that’s ten a season!) But who knows? We might make a bonus episode every three years.

I just launched an [event/product/business/podcast/book]. Will you promote it on the show?

Unfortunately, no. Because of the high volume of requests like this each year we receive, we cannot accommodate requests for free or gear trades. This devalues the partnerships we have spent countless time building with brands. Because our commitment is to share meaningful stories, we reserve advertisement slots for paid sponsors so that we may continue telling these important stories. If you feel like your story falls within the theme of our podcast, please reach out to us by submitting a pitch.

I’d love to show my support for the podcast but can’t financially support it at this time. How can I help?

Your support is greatly appreciated and helps us keep telling these critical stories. If you can’t support the podcast financially through a donation or our monthly Patreon, there are lots of other ways to show your love and support!:

• Follow us on Instagram and Facebook

• Download and share your favorite episodes

• We love when people say nice things about us on the Internet. Leave us a review on iTunes

• Tell your mom and friends all about us (…no seriously, moms love us)

I’d like to get started on launching my own podcast. Do you have any advice?

I’ve heard a lot of podcasters advise people who are thinking about starting their own podcast to “just go for it”. While I agree that getting started is the best way to dive in, I also want to advise people not to rush the process.

I started thinking about what this podcast would like like at least one year prior to launching it in August of 2018. I thought about publish schedules, how and when I would realistically be able to interview guests, and most importantly, my own personal schedule. The best advice I could give anybody on their path to starting a podcast is to be realistic with your time—quality over quantity.

Will you EVER use the @fortheloveofclimbing social media handle? We don’t care about your dog.

I receive a lot of questions about whether or not I’ll ever post to @fortheloveofclimbing. (Truthfully, I created that handle so nobody else could use it—you snooze, you lose! Just kidding—sorta.) So, why not differentiate between my work and personal account? Maybe there is some part of me that doesn’t deem the podcast officially official (even though we’re like, incredibly official).

For the Love of Climbing has become such a huge part of me, and so much of who I am is integrated into every episode, that it just didn’t feel right to create a separate space for it. I considered it, but as the year went on, I held each story so close to me that sometimes, I didn’t know if I was writing someone else’s story or my own. Going through other people’s most vulnerable moments always felt like I was in a secret sad club with them, and there was something kind of special about that. I still kind of feel that way.

There‘s nothing that I would say or share on the podcast that I wouldn’t want to proudly share with you here—and vice versa. It’s all so intertwined in this perfect little chaotic web that is ultimately what it’s been about since the very beginning: choosing compassion and vulnerability, sharing joyful moments but the painful ones as well, and reminding us all that we are real people with real emotions behind a username. That we’re all just shining examples of this messy, human existence and there is something kind of comically absurd about the fact that from time to time, we forget that we’re all connected in that way—in our human-ness. I guess this is my long, ramble-y way of saying that I probably don’t remember the password anymore.