Hello, travelers. My name is Grace Simmons, and this is the Random and Wonderful podcast. Settle in and listen to stories of wanderlust and transformation as you gain tips to inspire your next travel experience. The Random and Wonderful is brought to you by the Amethyst Palaba Hut, LLC. All right. Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Random and Wonderful. Today, my guest is Annika Jackson, who I met
at Podcast Movement. As you all would have noticed, there's been a wonderful stream of people, wonderful people that I've met and amazing stories that I've been able to collect and share with people that I've met at Podcast Movement. So, Annika, welcome. Please tell everyone a little bit about yourself, and then we'll get started. umm Thank you so much. Yeah, you are one of my favorite people I met at podcasting, I have to say. Gosh, I don't even know where to
start. I have so many twists and turns in my story at this moment in time. I am a single mom, multifaceted, ADHD, fully present, realized it as an adult and realized that, yeah, it's a superpower. It also can hold me back sometimes that now I understand like, oh, this is the way my brain works. So I'm trying to figure out how to work with that. As I'm a college professor teaching digital media management, podcasting, sometimes PR and branding.
As I am going back to school myself to get an MBA because I can't teach full time unless I have a master's degree. I have a podcast with USC Annenberg. Inside Some Digital Changemakers. I have my own podcast, Your Brand Amplified, that's almost four years old and 400 episodes in. And I have a, you know, I do a little bit of coaching here and there for people on either nonprofit stuff, podcasting, brand strategy, public relations. I have a very organic career.
And so I I know how to do things in a way where I'm like, how do we save money?How do we get the best bang for our buck?Because I'm always in that phase of reinventing and being that small entrepreneur who needs to maximize resources. And so that's really what I have a heart for, working with people who are in that same space. Yeah. You mentioned, like, a lot of what you do has an organic flow to it, which is really neat. But like, how do you even
know where to start?Like, what started, and then these different pieces kind of connected?Ooh Well, I think part of it is in our blood. We have, whether it's you have generational trauma, I think there are other generational things that also pass through us. What is that my family is a long line of entrepreneurs, a long line of professors, educators, you know, and also people really involved in servant leadership. So helping other people, giving back, pouring into other
people. And that's really what I realized. When I work with people at any level, I always take them through branding exercises andis you need to understand your own brand. And my brand is really about amplifying people's voices, making sure everybody understands that they have a voice, they have a story that needs to be told, that their story is unique and will inspire somebody else. And so that is a lot of where it started. My mom was an immigrant from Thailand.
She came here for college and ended up staying. And I saw a lot from her example of how she would-- we lived in Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas. She became a single mom when she, my dad got divorced and I saw how much she poured into us, how much she put her work. You know, she'd get up, make a hot breakfast for us every morning before she went to work and we went to school. I still do that for my daughter. My daughter can make her own breakfast, certainly, but it's something that like I
she's going to be in college soon. So yeah, you know, and then she would come home from work and she would play games with me and my little brother every night and just the love and care she put into us. To make sure that we knew that she was there, even if she was time was something that was really important. For me, everything started organically. I was asked when I was in high school, I was in the club scene, music, DJs.
So a friend was like, hey, this DJ wants you to start promoting for them in Kansas City and you'll get in free. That was the keyword, right?Done. Yeah, right. During that. And then I got a job at a coffee house when coffee houses were very first becoming a thing. I'm aging myself in the early 90s. And then I got another DJ asked me to move to Chicago and be his assistant and work in a club there. And then he got me another job in a marketing
firm. And then I was tired of Chicago in the snow and I moved to LA and that job got me another job. So it just was this whole cycle of being in the right place at the right time, people believing and not being afraid to ask. Umm And so that's been and then, you know, I did take a few years out of my career. I did a lot of other things, took a few years. Got married, had my daughter, was a stay at home mom. I mean, I was good for her, but I also was like, I
always had to keep busy. You need to do stuff. But when I got divorced, I realized I had to get back into the workforce. I had to make money because I wasn't gonna get, you know, I wasn't gonna be supported the same way by any stretch of the imagination. And that led to me working for companies, starting my own businesses in Houston. And then when I moved back to LA, I knew I had kind of started over and I just. was tenacious. I I was like, I just want to do PR and branding and that stuff
again. And I sent out resumes. I got interviews. I was like, maybe I need to do nonprofits, not getting any jobs here. And I think a lot of it was like, I was in my 40s. I had a little bit of a break in my work experience, so people didn't see that linear career path that used to be the norm. You know, I'd spent like every dime moving back to LA. So that I could-- because my sister lived here, my brother lived here with his wife. My daughter wanted to come back to
LA where she'd been born. My ex-husband wanted to come back. So I was like, OK, I'm going to make this happen, move back. Had to go on food stamps. I mean, I had to like-- I went from having a lifestyle in Houston, married to somebody who owned part of his company, being able to donate lots of money, tens of thousands of dollars a year to different charities, fashion, art. That whole thing, being in the papers, you know, getting my picture taken, chairing galas, that
kind of lifestyle. And moving back here, I had to sell a lot of stuff. I had to really start over. I didn't have a safety net. You know, I had a few friends and some family that would give me money here and there. But a pivotal moment for me was when I was in a Walmart, buying food at like the Walmart grocery store in our neighborhood, dropped my daughter off at school, went to the Walmart, and my card was denied. umm And I was like, ooh, what am I gonna do?I
don't have any food for my kid. So I was panicking. You know, something had gone through before I realized it was going to go through. So it was being on the other side of the coin from what I was used to. I was used to being the one who helped. Yeah. And the manager pulled me aside and said, I don't know what it is, but God is calling me to help you. I got what you need for you and your baby to get you through the next few days. and let me pay for it. I'm going to call you right
now. Chills, yes. And you know that really humbled me and made me realize, like, I need to also accept help. I need to be, I need to admit whatever's going on with me and not, I think I was so used to being in that place where you, you know, what you see on social media, like, everything's perfect. You have, you're going out to all these events, you're dressing in all these cool clothes. doing all these cool things that you forget that you actually are a person. You have to-- Yeah. Yeah
And then I kept applying for jobs. I got a little bit of work here and there. And then I'd been in LA about six months. And it was a full moon, December, right around my birthday. I went out, looked at the full moon, and I just put my hands up. I said, OK, God, I've done everything-- Jan, I have applied for every job. I have put out every resume. I don't know what else to do. It's just in your hands. And at that point, I was going on a trip back east
with my boyfriend. He had bought his tickets to see his parents to go back to Philly. And I got a call on the way to the airport with somebody who said, Hey, I have a new client coming in. I think that it would be great for you to work with them. Yeah. I interviewed during Christmas, got the job. That started a new trajectory for me. And here I am, five years later, I'm now teaching grad school at USC, which is crazy to think about. Wow, yeah. I've had a business. I had a PR business during the
pandemic. I moved over to a couple agencies. I have a, you know, I love podcasting. I found this amazing network. And I've just been consistently rebuilding, rebuilding, and it's all been faith and justbeing in the right place at the right time and being willing to learn whatever I needed to learn at that moment. Yeah. How do you even-- so like, yes, you have that moment of like realization, yes, I am a human, and yes, I need to ask for
help. How do you even transition to then saying, like, what does asking for help look like ohh in that moment? In that moment, it was going well. Somebody else saw that I needed help, and they were willing to help me. And, you know,Benefits are there for everybody. It's not a bad thing if you have to go on food stamps or get other help. You have to be willing to ask. And it's not easy to do. They ask for a lot of paperwork and meetings. You know So they don't make it easy on people
to get help. So you have to really want it. But I was like, I don't know what else I'm going to do right now. I know this will be temporary, but this is what I need. And so I had to be willing to let go of my own ego and be in that moment, right?And then it's it's a continuous process. Over the past five years, part of my journey has very much been realizing I have to put myself first. So I have nonprofits I work with. I have one particularly in Ghana. We built an orphan home. You pay
for kids to go to school. We have organic farming that our partner in Ghana owns so that it can pour back into jobs, you know, fresh food. Money to pay for the orphans to get to school and for them to have people in the house who will take care of them. And I had to go, you know what, I've given so much and I feel horrible because people's situations are worse than ours in the
United States. But I had, you know, I just go to things like that, that mean a lot to me and say I can't give what I was giving before because I'm actually paying my bills, taking care of my kid. So I've had to make a lot of hard decisions. and really find that strength inside myself to use my voice and say, this isn't a no, but this is a no right now.
Yeah. Do you-- so that's a part of my own like travel journey as well, is learning how to use your voice, going from a place of not speaking so that other people feel more comfortable, and then realizing that you needed to speak up. Either to make the changes that are necessary or just to actually declare what it is that you're
actually feeling, right. So just to be present versus just, you know, being a participant or like a viewer or something like that, using your voice to be able to establish those different boundaries, is that something that?You've had practice in or did you have to kind of grow to using that, especially after this transition of like, you know, big and fancy, you have this humble moment and now you're going back. How has that voice continued with you?Yeah,
that's such a great question. Like I said, it's a constant struggle because when you are in that fancy world, you don't have to worry about it as much. And there are there are probably things looking back that I would change. I think I got really caught up in that, the external validation. versus internal validation. And so, funnily enough, moving back to LA, where there are celebrities, right, next to Hollywood, nobody cared if I went to any events, nobody cared if I had
perfect makeup every day. I could just sit at home and I'm like, wait, people are gonna hire me just because they know that I'll do quality work, not for the trappings. And it's still taken me, I've taken on clients that were not the best clients because I thought, oh, I need this money to pay my team. So it's constantly learning to go with your gut. And as I'm saying that, I'm feeling that, like, feeling in my gut of, yeah, that was a lesson you were supposed to
say no to. But you also learn, right?You take the lessons. And at this point, I think I've gotten a lot better at it. It really is true. Also, which I hate to say, and this is why I want younger people to really find their voices earlier. But as a woman, when you turn 40, there is a difference. I'm almost 50. And I feel like I've just found my stride. And there's a whole bunch more life ahead of me. Oh, that's happy. This year.
Oh my goodness. Yeah, and it's about having the maturity of having lived life, even if I'm younger, 'cause Asian. You know, so even just having that, like, that little bit more experience and feeling like giving lessAttention, time, energy to the things that are not going to propel me forward. OK, yeah, say it that way. Yeah, yeahAnd it's a struggle, but I have been really working
on it. I've been actually working with a former Zen monk who I met through like we were both, you know, just different network referral coaching groups. And I realized that the way I teach branding to students and to people I work with is this is kind of the same way he was teaching his work. But I didn't have that, that was he was the missing piece. Because when I talk about branding, I always want people to be authentic to who they are. Think about who you are, what your mission, vision,
values are. Everything can come from that. That makes it much easier to say yes or no to things, if you're very clear on that. Because it aligned with where you wanna be, who you are, or is it not, right?But he teaches about connecting with yourself, connecting with your past, connecting with your present, visioning your future. Mm-hmmGetting comfortable in that space, doing a lot of work. And then that's where you find your
voice. That's where the inner becomes outer and where you feel comfortable and confident in that voice. Hmm I'm curious about how do you make that like a teaching lesson to other people, especially maybe people who haven't experienced what you've experienced?Oh, that's such a great question. One way is modeling it. You know, my daughter is, she's 16. She's always interested in what meetings do you have?Who are you talking to?What are they about?I love that she
has that inquisitive brain. And another thing that we love to do together is travel. So this year I will have traveled at least three to four months of the year. Yeah, crazy. I I wanted to travel more this year. I just didn't realize how much more it would be. And some of it's been in the US. So I've been to Vegas for an AI conference. I'm going down just down the street to Orange County for a few days for another AI conference. I've been to DC twice for a podcast movement and also I'm on
the Intuit Small Business Council. So we go once a year to talk to Congress members about the needs of small businesses throughout the United States. Wow, OK, I traveled with my daughter over. Spring break, we did West Coast. So we started in Seattle, looked at college there, went to Oregon, looked at University of Oregon, then ended up at Palo Alto, looked at Stanford. And then I went to a wedding in Mexico. This past week, I took a little hooky trip and went to Red Rocks to see a concert.
That's in Colorado. Never been there. It was a quick flight. Got there, had you know comp tickets to a band called Arcade Fire's 20th anniversary of their first album. Super fun, super beautiful venue. Flew home the next day. So I tried to incorporate a little bit of both kinds of trips. A little bit of fun. I went to Philly for 10 days to do some in-person classes for my MBA. Went to Canada for 10 days with my daughter to look at a college, but then see family
that we have up there. Went and spent 10 days in Greece, 10 days in England. And we're going to Thailand for about two weeks for my birthday and Christmas in December, and probably a couple other little trips in between. But what I think that's important about that is maintaining those values no matter where you go, but really getting to know the people where you are, doing things that locals do, right, embedding
yourself. So when I was in England, meeting up with people I'd metAlong the way, I'd met actually a woman that I'd met at Podcast Movement Evolutions. Oh, cool. We met for dinner. One of my best friends lives there. I have some other people that I know from different things who live there. So I was able to go experience things the way that people would experience them who live there, go to their favorite pubs, restaurants, get
their recommendations. I think that's something that you love to do too, right? Because travel really helps you. understand, appreciate, and feel more acceptance in the world of other people. Yeah. What they do, but then also hopefully not come across as the ugly American and know that we're not all like that, right?So So yeah, so those are some of the places. And then I'm part of a group called Influence Hers Foundation. I'm on the board, and it is a group of women of
color and allies. We do mindfulness, wellness activities, online and offline, get together for brunches. Most recently, we went to an amazing brunch at a Michelin star Asian woman-owned restaurant in downtown LA. And we had different people talking about different charities that they worked with and different mission-driven opportunities. And then we are going to take trips also to Central and South America, to Africa, to show that volunteers aren't just white women.
Yeah, right. Like that people who look like the people that we're helping serve want help and that we are going to be there. And so that's something that I think is really impactful because it's not on one hand you're coming in, you're helping, but we're really trying to work within the ecosystem of what's there and what's going to be not bringing all the, you know, that's what you hear a lot about like people bringing in and donating all the stuff and then that
kills the local economy. We don't want to do that. So we want to say, what are your needs?What are you doing here?How can we help support?What you already have in place to help you grow in your own path, right. So that it's not just needing depending on other people, outside people, because nobody wants to do that. A point. A point. want to take a quick moment to tell you something exciting that's coming up. The cultivating confidence on this retreat
is happening. From May 8th to the 12th, 2025, I'll be hosting A transformative retreat designed specifically for women dealing with imposter syndrome and self-doubt. We will be heading to the beautiful, tranquil lagoon of Bacalar, Mexico. This is going to be an opportunity for you to recharge, reflect, reconnect with yourself. So think daily yoga, meditation, gourmet meals, confidence building workshops, and plenty of adventure. We'll do kayaking, stand up paddle boarding. And day trips
to explore the area. It's all about creating a supportive space where you can grow and have fun. Spots are limited, so if this sounds like something you need, head over to amethystpalaverhut.com to learn more and reserve your spot. All right, back to the episode. I enjoy that your story has a mix of like, yes, you do travel for work as well, but also you're mindful about including like fun
into the trips, right. And so even if it's visiting family or there's a place that you want to check out, Red Rocks is definitely on my list and I'm so sad I didn't get to do it last year. Let's meet there because. Honestly, I can fly to LA, from LA to Denver, go to a concert, and it might take as much time as it would take me to drive into LA, find a parking spot. Nice. All right. RightAnd yeah, deal with all that mess. That's
true. Then yeah, all right, well, we need to add that to the list because that's definitely, definitely like on the list of places. And I remember one of my favorite artists was there and I was like, How did I miss this?What in the world?Anywhere. So now I need to go back, but like incorporating that joy into it. And even when you're working and helping other people, I think it's also important that sometimes we tend to whore all of
ourselves right into other people. And not that you shouldn't enjoy your your work or you shouldn't be, you know, self sacrificing, but I think there's a really unique balance of. Being able to have a community where you're sharing these different stories of how other people are helping others around the world, you mentioned like that image of the ugly American where there's a temptation to be like, I am a representation and let me show you how some of us can be really
great. But then there's also like, yeah, yeah but I know I'm Grace. This is what I have to offer to these other people. And so, yeah, I like that there are touches of intentionality behind how you help other people, but then also how you get to explore the world with what you do and as you're still helping others. Yeah, that's very well-rounded anyway, is what
I'm trying to say. Yeah, I think you I try, and I think part of that is one of other things that my mom did when we were growing up is when immigrants would come from Southeast Asian countries to Lawrence, Kansas, she would help them. She was paid by the local churches and the people who helped bring people
over. So she would take me with her. And I would sit and play with the kids, and she would go in and teach, Here's how you actually wash dishes, or, Here's how you don't discipline your children in the United States. For all the things, because there are these nuanced differences in every culture. And so I got to see a lot of that in action, and that really made my perspective open. Also, the fact that my father was an Air Force brat, if you will. My grandfather built Air Force
bases all over the world. So my dad spoke a lot of different language. He went to high school in Morocco. He did construction in Turkey when he was 19. He lived in Italy, he lived in France, he spoke these different, but he was really culturally aware. And so they instilled in me this value of also we're like, we are a global community. And that makes it really fun, right?How can you not have joy in like meeting people and learning
about who they are?Yeah. Yeah There's a complete difference, I think, between being like a tourist and a traveler. It doesn't seem like it's on purpose, but there is a strong restriction if you're a tourist from involving yourself with the people that you meet when you're traveling or getting to understand their, like,What a day in the life of a local looks like. And I think if you get in that mindset of like a traveler, you want to ask those
questions. You want to, you know, maybe you'll see a video of some type of food and you want to ask the locals like, is this really what you guys like to eat or what does it mean?Why?You know, like there's so many other questions. I think more meaningful questions that can come up if you do have that open heart and interest in other people. I just love the nuance of what you said because. tourist, you do think about people who want to find restaurants they're familiar with. Right. They do want a
different experience. Or we hear about places that are beautiful cultures, but you can't leave the resort or you never leave the resort. Right. RightAnd that's another kind of experience I want to have. Even when I've been a tourist, and I I don't remember if I connected you to the animal rescue resort in Costa Rica. Did we talk about that?No. Oh, OK. Well,So there is this group of people that moved from Israel to Costa Rica a long time ago. They brought 80 animals with them. They were very
peaceful, kind of hippie, vegan. You know, they didn't want to live-- like, they didn't want to have the same lives, like corporate lives, all that stuff that they'd have if they had stayed in Israel. They just wanted to be peaceful. And so they bought a resort in Costa Rica that was up for sale. They brought all their animals because they love animals. And then people started realizing, oh, they
love animals. We can just abandon our animals to them because there's no national system in Costa Rica. They have so many animals now, dogs, cats, horses, ducks, chickens, like so many things that you wouldn't even expect. And they have done a campaign where they've just invited people that they think would be animal lovers to come down and experience the resort. You have to buy your flight ticket. You have to take care of transportation from the airport, but then
you get to stay there for free. All your meals are free. They're vegan, but they have some really good vegan meals there. Okay, yeah. Zip lining, river rafting, horseback riding, all for free. And you also tour the animal rescue to see the animals and play with the cats and the dogs. We learn. And that can be really overwhelming. I have pets, I love animals, but I'm not, that's not my big cause. Yeah, yeahBut I
was invited. So I took my daughter there one year, actually last year, for like her midwinter break from school. And it was just really lovely. And there were other people who had much bigger followings and were really actual influencers. There were people who'd been on reality shows, like Too Hot to Handle and things like that, who were there. OK. We just-- that's the way that they're
pouring back. And so while I was confined to this one resort, I still got to see a lot of talking to people who worked there who were locals, talking to people who had found their home there, even though they weren't from there originally, learning about the good that they're putting into the world to see how I could help. And that that was like, that's the experience where you feel good about going to a place, staying in one area, right?Because that really was a travel experience, not a tourist
experience. Yeah, like the entire that space was the experience versus hiding on the resort, right, from other places. Yeah. They still reach out. We've done contests to get people to donate money and they've given a trip to a friend, right?If they have a very serious animal situation, they'll say, hey, can you repost this on your stories or can you share this because this dog came to us and this is what happened and we need to raise X amount for their surgery. It's-- they're just really
beautiful, kind people. And those are the kind of people you want to meet. And you're like, yeah, I want to keep helping them. Yeah. I'm like, OK, I have to choose Grace to Asaf. So if you can get that trip and go down, yeah. That would be really cool, actually. Nice. Yeah. All right, so you know I have to throw like a random travel question in here. What is-- do you have a favorite
travel story that you like to share?Oh, my gosh-- Even though you just told a really good--I have to think about that, because I've had weird travel stories where-- I mean, weird in the context of I wanted to go to St. Bart's for my honeymoon when I got married to my daughter's dad. Mm-hmmI think that's very posh and fancy. We was involved with a charity-- I'm still involved-- called Junior League of Los Angeles. And somebody had given a certificate for a stay at their place in St. Bart's or
whatever. I really wanted it, so we've been on it. We get there. It's like mosquito infested. I got like so many mosquito. It was not a she she by any means. OK. Sometimes you have to reset your expectations. Yeah. You have to be willing to be flexible when you go someplace. It might not be exactly what you think it is. It might be better. Or you might have to pivot. We ended up leaving and going and checking in someplace else and finding just a tiny
little place, but it was perfect. So I thinkThe experiences where you learn something, where you're willing to be adaptable, where you aren't as rigid, right, are the best ones. Like my daughter is one of my favorite travel partners. We travel the same way. My boyfriend is one of my favorite travel partners, because he does set things up where he's like, OK, if we're driving somewhere, let's take this much time to drive, and let's go see this really cool thing. So it's really the
whole journeys and experience. Right?And I think that's, I mean, when people say the journey is the destination, it really is true. So I would urge everybody to to think about travel as a great way to learn about yourself, to make yourself open to new experiences, new people, and also find yourself along the way. Yeah. Yes. You better advertise for this travel experience. I love
it. Have you found that travelI know like it's helped with development or kind of-- travel's been a part of your experience as you are growing and learning. But do you think it's been a lesson?Or has it just been like a part of that journey?It has definitely been a lesson. I'm thinking, too-- this is 20 years ago, so I'm aging myself still. Well, I already did that. But my now ex-husband-- I think this is even-- this is before we were even married. He had some work in Johannesburg, South Africa.
And I had dropped out of college to work. And then I went back, and I graduated in 2004. So he's like, well, why don't you meet me there? So I met him in Cape Town, one of my top favorite cities anywhere in the world ever, ever, ever, ever. Nice. OK. But apartheid had just been a thing. People were still very eggshelly about it. And I had these experience where I'm considered colored there because anybody who's like Asian,
Indian, mixed is colored. And so I brought tour guides who were white, like almost be apologizing to me. We'd go to restaurants and it was interesting that both among the Afrikaner, the white community and the black community, it was very much more of men are high, high, high above women. So we went to a restaurant that was like, you know, native foods from South Africa, from different villages. It was an
amazing meal. But then I was paying for the meal, and the waitress was completely taken aback that I was paying for a man. And so that was-- seeing how people were reacting to me, being a foreigner in this country, but them putting their own constructs was really an awakening experience. And it's one that will stick with me for my whole life and gave me a lot of things to think about, a
lot of lessons. and how to approach people, how to approach situations, how to appreciate people from where they're coming from and not just my own views, right, and hope that they would do the same for me. But sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. So that's a place where I experienced a big lesson. Hmm So like in that scenario, then, first, have you gone back?No, I want to. OK. I want to. I also want to get-- I've been working with a nonprofit in Ghana for over 15 years.
And I've never been, because every year I was like, I can either pay for a plane ticket, or I can put more money into the nonprofit. Me too. More kids. And so I've always done that. Oh, yeah. The other thing is, if you're going to go, it's a long trip. So I think if you're going to go make an investment, I want to go to Africa for like three weeks, a month. Yeah. Really be able to experience. Have
to. Yeah. Mm-hmm, mm-hmmMy question to your experience in Cape Town was, soDo you feel so now that you've understanding like how people would see you, do you feel like you then need to adjust in a certain way? Like is there some sort of adaption that needs to happen or are you still going in with like, I understand this is how people are gonna think and then I need to be a certain way. Yeah. OK. I think you said it very eloquently
earlier. You said, I'm Grace, I'm not gonna worry about, you know, So I think, yeah, I'm gonna come in as myself, but I'm also going to be cognizant of. When I'm in Thailand, yeah, if I'm going to go into temples, I'm not going to wear coats and a tank top, right?I'm going to be covered appropriately when I'm in different cultures, because that's respectful to the people that I'm visiting. And that that is also my culture. But there are a lot of other
examples you can give. But yeah, so I think it's keep being true to yourself, but also be mindful of where you are and being respectful of somebody else's culture. HmmI like that. It's a good mix and a good balance. You mentioned that you have, or you're working with two podcasts, at least. I don't want it associated with the school, but then you have your own. Could you describe the two?And then how do you manage two podcasts? One is Mediascape Insights from
Digital Changemakers. That is the one with USC Annenberg. And it's through the program that I mostly teach for, which is the Master of Science in Digital Media Management. SoThat one is once a week. You know It's It's great. Mostly I interview professors, I interview people who I think would be interesting for the students to listen to. The other one is called Your Brand
Amplified. And I had had two podcasts for clients before it, and that just didn't work out very well 'cause they didn't have the budget to sustain it, they weren't using them as marketing tools. And then my boyfriend's like, I'm in the film industry, why don't you just do your own and I'll do some editing for you, help you get it set up. Then it got to be bigger, and he teased
out on that. But that one, and this is something important for anybody, whatever you're doing, if you're starting a business, you're starting a podcast, where you start is never where you're going to end up. So I was like, Drive time in the United States is 27 minutes on average. I'm going to keep my podcast to under this time frame. I'm going to ask these five questions, and I'm only going to interview publicists. That wasn't my personality, though, and it did not work, didn't feel natural.
I tried it. So I quickly pivoted to, I'm going to interview brands. And And then now it's, I interview a wide range of people talking about life strategies, business strategies. I interview people who have created the technologies that we use, like who have the patents for Syria, you know, that Syria and Alexa are based on. I talk to people who are at the forefront and like have worked on
billion dollar deals for businesses. But then I also talk to people more like me, who are small business entrepreneurs, who've had,ups and downs and want to share their journey and share some tricks, tips that others might find helpful, whether it's work and life, one or the other, you know, or both. So I bring on a large variety of guests, which I know is not probably what I should be doing as a podcaster, right?I'm not used down, but it makes it more interesting for me as well.
And I think it makes it more interesting for my listeners becauseThey're also people and they want to hear, sometimes they want to tune in and hear expert advice, and sometimes they want to tune in and hear me talking to somebody about coaching or manifestation or feng shui for your office. So it's worked well. I have a good sized audience and, you know, advertisers and things like that. So it helps me fund. So how do I manage it all?That's a really good question. I release five episodes a week
between the two podcasts. Oh my gosh. So four for mine, one for the university. The reason I do that is partly because I had such a backlog of guests and content that I I don't have that as-- well, I have a backlog of guests. I have guests booked out through the middle of next year. But I want guests to not have to wait a year to get on my podcast, which many of them do, but then have to wait another three to six months for
their episode to be released. So now, episodes release about two weeks or so after we record, and I try to batch them. So like this week, I did eight episodes between Wednesday and Friday. Hmm So I have to do it when I have the space and the time, because I know that they're going to be really busy moments. I have a really great team. I did work with a US team when I had my agency, but I couldn't sustain the cost because it's all me paying for stuff. So then I
approved too. a team. I have an admin and an editor from the Philippines. They're amazing, the quality of work. I've worked with them for a long time, and that has just helped me so much. And then we use tools like Simplified and other tools to, you know, help the process, post-production process move along seamlessly. Nice, okay. So it's manageable. Yeah, the big thing is if you're gonna start it, be consistent, know what your brand
is. understand how to set it up as a business entity, if it's your bread and butter, or how to use it as a tool to promote your business, right?There's so many things and and that's, I really want
to help people. So that's a program that I'm launching is Pod Pro Launchpad to help people like me, but not take the many years and the amount of money I spent figuring out that this was actually business and just start with this foundation and help them understand, here are monetization methods, here are growth methods. You know, here's what you need, but it really is just be consistent, minimize your expenses. You don't need a $20,000 studio and a $1,000 mic to
get started. Right. Yeah. Nice. All right, so before we wrap up, I'm curious, what is your go-to self-care practice? Mm-hmmOoh, I have a few. I listen to subliminals when I went to sleep. I do a lot of self-reflection during the day. This is going to sound funny for self-care, but I try to take breaks between meetings when I can so that I can do something for myself, read a little bit of a book, listen to a podcast, walk the dogs, just get a little refresh mindset. And then I'm working with Alan
Knight, who's a former Zen monk. His program is the Zen Activation Program, and I'm I'm going through and training under him to eventually become a certified coach and help You know, coach other people and train other people who want to get certified. And that has been a really big help because that holds me really accountable to am I pointing to myself enough? What are my levels on the wheel of life?
Like what are you focus on?Are there some things that I need to work through that are going through my brain and making me like freeze?And then sometimes it just means I sit on the couch and read a book even when I have a ton of work to get done because you have to listen to your body, you have to take a break. Last year, I was getting sick all the time. And it was because I wasn't taking care of myself. So first and foremost, you have to listen to your gut. You have to
listen to your heart. You have to make sure that you're going-- even if you have to make yourself take time for self-care, if you don't, you might not be there anymore. Umm Reality. And your body is is for sure going to give you warning signs. Yeah. And that's the thing, right? Like, you start getting sick. You start getting a little bit sore. You realize there's some tightness that you didn't really expect or you've been working
through. And yeah. And then, yeah, your body definitely gives you some good warnings. You mentioned subliminals. Yeah. What is that?Oh, I love subliminals. So it's music with-- the words are sped up underneath. So they're chants, mantras, affirmations. OK. And you can't hear them under the music. And they're sped up really fast so that it'll-- you might listen to something for 20 minutes, but the message will have come through maybe several hundred or even a thousand times.
Yeah. And I have a whole app, an app from this woman, Stephanie Keith. She is the Manifest It Now, Law of Attraction Tribe. She has a podcast. And I love it because there are also different exercises I can go through. There are meditations, there are interviews she's had with people to walk through certain exercises, workbooks, and then the subliminals. They really help me at night. Or the Calm app. I'll alternate between like brown noise and something else. And then like
subliminals. Nice. Okay, cool. I don't think I've heard of it. Ohh Yeah, no, I don't think I've heard of it. You know what, 'cause I put them on at night when I'm going to sleep, you're supposed to like... Ideally, you're listening, you have the headphones on, and it's playing in the background of whatever you're doing. But for me, that helps me fall asleep. And then I wake up feeling better in the morning. Right. Yeah. And motivated. Yeah, that's
nice. Awesome. OK. Annika, this has been awesome. I'm so glad that we got a chance to do this. But before we go, please let everyone know where we can find you and what's next for you. Ohh Thank you, Grace. I love talking to you. I'm so, so happy that we met at Podcast Movement. Me too. So excited for what we're both doing and how we can work together in the future. The easiest way to reach me, I'm just going to give one link, because otherwise I'll start sprouting off a whole bunch.
yourbrandamplified.com. You can find my podcast there. You can find links to schedule time with me, find out about some of the programs that I offer, my bio, you know, just all the things. And I love giving people a free half hour on my schedule to talk aboutliterally anything. If you want to talk about PR, brand strategy, digital marketing, media, podcasting, nonprofit work, just being a single mom, whatever it is,
there's no right or wrong. And I'm just, that's something I can do to help people hopefully like continue on their journey and feel inspired. Mm-hmm That's wonderful. Oh, okay, cool. That's such a sweet note to end off. All right. Well, thank you again for joining me and I hope you have a wonderful day. Thanks. You too, Grace. Hey there, Grace here. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and gained some useful takeaways. Thank you so much for listening and
staying until the end. Don't forget to rate the show or share it with some friends. Have a wonderful week. Take care. And remember, be bold, be curious, be ready to tell your story. You never know who needs it. Bye. Bye.