Holly Frey In Conversation With Seneca Women to Hear Winner: Lola Omalola

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Speaker 1: Hi. I'm Holly Fry, host of Stuff You Missed in History Class, and as a woman podcaster, I know how important it is to amplify women's voices in this space. That is why I am so excited to be talking with a woman who is on her way to be one of tomorrow's leading voices in podcasting. She's one of the ten winners of Seneca Women to Hear search for the Next Great Female Podcasters, created in partnership with PNG and The Card by Seneca Women, Howard by MasterCard and Deserve. After six weeks of training at the Seneca Women Podcast Academy, she'll be launching her own show on the Seneca Women Podcast Network with My Heart. I am so delighted and grateful that I get to spend time today with Lola. Lola. But Lola, before I say anything about you or ask you more questions, I want you to introduce yourself. Well, my name is Lola, obviously, and I'm a mom believe in Chicago, and you know, dedicate my life to creating spaces and the right conditions for women to feel safe about telling their stories and just you know, working their way to where they can become advocate for themselves and creates just you know, joined the party and create a better world for everyone. At what point were you inspired to take that determination and that mission that you have into the podcasting space. At what point where you like, this really needs to be a podcast? Uh BEI Something incredible happened um in northern Nigeria in two when armed men stromed the school and kidnapped close to three girls. It started this bring Back our Girls campaign, which caught the attention of the whole world. Then I began to notice a pattern and that that in the days and weeks following that experience went After that news broke, the media outlets told the story of the kidnappings and left out the names of the girls. I mean, I really truggle with it. So it was at that point that I, you know, I decided to take my own pain and you know, and help women create spaces where they could tell their own stories. Because it became clear to me that when we're not telling our own stories, we just don't exist, you know. So that that I think is what fills the gap, what fills in the gap that women need to tell their own stories if we want to be highlighted and don't want to become footnotes in larger stories about whatever else someone thinks has a better angle than our identities. And you know, so I started a community on Facebook and we have you know, since grown to a combine total of two million women who live in more than one countries. So we've been finding our voice, refining our voice over time over the past six years, and it's just the real natural next step that we need to you know, leave this private spaces and start telling our stories and showing that we exist in the larger world. And that that's why having a podcast is just the best thing that we can do to start getting women out of the shadows, women from emerging cultures out of a shadow, and bringing us into the larger conversation the rest of the world is having about you know, the progress about you know, starting to limits the impact of patriarchy, about shutting down and misogyny and gender violence. So it is just, you know, it's the natural next step to the incredible and massive social movement that started about seven years ago. I am glad that you mentioned your movement because there is a movement going on to create more representation for women in the podcast space, and you have been selected as one of the Seneca Women to hear. What did that feel like when you found out that you were one of the winners? Essentially, it was absolutely everything. It felt like the universe lightning up to say to me. Yeah, Now, I have to tell you, that is a yes, a resounding yes that women like me don't often get. It always feels so lonely. You feel like you're the only one who's doing everything for everyone, and oftentimes that's the case. But Seneca Women and I Heart Radio saying yes to me, it didn't it. It felt it felt like validation, and it also felt like they weren't just you know, saying yes to me. They were saying yes to a nation of women that I lead, that I'm working with every day, that I'm walking beside every day. It's literally one of the best things that's ever ever happened to me and the movements that I've been creating. So what are you with all of this passion hoping to learn from the Seneca Women Podcast Academy so you can explode what you're already doing into a bigger space. It is one thing to have fire in your belly to change the world. It is quite a another thing to have access two people, to creative sponsorships, and to have access to you know, the tools to make it happen. And that is what Seneca Podcast Academy can do for me, is to show me the right way to bring the message that I have about women from emerging cultures to the rest of the world. You know, here's the right way to do it, and there's a way to accelerate the impact that you can have. I think that this has the potential to take my hands and walk me through the process. That's a dream that I never expected to see happen. Oh, I can tell you right now, I will be your first subscriber. Lola. Thank you so much for spending this time with me and telling me about your passion, and I cannot wait to see what's next. Thank you. Inspiring words from one of the winners of Seneca Women to hear search for the next great female podcasters. So excited to hear her podcast, launching later this year alongside nine other amazing podcasts from talented, up and coming female voices, with support from the card by Seneca Women, powered by master Card and Deserve. It's the first credit card that rewards you three percent cash back when you shop from women owned businesses in the marketplace by Seneca Women. The card by Seneca Women is issued by Celtic Bank, a Utah Chartered Industrial Bank member f d i C. Learn more at Seneca Women dot com.