Catrin Skaperdas, Marketing and Audience Development Director at The Podcast Guys, has 6+ years of experience growing podcast audiences in different markets around the world. She also created and hosts ITALIAN, FOR SURE, a show about Italian culture.
We’re Here to Help
If you watched the TV series New Girl, you’ll like We’re Here to Help – the podcast is co-hosted by Jake Johnson (a.k.a. Nick Miller). We’re Here to Help is hilarious and is my go-to podcast at the moment, especially when I want something to entertain me and keep me in a good mood.
Pack One Bag
In January I received laser eye surgery. I couldn’t see anything and couldn’t leave my dark apartment for a few days. Pack One Bag (and my husband) got me through the recovery period. For the first time in a while, a podcast wasn’t media I consumed while doing something else, it was *what* I was doing. And it was … restorative. Pack One Bag is a quality story-style podcast you can binge and I highly recommend giving it your full attention.
Sweet Bobby
Sweet Bobby is one of my go-to podcasts when people ask me for a recommendation. My husband and I listened to it together on a road trip and it made the time fly. It’s a good show to listen to with someone else because you can guess what you think will happen next between episodes.
How I Built This with Guy Raz
How I Built This is another go-to podcast recommendation. I specifically refer to the Dyson episode. It was inspiring to hear how James Dyson was essentially kicked out of his own company because his partners didn’t believe he could create a vacuum that rivaled Hoover. It was then he moved on and created what the world knows now as Dyson, retaining full ownership of his company. See… inspiring.
Italian, For Sure
This is a shameless plug for my podcast, Italian, For Sure. The show is all about Italian culture, going beyond the cliches and stereotypes with true Italians (born and raised). If you didn’t know, I’m an American living in Italy and I was driven to create this podcast for those who desire to learn more about Italian culture, dream of moving to Italy, plan on visiting or studying abroad in Italy, or have Italian roots or heritage. Season one (with 15 episodes) is out now, and season two is coming soon.
Coffee Break Italian
When I moved to Italy, I didn’t know any Italian—aside from ciao. To supplement my in-person Italian classes (three hours a day while working full-time and juggling everything else that comes with moving to a new country—I digress), I turned to podcasts and found Coffee Break Italian. I started from Season 1, Episode 1 (out of 12 seasons), and each episode is only about 20 minutes long. They also offer Coffee Break podcasts in other languages, too.
Tips – How to grow your podcast
Tips is a great podcast for podcasters (especially new podcasters) looking for insights into podcasting. As a podcast professional in the industry, I had enjoyed listening and seeing if there were any tools I could add to my audience development toolbelt. Each episode was only around 5 minutes. (Disclaimer: The show hasn’t released a new episode since May of 2023, but there’s a lot of great content that’s still relevant.)
Almost 30
I really liked Almost 30 when I was… almost 30. Now, I’m 32 and don’t listen to it often, but I still recommend it especially if you’re – you get it – almost 30. When I had started working in New York City after a year of traveling the U.S. in a tiny house on wheels (a story for another day), I went to one of their live episode events where they interviewed Heather McMahan, who has her own great podcast called Absolutely Not.
Pocket Casts Blog 