Studio B at NPR West in Culver City, CA on Sept. 8, 2014. Podcasts are a popular source of motivation and inspiration, as well as an easy way to learn new things about the world. (The Mitzikin Revolution/Creative Commons)
LadyGang
Hosted by Jac Vanek (CEO of Jac Vanek clothing), Keltie Knight (entertainment journalist from the Insider) and actress Becca Tobin (formally from “Glee”), this podcast emulates the conversations you would have with your girlfriends at brunch. Each week, different guests come on the show like Lea Michelle, Holly Madison and Ashley Tisdale to offer advice to listeners and answer questions about their personal lives. Other episodes feature experts to help you get your life together like Dr. Emily Morse of the podcast Sex With Emily, and financial guru and author of “Rich Bitch” Nicole Lapin. The podcast has grown beyond the weekly episodes, and a girl gang Facebook group has been created for listeners to join and interact with the hosts.
Beautiful Stories From Anonymous People
I discovered this podcast a year ago while at work trying to find something to listen to; the title initially caught my attention and I am so happy to have found it. Comedian Chris Gethard hosts the show (who I had never heard of until this podcast). The premise of the hour-long episodes is that people will call in and talk to him for an hour. There are two rules on the show: 1. Gethard cannot hang up the phone and 2. The callers must not reveal their names. They can talk about anything they want to, but once the hour is up the phone will hang up automatically. Calls have ranged from serious discussions like one woman who called in talking about her experiences growing up as a first generation Asian American to more lighthearted topics like a high school band teacher. This podcast is very engaging and gives you a look into the lives and perspectives of people outside your own.
Modern Love
WBUR Boston’s NPR station and the New York Time’s Modern Love column teamed up to bring this podcast to life. Each week host Meghna Chakrabarti has an actor read one of the columns submitted to the NYT. Columns range on topics from love to heartbreak, mental illness, family problems, etc. At the end of each podcast, Chakrabarti interviews the authors of the columns to check into their lives today and then asks the editor of the column Daniel Jones and the actors reading the columns what had drawn them to those pieces.
The Minimalists Podcast
The Minimalists are composed of authors and speakers Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus who have aimed to pursue a minimalist lifestyle since 2010. They travel across the country telling their story and telling others how they can achieve the lifestyle as well. I had first heard of the duo after watching the 2016 documentary “The Minimalists” on Netflix. In our day and age, we are consumed by many material things that we really do not need at all. This podcast offer tips and user-submitted questions in order to help us all reduce the amount of unnecessary items we own.
TED Radio Hour
This NPR podcast gives listeners the iconic TED talks on the go. “Each show is centered on a common theme such as the source of happiness, crowd-sourcing innovation, power shifts, or inexplicable connections,” as stated in the iTunes description. It is a great podcast to listen to when you need some motivation in your life or simply want to learn more about the world around you.
Angie DeRosa is the life editor for The Daily Campus. She can be reached via email at angelina.derosa@uconn.edu. She tweets @theangiederosa.