How did this get started?
I was part of the team that launched the Modern Love podcast. So much love and care went into that. I wanted my kid to hear that level of beautiful sound design. I was digging around and just didn’t find any pure storytelling podcasts. Everything I found was a lot of Cinderellas and Snow Whites. While timeless, I just wanted to expand on that. I have twin 5-year-olds, a boy and a girl. They were ready to hear more complex stories. And I wanted to talk with them about it. We can make something beautiful that’s also fun for parents.
What’s the market, the idea behind it?
We thought we could reach so many different parents. It’s just absorbed in kindness and generosity. I studied the market: Christian parenting, progressive parenting. And I thought this could really appeal to everyone, unless you want your kid to be a bully. Parents may want different things for their child, but we can all come together around these core values of generosity, kindness, perspective. Being able to reflect on one’s own life. Just building curiosity is a great skill for kids. Just to ask questions. Whether in class or in conversation, it makes people more thoughtful and more aware.
How are you picking stories?
We just look around the world. Or . . . just dug into folklore books. We’re trying to showcase different stories from around the world, and that’s where the universality of some of these themes come together. It’s for younger children, so we’re definitely not looking to do anything violent or overly scary or desperately sad. They take you places you didn’t think possible. And (though they are adaptations) we’re able to maintain some of the integrity of the culture of the story. For the Ocean is Salty, we got Filipino actors to read (and) Nigerian actors for the one next week – and he remembered the story from growing up.
What do you hope to accomplish?
I think of it as a visual detox. I want them to engage with stories. We do get some descriptives, but we’re really careful about letting them form ideas on your own. [They’re] strengthening a different muscle. We want them to be curious and have conversations with grown-ups. That’s something I feel like was so great for me growing up. (Adults) asked what I thought and that was such a gift.