The beauty of a podcast is that the voice is given the power to educate, enchant, relate to, and inspire a number of people from the comfort of your room with only a computer and microphone necessary. As someone who enjoys discussion and listening to fun conversations, podcasts have always interested me. It’s another way for people to have a social platform in the world, without your face or looks being centered. For me, being a Black woman, I’m always ultra-focused on my Blackness and how people may perceive this. The anonymity behind a podcast seemed like an amazing way to get my voice out there without having to deal with the insecurities that come with people being able to scrutinize and comment on my appearance.
For my podcast, I thought about my desire to uplift people who feel like their voices are being ignored. I thought about the importance of podcasts. They are not only insanely entertaining, but they allow a safe space in a way for the speakers to speak about whatever it is they choose, without fear of being spoken over. For my peers who represent people of color, low-income, first-gen students (those who are the first in their family to go to college), and other marginalized intersectional identities, it may feel daunting to go to such a huge university where we are the minority, and where speaking up can be incredibly nerve-wracking and you may feel unable to find people to discuss topics that are important to one’s heart. That is why I created my own podcast, called Voice Your Truth in hopes of creating that space for students on the UMass Amherst campus.
My podcast, Voice Your Truth is about uplifting marginalized voices on our campus (UMass Amherst) and supporting a safe space for creatives to talk about their work, have a conversation about current events, discuss the works of other creatives, and so on. At its root, I want this podcast show to be a place of natural conversation, to be fun, carefree, and overall, a place where the voices of the underrepresented on this campus are the main ones.
In light of the countless microaggressions students face on this campus due to their identities, they are often left to debate their existence, worth, and intelligence in hopes of gaining a little compassion, and oftentimes, the work we do to educate people around us can be exhausting mentally. By creating this safe space on campus that allows anonymity, I hope it encourages all students to feel safe in a space where their voice and truth will not be debated.
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