Today we’d like to introduce you to David Shin.
David, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I started my podcast as a way to just scratch a creative itch that I had. The first few episodes were just about me ranting toward an audience that I found “unreachable,” hence the title “I Hope They Hear This.” I addressed the first few episodes to movie executives, certain political parties, and specific demographics of people. After a couple of months, I started to invite friends as guests to add more perspective to the topics. The more guests I had on, the more I realized that everyone had unique stories with a value that were worthy of sharing. Although the format of the podcast has largely stayed the same, the vision and purpose of the podcast have evolved into sharing the stories and experiences of Asian Americans in the metro Atlanta area. Today, the podcast features an Asian American guest (almost) every week to either highlight their story or perspective on a topic.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The smoothest party of the journey was the support I received from my community. I started recording on my phone by myself, but little by little, my community offered help. I got a lot of feedback on how to improve the podcast, people offered to let me borrow more sophisticated recording equipment, my creative friends helped me come up with custom music, and I am currently working with another friend to design a custom logo and visual brand. This is truly a podcast that has been built by the community around me.
The most difficult part was being consistent. Since the start of the podcast, I have released at least one episode weekly. It’s not always easy to schedule recording sessions with friends, thus releasing a weekly episode isn’t always the easiest. Sometimes, I just simply didn’t have the energy to spend an hour with someone to record an episode for release (since I am an introvert with a full-time job). Especially now, with COVID-19 and social distancing, it has been difficult recording episodes (especially sound quality-wise).
Please tell us more about your work, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
The “I Hope They Hear This” podcast specializes in cataloging and highlighting the Asian American story and experience in metro Atlanta. Our interviews with people usually focus on a trait or accomplishment of the interviewees, but we encapsulate it with their whole story.
I am most proud of how the community has come together to support the podcast. I think what sets the podcast apart from others is the fact that we show the stories of Asian Americans, specifically in Metro Atlanta.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
Success, for me, is the normalization of the Asian American story in metro Atlanta. Asian Americans are underrepresented in media and our presence in metro Atlanta isn’t always readily apparent. I would consider my podcast successful if and when we see that Asian Americans are no longer considered “foreign” or “from the outside” in any way.
Contact Info:
- Email: ihthtpodcast@gmail.com
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/ihopetheyhearthis
- Twitter: http://twitter.com/ihthtpodcast
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