Akron Podcast Lab

Local storytellers and Akronites EbaNee Bond, RaJohn Butler, Joy Gadson, Charlee Harris, Ebony Hill, Dominic Moore-Dunson, and John Smith participated in the Akron Podcast Lab, a four-month workshop learning the art of podcasting.

Harlem-based Futuro Media Group, “an independent nonprofit dedicated to sharing stories of communities underrepresented in mainstream media” was the producer of the local lab, and Ella Turenne, a doctoral student at UC Irvine, led the program.

“Even though I’m not from Akron, a lot of the stories that are being told, I definitely connect

with,” Turenne said in an interview with The Devil Strip.

“I learned the basics of podcasting and the journalistics, of podcasting,” participant Joy Gadson shared, and according to fellow participant Charlie Harris, the course is more than just podcasting, “It helps you to learn your voice, what you are and what you want to be. It was more than just a 13-week class. It teaches you how to advocate for yourself. It helps you understand how to put your story into words - to help you convey what you want to say to others,” she adds.

EbaNee Bond explains the production of the course. “We did have to put together a podcast in the class. It was an episode that was produced. The producer was amazing! Going through the class made me realize that I had never been in a space that allowed my creativity to breathe.”