Podcasts to Listen to While WFH
For people like me who’ve spent their entire careers working in an office, working from home sounds like a dream—until you’re 3 months in and your day to day looks painfully the same. Don’t get me wrong, I love working from home. I feel more productive throughout the day but I do miss interacting with people. I try to mimic the feel of being in an office by listening to podcasts as I work, here are some of my favorites.
1) Small Doses by Amanda Seales
When I was 27 years old, I had just gotten over a breakup. I got over that relationship and the dark self-realizations that came with it by partying a lot and overworking myself. Towards the end of my 28th year, I started realizing I was just poisoning my soul and not tackling the real issues. It felt like fate when I found Amanda Seales’ Small Doses podcast. The first episode I listened to was called Side Effects of the Ho Phase, where she interviewed DeWanda Wise of She’s Gotta Have It and I was hooked ever since. I used to listen to her weekly episodes on my way to work every morning, gotta get that weekly dose of gems from my Black Ate (elder sister). Amanda helped me be unapologetically female, and I’ve been a prouder woman ever since. I stan so hard.
2) Code Switch by NPR
Hosted by journalists of color, Code Switch is a forward-thinking podcast that focuses on race and culture in the U.S. and the nuances that come with being a multicultural society—exploring politics, pop culture, sports, history, current events and everything in between. As much as I love their voice and learning from their perspective, what I really love about this pod is the way they deliver stories. They bring the traditional investigative style of journalism and delivering their commentary in ways that are easily digestible. They don’t just jump on topics as news break out, they take their time to report on issues from a more unique and individual perspective that makes it even more relatable.
3) Fun With Dumb by Dumbfoundead
I usually play this in the background when I’m working and really enjoy Dumbfoundead’s conversations with his friends (this dude has a wide network so he interviews a lot of people from every industry you could think of). This has to be my favorite episode of Fun With Dumb. You rarely ever find a podcast/show that explores the daily lives of inner city Asians that goes past being “Asian” and it just becomes a conversation about growing up as an American in this day and age and how to overcome adversity in America. In this episode he interviews Danny Kwak of Complex and TikToker Jaechi, they talk about learning english as a 3rd language and how a lot of us first generations taught ourselves english through the movies and music we listened to and I’m just like *chef’s kiss* Where were these conversations when I was 15??
4) Still Processing with Wesley Morris and Jenna Wortham
Hosts Wesley Morris and Jenna Wortham are both culture writers for The New York Times. I enjoy listening to both of them have intimate conversations understanding the American culture from entertainment to technology and American history. They never hold back and I really appreciate that. They sound like how my friends and I would talk about these issues, you know where you can speak your truth and share your perspective and your friends will say their perspective without judging yours?
They did an episode where they visited the Smithsonian and went off about how Michelle Obama’s portrait was hung by the bathrooms. This episode shocked a lot of people that the Smithsonian had to issue a statement announcing the the painting has been moved and Michelle Obama was given her own hall. Legends.
I hope you guys are hanging in there, this week is almost over! Fuck ICE btw, if you have time today there’s a bunch of petitions I added to my master resource doc under the ‘other causes’ tab. Sign, call and email to help protect our international students: tinyurl.com/actionableswipeuplinks
Peace!