Anna DeShawn says thank you, shares goals for 2022 & talks the last two principles of Kwanzaa – Friday, December 31, 2021

Anna says, “I didn’t want to miss today though and the opportunity to say thank you. As of this morning we’ve surpassed 700 listens in 7 weeks & I am blown away by the support. So, thank you.”

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About Queer News

An intersectional approach to a daily news podcast where race & sexuality meet politics, entertainment and culture. Tune-in to reporting which centers & celebrates all of our lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer & comrade communities. Hosted by Anna DeShawn. 7 minutes a day, 5 days a week, ready by 9 a.m.

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About this Episode

Family, this is your favorite Queer radio personality Anna DeShawn here and I’ve my producer the day off. Mining for stories & producing a daily show takes a lot of time and energy so giving her a break is much needed. But I didn’t want to miss today though and the opportunity to say thank you. As of this morning we’ve surpassed 700 listens in 7 weeks & I am blown away by the support. So, thank you. 

Getting to this point has been a journey to say the very least. I became my own boss in February of this year and then started a new show Wake Up with Anna & Friends in April. I love interviewing so it seemed like the right move. The content was good, the guests are amazing but I wasn’t getting the listenership that I’d hoped I would. Now that could be for lots of reasons but I definitely hit a wall. A 2 hour show just wasn’t going to work for my life. So I switched it up and went to a 1 hour show. That still wasn’t working how I hope’d so I evaluated what about the show I enjoyed the most and it was the Queer news portion I shared every single more. That was the unique piece that I feel is missing from the world. In August I started a TikTok page and began sharing Queer news there. I was blown away by the response. You know it was just additional affirmation that this is what the world needed. After attending two podcasting conferences in November, Podcast & Afros & Audio, I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to create a daily Queer News podcast and here we are. Building a new thing but it feels like I’ve been right already. Does that make sense? This has been a year of experimenting & iterating while always staying in alignment with my call. It’s a proven formula that I will continue leveraging for the rest of my life. 2022 is going to be an amazing year. I know it is. Now I did want to share a few goals with you that I have for the podcast. 

1. That we continue sharing Queer news that feels balanced, intersectional and relevent. Far too often news pertaining to the LGBTQ community is sad but there is plenty of joy in our lives as well. 

2. I stay consistent and hit that 9am drop deadline more than not. 

3. That I build a relationship with you all, the listeners. Social media is a great place for that so I hope to take the stories I report on here and take them to TikTok & IG to talk more about them. No matter how uncomfortable that makes this Virgo sometimes okay please understand.

4. We garner at least 100 reviews on various podcasting platforms. For some context, we only have one right now. 

5. We hit 20,000 listens in 2022.

Those are my 2022 goals for the podcast and I thank you for being on the journey with me. 

Now let us not forget it is still Kwanzaa. The last two principles are Kuumba, creativity and Imani, faith. Kummba means to always do as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it. This reminds me of a quote my mentor Dr. Wanda Everage would tell me in undergrad and I hold it close to my heart. Leave a place better than you found it. My hope is I can do that with my work and this podcast is part of that work. Now, Imani means to believe with all our heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders and the righteousness and victory of our struggle. The one and only tattoo I have says trust your faith. Taking big leaps and betting on yourself is not for the faint of heart family but I encourage you to trust your faith. Lean not on your own understanding and lean into the journey. Not the destination. 

When we talk again it will be 2022, so ya’ll have a beautiful end to your year and we will talk again soon. Till Monday family, peace.

Learn about Kwanzaa