From South Africa to Seattle: Lizzy Hudson's Story (S8, E9)

 South African podcaster and social media marketing specialist, Lizzy Hudson is the voice behind the Live to Thrive Podcast. In this episode, she shares her journey into podcasting, inspired by the tragic event of George Floyd's murder in 2020. We discuss the personal impact of this moment and how Lizzy's podcast focuses on amplifying the stories of people of color healing from racial trauma and other challenges unique to POC. 

There are many vulnerable moments in this episode as we touch on Lizzy's experiences as a cross-racial adoptee, her memories from a predominantly white boarding school in post-apartheid South Africa and eventually moving to the predominantly white town of Santa Barbara in the USA. Find out how these experiences have influenced her values, career and life choices. 
If you need tips on navigating the rapidly changing AI driven social media landscape while maintaining good mental; if you are curious about immigrant experience in 2020's America; or if you'd like to know the ins and outs of podcasting for impact, then join us for an intimate discussion. You will walk away reflective and inspired.

Chapters

• 0:02 Podcasting for Healing
• 15:52 Navigating Culture, Social Media, and Business
• 22:06 Social Media Identity and Authenticity
• 30:32 Navigating Identity and Finding Peace
• 46:44 Connecting with other podcasters

Transcript

Kutloano Skosana: 0:02

Hello and welcome to Shades and Layers. I'm your Kutloano Skosana Ricci, and today we are talking about podcasting for healing. This episode is also the start of a bigger series where I'll be interviewing other podcasters aligned with the Shades and Layers mission of amplifying the stories of black and other women of color in business. My guest today is fellow South African and podcaster, Lizzy Hudson. We met in Seattle. She works in social media marketing as well.

Kutloano Skosana: 0:30

Lizzy podcast is called Live to Thrive and she mostly interviews others who, like her, are healing from racial trauma and other challenges unique to people of color. She first came to podcasting in the 2010s, but this iteration of her journey was sparked by the public murder of George Floyd on the 25th of May in 2020. In our conversation, we discussed the personal impact of this moment and how far she has come since then. If you have ever considered starting a podcast, if you've ever wondered how to navigate social media while caring for your mental health, or you're just simply curious about the immigrant experience in 2020s America, then stick around. So, without further ado, let's hear it from Lizzy Hudson. So how would you describe your work at Live to Thrive Podcast and what's the deeper meaning you attach to the activities that you engage in deeper meaning you attach to the activities that you engage in.

Lizzy Hudson: 1:32

Yeah, so with Live to Thrive podcast, I think how I attached, my meaning and my work and my goals was to provide a platform for people of color to come onto and speak about their stories, how they can, maybe, how their stories can impact someone else that looks like them. I feel like when I was looking into podcasting and the podcasts that we have out there, there was not many podcasts that really focused on POC and how they deal with hard times in mental health. I think a lot of it came from my you know after 2020 with George Floyd and that kind of made like this whole whirlwind of how I could help in communities that were not supported, and so that's my deeper meaning to my work on Live to Thrive podcast.

Kutloano Skosana: 2:33

All right. So you are amplifying voices of people of color and you call your podcast Live to Thrive. Why is that your chosen title and how does it tie in to this work in real life?

Lizzy Hudson: 2:50

Yeah, Live to Thrive podcast. I think how I came up with that name is that, no matter where you are in life, you should be taking the steps to thrive in what realm or industry you're in. Before we started this podcast, I told you I'm a paid social media strategist and I said that you know that's nothing that I should like maybe talk about, because I don't have, you know, a deeper meaning attached to it. And now this has just come full circle. I encourage people that whatever they do in life and whatever they choose to do in life, they should be thriving in it. So something like paid social media, off the top of my head is nothing that I feel like I like I'm thriving in. I'm just doing it because, first of all, I'm interested in social media but, second of all, I do it because it pays the bills.

Kutloano Skosana: 3:51

You need to make a living somehow, sure.

Lizzy Hudson: 3:53

Yeah, I need to. I need to make a living somehow, but at the same time, I need to practice what I preach and make sure that, where I'm at in life, I'm thriving in every area that I touch. And so, with Live to Thrive, this is something I'm passionate about, and it's why I decided to name my podcast Live to Thrive, because I want to push people that look like me and you, that are minorities, to make sure that they're thriving in every aspect of their life. Mm, hmm.

Kutloano Skosana: 4:33

You know, the one thing you do mention is that you have a full time job that helps you to thrive in other areas of your life. Life, and you know this whole idea of thriving has become so linked to affluence and privilege. You know financial means. How does it land with you? You know me mentioning this because of course, you've got to make money to keep a roof over your head and all the things. But the way thriving is sold to us nowadays is like if you're not sipping champagne in the Bahamas every vacation, then your life is less than worthy.

Lizzy Hudson: 5:16

Yeah, you're not thriving, right? Yeah, yeah, no, this is a good question, because I think this is something that I have to really think about, because when I think of thriving, my definite, my definition is not necessarily sipping champagne in the Bahamas, making so much money that you, you know you world, and I think for me, thriving is more of like an internal feeling being mentally stable, being okay with who I am as a person, not showing off, not doing things just to get that pat on the back or that external validation from other people. I think for me, it's very much like I am okay, I have a roof over my head, I'm successful in and also success is different, like my success might may be different to what you categorize success is. So I think that is my answer. I think that's where I like land about. I just it's like such a very muddy waters in this day and age.

Lizzy Hudson: 6:37

I think that everybody wants to, you know, be Instagram ready, and if you are doing this, then you should have this. Or if you want to be this, this, then you should have this. Or if you want to be this, then you should be able to travel here like that's not. That's not. What I I feel is is like my end all be all. I just want to help and be mentally aligned with myself.

Kutloano Skosana: 7:05

So why did you choose podcasting as a format for supporting the community and also for amplifying these voices?

Lizzy Hudson: 7:16

I think I chose a podcast firstly because, coming from South Africa, I came to the States and I was super excited about coming to America because I wanted to be in the entertainment industry since I was a kid and I either wanted to be on being a celebrity guest interview interviewer, like being on the red carpet and asking people who they wearing, or I wanted to be um I wanted to be on the radio, so that was like my dream ever since I was a kid.

Lizzy Hudson: 7:55

And when I came to the states, I really wanted to run after that. But during that time, know, breaking into the entertainment industry as a young black South African this was 2012, I was like a fish out of water. I didn't know where to start. I didn't know how to start. And I remember a couple of years later when I was doing my lifestyle modeling because that's how I got into my lifestyle modeling and social media and marketing and all that fun stuff.

Kutloano Skosana: 8:29

Right right.

Lizzy Hudson: 8:30

I found podcasting, where I actually had a podcast called Lizzy Straight Out of Africa or something like that in 2014. And I just spoke about my story a lot and that was the closest thing to me as a radio host. And so when I was talking about my story and people were really interested in what I had to say because that's another story for another day I really got. I found a passion for podcasting, but I got bored of just talking to myself the whole time and I was like where do I have people come into my, into my space and we talk about either business?

Lizzy Hudson: 9:21

woman in business was one series I did and then, and it kind of just grew from that when Live to Thrive really came to fruition was after 2020, I went through a huge identity crisis, for some like some reason. Well, it's not some reason.

Lizzy Hudson: 9:44

A huge reason was because when George Floyd happened and I saw that with my own eyes I was like I, we are not loved in this country yeah and I moved from South Africa to get a better life, to find those opportunities and really get a better life, to find those opportunities and really thrive states, and when that happened, it kind of was like a light bulb went off in my head and I was like this is something that we need to talk about, I need to bring this out. I need to talk to people that look like me. I need to talk to minority groups and talk to them about their experiences, how they go through their mental health, their struggles, and maybe this could be a tool for someone that is having a really hard day where they may be in an office where they're the only black person, and I mean, I'm in that situation right now.

Lizzy Hudson: 10:47

Yeah, and I think people don't talk about it enough. Like as a black woman, as a woman from a different country that sounds completely different from everybody within the office. I have so much imposter syndrome. I feel like I'm not, I'm not supposed to be there, I think that I'm not worthy of being there and I have to like continually tell myself that I was, I was picked to be here for a reason. But that little voice in my head is like you've been given this opportunity, you need to be happy that you're here and you need to prove, you need to work harder to prove that you allow to sit at the same table.

Lizzy Hudson: 11:29

A lot of pressure, yeah, it's a lot of pressure, so that's why I started it.

Kutloano Skosana: 11:35

True. So who are your guests? Where are they from? Are they all people of color from America? You know who do you speak to in general.

Lizzy Hudson: 11:45

I speak to everybody within the United States. I mean, if I get big enough, maybe I'll branch out, but yeah, it's everyone from the United States. I do like a little bit of a screening to see if that person's story resonates with my audience, and it's been like a huge learning curve. I mean you have your own podcast. Yeah. It's a lot of work. Of course.

Lizzy Hudson: 12:15

Yeah, you have to be really diligent. You have to line up guests, you have to screen them, you have to get them on. It's a lot of work. So all of my guests are from the states and they I I primarily focus on black people. It's been mostly like black woman in business or. But now I've been, I interviewed a Latina, I interviewed a Korean woman, so it's been I'm kind of I'm branching out and it's really awesome.

Kutloano Skosana: 12:52

Right. So the podcast for you is a way to also maintain your own mental health. This is what I'm hearing you say, and what are you hearing from your guests in terms of how they are staying sane in a hostile environment, so to speak?

Lizzy Hudson: 13:12

First of all, yes, this podcast is very much for my own mental health. I think that it's helping me get through some situations that I kind of feel stuck in. Yes, therapy helps as well, but it's really nice to hear someone else's story where we resonate and we go through the same thing. Second of all, a lot of my guests talk about they start about like where they came from, their history. Then they tell me about how they have overcome that. That I've had guests on that have written books. So I had a woman that actually made a journal that takes you through step by step on how to overcome like that imposter syndrome and that really stemmed from her background, with her parents, you know, not caring for her and things like that.

Lizzy Hudson: 14:06

And then, she wrote a book and that's how she got through her mental struggles I have.

Lizzy Hudson: 14:12

Another girl came on and spoke about how when she's having that anxiety and and mental stress from work, she really, really makes the point to take three deep breaths and just stand where she is and feel the ground and for her to kind of come back. So it's just everybody goes through the same things but not everybody deals with it the same, which is so great for me, because now I have tools to be like oh, I can take three deep breaths and just stand here for a minute, you know, like I never thought of those things.

Lizzy Hudson: 14:50

So it's been great. It's been great hearing everybody's mental struggles and how they overcame them, and it's helped me a lot.

Kutloano Skosana: 14:58

Yeah, so what were your impressions of the United States when you moved here in 2012?

Lizzy Hudson: 15:10

Oh my word! I was a fish out of water. I thought that I was. If I tell you the story, you're gonna laugh, but I used to watch Basketball Wives of LA oh my goodness yeah, I used to watch basketball wives of la in south africa and I was like okay, when I go to California I'm going to find myself a basketball husband.

Kutloano Skosana: 15:32

I'm laughing because I've seen your husband. Yes, let's hear it. You couldn't get more different, but yes.

Lizzy Hudson: 15:42

So different, so different, and so that didn't happen guys. I do not have a basketball husband. I have a husband that's in the tech industry. So yeah, so when I came here, I actually landed in Santa Barbara, which is just an hour and a half out of LA, and super, super small town, beautiful, beautiful town, beach town, but so white, like so white, literally. I was like one of the two other black people that lived there. Oh, wow.

Lizzy Hudson: 16:16

And everybody would see me walking down the street and call me hey, South Africa, oh, no, yeah, yeah. Wow, yeah, so Wow. Oh yeah, oh, no, yeah yeah. Wow, yeah so.

Kutloano Skosana: 16:27

Wow, oh yeah, oh yeah, I have a name, hello.

Lizzy Hudson: 16:30

Yeah, exactly, my name's Lizzie.

Lizzy Hudson: 16:32

But it was a huge learning curve because I came here out of high school and, you know, I went to boarding school in South Africa, so I was already very isolated. And then I came to the States where it was just such a different culture, different food, and it was. It wasn't a huge culture shock, but it was just a lot of trying to change my mindset. Being in a town that was super white and having to try and blend in was really hard for me, and then also just navigating life as an adult. I didn't have, you know, I'm out of high school, I don't have my mom, I have to figure out work, I have to figure out how to eat, I have to socialize and and make a living for myself and make a name for myself. So it was, it was hard, but I think that I would obviously would not be where I am at today, living in Seattle and, and you know, doing the things that I love, that I don't really have to think about, which most people don't have the privilege to do.

Lizzy Hudson: 17:39

So I'm very, very lucky, very lucky that I landed up here.

Kutloano Skosana: 17:43

I mean, you could have ended up anywhere in the world UK, where South Africans go, australia, new Zealand why the USA?

Lizzy Hudson: 17:52

That's a great question, because after high school, you know, we always take a gap year as South Africans, and we I was going to go to the UK with one of my best friends and spend about six to eight months there, and I then pulled out just because I was like every South African goes to the UK, let me try something different. So I planned to come to America for six to eight months and I have family that live in Santa Barbara, so I went and I stayed with them for a while and then I started going to college in Santa Barbara and that's how I ended up staying.

Kutloano Skosana: 18:38

Oh, that's great, and the rest is history.

Kutloano Skosana: 18:42

And the rest is history. This is Shades and Layers, and my guest today is the creator and host of the Live to Thrive podcast and social media solopreneur, lizzie Hudson to Thrive podcast and social media solopreneur, Lizzy Hudson. Up next, we discuss her take on how social media has evolved as a business tool and how artificial intelligence is changing the landscape. We also get to hear about her own struggles with social media and mental health and, most importantly, we zoom in on how the contrasts between South Africa and the USA have influenced her career and life choices. So let's talk about the freelancing side of it. What do you do in that space and who do you work with?

Lizzy Hudson: 19:29

Yeah, so I still speak to a lot of my old clients in Santa Barbara. Still speak to a lot of my old clients in Santa Barbara.

Lizzy Hudson: 19:40

I had my own social media marketing business in Santa Barbara and so with my freelancing, I help a little boutique store with her website. You're doing online sales. It's like an old mom and pop bikini store and she doesn't know how to really be online, and so I help her with updates with her website and I help her with selling stuff on her website. I have a lady that does wigs and hair that needs help with her website, and then I also just give advice on how their social media is looking, how to grow their following, how to keep their Instagram feeds cohesive and clean. For businesses, I think that like, but now, in 2023, I don't think people care about how cohesive your social media is. I think it's just how authentic you are. So doing that switch, and also, people just don't like. You can't like. Back in the day, it was like how many followers do you have? Now it's actually about are your followers interested in the story you're telling and are they quality followers? So just giving them advice on the online presence.

Kutloano Skosana: 20:54

Right, that's pretty cool. I mean, social media is one of those areas where I think a lot of people are doing guesswork. Most of us are doing guesswork, so you know there's talks of algorithms changing all the time and now with AI, things are getting even murkier. So yeah, I mean, how do you use it personally? How do you advise people to engage socially if you know they have a small business and such?

Lizzy Hudson: 21:26

well, yeah, if you have a small business, I think being the number one thing nowadays because, like you said, ai everything is about to be so fake. I got a Instagram ad, not like a couple of days ago, of a woman just running down a random field and then she used AI to make it look like she was running in a field where there was a huge castle and water around her. And it's this new app that can make you appear wherever you want in the world, and that wasn't intriguing to me. That actually scared me. Now people are going to share, like not the truth, because they want to.

Kutloano Skosana: 22:10

And already there's a lot of that right.

Lizzy Hudson: 22:13

A hundred percent, and AI is a good thing and a bad thing. I think that there's going to be things that happen that are just fake living, but the advice I have for businesses is yes, a hundred percent.

Lizzy Hudson: 22:30

Hire your social media manager to make your stuff look professional and clean and whatever you need to do. But I think being being authentically yourself is the biggest thing that resonates with people in general, because we scrolling all the time and so if I feel like you're not authentically yourself, I'm not going to follow you. In a world where everybody's online all the time, I think showing that humanness with you and your consumers will build that brand trust and just being truthful, because Instagram ads sometimes get me and I buy things off Instagram and then I'm like I should not have done that.

Kutloano Skosana: 23:21

It's so easy, it's so easy.

Lizzy Hudson: 23:23

Yeah, yeah. You asked me about my how I use social for my personal.

Lizzy Hudson: 23:32

And I think when I was living in Santa Barbara, I was aspiring to be a influencer and I had thousands of followers. I was in the 15,000. If you look at my Instagram now I'm down to nine because I was really trying to get big and I was doing professional photos and I was podcasting and I was this brand strategist and all of this fun, exciting stuff and I always had to post every single day. And I think that during that time of my life I went through a lot of difficulty as a small business owner, just a freelancer. I went through a lot of hard times because I had to always keep up with the times Because if I didn't post content I would lose my following. And now I think what I use social media for is just to be authentically myself. I don't post every day. I don't post like beautiful pictures every day of myself.

Lizzy Hudson: 24:32

I look sometimes. Look back at my old Instagram. I was like, oh, my word cringe. I was so self-centered, if you want to say, I would post a picture of myself and make sure that I had over 300 likes to make me feel better. Now I don't care. I love sharing things about mental health. I love sharing things about my partner and I.

Lizzy Hudson: 24:58

I love home organizing, I love looking after my plants, so now I'm really trying to just be myself and being okay with not getting that validation, and it's been a huge learning curve for me.

Kutloano Skosana: 25:18

Yeah, yeah. So you mentioned that George Floyd was a big turning point for you. Was there anything else that brought you to this realization that you know this whole, I would say aesthetic aspiration? Was not it for you and probably not contributing to you thriving.

Lizzy Hudson: 25:40

Yeah, I think the biggest thing was George Floyd. That was like my biggest thing. My second biggest thing was I am adopted into a white family.

Lizzy Hudson: 25:55

So I think like getting really deep now. I think the trigger was George Floyd and then realizing racism is very much alive in this country but it's been sweeped under the rug for many, many, many, many, many years. I think I kind of had my blinders on from 2012 to 2020. And I shared my feelings with my mom and she kind of didn't click how bad it was and she made a comment that kind of triggered me. Where, oh, we living in America? She's a white South African. You know we went through a party. You know she adopted my sister. Now she's giving us so many, so many opportunities that I love.

Lizzy Hudson: 26:47

And so she made a comment where it was like oh you know, we in America, now we they'll, they'll figure it out and they'll, they'll get justice.

Lizzy Hudson: 26:57

And I was like, no, but like, just literally killed him, like let's open our eyes a little bit you know, and so that was like the second thing where I was just like, oh my gosh, like I have no way to turn, because every time I turn there's another white person and I and I'm not discriminating, I mean my partner's white, my family's white. We talk about this all the time and I think that, like for me, it was like realizing oh, and at the time I was living in a very, very predominantly white town, so everywhere I was looking, I felt like I didn't have anyone to turn to because no one could understand. And that is when I actually went into like a depression where I was like what am I doing? Why am I firstly in this town? Why is my mom not clicking? That there's something very wrong here. Why am I feeling this way?

Lizzy Hudson: 28:07

And that's when I was like I need an outlet, I need to get my feelings out. I need to, even if it's just me talking to myself or even if it's me going online and interviewing someone that is going through the same feelings of exhaustion and sadness and like an identity crisis that I'm going through. And so that was kind of the turning point for me and I think it's kind of me, it's left a stain, I think I, it's like, made me realize wherever I go in life after 2020, I am very hyper aware of who's around me. I never really used to care. I used to to just be like people are people. I love everybody. Like you're black, you're white, and now I walk into a room and I'll be like hmm, yeah, but the.

Kutloano Skosana: 29:06

US will also make you hyper aware. I mean, did you find a huge difference between being in South Africa, where most people look like you and you never had to think about being black or being a person of color, but still you did have to think about things like that, but it was in a different context. So what were the contrasts for you between South Africa and the US?

Lizzy Hudson: 29:37

Well, I mean, I freaking love South Africa. I miss it so much, but I think for me there was the flip coin of that.

Lizzy Hudson: 29:46

right Is I was always called a coconut growing up back on the outside wide in the inside, growing up, black on the outside, white in the inside, and I always felt like I had to prove myself, that I was black enough. And because I was surrounded by black people left, right and center which was amazing, because, yeah, I saw myself everywhere, I loved it. But then there was the flip side, where I had to feel I had to prove that I was African enough to my fellow black people. That was hard for me because I speak white yeah, that thing right.

Kutloano Skosana: 30:30

Yeah, you know.

Lizzy Hudson: 30:32

I, I, I even remember like a vivid memory in in in boarding school. We were walking down to the hall to eat breakfast or lunch, whatever it was, and we were walking in and all the black kids were around a table like laughing and making jokes and stuff like that. And my sister was there even and I like walked up there to see like what they were talking about and all my white friends took me back and was like Lizzie, that's not for you to wife that table, oh. And I was like what? And they're like you too, too white, come, come coconut. And I kind of, at that point in my like growing up-ness, if you want to say I was like, oh shit, like I'm black, but I'm not black enough, like what. That doesn't make any sense to me.

Lizzy Hudson: 31:38

You know, and that's where I got the idea of always just loving whoever you are, no matter what you look like around me, like I would not notice what you look like. Because I knew how I felt when someone noticed what I looked like and said that oh, I don't belong. So I told myself growing up that no matter who you are white, black, asian, latina, whatever you are I'm going to accept you for who you are, because I don't. I just don't want anyone to feel that like the feeling that I felt in that moment.

Lizzy Hudson: 32:18

And then also, when I came to the States it was like that's why I was so oh, love everybody. And then it's just like I have a lot of weird no, absolutely no, no, no, I hear you, I hear you yeah. Yeah, yeah, which boarding school did you go to? I went to treviden college okay and kwaZulu-Natal yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Kutloano Skosana: 32:43

No, I I went to rodin and I still have scars oh, really I need to know, all of those, because it's for real.

Kutloano Skosana: 32:54

It is for real. I mean it's the thing is it's just so insidious. You know it's little things, you know it's like that, what they call the death of a thousand cuts. It's not necessarily just one big incident, you know, it's this little things that chip away at you, but yeah, so okay. So we're getting into that, those contrasts between South Africa and the US. But now you know where do you find yourself in terms of, you know, making peace with everything that's happened and living your best life, living my best life, still learning.

Lizzy Hudson: 33:30

You know, I'm 31 years old and I'm still learning. I am really trying to be mindful of how I talk to myself because I'm in my head all day. So just trying to be mindful of how I talk to myself. I am really not putting expectations on people that I care and love about, because if I do that, I know that I'm going to be disappointed. So I don't want to be disappointed. So learning to not have expectations but just caring about the people that I love and really living in the moment is the biggest thing that I'm working on right now. Living in the moment is the biggest thing that I'm working on right now In terms of peace and how I've really embraced that and working through it.

Lizzy Hudson: 34:27

I think that I don't have any animosity to any of the people that said those things in high school and things like that. I don't have. I don't. I'm not holding on to the past. I think I am really focusing on letting go and letting be. I know that sounds so cliche and cringe, but it's making me really become at peace with myself, at peace with people that I interact with and really knowing that wherever one person is in life is completely different to where you're at and you never know what other people are going through. Different to where you're at and you never know what other people are going through. So just not it's that expectation factor again, just not having expectations on people, because then it just leads to disappointment.

Kutloano Skosana: 35:28

This is Shades and Layers. It's now time to get into the nitty gritty of podcasting with my guest, lizzie Hudson, who hosts the Live to Thrive podcast, which can be found on the podcast player where you are listening to us right now. We also get into the shades and layers rapid fire, so stick around and find out what Lizzie is thinking in terms of writing her life story and the black women she admires. Podcasting for healing, healing. How do you meet other podcasters? I know we met online, so do you have, do you have, fellow pod friends?

Lizzy Hudson: 36:04

no, and I really want to have fellow pod friends. I think it would be cool to do like a panel or something yeah like you know, in podcast, yeah, it's even though we hate it. We hate to love it, but social media is where I find all my podcast shows absolutely that's how I mean. That's how I met you. I've met another woman that has her own podcast, which is also just an apology particularly herself, which I've like started following and stuff. And social media connects me to all my pod friends.

Kutloano Skosana: 36:41

Great, great. And you know how are you organized there. I know you've got this website, or rather a link tree, right where people can book to be a guest, and all of that, but you know how are you organized in terms of you know equipment. Have you had a rough landing and learning curve as far as getting into this space goes?

Lizzy Hudson: 37:05

yeah, it was pretty rough right at the beginning, but no, I have my equipment, I have. You can book through link tree. But yeah, there's a link, it will link you to my calendar. You choose a time for screening.

Lizzy Hudson: 37:19

I like to screen people, just to see the fibers, because I'm just interviewing random people, so I just want to make sure that we know each other a little bit before the podcast, and then I'll send you a link to the actual podcast day, and then I'll send you a link to where we meet, which is Zencastle, which is for podcasters, and then, and then we record, and I have my little recording station right here. It's a big microphone, but this is good for zoom, so I was like, let me use this one so I have all my equipment.

Kutloano Skosana: 37:55

That's all good yeah.

Lizzy Hudson: 37:57

But yeah, I do have everything.

Kutloano Skosana: 37:59

Yeah, and do you do all your own editing? Do you outsource? What's your setup there?

Lizzy Hudson: 38:06

Maybe I should get advice from you here.

Kutloano Skosana: 38:09

Oh my gosh.

Lizzy Hudson: 38:10

I do my own editing. I did actually outsource to someone to edit and I paid them a monthly fee, but I had to go into to the podcast and re-edit what they had edited because they would miss out certain things because, like during a podcast, not everything flows right you want to cut something out, but you have to make sure that it makes sense.

Lizzy Hudson: 38:34

So so I outsourced and I had to always do that and I'm like I'm doing more work than just sending my podcast to someone. So I've just come to terms to just editing and producing it. I mean, I still have a lot to learn with editing and I edit on on GarageBand, which is super simple and it comes on the laptop, and I haven't gotten any complaints yet, so I guess that's a good sign.

Kutloano Skosana: 39:05

It's always a good sign. How do?

Lizzy Hudson: 39:08

you edit yours.

Kutloano Skosana: 39:10

Yeah, so I use a platform called Hindenburg. That's because I'm an audio first podcast and because I do have a background in radio. Editing is something that I did professionally for a long time, so it's it's quite easy for me to work with the platform. You know, listen in, chop, change etc. So yeah, so that that's that's been working for me, and then I just, you know, send it out via buzzsprout and then.

Kutloano Skosana: 39:39

I'm out on all the yeah it's my distribution, yeah, channels, yeah yeah, and then you know, as you can see, I've got my little booth here, which is literally a cupboard that my husband and I kind of kitted out with. You know, these pads, yeah, the soundproofing pads, and yeah, little decoration and yeah, thank you. It's the simplest setup under the sun. My table is not even big enough for a mug of coffee, it's just.

Lizzy Hudson: 40:09

Well, I can't see that, which is a good thing, but yeah, I love it, I love it. And your podcast is weekly.

Kutloano Skosana: 40:19

So I do seasons and I usually have eight to 10 episodes per season and more or less the episodes tie together their themes. You know, and you'll find that the majority of episodes in one season is fashioned and I always have an ongoing conversation about beauty, beauty standards, hair, etc. All the issues that affect Black women, but mostly because I find that these are the spaces where Black women have found freedom and are thriving. It's in service to ourselves, so I always make sure to amplify that. Whether you have a small batch production that makes skincare or you know hair care, I always make room for those episodes in a season. I'm founded in the belief that we all learn through stories Like if you think about it.

Kutloano Skosana: 41:13

The first thing you know yeah, it's stories, fairy tales and whatever folk tales, whether it's from your grandma telling you stories or reading in a book, etc. Yeah, our, our life lessons come from stories. Yeah, so, in terms of episodes, how many do you do? Do you do weekly? Is it an open, ongoing thing?

Lizzy Hudson: 41:37

I used to just do interviews, but I think that in between interviews I do a podcast of like a learning that I've done.

Lizzy Hudson: 41:48

I did one about imposter syndrome, I did one about leveling your mindset, and so I break it out between like interviews and me, and then I literally do about also eight to ten episodes a season. But I'm trying something different this, this season. I want to see how like far I can get, just consistently just putting episodes out. I don't have themes. My theme, my constant theme, is mental health and your story and then and also just how you overcame like hard situations in your life, and then also very much it's mostly women in business. It's mostly women in business, women that, have you know, had different experiences, maybe made a book, tv shows like yeah, so it's just, it's just everybody and anybody that has a good story to tell and contributes to my mental health theme.

Kutloano Skosana: 42:54

Right, that's great. So where do you want to take it?

Lizzy Hudson: 42:57

Good question. If I'm looking into the future, like, do I want to be like a huge podcast? That would be great. I think that would be my ultimate goal, where I could just podcast every day and like every day and meet different people. I think that's the the ultimate goal, but I also know that it's just so much work you'd have to do it full time and there's no money in podcasting.

Kutloano Skosana: 43:26

I mean, yes, you get little advertisements here and there sure but it's just like I can't pay my mortgage yeah, you have to finance it some other way, right? Yeah, yeah no absolutely so I always do a rapid fire also with all my guests and uh yeah. So three questions. First one what would you call your memoir and why?

Lizzy Hudson: 43:50

what I would call my memoir. I think it would just be very simple, just the life of lizzie or something like that, or maybe overcoming adversity.

Lizzy Hudson: 44:01

I don't know, I don't know, but those are the options or live to thrive Uh-huh, I'm kidding and why? I think it would just be touching on how, no matter where you come from in this life, be touching on how, no matter where you come from in this life, you have the option to really thrive and make a life that you want. I think that we get. I've been in this situation where I get stuck in feeling sorry for myself, so I think my memoir would be about my life story, about losing my mom at a young age, getting adopted into a Y family, moving to boarding school and coming to America on my own. Lots of turns and things have happened in my life that have been scary and I think it's just to tell people that, no matter where you come from, you can do it.

Kutloano Skosana: 45:01

Yeah, awesome, and let's take that book and turn it into a film. Who would you pick for the lead actress?

Lizzy Hudson: 45:09

I feel like Gabrielle Union. Oh, nice yeah.

Kutloano Skosana: 45:12

I can see the resemblance, yeah, yeah. And the last one is which famous black woman would you invite to dinner, living or dead, and why?

Lizzy Hudson: 45:21

First name came up as, like, rosa Parks, but I don't know. I think I want to change it though, so what?

Kutloano Skosana: 45:29

famous woman. Yeah, which famous black woman would you invite to dinner, and why? What's her?

Lizzy Hudson: 45:42

name, that's from Empire, Taraji P Hansen. Yes, Cookie, yeah, cookie, taraji, I love her, and Viola Davis too. So but I think I would want to meet Viola Davis and I would love to love her to take me out for dinner, because I have no money. So she and I would love to talk to her about just her acting career, because I know that she's gone through a lot in regards to her acting career and stuff like that with not paying, being paid enough as other white actresses and things like that and I also would love to pick her brain on all her her characters, like my favorite character is from artsy getaway with murder.

Kutloano Skosana: 46:28

I love her in that oh my god, and Analise here and at least yeah, oh my gosh, yes, that was one scary woman.

Lizzy Hudson: 46:36

Yep, Yep. So that's who I would. I would want to chat to.

Kutloano Skosana: 46:42

Yeah Cool, that's fantastic. So where can people find you if they want to connect and work with you or you know, just say hello.

Lizzy Hudson: 46:52

You can say hello to me on on my course page, which is Live2ThrivePod, so it's L-I-V-E-T-O-T-H-R-I-V-E-Pod, p-o-d, so you can follow me there.

Kutloano Skosana: 47:08

Fantastic, and that is all from me this time around. Thank you for listening and thank you for recommending Shades and Layers to your friends. For a link to Lizzie Hudson's work, please visit the show notes While you are there. Please do a girl a favor by rating and reviewing Shades and Layers so that others can find us. Five stars would be amazing. Thanks so much for your support. As always, I'm Guduanus Kosana Ritchie and until next time, please do take good care.