Today we’d like to introduce you to Ana Xavier.
Hi Ana, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I’m Ana Xavier, a Portuguese expat living in Dallas, passionate about podcasting, sustainability and women empowerment. Since I was a child, I remember loving audio and talking to people, sharing information and helping others, so I guess it was no surprise to anyone when I decided to become a journalist. After graduating from University of Porto, I started working in my hometown’s radio as a journalist and on-air talent- and boy was I hooked! As my contract was coming to an end, my best friend at the time was going to London to do her Masters’ and teased me to go with her – why wouldn’t I, knowing that London was the best place to grow as a radio host? So without thinking much about it and not being a native speaker – there I went to study advanced radio production! London was a phenomenal place to grow individually as it’s a melting pot that provides a worldly view and allows you to practice multiple languages as you make friends from all over the world! I was able to practice my English, Spanish, French and Italian while there!
Nearly five years later, and experience working in online radio, hospitality and the nonprofit world, I was ready for something else- just like any big city, the experience of living there can be amazing but can be draining after a while… But where to go next? No answer came to mind until I met this amazing French guy who today is my husband. In the same 20 minutes that I thought ‘WOW, this guy has potential to become a boyfriend!’ he told me he was going to move to the US in three months’ time – he found an opportunity at this company (American Airlines) and was going to move to the Dallas office. That was quite the blow! But nearly a year later, we were married and both living in Dallas.
That was nearly five years ago and if it sounds scary, well it wasn’t really! I was blown away by the amazing Dallas community and the amount of opportunities available! By volunteering at places like Dwell with Dignity and Sofar Sounds my husband and I met some of the most amazing friends and learned so much about the city – it was really life-changing! I also found a great job as a podcast producer for a PR firm in Dallas where I got to produce thousands of content hours for all types of professionals and business owners – from podcasts about travel tips to entrepreneurship lessons. But like all things that help us grow, they must come to an end.
As any entrepreneur may tell you, they didn’t really think they’d be an entrepreneur until they suddenly became one. And pretty much like anything else in my life so far, life smacked me in the face and told me to change direction. As I mentioned earlier, I keep feeling that there was more out there for me- I wanted to support the podcasters that I was working within more levels than what I was doing at the time, and I really felt drawn to everyone that had a noble or educational content at the full-front of their podcast idea while working remotely.
So after a family tragedy happened, I felt the time was NOW. Quit my job and in January 2020, I launched The Podcast Space – a place to support podcasters who are working toward the betterment of their communities. I wanted to support and empower these professionals from the stages of idea inception to launching and promoting a podcast because the technical, strategic and planning side of podcasting can feel really overwhelming for someone who is just starting or wants to take their podcast to the next level! As a podcast producer with experience in streaming, digital marketing and graphic design, who had worked with over 20+ professionals, I was able to help them identify what a sustainable podcast idea is, what their ideal listener looks like and how they can use the podcast to meet their business or professional goals.
And since The Podcast Space’s inception, we’ve worked with podcasters all over the world, added two team-members to the team and have written over 40 articles on podcasting. We’ve also added content contributors and partnered with podcast platform Sounder.FM and have been featured in PodNews, PodMov Daily and Podcast Business Journal’s Newsletters.
We’re primarily working with female entrepreneurs who are focused on offering great value to their ideal customer through their podcast (The Good Office Podcast, Rise Leaders Radio, Aging in Style with Lori Williams, etc) and provide strategy and coaching sessions, launch and editing packages to podcasters who align with our business values.
I want female podcasters who have a great idea but lack the confidence to take the spotlight to feel empowered to start a show and make a positive contribution to their tribe, to become better hosts, and that can only come from honest and constructive feedback – that’s the backbone of our business. As a way to give back to podcasters who cannot afford our services we provide free 45-minute sessions to help them grow and free articles on our website and social media. I’m currently looking at expanding our Corporate Social Responsibility to support more podcasters in 2021.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It hasn’t definitely been a smooth road launching your own virtual business through a pandemic year, but for sure having a supportive and understanding family and husband, and persevering through the hoops has made it easier!
Also, not being a native speaker and a female in a male-driven industry have absolutely been factors that trigger some impostor syndrome, but the truth is that you don’t need to be perfect to create a business, you just need to help one person, one problem at a time. Something that I’ve learned along the way is that your network is bigger and more impactful than you think! Not having lived in Dallas for that long I realized the importance of having a network of peers, clients and friends really can have in your business. I’ve also learned that having strong work ethic won’t get you *that far* – you must also be unafraid and unapologetic about tooting your own horn, spreading the news about your achievements and sharing the ugly too – how can people help you if they don’t know what you’re doing or how you’re in need of help?
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
The Podcast Space is a mission-driven business: Our goal is to support the podcaster who is working toward the betterment of their community. We work exclusively with professionals who are passionate about helping and educating others, while growing their business. Our team has helped 30+ national and international professionals create meaningful and sustainable podcasts that accelerated their business and built trust with their current and future clients.
We get that creating a podcast while running a business can feel overwhelming, so that’s why we work hard on streamlining processes that remove the technical roadblocks around podcasting to help our clients focus on what matters most to them – creating the actual content.
We help (mainly female) professionals create a podcast from idea inception to launch, profile their ideal audience and listener, episode editing and distribution, write SEO optimized show notes that help podcasters benefit from organic traffic, help them streamline processes such as podcast promotion and guest booking, run podcast audits and strategy sessions as well as coaching and consulting. We also create podcast web pages, and help them with their overall podcast communication strategy.
We are proud to support podcasters on all stages of their podcast journey and are committed to a Corporate Social Strategy that offers free podcast resources through our website and social media and a we also provide one 45-minute session with podcasters who can’t afford paid podcast support. We are currently working on a podcast course that will be launched later in the year.
Free articles on how to improve your podcast: https://www.thepodcastspace.com/resources-for-podcasters
Free newsletter: https://thepodcastspace.us10.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=693bea31b1fb9f0dda12ca989&id=3d5a181167
Podcast tips through our social media, mainly through Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepodcastspace/
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
We’re currently accepting podcast consulting and coaching clients, podcast audits and strategy sessions. Our newsletter is open to new subscribers who are looking to grow their podcast (and who will be the first ones to know about our podcast course). https://thepodcastspace.us10.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=693bea31b1fb9f0dda12ca989&id=3d5a181167. To start an immediate collaboration please visit our website: https://www.thepodcastspace.com
Pricing:
- Podcast Audits start at $420
- Podcast Strategy starts at $660
- Consulting and coaching starts at $200
Contact Info:
- Email: hello@thepodcastspace.com
- Website: https://www.thepodcastspace.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepodcastspace/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thepodcastspace/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/thepodcastspace
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjB4ztIRQBFadQ3C8OVZvDA
- Other: www.linkedin.com/in/anaxavierr
Image Credits
Natalie Burk Photography, Real News Public Relations, Diego Brunot, Lumos Creative
