No. This was truly a labor of love on our part—but one that was not sustainable without outside funding. At no point in the program did we pay ourselves a salary, and since we awarded full or partial scholarships to 100% of our graduates, it cost more to run the program than the total tuition we received from program participants.

We made the decision in January of 2022 to pause the program indefinitely and apply for 501(c)3 status, which would allow us to pursue grant funding and accept tax deductible donations to cover not just trainee scholarships, but stipends for those who need it.

We are exploring with our board of directors what future versions of the program will look like, and don’t know yet when we’ll resume. We’re incredibly grateful to have advisors who love this project as much as we do, and who have experience and expertise in nonprofit, education, and DEI initiatives. We do know that when we resume, it’ll be with a new name and a new format. If there is anything this Shelter in Place journey has taught us, it’s that the best changes in life are often the ones we can’t yet imagine. Speaking of which . . .

As of September 2022, Laura is teaching narrative podcasting full time at the Stanford Storytelling Project. As with our training intensive, she’ll spend half her time teaching, and the other half training and mentoring students through podcast production.

The Davises will both continue teaching Narrative Podcast Labs, their online course, which students have called “a powerfully multifaceted and rich treasure trove for stepping into the world of narrative podcasting.”

Narrative Podcast Labs is a semester-long online program giving creators a complete narrative podcasting toolkit, from idea to launch. All students get free access to Hindenburg systems and Notetracks, discounts on Shure products, and emerge with a pilot episode, trailer, and a big picture plan for their podcast. Our current version of Labs includes the 16-week curriculum we refined through three cohorts of our training intensive, coaching calls for personalized feedback, and peer support. We run Labs a few set times per year; the next session begins in September 2022.

We also offer the same curriculum as a self-paced Course. You can sign up for the self-paced course any time, which includes a free podcast consultation.

We began the training intensive in January 2021 because we kept hearing from aspiring podcasters—women and non-binary folks in particular— that it was hard to find places to learn narrative podcasting, and even harder to gain the skills and production credits to pursue careers in audio.

Like most startups, we were constantly iterating, evolving, and improving from the moment we began. It took two beta versions to fully understand what we were building or have the vocabulary to describe it. We briefly worked with another women-led organization that paired volunteers (who they called “apprentices”) with mentors. (We didn’t know then that “apprentice” was used elsewhere to signify paid internships, and soon after changed our language from “apprenticeship” to “mentorship program” to “training intensive” as we got clearer on our mission and vision. We tell that story in more detail in this episode.)

Prior to launching the program, we developed a curriculum that guided trainees through every step of podcast production and provided mentorship for career development. With each cohort, we adjusted and improved that curriculum based on feedback from our trainees. (Our online course grew out of the curriculum we taught live in the intensive).

Since the intensive was aimed primarily at launching creators into careers in audio, we also coached trainees through resumes, job interviews, and salary negotiation, and invited industry leaders as guest speakers who could foster networking opportunities. Prior to joining our program, our trainees reported applying to jobs for months and not even getting an interview. After spending just 3-4 months in our intensive, over 80% of our graduates were hired within a month of completing the program.

14 out of 200. During the year we ran the training intensive, trainees had the opportunity to be involved in weekly episodes on a voluntary basis. To see show notes and credits, visit the Episodes page on the Shelter in Place website.

Trainees gained production credits on an award-winning podcast in the top 1% globally, and a platform to tell their stories. Episodes were used as tools to build confidence, learn to work as part of a team, and develop skills in scriptwriting, interviewing, fact checking, voiceover narration, audio editing, and sound design. As Executive Producer, Laura managed all aspects of production, often working one-on-one with trainees to teach new skills as they created episodes together. Trainees were encouraged to focus on the parts of the process they found most rewarding and meaningful, and to step away from production anytime it conflicted with their own work, school, or career opportunities.

We are incredibly proud of our graduates, who through those 14 episodes investigated topics ranging from systemic racism to vaccine hesitancy to our collective need for beauty and rest. Sarai Waters shared her story of being unhoused for six months prior to joining the program in an episode that won the International Women’s Podcast Awards “Changing the World One Moment at a Time” category. The Asian-identifying team that included Melissa Lent, Samantha Skinner, Winnie Shi, and Nate Davis received a Golden Crane Award honorable mention for “Hyphenated Identity,” an episode about reclaiming identities in the face of Asian hate crimes. We continue to support, encourage, and spotlight our graduates as they create their own podcasts and become industry leaders themselves.

Our graduates have been hired by the ACLU, Center for an Urban Future, Earwolf, Headspace, OBB Sound, Stitcher, The New York Times, and Wonder Media Network. They have gone on to become conference speakers and award judges, receive fellowships with AIR Media and Pod People, and launch their own podcasts (check out Deer Humans and Tired in My Twenties).

No. We released our final episode under the Shelter in Place name in May of 2022. Our next project is a limited-run series called “Risking Delight,” but after making 200 episodes in just over 2 years, we are giving ourselves permission to take our time. You can sign up for our newsletter if you’d like to be the first to know when we have updates about new projects. In the meantime, it’s a great time to catch up on Shelter in Place! We recommend starting with the ending, “Feels Like Home.”