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This week, I'm thrilled to share a few of my reflections and takeaways after reviewing my top episodes of all time after 3 years of podcasting. This will be our 168th episode. The primary goal of this podcast episode is to connect with my audience. What have you liked over the past 3 years? What haven't you liked? And indeed what would you like to see more of?
The primary categories we've covered in this time are:
- Social Impact
- Sustainability, Regeneration and Circularity
- Health & Wellness
Generally, there have been 2 formats to the show. The first is the primary format -- interviews. The second is solocasts -- which are journalistic deep dives in to a particular topic, book or issue. The third is a screen shared commentary with a few different guests in a panel format (though these are rare). And we've also shared bonus episodes, where I have guested on other shows, primarily in the health & wellness space that I call my professional home.
Our top podcast after 3 years of podcasting are:
Tied for 1st: Regeneration: Ending the Climate Crisis in One Generation with Paul Hawken
Tied for 1st: Scary Smart: Scary Smart: How Artificial Intelligence Will Change Our World with Mo Gawdat, Bestselling Author
2nd:
Indulge In A More Responsible Coffee with Mokhtar Alkhanshali, CEO of Port of Mokha, Producers of World-Renowned Coffee from Yemen
3rd: Eat To Beat Disease: Reimagining Our Healthcare Systems With William W. Li, MD
So where do we head from here? Questions:
- What do you want to see more of? Interviews? Solocasts and deep dives by yours truly? Both? Something else?
- Do you want to continue to hear about health and wellness topics? Other topics?
- Is there something you feel this podcast is lacking that would make it better? It could be news updates, or a second episode each week. While I'm not able to promise these things right now, if I hear from you that they're important enough, I may be able to move mountains and make it happen.
- Who do you want to hear from on this show? YOU CAN RECOMMEND GUESTS -- AND EVEN ASK TO COME ON YOURSELF! What's the worse that could happen? I could say no -- but we could also become friends IRL the way Beth Craig and I have. The sky is the limit! Dream BIG.
How do you provide this feedback? Simple! You have several options:
- Submit a contact form on caremorebebetter.com and tell me what you think.
- Subscribe to our newsletter! You'll receive a survey to complete anonymously (or you can tell me who you are -- your choice)
- Leave a review with your recommendations and thoughts on podchaser or Apple Podcasts / iTunes. Find instructions on how to do so right here: https://caremorebebetter.com/how-to-leave-a-review/
- Send me a DM on Instagram! https://instagram.com/caremore.bebetter
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3 Years of Podcasting: Reflections, Top Episodes, and Listener Feedback Request
Intro: Hello fellow do-gooders and friends, I’m your host, Corinna Bellizzi.
Today I want to involve you in some decisions I’m making about this podcast – so this episode is all about user feedback. I want to hear from you!
As I come to the close of my third year podcasting, with over 150 episodes out in the world, it’s about time that I include more of what I hear from my community about where you’d like to see us head. What types of discussions have impacted you the most. So today, I’m taking you on a journey of where we’ve been together, with some of my most popular episodes – and offer you some thoughts about where we can take this thing in 2024 and beyond. I’m going to spell out for you a few of the pending guests we have in the coffers, and why I’m interested in telling their stories – and then I’d like to ask you for an immense favor.
I’d like for you to reach out to me, either via instagram @caremore.bebetter, or via our website contact form at www.caremorebebetter.com. Well, if you LOVE email and prefer to do things that way, you can also send me an email note to hello@caremorebebetter.com. The ask is simple. Tell me what YOU want to see more of. What episodes excited YOU? Do you have a guest to recommend?
To date, my most listened to episodes go head-to-head on a monthly rotation. Interestingly they also represent the two sides of the coin that is this podcast. Social Impact and Sustainability – also called Regeneration.
The first is my interview from September 2021 with Paul Hawken, who had just released his newest book: Regeneration, Ending the Climate Crisis In One Generation. The other is an episode I recorded weeks later with Mo Gawdat. It’s called: Scary Smart, How Artificial Intelligence Will Change Our World. Mo is an incredible individual. He was the Chief Business Officer for Google X and went on to write bestselling books to help people SOLVE FOR HAPPY after the unfortunate death of his son who had barely become an adult when he passed. Mo is one of those individuals who is putting everything of his experience in this world into the idea of giving back. The proceeds from his books, which are all Bestsellers now go to his not for profit – which has the audacious goal of helping ALL people be happy. Their goal? One billion happy people.
In Scary Smart – Mo helps us understand the incredible tool that AI really is, and also the incredible risk it exposes us to. His book is incredible, and our conversation DELIVERS. If you haven’t listened to that episode, go back and give it a review. I’ll include a direct link with show notes. It remains one of my favorites too. I’ve become a big fan of Mo and I often enjoy his podcast, too – It’s called Slo Mo and you can find it wherever you find podcasts.
Now, that Paul Hawken interview – covering his NOW 6th New York Times Bestseller – Regeneration: Ending The Climate Crisis In One Generation was one I put a lot of time and research into. Paul is a celebrity in the environmentalist world, after all -- having created Project Drawdown, and having been one of those journalists who just wouldn’t stop talking about the danger of not respecting mother earth. That episode inspired me on a journey to cover the entirety of his book, chapter by chapter, in podcast review format for all of you. Each week for weeks on end, I released a 20 – 30 minute episode giving you the lowdown on each chapter in his book. Those episodes were also quite popular – and they took a LOT of effort to produce. So herein lies my first question.
Do you want to see more of that? Should I be putting more energy into producing solocasts where I do not necessarily bring a guest on for an interview each week? And if you think I should – what topics would you like to see me review more deeply?
Moving on to a third class of podcasts that I periodically bring into this show is topics that connect to health.
My reason for covering health topics is simple. It’s what I do for a living – and it’s my belief that health and wellness have an immense social impact. How does that common saying go? If you don’t have your health – you have nothing… Or another one I love. Health is wealth.
I’m saying this now, because there are quite a few episodes in this genre that stand out.
In fact… my third most popular episode of all time is about one of my favorite things in the world COFFEE. I got to interview Mokhtar Alkanthali about his company, Port of Mokha and learn how he ended up braving the Arab Spring in Yemen to bring us a more socially responsible, and delectable cup of coffee. He helped the growers in this oldest region of coffee production improve their processes and bring their world-renowned coffee to the western world. It was a very good conversation. I love their coffee. And coffee, as you’ll learn if you listen to my show regularly, is something I absolutely love. Its health benefits are amazing, and it has been proven, time and again, to support brain health and reduce the likelihood of developing neurodegenerative diseases like alzheimer’s – a disease that took my grandmother from me.
4th on my list is another A-lister, this time in the field of health – and that’s Dr. William Li. He is the man behind the Angiogenesis Foundation – a foundation focused on limiting the progression of diseases like cancer – and the author of two New York Times bestselling books, including Eat To Beat Disease and Eat To Beat Your Diet. These are now the first health books I point people to, if they’re looking to tackle health challenges, lose weight, and become more fit. Dr. Li is a service-first doctor. He provides so much of his knowledge to his audiences without ever asking for a dime. You can find his books at most libraries, even in the audiobook format – and his YouTube channel and Instagram are treasure troves of vital information about health and how nutrition feeds health.
I have now had the distinct pleasure of having him on my show twice. And I took a similar path to my quest with Regeneration, Ending The Climate Crisis In One Generation on another podcast I host, called Nutrition Without Compromise. On that show, I took a deep dive into his 4 week course, on the topics covered in Eat To Beat Disease. Now, I didn’t share those on this platform – and that may have been a mistake – so this brings me to another question for all of you.
Should I continue covering health topics on Care More Be Better? If so, would you like to also see deep-dives, similar to what I did with REGENERATION where I provide periodic solocasts on important topics, books, and focus on delivering great content, or would you prefer I stay focused on the interview format?
For those of you that have followed along to this point, I’m going to include these questions and the links to the episodes I reference with show notes. And if you join my mailing list – which you can do by visiting caremorebebetter.com – I’ll send you a survey link so you can anonymously answer these questions if you prefer.
Let me just sum up what I’ve offered today and the questions that I’m asking.
I’ve shared that generally speaking, I cover 2 major topics on this podcast. Social Impact and Sustainability. The examples we heard about are:
Mo Gawdat – where we talked about artificial Intelligence and its societal impact.
Paul Hawken’s Regeneration: Ending the climate crisis in One Generation. I both had an interview with him and produced 10 solo episodes on the chapters of his boo
Mokhtar Alkhanshali and our discussion about producing a more socially responsible coffee (which also happens to be my favorite healthy treat).
And podcasts about health topics, like that featuring Dr. William Li and his books Eat To Beat Disease and Eat To Beat Your Diet – for which I produced a deep dive over 4 weeks on my other podcast, Nutrition Without Compromise.
I want your help deciding where we head. This show is and has been about caring more so we can create a better world, but in my mind that better world can’t exist if we don’t live better too.
So, what do you want to learn more about?
What should I cover more than I have?
Should I produce more deep-dive solocasts that allow for a more journalistic approach to deep content?
Would you like to see news-style solocasts that cover environmental news from around the globe?
Get creative with me. Tell me what you wish there was more of in this world of podcasting – and if I can – if it feels right – I’ll do it.
I’ve already interviewed so many people that came as introductions from listeners or from other guests.
I interviewed the co-founder of Bioneers, Nina Simons, who introduced me to Tzeporah Berman of Stand.Earth and the Fossil Fuels Treaty. I interviewed Tzeporah and inspired the incredible guitarist with that work – Donna Grantis – who later reached out and asked if she could play clips of that episode and play music alongside it. That music was released as her single “A Drop In The Bucket”. These connections came through the community created by this podcast. That community comes in a somewhat one-way fashion from my microphone to your ears – but I want you to know that you matter to me too. I only podcast to inspire. To inspire myself, and to inspire you. To create change. To see movement in a positive direction. To give back and see growth around me. It’s possible that I love this show more than any other thing I do professionally.
Another example really stands out. Beth Craig. I’ve featured her more than once on this show now – and I can now proudly say that I consider her a dear friend! She joined me for a late night podcast episode in which we both talked about, watched, and listened to Donna Grantis’ performance of A Drop In The Bucket. What a moment that was. We have gone on to talk deeply about the importance of accountability, of lessening the impact of our carbon footprints by giving back – and her important work with Own It Economics.
Beth later introduced me to the amazing organizers of the Soil & Health Forum, held in Petaluma this September. Beth and I shared a stage together, talking about leveraging your will for good, about what it takes to give back, and own your impact. Now, this summer, we’re going to see The Rolling Stones together. How cool is that?
At that Soil & Health Forum, I met Kelly Ryerson, the Glyphosate Girl, and Jeffrey Smith who knows more about the perils of GMOs than anyone else I know. I got to see (and later meet) Starhawk at that event. All three of them have now been featured on this show. None of that would have happened if a listener, Beth Craig, hadn’t reached out to me via my webform and opened a conversation. We got to know each other by phone, then over my podcast, and in person.
Really a question about what this podcast is and what it should become. Is it exactly what it needs to be – or do you want something different? Do I? It’s been 3 years – and I’m looking forward to the next 3 we can share together. And I really want you to weigh in and tell me what you’d like it to be.
So visit my website: caremorebebetter.com – and send me a note via the webform – join the newsletter to get the survey – or send me a message on instagram.
Better yet – write me a review on Apple podcasts and tell me exactly what you want to see right there for the world to see.
And wherever you’re listening to this today, please
- Leave us a comment
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Not only will you be alerted the next time an episode drops. This simple act helps us reach more people so we can keep having powerful discussions like the one we shared today.
Thank you now and always for being a part of this pod and this community because, together, we can do so much more. We can care more. We can be better. We can evolve. We can improve. We can dream of a better world and we can create it together.