Season 4 Intro

In this intro episode, Areej and Isaline get together to chat about the upcoming season 4 of WTSPodcast. Discover what’s coming up in 2023.

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Hello, Areej.

Hey, it's great to be back.

Yay! We will be starting Season 4 of Women in Tech SEO Podcast.

I know. We had a whole one-year break. It's exciting to be back and put this together again and hand it over to your brilliant hands.

Tell me, how is the podcast important for the community? Why was it important to start it again, pick it up?

I think that's a really good question. At some point, we had a lot of initiatives running. It was getting a little bit stressful and we weren't sure what we should continue, what we should drop, what we should focus on. The very interesting thing with the podcast is we did three whole seasons within a year, co-hosted with the brilliant Sarah McDowell. At the end of it, we were, "Okay, let's just take a break and see how things go and figure it out later." But what really surprised me over the past year is a lot of people kept asking, "Where's the podcast? What happened to the podcast? We'd love to listen to new episodes." We also had a lot of people who wanted to speak on the podcast. It was one of those things where it was like, "Okay, we should probably bring it back." Especially when we have tons of community members who want to put their names out there and would love to be guests on the podcast.

At the end of the day, I think that's our main mission, to amplify some of these brilliant women. And so, if having the podcast is something that a lot of people enjoy, as well as listening to and speaking on, then, yeah, we should definitely put the time and effort in having it back.

I can see how, sometimes, it can be difficult to know which initiative is good to carry on and which initiative is good to stop because there is so much content out there that sometimes you're like, "Oh, but there are already so many podcasts." The thing is to have someone for us, for community, that still makes a difference. Because maybe we share a language, a vocabulary, and our podcast is still different than any other.

Yeah, I'd like to think so. And you're right, I think there is this overwhelming feeling. I remember this thought right there exactly when we first started the podcast, which is, "Oh, there are so many podcasts already out there. Why would we create yet another one?" But it did seem to have a lot of followers, and a lot of people who wanted to listen to it, and a lot of people who felt safe to specifically speak on it as well, which I think is really important to highlight. You're right, every podcast is going to be different and unique in its own way. If we have a lot of people who are looking forward to it and would like to listen in, then we should definitely carry on.

What I have planned for this new season and what I'm especially looking forward to is meeting new members of our community. I aim at interviewing what I call "new voices," meaning people that we don't usually hear or maybe that we don't yet hear often at conferences and other podcasts. And also, the topics of the first few episodes are specially meant for these new community members. I want them to feel heard and seen from the start, right when they join the community, and give them, at the beginning of the year when we are still planning and thinking about goals. Let's give them tools and inspiration to grow in 2023 and help them be the wonderful self that they are.

I love that. In one of our initial conversations, me and you, I felt like we had this agreement on what exactly it is and who we wanted to highlight and amplify. I know you've done that a lot already with your podcast, like WorkInSEO, as well as like the meetups that you hold in Switzerland. I know that's such a priority for you to always make sure that you shine the light on new faces and new voices. I love that. I think that's exactly what we should aim for.

There's something about podcasts where maybe it's that we don't have to over-prep, or maybe it's that you just need to be yourself. There's something about it that makes a lot of people feel more comfortable, like starting their speaking journey. I've had guests in the past whose one of their first speaking thoughts was being on a podcast. Afterwards, it gave them the motivation to go ahead and pitch to speak, like on an actual conference stage. I think it's a really, really good first step. We're definitely here to highlight some of these awesome, brilliant women.

Apart from the podcasts, what should we be excited about within the community? What else do you have planned for us this year?

We have a lot of plans. Another initiative we're bringing back is our WTS Workshops, which is awesome! We hosted a lot of workshops during the pandemic, and they were loved by many. And so, that's another one that we took a break from for a little bit there because we felt a lot of people might be zoomed out. But then again, we got really surprised when tons of people were like, "Oh, no, where are they? We really missed them." The brilliant SEO Jo Blogs is the one who is currently organising and hosting those. We have a new cohort that will take place between February to April, with plans of a second cohort as well later in the year.

Other than that, our mentorship program is up and running again. We usually have one cohort a year, but this time around, we are actually planning two cohorts, which is very exciting. That's a lot of mentors and mentees that we will be matching and training and guiding. And then, of course, our festivals. We have our big London one happening in March. And, for the very first time, we are planning our first U.S. One as well, which is planned for September. We plan on launching more details about that in the next month.

What exciting news! There is so much going on this year. I expect that especially the conference in the U.S., lots of people are looking forward to it. Especially because coming to London, depending on where you are, can be a long way. That's exciting!

It was great. I remember the one we had in March 2022. We had some folks join us from the U.S. I was like, "What? I can't believe you got on a plane and you came all the way here." I am very, very excited. We're going to start small the first year-round, just to kind of test the waters. It's a new geography for us, new logistics, new everything. But then, the plan is to definitely establish it as an annual conference, just like we have done with the London one.

Thank you for taking the initiative to do that. And every year, expand a little bit, the initiatives, do a little bit more. I can imagine that's a lot of work, but it's awesome. I'm sure I speak for everyone, we all have something to be thankful for, for the community. Thank you, Areej. Really.

No, thank you so much. Thank you for carrying on with WTSPodcast and saying yes to being the main organiser and host behind this. I'm really looking forward to taking a step back, and just happily listening to the episodes. What are you most excited about with this upcoming WTSPodcast cohort?

Meeting new people and always researching new voices. I think that's the most interesting. Because when you speak at a podcast, you need to prepare your topic, you need to prepare your bio, and you need to know how you're going to present yourself because it makes it easier for the host.

The thing is, with this podcast, I'm here to help first-time speakers do this part, do this step for them to understand what it's going to be like with other podcasters and what they can expect. For me, I want to take this step for greater things. The small first step everyone can take in and feel comfortable taking. I'm really happy always preparing the stage. That's what I like in any event I organise. I don't like being in the lights, but I really like preparing the lights for someone to shine.

I love that. Well, they're in very good, safe hands with you. I'm really, really excited for all of our upcoming guests and to listen to all the episodes, and to hear everyone's feedback as well about how it's going.

Now, if you listen to us and you have not yet subscribed to our channels, of course, you can follow the podcast on your podcast platform. So you would know when the first episode will come up. We expect it in March after the conference.

Also, if you want to follow up any other initiatives, you should subscribe to the newsletter. Because there, you have an awesome little summary of everything that's going up and further readings, articles, and such.

Awesome, good stuff. You can find all the different ways that you can join our Facebook group, our Slack group, all of our different social media channels. That's all on womenintechseo.com/join. If you are a woman in the industry, it doesn't matter if you've just started doing SEO yesterday or you've been doing it for the past decade, please do join our community. Everyone is more than welcome.

We do expect you to join, all of you. Looking forward to seeing you in Slack.

Thank you for joining me today for this recording, Areej. I'm very much looking forward to seeing you in person in March, and everyone who's going to be there. I guess that's a wrap for this first bonus episode. Thanks a lot. I was a little bit nervous because it's the first episode that I have recorded. But I think I can feel safe now. Everything was fine. So, I'm ready to do this. Thank you very much.

Yes. Thank you so much for having me.

Thank you, and thanks everyone for listening. Bye.