ResEdChat Ep 100: Podcasting Reflections with Crystal, Dustin, and Paul

Paul Brown:
All right. Welcome back to Roompack’s ResEdChat, the podcast for people who work in and around housing and residence life. We’ve got a very special episode today. This is episode 100. So we’ve been doing this 100 times now, and we decided why don’t we get all the current hosts together to kind of do a little bit of a roundtable about our experiences learning through this process from both our guests, but also just the process itself of how do you do a podcast episode.
One of the things that we’re hoping to do in the coming year is actually expand our team. So if you are interested in potentially being a host here on ResEdChat, just take a look in the show notes. We’re going to include a link to the application. We’ll be doing that on a rolling basis, so if it is something of interest to you, please reach out.
But it feels weird to say, but I’d like to welcome my guests, our guests, do we have any guests? Does account as having any guests? I don’t even know. I think we’re just all hosts. So I’m going to kick us off with my introduction. My name’s Paul Brown. I use he/him/his pronouns, and I’ve been working with Roompact a little over eight years at this point.
And I’ve been happy to kind of kickstart this when we first started it as a company, this podcast, and then we kind of pulled in Dustin and Crystal as we went along who have been fantastic. So I’ve been stepping away a little bit, but it was kind of a fun thing to start pandemic times. There’s a global pandemic, let’s start a podcast. I feel like that’s not an uncommon story. But why don’t I kick it over to Dustin. You do your introduction.

Dustin Ramsdell:
Yeah. Yeah. I guess, I could go again chronologically as we kind of came on board here. But yeah, so Dustin Ramsdell, he/him pronouns, and I’ve been a part of the ResEdChat podcast since it was fall of 2022. I think the first episode that we did kind of handed off the baton. We have it recorded October of 2022.
So it’s been over two years of doing these episodes. Has been really great. I’ve been a fan of Roompact for a really long time and I’ve been a podcaster for pretty much my entire hired career, is something I did to get myself out there and share some reflections on that.
But yeah, it’s been an honor to kind of help sort of resurrect this show and get it going because I think it’s just such an awesome feel and something different for me that kind of keeps this podcasting game fresh. So really excited to be here as part of episode 100 to reflect. And I know Crystal, you’ve been a crucial part of this journey as well, helping we to fill out the schedule and kind of add in a different perspective and kind of some different topics to the mix. So I guess, talk about your journey into the show.

Crystal Lay:
Thank you. I so excited for episode 100. So Crystal Lay, she/her series pronouns. I learned about Roompact a long time ago at a vendor fair in the region, and so just really love what the company was about. And so I saw a call for bloggers and I thought, “Cool, I can do this.
I can talk about something random in one page or less.” And then after that engagement was up, Paul said, “Hey, have you thought about podcasting?” I do have a broadcast background for my undergrad degree. And so I thought, “Hey, I can dust that off and really work with and for a company that I believe in and talk about some really cool topics.” So excited to be here.

Paul Brown:
And I didn’t know that, right? Your blog press. I didn’t know what your undergraduate degree was in. So I was like, I’m trying to think. I’m like, “Who could be good at-. Oh, I bet Crystal would be really good because she’s just a good conversationalist.”
I was thinking more from that angle when I reached out to you of like, “Oh yeah, Crystal can talk to anyone and she has such a unique take on things. She’s going to get unique guests, different topics.” So that was totally my train of thought. And then you pop in with, “Oh yeah, by the way, I was a broadcasting major in my undergrad.” I was like, “Oh, well, even better.”

Dustin Ramsdell:
Yeah. I guess, that’s interesting for me because I know did radio TV stuff in high school and so that was the initial muscle memory and sort of comfort with putting myself out there. And so I think, I know a lot of people come into it with something like that. Maybe they, I don’t know, didn’t like public speaking or something.
It’s just that comfort with putting yourself out there in that way and talking in a kind of clear and concise and kind of compelling way. And I guess if I recall, I think for you Paul, maybe what your route is, so confirm my understanding, but you’d been out there kind of obviously just out on social, out writing a lot and maybe doing your fair share of webinars and conference presentations and just keynoting and all that. So was that sort of what was able to give you the comfort to put yourself out there in sort of the podcasting format?

Paul Brown:
Yeah. I mean, I think I’ve presented at so many conferences, but I also kind of do it independently, right? As an independent speaker. And I thought, “Oh, well, again, it’s pandemic times. I’m not doing that. Maybe this is an opportunity to stretch myself in a slightly different way.”
I can tell you that the skills are transferable, but they are not exactly the same when it comes to doing a live presentation at a conference as opposed to doing it in a recording like this. But you did mention working with radio and I was a DJ in college, so I don’t even know why I didn’t think about that, but I think that actually kind of plays into it. So I can go into a deeper radio voice if I need to.

Dustin Ramsdell:
Yeah, because that’s what I think for me is just one I’ll really crystallize this reflection is that idea of if you’ve been putting yourself out there in some way or I think it’s just the idea of it can still feel like it brings a freshness to sharing ideas, having conversations and all that, but I think is, it can also be sort of the starting point. If you want to start to put yourself out there in a very genuine and authentic way, I think it’s a great place to start.
But so it’s like we all had very different paths. There’s a lot of different ways into this, but I think it ends up in the same place of the outcome is that you’re able to genuinely distinguish yourself, build a network and put yourself out there. Whether you’ve been out there speaking for a long time, I think it can add a freshness to that or it can be a great starting point where I think it can build the skills that could get you to that point or whatever.
So I think it’s honoring that there is a wide berth of kind of just paths that can lead you to this place. So then it’ll take you wherever it goes, and then by the end of the journey, I think everybody kind of ends up in the same place where people will know you, know what you care about, know how you can speak about things and all that. So I’ve been very grateful for the 10 year, over 10 years of experience that I’ve had podcasting to kind of achieve those things.

Crystal Lay:
And it’s so accessible too. I think when I went through my degree program, it was so technical. You want to get every frame, all the different pieces in the right place, and it’s so accessible. And almost anyone can do it, right? Have the conversation, don’t wear bright red on the screen or bright white. There’s things you should know, but I like the idea of you could really think about, “What am I curious about? What do people want to know?” And then I can just sit down and have a conversation with a colleague or a friend and invite people into that space. That’s what I think I’ve enjoyed the most.

Paul Brown:
Well, and I mean, that’s kind of like when you started Crystal and you’re like, “What? Who should I?” I’m like, “Just do what you’re going to do, talk to the people you’re…” Whatever you’re thinking about, you’re like, “I want to talk to that person.” Just go ahead and do your thing.
Because I knew that you would certainly surface things that I never thought about because I feel like that’s one of your strengths. But also I just know you’re a curious person, so I’m like, “Okay, we don’t need to do anything with Crystal. We’re just going to say, ‘Here’s how much I’ll pay you. Here’s what I need out of you. Go. You’ll be fine. You’ll be fine.'”

Dustin Ramsdell:
I think that is a really good point, is the idea that you can come at this very easily. You can start somewhere. And I think podcasting allows a sort of, I don’t know, just the opportunity for growth in the sense of it doesn’t require perfection or sort of a really polished presentation. I think if the content is there, people will accept that it’s like, yeah, you’re not in a professional studio and doing all these things.
It’s like if I could hear you and understand and because the content is what’s engaging me and keeping me here and keeping me listening, coming back for every episode and everything. And that’s even just for me. I’ve kind of changed my setup or just sort of my approach over 10 years, and there’s certain fundamentals that have been helpful to keep tried and true over the time.
But yeah, that’s something that I love about it because I think it is, if you are speaking up on a stage in front of people, it’s like you do need to kind of be on your game kind of from the get-go for that, but then it’s sort of the high risk, high reward. You do get a lot of credibility and sort of power by being up on the stage and commanding that sort of presence and everything. But yeah, it’s always just been nice for me to… Just the authenticity, the warmth, the sort of come as you are sort of nature of podcasting is really something I love about it.

Crystal Lay:
Well, I do plan my warmth. Let me be honest. I will write out my questions in advance. I pick out my outfit. I think one episode I wore this hideous shirt. It was super cute in person, but on camera it looked like I was a Tetris game. It was horrible. I was like, “Why did I do this?” But so I do. Because I’m an introvert, I put a lot of thought into, “I want this to go well. I want my guests to feel really good and prepared.” And then if I do that, then I feel really, really good about when we actually hit record.

Paul Brown:
And I’m so much more shoot from the hip. Right? I think about it. I reflect, I might even make some, jot down some notes, but usually I’m doing it right before the episode. I kind of notice some general pieces and then I’m like, “Let’s just see where it kind of randomly goes.” I don’t know which approach is better or if there truly is one that’s better or not, but you do need to do some form of preparation.
I think there’s maybe different levels for different people, but… I mean Dustin gets it the most because you and I are typically picking topics when we host the people we know or that we want to do. Dustin having kind of been outside higher ed a little bit, kind of works through guests that we brainstorm together. So he might not have that same kind of natural, “Oh, I know you” or “I’ve just talked about this” because you don’t work in residence life day in, day out.

Dustin Ramsdell:
Yeah. I mean, that’s been a treat and a pleasure of this experience. It’s kind of reinvigorated my love for Res Life where I started as an undergrad, as an RA in grad school. I was a graduate hall director and my first professional job was in Res Life, but it’s been the better part of a decade that I’ve not worked in Res Life.
And then certainly working adjacent to higher education institutions, I think it is that idea of appreciating that wider perspective or kind of just outsider perspective is appreciated and it’s like, yeah, serve me up who to talk about or what and I’ll find the time, prep the questions and all that. I think because folks are following along with all these episodes, I’ve done the episodes with the blogging cohort. I mean, we’re recording this episode November 2024 before the holiday season craziness and everything.
But so all those are fresh in my mind, and so many of them were reflecting on, “Oh, I applied, but I don’t know, I didn’t work in Res Life or I had this different perspective,” all these sort of reasons that they were sort of not sure if it would’ve happened for them, but intentionally wanting those people to be in the mix and think about this work and think about how to be good partners to the folks that work in Res Life.
I think that’s just been just part of the interesting experience, is yeah, as long as I know who I’m talking to about what, I can do some research, I can build some questions, I feel prepared, they feel prepared. So I think even for people who thinking about a lot of folks who might be listening to this episode that might be considering entering into this space, I think there’s so many aspects of it that obviously you want to feel comfortable and confident, but you can do a lot to help your guests feel comfortable and confident.
That ends up just with a better end product. Everybody’s just not feeling so kind of stiff or reserved. And so I think that idea that people might be kind of scared about the idea of, “Oh, isn’t it going to feel awkward?” Or this or that. But it’s like, yeah, but I mean kind of to your point, Paul, do what you need to do to feel comfortable. And that might even change over time, but some people do want to do a kickoff call beforehand to talk through and kind of get to know the person a little bit more if they don’t know them.
So yeah, just that’s something where it’s like you figure out the path and the process that’s going to feel best for you. And that’s even just yeah, the nature of any sort of podcast of just what you sort of bring to it. Again, that genuine kind of authentic personality and perspective and all that. It even goes through the process, however you want to do your process, do it. Go for it.

Paul Brown:
What would you all say, so let’s say someone’s listening to this episode and they’re like, “I want to do this. I want to give this a shot.” What would you say are the things, let’s keep it away from the guests. Because I want, also want to ask, what have you learned from the guests themselves. But let’s, what did you learn from the podcasting process over time? And this might be a longer time ago for you, Dustin, than probably Crystal or I. But what are some of the takeaways? What do you think it’s given you? What are those outcomes?

Crystal Lay:
I would say selfishly it’s given me a platform to ask those questions or talk about topics that feel a little bit more controversial, or can I ask this and still have my livelihood, right? Or the questions you know people want to ask, but it’s like, is this a comfortable question? Is this safe? And so really leaning into being able to do that and use this platform I’ve been given. And so that’s one of the things that has come up.
I think too, I’ve paid more attention to my language. I don’t use a lot of big fancy academic words. I say um a lot, right? I don’t use headphones, which you probably should, but it’s really finding your style and being comfortable that everyone is going to show up in their own way, and that’s something that Dustin highlighted.
All three of us do it very differently. And so it’s been cool to watch what you all do and learn, but ultimately it’s the what’s the story and how do I use my platform for good to really support people who may have these questions and don’t feel like they can ask them for themselves?

Dustin Ramsdell:
Yeah. And I could have a very long answer to this question, but to be brief, yeah, definitely second the notion of communication skills. I know for myself personally, I’ve come a long way through my whole podcasting journey, so I’ve been very grateful for that. Second is just consistency is king.
That I take a lot of pride in that I’ve just really kept consistent at the gym of podcasting, just getting those reps in and doing it so that the idea of your audience as it grows and the thing that sort of fuels the growth is that they know every Wednesday new episode. Doing that and figuring out where it’s like, yeah, if I record however many episodes in a week or in a month, that gives me this whole runway and I don’t have to stress and I can really bring some intentionality to the cadence of episodes of what’s coming out when and all those sort of things.
So I think just consistency has been something that I’ve learned to appreciate so much over the time and just figuring out what I need to do to achieve that. But yeah, and otherwise I think it’s kind of what’s been swirling around and all with the authenticity piece is just that sort of imperfection is sort of acceptable. The idea that I may get really excited and talk really fast and kind of fumble over my words or whatever.
But it’s like, that’s also just me and who I am. Or if it’s just like, “Well, that episode, it didn’t turn out how I thought it would.” But it’s an episode, it’s out there and it’s just another rep and kind of just another step in the journey. So I know some people have recorded episodes for a unreleased podcast because they’re just sort of like, “Oh, I don’t know. I didn’t…”
And it is just like, all right, well, I mean, you made that decision about it before you let anybody else make that decision of giving you feedback or whatever else. You did it and you never even shared it or released it or I don’t know. So those have been something through the process has been yeah, a great kind of insight for me is just at least just the value of putting the effort out there and putting in the reps and keep getting better every time.

Paul Brown:
I think for me early on it was the differences between speaking publicly on a stage and in front of a room and things like that versus interacting with an unpredictable guest. And I remember so distinctly. I think it was, I can’t remember what episode number, two, three, four, somewhere in there. I was interviewing DeAndre Taylor about his dissertation and I was so focused on what question am I going to ask DeAndre next that we were talking about DeAndre’s dissertation and so I asked him, I was like, “So what are the takeaways?
What can professionals do?” Or even he was, I believe, if I remember correctly, it was leaders in senior student affairs officers in housing who are black or minority identified in some kind of way. And I was like, “So what can white people like myself do?” And I wasn’t expecting him to flip the question on me and say, “Well, Paul, what would you do?”
Because I was so focused on what question am I asking him, what question am I going to ask him next, that when he flipped that odd me, I was just like, [inaudible 00:18:37] and I fumbled through it because I just so wasn’t ready for it. And I think that experience made me go, “Okay, I need to step back. I need to calm down. This is a conversation. I need to prepare differently.
I need to do these kinds of things.” Because I was so… I don’t know if he picked up on how thrown off I was, but my head, I’m like, I wasn’t expecting you to come back and ask me a question in this moment because I was thinking about what I was going to ask you after this that I think it’s gotten me more comfortable with conversational presentation style things in a way. But yeah, totally. Totally. Yeah. You’ll be like, “Oh, he’s freaked out. I can tell. He’s totally freaked out right there.” I was so freaked out.

Dustin Ramsdell:
So I guess we can go back and listen to that episode to hear that exchange. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. That’s the idea though, is the idea you could go back and essentially watch play tape. You could go back and go like, “Oh my gosh. Okay. Yeah, I’ve definitely grown in the intervening months and years since I started doing podcasting.” So.

Paul Brown:
Well, that’s why they tell you if you’ve ever written a doctoral dissertation, don’t read it after you’ve submitted it because you’re going to find all the typos. You’re going to… Just don’t. Just pretend that it was perfect when you submitted it and never looked back on that. That’s what you should do. Well, in terms of that, have you ever had any kind of technical oopsies or hiccups and how’d you work through them? And Dustin, we’re going to limit you to one or maybe two because I’m sure you have… Oh, you want some examples?

Dustin Ramsdell:
I will say, yeah, the one quick one that it came very early and it was a way to, honestly probably was the worst that I’ve ever had, is that I recorded with somebody, and this was when I was doing it in 2014, 2015. So I was recording the audio off of Skype calls and sort of this backdoor kind of awkward way, and I recorded with somebody and the file somehow just got corrupted.
So it was like we went through the entire thing, did the whole conversation, said our goodbyes, whatever. And then probably a couple weeks later I was like, all right, I’m getting ready edit this to be released. It was unsalvageable. And I approached that by humbly dragging myself back over and being like, “Would you be willing to record again and doing?”
But obviously you’re never going to capture what that episode was, and it’s kind of weird to have to… We knew that we were repeating it, nobody listening would know. And I guess I’ll keep the secret if somebody wants to maybe DM me or something else, say the episode. But this is for a completely different show that’s not even active anymore.
But that was something where it’s the idea of you can do all of that prep and there can be times when you’re doing a recording and the power goes out. Thankfully I’ve never had that, but it’s that idea where you prepared and you did all this stuff. You pick the right outfit, your lighting looks perfect, boom, act of God happens and you had to reschedule and try to start it all over again.
So I think that that’s like you can try to control as many elements as you can, and I think that that is time well spent, but be kind to yourself if some sort of a thing like that happens because it is still completely relied on technology and servers that could crash or power that can go out or whatever else. So that’ll be the one thing that immediately comes to mind and I think of often.

Crystal Lay:
I think that’s my biggest fear. I’m like outage or something. But I was talking to one human and it was so funny in true residence life fashion, fire alarm goes off on their end and the lights are flashing, right? And my brain is like, there’s something happening and I’m recording.
And then they say, “Can we pause because the fire alarm is going off in my community?” And then you just pause and then you come back and you have to make sense of it because I’m like, how is this going to be edited together? I have to reference this awkward pause and the fact that you’re now in a different location because you had to evacuate your building. And we worked it out.

Paul Brown:
I remember that. I think it worked out-. I mean, because a Res Life podcast, right? What is more Res Life podcast than a fire alarm interrupting a middle of an episode?

Dustin Ramsdell:
Well, it’s kind of funny though is if somebody was listening audio only, maybe they would never know. Sometimes you could take comfort in certain things like that of if you’re not watching this, then you wouldn’t even know. So maybe we don’t call it out, maybe we do. I don’t know.

Paul Brown:
That’s what happened. So I recorded another episode this morning. I won’t say which one it is so that no one could figure it out, but my speaker is an Amazon device, so it also has a voice. I don’t want to say the name of the, because then it’s going to trigger, but I plug into that. So I use it as my speaker, but it’s also this Amazon device that can do things. And so I was recording and all of a sudden the ring on the device starts coloring.
And so the guest is talking, I can’t hear anything because apparently while it’s doing this, it’s completely blocking out the speaker part. So I’m just nodding my head completely not hearing the answer to this question that I asked. But I could see his lips moving. And I finally flipped it over to the internal speaker in my computer so that I could hear when he ended.
And so he finishes speaking and I kind of just pause for a little bit because I know I’m going to have to resplice things. And I’m like, “I’m so sorry. I literally heard nothing you just said right now.” I’m like, ‘But it was probably great. I’m going to pretend like I did. And then when we edit it, I’ll just splice this part out.
Can you just tell me what you said? Because I couldn’t hear a thing.” And I’m just like, “Mm-hmm, mm,” shaking my head for the benefit of the video people watching. But couldn’t hear a thing. Maybe one of our podcast episodes should just be a fire alarm, should interview a fire alarm, just let it go off for 10 minutes.

Dustin Ramsdell:
So a white noise for people or something where’s like, somehow I find it oddly comforting, just a familiarity to it.

Paul Brown:
No, no, that sounds dramatic. Well, kind of as we reach towards the end here, I guess one piece of advice, your best piece of advice you would give for someone trying their hand at podcast hosting, starting a podcast for the very first time. What is that golden piece of advice you would impart upon them?

Dustin Ramsdell:
I will say think of it less about you and more about the community. I think, because that’s I would assume where some people get stuck up with a lot of the stuff we’ve talked about is that, “Oh, it’s putting the spotlight on me. Everyone’s be looking at,” me or different things. If you’re being a good interviewer, you’re going to be talking way less and you’re just sort of segueing guiding the conversation.
So think about it as, “How can I be sort of a conduit to be of service to others and all that?” And don’t think that so much of it’s going to be about you. And I would say that doing this show, that’s been that much more apparent to me. Because I think I’ve invested so much of myself and sort of my quote unquote “Personal brand” into my Higher Ed Geek podcast.
But this one, because we have rotating hosts and it feels like I am coming in so much as kind of the lay person into a lot of these sort of topics and everything, it’s like I’m trying to just be of service and certainly add my commentary where it makes sense too.
But I’m learning a lot from the episodes and I want to kind of keep that North Star that allows me to feel comfortable taking the back seat and not needing to sound like the smartest person in the episode kind of thing. That okay, this is creating a piece of content that can be served up and sort of recycled through and kind of put in a lot of different places and all of that. But yeah, I think just think about it less about yourself and more about the community.

Crystal Lay:
Again, coming from this as an introvert, it’s the go it someone and a topic you have some familiarity with. It takes the edge off a little bit. I think it makes you a little less nervous versus that, “I’m just going to interview this stranger about this topic. I have no insight. I can’t respond back or really engage in the topic.” So I would say that’s a really good way to enter into those first couple episodes is be familiar. So it just feels easier I think.

Paul Brown:
I think one thing I’ve learned is it’s kind of like, it’s a little bit like a roller coaster and you kind of have to lean into it. Meaning once you click start, I mean yes, if you mess up, you can edit that out or things like that, but once you start, you kind of are on it, right? And you might’ve been like, “Oh, I want to talk about this, this, this and this and this.” Then you don’t, you forget to talk about that. And or you’re like, “Oh, I should delved into this more.”
It’s kind of getting comfortable with that. Once you’re moving, you’re all the way through to the end and trust in yourself that you’ll get things out of it and people will be able to take things away from it because otherwise you could constantly be like, “Oh, can we do that again?” Or, “Can we do this or that?” Or it would become kind of messy real fast.
And on that note, there was actually one other thing I wanted to ask for, which I didn’t think of, was… And this is a good place I think to end. What is something that you’ve learned from a guest on this podcast? A takeaway either about what they said or maybe how they made you think or something like that, but what has been kind of a meaningful content takeaway?

Crystal Lay:
I have one. So I did one on basic needs in supporting students, and the guest talked about how there might be students who come to programs or events and they walk away with that box of pizza, or maybe they just show up and they take food and they don’t stay for the content, and we get upset.
Right? We’re like, “Why didn’t you stay?” Yada yada. But what I appreciated the most was this person saying, “Our students sometimes are hungry. Let them take the food.” Right? Why are we so upset when we know there’s food and housing insecurity? And it just changed my perspective on the why students may be engaging that way and what are some things that we can do to make sure that we’re supporting them in all of their needs.

Dustin Ramsdell:
I do get this question a lot when I talk to people about podcasting, and it almost is a curse that I do a lot of podcasting and they start to blur together. So I can be like, “Oh, I talked to this guy for this episode and here’s what they said that stood out and whatever.” I do that to myself, which I honestly kind of regret at times. Because it’s just like, “Oh, I know that it’d be so great if I could just cite this exact moment in time with perfect clarity.”
But I know, and this will sound weird I’m sure for a lot of the Res Lifers out there, but is I think the idea of why sort of spreading the good word and all that is important. I had very little familiarity with the curricular approach when I started doing this podcast and appreciating it on its own merits, appreciating how applicable it is in a lot of different contexts in higher education writ large.
So I think it’s been a broad sort of insight into the ways that we can create intentional, thoughtful frameworks and kind of guidance and regulations or sort of whatever kind of word or way you want to look at this. But that idea of moving past any notion of tracking things or putting these sort of goals and outcomes on things is restrictive. It’s like, no, it helps to sort of enable us to do our best work, give a clear target, and also kind of allow us to sort of show our work, show our impact, show how we’re sort of benefiting students and everything.
So that’s even that idea of coming in as somewhat of an outsider, being able to reinvigorate my love and appreciation for this work. It is the idea of none of us does anything we do in sort of a vacuum. Appreciating folks being able to kind of educate me on this and be somebody who, if I’m in sort a position to work with these folks doing this kind of work, this I can be that much more of sort of an advocate and an ally and sort of a partner to it versus kind of being skeptical of it. So I think it’s just seeing what folks are doing on the ground on campuses today. Yeah, I’ve learned a lot.
And I think that’s one kind of major learning that’s come up through a lot of different episodes and that, yeah, I mean, I’ve just really appreciated. I’ve talked about the just widest diversity of things on this show more so than any other show. So that’s where I think it’s just like I could give you a bunch of different little morsels and parcels, but I feel like that’s been just a really big broader takeaway that I know is a big shift that’s been happening in the Res Life space for a while now.

Paul Brown:
My meaningfulness comes from getting to know some people that I actually have known for a long time in a different way, getting them to talk more formally, a little bit more on a topic that I know they’re passionate about, they’ve done. So that’s been really illuminating. I think the other one that I think of is, I had to look it up, it was episode 12. Marshall University did a green move out and they have a full-blown thrift store that students can then go buy things from and things like that.
And that episode came about because I had caught on that had done this. I think it was mentioned in my day job that they did this. And I’m like, “That’s great.” There’s not a lot out there on this. If you were to try to Google that, especially in a uniquely to a campus context very specifically, I mean, good luck. It’s hard to find. And I was like, oh, here’s a niche that we can just highlight some people doing some cool, cool stuff and just give it a space where other people can discover it.
And I think that episode more so than anything was when I’m like, “Yeah, this is what I want it to be.” Right? I’m scanning, I’m… From my perspective, I get to see a lot of different things in this field that other people may not, just because I’m coming at it from a different angle, how can I leverage that to highlight people thinking about interesting things, doing cool stuff? And that was my kind of my meaningful takeaway, but. Well, thanks y’all. This has been fun. Episode 100, here’s to a hundred more. For those of you that are listening, again, if you’re interested in giving this a shot, look for that application.
It’s totally okay too, if you want to experiment a little bit. I want to give people some opportunities to kind of even play guest host, even if they’re thinking, “This isn’t something I want to commit to or do on a regular basis.” I think that’s okay too. This podcast has always been a little experimental, and I think that’s a good thing. So thank you, Dustin. Thank you, Crystal. To all our listeners, thank you for sticking with us for a hundred episodes and we’ll see you for episode 101.