19. Creating Through Resistance and What We Can Learn From Bad Bunny

It's not easy to focus on creativity when the world is on fire. Yet it is so important to share our voice and our art. It's a form of healing, connection, and storytelling.

If you're struggling to share your voice or looking for ideas for how to podcast during the chaos, this episode is for you. 

In this episode, I share small, actionable ways we can use our podcast as a form of expression during chaotic times, and what we can learn from superstars like Bad Bunny.

Takeaways:

• Create a pre-roll (or mid/post-roll) to quickly acknowledge current events
• Create an episode (or a series of episodes) that highlights unique voices during times of resistance (art, music, movies, books)
• Use your podcast as creative expression

mentioned in this episode: EPISODE 16 Latinas in Podcasting 2025 Virtual Summit with Founder, Paulette Erato

• Follow me on Instagram
• Subscribe to Thank You For Joining Me on Substack
• Listen to The Gay Podcast for Everyone

music for episodes 12+: (1960's 2 house) by mobygratis

Transcript

Transcript via Descript.

[00:00:00] Angela: Hi, friends. Before I jump into this episode, I wanna take a moment to acknowledge all that's going on in our world and all that we're going through. Even though sharing our voice is an act of resistance and a way to connect to one another, I know how difficult it is to find the strength to do so. That is no small feat right now.

My hope is that the power of our words will help hold us together. Stay safe friends, and thank you for sharing this space with me today. 

[00:00:25] Intro 

If you're having trouble creating or sharing your voice in the midst of the chaos that our world is experiencing right now, you are not alone. For me, podcasting has been tough, and I feel like I should be doing something more because even though I know that.

Acts of joy are resistance, It's still really hard to do when the world is on fire. 

So in this episode, I wanna share one small thing that I'm doing to help myself push through and keep going and show up , and I also wanna talk about Bad Bunny Super Bowl show and what it taught me about the importance of using our voice and our platforms, no matter how big or how small. My name is Angela Briones and I wanna welcome you to the space where we talk about podcasting, sharing our voice and life behind the mic.

[00:01:17] Podcasting through grief

You guys. I thought 2025 was a crazy year to start a podcast, but I did it anyway and it was challenging 'cause I was distracted, you know, from everything happening in the world and everything happening specifically to my LGBTQ+ community,

But this year has been absolutely horrifying , in the things we've witnessed.

And I mentioned to a friend that I honestly haven't felt this kind of grief since my best friend died. And when you go through those moments, it affects your day-to-day life. Your creativity. , You know, you have this very clear mindset of what matters and what doesn't.

And I feel very similar with everything that's going on. I feel like, oh, I don't wanna do this podcast. I need to do something bigger. I need to do something more. Even though I know that creativity and acts of joy. All forms of resistance. I know that,  and podcasting has been slow. And it's been challenging and it's been really tough because everything is so emotional right now. Right. . And so I was sharing that with a podcast friend with Paulette Erato, the founder of Latinas In Podcasting. She joined me on episode 16, and I was sharing with her that I felt that kind of grief and how could I podcast when I felt like I should be doing something more, something bigger.

And as we were talking, and by the way, this is why this podcast exists, is because. I firmly believe that, you know, we're so alone in our podcast world that it's really when we connect with each other that we have these like energetic aha moments, right?

[00:02:51] Do a pre-roll 

[00:02:51] Angela: And that's what happened when I was chatting with Paulette. I'm telling her, you know, I feel like I should do something with my podcast, but I don't know what to do So as we're [00:03:00] talking, the idea that it came up with was, what if I just acknowledged it? What if I did exactly what I just said and I just record a pre-roll and acknowledge the fact that this is a chaotic time period 

just as a way of saying, Hey, before we get into this conversation, I wanna acknowledge this huge thing that we're all going through together. which is what you heard at the beginning of this podcast.

Just that little thing made me feel like I was doing something. I know it's super small, but I share with you. Because you might be looking for a way to do the same thing.

You might be saying, I want a podcast, but it feels unimportant right now. . And I wanna tell you it's not.

Even if you're not talking about politics or what's happening in the world, for many people, your podcast might be somebody's comfort. It might be the thing they count on, the thing they want to jump into when they wanna disconnect from the world. You know, maybe you have a podcast that's about movie reviews or book reviews or something.

And sometimes, just connecting with something that feels familiar, y et also new is exactly what somebody needs. I mean, I don't know about you but I have watched a lot of television that I've seen before, a lot of reruns and it's just because It feels comfortable and it feels safe. And those are two things that I really need right now.

So if you're like me and you're in that place where you're thinking, what can I do? record, a pre-roll or a post-roll if you'd prefer.

Just acknowledging what's happening in the world. It allows people to feel a connection with you, you know? Of like, We're in this insane moment right now

And I can only offer this podcast, but thank you for sitting in this space with me and thank you for your time. That may seem like something so small, yet it's so impactful to me if no one else, but I'd like to think that it matters to other people. I'd like to think that the people who are listening to this podcast are aligned. I think that when you. Hit play on a podcast, and you hear something like that and you think, oh, great, this person is aligned with me. Great. We think the same way. We have the same values. I'm in the right place. So I think there's so many reasons for something like that to matter more than you think it does.

Not only does it kind of open the door to let you create while feeling angry and frustrated, but it also,

Builds a connection with your listener.

So that is one very small thing that you can do today to take a little action, kind of open the podcast door a little bit. You know, kind of make yourself feel like, okay, I can create and recognize the chaos. Maybe you can even talk about the chaos. Let's be honest, that's exactly what I'm gonna do in my other podcast, The Gay Podcast for Everyone. I mean, there's a lot happening with my LGBTQ+ community.

there's a lot impacting us and a lot affecting us. So even though I was pretty quiet in the podcast last year, and that was very unintentional, I'll be honest, but this year I wanna talk about the things that are [00:06:00] impacting my community and our allies, and.

And ways that we could lift each other up and keep each other going, and maybe that's something you wanna do in your podcast too. This is a great time to do that. You know, maybe you can focus some episodes on a particular topic, or if you have like a movie review podcast or a book review podcast, maybe you want to focus on certain genres or certain authors, et cetera.

you know, maybe there's a way to find the intersectionality of your podcast and the conversations that are happening in the world, and let's be real . when a podcast can ebb and flow kind of be a mirror of what we're looking at in the world and what we're experiencing.

There's an art to that. 

[00:06:45] Bad Bunny's Superbowl halftime show 

[00:06:45] Angela: And speaking of that,. I hope you got a chance to catch Bad Bunny on the Super Bowl halftime show.

In like 13 minutes, he told so many important stories.

(And) you know, as I was singing along, and of course I saw Ricky Martin, who, just like love of my life since I was like 12 years old, different story. We won't get into that right now. But, you know, I'm taking in all the visual storytelling, and I was thinking to myself, you know what? This moment, this moment is joy and resistance.

And this is something we can all do. We can share our voice and highlight things around us that need our attention, And honestly outside of the big topics, I mean of course we all saw bad bunny hold. The football that said, together we are America.

And the background. That said, the only thing more powerful than hate is love. You know, outside of those big things, he also took the time to showcase all the businesses that are in Puerto Rico ,

or the social club that's in Brooklyn. You know, he highlighted Tonita who's the owner of that Puerto Rican social club He was like, you know, hey, I've got this platform and I wanna highlight the things that are important to me. The things that are vital to this country.

The things that are vital to culture.

So it made me realize that we can do the same thing. We can use our voices and our platforms. Yeah, we're not bad Bunny and we're not on the Super Bowl stage, nothing like that. But we can use the space that we have to invite people in, have a conversation. So if there's something that's been holding you back from hitting record and publish, believe me. I get it.

It's challenging right now, I feel it. I'm feeling it so hard right now. I don't know if you can hear how I'm feeling it, but I feel it.

It's so important for us to show up. And it also might feel uncomfortable doing that. What might help and what has helped me and I hope helps you, as I'm telling you this as I'm sharing this, is to pivot just a little bit, whether that means a pre-roll, a post-roll, one episode dedicated, you know, one random episode that's just like, has nothing to do with anything and saying, look, I just wanna pause for a second and just talk about some stuff here.

You could do that too. Or like I said, if you have a podcast that is completely different, book reviews, record vinyl reviews, you know, maybe highlight musicians

[00:09:00] whose work was a symbol of resistance in some way, shape, or form.

This might be a time where we can't podcast as usual. This might be a time where we just have to pivot a little, and I hope you find strength in that pivot and I hope along the way for all of us, it helps heal us a little bit as we continue to connect with one another.

Thank you so much for joining me today.

I appreciate you listening. I appreciate you taking the time to listen

and please share this episode and this podcast with a podcast friend, who will get some value from it. And subscribe to the podcast so that you can get the next episode. 

Thanks so much, friends. Until next time.