One of the great things about starting a journey is that you never really know all the places it will lead. Sure, when we started down this path, I knew we would end up with a great new TEN7 website. I didn’t know that along the way I’d end up reimagining, rebranding and relaunching our TEN7 podcast!
I’ve mentioned a few times already that we put the podcast on hiatus in the midst of the work on our new website. While I can’t quite reveal all the details of what’s to come, I can tell you a little more about why we made this decision and why we’re so excited about what’s next.
First, a little history of the TEN7 Podcast. When we first launched the podcast in May 2017, it wasn’t really a podcast! We launched with a five minute “audiocast” about the migration from Drupal 7 to Drupal 8. From there we started to expand our conversations but our focus was mostly internal, discussing technical topics with members of our team or with external partners.
As the episodes progressed, and as I got more comfortable interviewing people, a funny thing happened. The episodes started to stray from the technical and move toward the personal. I started to understand that it is a privilege to get one-on-one time for these discussions and that a podcast is a great way to shine a light on the stories and experiences that have shaped these incredible people who agreed to speak with me.
In Episode 99 of our podcast, I spoke with Bob Collins, creator of the NewsCut blog and former Senior News Editor at Minnesota Public Radio. He said something that stuck with me. He said, “Everybody has a great story.” The more I thought about it the more I saw that it’s true. In every podcast episode, the moments that stand out to me are the origin stories, the moments that shape people and give them direction and perspective.
That realization drove me to push the envelope with the podcast. I interviewed J. Kenji López-Alt, a chef and food writer who has inspired me over the years. I interviewed Gavin King (aka. DJ Aphrodite), an artist I’ve long admired. And perhaps the moment I’m most proud of is when we decided to work with Recidiviz on a five-part series on justice reform called, Meeting the Moment: Using Data to Reimagine Criminal Justice. Suddenly our podcast was diving into themes and topics that impact all of us. I didn’t have the words defined at the time, but we were starting to Make Things That Matter.
Obviously the podcast evolution began before we launched on the journey to our new website. Then, as we went about the work refining the TEN7 mission and brand, it struck us that the podcast also needed to be refreshed. We realized if we’re going to continue telling stories in this way, we need to both tie the podcast more closely with our mission and values, and at the same time separate it from the TEN7 brand to give it a new identity and a path to grow.
That’s why we put the podcast on hiatus. That’s why we came up with a new name and focus. It’s also why we engaged the same team at Studio Malagón to collaborate on an exciting new look and feel for the podcast creative.
Without giving too much away, I can tell you the podcast will focus on origin stories, the uniqueness of each individual, and how we all bring that uniqueness together to create a massive, truly global community.
In anticipation of the launch of the podcast, please follow our new Twitter handle: @fkaTEN7Podcast (The Podcast Formerly Known as The TEN7 Podcast).
We’re in the home stretch for two milestones right now: our new website and the next phase of the podcast. Thank you for coming along on this journey with us. I look forward to sharing the results with you soon!