Ashley Denise Manson – Overcoming Life’s Trials

News/Journalism

Overcoming Life’s Trials podcast shares the stories of those that have experienced struggles in their life. Each of us have experienced some form of trial in our life and many of us have felt alone. These stories show how many work through their trials and what advice they have for those going through the same thing as them Some have even found blessings from these trials.

These stories are to help listeners experiencing these struggles to know that they are not alone and to help them find help.

Each podcast is about five to 15 minutes each. They are posted through Anchor, Soundcloud, and on a website specifically made and published for the podcast. Currently the podcasts consist of someone fighting a brain tumor, social anxiety, infertility and several other life struggles.

I contacted and interviewed each individual over zoom or over a radio microphone. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic I had to do most interviews via zoom to keep social distancing. I then did research pertaining to each illness or trial that the person faces.

I looked up medical reports and websites written by doctors, scientists and other scholarly writers. Using this information and the interviews, I created a document with all the quotes and information on it. I used each of these to help know what to say in the narration and how to easily put the podcast together. I was able to use this document on the website to help others follow along what is being said in the podcast.

I spent most of my time researching information pertaining to each of the trials and by putting the podcast together. I used Adobe Audition to piece the audio together and used free music from purpleplanet.com to create the intro and outro music for the podcast. I used my own microphone, normally used at radio stations, to record my voice and to record the voices of interviewees during some of the interviews.

I chose to focus on difficult topics to challenge myself on interviewing by asking difficult questions to those who have experienced some struggles. Interviewing about sensitive subjects can be a difficult action and require certain tones and wording. I wanted to practice this skill by putting together this podcast. I found it to be beneficial for both myself and the interviewee. I also chose to do this, because I enjoy the idea of helping people push through trials and using this style of podcasting can share that kind of information.