#197: Podcasting For Authors: How to Create A Platform with Podcasting with Laura Cathcart Robbins
If you're an author or an aspiring author - developing an engaged community around your work has become a necessary asset whether you're self-publishing or pitching major publishers.
My former podcast production agency client, Laura Cathcart Robbins, peels back the curtain on how we leveraged podcasting not just as a creative outlet, but as an intentional launching pad for her writing career and public platform.
After Laura received the hard truth from an agent that "no one knows who you are" and that memoir is the hardest genre to publish without visibility, Laura Cathcart Robbins embraced podcasting as part of her author journey. With myself (Christina Barsi) as her executive producer and strategist, we created "The Only One in the Room" podcast to build credibility, create an engaged audience, develop her personal brand platform as an author and support her memoir-writing-style weekly in how we crafted the podcast's format and feel.
The Only One In The Room became a top 1% podcast globally with millions of downloads and Laura Cathcart Robbins not only got a book deal with her favorite publisher - she became a best-seller with her memoir "Stash".
If you’re curious about how launching a show can become the springboard for bringing your book-writing dreams to life - this one's for you.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
How podcasting can be a strategic platform for building your author platform
How podcasting develops the engaged audience needed for a successful book launch
Why developing your author voice can deepen with the practice of podcasting
The FREE Audio-First Podcasting Action Plan
Get clear on what you actually need to start your podcast (and what you don’t)
06:25 Finding my voice
18:21 Having to rediscover a love for writing
20:21 Building an author's platform with podcasting
24:19 How to overcome creative blocks with structure
34:10 Networking and outreach strategies
41:16 How to hone the skill of Interviewing and pre-Interviewing
54:07 How to measure success and organic growth
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Read the Full Transcript
Christina Barsi [00:00:36]:
Finding space to turn your creative passion into something that is less private and more shared and for others to interact with on perhaps a bigger scale can be a very big decision. It is also an enticing one. I better understand the debate of wanting to keep some practices for yourself, but I also deeply understand the desire to connect and to want to help as many people as possible with what you have to say with your practice and process.
Christina Barsi [00:01:43]:
This story today starts after making that decision. My guest wanted to write her own story on a bigger scale and share it by way of a memoir. But then reality struck, and she was given the advice to find a way to become even more visible before that bigger step of writing a book happens. The decision she made to hold space for other stories by leveraging an experience she had in order to share the creative space and collaboration was how her podcast The Only One in the Room was born. And it's also where our stories intersect. I love this conversation we have. I hope you love it as much as I do, and I also hope that it might help you make a decision for yourself about something that could grow to warm the hearts of thousands of people, just like it did for my guest, Laura Cathcart Robbins. Enjoy.
Christina Barsi [00:02:38]:
Hi, welcome back. This is Barsi, your host, and our very special guest today is someone who I've had the pleasure of collaborating with and learning from and building something with. She is the host and creator of The Only One in the Room. She came into my life first thing in 2019 and presented an opportunity to make something amazing, and I believe we accomplished that. She is a lover of trivia and TV show jingles, a lover of hun, which we'll explain later, and she's also an accomplished writer, an advocate, a storyteller, a whole holder of space for others, and she's so many other things, but I'm also privileged to call her my friend. Welcome, Laura Cathcart-Robbins.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:03:26]:
Thank you, Barsi. I did— the lover of jingles, that was a surprise. I so am, I so am. Commercials were my very first love. My mom tells me, yeah, when I was 2 years old or less, I was less— I was in a walker like, you know, as a baby, and I would rush over to the television during the commercials and be transfixed until they finished, and then I'd roll away somewhere. And I love commercials and jingles.
Christina Barsi [00:03:57]:
Oh my God. Okay, so I didn't know that, but I know that we just shared, like, trivia when things went remote, and I thought that was really fun, so I thought I would add that in.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:04:09]:
Yes. Well, it's a good— it's a good fun fact for me, so thank you.
Christina Barsi [00:04:13]:
That's a great fact, especially with the commercial part. I don't know anyone else who— Yeah. At that young, young, young age was so obsessed with jingles. That's so funny. So do you miss, do you miss the jingle? Because it's kind of gone away.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:04:29]:
Um, it's gone away on some of our, our, our more kind of A-list, A-rotation commercials, but like Liberty Mutual and those kind of commercials still have jingles. So I, I, I'm holding fast to those. Oh my gosh. Poor Scott. I drive him crazy with them.
Christina Barsi [00:04:48]:
Do you sing them around the house?
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:04:49]:
Oh yeah, all the time. Liberty, liberty, liberty.
Christina Barsi [00:04:56]:
We'll just talk about this for the rest of this show.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:05:00]:
Yes. He'll be like, stop, don't, don't, don't sing another word.
Christina Barsi [00:05:06]:
Yes. So, uh, if you can't tell, I'm happy you're here.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:05:10]:
Yeah.
Christina Barsi [00:05:10]:
Because we're already having so much fun. So, um, speaking of fun, I thought it would be fun to start by stealing a play from your own playbook and starting with an icebreaker question. And this one's a little meta. Okay. We'll, we'll see how it goes. If you had an only one statement for yourself, what would it be?
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:05:34]:
That is meta. Um, let's see. Oh boy. You know, that's the problem. Like, I don't even know if I could be a guest on my own show because I have so many only one stories.
Christina Barsi [00:05:45]:
Which is kind of the— the whole show's point, right?
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:05:49]:
Right, right. I would say for right now in my life, I am the only one who is— who has found her own voice and is finally using it for the first time.
Christina Barsi [00:06:03]:
Mm. That's powerful. Yeah. Wow, thank you for sharing that.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:06:09]:
Sure. Thank you for digging that out of me. Yeah.
Christina Barsi [00:06:13]:
That's— that's— is that the first time you've thought of it that way?
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:06:16]:
Um, it's certainly not the first time I've thought of it that way, but it— I think it's the first time I've said it out loud that way.
Christina Barsi [00:06:22]:
That's also meta.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:06:25]:
Yeah. When I'm writing, I think it's got to be voicey. It's got to be voicey. Where's my voice? Where's my voice? Where's my voice? I do that on every page, in every paragraph. Is my voice in here? Is my voice in here? And I didn't even know my voice before, you know, pre-getting sober, pre-doing all this really in-depth work on myself, pre-my kids kind of growing up or getting old enough, like high school age. Pre-that, I didn't really know what my own voice was. So now I, I try to make sure it's in every word of every paragraph on every page. So I'm always coaching myself to, to dig for it.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:07:03]:
So I, I'm aware that I have found my voice later in life and that I'm using it, but I don't think I've said it like that, no.
Christina Barsi [00:07:12]:
Wow. Thank you for sharing that. I had a, I had a different icebreaker question originally, which kind of, I kind of want to ask you now as well because writing seems very connected to the answer of this question. And I was going to ask you if you remember the first thing that you, that you wrote that you felt you were proud of?
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:07:34]:
So I've been writing, you know, since I was like 6. And when I was 8, I wrote a story and entered it into the Ebony Junior— Ebony, Ebony magazine everybody knows. At that time, back in the '70s, there was also an Ebony Junior that was for kids. And they had a competition, a writing competition, and I won third prize in that. And it was a, it was a fictional story that I wrote. It was really about me, but I pretended like it was fiction. And it was about a girl who didn't get along with her stepfather and found this solace at her best friend's house and got to eat whatever she wanted there and got to sleep in a bed like the one she wanted and You know, it was just like this idyllic world at her friend's house and this world that she wasn't crazy about, that she didn't feel that she could be herself in at home. But it wasn't quite that sophisticated.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:08:34]:
It was, you know, told through the, you know, from an 8-year-old's perspective. So, but I won third place, place with that. And I was so proud of that. I kept that certificate for a really long time. My mom still might have it. It was framed. Yeah, she kept everything.
Christina Barsi [00:08:50]:
That's really special. That's worth keeping.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:08:53]:
Yeah, yeah.
Christina Barsi [00:08:54]:
Do you remember what it was about writing at that young age that, that felt like the avenue, like the thing to express yourself through?
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:09:04]:
So I have to go back to my mom again. When my mom was 19, when she had me, she was still a student at the University of Illinois, and she was reading authors like Dostoevsky and Gogol. In her classes, and she would come home and read those to me. Those were my bedtime stories. Whoa. And so I grew up with The Overcoat and The Nose and all these, you know, kind of Russian fables that were— and other things like A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, and just anything that she was reading, she would read to me. And I don't know, it's just like I was reading— I read at a very early age. And it seemed the companion piece to reading would be to write.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:09:49]:
I was so inspired and so filled up by the stories that, that she was reading to me and that I was reading on my own that I just wanted— I wanted to duplicate that. I needed to write, so I was writing really early as well.
Christina Barsi [00:10:03]:
What an amazing influence that you had right away.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:10:07]:
Yeah.
Christina Barsi [00:10:07]:
And I love that it came through your mom. Yes, that's really special. Thank you for sharing that. Sure. I relate to that because I was a young writer myself, so I'm, I'm curious to see how that comes to fruition for other people. And a lot of people who listen to this are also creative people who write and do things in that, in that way. So yeah, I think it's very relatable and also special. I don't know anyone else with a story quite like that.
Christina Barsi [00:10:36]:
Of how they got started.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:10:38]:
Yeah, I, I don't either. I haven't heard anybody go, "Oh yeah, me too," when, when I've told them that. People are kind of like, "Oh, that's unique. Probably not appropriate." I know, right?
Christina Barsi [00:10:50]:
Your mom's like, "Two birds, one stone. I have homework.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:10:53]:
You're gonna listen to it." Exactly.
Christina Barsi [00:10:57]:
Wow, that's great. I have to share this just because I think it's so funny too, and I, I I started writing before I could write, and I had my mom— I had her write it down for me, and I wrote a little poem to my best friend, and I was like, "Write it with this color marker because—" Um, I was like, "Roses are red, violets are blue," kind of a thing.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:11:17]:
You were a writer-director. I guess.
Christina Barsi [00:11:19]:
I was like, "This is what you're gonna do." I did direct my bedtime stories. I made my mom get up and, like, play with doll clothes and pretend they were mine and make her— I would assign characters, and I was producing it. Absolutely. Yes, yes. Yes, that's so funny.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:11:34]:
Introduce it from an early age.
Christina Barsi [00:11:38]:
Yeah. Oh my gosh, my poor brother who was forced to wear costumes. And anyway, I digress. So speaking of the dynamic we have, so I mentioned that you, Laura, are the host and creator of the popular podcast called The Only One in the Room, which, uh, Scott Slaughter co-hosts with you, who— that's who hun is, who you're also in love with. And he has also stepped up his role as a producer as well. He really stepped up his game last year when everything went to— we won't say what. Um, yes. So, uh, and I'm grateful.
Christina Barsi [00:12:16]:
Yes. Remote. That's what we'll call it. Yes. When everything went to remote.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:12:23]:
Um, right.
Christina Barsi [00:12:23]:
I, I'm so grateful to work on this show and to be the executive producer of the show. And like I said, when you guys showed up in my life in 2019, it was a game changer for myself and my business. But I would really just like you to share with the listener what the show is about. Can you tell— can you just tell us what The Only One in the Room is? Yeah.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:12:44]:
The Only One in the Room is— well, it's a show that originated with an experience I had of being the only Black person at a 600-person writers retreat, a 3-day retreat. And when I say the only Black person, I mean including the people that work there, like there was no one there for 3 days who, who looked like me. And it was a fantastic retreat. It was a deep dive. I loved it. And at the same time, I had this very solo experience of being what we call in DEIJ work, which is diversity— what is it? Diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice work— a singleton. I was a singleton in that instance. And that's what we try to avoid in classrooms is anyone having a singleton experience.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:13:32]:
And So I wrote about it when I got home. And so the retreat ended on Thursday. I got home on Friday. I wrote it Friday night, pitched it out on Sunday, and on Monday it was live in the Huffington Post, or HuffPo, which just merged with BuzzFeed, by the way. Oh, interesting.
Christina Barsi [00:13:50]:
Yes.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:13:51]:
So, but I pitched it to them and she published it, and she, um, Emily McCombs is my editor there. Uh, it went live Monday morning and it went viral immediately. And I, I had never had anything like that happen before. And the responses that we got— this is a very long answer to your question— the responses that we got were— there was kind of no median. They were, you know, from people of all ages and ethnicities and, you know, abilities, disabilities, gender orientation, sexual orientation. And they all connected with the feeling of being the only one. In the room, that being alone in a room full of people. And a lot of those responses were hashtagged #TheOnlyOneInTheRoom, which was a hashtag I had never seen before.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:14:36]:
And so I, I was in a podcasting class at the time at The Writing Pad, which is actually a brick-and-mortar place here in Los Angeles, but it's also, um, online. Now it's entirely online because of the pandemic, but I actually went to these classes in person And so for the project, I decided to call it the— my podcast project, The Only One in the Room. And then that's what we brought to you, right? When a couple months later. Yeah.
Christina Barsi [00:15:07]:
Yes. Thank you for sharing that. And, and so the show itself brings on— I love the way that you did your intro, that we still keep this tagline. And how do you say it? The show, it's like something, something, the show, but this this show is for everyone. It was—
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:15:22]:
oh, this podcast is for anyone who's ever felt alone in a room full of people, which is to say this podcast is for everyone.
Christina Barsi [00:15:29]:
I think that really summarizes what it is once you hear that backstory, because I remember something that you said when we were first talking that you— that we still say all the time, that— or that you've mentioned more than once since then, but that, uh, the realization was that a lot of people feel this way. And can— and that anyone can feel this way. And I think that was a very interesting thing to realize because this would be a very different show if that realization didn't happen. And if we went— and we could have gone in a very different direction with it, right? Which wouldn't have been a bad direction, it just would have been a different one. But I think the fact that it opens itself up to so many types of voices Yes. I think, I think that really makes it special, and it's been such a joy, uh, seeing that unfold. So thanks for explaining it to— Yeah, of course. —all of us.
Christina Barsi [00:16:26]:
So I want to talk about— we talked about your writing a little bit, and when we met, we— I think it was right after we decided to work together, you had a story slam, or a basically a reading that you were going to do with others. And you've won competitions there, so you've always won competitions, I learned today, since you— since you've won your first piece when you were 8. I was third in the Avenue Junior competition. Well, that's still winning something in my opinion. I didn't win anything for my poem when I wrote at—
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:16:57]:
when I— You won love from your best friend, I'm sure. I did.
Christina Barsi [00:17:02]:
Her name was Laura too, actually. I just remembered. Her name was Laura. Nice. How funny. So anyways, you were doing these story slams and you were also writing for things like HuffPo. What was it? What's the intersection for you? Where did you decide that there's, there's an intersection between writing and performing, not just writing?
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:17:25]:
What, what was that for you? Oh boy, that's a good question. I don't know that there was a decision there. Except for, you know, just to back up a little bit, I had sent out a book proposal for a memoir. I'd taken a memoir class and taken a book proposal class.
Christina Barsi [00:17:43]:
So I took a lot of classes. As you do.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:17:46]:
Yes. And, and just to back up and not to go really down into this, but I had gone to treatment for drug and alcohol addiction in, in July of 20— of 2008. And after I came home, I couldn't write anymore. I, I couldn't— I tried, I, I tried to, um, sit down, I tried to figure out a way to, you know, get my creative juices going, but there was nothing. And that lasted for about 5 years. I also couldn't read. Really? I couldn't read for pleasure. I couldn't read anything.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:18:21]:
It was, it was just like my capacity for that had disappeared, and I was really upset about that, that lack, because it was so a part of who I was. So I started taking classes. I figured if I had a deadline and an instructor and someone making me, then I would read, even if it was just for that class, but that would be something, you know, and it was better than nothing. And I was really afraid that I was never going to get it back, you know, this really insatiable love that I had for both reading and writing. And so I started taking classes. I went to UCLA Extension. I took classes from a friend of mine, Stephanie Wilder Taylor, who does writing classes in her friend's backyard. I went to The Writing Pad.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:19:05]:
I was taking all these classes, and slowly I started kind of getting my mojo back. But it was, it was a slow process, and I, I— it wasn't effortless. I really had to keep working for it, which I didn't want to. I just wanted it to flow. So I kept going to classes. So I was taking all these classes, and I took this— I took several writing classes, several memoir classes, and a book proposal class. And so I had written a book proposal after my memoir class about the memoir that I wanted to write that I hadn't written yet. Wrote 3 chapters, wrote the proposal, which is fucking hard to do.
Christina Barsi [00:19:42]:
A book proposal is no joke. I've heard that. I've heard it's the hardest—
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:19:45]:
one of the hardest parts. It's so hard because it's not creative at all. It's, it's mainly marketing. And anyway, yeah, so I took this class and I sent out the proposal to agents. And, you know, I was— it was really their shots in the dark because I didn't even know if I was prepared to write this memoir that I was pitching. But I kept kind of putting one foot in front of the other because I really wanted to get back what I had lost. And I work well with deadlines, So I figured if someone— an agent said, "Yes, I want it," then I would be forced to write this memoir. So that was around this time.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:20:21]:
I had sent it out to a few agents, and one of the agents was so kind. Um, Anaal Singh is her name. I forgot the agency. And she got me on the phone, and she's like, "Look, you're a great writer, but no one knows who you are. Memoir's the hardest thing to publish. So until I can Google you and see a litany of things to click on and accomplishments. I need to be able to sell you to a Simon Schuster, right? And they're not going to buy it if they don't know who you are, if they can't Google you and see something of substance. So you're going to need to get something that looks like an author's platform, which is what she kind of gave me the instructions for how to build that.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:21:04]:
She recommended storytelling classes. She recommended podcasting. She recommended getting— I had nothing published then. She's like, get some pieces published, get as many pieces. It doesn't matter where it is, just get them out there. Get a website so that they can go on your site. Start a blog, you know, get a blog going. So after she and I got off the phone, I, I, I started the blog.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:21:29]:
So I wrote a blog every week for like 2 years and I did that. I did more writing on my memoir. I, I took storytelling classes and started entering storytelling competitions, which is terrifying.
Christina Barsi [00:21:41]:
Terrifying. And storytelling competitions, is that when you would go live and have to do this in front of people?
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:21:47]:
Yes. That's like The Moth, which is like the mother of storytelling competitions. So, you know, it's— I'm not— I was— I live in LA. I moved here because I wanted to direct commercials, going back to my being in a walker and looking at the commercials at, you know, age one. Oh my gosh! I loved commercials so much I wanted to direct them and they told me that would be in LA, so I moved here and went to work for a commercial director for a while. I— but I never wanted to act. I never wanted to be an actress. I never wanted to be in front of the camera or in front of a microphone.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:22:19]:
So I didn't have any of that experience that a lot of people who moved to LA have at least tried out performing. In some capacity. I never did. And so this was, you know, me at age 53 or 54 being in front of a microphone for the first time or being on a stage for the first time and performing, which, like I said, was terrifying. But, you know, she, she gave me the goods. She gave me a list of things to accomplish so that I could get to where I want to be. So I was doing everything she said. And it worked.
Christina Barsi [00:22:52]:
And it worked. Well, you— it turns out you're really good at it. Did you discover that, or was that a learning curve for you, or were you just like, "Oh, I— this is fun now because I realize I maybe have a knack for it"? What was that like?
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:23:06]:
You mean the storytelling?
Christina Barsi [00:23:07]:
Mm-hmm, the performance part.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:23:09]:
Yeah, I don't— I don't know if I would say that I'm really good at it. I mean—
Christina Barsi [00:23:12]:
I mean, didn't you win a Moth Slam? I did. Really, really hard to do. That's one of the impossible feats that many people try to— That's true. Okay, I'm just, I have to call that out.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:23:27]:
I'll say, I'll say that I, I'm, I'm not comfortable with it entirely. I, it's so, it's so much more scary to me than it is fun that if I never had to do it again, I would never do it again.
Christina Barsi [00:23:43]:
Interesting. Okay. Yeah. Thank you for sharing. That's a really honest answer. Yeah, thank you for sharing that, that journey. Well, as well, because you said so many things in that that I could— that I was like, oh, like, I just want to comment on everything, but I wanted you to finish the storyline there. But one thing I just want to point out is that, first of all, I, I know that feeling of being blocked for years, and it's scary, and it can feel desperate, and it can feel like it's never going to end because especially when you don't have tools to bring the end into sight, right? Yes.
Christina Barsi [00:24:19]:
And then we look for ways to, like, grab things to grasp onto. And, um, the fact that you found a way to create— to leverage something you knew about yourself, which was deadlines work for me. So you started taking— you created a structure. And I, I just want to share that because we talk about a lot of this stuff on the show and how to get through those moments, especially big, big blocks like that. And I also want to point out that they're normal, that they happen. They— and sometimes they last for a really long time and sometimes they don't, but when they do, those are the scariest ones or can be the scariest ones. So it's really figuring out, you know, like you did, what, what, what helps me? Like, what's my— What are my tools? What works for me when I'm stuck? And how can I build a situation or a structure that will push me forward even though it's, like you said, effortful? Yes. And, and that makes so much sense because I know that you're a diligent learner and you like structure.
Christina Barsi [00:25:25]:
So this is— this helps me really put into frame what I already know about you in, in the journey of how you ended up sort of being so diligent and so— you like framework, and I appreciate that about you. But this makes— this explanation makes so much sense to me, so thank you for sharing that with everyone. Yeah, so I'm gonna switch gears a little bit because you mentioned— so I didn't know you came to LA for wanting to direct commercials. That's, that's really cool, and you did that for a while. So I, I wanted to talk about the entrepreneurial journey that happens in podcasting, but I want to start with an entrepreneurial journey that you had, which you had a PR company in your 20s, right? Yes. Okay, so this— was it commercial work? You wanted to direct commercials? And then how did you end up starting this PR company so young and a successful one?
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:26:25]:
Yeah, um Thank you for that. I— so I moved out here, I think I was 23, and I went to work for Fred Peterman, who was— he and Joe Pitka were like the two premier commercial directors. Fred did all of like the Coca-Cola stuff and all the car stuff, and Joe did Nike, and they were right four streets apart from each other in Venice, California. And so it was, it was great. It was— It was glamorous in, in the way that only commercials could be glam— because it wasn't like TV or film. It wasn't as respected by other people. But for me, it was everything. Like, the Clio Awards, which are the commercial awards, were the ones I watched every year even before I moved here.
Christina Barsi [00:27:10]:
That's great.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:27:10]:
So I was in heaven, um, with these two directors and just being in the middle of all that. And, and I had a friend who is actually— there's a comedian named Sinbad, and she's his sister, and she and I were friends, and she was doing his publicity, and she would ask me to help her with her press releases just because she knew that I wrote well. And so I was doing that for her, and she was like, you know, you should just do this. Like, you're, you're great at this. You should, you should do press releases. You should do PR, which I had never even considered. And I had hit a ceiling with Fred. I mean, Fred was the director.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:27:50]:
I had started as a receptionist. I was editing his reels to send out, like, if Mattel wanted a reel, I would put all the kids' stuff on a reel and send it to them. This is when, like, it was actual physical, like, the big tapes.
Christina Barsi [00:28:03]:
You had to go to the UPS.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:28:04]:
You had to, like, ship it. Oh, yeah. Yes, yes. All of that. And so she, she knew of someone. They were— it's called the Baird Company, and they were a corporate entertainment PR firm, and they were looking for a Black woman. I don't know why. I mean, I didn't know why.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:28:20]:
I know why now. But they were looking for a Black woman then to train to be a publicist. And so I went in and talked to the woman who owns it. Her name's Prudence, Prudence Baird, and she hired me on the spot. And man, she was amazing. Like, she taught me everything there was to know about PR. She had just taken on Inner City Cinemas, which was— AMC Theaters was opening, kind of like what Magic Johnson did a few years later, opening theaters in the inner cities. Cool.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:28:51]:
But Inner City Cinemas was supposed to be that, and AMC Theaters was bankrolling it, or they were investors in it. And they wanted to have someone of color kind of, you know, in front of the mic on that. So it was, it was a smart move. I would have hired a Black person too. If I were them. So yeah, so it was, it was great. She was, like I said, she was absolutely incredible. A couple years in, I started bringing in clients, and I had a client roster of about 12 or 13.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:29:19]:
I asked her to make me a partner. She wanted to have a baby, so she wanted to slow down her, her company and not grow. So I went out on my own, and I took my 13 clients with me. And that's how I started Cathcart Public Relations, because that was before I was married. And, uh, and I did that, got married while, while I had Cathcart Public Relations, became Laura Cathcart Robbins. And then, you know, my, my son is 23 years old today, but when I got pregnant with him is when I started shuttering my company. So by the time he was born, my company didn't exist anymore in 1998. Yeah.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:29:59]:
Wow.
Christina Barsi [00:29:59]:
Well, I'm happy to hear all the intention behind everything. I like when that happens. I think that's really cool. And when opportunities show up to match those intentions. So I, I like, I like that story just 'cause I didn't— I've never heard the whole story, so I appreciate it. So do you feel like you're— so you're really good at booking guests and getting great guests and following through and finding ways to just make that side happen. And as a, as a producer, as a company, I work with a lot of podcasters and that is a very difficult part of the puzzle for most. And you're brilliant at it.
Christina Barsi [00:30:37]:
So do you feel like the background in PR and your background in everything you just, uh, outlaid for us, does that influence that or is, is it something else? Yeah.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:30:49]:
I mean, I absolutely use all the tools. That I learned as a publicist when, when booking guests. That was really helpful when this part of the job— when this part of the podcasting job came into play. I was like, oh, I can do this, because even though I was never like a talent booker, there's so many of the same strategies involved in getting clients. And, you know, because I, I would have to go out and solicit clients, which was all relationship dependent. You know, so if I met— it was all networking, meeting people, being effervescent, selling myself, having the work to back it up, being memorable so that when people did need a publicist, they'd be like, "Oh yeah, I remember that girl. She was great. We should give her a call." And, you know, and generally, 'cause I'm a nice person.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:31:40]:
I mean, I really am. I'm a nice person. But being that in all areas of my life is really helpful. And, and I think that goes a long way. And I, you know, if, if there's something preventing me from being nice to somebody, then I'll either usually confront that or I won't deal with that person. But for the most part, I'm nice to everybody. And that's— that goes a long way with relationships. And it's, it's intentional, but it's also innate for me to be nice to everyone.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:32:10]:
So I think I was— there was a part of me that was built for being a publicist. 'Cause that's, that's kind of part of it is spreading that, that good feeling, you know? I want you to feel good about this person. Here's why I'm so excited about them. This is why you should be excited about them. And you can fake that, but it's so much better when it's, when it's honest.
Christina Barsi [00:32:30]:
It's genuine, yeah.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:32:32]:
So, so yeah, I use a lot of that. And I also, you know, my, my ex-husband is a— well, he's, he's not anymore, but he was a director and a producer. At the time. So there were all these kind of Hollywood relationships that we had that I, I kept in touch with these people, and a lot of them are my friends now. So I had that access and those resources coming into this, not ever dreaming that I would be using it for this purpose, but I did have them, and I, I, I never let go of those relationships. Like, I kept in touch. I'm good at keeping in touch and, and staying connected. And I think that's really helpful too.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:33:12]:
If I had dropped connection with people, hitting them up to be a guest on the podcast 12 years later would be kind of like, ah, but since I had, you know, it was as part of my nature and part of my training as a publicist to keep connections up, that was really helpful too.
Christina Barsi [00:33:30]:
Very cool. So I'm hearing that there's a long game involved here. And there's something that's just innate about your process that you hold, and being nice in general is, is always good. Can you give us any breakdown of your process that can help someone who maybe doesn't have a deep Rolodex or hasn't had the experience that you have building these relationships? What do you do for someone who maybe isn't in that background of your life? —because we have guests like that too, right? That, that don't necessarily— especially now as we have grown, you know, you run out of people. So yeah, yes, can you just walk us through?
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:34:10]:
So there's a lot of things that I've, I've learned to do. So I, I am a member of IMDb. It's a yearly membership and it gives you access to everybody's agent, publicist, uh, manager, etc. So their representation so you can go on and see who represents them and contact those people directly. I DM people on Instagram, you know, and which is, which is great, but it's hard if they don't follow you, they may not see that direct message. So, and you've heard me say this before, so when it's somebody that doesn't follow me, I will slide into the comments as well and direct them to my DM. And I'll make sure I'll strategize those, the comments. So I'm not gonna comment on something where there's a lot— there's 280 comments because they're probably not gonna see mine.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:34:56]:
They're probably just doing what I do and just liking everything as they go down. So I'll go back to an older post that didn't get a lot of action because I'll get notified about that, and I'll make a comment there that's genuine about whatever that post is, but also, I sent you a DM, please check it out, and then let me know. I have this podcast, I'd love you to be a guest. That, that's, that's really been helpful.
Christina Barsi [00:35:21]:
Like, that's a really good strategy, and that's really smart in leveraging how the algorithm works. And, and it's very specific to Instagram, so I like that too, because you're not trying to do a thousand things at once either, which maybe you are. There's more going on. I know there's more going on, but really honing in on something, I think, is— helps calm the overwhelm with trying to figure something out that feels giant.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:35:47]:
I also— speaking of the long game, if there's somebody that I really want to come on but they have no idea who I am, I will follow them on Twitter and find the things that I really connect with and retweet those with a comment and, you know, put their in it. I'm, you know, so— but I'll do that a lot. So maybe 3 months of retweeting somebody with comments puts me on their radar and sometimes we'll start an exchange and that, that creates a relationship.
Christina Barsi [00:36:17]:
Twitter's great for that. I used to do that when I was more focused on writing and filmmaking and stuff and it really worked. Yeah. And it's a good one for access. And it's true, it takes time.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:36:28]:
Mm-hmm. It's farming, it's planting seeds and watering them. Right. And weeding.
Christina Barsi [00:36:32]:
Yeah, that's a great— that's a great way to put it because you'll see who doesn't engage over that period of time and you can move on, which is good too. It's a good way to kind of like make— curate your own list as well as you move through it.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:36:45]:
Anything else you want to share about that process? I would just say for IMDb, when you're looking at representation, I, I always went for agents and managers, and now I never do anymore. I always go for publicists because agents and managers are looking for paid gigs for their clients. For the most part, publicists are just looking for publicity, so they are usually the ones to respond, and I'll get more positive responses from them. I'll go to the agent or manager if they don't have a publicist listed, but if they have a publicist, that's who I'm going for.
Christina Barsi [00:37:16]:
That is such a gem. That's really key information there. That's— you're right. And I would add that what you're doing is you're thinking from the perspective of who you're interacting with. Yes. Well, and as a publicist, because you know that, that role really well. So you're like, I know what this incentive is, what this person as a publicist needs. Yes.
Christina Barsi [00:37:38]:
And I'm going to help serve that for them. And then also understanding that that's not the same motive that an agent has. Right. And so really thinking about it on a level of being personal and treating people as humans. When we think like, well, what do they— what do they want or need and how can I serve their purposes? Now it's a win-win. Yes. That's, that's a really good way to kind of approach everything, I think. Because if you start doing that, everyone feels a little bit more successful.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:38:04]:
Totally. Totally. Yes.
Christina Barsi [00:38:05]:
Yes. Yeah, I'm really glad you, you said that. So I have just two curious questions that I think are just fun. So I'm curious, uh, who's been your favorite guest if you had to name one, which is hard to do because I know they're all your friends, but—
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:38:22]:
Ah, yeah, that's, that's really hard.
Christina Barsi [00:38:23]:
Okay, let me think. Okay, top three if that makes it easier.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:38:32]:
Um, Dolores Robinson is definitely in the top 3. She is the mother of Holly Robinson Peete, who is also one of our guests. She's 84 or 85 next month, and man, this woman is full of vitality. Vitality should have her picture next to it in the dictionary.
Christina Barsi [00:38:52]:
She should get that tattooed.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:38:55]:
Yes, she might have it tattooed. Yeah, she might. Um, but yeah, man, talk about fun guest and just an unexpected pleasure. I knew she was a pistol, but I didn't know how much fun it was going to be to interview her. You've got to have her back on. Yeah, we really do, right?
Christina Barsi [00:39:14]:
We really should, especially now with every— all the—
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:39:16]:
all that's changed.
Christina Barsi [00:39:17]:
I'd be so curious to see how she—
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:39:20]:
how her positive energy handled the year we just had. Yes. And then honestly, another 84-year-old guest, Jill Sherry Robinson, the only one who lost her memory, she has a million old Hollywood stories. And I did a pre-interview with her that lasted almost 3 hours. Oh wow. And I, I didn't know how I was gonna interview her in 30 minutes.
Christina Barsi [00:39:43]:
Honestly, I was like, this isn't gonna work. You did a great job. Thank you. And I love her too.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:39:48]:
It was so fun, uh, working on her episode. Yes. I mean, that was just, It's like, we're gonna have her back to tell some of those Hollywood stories because she has a million Holly— like, Jane Fonda was her best friend growing up. Like, they rode horses together, you know, it's ridiculous. And then this is a little off of that, but I'm gonna talk about Melissa Barker and She's the Only One Helping Other Women Heal Their Trauma. Not a fun interview, even though Melissa is fun. But it was, it was really transformative for me, and a lot of the feedback that I've gotten from other people— I actually just connected someone else with her today, and she's in Forbes magazine today. They did a whole spread on her.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:40:34]:
Oh, that's awesome. Yeah, but yeah, her, her episode is like, she gets right to the meat of it. She talks about her own trauma, and then she talks about how women don't deal with trauma, and then healing that trauma. In the most— I already used the word transformative, but it's the— it's a succinct way, but it doesn't sound like it's succinct.
Christina Barsi [00:40:56]:
Like, she really takes you on a journey, and it's heartwarming and pragmatic all at once. Thank you. Yeah, is how I received it. Yeah. And yeah, that is the impression it left on me working on that one. Yes. And you're right, that was a difficult one, and I was actually really curious how it went for you, because I had to take a break.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:41:16]:
I had to take a day off midway through. Yeah, the interview was okay. It was the pre-interview that was where I, I experienced more to process. Interviewing her, I had kind of already gone through it, and I was, I was really doing that for, for you, not for you, Barci, but just for the listener. Like, I wanted the listener to hear and, and go through what I had gone through. You know, to have the tools that I got when I first spoke with her. So the interview was okay, but the— our pre-interview call, which was another almost 3-hour call, it was like 3 therapy sessions. Wow.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:41:53]:
That's intense. That I needed to—
Christina Barsi [00:41:55]:
I needed a couple days after that to process through. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And, and just, just as a disclaimer, like, it's, it's not a very long episode for anyone who wants to listen to it. It is, like we said, it's pragmatic at times, but it's also very real. So if you've experienced any trauma, there's a tr— I would suggest, you know, there's a bit— this is the trigger warning, I'm, I'm sharing that, but it's definitely worth a listen. Yes.
Christina Barsi [00:42:24]:
And I don't wish I didn't hear it, or what, you know, it's, it was very powerful. Yeah. And relatable.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:42:30]:
Yeah. And, and I think beneficial for people, especially people Like the woman who contacted me yesterday, she heard things in there that she had never talked about and wanted to process them in— within the confines of The Phoenix Project, which is Melissa's— this is what she does. She, she has this virtual community where people can process their trauma that's free right now, actually.
Christina Barsi [00:42:53]:
She's not making any money off of it. It's just, it's a good one. But yeah, and it's good because Fortunately and unfortunately, it's so relatable. Yes, for a lot of us.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:43:06]:
But again, it's like, that's the reason we do the podcast, um, because so many people feel like they're the only ones in the room with that type of trauma, or even without this— the specifics of the trauma, just those feelings, or even the fear of that. The fear of that can be traumatic. And so you're not the only one in the room. There are other people in a very large room virtually processing these types of traumas in safe places, you know.
Christina Barsi [00:43:35]:
Yeah, the normalizing is, uh, much more useful than it sounds. And community is a great way to experience that. So it's, it's pretty, pretty cool what she's created. Yeah. Okay, so I'm going to switch gears again because we can't not talk about han, your co-host Scott Slaughter, which is— when I got that first email, I have to say, that said Scott Slaughter on it, I was like, is this for real? Like, this is his name? That's such a cool name.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:44:07]:
Yeah, um, he's your partner in life. Laughter with an S.
Christina Barsi [00:44:11]:
Oh, that's so nice. That's much softer than Slaughter, and he's such a softie, so it's kind of funny that his last name is Slaughter now that I know him. But watching Scott develop his own voice too, of how he wants to learn from the guest and ask questions and, um, his own discoveries has been really fun to see that growth. So I actually wanted to ask you if you could say one thing to Scott that you're most proud of in relation to the podcast, something that you haven't told him yet. What would you say?
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:44:47]:
I don't know if I haven't told him this, but I certainly haven't told him lately. Just the courage, you know. Scott was a fly fishing guide in Utah. He and his ex-wife owned a boutique. He worked at Surefoot fitting ski boots on people, and he was a cook in the kitchens during like the summer months. I don't know, one of those months. Like a season he was a cook and then he'd be a fly fishing guy. So I guess in the winter he was a cook.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:45:20]:
No experience at all with anything that smacked of production or, or anything in front of— in the limelight. And for him to come in and be willing to not only be an actual voice on this, but to learn everything that he's learned how to do, especially In this last year, meaning the year 2020 to now, because we no longer record in person, we— he turned his office into a home studio and not only got all the equipment, procured all the equipment, he learned how to use it. And that, you know, just— I know it was frustrating and I know it was— it triggered his insecurities because it's It was just brand new territory, and everybody that he was learning from had been doing it for a while. And, you know, nobody likes to be the new kid in school— except for me, I like that— but nobody really likes that feeling. And he, man, he was a champ, and he just kept showing up, and he kept being corrected, you know, you know, gently, like by you and other people, and not so gently by some other people. But they were just teaching him, you know, like, you know, you call somebody to learn how to use a particular piece of equipment and that's the company, right? So someone from the company is coming in and acting as though he should know this, this, and this already and he doesn't. That's frustrating. It's frustrating.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:46:49]:
And he— but he just hung in there and he would say, okay, can you take me through like this, please? And, and, you know, now he's producing. And he, he produces the On My Nightstand segment. You know, he sits there with me and he does what you used to do, Barci. Um, you know, has me repeat certain things, or I, I think, you know, you should approach this a little bit differently, or what if we did this here instead? Oh wow. And yeah, he's, he's really getting, getting a feel for, for that piece of this whole process in addition to doing the website. Which, you know, is a monster. Yes, yes. Yeah.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:47:29]:
And then the marketing and the advertising and, uh, the merchandise, and, and there are so many other things I can't even think of them. But he does, you know, he handles all of that so that I can get guests and write intros and do screening calls and all that stuff and enter— and interview people.
Christina Barsi [00:47:52]:
Wow. Yeah, he— it's— he does so much now, and he did always, and, and that was the aim, was to give Scott more and more responsibilities, but he's living up to that expectation in a way that I think everyone should feel impressed, including himself. Yeah, so I, I just wanted to give Scott a moment of like really acknowledging everything that he's been doing and that he's done and And he's such a soft spirit that it— it's true when he wants to learn something new, he struggles, but is so open and willing to be humbled by it.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:48:28]:
And willing. Yeah. He's so curious about humanity. He wants to learn every nuance. But that's what makes him so great, is that he really cares, you know?
Christina Barsi [00:48:38]:
Yeah. He's really— he wants the whole picture. And I am the same way. I totally get that. Yes. Yeah. So we have that in common, him and I. Um, speaking of that, speaking of processes, if you could go back to your— yourself 2 years ago when you were thinking of starting a podcast, you hadn't started yet, what kind of advice would you give yourself now?
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:49:03]:
I would listen to more podcasts than I did. I listened to a few, but I didn't listen to very many. I think it's just like reading and writing. I think one needs to continue to listen to what's out there and listen to different styles, not to imitate, but just to be consuming— consuming that way as well. I think it makes me a better podcaster when I listen to other people. I would also go to more podcasting conferences, festivals, even though, you know, there's a double-edged sword there because they cost money. For the most part. So I, I wouldn't be able to afford to go to every single one, nor would I have the time, but I would make it a part of my regular kind of podcasting diet to strategize those out for the year and make sure that I'm hitting ones that'll really be beneficial to, to my learning process.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:49:56]:
Cuz I go there and I learn so much every time. And some of them is stuff, you know, stuff I know, but I would rather stay home than anything. Like, I love this part of the pandemic, even though I hate what it's done to people and the economy and ev— you know, that, that there are people in the ICUs and people have lost people and I hate that part. But I really love that I've gotten to stay home and not had a lot of outside social obligations. And I know that part of it is I have anxiety that, that's not It's not really at the surface, it's not something I'm very conscious of, but I, I know, knowing myself better now, that I have anxiety about showing up at a mixer and just introducing myself. I do that really well, which is why they— I don't— I'm not always connected with the fact that I'm at— I'm anxious about it. But now that I haven't had to do that for a year, I see how, how much I had to kind of put on in order to do that. Even still, when I do that, the benefit that I get from those mixers from— it's, it's, it's— I— there's no other way I could get that.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:51:05]:
I— there are guests that I wouldn't have gotten, there are connections that I wouldn't have had, there are friends that I made that have been really helpful. Podcasters, like, the most friendly people ever, and they will share resources and they'll share tips and they'll share studio space. Like, they'll, they'll share everything And so you get— I've gotten connected with some people who have been so generous with me that I wouldn't have met if I hadn't gone out and networked. And so I think I would have done that more in the beginning. So more networking, more listening to other podcasts, and, and then, you know, more not just the, the social networking, but more of the, the structured networking events for podcasters.
Christina Barsi [00:51:46]:
So that's the advice you'd give yourself. What advice would you give someone else who is starting out for the first time? Maybe they're thinking of expanding their own platform and learning about their voice and maybe thinking of podcasting as a solution to that.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:52:03]:
One of the things I'm going to be talking at Podfest, I'm going to be speaking about broadening the reach of your niche. And I talk about the fact that at that same table that we described earlier, We sat around and like, do we want to make this a podcast about Black women finding themselves alone in the room? Like, do we want to make it that narrow? And, and I really didn't want to, and I, I'm not unhappy that I didn't, but I think for someone who is starting out new and they have a very narrow niche that they want to pursue, I'd be like, do it. You know, the narrower the better. And, you know, and don't be discouraged when you, you know, you're hoping for 400 downloads a week and you're only getting 40. Because if you look at like the demos of those 40, like if you're getting 40, um, we talked about diversity, equity, and inclusion work earlier. Like say there are 40 DEI coordinators that are listening to your podcast about Black women being the only people in the room. Someone needs to market to DEI coordinators, and they're going to be super excited that you have 40 of them that are listening every week, that they can advertise to you. And then these DEI coordinators will want to buy their products for their schools or their, you know, corporations or wherever it is that they're working.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:53:31]:
So like understanding that within your niche, there's so much opportunity regardless of your numbers. The numbers don't really matter. That much. As long as your demographic is tuning in every week, which means you need to have a quality product for them to continue to listen to. You need to, you need to key in on them and make sure that you have something for them every week. That way you really have something to sell to an advertiser. That's what I would say. Go for the niche.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:53:57]:
Don't worry about the numbers. Zero in on that, that key demographic and, and sell that advertising. Whoever's going to advertise to them, be on top of that.
Christina Barsi [00:54:07]:
Love that answer. I love it so much because it's very affirming for what I want people to understand about success, how to measure it, and goals and all of that, which we are going to talk about in tomorrow's episode that we're doing with you, which is all about— yeah, I will ask you about your— how you measure success and goals and how you organically grew to the strategies that you are applying now. Which grew your numbers. I know that we just said don't worry about the numbers, but eventually you shift gears in how you, how you measure that success and you're able to jump numbers up to 6 figures in 4 weeks' time and that's pretty impressive. So, but you did a lot of organic growth first. So we're, so we're gonna talk about that. So if there's p— someone out there who's like, okay, I wanna niche down, I wanna get started. I, I can, I can deal with measuring my success based on my niche, but then what? Right? And so this is that next conversation.
Christina Barsi [00:55:06]:
So I want people to tune in tomorrow and, and catch this smaller episode that will be much shorter, but really a deep dive into that. So in addition to that, I just wanna say thank you. How can people find you and what do you have coming up next?
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:55:23]:
Oh, you can find me at theonlyonepod.com. That's our website. You can also find me on Instagram at @lauracathcartrobbins. Someone thought there was Laura Cutthroat Robbins, which I thought was really funny.
Christina Barsi [00:55:39]:
Cutthroat and slaughter coming at ya!
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:55:43]:
R-A— Oh my God, that should be our production company.
Christina Barsi [00:55:49]:
Yes! I will put all the spelling in the show notes too. And it's not cutthroat, it's Cathcart.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:55:55]:
Okay, yes, no, it's Cathcart. Laura Cathcart Robbins, @lauracathcartrobbins, or @theonlyoneintheroom on Instagram. We have a Facebook group which is The Only One in the Room on Facebook. If you're on Facebook, please join our group. You only have to answer 2 questions: what do I call Scott, which you already know from this episode, which is hun, and then just talk about your favorite episode. And you can name any one of the ones that we talked about as your favorite episode. That will do. Yeah, and that's our Facebook group.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:56:22]:
And I'm on Twitter at @theonlyonepodc1 and @lauracrobbins.com.
Christina Barsi [00:56:29]:
And what's next is more amazing podcasts. I can't wait to crack it open and start listening while I make them. Yes. And while my team makes them and then I just peruse. Yes. Listen. How nice. It's, it's necessary at this point.
Christina Barsi [00:56:48]:
Well, thank you so much for coming on the show. I had Such a pleasure talking to you in this format and learning more about the backstory of everything.
Laura Cathcart Robbins [00:56:58]:
Mm, thank you for having me, Barsi. I just love you.
Christina Barsi [00:57:01]:
I love you.
