Failing Forward

You can learn from your (and someone else’s) mistakes. Granted, it’s a cliché. But for a reason. Especially in a very young medium like podcasting, it’s been hard not to make mistakes or move forward by trial and error. Raf Njotea, known for his podcast Ouder, talks to Josh Baker, Jess Shane, and Avery Trufelman about the mistakes they’ve made in their careers and what they’ve learned from them.

Josh Baker is a celebrated British documentary maker who also created an international sensation in 2020 with his first podcast, I’m Not a Monster. The 10-part BBC series details what happened to an American woman after she traveled to Syria with her family to join IS in 2015. In 2023, Baker made a sequel to his tour de force with The Shamima Begum Story, this time about a British teenage girl who traveled to Syria in the same year.

Jess Shane is a Canadian podcast and documentary maker who has already pieced together several audio documentaries for, among others, Short Cuts (BBC Radio 4). Earlier this year, she also created the high-profile podcast Shocking, Heartbreaking, Transformative - about how podcasts brim with personal stories that often only benefit their creators.-

Finally, Avery Trufelman is the host and producer of the fashion podcast Articles of Interest, named podcast of the year by The New Yorker and The New York Times. Before that, she earned her spurs at the equally legendary design podcast 99% Invisible, and she produced the outstanding Nice Try! (in which she delves into the history of the vacuum cleaner and the mattress, among other things).

This talk is in English.