We were lucky to catch up with Chris Edwards Noelly Loza recently and have shared our conversation below.

Chris Edwards, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?

Chris: Yeah, so I had the idea for the pod in my late twenties, back in 2021, because I’d spent those years learning hard life lessons and I just knew it was all going to be better in my 30’s. I tabled the idea at the time because I was too afraid, but it came back to me in 2023 when Noelly and I started doing weekly walks. We’d talk about life in such a profound way that I was like “girl, we should do a podcast”

Noelly: We spent the first six months figuring out who we wanted to be and what we wanted to put out. It honestly wasn’t as structured as it could’ve been, but whatever. We knew there was A LOT for us to learn and we were willing to learn on the job, so we got right to it. We thought through all the topics we wanted to cover and flushed those ideas out, which eventually led to us having 3 seasons worth of topics pre-planned. We dreamed of who we wanted on the podcast and reached out to a dear friend who we want to involve in several of our episodes and planned out her episodes. Then we bought cheap mics off Amazon-

Chris: -sorry, Mother Earth-

Noelly: -and got right to it.

Chris: Recording was absolutely my favorite part. We just use one of our phones to record, and we make sure to film at the best time of the day, so we get good lighting. The problem came after we recorded the episodes and had to edit them. I have basic knowledge of film editing, but I had absolutely no knowledge of the sound editing software and no previous background in sound editing, so editing the podcast was a very humbling and time-consuming experience. Plus posting on social media for marketing is a full-time job, and Noelly has a little one at home to take care of. We both have full time jobs and families, so it was hard to stay on top of our respective tasks, but we supported each other throughout and made it through the recording/editing of the episodes while ALSO posting each episode

Noelly: Yeah, recording at the same time we were posting was a choice. We were just so excited to get the episodes out there. This year, we’re being much more organized. We have a marketing strategy plan and a strategic plan for the year that does not include us recording episodes while we’re trying to do marketing. We will both be hands on for editing and we will both be hands on for marketing. We’re sort of doing it in waves. We’re definitely still figuring it out as we go, but we’re trying

Chris Edwards, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Noelly: Thirty, Flirty, and Trying is a biweekly podcast for the girls, gays, and they’s just out here doing their best. Our goal is to build community through telling our stories. So many of us are navigating similar struggles; there’s no need to be alone through this tough but beautiful journey we call life.

Chris: Noelly and I are both first generation American Latinas, we’re very proud of our culture and how they enrich our lives. We chose career paths that we thought we needed to choose for success and now we’re finally chasing after our dreams of being creatives because the little girls inside us deserve to live their dreams. We’re here to heal our inner children by providing them with the support and love they should’ve had from the get-go. There’s nothing better than finally feeling like you’re not alone.

Noelly: It makes it easier to process the not great stuff too. Like, it’s easier to accept that there’s room for growth and goodness and we’re not just defined by bad things we’ve done or lived through. Life is full of gray areas and nuance. You can remain hopeful while talking about the hard stuff if you’ve got a supportive community, you know?

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

Noelly: I met Chris’ older brother before I met her actually! He owned a ballroom studio and brought me on as a teacher and eventually we became dance partners too. I knew he had a little sister around my age, but I didn’t know much about her until she came and taught at studio. He did always tell me that I reminded him of her though.

Chris: He used to tell me the same thing lmaoooo. Loui asked me to teach for him at the studio back in 2017 and I was so nervous to meet Noelly because I knew she meant a lot to my brother and I didn’t know if we were going to get along. I was worried that because we were so similar we would find each other annoying. I literally would just keep my distance from her at the studio to not cause friction and, I didn’t know it then, but she was basically doing the same thing and feeling the same way.

Noelly: I finally mustered up the courage to ask her on a friend date, and it was honestly hilarious.

Chris: We didn’t make eye contact ONCE.

Noelly: This story always cracks me up. She was at the reception desk. I walked up and leaned on the desk facing away from her, and she stayed looking forward the whole time. I asked her to hang out sometime as casually as I could, and she very casually suggested a local art event at a local theater that weekend. I said yes and that was it. That was the event of the conversation.

Chris: We went to the event and the rest is history.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Noelly: Your ducks do not have to be in a row for you to get started. Season 1 happened with a general roadmap, and it was fun, awesome, and a learning experience, AND the things we learned have allowed us to have more structure in place for Season 2! We know so much more than we did a year ago, simply because we tried. Every season will get better so long as we continue to show up.

Chris: Yeah, we both struggle with wanting things to be perfect so badly, and it’s kept us from chasing after so much. We were literally keeping ourselves from the joy of doing what we wanted because we didn’t think we were good enough yet. That’s crazy! Practice makes progress, not perfect. We actually have a whole episode on this.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thirtyflirtytryingpodcast.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thirtyflirtyandtryingpodcast/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThirtyFlirtyandTryingPodcast
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/show/4Od0wAHBR8bmhqJb4Kw7vu?si=vyAUBLtlTF61WSz45qrODA