We were lucky to catch up with Esther Ludlow recently and have shared our conversation below.

Esther , appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

When I was in grade school, I decided I either wanted to be a teacher or a writer, but I was more drawn towards a career as a writer. I knew, early on, when I started working full-time, that someday I wanted to be my own boss, have the freedom to travel, and pursue something creative. Even though I started out having a traditional career, I always had creative pursuits on the side. What started out as a creative project “just for fun” became my full-time career, and I couldn’t be happier about how things turned out!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’ve always been interested in psychology and completed a master’s degree in counseling with an emphasis in criminal psychology. I began working in the juvenile justice system, counseling teens and their parents.

A few years after graduating, I started a podcast “for fun,” discussing all the true crime cases I’d read and learned about. I created the podcast as a solo venture – researching, writing, narrating, and editing the podcast myself. I was able to not only tell stories of true crime cases that have always fascinated me but also use my background in criminal psychology to provide theories about the possible reasons and motivations for these crimes. I wanted to tell the “why” behind each case I covered.

In 2016, I launched my podcast, “Once Upon a Crime.” Each month, I choose a different topic and find true crime cases that fit into that subject. For example, the first series was titled “Lost and Found.” I shared cases of people who were kidnapped and found years later. I told the stories of Jaycee Dugard, Elizabeth Smart, and three young girls kidnapped in Cleveland, Ohio who spent nearly a decade in captivity before they were rescued.

Within a month, I had over 75,000 listeners. I had initially planned to produce episodes every two or three weeks but began releasing weekly episodes almost immediately.

Now, almost eight years later, I’ve produced over 300 episodes, the podcast has been downloaded millions of times, and I’ve worked as a full-time podcaster for over five years. I’ve been invited as a featured guest every year at CrimeCon, the world’s largest true-crime convention. As a podcaster, I’ve also had the opportunity to travel all over the U.S. and to London, and I’ve even been featured on several true-crime television shows as a guest.

Once Upon a Crime has been nominated for several podcast awards and won “Best Society and Culture Podcast” at The People’s Choice Podcast Awards in 2020.

I still produce the podcast independently. Once Upon a Crime is a woman-owned and operated business. My co-producer is Lorena Garcia and my assistant researcher is Emma Battagaglia.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Producing a weekly podcast takes more hours than any full-time job I’ve ever held. You must be able to work independently with very little feedback. All your creative ideas have to come from within you and be something you are passionate enough about to work long hours, put vacations and leisure time on hold, and prioritize over almost anything else as you build your business from the ground up.

Once Upon a Crime was purely a passion project for the first two years. What I mean by that is that it didn’t provide an income at all – LOL! It wasn’t something I had even factored in when I started producing the podcast. However, after it began taking more hours each week than my counseling practice, I had to learn how to monetize it to keep it going.

At the time, you couldn’t just join a podcast network, so I had to seek out people who might know how to sell ads on my episodes. Podcasting was a very DIY venture in 2017! I was very fortunate to find a couple of people who helped me place ads on my show so that I could make a living as a full-time podcaster. I’m so grateful to do what I love and earn a great income as a podcast producer!

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I love working my own schedule, coming up with new ideas, putting them out into the world, and knowing that I’ve created something that will endure beyond my own physical existence. It’s also very heartwarming to hear from others that my journey has inspired them to launch their own creative projects.

Finally, the biggest reward for all my hard work is hearing from listeners how my voice has kept them company while they were up at night with a newborn baby, recovering from an illness, or commuting to their jobs. What started as a “fun, probably-no-one-will-ever-hear-this” project has become something people enjoy and make part of their day-to-day lives. It is always mind-blowing and something I am humbled by and grateful for!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.truecrimepodcast.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/onceuponacrimepod/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OnceUponACrimePod
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/estherludlow/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/UponACrime
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC17PL60EqRV7DcDdgLC3YTQ
• Other: TikTok – https://www.tiktok.com/@ouacpod Patreon – https://www.patreon.com/OnceUponACrime