Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kat Costolo, Host and Producer of The Austin Downbeat! We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Kat, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

I’ll be honest with you. I’ve put this off. Even though most of me is excited to share details of what the last year and a half has given (and taken from) me, all of me lacks the ability to sit still most days. Maybe by writing this I will learn if that’s a tick in the pro or con column. Or, maybe we need to make a new column.

Risks. Why do we take ’em? More specifically, why do I continue to take ’em?

The idea to start my own weekly music show that centered on the beloved music community here in Austin came quick. But with all quick ideas, I let it simmer for a few months – a lesson I faced over and over but now finally apply. Thank God. I let the excitement of a new idea wear off so I could see if that excitement remained for the “work” part; that and the parts that would uncover massive social anxiety and imposter syndrome.

I had to know for myself, in the quiet of my own space, that I was tethered to an intention that was deep and pure and seeking no reward for my ego. I had to know for myself what the value was that I was providing so that the risk felt equal to what I knew the outcome would be. I had to know who I was doing this for. The answer. I’m doing it for you, me, and them.

Kat, 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?

When I was a little girl back in the 70’s (gasp), I would turn around in the backseat of the car (no carseats back then) and hold up a pretend microphone and sing at the top of my lungs to whatever was on the radio to the people in the cars driving behind us. I remember having the thought of “wow, they must really be enjoying this!”, like I was doing them a favor performing for them. I was three. Still makes me giggle to this day.

Fifteen years later I would find myself still performing. But this time it’s as a model and actor in Los Angeles hustling back and forth to auditions. With every rejection, a deeper relationship with the abyss of my baggage; with every callback, another bag added. Somewhere in between, unpacking it little by little.

Many years and many gigs after that I would find myself working on the television production side of things alongside the King of Reality TV himself, Mark Burnett. I thought I had “arrived”. I thought I knew what I wanted my career and my life and my friends to look like.

You get into this industry by putting yourself in. Every day. Any performer of any kind reading this knows that. YOU have to hustle YOU. And you have to FIND you.

My show is built and sits at the intersection of Humanity and Passion.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Although I acknowledge that building an audience on social media is critical these days, I approach this carefully and intentionally. It’s easy for me to get caught up in numbers and dopamine hits from likes and follows BUT from day one I chose to commit to organic growth. Depth before width.

I was fortunate to have enough personal connections to be strategic from the start with who I was able to interview for the show. And, with each person I had on there was an innate vouching of sorts that happened for those that I would invite next… from there it just snowballed into something really magical.

I believe that magic can only happen though if I’m deeply rooted in my intention which again is to keep the spotlight on the music, the art, the humanity of the individual I’m talking to.

I don’t have thousands of followers but I have to think that those who dig what I’m doing actually see why I’m doing it. And maybe even more so, can feel it when they watch.

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

The most rewarding part of all this is shining the spotlight on the humanity of these artists that I get to talk to. At the end of the day, we are all just people. We are imperfect. We struggle. We all have things that could have knocked us down permanently.

I believe there is a nugget of gold in every hard thing. That has been my experience and you only see that gold when you fully feel every corner and every edge. I believe that songwriters, artists, creatives all the like are the goldminers of our world.      

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @katisontheradio @austindownbeat
• Facebook: Kat Costolo (The Austin Downbeat)
• Youtube: youtube.com/theaustindownbeat

Image Credits
n/a Personal Photo credit: Riley Blanks Reed