We were lucky to catch up with L.A. Beadles recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi L.A., thanks for joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.
I think it’s always a risk to jump head first into a passion project, but a lot of work and some late nights go a long way. A year ago, when I launched Unsinkable: The Titanic Podcast, I had absolutely no knowledge of recording and editing software or the logistics of the podcasting world. I think I recorded my first episode four times. The first time I forgot to hit record. The other times represented some early, painful lessons about sound and production. I’m a humanities person. This was all new. But I stuck with it. And I’m still learning. I want to pull my hair out a lot. I think that’s such a crucial point–no matter your hobby or job or project, whatever it is, the learning along with it never stops.
L.A., before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I’m a historian (I have a PhD in American History from the University of Georgia) who studied everything BUT Titanic in graduate school. I studied environmental history, wrote about industrialization. I ran several oral history projects–one on laborers in the South, one on music history of the early twentieth century–and traveled around learning how to respectively record and then share stories. I have always been interested in the macro of history but also, and sometimes more importantly, the micro. A couple of years ago I decided that I would finally combine all this training and these experiences with my love of Titanic’s history, and that’s how Unsinkable was born. I researched for a solid year, then launched in the autumn of 2021. I’m a one-woman show, though listenership is growing all around the world and I hope my little world of Unsinkable Studios continues to as well. I’m in the process of branching out to other history podcasts. I’ve met researchers, historians, writers from all over the world. I receive messages from people every day letting me know how Titanic’s history has touched their lives. Truly, truly, I love my job.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
My goal is to tell stories that matter, stories that connect us all to what it means to be human. I’m most interested in the gray area of someone’s life. I want to hear about the heartache, the struggles, not just the successes. Stories move people, change our lives.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
I’ve had to learn to thicken my skin when it comes to negative energy (some listeners don’t love that I get “political” and advocate for equality as well as action when it comes to issues like fighting climate change and protecting women’s rights), but I’ve also had to soften and be more accepting of constructive criticism. I used to be an academic rather locked away with my books, writing for a small academic audience. Being online, running this podcast by myself, publishing so much of my work on this open, huge platform….it’s helped me to see how many ways there are to do things! I find I’m more open to change now. I’m more positive about input.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @unsinkablepod
- Twitter: @unsinkablepod