We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Liv Albert a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Liv, thanks for joining us today. Can you tell us the backstory behind how you came up with the idea?

Starting a podcast isn’t quite like starting any other business, you basically have to go into it thinking that you will probably always just be doing the show as a hobby, very very unpaid. That’s exactly how I started mine. I had gone through a few things in my personal and professional life, a lot of changes and disappointments and basically I found myself in a job that I hated, in a city where I didn’t know anyone, and just generally depressed and listening to podcasts to make myself feel better. Eventually I listened to enough that I thought that starting one of my own would be a good way to pass the time. The only thing I would ever want to talk about that much was Greek mythology, so I just did it. I started a Greek mythology podcast, I went with the first title I could think of (Let’s Talk About Myths, Baby!), and the show was born. I didn’t imagine many people would ever listen and I certainly didn’t imagine that it would eventually become my career. I don’t want to say I didn’t hope for something like that, but I definitely had realistic expectations. It wasn’t until a couple years later that the show started making money, and it was over three years in before I was able to quit my job and become full time. So, essentially, the phrasing of this questions is not made for podcasts… You kind of have to assume you won’t succeed, but at least you’ll enjoy the process along the way. Fortunately, I did succeed, but gods is podcasting a fickle industry to get into!

Liv, 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?

I am a podcaster and author. I created and host (and still do most other things, with the exception of the work my amazing assistant does) for the podcast Let’s Talk About Myths, Baby!. It’s a Greek and Roman mythology podcast and brand that I built from the ground up, turning it into one of the biggest independent podcasts in Canada and the top Greek mythology podcast in the world. Through that I was given the opportunity to write a couple of books, Greek Mythology: the Gods, Goddesses, and Heroes Handbook, and Nectar of the Gods, a Greek mythology themed book of cocktail recipes and mythological anecdotes. I’m proud of all of it, the show is incredibly fun and teaches hundreds of thousands of people not only about mythology, but about women in the ancient world, a little bit of history, and ancient theatre. I speak with guests on my show, authors and academics and experts in their field in order to provide even more history and mythology to my listeners. We have fun, it’s very casual and simple yet detailed and informative. My show has been featured on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and gets approximately 10+ million downloads per year. It’s a pretty fun and fulfilling way to spend ones time.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect is not only being able to do what I love and make a living at it, but being able to share that with the world. One of the things I’m most proud of when it comes to my podcast is the way it and I have grown throughout the years. I’ve been podcasting for over five years now and in that time I’ve become an expert, I’ve grown in my ability to research accurately and provide the most detailed, relevant, and interesting information to my listeners. I’ve also built a show where I can use fun entertaining stories to teach listeners about the darker aspects of history, where it’s been misunderstood and misused, and how to avoid those things as an everyday person who enjoy’s history. So often these topics are hidden behind the walls of academia and between my own skills and my connections with academics and authors I’m able to provide the casual history and mythology lover with information they would otherwise never have access to. Both myself and the academics I speak to appreciate the space I’ve created to share work beyond the confines of academia.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I think the best advice I have for building a social media presence–particularly in my field which is not an explicit business, I’m not selling anything except myself/my brand/my podcast–is to try your best to do it organically. Every once in a while I would try to force myself to be something I’m not on social media and it never remained sustainable. Instead I’ve found great success in just being who I want, posting what I want, sharing what I want, and having a good time while I’m doing it. That said I have a natural inclination to a clean looking feed, beautiful posts, etc., so I think that naturally helps, but being yourself on social media remains my biggest tip for anyone trying to build their own.

Contact Info:

• Website: mythsbaby.com
• Instagram: @mythsbaby
• Facebook: @mythsbaby
• Twitter: @mythsbaby
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/mythsbabypodcast

Image Credits
KGOODPHOTO; Matthew Dunleavy