We were lucky to catch up with Michelle Westfall recently and have shared our conversation below.

Michelle, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Going back to the beginning – how did you come up with the idea in the first place?

One of my dreams as a child was to create a talk show. I used to set up my parents’ camcorder, hit play, and make my sister or my friends sit next to me as a co-host. I was always part of the morning announcements in elementary school and middle school, and in high school, I joined TV productions. When I went off to college, I majored in Broadcast Journalism with a minor in Film. My dream was to work on a studio show in the morning. Ironically, once I graduated, I did end up working in news, but it was an overnight role in the middle of the night from 2 am to 8 am. Not the best shift in the world. I then got a role as a producer for a news station where I interned and was working a better shift from 4 am – 1 pm. I realized this wasn’t exactly what I was dreaming of, so I left the news industry and started to work in Public Relations. My career path took me into social media management and content creation. I was working a corporate role as a content lead, creating videos for the organization, but podcasting was on the rise, and it was the middle of 2020 when we had a hard time creating evergreen content. I thought to myself, podcasting is a talk show, and it’s quickly taking off. I decided to pitch an idea to leadership at the company, they said yes, and we started to cast and create the show! Fast forward five years, and I left the company to pursue my own business in helping others find their north star and create their versions of their podcast talk shows. That’s where my company idea, MeShell Media, was born, helping people create a flow and a reason for why to start their podcast and how to keep their topic ideas relevant and engaging.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My company is called MeShell Media, we help aspiring podcasters and seasoned creators bring their voices to life with clarity, strategy, and purpose. Whether you’re launching your very first show or looking to level up an existing podcast, we provide personalized consulting, content strategy, and media expertise to help you shine in a crowded space. The goal is to help others start their first-ever podcast, refine a show that already exists, or help them grow through marketing initiatives like social media.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

My entire career has led me from one thing to the other. While it has felt as though most of them have been pivots, I realize that it was just synchronicities that aligned with each path I was on. For example, the news industry led me to the other side with public relations, which felt like a pivot, but they go hand-in-hand. I then moved into public relations/social media before becoming fully wrapped up in only doing social media. With social media, there comes content creation, so I started to lean more into producing videos for social media. I lost my corporate job and had to make the biggest pivot which is what led me to start my own company, MeShell Media, and help others with the knowledge I’ve gathered along the way of all the pivots I’ve had.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I decided that the best course of action for myself is to rebrand what my social media looked like and make it my business brand. My biggest advice is to be as authentic as possible and show up for yourself with content that you would post on your own social media platform. Building your audience will come with time, but also sharing it with friends and family and asking them to support and share it as well. Make sure you write relevant keywords in the description so that your content will be pushed to the right audiences. There is a feature on Instagram where you can collaborate with other accounts. This is huge if you have a big following on your social media and you want to showcase your work with your personal brand and your business. I highly suggest using all of the tools that the platform has to offer and giving it a good hook that makes people want to stop and engage or watch the content. More on this if you want to work with me!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://meshell.media/
• Instagram: me_shell_grace
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-w-464a9961

Image Credits

Kirsten Mae Photography for all of them except the one that says “producer,” that is the “Discover Universal Podcast.”