We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Natalie Katona a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Natalie, thanks for joining us today. Can you tell us the backstory behind how you came up with the idea?
To All the Men I’ve Tolerated Before was born out of a joke I would tell to my friends. The movies for the book series, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, were gaining popularity and when people would talk about them I would say “My book series would be called To All the Men I’ve Tolerated Before”. One day, a friend made me promise that I would do something with that idea. When the COVID-19 quarantine happened, I was working an administrative job in theater. I was quickly laid off and had all this time to think about all the creative projects I had put off. I realized that starting a podcast was the perfect way to get my stories out there and also give me a social outlet. I had a friend who offered to be my co-host and audio producer and we started outlining episodes!
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I am a podcaster and content creator. The show I produced is called To All the Men I’ve Tolerated Before and it is a weekly look at everyday misogyny. The podcast really started as a way for me to reflect on my own relationships with patriarchy and how it affected my relationships, my career, and how it shaped my limited beliefs in myself. When my co-host has to step down after the first season, I really had to rethink our mission and where I wanted the show to go next. Now I view the show as a platform for myself and my guests to talk openly about how misogyny subtly weaves its way into our everyday experience. I have learned so much about myself from my guests and my listeners provide me feedback that our episodes really have them think deeply about what has affected their identity and how misogyny shaped the way they thought their lives would play out. Through the podcast I have learned more about my creative capabilities, my sexuality, opportunities I never allowed myself to pursue, and my capacity for empathy and growth.
I am also the co-host of the livestream Still Comfy? with fellow podcaster Julia Washington (Pop Culture Makes Me Jealous). We review our favorite comfort movies and tv shows when it comes to our modern lens and in relation to the themes of our separate podcasts. We’ve been covering One Tree Hill and have also reviewed Ever After, Clueless, and other popular Millenial titles.
If podcasting wasn’t enough, I also post my art and the jewelry I make on my Etsy Store, No Niche for Nat. My favorite art medium is collage, but water color is starting to become a really close second. This summer was the summer of making friendship bracelets for every occasion.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
One of my favorite ways to end the show is to remind my listeners “There’s no shortage of me on the internet!” Luckily, I love social media and I have had a pretty positive experience when it comes to growing my network through social media. One of the best ways I’ve used social media to build my audience is using it as a hunting ground for finding like minded creators or professionals. I spent a lot of time curating my algorithm to show me accounts that were supporting my viewpoints. And then I really just dedicated myself to being bold. I would use people’s posts and stories as a way to connect with them on a personal level with either something about me or reiterating what they were saying and why it was important. As I grew my network on social media and continued to connect with people, they were willing to share their expertise with my listeners and then their followers would be aware of my show and I would gain followers from our collaboration.
I think my biggest for people starting out with their following is to find your people! If you love art, check out every art tutorial or artist involved in Artist TikTok. If you’re a crafter, there’s a community for you online too! And don’t feel like your posts have to be different on every platform. I re-use posts and videos across all my various social media platforms.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
I really underestimated how much leaning into my creativity would benefit my mental health and my confidence. Is it a lot of work to produce a weekly episode, reach out to new guests, and do everything else to keep the show running? Of course! However, I am finally at a place where I am so comfortable with myself and my story telling and it has really made me feel like I am capable of anything, including greatness. When I was younger, I didn’t have a lot of self-confidence and I spent a lot of time comparing myself to people who had already mastered a skill. I would then have this mental block that there was no way I would be successful at that skill and just never start. The podcast has created such a can do attitude within me. I am so much more willing to experiment in hobbies and in writing now because I made a big leap and found out that it didn’t just bring me shame and failure. And now instead of “I could never do that” my brain immediately goes to “oh, I can’t wait to try that!” Now I have started actually making prints of my collages and other art projects I’ve done. I was able to sell sets of friendship bracelets for the Eras Tour (hey Swifties!) and the Barbie movie. The podcast was just the beginning in making my creativity stretch out to new people.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://to-all-the-men-i-ve-tolerated-before-podcast.ck.page/fab5f6c21b
- Instagram: @menivetoleratedpod @nataliek124
- Twitter: @ToTolerated
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@toallthemenivetoleratedbefore/featured
- Other: My TikTok handle is @nataliek124 My Etsy store is NoNicheforNat