Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Paranormal Putas . We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Paranormal , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

The name of our podcast came to Leah organically in conversation. We were watching one of our favorite TV shows, ‘Ghost Adventures’ and joking around about starting a paranormal podcast. When asked, “What would we call it?” Leah blurted out, without hesitation, “THE PARANORMAL PUTAS” and we laughed until we cried. Once we settled from our hysterics, we looked at each other and thought, “This could actually be a thing.”

The more we thought about the name, the more it made sense. Our show is about all things paranormal and spiritual. We are also two silly and unapologetic Latinas. Thus, our show was born. With a name that we felt was “punk rock” and demanded attention we were excited to get started. To use the word “Putas” in our title was a risk, but we thought if we really wanted to capture folks, we needed to be risky while at the same time claiming our culture. The word “Puta” has mostly been used as a word to degrade women who go against the grain, stand up for what they believe, and live the lives they felt could be their own, and in our culture that is such a bold statement. We thought this is our way to reclaim the name, and make it something bold, empowering, and even fun!

We get told often, “I saw the name and had to find out what you’re about!” We love to respond to statements like this with, “the name calls to our people”, because it does. We are happy to let everyone know, we are women who set their own standards, we are unapologetic, and we can fun with things that were initially established to keep us down all while being spooky!

Paranormal , 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?

For folks who have never heard of us, let us start with- HEY! HEY! HEY everybody! It’s me Leah, and me Bethany, and we are the Paranormal Putas! We are two sisters who were born and raised in the Eastside of Austin, Tx. We grew up listening to camp fire stories told by our father and uncles and it created a curiosity for all things Paranormal. In 2020 when the world shut down, and times were so uncertain we found ourselves heavily immersed back into the paranormal enjoying stories and shows like”Ghost Adventures” when we decided to start a podcast that would encompass all the tings we love.

It was crucial for us to start this project because it was going to be our way to preserve the neighborhoods we grew up in, as they faced rapid gentrification. We have now been podcasting for the past 4 years and what started out as a love-letter to East Austin has become a world-wide platform for story telling, folklore deep dives, and even comedy relief. We provide our listeners an escape from the world that can be scary and uncertain to a world that is open to explore the unknown.

We say it often, we really cannot believe how far we have come and how much further we want to go. We hope that anyone who listens or starts to listen to our show hears the genuine joy this platform has brought us. It makes us proud when people come up to us to say, “I love your show, it makes me laugh so much” or even, “I listen and I feel like I am hanging out with friends and family.” That is HUGE in a world that became so secluded after covid, we love the idea that we help others feel like they are a part of something more.

We want our fans to know that as long as we love it, we promise to bring you a show that is our best. Running a podcast and being a full-time employee can be rough, but we will always give ourselves the grace we need to ensure our product does not suffer. We are our brand, it really is a “what you see is what you get” type of podcast. We cannot be anything other than ourselves, and we are thankful that people seem to enjoy it.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

This might sound simple but the most effective strategy for us to have continuous growth, was to just stay true to ourselves. Our show started out with stories with friends and family, and eventually branched beyond. It was word of mouth and us being genuine in our want to hear stories from people directly. We love connecting, and how cool is it that we get to do that while telling about spooky ghosts, spirituality, or just even T.V. shows.

We have said it multiple times, but we made a show about things we love, and are passionate about, and as long as we stay true to us, we will always have an audience.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Over the course of running this project, we had to unlearn productivity. It may sound counter-productive, but first and foremost, you need to take care of yourself. If you are not in a good space mentally and physically, then the product will suffer. As mentioned before, we have to allow ourselves grace or we will burn out. We have walked away from recording sessions a few times simply because one or both of us was burned out or not in a good place emotionally. Instead of pushing through those times to produce something, we allow ourselves to let it go. This is something we are still trying to unlearn. We are conditioned to be constantly productive, but the truth is, you don’t have to push out content all the time. If you honor yourself and are true to your art, the audience will understand.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.paranormalputas.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paranormal.putas/
• Facebook: Paranormal Putas Podcast
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@paranormalputaspodcast
• Other: You can tune-in wherever your favorite podcasts are found!

Image Credits

Jay Rojas of “Seen It All Photography”