We recently connected with Patrick Hinds and have shared our conversation below.

Patrick, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

In 2022, I fulfilled one of my biggest theater kid fantasies by having True Crime Obsessed performed live on Broadway. We were the first podcast to ever do it. It was in the Hayes Theater – at the time Second Stage Theatre’s Take Me Out revival was set up there, but they didn’t have performances on Monday evenings, so they let us use the space. It was incredible. Our original performance was set for April of 2020, but then the pandemic hit. So with the extra time we used it to put together a one of a kind performance and really knocked it out of the park. Our Director, Bob Bartley helped us put the whole show together. It had musical numbers and Broadway dancers, and right in the middle of it there was True Crime Obsessed!

I can still remember walking out on stage and the audience going completely wild. You couldn’t hear the music because of how loud they were – friends, family and strangers just celebrating and supporting everything we created

Patrick, 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 grew up in Massachusetts and went to Emerson College in Boston. I knew I loved theater and performing, but aside from that I didn’t really know what I wanted to do with my life, so I took on a ton of internships in radio and TV. One of my internships led to a job at CNBC in New York after graduation. The job wasn’t the right fit, but it’s when I truly fell in love with NYC and stayed in the city. I began working in restaurants and as a concierge until I could figure out what exactly I wanted to do with my life.

I discovered podcasts in 2009, commuting back and forth between my jobs. My favorite podcast was a podcast called Downstage Center, where the host did in-depth interviews with Broadway stars. When Downstage Center stopped producing episodes, I decided I’d pick up the mantle. I immediately fell in love with the business of making podcasts. As the industry grew and evolved, I’ve tried to grow and evolve alongside it. My friend, and now co-host Gillian Pensavalle and I decided to fuse our fascination with true crime and our love of documentaries together, and that’s how True Crime Obsessed was born. Shortly after we started seeing our audience grow is when I decided that I wanted to try to make a living as a podcaster.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

In 2014, I was at a major crossroads in my life. My husband and I had a brand new baby. I was working as an executive assistant during the day and was making podcasts at night. I had a lot going on. I was thriving in my podcast work, but not making much money doing it and, conversely, I was feeling unfulfilled at the executive assistant job, but it was paying the bills. And then I got fired from the executive assistant job. It was a shock, I’d never been fired from anything before in my life. I was panicked, and sort of frantically began looking for something–anything else. This was when my husband sat me down and told me to stop. Stop looking for “pay the bills” work that would never make me happy when it was so clear that podcasting was what I was meant to do. He said it was now or never. This firing was the perfect opportunity to just go for it, to see if I could make a go of a podcast career. It was the greatest gift anyone ever gave me. And so, that’s what I did. I put my heart and soul into this brand new podcast I was working on with my dear friend Gillian called True Crime Obsessed. Nearly 8 years later, I feel incredibly lucky to say that we made it work.

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

Social media is a powerful tool. It’s how someone feels like they know you better, and not just a voice behind a mic. We use it to share as much as we can with listeners, to interact and give exciting news.

The hard thing about social is that it’s constantly changing and evolving. It’s important to stay attuned and flexible when the platforms change instead of trying to swim upstream.

I also firmly believe in showing up for your community, and interacting with listeners on social media is an easy way to do that.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.truecrimeobsessed.com/ AND https://www.goldengirlsdeepdive.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/patrickhinds_/
• Twitter: https://x.com/patrickhinds
• Other: True Crime Obsessed Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/truecrimeobsessedpodcast/
  Golden Girls Deep Dive Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goldengirlsdeepdive/