We recently connected with Shweta Katyal and have shared our conversation below.

Shweta, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

At Pierced Media, we are looking to establish ourselves as the leading podcast media brand catering to Gen Z women. Our target audience served as a guiding principle throughout the brand development and naming process. During the initial stages of exploring visuals for podcast inspiration, I came across images featuring ears adorned with headphones Gen Z girls who sport multiple piercings along their cartilage. This imagery struck a chord with me and I felt like this aesthetic resonated with the brand’s target audience. The pierced ear became an influential element in the brand’s identity.

I also love and appreciate the dual significance of the word “pierced.” On one hand, it directly relates to the act of getting one’s ears pierced, which can symbolize the transition from girlhood to womanhood in certain cultures. On the other hand, “pierced” also conveys a sense of sharpness, profundity, and edginess, as defined by the Oxford Dictionary. This double entendre added depth and meaning to the brand’s name.

As a female-driven brand, Pierced aims to embrace and showcase the power and strength inherent in femininity. The chosen name, “Pierced,” embodies this ethos by representing femininity as sharp, edgy, and pointed, while still remaining approachable.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Podcasts are for everyone but nearly all of the networks that produce shows are run by men. Even though women make up half of all podcast listeners, only 22% of podcasts are hosted by women, and an additional 11% are co-hosted by women. There is a huge gap in the market for the Youtube generation that wants to grow up to be an influencer. We want to create podcasts and content specifically tailored for this demographic. We’ve decided it’s time for a new era of podcasting: it’s time to give the girls the mic.

Pierced Media (@piercedmedia) is the first creator-driven podcast network that’s making podcasts for the girlies. We collaborate with creators to produce podcasts that speak to the complex and unique experiences of the girls and young women of today, making the podcasts we wish existed when we were younger.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Three tips I would give any founder starting to build out their social media presence:

1. Find your tribe! Your community will be the first to uplift you. They’re essential in providing critical feedback on whether they find the content engaging and suggestions for improvement.

2. Pick one or two social media platforms to dedicate your resources. You can’t be in all places at once! Concentrate your energies on the platforms you expect to have the most ROI.

3. Stay consistent and don’t give up. So many times I see brands start down one path and give up too soon. It’s really hard to pick back up on an abandoned social media channel. If you’re going to invest your resources on social media, be sure to have a long term plan first.

Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?

When we just decided to do a brand launch, we had no idea the amount of work and costs we were getting into. Heavily inspired by the TikTok content houses, the idea was we would be bringing our podcast talent together to produce a large amount of content and cross pollinate across channels with a big launch party with the top content creators in LA. This splashy entrance was to reflect our new brand and establish our legitimacy in the podcast network sphere. The only problem? $$$$! Renting a 10 bedroom mansion in Bel Air is NOT cheap so we had to be really resourceful. Our talent agent and I scoured our networks to find people who believed in our mission – and who loved to party. We held an intimated gathering for VIPs the night before our launch party and closed the sponsorship we needed!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://pierced.media/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/piercedmedia/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/piercedmedia
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@pierced-media
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@piercedmedia