From the Basement to the O2 Arena: The Receipts Podcast Share their Meteoric Rise with the Young People of London

With the dawn of alternative and new markets opening up for young people, the creative industry has been leading in providing an innovative spin on traditional careers. From YouTubers and independent filmmakers, to podcasters and online journalists – gone are the days of the traditional brick and mortar-based jobs.

As part of National Careers Week, a week-long celebration of career guidance and free resources, The Student View (TSV) partnered up with NewsUK to host Pop-Up Newsrooms in order to educate young people from a number of schools on the exciting careers opening up in the media. In our sessions, we work with pupils in schools to develop their confidence in writing local news stories, and focus on the issues that they care about most, in an authentic and empowering way.

TSV and NewsUK paid an exciting visit to Gunnersbury School, where we provided some of the younger students with the opportunity to get their creative juices flowing by interviewing the star voices behind the award-winning podcast, the Receipts Show. 

 

 

The Receipts Podcast was founded in 2016 by Tolani Shoneye, Audrey Indome, and Milena Sanchez, providing unadulterated girl talk with no filter on anything from relationships and situationships to race and religion and everyday life experiences. The podcast shot to fame quickly, and soon enough, the dynamic trio found themselves moving from recording in the basement of a friend – to selling out live podcast shows in the O2 arena. 

Typically used to asking all the questions, Audrey and Milena were in the hot seat by keen students over the course of the session ready to demonstrate their investigative skills. One of the students was invested in the controversy that can come as a result of hosting a podcast, and asked which podcast topic had proved the most challenging. Audrey recounted the eye-opening conversation they had hosted with a transgender man, which also challenged their own ignorance on trans-related societal issues. 

The young students started the session strong, blowing away the team with their thought-provoking questions and interest in the power of the Receipts’ podcast platform. In response to a question on what legacy they’d like to create and leave, Milena remarked, ‘every time we get an interview, we get generic questions, so the fact that you all are giving us these types of questions is amazing!’ 

Amazing, and yet not surprising – especially considering that young people are increasingly seeing tech-enabled and creative jobs as legitimate and important ways to make an impact on the world. 

After a series of questions, the interviews were concluded and the young students were invited to compile their findings from the ladies, and share their reflections on the process. The team ran the pupils through the key tenets to creating a compelling story, stressing the importance of tackling misinformation and presenting an impartial story – incredibly important given the amount of misinformation which has exponentially increased in the last few years.  

The students had some sharp titles, some of which included the following:

“The Receipts Podcast: From Basement to Spotify  Studios!” and “Milena Sanchez and Audrey Indome: Life before Spotify.” 

In a time where the economic landscape is changing, new innovations are transforming the way we get access to information, the Pop-Up Pressroom is part of an important work needed in our schools to empower young people with an informed, critical lens to share their voices. Working with NewsUK, Gunnersbury was only one example of the immense potential and talent across UK schools. 

Any schools or partners that are interested in collaborating with us on our work, can reach out to us at workshops@thestudentview.org.