My Favorite Podcasts – No True Crime!

I own a New Orleans based real estate company, and a few years ago a guy named Mark Bologna reached out and told me about his podcast and asked for sponsorship. Naturally, I immediately turned him down, having never listened to a single episode of a single podcast. Lo and behold, Mark started sending clients my way, despite my initial response. After a few successful business transactions, I decided to reciprocate and pay for a sponsorship. It’s been years since that happened and the partnership is stronger than ever - I haven’t looked back. Since I started listening to his podcast, I have since binged multiple podcasts I've found. There are so many amazing and informative podcasts and I wish I had 100 hours a day to listen to all the fascinating information out there. I’ve almost abandoned listening to music altogether because I’m so obsessed with podcasts. I’ll tell you what my favorite podcasts are and why. And then we can discuss them!

Appropriately, I’ll start with the first one I ever listened to and now sponsor. New Orleans is a city that has a very strong following. Natives and newcomers alike take a big interest in knowing more about it. Mark’s idea to make a podcast was, while not surprising, novel to the area. Mark moved away for a long time but was deeply rooted in the city. His family owned and ran a restaurant that was kind of a big deal around town, and he grew up in it. Teddy's Grill got washed away with Hurricane Katrina, and things suddenly changed for his family and for New Orleans in general. Who knows if Mark would’ve even had the idea to start a podcast about his hometown if he hadn't lived away. But, we don’t have to speculate, because he did live away and he did have the idea. Now we have one of my favorite podcasts in history for many reasons. Definitely give Beyond Bourbon Street a listen. New Orleans is a fascinating city, and you also might just hear my name on there. Bonus!!

Can you guess where this podcast is based by its name? If you don’t know by now, it’s Paris. Paris is my favorite city in the world, and Australian-born Olive Gee has one of my favorite podcasts. Oliver is an expat who moved to Paris years ago as a journalist. He has an incredible knack for telling stories and his enthusiasm for each episode is unmatched, even the ones during the pandemic. Oliver's personality is so dynamic that it made me want to support him even more by becoming a patreon member. He informs us about things in and around Paris in each episode that we surely wouldn’t have thought of or done research for. I’m always left wanting more, so luckily he puts out videos about topics he covers, newsletters, and has a professional photographer take loads of photos for his communications. Lina, Oliver’s wife, is a contributing figure in the podcast as well as their children’s books that they wrote and illustrated. These two are a powerhouse couple that I have grown to admire in their collective and individual rights. For all my Francophile friends, give this guy a listen. You’ll be hooked. Oh, and his memoir is quite the catch, too. I adore a good memoir!

Simon Sinek interviews some of the most fascinating people I’ve ever heard speak. These are people who you wouldn’t know or hear of most likely, but have so much goodness to contribute to the airways. In fact, some of his guests had such powerful stories that I ended up donating to their nonprofit organizations a couple of years ago. I never would have heard of them had I not listened to Simon’s podcast, A Bit of Optimism. It's at the top of my favorite podcasts list for so many reasons. His interview and speaking styles are ones that resonate with me, so I am very drawn to his work. While I wasn’t a huge fan of his book (and didn’t end up reading it all the way through), the message was clearly delivered to me. His book, Start with Why, has a profound message and one that I think about in my life and work each day. Listen to this podcast for more inspiration in your life. You’ll definitely come away with more optimism and enthusiasm that you did before you listened to it.

Kwik Brain has been in my podcast rotation for a very long time. Jim Kwik, the podcaster, is obsessed with the brain and its health. He had a major brain injury as a kid and defied a lot of doctors with his recovery and thriving as he got older. Jim is by far one of the smartest people I feel like I “know,” and one of the most positive. His book, Limitless (which is on my top 10 self-improvement books list), has been one that my husband and I both read and have gifted to others because it’s so powerful. That is, if you use the information he gives. One of his favorite phrases is “knowledge is not power, it’s POTENTIAL power” because if we don’t take action, the knowledge is useless. Jim’s whole philosophy on life is inspiring and empowering. His episodes are 20 minutes or less, so it definitely packs a punch. His topics cover everything from sleep to eating to exercise and on. Everything he talks about I want to know more about, and if you like this kind of stuff, you’ll become a binger too.

I stumbled across Hidden Brain one day when I had finished the latest episode of another podcast I was listening to. My husband was with me and said that NPR pulled from this once in a while and did segments with Shankar Vedantam, the podcaster. Since I’m a nerd and like NPR, I thought I’d give it a listen. One episode in and I was subscribed and hooked. Deep-diving into topics such as relationships and why we behave the way we do is one of my favorite pastimes. Shankar’s approach is totally awesome, in my opinion. He gets his guests to be vulnerable and humorous, making the episodes fun and fascinating and sometimes awkward all at once. The podcast is done so well and the topics are so great that I really can’t say enough good things about it. If you like human behaviors as well as getting tips on improvement, this is a great find for you. Every episode is good, and in the hundred-plus I’ve listened to, I may have skipped over one. You can find out why your brain is as weird as mine is by listening to Hidden Brain.

Probably the best name out there, No Stupid Questions is one that I found and binged until recently. I finally caught up, and then found out one of the podcast hosts (Steven Dubner) was leaving. The larger umbrella called Freakonomics Radio still involves Steven, but his co-podcaster position with psychologist Angela Duckworth was no longer. Not going to lie - I was a little bummed, but I love Angela so much that it doesn’t matter. Their listener questions are often hysterical (maybe not always meant to be but funny to me) and the responses are fantastic. It’s another podcast that involves human behavior entertainment and enjoyment, so if this is your jam, this podcast is for you. If you’re new to it, start from the beginning. You’ll get a lot out of the earlier episodes. They are relatively evergreen so you won’t be “behind” on any one subject. And definitely one of my favorite podcasts out there.

Mel Robbins was introduced to me by a friend, and I have continued to binge it. The guests she brings on the show are wildly intelligent and remarkable. I'm here for every single episode in a big way. The things that I have absorbed and taken in and used in my own life are unparalleled. Mel feels like a friend, too. She talks to you like you're the only person she is podcasting for, which makes each and every episode a special experience. Mel also gives anecdotes from her own life so she normalizes a lot of the hard stuff we all go through. Many others that I have told about the podcast already listen to her because she is that amazing. Her reach is pretty wide, and for being somewhat of a new kid on the block, she has made her impact in the podcasting world. She goes deep on most episodes, so brace yourself. You're in for a sold learning experience or an eye-opening mic drop moment almost every time.

I'm so excited to share these podcasts with you. Clearly it took me forever to get on board with podcasts, but now that I'm years in and have eliminated all the fluff, it's time for me to give you my very best insight as to the most entertaining podcasts, and my favorite podcasts at that. So, when you take a listen to each of these, tell me which is your favorite. I'd love to hear which entertain you as much as they entertain me. Happy podcasting!

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