Episode 90: Finding Your Voice On The Air — with Ginni Saraswati

Ginni Saraswati is an award-winning journalist, radio personality and celebrity interviewer with a unique brand of comedy that includes quick-witted introductions and on-air antics. She’s the founder of Ginni Media, a boutique podcast production company, and the host of the podcast, The Ginni Show.

On this episode, Ginni talks about:

• Her transition from working behind the scenes at an Australian radio station to becoming an on-air media personality
• What it was like moving from her native Sri Lanka to Australia at a young age
• How her large family life influences her radio work and her comedy
• How her family reacted when they unexpectedly discovered she was gay
• Her experiences interviewing celebrity guests — including the time she made Paula Abdul crack up with laughter! See the video here.

Follow Ginni on Facebook and @theginnishow on Instagram and Twitter, and listen to The Ginni Show podcast at www.theginnishow.com. To learn more about Ginni Media, visit www.ginnimedia.com to see what production services the company offers and download free resources for starting your own podcast.

 

Sign up for my free newsletter for the latest updates about Beyond 6 Seconds, and receive my free checklist for getting started with your own podcast!

 

The episode transcript is below:

Carolyn Kiel: Today on Beyond 6 Seconds.

Ginni Saraswati: You can’t really deny who you really are like you can’t shrink yourself for the comfort or expectations of others because eventually it’s going to explode. Eventually you’re going to have to deal with, this is actually who I am and this is what I want to do with my life. This is what makes me happy.

Carolyn Kiel: Welcome to Beyond 6 Seconds. The podcast that goes beyond the six second first impression to share the extraordinary stories and achievements of everyday people. I’m your host, Carolyn Kiel.

Carolyn Kiel: Welcome to a brand new year of Beyond 6 Seconds. I’m so grateful to have you as a listener. And I’m so excited to bring you a whole host of inspiring episodes this year. And I’ve got some new things planned throughout the year just for my listeners like you. The first thing is that I will be launching a brand new newsletter. It’ll have all kinds of information about the episodes that are coming up, some behind the scenes things, some additional insights from my guests. So if you would like to become a Beyond 6 Seconds insider and get our newsletter, then please head over to my Web site www.Beyond6Seconds.com and go to the header on the top of the page that says Sign up for my newsletter. And as a special thank you, as soon as you sign up, you’ll get the opportunity to download my free checklist for getting started with podcasting. Thank you for listening today. And now here’s our very first episode of 2020.

Carolyn Kiel: On today’s episode, I’m speaking with Ginni Saraswati. Ginni is an award winning journalist and celebrity interviewer known to stun many a personality with her quick witted introductions and on air antics. She’s the founder of Ginni Media, a boutique podcast production company, and the host of the podcast, The Ginni Show. Ginni, welcome to the podcast.

Ginni Saraswati: Thank you so much for having me. Carolyn, I’m super excited to spend Beyond 6 Seconds with you.

Carolyn Kiel: Very good. And I’m so excited to go Beyond 6 Seconds with you as well. So you know, as I am a podcaster, I am always curious and interested to learn about the podcasting journeys of other podcasters. So I’d love to learn more about the Ginni Show, and now it looks like you launched it back in 2016 and it’s going on three years now. What first inspired you to create your own podcast back in 2016?

Ginni Saraswati: Well, it’s an interesting question, Carolyn, I think me creating my own podcast was a consequence of being on radio for so long. I think that was kind of the natural shift. The medium was going into it because I was doing radio a variety of shows from daytime to the morning to breakfast to evening when I started. And what I noticed when the iPod came out, when we were doing a morning show, was a lot of our listeners or a lot of the traffic that we were getting was actually from downloads. So it meant that people were listening, not live, but in their own time. So in my head, when, you know, when we wrapped up when I wrapped up my last breakfast show, I thought, I think podcasting is a next step for me. And it seemed to be the natural step for me. It is also a way that I could be myself in a way that I couldn’t be on radio, not that radio ever blocked me from being myself. I was myself, but I was able to explore and impact more discussions and more parts of what I want to explore about life. So that’s kind of a long answer to how I got to the podcast Carolyn.

Carolyn Kiel: I see. And so you were also able to kind of see the trend coming of podcasting, which is now, you know, certainly this year really starting to get the attention of the general public in terms of critical mass and listenership. But even just a couple years ago. I know in 2016 I probably wasn’t even thinking about podcasts, but you were really seeing that trend. That’s really cool.

Ginni Saraswati: Yeah, I think for me to like it just was I loved creating content and I loved talking to people like I could talk to people for ages. And it just seemed to be a natural progression. And I think now we have podcasting in particular. You know, it’s kind of like a thing now. You know, you go to college, you pick your degree and then you, or you start a podcast. It’s kind of a life path or right of choice. Now, I think the cool thing about podcasting is it’s such a great medium of information, a way to consume information or any form of content while you’re actually doing something else. That is the only kind of medium that allows you to do that, being audio based. You know, when you’re watching a video or reading something, you have to give that piece of content your full and undivided attention. But audio is the only kind of medium that allows you to multitask and easily fits into your schedule. So I think that is a huge, huge player in the fact that podcasting has become so popular.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah, I think I read an article recently that most listeners do multitask when they’re listening to podcasts, whether they’re cleaning the house or driving or doing something else. So that’s spot on absolutely. So you mentioned that your interest in podcasting grew out of your career and all of the work that you did in radio. So tell me, how did you develop an interest in being an on air personality on the radio?

Ginni Saraswati: Well, the thing is when I was in university, Carolyn, I studied theater, so I was doing performing arts and also doing a bit of journalism and writing as well. But I felt very comfortable onstage playing a different character. But, you know, in a contradiction, getting behind the microphone, I was a little bit nervous about because I’m like, well, I can’t play a character on air because it’s such an intimate medium. And when you play a character, when you put on your radio voice, it’s very, very obvious that it’s being authentic. And that was some of the coaching that I got when I first started. Like a lot of the program director, like you need to turn down your radio voice. You don’t need to sound like you’re on the radio. And that’s what I saw, what I needed to sound like. And I think that came from, you know, a combination of my training as an actor. And also just because I was nervous, I’m like, I don’t know if I want to be myself behind the microphone. So I guess that’s kind of what made me join radio was the fact that they were offering a course. This particular radio station called Joy ninety four point nine, they were offering a free course in radio training. And because I was doing, you know, training and filming and those things and training in TV and film as well, I thought, well, why don’t you just check out radio to see how you feel? And I really, really loved it, even though I was super nervous. I scripted my entire first two hour show, probably the first 10 two hour show. I was super happy be behind the mic. And it’s a great medium to connect with people and to meet people from around the world, just like what we’re doing now. Carolyn, we wouldn’t be able to have this conversation had it not been for the concept of audio or radio or podcasting. It’s such a beautiful medium.

Carolyn Kiel: Exactly. Yeah, it really helps you connect with people all around the world that you would never have the opportunity probably to reach in to get into their into their headphones and into their ears. Absolutely. Exactly. Yeah. So let’s see. I know here in the states, sometimes it can be a bit of a challenge to get into radio in the States. I’m from New Jersey and I’m guessing from your accent that you are not from New Jersey like me. So tell me about the… just a little guess… So tell me about where you got into radio and what it was like and what that looks like.

Ginni Saraswati: Yeah, absolutely. So, no, I’m not from New Jersey. So that was a very accurate observation. Carolyn, I’m originally from Sri Lanka. I was born there, hence why I look the way that I do. But we moved to Australia when I was 2. Hence the adorable accent. In the Australian market there’s three kind of sectors of radio. If you want a full tutorial and textbook definition, you’ve got the public sector, you’ve got the commercial sector and you’ve got the community sector. So community radio is where the government gives you free licensing to service a particular community need, so Joy 94.9 was a community radio station and it was an LGBTIQ radio station. And I believe it’s only like one of two in the world, wow. So it’s a pretty special station and it always has a very special place in my heart. And the objective of that station is to serve the LGBTIQ community with relevant news, information, entertainment, anything kind of topical and relevant to inform that community moving forward, as was any other community radio station. So that’s where that space was. So community radio that I found is a great launch pad for that commercial talent. So a lot of people that I know are started off who went through commercial radio where you get the primetime spots of breakfast drive or morning shows or, you know, evening shifts. Some of them did start in community radio. It’s a great kind of platform to get you in a comfortable behind the mic, that platform where you get to meet different people, reach out to publicity teams and media networks, you get to really form a contact base. And community radio is great for that commercial radio I found in Australia at the moment, I find a lot of the talent is being recruited for their celebrity clout over their actual ability to radio announce.

Ginni Saraswati: And I don’t mean that in any disrespect to the talent on air. They call it talent for a reason, but their talents may not necessarily be in the ability to present a radio program. It may be because they have such an engaging way of drawing people in. If that makes sense. So I think that’s kind of what I’ve noticed. A trend is like, you know, there’s someone who’s got a big following who comes on radio and that helps a network drive up their numbers and therefore drive up their advertising rates and that kind of thing. So I think it’s very much an influence game as a kind of ease when you look at everything else. Now, when you look at influence of market marketing online and that sort of thing where attention is, that’s where people go. And that’s as a consequence, advertisers go, too. So it’s kind of been a more I guess it’s just happening quicker in various forms. So I guess it’s a very long winded answer as to what radio looks like in Australia. But I think the other sector I didn’t have it was public radio, which is like your Australian Broadcasting Corporation or your special broadcasting service, which had like specialised programming for a certain like independent films or foreign films. And the ABC kind of did more local stuff. So it’s kind of the three different sectors there, Carolyn. And I hope that gives you a snapshot as to what Australia looks like.

Carolyn Kiel: It does. Yeah, that’s helpful. And it’s great to know that for the community radio that that can be a great springboard to other opportunities, whether they’re in radio or other parts of media and entertainment. You know, you worked for a particular radio station. How did you find that station? Did you know about it and say, I want to audition? I want to be on this particular station? Or were you trying out for different things when you’re trying to break into radio?

Ginni Saraswati: Oh, well, when I actually applied for the course that they were taking, which was a certificate three in radio broadcasting, I I actually ticked every box on the application that said, you know, what do you want to do with this degree? And I put like admin, producer, cleaning whatever I could to get into the station and learn. But I did not want to be on air because again, I felt really uncomfortable being myself around the mic. But, you know, as I love talking to people, what I didn’t realise back then because I didn’t have much self-awareness back then, but I love connecting with people who will like me. And, you know, as a fellow member of the LGBTIQ community, that was really a space where I felt safe to be myself. And that was what naturally unfolded. And one of the program directors pulled me aside at the time saying, hey, I want you to do the eleven to 1 1:00 a.m. shift on Monday nights. I said, no, I’m not doing that. She’s like no, there’s too much personality there. We need to let that get out. And I’m very grateful for her to have done that in the past. She really did push me outside my comfort zone in that that time. And I was able to kind of figure it out because I think sometimes we’re so scared of jumping into the unknown. Sometimes you just need someone to nudge us, to kind of take the first step. Stumble into the first step, which is kind of what happened to me and I guess for me now that I know that’s how I operate, I’m a stumbling student, I stumble forward, I might fall, but I’m moving forward. That’s how I got into the radio. Behind the mic. And then from there, I did a variety of shows, got promoted from the graveyard shift to an afternoon show then I did a drive show. And then ultimately I ended up on the morning show for 10 years on and off.

Carolyn Kiel: Wow. That’s amazing. And it’s great. I think in a lot of our careers, we really need those people who recognize our talent and sometimes can see our potential before we can. They do see something in there, that that spark, and give us that opportunity. So that is really wonderful. Absolutely. You know, you became an on air talent despite originally not wanting to go that route and that you obviously had quite a talent for it. But in addition to that, you also have a talent for comedy as well. So how did you discover not only that you were good on air, but that you were actually funny on air, too?

Ginni Saraswati: I find nowadays, Carolyn, that the comedic part is quite subjective, but I guess to me my comedic sense started with, I guess a form of imitation, which is a form of flattery, as people say, of my my family, my many aunties and my many, many cousins, which I continue to joke about. I think that’s kind of where it started. I was like, you know, my family’s pretty funny in all their craziness and all that, how big they are. It’s just a funny, funny family. I think that’s what inspired me to, I guess, you know, in the form of imitation masquerade as a podcast or a year or two when I started putting out that content. So the way I approach things, the intention I have is to provide value and to leave a person laughing or leave a person feeling different when before we started that conversation when I had a morning show. One of the things that I would intend was I’d love to make five people laugh that day. Now, I never really knew if it was five people. I never really knew if I was one or two people. But if I made two people laugh in studio being my co-host and the producer, I made two people laugh.

Ginni Saraswati: You know, I’d hope three other people would be laughing because what happens is it sets the mood for their day because it’s a morning show. Right now you start your day very much does play a huge part in how the rest of your day goes and you know, the way that I thought was okay, if I can make these handful of people laugh, hopefully they could use some of this joy and lightness to pass the light or the torch on to someone else. As cheesy as it sounds, that’s kind of the very simple vision that I had every day when I opened the mic up into the radio show. And I had that kind of intention when I did the podcast as well. So I think naturally comedy would play a part in that because love we see making people laugh. It’s a gift if I ever get up to a status where I can do standup. It’d be great. But at the moment I think I just got to spend all the jokes that I have on my auntie’s Carolyn and until they run out, I might need to find another family that I can make fun of.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah. I mean, I you know, I was checking out some of the early episodes of The Ginni Show back in 2016 where you were, where you talk about your family and your aunties and you mention your a hundred and seventy cousins.

Carolyn Kiel: And I’m like, well, I think you might be exaggerating for comedic effect. Then I started listening and like, I don’t think she’s exaggerating. I think there might be a hundred and seventy!

Carolyn Kiel: Wow. Yeah. Big, big family, and I knew, you talk about that, certainly. And in your podcast when you first started it out. So the Ginni Show podcast has been on for a couple years now and it seems like it’s gone through a bit of an evolution over the years. So tell me about, you know, how and why you started out with the particular themes and how it evolved.

Ginni Saraswati: That’s a great question, Carolyn. And I love that you’ve been so perceptive and done your research in listening to how it was and to how it has evolved into now. So when I started the Ginni Show, the intent was was to obviously, you know, make people laugh, but also in a way to teach people through comedy. I find that as cheesy as this may sound, I’ve found this to ring true, that people are often more receptive to what you have to say when they’re in a more relaxed, open and I guess positive state. And laughter does elicit that from human being. When we’re laughing, when we’re happy, we’re more open and responsive and also willing to hear and receive things. So when I started the Ginni Show it was to educate or to serve through comedy. That kind of was the first intention. And I think there’s a lot of time that was going to scripting the shows, doing the sound effects. You know, it was a lot of time on my part. And when I started the Ginni Show, I was working a day job. So it wasn’t I could sustain the fact that, you know, I did the day job during the week, but then I’d come up with the Ginni Show, I’d write the script, record it, send it to my producer. Then he’d, you know, magically put it together and then send it back and be a podcast episode. But what I found after moving to New York City in 2017 doing this scripting side, I just simply didn’t have the time to do it.

Ginni Saraswati: In 2020, I want to cultivate the time to do that. So I did really enjoy it. However, I found that the conversations I was having with people, even though it wasn’t the straight up making fun of my aunties or family or how I grew up and to educate through that, what I did was I was able to connect with people on a level and, you know, talk about their happiness mindset. How did they get to where they are in their life? What is that definition of happiness? Because everyone’s definition is going to be different. Mine is going to be very different to yours, Carolyn, as is the next person you know. Happiness could be as simple as I get to have coffee every day. I get to wake up alive every day. It’s very, very different for everyone. Some people see it as a destination. Some people have attachments around happiness. So I thought to myself, how can I make this? And this is a very muddy word here, scalable with time and also be able to continually put out content. So I went daily for a period of time last year, which was crazy, but we managed to go daily and I unfortunately, I couldn’t sustain the daily comedy. So that’s kind of where it transitioned into a, I guess, an interview based expert based show. But I do hope to bring back the comedy tales one day Carolyn so you know, it makes me very happy to have this conversation with you.

Carolyn Kiel: That’s great. Yeah, I think it’s great when podcasters feel and embrace the creative freedom to evolve their shows because sometimes people start out with something. And, you know, for myself and for other podcasters, sometimes we think, oh, we have to get it perfect and we have to get the perfect idea right from the start. And then what do we do if it doesn’t work? It’s like so, so change it! Like if it doesn’t work for you or your audience or you want to try something different. I mean, that’s the great part about podcasting. It’s like literally it’s your own show you can do. You can try new things. You can do whatever you want. It’s pretty freeing. Exactly.

Carolyn Kiel: We were talking a bit about your story, which you wound into the early episodes of the Ginni Show. And you mentioned earlier that you’re originally from Sri Lanka and that you moved to Australia at a pretty young age.

Carolyn Kiel: That’s a I’d imagine, a big culture shock. What was that transition like for you?

Ginni Saraswati: It was a big culture shock. I think part of me was swimming in the sea of blissful ignorance because I was so young because I was two. But I remember the feeling. And even though there aren’t vivid detailed memories to the tee that I could recall, I do remember feeling like, why am I so different from everyone else? Like the way that I looked was so different from everyone else. And I remember one kid asked me why I was brown, and I couldn’t give him a sufficient answer because I’m like, well, Beyonce isn’t around. She didn’t have that song, I woke up like this. You know, if that was around, I could have said that. But, you know, I didn’t have that ammo on me. And I think was a big culture shock because, you know, with migrating from Sri Lanka to Australia, obviously any family that’s migrated to a new country goes with the intention of we want to do better or we want to,

Ginni Saraswati: probably a very poor way of saying it, but we want to enhance the lives of ourselves that we couldn’t have the opportunity to do back where we grew up. That’s essentially the I guess, the feeling that a lot of families that migrate have. And I think my mom and my dad, when they migrated here, they were like, all right, there’s great education in Australia. There’s great facilities and resources for the girls. This will be a great time to migrate. My mother’s family was starting to migrate as well. And also the civil war was starting to pick up in Sri Lanka, which went for a long time as well. So it was a bit of a cultural shock, especially the whole expectations around. This is a very linear lifestyle that you’re going to lead. You’re going to go to school, get great grades, become a doctor, lawyer or engineer, end up married to a nice Sri Lankan boy who’s preferrably Catholic. You have children. You’re gonna buy a house. You’ll probably buy a house before you get married, that kind of thing, or when you get married. And then, you know, it’s provide and serve for children and repeat. That was kind of the mentality. And I think it’s kind of for me, what I’ve found is a lot of my values were colored by what I was experiencing in Australia. And Australia’s culture is is somewhat different to Sri Lanka, even though there’s lots of Sri Lankans in Australia. And I believe it. Melbourne is the most populous city of Sri Lankans outside of Colombo, which is our capital. It’s just super, super interesting for me.

Ginni Saraswati: When I was growing up, like the different kind of, oh, some people have boyfriends at 15 and you don’t yet talk about that. If they have a boyfriend at 58 and they have another one at 18, this girl’s promisc… It’s just certain things like that. I’m like, oh, okay. This seemed to be the normal in Australia, but yet it was being condemned by, you know, cultural expectations. So there are few nuances growing up, which I thought, oh, I didn’t know if I’d quite fit into that linear mold, which is expected of me in a way. But one thing I am so grateful for about my mother even though like, you know, there’s certain things about me that clearly wasn’t linear because, you know, my sister married the nice  Sri Lankan boy. She went on to be a bank manager. So she kind of ruined things for me. You know, I kind of came in. You know, I’m the gay daughter who does podcast production for a living. So, you know, that’s not quite the linear, the vision that was in mind for me. But I think what it does teach you is, is sometimes, and as cheesy as it sounds, and I’ve dropped a few cheesy lines, Carolyn, is that you can’t really deny who you really are like you can’t shrink yourself for the comfort or expectations of others because eventually it’s going to explode. Eventually you’re going to have to deal with, this is actually who I am and this is what I want to do with my life. This is what makes me happy.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah, absolutely. And it’s such a challenge as a young person growing up to have that. That’s a conflict or challenges between the culture that your family is is part of that you’re growing up in versus the culture that you’re now living in, in Australia when the expectations and things are just so different. Yeah, I can imagine it’s hard to reconcile that.

Carolyn Kiel: So how did your your family and your aunties and your 170 cousins react when you kind of started to deviate from the path? Were they supportive? Were they confused? Like, what were they thinking?

Ginni Saraswati: I think another thing about my family. I don’t know if this is particular to all Sri Lankan families, but my family in particular. If something happens, they tend to gossip about it behind your back and they’ll infer it when they see you. So me being gay, it came out on a radio. Apparently they were watching a TV show that I used to be on Monday nights in Melbourne that I was hosting a segment on. And it was it is a LGBT program. It’s called BET TV. I hosted a segment here and there on the show. My aunt and uncle were watching it. And I never said this because I don’t actually have anything of me declaring this publicly because I believe that I’d like to work towards a post coming out world, where you don’t necessarily need to declare who you love. It can just be I declare it like it can just be like I’ve just fell in love and it happens to be a man or woman or what, non-binary person, whatever it might be. But my aunt and uncle were watching TV, which still remains a mystery as to why they’re watching a gay program because they kind of went, oh, Ginnie’s gay, it’s like, well, why were you watching a gay program? But that’s still a mystery unsolved, Carolyn. I think what happened was they saw that apparently I said, you know, my name is Ginni and I’m gay. And that’s when the phone calls started happening already.

Ginni Saraswati: You know, Ginni’s gay. And it just kept going and going and going. And, you know, one of my cousins, when we caught up at Christmas said, what happened that day, like my dad picked up the call and, you know, auntie was on the phone. She like, you know, Virginia’s gay. And he’s like, okay, it’s not really a big deal. So he was particularly supportive. He pulled me aside saying, listen, I whoever you want to bring home, please don’t stop coming over because, you know, you have fallen in love with someone. We’d like to invite her home, too. So it was just really positive from him. But some other family, is it? It’s kind of like a we’re not going to talk about it, but we know type thing. You know, eventually when I do bring my partner home, I think that’s when they’ll be like, oh, well ah you know, gay people just like us, that eventually we’ll get there. That is the vision that I hold. That was I think the biggest thing for them to kind of adjust to or still be adjusting to, I think my wanting to move to New York and leave a day job and run my own business. I think they have they’ve spoken very kindly to me about that. So I think that aspect, I think they’ve adjusted to well. But I think the gay thing, as they would call it, is still a work in progress.

Carolyn Kiel: That’s especially great that your father was so supportive because that’s big. That’s huge. And I think I think I think the rest of the family will come around, as he said, once they once they meet your future partner and um, but it’s great you have that foundation with your dad being so supportive. So you have had a great career on the radio. And through that and also through your podcast, you’ve interviewed a lot of really amazing people, even a lot of celebrities whose names we would all know and recognize. And I’d love to talk a little bit about interviewing and guests. So you tell me about the first time you interviewed a celebrity, however you define that and like, where was it? How did it happen? How do you feel? What was it like?

Ginni Saraswati: That’s a great question, because it seems like that was so long ago. But I do remember, I believe the first celebrity, quote unquote, that I interviewed was, I don’t know if you remember this singer. She was really popular in the late 90s, early 2000s. Her name was Anastasia. She sang a song called I’m Out of Love, Set Me Free, I’m Not that Kind of Girl. She had a few hits at the time. I remember we were given an opportunity to interview her and this was on the phone. And I’m like, oh, my God, this is. I literally brought her single when I was, you know, ten years ago. I bought this lady’s single. She’s amazing. And I remember going, oh, my gosh, where we’re going to say and my co-host at the time, Adam Barilla, was like, let’s do some prep. He had a really good way of creatively getting the guests comfortable. He is a great visionary and I’m very blessed to have connected with him. What he used to do was he used to get the entire back catalogue of a particular singer or celebrity singer that we’d be interviewing and he would turn that into an introduction. So that’s exactly how we would warm the guest up, which was something that he started, which was absolutely genius. You know, when the guests would hear their songs appear and just our random gibberish conversation, she just eased up really, really well. And Anastasia’s response was like, wow, this is amazing. Almost all the guests that we had that we did that for, we’re like, their response was like really like taken aback.

Ginni Saraswati: It was very original. And it’s something that we felt the intention of putting that out is this guest is going to remember us. Whether they might not remember our names, they will remember, oh, that was the two people who did this for us. And that was what was really awesome about that. But I remember being really nervous and I remember when we were doing the prep, our intent really was, let’s just give Anastasia something different. Let’s just try and talk about certain things. And I think the way it translated was we kind of did an original introduction, but we did a little bit of what you call a press release interview, like we’re so nervous. Let’s just stick to the press release. But eventually, as time went on when we interviewed various people, we kind of moved to other things that were off what we were told to do. Obviously within permission and that kind of thing. But it’s something to get used to, especially if you’re interviewing your heroes like, for me when I interviewed Jennifer Beals or when I interviewed Ruby Rose, it was a little bit nerve wracking for me. I’m like, oh, wow, these are pretty big icons in our community. But I think the more that you relax and know that you’re talking to another human being who’s had an extraordinary experience, I think the easier it is to relate to them and easier it is to have a smoother conversation.

Carolyn Kiel: Definitely. And it sounds like the creative intro that you did for Anastasia really helped put her at ease. And that’s a formula that you’ve used a couple of times. And that’s a really creative way to set the mood and relax people and get started on the right foot. Yeah, absolutely.

Carolyn Kiel: And you did that with Paul Abdul as well. I think I saw that clip and she had quite a reaction to that when she realized what was going on with the intro.

Ginni Saraswati: Yes, she was. She was an absolute hoot. I loved interviewing her. And she, I think for her, she’s like, oh, are they talking to me, oh that… It’s that moment when they realize, hang on, these are my songs that they’re talking about, which is priceless for me and for Paula it obviously came and her reaction was priceless. I think for me, too, when we were reading that, like I was reading that on my phone, I just wanted to make it look as casual as possible. And Adam, he was reading it off of his phone, too. So we both were kind of making it look like a casual conversation. And that was priceless. It’s a great way to get, I guess, warm up, your guest. But, you know, that’s just one tactic. You could do other things like, you know, I’m like baffled, but something that is so unique about them or something that they’ve created. If you make that into something or you play a game with them to do with that, it’s pretty awesome.

Carolyn Kiel: Definitely. And I’m gonna put a link in the show notes to that clip of you interviewing Paula Abdul so that our listeners can see exactly what happened. You’ve interviewed so many different kinds of people. Who are your favorite kinds of guest to interview?

Ginni Saraswati: Oh, this is a great question, Carolyn. I love guests who are willing to just be, and this sound again cliched, but are willing to kind of just have fun and go with it. I think naturally, you know, when you go into interviewing someone or when when a guest is coming to do media or whatnot, obviously there’s things that, you know, you can kind of reasonably gauge are not appropriate to talk about. And I think having that kind of trust with someone. Okay. You’re not going to go there. But also saying to them, hey, if we go somewhere you’re not comfortable with. Happy for you to pass on that. I think it’s a guest who’s willing to be as open as they can and also willing to have fun. I think, you know, sometimes it’s not just about promoting your new thing that has kept coming up. I think people want to see that human side of you. People can see the movie that you’re in. Or people can see the TV show you’re about to be in, but getting to see the human side of you. What makes you tick? What makes you laugh, you know? How do you take your coffee in the morning? Do you go for a run in the morning or do you procrastinate like everyone else? Those are the things that people relate to, and they’re the kind of guests that I love chatting to people who are just doing their thing in the best way that they can. And, you know, we all connect through the human experience that way.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And those are the kind of guests that I like to interview as well. I am all about the human experience and just having people tell stories. And, you know, I’m always amazed when people say sometimes they’ll tell me before they come on like, oh, I don’t really know how interesting this story is or if anyone wants to hear about my experience and such. But that’s like literally all I want to hear about. I want to hear about your experiences. But that’s just so fascinating because it’s yes, it’s unique to you. But any one who’s listening can take away something. They can learn something from what you’ve been to and understand what you’ve learned. So I think it’s really valuable.

Ginni Saraswati: Absolutely. Absolutely.

Carolyn Kiel: Yes. So, wow. So you have been doing the Ginni Show for, I guess, going on about three years or so. You’ve been running Ginni Media for several years looking forward. What goals do you have both for Ginni Media and for the Ginni Show?

Ginni Saraswati: Ginni Media at the moment, you know, this is our second full year in business, it will be the third by January. I’m really excited about Ginni Media, because I think the vision I have for the company is to be a leader in podcast production and content repurposing. That’s the vision that we’re working towards. And you know, we also want to be like a one stop shop solution for anyone who wants to do a podcast. I think when you’re starting to build a business, it’s almost like, I read a quote the other day,

Ginni Saraswati: it’s like it’s like getting on a lion and you’re like, is this lion going to eat me, is it going to run really fast. Am I am I gonna fall off? Is this lion going to run over me? Is this lion going to take me to Pride Rock and are we going to have a Lion King experience? You don’t really know. You kinda just have to grip on to dear life and see where it goes. And, you know, I love the team that we have a Ginni Media. I think, you know, we’re developing the way I say it is we’re developing leaders in the team. And I worked very hard in developing my own leadership skills to make sure that I’m bringing as much value as I can and I’m being effective in how I provide that value to build that leadership team. My ideal dream Carolyn is for Ginni Media to be able to ultimately be the machine that we run our podcasts through. And even with my own content like the Ginni Show, anything that I will be doing in future, I’d love for that content to go through the machine that we’ve created as efficiently and effectively as possible.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah, that’s fantastic. Yeah, I could see it definitely hosting and producing all kinds of different shows and I think you’re you’re well on your way with that. Fantastic. Wow, Yeah. So Ginni, thank you so much for being on my show and sharing your story. How can people get in touch with you if they want to learn more about your podcasts and all the other work that you’re working on?

Ginni Saraswati: Absolutely. So you can reach me at the Ginni Show. I’m on @ginnishow on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat. Would love to hear from you. I respond to all the messages there. So please do hit me up if you’d like to be a guest or if you’d like to come on the show and have a chat. I’d love to speak to you as well. And if you want to hear more about Ginni Media, Ginnimedia.com is the best place to go to look at what we have to offer in podcast production. There’s a ton of freebies there as well, including e-books, resources and also free courses all on how to start a podcast.

Carolyn Kiel: Oh, that’s really cool. OK, so I’ll put those links in the show notes as well so people can find them there also, fantastic. Good. Well, Ginni, thanks again. And as we’re closing out the show, is there anything else that you’d like our listeners to know or anything else that they can help or support you with?

Ginni Saraswati: If I could bring anyone any value, whether it be with podcasting or how to interview guests, please feel free to reach out to me on any of those platforms. I’d be happy to have a conversation with you.

Carolyn Kiel: Perfect. Thanks so much. Ginni it was great to talk to you today.

Ginni Saraswati: Thank you so much, Carolyn. Great to talk to you, too.

Carolyn Kiel: Thanks for listening to Beyond 6 Seconds. Please help us spread the word about this podcast. Share it with a friend. Give us a shout out on your social media or write a review on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast player. You can find all of our episodes on our website. www.Beyond6Seconds.com. Until next time!