Today we’d like to introduce you to Natalie Katona.
Hi Natalie, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I am the host of the weekly podcast To All the Men I’ve Tolerated Before. The show started as a way to keep myself creatively busy during the COVID-19 Pandemic and quarantine. I had been laid off from my theater administration job and wanted to start a show that was going to be comedic conversations with my friend about our former relationships with men. My former co-host eventually had to step down due to scheduling conflicts and I needed to re-work the show to accommodate guests. That is how To All the Men I’ve Tolerated Before became a look at everyday misogyny. The more my guests and I talked about the men they had tolerated, the more we realized the problem was socialized and subtle misogyny. Now To All the Men I’ve Tolerated Before is expanding to The Misogyny Meltdown on Patreon. This video podcast is allowing me to go back to TATMITB’s comedy roots and combine my feminine rage with a late night tv format.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The biggest struggle I have been experiencing recently is burnout. One of my biggest burnout areas is being so aware of how misogyny affects my everyday. I got to a point this winter where I was so aware of how women were being perceived in the media, in my social circles, and in my family. It got to the point where I was just bouncing between really angry and really sad. Now that I’ve held up my boundaries a little firmer with the type of noise from the media I’ll listen to, it has gotten better. But I still need to be very mindful of how I am replenishing my energy. Creative burnout is one of the hardest things I go through because my body wants to be making content or creating art. However, my mind becomes my biggest block and I just let myself sink into the exhaustion.
When it comes to my content and podcast, I think the hardest struggle has been finding my audience. It takes a special person who is empathetic enough to want to explore misogyny in very different facets of life each week. One week you could be listening to an actress talk about the level of representation for sapphic relationships in film and the next you could be hearing about diversity within the boardgame industry. Finding spaces online or in public where I can get people interested in the effects of everyday misogyny and do it safely has been a huge task.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My current projects is the podcast, To All the Men I’ve Tolerated Before. Each week I interview a new guest on a particular experience they’ve had that they now know is a result of the subtle and ingrained misogyny that is woven within our society. What makes my show different is that I am allowing people of all different professional and personal backgrounds to talk candidly about their experiences. I am also providing episodes on the media and literature we are exposed to that also perpetuates the misogynistic systems we live under. I am so proud of the community I have built with this podcast. We are people who support one another at our lowest and also celebrate the small victories we make over misogyny. I have no expanded the show into a comedic format on Patreon so I can also bring some levity to the things we experience because misogyny is still within our culture.
What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
One of the most important lessons I’ve learned during my journey is that I am capable of so much. When I first started the show, my biggest fear was I would have to learn the tech side of running a podcast. A few years later and I am now audio and video editing with ease. I also came into this project with a lot of imposter syndrome lurking in the back of my mind. I am still shocked when people meet me for the first time and tell me that they really enjoy the show. I always ask them if its okay if I give them a hug and take a photo to commemorate the occasion. Finally feeling like I am able to do impossibly hard things while also enjoying the creative process that’s making them happen has been wonderful. It has caused me to stretch into communities I thought were never in reach. Most importantly, it has given me the opportunity to dream in ways I didn’t even know existed.
Pricing:
- Patreon Tiers: $5-20 a month
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.spreaker.com/show/to-all-the-men-ive-tolerated-before
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/menivetoleratedpod/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100087472294746
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalie-katona-5b0746a8/
- Twitter: https://x.com/ToTolerated
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXKexo_7kI6hNkW1nm6oJLw
- Other: https://www.patreon.com/menivetoleratedpod
