Can you recommend other female-led podcasts similar to #GirlBoss?

March 18, 2016 2:19 PM

Do you have any recommendations to something similar to the #GirlBoss podcast? I'm specifically looking for a female host interviewing other women (ideally entrepreneurs or creatives) OR talking/explaining a specific subject.

Looking for interview-format podcast recommendations with female hosts, typically interviewing other females about their lives and how they got to where they are now. Not really looking for storytelling podcasts centered on a theme. Big plus if the host is funny and witty.

Here are some podcasts I enjoy:

Fresh Air (I prefer it when Terry Gross is interviewing, not the other guy who fills in for her from time to time)
The Joe Rogan Experience
#GirlBoss
#WearYourDreams (Her voice and manner of speech is a bit grating, but I think I can get used to it)

posted by bluelight to Computers & Internet (18 answers total)

Every other week Call Your Girlfriend has a Call a Friend episode where they interview some woman they know. The most recent was with illustrator Wendy MacNaughton and they talked a lot about how she switched careers to being a full time illustrator and issues with freelancing. Other ones I remember are a philanthropist, editor at Buzzfeed, fat activist, the founders of Of A Kind, and the women behind Notorious RBG.
posted by carolr at 2:30 PM on March 18, 2016 [2 favorites]

Public Radio International's One with Farai hosted by Farai Chideya fits when her guests were female. Canceled last year, unfortunately, but there are many episodes in the archive.
posted by XMLicious at 2:32 PM on March 18, 2016

The Rendered podcast has now ended, but its back-catalog, and the back episodes under its previous name Destination DIY, were really great. The female host interviewed folks, mostly other ladies, about their DIY projects, big or small. She talked to musicians and crafters and everyone in-between (the episode featuring the Doubleclicks was one of my faves).
posted by possibilityleft at 2:35 PM on March 18, 2016 [1 favorite]

Wailin Wong hosts, The Distance (though there's also a 2nd producer who is male), a podcast about businesses, often family owned, that are at least 25 years old. It's not straight interview, but it's very interviewy. Many of the guests/owners are female.
posted by Jahaza at 2:38 PM on March 18, 2016

The Get Paid Podcast with Claire Pelletreau

Profit. Power. Pursuit. with Tara Gentile
posted by alicat at 2:43 PM on March 18, 2016

I like the Broad Experience quite a bit.
posted by ChuraChura at 2:57 PM on March 18, 2016 [4 favorites]

There are probably a few CBC Radio podcasts that could fit the bill here.

The Current with Anna Maria Tremonti is, as the name suggests, a current events show with really good interviews and documentaries. It's very Canadian-centric but the stories are amazing.

Spark is hosted by Nora Young and deals with technology and culture. Not as focused on interviews, but highly fascinating and accessible even if you're not a techie.

I'm just going to lift the description for this next one directly from the site, since they put it better than I ever could. Writers & Company with Elanor Wachtel "explores the lives, thoughts and works of remarkable writers from around the world".

Definitely Not The Opera (aka: DNTO) is hosted by Sook-Yin Lee, and she interviews all sorts of folks. Each episode tends to have a theme, but it's always a surprise what's going to be in the show.
posted by burntflowers at 3:12 PM on March 18, 2016

Vegan Warrior Princesses Attack has two female hosts - they don't interview a ton of people, but they have some interesting discussions amongst themselves. It's about veganism, but they tackle a bunch of other topics as well.
posted by backwards guitar at 3:45 PM on March 18, 2016

Another Round is one of my favorite woman-centered podcasts, not the least because the hosts and the entire production team are women. I did a Sunday Squee on it going into more detail.

The JV Club is Janet Varney interviewing people, usually women but she does have a "boys of summer" tradition where men are allowed in.

Rocket is an all woman podcast on tech and the tech industry.

Popeganda is a pop culture podcast put out by Bitch Media, and Back Talk is the newsier sister.

The Read is only 1/2 woman, but I love it so much that leaving it off lists of podcasts physically hurts. They do a combo of pop culture, listener questions, and responding to cultural and social issues.

Less Than Or Equal is an interview show focused specifically on diversity. I did a Sunday Squee on it.

Anglo-Filles is a monthly podcast on geeky white women interests in general.

Fresh out of Tokens is also 50% woman, but similarly awesome and on video games in particular; it's in response to the #iNeedDiverseGames hastag.

Metis in Space is a monthly First Nations in Sci Fi podcast and is awesome.

Tea & Jeopardy is a twice a month interview podcast with an ongoing background story. A lot of the people interviewed are women. I did a Sunday Squee on it.

Tea with Queen & J. is a weekly pop culture and social issues podcast.

Unconsoleable is a smartphone gaming podcast which sometimes interviews game developers.

#GoodMuslimBadMuslim is a podcast by two Muslim women talking about current events.

Most of these are not just podcasts I listen to, but podcasts I prioritize listening to (and sometimes listen to multiple times).
posted by Deoridhe at 5:28 PM on March 18, 2016 [5 favorites]

She Does is two women media-makers interviewing other women creatives and media-makers.
posted by iahtl at 5:47 PM on March 18, 2016 [1 favorite]

Tracy and Heben interview both women and men, but Another Round is AWESOME and well worth your time. Some episodes you might try:

Melissa Harris-Perry
Valerie Jarrett
Margaret Cho
Hillary Clinton

One of their semi-regular features, Stacy's Career Corner, may also be right up your alley. Try this episode with Uzo Aduba to hear it.
posted by maudlin at 6:35 PM on March 18, 2016 [2 favorites]

Invisibilia is a fantastic psychology-focused podcast, somewhat reminiscent of Radiolab.
posted by kuma440 at 7:15 PM on March 18, 2016

Ok, so it's super specific (Magic:the Gathering and other nerd things) but The Girlfriend Bracket is all ladies, talking about MtG.
posted by fiercekitten at 7:19 PM on March 18, 2016

Nice stories about busy Australian women https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/i-dont-know-how-she-does-it/id1004488331?mt=2
posted by sconbie at 11:42 PM on March 18, 2016

Elise Gets Crafty Is a female hosted creative small business podcast, I'd say the majority of her interviews are with other female small business owners.

Grace Bonney from Design*Sponge has a podcast which is currently on hiatus but the archives have some great shows.
posted by halcyonday at 5:53 AM on March 19, 2016 [1 favorite]

Call Your Girlfriend is the best, Aminatou liked one of my Instagram posts once, and I died. And I've only heard excerpts from Another Round (on Sampler, where host Brittany Luse interviews/talks about podcasts) but would nth it based on that.

Brooke Gladstone of On The Media is a baller. Also, if you already love Brooke, listen to her Longform interview. *heart eyes*

Stuff Mom Never Told You interviews women sometimes, but Cristen and Caroline always talk about women's issues.

Note To Self is a woman-hosted "tech show about being human." Manoush Zomorodi is magnetically engaging.

One Bad Mother is a comedy podcast about parenting, featuring an interview most episodes with more women than men. Though I skip the interviews most of the time, I enjoy the show even as a non-parent.

Haven't listened to enough of Anna Faris Is Unqualified to endorse it, but she does interview people.
posted by circle at 7:13 AM on March 19, 2016

If you like business podcasts, Harvard Business Review's IdeaCast features Sarah Green interviewing a variety of business folk. They aren't exclusively interviewing women, or exclusively interviewing entrepreneurs, but I recall the guest mixture being about half and half, and just going at the most recent casts, 6 were interviewing men and 6 interviewing women. And somewhat paradoxically, many of the male guests are discussing issues most relevant to women: the two most recent podcasts are about pay transparency, and the positive and negative impacts of emotional displays in the workplace.
posted by pwnguin at 12:22 PM on March 19, 2016

"Gay, feminist, vegan cartoonist" Nicole Georges just started an interview-and-advice podcast called Sagittarian Matters.
posted by milk white peacock at 2:13 PM on March 19, 2016