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- 🎙️First solo episode 🎧 Five years of SAL 🥳 A Podswap 🎁 ... dive in! 🤿
🎙️First solo episode 🎧 Five years of SAL 🥳 A Podswap 🎁 ... dive in! 🤿
It's a special month at SAL.
Kutloano Skosana
August 05, 2025
📸 Cheers to five years of Shades & Layers.
Hello Podfriend!
How’s life treating you? Aside from melting in the Massachusets heat, everything has been okay.
It’s a month of firsts at the SAL studio and I’m very excited for you to share in the fun. We have our first solo episode to mark five years of SAL and the five most frequent lessons over the lifetime of the podcast so far.
We also have a Pod Swap! It’s our first collaboration with a new podcast bestie. So, you will see and hear a new powerful voice on Shades and Layers in these days. Stick around and find out more in the rest of the newsletter.
And one more first: getting an unsolicited accolade. Million Pods recently named Shades and Layers in its Top Ten of 75 podcasts focused on Black Business. 🥳
On that bright note, let’s see what’s coming up in this edition :
-Studio Update
-Also This Month
-This Month’s Recommendations
Alright pod friends, let’s get to business!
PS. If you enjoy this newsletter, please share with friends and ask them to subscribe.
STUDIO UPDATE
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📸 My converted cupboard which served as a studio for a few years.
In this milestone 5th birthday episode I highlight five of the most recurring themes on the podcast and also share aspects of my entrepreneurial journey. One of the top themes that emerges is about embracing change. We were all forced to change our lives five years ago when the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic and sent us all on our merry way to shelter in place. In a reflection of the times, businesses operating back then had to pivot to another way of doing business. As a podcaster who had lofty dreams of sitting in person in studio with guests, remote recording was my only solution back then and I’ve stuck to the format ever since. All this to say, EMBRACE CHANGE is one of the themes in this episode …
ALSO THIS MONTH
📸 Felicia Walker, Founder of ThisThatBeauty
INTRODUCING MADAME SPEAKER SAYS
Shades and Layers is proud to introduce Madame Speaker Says, a podcast by Magogodi oaMphela Makhene, fellow South African and author of one of my favorite short story collections, Innards.
She has been speaking to some of the most amazing women and inspiring others to chase that dream that’s burning in their hearts. We met online and soon realized that we were aligned in our mission, and so we decided to swap episodes.
SAL is proud to feature this episode featuring beauty editor, entrepreneur, and founder of ThisThatBeauty, Felicia Walker. Felicia shares her signature approach to radiating power from the inside out. Felicia believes that from boardrooms to brunches, your beauty and presence should speak before you do—and Felicia breaks down exactly how to make that happen.
PS. I’ll be interviewing Magogodi in a separate episode during the next season of SAL, so that you can hear more about her and her work outside of podcasting.