We had the good fortune of connecting with Jessica Mosley and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jessica, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
Craziness. So the SayWHA Radio Network started off as one podcast. SayWHA Radio. It was based upon me telling the crazy stories of my dating adventures. My very first show was me telling one of my most famous stories. Finding a gentleman I used to date under my bed. In his underwear. Yeah. Like I said craziness. That was in 2011. It’s in our backlog of subscription episodes. Its hilarious to listen to now 10 years later. But after a couple of years of doing the podcast I knew I wanted it to be more. A media company was my dream but its a far fetched dream…or so I thought. I ran into a people, one after another wanting to start podcasts but never knowing where to start. I built the SayWHA Radio Network trying to help those wanting tell their story but didn’t have the knowledge or patience I learned over the last 11 years. My expertise in software engineering, not taking no for answer and my passion for podcasting helped fuel my desire to create a better option for an all inclusive podcasting solution. It allowed me to consult for not just podcasters but also podcast solutions wanting to scale and evolve their backend stack. If you build it, how much better can Jess make it run is my mentality. 😁

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.

I always feel weird answering this because my experience sets me apart from others but that just basically says I’m old 😂. SayWHA Radio started March 11, 2011. That was the first show. I created the show in 2010 but I had to hype myself up to finally do it. That and I was out of work. I was so concerned about paying the $30 hosting fee for the podcast. But my passion, expertise and dedication is what sets the network apart from others. When I started it was me , Joe Rogan and Frederick Douglass. There wasn’t alot known about podcasting at that time and trying to get people into it was VERY difficult at that time. Podcasting was such a new avenue at the time and I knew I wanted to be apart of it. Building an audience really took so much more than it does today. Crazy thing is the pitfalls out there are the same. I use my expertise to help those out there who want to podcast and want to do it for the love it navigate the landmines that can either suck the joy out of it or siphon the funds from your bank account. But I then realized, I wanted what I knew to not just be for me. So I began sharing little things I know to podcasters and interns. There are a lot of podcasts that have come and gone but I’m sure they would say they learned something from me or felt supported by me in a way.  Once SayWHA Radio began to grow I decided I’d stick my toe in my actual dream, building a media company. So I began taking on people who I saw had the talent for podcasting but didn’t know where to start. I work with them to craft out the everything from artwork, intro, tone of the show, episode cadence, marketing and the kraken…audio editing. I wanted to the network to be a one stop solution for them, where they could just focus on the important stuff , podcasting and I’d take care of the rest.
The first episode of SayWHA Radio was just me alone and I was hooked. Since then the show has gone through changes over the years as we grew the show grew. Throughout it, I never once thought about stopping. Its apart of me now like breathing. I’ve had show’s where there 10s of thousands of people who listened and shows where I’m pretty sure I’m the only who listened. Despite it I knew what we had was special , just needed people to listen and the rest would take care of itself.
It’s always been important to me that the network shows showcased black excellence. SayWHA Radio is 6 black educated friends giving amazing commentary on the current topics of the day. Or what I like to call “The Daily Show with Friends”.
Our next production was Life as P … . Podcast on this experience and times of a creator at heart making the courageous decision to quit the corporate world and pursue her passion of becoming an author. You get to follow her journey as she navigates this, while being a wife, mother and everything that comes with it while keeping a positive spirit but letting you see her raw.
WTFinance was a woman trying to help demystify finance for many individuals in a learn from my mistakes approach. Life got in the way and she wasn’t able to continue the podcast but financial education is still something I’m very passionate about. Especially for minorities.
In 2019 is when I felt I hit my stride when we brought in Cool Black Nerd, the 7th podcast created, managed produced and by under my network umbrella. SayWHA Radio gave me a no holds take on everything in pop culture or crazy headlines but Cool Black Nerd gave one of the most intriguing personas of black experience out there. Blerds aka black nerds. With Big Bang Theory or nerd culture in general, It always portrayed that black people aren’t “nerdy” . Being a woman in STEM , software Engineering specifically, I totally wanted to dispel that myth and one of my high school friends, Jules, who I regularly game with, expressed interest in doing a podcast and the rest is history.  Jules and I podcasting from Comic Con 2019, put me on top of the world! Made me feel like anything is possible for us. As the pandemic caught us all off guard, podcasts exploded and I was thrust into becoming a defacto sort of godmother on teaching podcasting 101 to many and can’t wait to see where the network grows in the future. My next goals are dream guests for SayWHA Radio, Barack Obama and Kevin Hart. For Cool Black Nerd Neil Degrasse Tyson and Marques Brownlee. Oh it’s gonna happen 😂

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Oh there’s so much! We have to check out the Houston sign. Discovery Green is another amazing place for the amazingness of all the events and art there. Mikkis soul food is a must! OG Pho Binh, Kileens BBQ, Breakfast Klub, Turkey Let Hut are a spots to hit. Then we can rent a bike to ride Buffalo Bayou park trails. Of course we gotta hit Space Center Houston and Galveston or Kemah. Yes I know the beaches aren’t California beautiful but it’s still awesome. Especially if you hit “The spot” restaurant there. If it’s during Rodeo time, BBQ cookoff and the carnival with a concert. Or a Dynamo, Astros or Texans game. Do a little shopping at the Galleria and take a stop at the waterwall. Do a pedal party on the way to Axelrad, Z on 23 ,Lei Low or Anvil bad & refuge. Or hit up Marquis 2 for that Texas Tea I hear so much about. I think thats just enough for a week haha.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?

The podcasters, Phoenix Ash (Life as P), Jenny and Jai Holland (Hollastic Life) (Life Adventurist), Jules Glapion (Cool Black Nerd) and Starr Washington (What The Finance) who put their trust into me to bring their ideas to life to help give them the guidance to make them the rockstars they are. Also my program director Mariah Stonehewer, who is my right hand and I definitely would not know where I would be without her.

Website: www.saywharadio.com

Instagram: saywharadio

Twitter: saywharadio

Facebook: saywharadio

Youtube: Saywharadio

Other: Tik Tok: @saywharadio

Image Credits
Microphone image: Dre D of The Other Guys – SayWHA Radio podcast Featured image: me during a podcast session. Sorry it was very hard to get any photos as I don’t have a lot of professional photos. Hope this is ok.

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