As a person who makes audio, I'm fascinated by the work that goes on behind the scenes. How does an interviewer ask questions? How do two people find a flow, establish trust, and ultimately uncover special moments and stories that might otherwise never get shared?
For me, doing audio work means leaning into my deeply curious side, and that's what's reflected in my interview with Natalya Watson. Natalya is a new addition to the GBH podcast team—she interviewed Miranda Hudson and Derek Bates from Duration Brewing, and you'll see more of her work on the podcast soon. Natalya has her own show, called Beer With Nat, where she interviews women in the beer industry about their careers. The goal is to demonstrate to others that there's a clear pathway into beer, and that anything they dream of doing is achievable.
The theme of accessibility runs through all of Natalya's work. She also hosts a Virtual Beer School, which helps folks prepare for their Cicerone exams. Many of the materials Natalya makes are free, and the cost for admission to her 12-week program is intentionally set so participants of any financial situation can still take part.
In this interview, we talk about all of these topics, but we also go one step further and examine why Natalya is drawn to the work that she does. She shares her own career history and how she developed a keen interest in communicating with others, and what this says about her as a person. I think towards the end we get a little meta, both reflecting on our interviewing styles—I admit, I am a person who likes to make big connections, and who tries to create ties between who we are and what we put out into the world. This conversation is both fun and fast-paced, vulnerable and reflective—in a way, it's reflective of everything I look for in an interviewing experience. Here's Natalya.