Stories in sound. Told by you.
Stories are the most powerful form of communication. And stories told in sound—stories that get inside listeners’ ears and hearts with real voices and unforgettable moments—often make the greatest impact. That’s why listenership to podcasts is surging.
SeedPod empowers your team with everything you need to spot great stories, produce them beautifully, and launch a dynamite podcast. In just hours or days, our customized training fully prepares you to make your message heard above the noise.
What’s unique about SeedPod?
Our “startup” approach gives you everything you need to get started on a podcast or audio project, within days or hours.
We teach you to spot the most compelling stories that already exist in your work, teams, and networks — stories that may be hiding in plain sight.
SeedPod’s workshops are hands-on and dynamic — no long slide presentations.
Everyone completes the class with their own produced audio piece, ready to apply their new skills to produce more.
We create a supportive setting for learning, risk-taking, and team-building.
Grace and Julia are not only knowledgeable and personable, but also are effective teachers. It's truly amazing that they had our whole group producing podcasts in a matter of hours!
Todd Harshman
Attorney,
Center for Judicial Education and Research,
Judicial Council of California
What we do
There is no formula for creativity, and SeedPod eschews a “one size fits all” approach to our clients. We tailor our trainings to your team’s podcasting or audio goals, and teach with your skill level and future audience in mind.
Our trainings are hands-on, active, and immediately productive. Every single student produces an original audio story by the time our training is done.
Using our extensive experience in the field and on the air, we teach you to:
- • Translate a general topic idea into a detailed, dynamite story about real people.
- • Capture quality audio recordings in settings from conference rooms to concerts.
- • Draw the most compelling quotes and details out of an interviewee.
- • Distill a mountain of interviews and research into the essential pieces for a story.
- • Write in the clear, conversational style that works best for the ear.
- • Narrate an audio story in your own voice with warmth, presence, and energy.
- • Edit audio clips together into a seamless story.
- • Navigate the competitive podcast market and make yours stand out.
Grace and Julia are knowledgeable, clear, and engaging. They managed to take a complex subject that requires mastery (or at least a working knowledge) of many skills and distill it into a training that is digestible and user friendly. I highly recommend it if you are interested in podcasting.
Nicole Giacinti
Attorney, Center for Families, Children and the Courts, Judicial Council of California
Prior to the class, I was feeling very nervous … since I am just a beginner. But by the end of the class, you really made me feel like I could do it, like it was worth doing, and that I shouldn’t give up.
Kanwalroop Singh
Student, San Francisco Writers Grotto
Who we are
Based in the San Francisco Bay area, SeedPod was founded by two professional radio storytellers with more than 15 years of cumulative experience producing and editing unforgettable stories—investigations, features, interviews, documentaries, and audio walking tours—for national radio shows, podcasts, and companies. We know how to transform ideas into compelling audio that keeps listeners engaged and curious for more.
Our teaching methods and proprietary materials are based on our sold-out Radio & Podcasting 101 class at the San Francisco Writers’ Grotto, which we have taught recurrently for 3+ years.
Julia Scott
Co-founder
Julia Scott is an award-winning journalist, essayist, and radio producer whose work has been featured in Best American Science Writing and on Good Morning America. Scott’s stories and essays have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Nautilus, The Walrus, Modern Farmer, OZY, Salon, and Canadian Geographic. Her stories have aired on NPR stations across the country as well as on Marketplace and PRI’s The World. She has produced experiential walking “Detours” for adventurers in San Francisco, and a documentary for the BBC World Service. Scott is an editor with San Francisco NPR member station KQED and a former editor at NPR station KALW. Before that, she reported on science and natural resources for the Bay Area News Group. She has taught podcasting at California College of the Arts, and is developing a forthcoming podcast of her own.
Grace Rubenstein
CO-Founder
Grace Rubenstein is a journalist, editor, and multimedia producer specializing in health science. She tells stories through words, sounds, images, and video, while maximizing the unique storytelling power of each medium. Grace’s award-winning work has appeared in the Atlantic online, New York Times, Boston Globe, STAT News, Longreads, and the Center for Investigative Reporting’s Reveal. Her radio tales have reached the airwaves of Morning Edition, KQED’s The California Report, and PRI’s The World. Besides telling her own stories, Grace helps others craft theirs. As an editor for the TED Conferences’ TED Books and WorkLife podcast she coaches great thinkers to transform their big ideas into engaging prose. Her dream story is one that compellingly explains how the forces outside us (culture, environment) and inside us (biology) shape our behavior and thus our health.
Consulting packages
SeedPod’s in-person trainings can be distilled down to a day or deepened into a two-day, three-day, or weeklong workshop. We work with you to mix and match our training to target the skills that your team needs. Potential topics include:
• Story arc essentials
• The five types of audio stories
• Elements of sound: Ambi, acts, and tracks
• Basic mic anatomy: the right mic for the job
• Audio gear 101: The complete package
• How to get great sound on the phone
• How to get great sound in the field
•How to get the most out of an interview
• Finding your story theme
• From notes to script: How to structure a story
• Essentials of audio editing
• Voicing your story
• Podcast distribution and promotion
SeedPod can also provide one-on-one post-class training, consulting, and coaching. Ask us about it!