We were lucky to catch up with Teac(hers) Lounge Podcast recently and have shared our conversation below.
Teac(hers) Lounge Podcast, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?
As young Black women, we have come up in a culture that often undermines or devalues the contributions of women who look like us. Because of this, we have been taught to believe we must outwork and overperform everyone else just to be accepted. Many Black women, in particular, have been raised in community-centered families and spaces. The women we have grown up around and admired, who we emulate as we evolve in our womanhood, have been selfless caregivers, putting the needs of others before their own. In many ways, this impacts our relationship with work and, in turn, our work ethic. Black women will work hard for the greater good, even if that means they may not be recognized, compensated, or even appreciated for their hard work. As we started our podcast, we consciously chose to give the same energy we bring to our professional work environment to our own personal work endeavors. We are all about working hard over here, especially in accomplishing goals we have set for ourselves and our brand, but we also see value in enjoying the fruits of our labor. We can devote time to growing professionally and personally and make time to rest and take care of ourselves.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
The Teac(her)s Lounge Podcast is comprised of two fabulous, young, Black female educators setting out to dismantle the societal notion that teachers should live humble meager lives. Lauren Nelson and Crystal Thomas host a monthly podcast that talks about all things education, from pay rates to Black female stereotypes, to being the only Black coworker and workplace romance! The podcast was started in May 2022 and currently, their team includes an all-Black staff. It was first started as an outlet to talk mostly about the experiences of the two women as they navigated the field of urban education and the adversities they faced. Now the production has rebranded to include their pursuit of the “soft life”. The “Soft Life” is about embracing self-care and preservation in every aspect of your work, life, and personal relationships. This means setting boundaries, not giving unnecessary energy to things that don’t deserve it, and prioritizing You! They believe that teachers should not be praised for working hard and being paid well beneath what they deserve and instead are advocating for teachers to be paid adequately and for those working in education to experience luxury in whatever capacity they can! If you love what the Teac(her)s Lounge Podcast is all about, follow them on instagram @teacherslounge215 to be the first to learn about upcoming podcast episodes and events.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
When we first began our podcast journey, we thought we needed to know it all and do it all. That mindset only assisted in accelerating the burnout we already were experiencing as teachers. One of the first things we realized was the importance of strategic partnership and relationship building. Starting off, we were not in the position to network up, so we evaluated the people around us and started there. We needed to begin networking across. We thought about family and friends, former classmates or coworkers, and the community we started to build at Philly REC. Soon we were able to start delegating tasks which alleviated so much stress. The more we grew, the more we realized we needed a team. As Black women, we often feel we need to handle everything on our own. Creating this podcast has taught us that it is okay to ask for help and that believe it or not, there are so many people out there willing to actively assist in the process of us pursuing our goals.
Secondly, in building our team we found that it was not just enough to find people willing to work with us, we needed to find the right kind of people; others who were as eager to build their brands as we were. They also needed to believe in our vision and come with insight that we did not have. Collaborating with people who understood our vision made a world of difference. They could advocate on our behalf for things that we were less knowledgeable on. Their keen eye for details we might miss helped us tremendously and aided in our growth.
And finally, we learned, that it is not where you start, but where you finish that matters most. If we had waited for everything to be perfect, you probably would not be reaching out to us for this interview. We had so many apprehensions about starting, but we did it anyway. We learned as we went, pivoted when necessary and just took the risk. Oftentimes, so many of us count ourselves out, before we even begin, for fear of criticism, but do it anyway. You never know what decision can change your whole life!
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
The Teac(her)s Lounge Podcast is always looking to collaborate with anyone who is currently working within the education field, those who may assist in any capacity at educational institutions and those who may no longer work in the field but still possess great insight. We would also love to collaborate and feature brands and businesses that could encourage more educators to embrace luxury and self-care as well. If you’d like to be featured on or collaborate with us please follow us on instagram at @teacherlounge215 and send us a DM or send an inquiry to teachers.lounge215@gmail.com.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @teacherlounge215
- Other: teachers.lounge215@gmail.com
Image Credits
Images were taken by Teac(her)s Lounge Podcast resident photographer Isabella Williams
