Earlier today I woke up this morning to a lovely tag on LinkedIn, and here's a screen shot of part of the tag.
Now, personally, I didn't think I did anything special - I was invited to take part in a written interview about podcasting, and I was happy to say yes. But it was really kind of the interviewer to share these words in her post on LinkedIn, as it made my morning. 😊
At the start of the screen shot, you'll see she mentions she gets ghosted a few times, which absolutely sucks. No-one likes to be ignored (although I will absolutely ghost out and out spammers, but hey don't count). And I love her advice to those that don't reply.
But what I haven't mentioned yet is that the interviewer is
and she's 10 years old. As part of the post on LinkedIn, she shares how that tends to change people's perception of her, unfortunately.This includes the afore-mentioned ghosting, as well as selling her irrelevant things ("she's a kid, she must like these"). And it made me think about ageism in podcasting. Usually when we talk of ageism, it's about bias against older age - but there is against younger ages too.
Kids of all ages can find it hard to be "taken seriously" because, well, they're "only kids", right? True, maybe - when defining by an age bracket. But that doesn't mean their value is any less diminished. There are enough "kids" that have changed history to nix that argument.
It Really Is Just a Number
When Seraphina initially reached out to me, I knew she was 10 (since I read her publication) but that didn't matter - I said yes without hesitation. Not through some "white knight" BS, but because I love her stuff and she was kind enough to ask. Age didn’t matter. 😊
And you know what? She asked some of the best questions I've seen anywhere, including some I'd never heard anywhere before - the interview was REALLY fun! 🥰
But it's not surprising - Seraphina knows her stuff and is killing it. "Despite" being a "10 year old kid".
When I was answering her questions, I didn't view it as an adult talking to a kid - I simply answered the way I would with any podcast host, interviewer, etc, and offered my take on the questions asked. I think it was this that led to her very kind words on LinkedIn.
It's something we can all do, and should do. Should we temper our language around kids if we normally swear a lot? Sure. Should we remove sensitive adult-specific themes when sharing our thoughts? Sure. But that doesn't mean we can't treat kids as equals "mentally".
There are no age limits - young or old, and everything in-between - when it comes to podcasting, as Seraphina brilliantly shows in her newsletter, and her life hacks and tips she shares as a 10-year old girl making her way through life.
If we, as adults, can start to realize this more, and encourage young and future generation podcasters like Seraphina by simply treating them as fellow peers in the space, everyone wins. The best part - it's not that hard to do, either.
You can check out my interview with Seraphina below - and be sure to check out the rest of her site, her thoughts, etc - it's a pretty impressive slate of work. Here's to respect and equal footing.