What does it really mean to own your voice? To show up fully as yourself online? To shout your message from the digital rooftops and know that it's not just welcome — it's needed.
That’s what we’re diving into in this very special (and slightly emotional!) finale of the Spotlight Series, featuring none other than podcast manager and launch strategist Adrienne Cruz. She's the behind-the-scenes magic-maker for The Freak Show and a creative powerhouse who helps entrepreneurs turn podcasting into a joyful, strategic, and sustainable way to amplify their voice.
Adrienne and I talk about what it takes to build a sustainable podcasting practice, why downloads don’t define your success, and the importance of showing up boldly — even when the trolls are loud and the world is heavy. Plus: her journey from being overwhelmed by Canva and rainbow colour palettes to running a brand that’s as unforgettable as a summer brunch.
Before we dove into the real conversation, Adrienne had to pass her Freak Show audition — three things that qualify her to be part of the show:
Safe to say, she passed!
When I asked Adrienne about the biggest industry myth that needs to die, she didn't hesitate:
"If my podcast doesn't immediately take off, I'm just not cut out to be a podcaster."
It's called pod fade — the phenomenon where podcasts start and then fade away in the first couple of episodes because people see nobody's listening and think they don't have the "it factor."
Podcasting is a long game, and downloads are expensive to get. They're not the same as social media views where content gets shoved in people's faces by the algorithm.
With podcasting, you promote your show, people have to go find it, they have to make time to listen (usually more than half an hour), and they have to actually pay attention. Especially if you're new and they're not used to you — it's a huge commitment.
Adrienne came armed with a statistic that blew my mind: If your new podcast episode gets more than 28 downloads within seven days of its release, you're in the top 50% of podcasts.
Twenty-eight. Downloads.
And if it gets more than 109 downloads? You're in the top 25%.
The jump isn't even that high. But it shows just how different podcasting is from social media, and why people need to be mentally and emotionally prepared for the fact that it will probably not take off really fast.
The probabilities are stacked against you unless you already have a really big audience or a super charismatic personality that clicks from the get-go (and even then, it's rare).
Plus, when you're starting small, you actually have so much freedom to experiment.
You don't have a huge audience of listeners that expects something from you, that's used to the same structure and format.
When you're starting, you can test things out, try different approaches, and figure out what works without hundreds of people noticing every change.
It's not frustrating to start small — it's liberating.
When Adrienne and I started working together in November, she'd only been in business since the summer. She already had a visual identity, but something wasn't clicking.
From her very first post on Instagram, she felt unsatisfied. She'd created her brand the way most people do when they don't have a business background: she thought branding was pretty colours and cute fonts that matched her vibe and needed to be consistent.
She literally sat down with an empty Canva, stared at the colours, scrolled Pinterest, and picked shades with no rhyme or reason. She grabbed Canva fonts because she got tired of scrolling. And she was posting four to five times a week.
She was exhausting herself creating content she didn't even like, posting educational how-to content that felt random and chaotic, all because she thought she had to post every single day to grow on Instagram.
Her carousels felt plain. They barely got any views. She'd look at what other people were doing and think, "Why can't I get it to look that way?"
The hardest part of the rebranding process for Adrienne was the deep work of answering my brand questionnaire.
There was one part where she had to list personality traits she'd want her brand to have. She wrote down 50 traits in a notebook. Then she highlighted some, trying to narrow them down.
As an English teacher who knows every adjective in the dictionary, it felt utterly impossible to reduce herself to four or five words.
But we got there: Adrienne is curious, playful, genuine, empathetic, and creative — but never ordinary, intimidating, or complicated.
The thing about branding is that you're trying to build a visual solution that conveys the same complexity and multifaceted nature of the person running the business.
We're all so much more than colours and adjectives. But there's a fine line between the person you actually are and the brand you're running. You can make a personal brand without taking it personally. That's the key distinguisher between you as the business owner and you as the person behind the business.
Every time I sent Adrienne a sneak peek — the Pinterest board, the mood board, visual elements — it felt like a present for her. She even Facetimed me to react to one of them (you can actually see this on one of her carousels).
We ended up with a summer brunch theme. At first thought, it doesn't make any sense for a podcast management business. But when you get into the messaging and the why, it does. And watching Adrienne see her vision harnessed and refined into something incredible was my favourite part.
She went all out for her brand photo shoot, buying pastries from her favourite bakeries, and her husband's cousin (who happens to be a photographer) was visiting Puerto Rico and squeezed in the shoot right before he left. The photos turned out absolutely incredible — versatile, vibrant, perfectly on-brand.
Before the rebrand, Adrienne was posting four to five times a week because she felt like she needed to compensate for the fact that her content wasn't that good. She'd post a large quantity hoping somebody would see it and engage.
Now she posts twice a week. And she's perfectly fine with that because she knows those two posts are going to kick ass.
The engagement has been better than before. She plans content week by week instead of mapping out a whole month, leaving room for spontaneity and responding to what's actually happening in her ideal client's world.
We worked together on four content themes that fit her brand perfectly:
Savour the Process: Making the process of podcasting just as enjoyable as the results. You don't just enjoy the outcome, you enjoy the whole journey and set up systems that make it good for you.
The Host with the Most: Helping podcasters become confident, engaging, skilled hosts.
Make Your Podcast Work for You: The practical, business-focused content for online business owners (mostly women and LGBTQ+ people) on how to use their podcast strategically.
Shout It From the Rooftops: This is the newest one, inspired by our conversations about owning your story and voice. It's about speaking your mind, speaking your truth, advocating for people, and using podcasting to share an important message authentically. Because we need better podcasters who are better humans sharing their message.
Even the names of these content themes are on brand. This is what happens when you do the deep work.
One of my favourite parts of our conversation was hearing about how business has changed Adrienne as a person.
When she started, she was terrified of discovery calls. She'd sweat through them, kick her husband out of the room, create super detailed Notion pages for every step, and ask ChatGPT to help her outline calls because she wasn't used to talking to adults in a professional capacity. She'd spent eight years talking to the same coworkers and students — teenagers, not business owners from all over the world.
Now, she doesn't get nervous for client calls. She wasn't even nervous to record this episode. And we're talking just a few months of difference here.
She told me that starting a business has helped her gain such confidence — it's almost reminded her of who she really is. When you're comfortable in the same context for so long, you lose parts of yourself. They fade away. But when you shake things up and step out of that zone, you rediscover parts you thought you'd lost.
These days, Adrienne records talking videos on Instagram stories like it's nothing. At school during lunch breaks, she'll just sit down and talk about her newsletter or something random.
In her first talking head video, her voice literally broke on the word "hi." She sounded so nervous and unsure. Now, it's totally different.
(She didn't let me link to that first video, so don't go scrolling for it.)
If Adrienne could go back and give herself advice before rebranding, it would be twofold:
One: Branding is not just cute, it's needed. She had no idea how deep branding went and how much it enables you to create content confidently because you know what you want to say.
Two: Chill, you're going to get clients. She started in summer and didn't get her first client until October. That slow period where her only business task was creating Instagram posts really sucked. It was a blow to her confidence.
But once she got that first client, then the second, the ball started rolling.
And I think even when you're several years into business, there might come a time when suddenly you don't know where your next client is coming from. Knowing that's normal and doesn't mean you're a failure, that's everything.
You can still make it work. You are still in control, even if it doesn't feel like it. If you just invite people more often into your world and really focus on marketing, the people are going to come. You just have to keep doing it and keep pushing through.
Your marketing efforts are directly correlated to your sales success. Every single time you put your brand out there, someone is getting reminded of your existence and moving one step closer to purchasing.
When Adrienne was creating content exclusively (because she didn't have clients yet), she'd hyper-fixate on analytics. She'd obsess over the algorithm, count the views. If something tanked, she'd text her friends: "Can you please like this post? Can you please engage with it?"
Now, she doesn't care how each individual piece of content performs anymore.
She uses it as a learning opportunity. If something doesn't resonate, she thinks about why and adjusts for next time. One piece of content isn't going to define her whole business. She looks at it with curiosity, not frustration and doom.
Because the truth is that you can't always see directly if a content piece has worked or not. A promotional carousel might not get a lot of engagement, but it might be exactly the information someone needs to purchase that offer.
We're not out here liking promotional carousels. We're taking them in as information, learning if it's the right fit for us. It might not even be the right fit this year, but now we know about it.
A content piece working doesn't always translate into likes, comments, shares, saves. It can translate in a very subconscious way in your audience's mind — getting them one step closer on that customer buying journey. And that's not something you see right away.
This conversation with Adrienne reminded me why I love what I do. Watching someone go from exhausted and unsure to confident and clear on their message is the whole point.
Your brand should make things easier, not harder. It should give you the confidence to show up, speak up, and own your voice.
And if you're sitting there thinking your podcast (or your business) isn't taking off fast enough, or your content isn't performing well enough — remember Adrienne's journey. Remember that 28 downloads puts you in the top 50%. Remember that you're allowed to start small and let it be imperfect while you make it perfect later.
Most importantly, remember that your voice matters. Your story matters. And we need more people like you speaking up and sharing what you know.
So what are you waiting for? Shout it from the rooftops.
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✦ THE EXTRAVAGANZA: Create your industry-leading first impression.
✦ Listen to “Make it exist (you can make it perfect later)” on the Thought to Thing podcast
✦ Creative Living with Maia Benaim & Lois Mac
✦ Get all the rebrand BTS on Adrienne’s IG post
✦ Visuals of Isa - Adrienne’s brand photographer
✦ Vibes with Value by Xanthe Appleyard
✦ Follow her Instagram
✦ Check out her Website
✦ See Adrienne's Case Study
✦ Say hey on Instagram
✦ Get my Uncaged emails
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This episode was co-produced with Adrienne Cruz.
Podcast Manager
Over the last 5 years as a Brand & Marketing Designer, I’ve helped freaks like us design their unconventional brands so they can step onto the main stage & own their weird. Because if you wanted to be, look or sound like everyone else, you wouldn’t be where you are today. Now it’s your turn.
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