Using Your Podcast to Leave the Algorithm with Leah Kern

Are you trapped on the content creation hamster wheel, spending hours filming Reels, writing captions, and fighting an unpredictable algorithm just to see your engagement drop? Many business owners feel exhausted by the constant demand of social media marketing, yet they dread deleting their accounts because they fear their business will become invisible. In this episode of Podcasting Unlocked, we sit down with Leah Kern to discuss her successful social media exit. Leah shares how she strategically transitioned away from platforms like Instagram and used her podcast as her primary growth vehicle. We dive into how to foster deep audience engagement that converts listeners into long-term clients and the operational adjustments needed to ensure true podcast sustainability. This week, episode 286 of Podcasting Unlocked is about using your podcast to leave the algorithm! 

Leah Kern is an Anti-Diet Dietitian and Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor who helps people make peace with food and body using the Health At Every Size (HAES) and Intuitive Eating frameworks. Upon earning her RDN, Leah built a thriving private practice, doing the exact work she feels she was put on this earth to do. Leah believes that the work involved with unraveling years of conditioning in diet culture and learning to come home to one’s body is deeply spiritual work and she treats it as such. She currently lives in Northern California with her partner and their two kitties. 

In this episode of Podcasting Unlocked, Leah Kern is sharing the importance of having multiple engagement channels, such as newsletters and blog posts, to maintain audience connections and actionable steps you can take right now to break up with social media. 

Leah and I also chat about the following: 

• The Strategic Social Media Exit: Learn how Leah replaced the daily grind of social media algorithms with a highly intentional combination of an evergreen podcast and a dedicated email newsletter.
• Deepen Engagement via Audio: Discover why an intimate audio format fosters stronger trust and a deeper connection with your ideal audience than a 60-second viral video clip ever could.
• Balance Solo and Guest Cadences: Explore how structured podcast seasons—blending solo education with strategic guest episodes—keep your content high-quality and sustainable.
• Leverage the Power of Private Feeds: Understand how introducing a private podcast or exclusive audio resources can solidify client referrals and build an insulated community ecosystem.
• Frictionless Pitching for Network Growth: Master the art of the perfect podcast pitch. Learn why giving your target hosts a list of exact questions eliminates administrative friction and secures your spot on their schedule.

Your business visibility shouldn't be held hostage by an app's algorithm. If you are feeling misaligned with how you market your brand, remember that you have the power to change the rules. This week, ask yourself: if I could never post on social media again, how would I use my podcast to build an undeniable connection with my clients? 

Be sure to tune in to all the episodes to receive tons of practical tips on turning your podcast listeners into leads and to hear even more about the points outlined above. 

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, take a screenshot of the episode to post in your stories and tag me! And don’t forget to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

Learn more about Podcasting Unlocked at https://galatimedia.com/podcasting-unlocked/ 

CONNECT WITH LEAH KERN:

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CONNECT WITH ALESIA GALATI:

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LINKS MENTIONED:

Off the Grid with Amelia Hruby, PhD

Free Download: 15 Ways to Improve Your Podcast

Proud member of the Feminist Podcasters Collective.

Transcript

Alesia Galati: 0:00

So much of our podcast, the strategy, the cadence, the way that we market it changes as we grow and evolve as humans, as we grow and evolve as podcasters, and the things that are important to us in the beginning and the things that are no longer important to us tend to shift and change as we grow. Today we're talking with Leah Kern all about how she used her podcast as a way to solidify her audience, leave social media, and connect with them on a deeper and more intuitive level. Please join me in welcoming Leah to the podcast. Welcome to Podcasting Unlocked, the show for purpose-driven podcasters, I'm Alesia Galati, founder of Galati Media, and I'm here to share actionable strategies to help you amplify your message and grow your audience. Hello, Leah, I'm so excited to have you on the podcast. If you could start by telling everyone who you are, what you do, and a bit about your podcast. Sure, thanks for having me.

Leah Kern: 1:01

I am Leah. I'm a registered dietitian, and it's misleading because I don't believe in diets. I'm an anti-diet dietitian. I work with folks who struggle with disordered eating and body image issues, things like emotional eating, binge eating, unhealthy obsession with health, these types of things, and I have a podcast named Shoulders Down. I think I've had the podcast. I should have looked it up before this. Four years, I think it was four years in March, and my podcast is a space where I talk about intuitive eating, anti-diet, health at every size, body image, relationship with movement, so we cover a lot of topics under the intuitive eating anti-diet umbrella. It's a mix between guests episodes and solo episodes. There's been seasons where I just haven't had the bandwidth to do all the outreach for guests, so I've done more solo. There's been seasons where I have a guest every week. Used to be weekly, it became every other week a couple years ago, which definitely feels more sustainable. And I love it. I really love talking. It just feels so natural to me, and it feels less like pulling teeth sometimes than writing.

Alesia Galati: 2:16

Was that what you were doing before for your business? Was like writing blog posts and like social stuff, and yeah, felt hard.

Leah Kern: 2:24

I love writing. I really love writing, but it feels easier to talk than to write, though. I have to say, I've learned over the years if I write a little bit of an outline, it really does help the episode be smoother. So, I think they really do play together, but yeah, before I started the podcast. All of my marketing was social media, a couple speaking engagements here and there. People would find me some directories I'm listed in online as an intuitive eating dietitian, the normal stuff like word of mouth and stuff. But starting the podcast scratched this itch, which I'm sure a lot of people say this of longer form content you mentioned before we hit record, your audience is like out at 45 minutes. My episodes are like 45 minutes minimum, it's just different content, and to I guess I've had episodes that are 30 minutes, but like it's long form content, and it was scratching this itch in my brain of like I don't want just like short cut up chopped pieces of content in a carousel or a 10 second reel, like I want to really think through these things and have bigger conversations and discussions, where it only starts getting juicy a couple minutes in, and eventually that led me to leaving social media. I left social media two years ago, in March, and that was it, was so nice to have the podcast already have been established for two and a half years, because I felt like, okay, like I have a listenership, this is a crazy decision, because a lot of my clients were coming from social media, but I had this other really stable source where, like, a body of my work exists, and where I have a community, so it was a major reason why I felt like leaving social media was safe enough, even though it was still a huge risk.

Alesia Galati: 4:08

Yeah, let's dig into that a little bit, because I left social, not left social media, that's my hours on Instagram reels would say otherwise, but I did stop promoting the podcast on social media back in Q of 2025 as a test, just to see what would happen, because my team was creating content every week for the podcast, sometimes twice a week for the solo episodes, and I realized no one is engaging with this content, I don't enjoy having to post it or going in and commenting on it and engaging with this type of content. Why am I doing something that's not getting me any results, not enjoyable, and not leading to clients? But you said that your social media was getting you clients, so I'm curious, what were the strategies around. Okay, the podcast is going to be my focus, and I also need a way to engage semi one on one with my audience to move them through the quote unquote funnel of working with me. How did that kind of shift your perspective for the podcast?

Leah Kern: 5:16

It didn't really. I was just like, I keep doing what I'm doing, I'm just not going to do it from Instagram. It's going to become about the podcast. I still write a weekly newsletter, and I did that before, while I was on Instagram. It was Instagram, the newsletter, the podcast, very occasionally a blog post that was just too much, really, to manage. And now that I've dropped Instagram, it's the podcast, the newsletter, more frequent blog posts, so to your question, it didn't really change like how I thought about the podcast. I guess I just was like, okay, I'm glad I've been building this for the last two years. My story with leaving social media, actually, how I met you was through Becky Mullen Campright. So, how I met her was through Amelia Ruby, who are you familiar with her? Yeah. Okay, so I found her podcast off the grid, and it was all about leaving social media without losing all your clients. I was like, I need to do this. There's so many reasons that could be a whole other conversation, but it was like I just felt like it was not worth the time I was putting into it, and it was like ruining my mental health, and so I left and leaned more heavily on the other forms of panels that I had, but I didn't really do anything different. I was just like, okay, now like more is riding on the podcast, but it didn't change. I guess one thing maybe I did different is more solo episodes, because I wanted to feature more of my perspective, instead of it just having to be a platform where I feature other people's perspectives, because I needed people to learn about me and how I think, and how I would coach if they wanted to work with me, or buy my course, or whatever. So, yeah, I guess maybe that's a change. It was a bit more peppered in more of the solo episodes.

Alesia Galati: 7:02

Yeah, I'm thinking, too. You probably, if you didn't already, had to remind people, hey, this is where to connect with me further. Oh, sign up for the newsletter. Sign up for the newsletter. Don't go to Instagram, sign up for the newsletter. Yeah,

Leah Kern: 7:17

I talked about it. I had one of my most downloaded episodes, is why I'm leaving Instagram. For the four months before I left, I talked about it on the podcast. I'm leaving. Make sure to get connected with me other places. I talked about it on Instagram. I'm leaving. Make sure to subscribe to my podcast. Get on my newsletter. So I really did that for several months. It wasn't just one offhanded mention. I really like prepped people. And now if you go to my Instagram account, there's like a six grid thing, and it says I'm no longer on Instagram, find me here, here, and one of those is the podcast,

Alesia Galati: 7:47

nice, and that's so strategic too, right? And it sounds like you put a lot of thought into it, like I'm kind of done with this, and I need to do something differently, and I like that. Now that you have left social media, you have more spaciousness to write more blogs, right? You said you enjoy doing it. It's not like it's hard, but you maybe didn't have the capacity to do it. Now, speaking of capacity, you went from weekly to biweekly. One thing that I constantly will say here is that your capacity is always the key. If you can't do weekly, don't do weekly, don't listen to someone who tells you that you have to do a weekly podcast. What was that transition like for you in going from weekly to biweekly? What did it feel like

Leah Kern: 8:31

a few years ago? I just went through a lot of changes. I moved from the East Coast to the West Coast with my partner. We were staying with his family, looking for a place to live, he was getting a new job. I was transitioning my business from being fully private pay to starting to accept insurance, which is a big learning curve. There's a lot of admin involved, and so I was like, I just don't.. it's just too much to do weekly. I didn't think too much about it. Again, I told my people on the show a few weeks in a row, we're gonna be switching to biweekly, and I feel like when I went down in frequency, it gave me the ability to make higher quality episodes, it was quality over quantity, and yeah, it just, it gave me more space, because every week comes up fast, every other week you can breathe a little and have time to edit or make a thumbnail if you put it on YouTube and just kind of have more fun with it and feel less pressure. So that was it, just was what I needed to do, and I knew I wanted to the podcast ultimately to be sustainable for the long term, because I know one thing with podcasting is a lot of people fall off after a year or less, so I was like, no, I just gonna do what I need to, and you know, sometimes if something like big is happening, last month I was on a very highly visible YouTube video that got over 5 million views, and there. Is a lot to say about it, so it's like there's no rules I can do weekly for this month, like you just put in a bonus episode. So I'm very illuite with things. I really hold myself to every other week because I think people do need some amount of consistency, but if I feel like I want to pop in an extra episode, it's like there's no rule saying you can't do that.

Alesia Galati: 10:17

No, that's so true with so many years of podcasting. How do you keep ideas fresh? Right, for this podcast specifically, I'm actually going to be stopping it at 300 episodes, which will be in August of this year.

Leah Kern: 10:34

Oh, wow.

Alesia Galati: 10:35

And part of me is like, am I doing something wrong? Am I doing. and I'm like, I think listeners can energetically, especially on my solo episodes, hear that there is - there's nothing really new for me to say or to expound on. Podcasting is podcasting, right? And with 300 episodes, plus I don't know, maybe 30-ish bonus episodes, there's so much content for them to go back to, and with the concept of this podcast being especially now, as it's evolved, being you get to decide what works best for you, pick and choose from these conversations to say, oh, I like that, I don't like that, I don't want to do that, oh, I do want to do that, you have lots of options and ideas, so I'm coming to a point where I'm like, I don't really have anything else that I feel like I need to say. How do you feel about that? And then, how do you keep the ideas and the creative ideas going with so many years of podcasting?

Leah Kern: 12:20

Yeah, it's definitely something I'm starting to think about. I'm not sure, I'm like, will there be a moment where I feel the way you feel, where I'm like, I've said what I need to say, I'm done. I think what's interesting about the content is diet culture, intuitive eating, relationship with food is so tied in with kind of current events in a way, like right now we're seeing a big boom with Ozempic, there's always a new like fad, like people are obsessed with protein right now, and GLP ones, and so it feels like that keeps it so that there's always things to talk about and comment on. We did an episode at the end of last year, like five of the biggest trends in I saw in like health and wellness, and what I think about them as a registered dietitian, so there's like this intersection of kind of not pop culture, maybe because there's like famous people who are like promoting different diets, but like just current fads and trends that helps keep things fresh, but beyond that, I think in the beginning I was very literal, it was like I'm an intuitive eating dietitian, talk about this principle of intuitive eating, have this other intuitive eating professional on, and talk about their niche within intuitive eating. Like, all the episodes at first were like intuitive eating and this, intuitive eating and this, intuitive eating and exercise, intuitive eating and gentle nutrition. Like, it was very literal. And a couple years ago, I had this like Renaissance period. I worked with Amelia from Off the Grid, and she really encouraged me to lean more into my unique POV, and that has changed so much for me. So every year I do a section of the Appalachian Trail, and I've been doing this for many years, and like I think last summer after I got back, I did an episode of what hiking on the Appalachian Trail, taught me about intuitive eating, or something, so like really just like getting more creative with it, and pushing the bounds of what I think I can do a podcast on, and that has helped so much. Now I like rarely have other dietitians on, sometimes I do, but sometimes it's just less interesting, unless they have a really interesting niche, like I just had this woman on who talked about transfer addiction, of how she used to be someone who struggled with alcoholism, and then she found, like, health and wellness, and then became addicted to health and wellness, and how that's a form of an eating disorder too, or an addiction too, so just these more expansive topics, more leaning into my unique perspective, and I'm right now not feeling like the end is in sight. I'm right now feeling like bountiful still with ideas, and I feel like it's a good challenge. Like one year in, there were so many topics, like I'm nowhere near scratching the surface. Four years in, I have to think a little bit more, but I think that produces better, more interesting episodes.

Alesia Galati: 15:09

That's awesome, though. And I love the idea of shifting it, right? So, like, for in the beginning, and I feel like a lot of us go through that with our podcasts, is we have an idea of what we think it's going to be, or the kinds of things we want to talk about, and then either someone opens a window for us of like, what about this light? Let this light in, or something sparks an idea, or we just evolve as people, and then we become more expansive in what we're talking about. Same thing happened with this show, where initially I was focused solely on it, was called listeners to leads. So, how do you turn your listeners into paying clients? That was it. That was the focus, and I didn't really deviate from that. It was interviewing people about how they were doing that in their podcast and what are the strategies that they're using. And then I was like, but there are more goals around podcasting, like you could have, as a nonprofit, a goal of, oh, I want to get more engagement, and I want to increase brand awareness. Like, my podcast, can still help with that, but let's make sure that it's very specific on, like, helping in those more expansive areas where people can decide whatever goal works for them. And even in the beginning, I'd shudder to go back and listen to initial episodes, because I definitely was like, "You should be doing this, and now I'm like, do whatever the heck you want to do, you get to decide what's going to work for you, and I think that's just evolving over time, or as I've grown as a person too, but I love that, I love that kind of our listeners can go on this journey of transition with

Leah Kern: 16:41

us, yeah, it also feels in some ways like a voice diary, like when I hear my older episodes, I'm like, well, I felt the need to do so many more disclaimers of sorry if today I'm all over the place, or I live in New York City, and you're gonna hear all the sounds of the streets, whenever, and now I realize, like, when I'm listening to someone else's show, I'm like, just say whatever, like you're human, I don't fucking care, like, if I'm actually annoyed by that, because I want to hear what you have to say, and I don't want to hear these disclaimers, so I've just.. I can track my own confidence in myself and what I'm saying, having gotten higher, and, like, also I think so much of my work is talking to clients, and the podcast almost feels like cross training for that, like it helps me work out metaphors and things I want to say, and so it makes me more able to like fluidly deliver ideas and to teach and counsel, which is my whole job.

Alesia Galati: 17:40

Do you find yourself referring your clients to specific episodes to listen to between sessions. Yeah,

Leah Kern: 17:49

I also, and this I have an audio course called 10 Steps to Food Freedom, which is a private podcast hosted on a private podcast feed, and that's that is something that was so much easier to make because I had already been making my public podcast for several years, and the private podcast is something I often encourage clients to buy alongside sessions, because it makes it so that in session we can just work on whatever they're struggling with, and it doesn't have to be like, okay, let me explain the whole intuitive eating framework and all the science and everything you need to know. It's not required, but a lot of people already love podcasts. It's 12 episodes that are built on each other, whereas the podcast feed is random, which is fine. You could still go on a treasure hunt and learn a lot, but this is like A to Z. Here's what you need to know. So that was another sort of like unintended positive outcome. It just gave me the tools, like, all right, I already got a microphone, I know how to edit, I know how to make a podcast. I'm in a place where I can have authority in my voice, which is feels like what you need to be able to sell a podcast course, so I often refer them to that, but then I also have a, like, a new to the podcast start here playlist on Spotify and my website, and so a new client who's lost learning about this world, I'll send them to that and recommend that they work through as many of the episodes as they can. If they like podcasts, some people are like, that's just not my thing.

Alesia Galati: 19:13

Yeah, yeah, that's why we, and this is, I don't know, in the last maybe 200 episodes, started adding full-length blog posts to our podcast episodes on the blog, one, because when we focus on Pinterest for quite some time there, and saw pretty decent growth with the podcast, or at least with the website, with that was Pinterest. People who are on Pinterest don't want to move to, oh, here's an audio podcast, or

Leah Kern: 19:41

like

Alesia Galati: 19:42

you're for a blog, what are you doing with my life? And so we found that helped really well to be able to just meet people wherever they are, right? Yes, a lot of people listen to podcasts, and they're a lot more prevalent now than they were, wow, 10 years ago when I was first guesting on other podcasts, but not everyone does enjoy or has the capacity to listen in that way. Yeah, so finding other avenues is so important. I love the idea of the private podcast, and even thinking about, okay, I'm stopping this one, but what would a private podcast look like? Where I structure it a little better and have it as a paid, maybe mini course or something like that. All right, if you, this is your goal, here are 10 episodes for this specific goal, because I usually talk about four, so not too many episodes that I would have to create for that, and then I love the idea also of a start. Here we do something similar. It's more of if you're struggling with this, then here's the playlist that you need to start with. And then every a new episode, we use Buzzsprout, so there's tags that you can have, and then you can create custom playlists. And there's a whole thing on that, but yeah, there's so many tools, and I think Spotify is a great one, because most people do use Spotify to listen to Music, and so it's a good way, and to their podcasts, so it's a good way to reach them where they are, but also have somewhere that you can direct your clients, of all right, I need you to start here, if you want to listen, go ahead, this is going to help you.

Leah Kern: 21:07

It makes it a lighter lift for me in session, because I've done a bunch of pre-recorded teaching that they come and they're like, "You said this and then you said that, and I'm like, "Oh yeah, but I did say all this on recording.

Alesia Galati: 21:18

Exactly, yeah, you spend less time having to educate them, and you have more time to be able to actually like get to the root of the thing that they're struggling with, instead of in a roundabout way trying to show them what their problem is, because they already are aware of their problem, and then they can go deeper and work on it quicker. So, I think that's so incredible and so important. In the beginning, you mentioned seasons in my hobby podcast, I do seasons, and I love it so much. This one is twice a week, it never ends, whether it's just.. it's just ongoing. But the other one's once a week, and I take two months off every year, so I'll take June off, and I take December off, and I'm loving it in the best way. What do your seasons look like? Are they structured? Are they not? Is it just based on what you're needing?

Unknown: 22:12

Yeah,

Alesia Galati: 22:12

what does that look like?

Leah Kern: 22:14

Yeah, so I use the word season delightfully. It's not like season one, season two. Every year when I do this Appalachian Trail hike, I'll take off sometime in the summer, but there's been times where I just got really ahead, and I was like, let me just pre-schedule these, and they're gonna be here in the summer, so yeah, I just feel it out, but I really do feel like with every other week, I don't really, I don't feel burned out, I don't feel like, oh, I need to take some time off. Sometimes I think, oh, it would be nice if I had thought about seasons like from the start, but right now it just feels like it would be strange to be like, and that's all season one, so I'm just.. I don't know, it feels a bit arbitrary, but it's just much like I just feel it out,

Alesia Galati: 22:53

and it does make sense that being every other week you might not need to have seasons. I knew right away that with that podcast I wanted to have seasons, because almost every single episode is a guest and I'm interviewing authors, and so there's a lot of background of like, all right, I need to make sure I'm getting the right people and I'm preparing for these conversations, and I need space to like make sure I still enjoy this

Unknown: 23:22

totally to

Alesia Galati: 23:22

make sure I don't get burned out, and was like, all right, what's going to be the best way to do that. We're in April when we're recording this, and I already have most of May recorded, and I have publishers reaching out, like, hey, can we get this episode, can we get this guest, and they're big guests, like big name people. I'm like, oh my god, I, yes, I would love to rearrange in my life for y'all, but also I'm gonna hold my boundaries, and this is what I'm gonna.. I'm gonna take this time off, which I think is so important, is just honoring the decision that you made, like you said before, where you were talking about, all right, it's every other week, and that's what I'm holding myself to, and if I want to do more than I

Leah Kern: 24:05

can, yeah, yeah, one thing I just want to say, too, is a big, I guess, another unintended positive outcome from podcasting for four years is the people that you get to form relationships with. Just, there's built-in networking from having guests on, and I've had some really amazing opportunities from being guests on other people's podcasts, which I don't know that I ever would have gotten a foot in the door unless I had them on my show first, and they saw, oh, okay, I get her vibe, I like how she talks, and then I go on their show, and so, yeah, that's been a really useful part of it, like I've gotten so many clients from being on other people's shows, which

Alesia Galati: 24:46

is such a compliment, because it's like some other dietitians too, where it's, oh, like, part of me would think, why would I go on another dietitian show if this, if their listeners want to work with a dietitian, just work with them, but you start to realize people really get to know you from listening to you, they can really feel your vibe, and in the work I do, you really have to feel safe or connected with the provider, so it just helps people get to know you by hearing your voice. Yeah, that's so true. I have a therapist friend, and they talk a lot about how they're always happy to refer clients to other therapists who they would feel safer with who they would feel like yes I would love to work with you and your growth and prosperity and healing is way more important than you just working with me right is so important and sometimes some dietitians are going to be. Certain seasons of your life, too, right? So, maybe you're working with one during one phase of your life, and then, oh, you're pregnant, so you need to work with someone else, or you're postpartum, and you need to work with somebody else, so you get to decide, like, what that looks like for you. You don't have to just work with one for the rest of your life, or anything like that. So, yeah, I think that's so important, and there's so much collaboration too that can happen when we view our quote unquote competition as collaborators or as coworkers, right? Like we're all here for the same things and trying to achieve the same things, and what I do might not work for you, and that's okay. Here's someone else who their strategies might work better for how you think or how you work, so yeah, I think that's so important. The networking is so powerful, and I'm always amazed. Yes, I love my listeners, I love the connections that I can make with them, and the strategies that we can implement, but those guests I feel are just so incredibly special. And now I'm curious, is there something that you do to maybe keep that engagement with your guests alive? I know that's something that I struggle with, of like circling back after, okay, hey, your episode is live, and then being like, hey, how are you, how are things, what's going on, or like just finding more ways to reconnect or collaborate.

Leah Kern: 27:07

Yeah, it's a good question. If there are guests where I really feel like that connection with, I just kind of keep in the back of my mind, or I have an actual list, they're just people where you know if I have a new offering coming out, I might put them all like BCC and on email list and say, would you help me spread the word, let me know if there's anything of yours I can share about or promote or whatever, because it's a little bit like, okay, you had you on my show, here's that's something that is just, there's some reciprocity there, and another thing is I have an alumni group where after people work with me one on one, if they want continued community support, they can join this like once a month group, and we have guest speakers, so a lot of my guest speakers are former podcast guests, because I know, oh, this person's great, they're going to offer so much value to my alumni. Or what I'm having have happened more recently is there is someone who I've been wanting to get on the podcast, but I just wanted people a little bit more, I don't know, for lack of a better word, known, famous, like just a harder cash for the podcast, and I don't pay podcast guests. I don't think most people don't pay podcast guests, but I pay guest speakers in my alumni groups. I can have this subject line reach out to them of paid speaking opportunity, paid guest coaching opportunity, get them in the door. And my hope is that you meet, we make a nice connection, they have a great time with my alumni. And then I, after follow up. Thanks so much for joining my group. I would love to have a conversation for a broader audience on the podcast, so it can go both ways. The alumni group can be a way to get podcast guests, and also it can be a way to stay connected with former guests. Also,

Alesia Galati: 28:41

that's such a good idea. I also would encourage you, and also people listening, reach out with the free one too, because you will be so surprised the number of people that will say yes, even if they're big names, you will be surprised the number of high profile people that will say yes to being on an unpaid podcast. I remember I reached out to someone, and I was like, there is no way this person is going to say yes to little old me. No, not going to happen, but I'm going to try anyway. I'm going to stamp my rejection, my 100 rejections is going to be great. It doesn't matter if they say no, and I'm always like that one was not a rejection, and now I have to have an interview with them without fangirling. Great, like you'll always be surprised.

Leah Kern: 29:32

I encounter fewer rejections and more just people who don't answer, which I get, and I follow up and stuff. But I have to say, in the last few years, I don't know if it's AI or what, I get so many more spam things of people being like, hello, person from Shoulders Down podcast, where they're just crawling the internet, like I have the perfect guest for you. So, you really have to make your pitch email stand out, so it's like clearly not one of these bots or people who don't know you at all.

Alesia Galati: 29:59

Yeah, and that's in that, and maybe I don't know if I've done an episode on this. If we have, I'll make sure that we link it in the show notes, or maybe I'll do one in the near future, but there's a very specific way that I pitch in my emails to get the higher people, and a lot of it boils down to yes, the subject line, but also in the email, instead of just, and I think a lot of us tend to do this, is hey, I'd love to have you on my podcast, is

Leah Kern: 30:25

now

Alesia Galati: 30:26

very specific about what you want them to talk about, what part of their journey you think would be a good fit. There's a strategy behind it that I think can also help win those people over, or even so, one thing I started doing, especially with pitching a lot of these authors. These higher level authors is sometimes twofold, one sliding in their DMs, being like or replying to their stories, because those will always show up instead of just a random DM. I'll reply to their Instagram stories. Hey, oh my goodness, this is such an interesting topic. I'd love to have you on the podcast, or I will create a story of, can you imagine if I got at so and so on my podcast to talk about this, that would be crazy. And then I had the person reach out be like, "Oh, I'd love to be on your podcast, and I was like, "Shut up right now. I was joking, but okay, let's do this. For looking at their website, and usually, especially authors in their inquiries or contact, they'll have their PR emails, like who to reach out for bookings or speaking, and so reaching out to those people, but then, like, recently I had this happen, I reached out to them in February, again we're in April, I reached back out because I was like, I really want to have them on, and I haven't heard back from the publicist, that's weird, I reached back out, and they were like, "Oh my goodness, thank you so much. This got missed. I'm so glad that you reached back out. We also have this other author that we think would be a good fit, and I was like, yes. And so, yeah, sometimes it's like, oh, the follow-up,

Leah Kern: 31:59

yeah, stuff gets missed, and I appreciate when people follow up with me too, because sometimes I'll do a little test, and this is like, maybe screwed up of me, but sometimes I'll be like, like, I kind of don't have time right now, I'm just like gonna leave that on red, and I literally will be like, if they follow up, I'll do it, but yeah, I think about the pitching thing, like, having had the show for a little over four years, I'm much more like, say, like strict, but like I have a higher standard of a guest now, and I get kind of like irked if someone reaches out and they're like hey I want to come on your show and I'm like what gives you the right like what you know like what would you name the episode what questions should I ask you make this as easy as possible for me and I actually like really grinds my gears when people are just like I could talk about like intuitive eating and I'm like okay have you looked at any of my stuff clearly I've talked about intuitive eating for over 200 episodes now, so I've so and I really learned this from Amelia too, from Off the Grid. Big shout out to her, but like, you have to make it as easy as possible for people. Like, when I pitch someone to be on their show, I say, here are the exact questions you could ask me, because I know that when someone pitches me, I'm like, okay, now I have to like plan an interview and sift through their website and figure out the questions. That's a lot of work. If someone just says, these are the questions that I would be able to really showcase a unique perspective and expertise, then great, easy. Yes. Here's the link to my calendar.

Alesia Galati: 33:16

Exactly. Yeah. Oh, that's so important. Okay. This has been incredible, and we haven't even touched on what you actually do. So everybody go listen to your podcast to learn more about intuitive eating and what it is to be a registered dietitian and all of that incredible stuff. Where can people find you, connect with you, get to know you?

Leah Kern: 33:38

Yeah, so my podcast, Shoulders Down, is everywhere you listen to podcasts, and sort of newly on YouTube. My website is Leah Kern rd.com and yeah, you can sign up for my newsletter there. I'm very diligent about the newsletter, and that's where you can find out about working together, what insurance I take, all that fun stuff.

Alesia Galati: 33:58

Awesome, and we'll have links for all that in the show notes and the YouTube description for anyone doing other things as they're listening to us. Leah, thank you so much for being on the podcast. I appreciate you.

Leah Kern: 34:09

Thanks for having me.

Unknown: 34:19

Bye.