The Napkin In Between

Embracing the Solo Journey: My Path to Launching The Napkin In Between Podcast

• Daijne • Season 1 • Episode 1

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Can you imagine chasing your podcast dreams only to face setbacks and misaligned partnerships at every turn? That's exactly what happened on my path to launching The Napkin In Between Podcast. After four attempts to find the perfect co-host, ranging from a model in New York who couldn't sidestep her busy schedule to a friend in Atlanta with contrasting podcast visions, I finally embraced the solo route. Join me as I share my journey of trials and triumphs, and how each experience nudged me closer to the realization that my voice deserved to stand alone. Through candid reflections and humorous anecdotes, you'll learn why this solo endeavor feels like the right choice.

Navigating the podcasting world isn't just about finding the right equipment—though the sticker shock was real—but also about aligning creative visions and commitments. In this episode, I recount the rollercoaster ride of potential partnerships, the allure of viral topics like dating and astrology, and how those experiences ultimately led me to take the leap into solo hosting. With a growing TikTok presence and invaluable advice from friends, my determination to pursue this dream has only intensified. Tune in for a heartfelt exploration of embracing creative control and making my podcasting dreams a reality, despite the obstacles along the way.

Daijné:

Is this thing on. Hello, hello, uh-oh, another yapper with a mic. Ha ha ha ha. Hello everyone, and welcome to the Napkin In Between Podcast. I am your host, Daijné Jones, and the fact that I just said those words out loud and not only just saying them out loud, but they're real. Like I have been walking around my apartment and been like, oh my god, welcome to my podcast. But the fact that I'm saying them right now and it's real, like I'm staring at a camera, I'm holding a mic and these lights are blinding the fuck out of me right now, like this, is such a surreal moment for me and it is crazy.

Daijné:

I've wanted a podcast for forever and I'm just really appreciative that you guys are all here and listening and tuning in and making literally my biggest dream come true. So now that that's out of the way, um, what are we gonna talk about today? I want to talk about how we got here, how we got to me deciding to single host a podcast, because, like I said, a podcast has been something that I've always wanted, because I love to yap, I am a certified yapper, I love to talk and, no matter how much y'all try to demonize that with the whole bonnet bandit, yapper, or whatever you guys want to say, I don't care. I wear the yap bonnet like a badge of fucking honor because I love to talk and so when I realized that you could have a podcast and talk and make a career out of it, I was like that is what I want to do, that is my goal.

Daijné:

But whenever I thought about starting a podcast, I always thought about starting it with someone else. I always imagined it being a co-hosted thing. I can remember back to 2023 or no, not 2023, 2022, going into 2023, I made a vision board and I had put on the vision board like visions of a podcast, but it was like two mics, two setups, two headphones, two everything, because I always imagined it would be a co-hosted thing. But, as you can see, we are here, solo hosted podcast.

Daijné:

And how we got here is because I tried four separate times to start a co-hosted podcast and every single time it did not work, and I'm a big believer in trusting when things don't work the first time. But, for whatever reason, I was hell-bent on having a co-host. So, no matter how many times it failed, I just kept trying. But let's go through the four different times that I tried to start a podcast and they failed miserably.

Daijné:

Time number one was with someone that I viewed as one of my best friends. It was when I still lived in Atlanta and we had met when she lived there as well and we both kind of connected on the fact that we really didn't like the city. No hate to Atlanta, it was just not the place for me to be, and she felt the same way that it wasn't for her, and we kind of bonded over that experience of just feeling like Atlanta wasn't the place for us and we became really close friends, or so I thought, and so I can't remember how it came up, but it came up that I had wanted to start a podcast and she showed interest in it and I was like who better to start a podcast with than someone that I view as one of my best friends? It's going to be easy conversation. We know each other really well, we told each other you know really deep emotional stuff. We had connected, whatever. And so I was like, oh my god, this is great, like we can start a podcast together. So we get to like planning the podcast and different things like that.

Daijné:

We had come up with a name, we had made an Instagram and we were coming up with different topics for episodes for the podcast, and I was beginning to realize that it was extremely male-centered. It was like every episode was talking about men or dating or like it was just. Actually, when we had talked about starting the podcast, we created a shared notes app and I might still have it, so let's see, I can read you some of the topics that we had come up with. Yeah, it's right here. Okay, so these are some of the topics. Okay, so the first episode was my idea. We were going to introduce ourselves and then there were 20 questions I had envisioned we put 20 questions in a bowl and then she answered the questions for me, I answered the questions for her we see how well we know each other. And then after that, the topics were the dating pool in Atlanta, moving out of your hometown in your 20s solid topic. I still might talk about that, because that's important.

Daijné:

Um, getting back together with an ex pros, cons when you shouldn't when it's okay. Spoiler alert it is never okay. That man is your ex for a reason. Do not get back together with him. Um, dating men with status like blue check marks, never committing, feeling like the underdog ew, reading over this is crazy. Feeling like the underdog for a man, it's a man. What are we talking about, anyway. Women know everything Intuition, social media, stalking, dating apps, the qualities in men, soulmates, cheating, love bombing, dating in early 20s versus late 20s, sugar daddies, dating men with baggage, red flags, fuck buddies, why men love bitches, which is a book that I still need to read. I haven't read the book Seeing an ex move on rejection, dating in the workforce, girl code versus boy code, zodiac signs, date ideas and taking yourself on dates. So, as you can see, almost every fucking topic is something about dating or men or whatever.

Daijné:

And at the time when we were talking about starting our podcast, I had just gotten out of the most volatile, toxic, draining relationship of my entire life and that's when I really truly started to de-center men. So when I really started to look at our topics, what we were going to talk about I was like I cannot do this, because I was stepping into the realization that men mean nothing. Male validation means nothing, because children, corpses, animals, butterball turkeys, couches, a fucking hole in the wall, anything can receive male attention. It means nothing. So why would I want to spend time every week talking about men and what they care about? I don't give a fuck what men care about, I don't care. So I was like, okay, I don't really want to do this, but I didn't want to tell her that. So it kind of just like drifted off, we never started it and I just let it drift off because it was

Daijné:

I would have been miserable because I need conversation that is like intellectually stimulating, and just talking about men every week, nothing is stimulated. She's not stimulated for the audio listeners, you can't see what I just did, but my little bridge to Terabithia isn't stimulated by men and neither is my brain, so that that wouldn't have worked for me. And also, spoiler alert, me and that girl are not friends anymore. We actually ended our friendship earlier this year because I thought that I could tell her the truth about a man that she was seeing and she didn't like it and she kind of freaked out at me and I was like you know what? You're too male-centered. I can't be friends with you, because male-centered women do not make good friends at all. And then, yeah, we ended our friendship. Anyway, that's a story for another day.

Daijné:

But that was the first time that I tried to start a podcast and it didn't work. Time number two was after I had moved to New York City and I had gotten on Bumble BFF because I knew a few people in the city. But you can never have too many friends and it's New York. So I was like, let me just try to make other friends. So I put in my bio on Bumbel BFF like dog mom, these are things I'm interested in, blah, blah, blah. But I also put like who wants to start a podcast? And I matched with this girl and she messaged me and she was like, oh my god, like I would love to start a podcast. Like what's your idea for a podcast? Blah, blah, blah.

Daijné:

So we talked about like what an idea for a podcast was and I had this thought like for a co-hosted podcast, I wanted it to be just like two friends talking, because I've always had an issue niching down I have too many streams of consciousness at a time and I just want to talk about everything. So like if one week I want to talk about political and racism and different things like that, let's talk about that. And if one week I want to talk about how men ain't shit and be a little bit messy, like I want to talk about that too. Or if we want to talk about both within the same episode, you know, like that's fine too. So, you know, we talked about like what we envisioned for our podcast and it seemed like we were kind of on the same page or whatever, and so we had planned to meet and, just like one, see if, like, we could connect in person, because sometimes on an app is different from in person. So we wanted to see if we could actually match, like and be friends but also talk about the podcast more.

Daijné:

We had planned to go to this um coffee shop, like brunch spot, in Queens, because she lived in Queens, I lived in the city and she had asked like you know, I come to the city for work five days a week, do you mind coming to Queens? And, like I said, I was new to New York City, I hadn't been to Queens, so I was like sure, like I'll come to Queens, whatever. So I plan to go to Queens. It's the morning of the day that we're supposed to meet and she texts me and she's like, hey, like I'm so sorry to do this, I'm not feeling well, do you mind if we reschedule? That is my favorite text to receive ever from a person, ever, because whenever I make plans, like yes, I want to do the plans and I'm excited about them leading up to it, and I'm like, oh, my god, this is gonna be great, whatever, whatever. And then the plans get there and I'm like, do we really want to go? Do we really want to do that right now? Um, so I was just like you know, it's fine, like ywell, we'll reschedule, whatever. Still went to Queens because, like my roommate was going, I went to Queens. Queens is great, I need to go there more. Haven't been since my roommate and I went actually. We reschedule for a time. It's on the weekend. She says that she had something planned, you know, later on in the afternoon she was gonna be in the city so she could come and like we could do something in the city the morning. So we planned that for like a Saturday I think it was Saturday, whatever, doesn't really matter.

Daijné:

The night before we were supposed to meet, I was out with some friends drinking. Your girl was loose as a goose okay, loose as a goose and she's texting me and she's like hey, um, I had something come up. Um, she's like a model or something, but she's not like an established model. So, like photo shoots or whatever will show up here and there and then she can like accept them because she's trying to build her portfolio and stuff like that. And so she's like something came up, like I have a gig, would you mind like coming to set with me, and like we can do that instead of going to your brunch or whatever. Mind you, it's like 12:30, 1:00 am, the night before we're supposed to meet. So I'm like, um, well, like this is kind of last minute, like and also I'm drunk as shit again, remind you, because I'm out with friends. So I'm like I can't really have this conversation right now. Like I'm pretty drunk, like like I don't know.

Daijné:

Next morning I text her and I'm like hey, like sorry, I couldn't understand what you were saying last night. How are we supposed to like really talk or get to know each other or whatever? If I'm on set with you and you're modeling, like what am I supposed to do while you're like, am I supposed to just twit on my thumbs like what's, like, how does that work for the both of us meeting each other? And she's like oh yeah, so like, if you just want to come to set, we can meet each other and talk, blah, blah.

Daijné:

And I'm like, no, no, I understand what you may mean now because I'm sober and coherent, but I'm still not understanding how that's going to work, being as you are technically, I guess, working like how can we talk and meet each other, much less talk about what we want to talk about on our podcast or whatever? And so I'm like I don't really know if that works, like maybe we should just try to reschedule and whatever. And in the back of my head, I'm like this is the second time that I've tried to meet this girl and last minute she's canceled or tried to set something else up or whatever. And not to like bash her, because I completely understand girl, get your bag you're a model, you want to, you know, pursue that career, totally get that. But I'm also trying to pursue a career in podcasting and things like that, and you've shown me twice now that you might not be as reliable as I would hope that you would be, being as though we have to film and edit and all these things for a podcast. So I I'm like, yeah, like maybe we can just reschedule whatever, whatever.

Daijné:

I, to be completely honest, had no intention of rescheduling with this girl because I was like she's just unreliable. And so I don't hear from her for like three weeks or so. And then she finally texts me. She sends me this TikTok and it says like nobody me and my friend at least once a month. And then like the people in the video are saying like, oh my god, we should start a podcast. And I was like, oh my god, this is so funny, ha ha ha. And she responds and she's like, yeah, like I'm still like looking forward to meeting you so that maybe we can start a podcast, whatever. And at that point I was like I just have to be honest with this girl. So I text her back and I'm like, hey, like I don't want to sound rude or anything, but it's like you've canceled or like tried to change our plans twice now, and so that's kind of concerning for me, being as though I want to start a podcast and I don't know that you would be as reliable as I would need you to be in order to start a podcast. And she's like I'm not usually like this, like I'm so sorry, and I was just like you know, we can still meet on like a friend level and see like if we could be friends, but as for the podcast, like I'm not really feeling it anymore. And so she was like OK, like that sounds good, like we can still meet for friendship or whatever. But I've never heard from her since.

Daijné:

Third time I tried to start a podcast I so when I first moved to New York City, I had joined this roommate group because I needed roommates in the city and different things like that. I had found my roommates through that group and me and my roommates get along great. I love my roommates, they're amazing. So I was like maybe we should just try it for a podcast co-host. So I make a post in this group and I'm like hey, like not roommate related, but I'm really interested in starting a podcast if anyone would like to do a podcast with me, like DM me or comment down below and I'll DM you, whatever. So I get a decent amount of responses from people and they're like, oh, like I would love to start a podcast, whatever, whatever. So I'm DMing them or whatever, trying to see if I can find someone that would be a good fit.

Daijné:

And I again ran into a lot of girls wanted to do like dating and men and blah, blah. And I'm just like, oh, my god, I don't want to talk about men every fucking week. Like I would rather use a cheese grater as a rose toy and then dip my freshly DJ'd vagina into sriracha than talk about men every fucking week. Like I just I don't want to do it. And then, if it wasn't that they wanted to talk about men every fucking week, like I, just I don't want to do it. And then, if it wasn't that they wanted to talk about men, they were like really into astrology and different shit like that. And I'm like no hate to the astrology girlies because don't cast a spell on me, but I'm just not into astrology like that. Like I don't understand. Like, oh, I'm a capri sun, so it makes me lash out at people. Like girl, no, you just don't know how to properly communicate your anger. Go talk to the lady. Like you can't just blame your astrology on that. So I was just like, yeah, no, this isn't really working either.

Daijné:

And then the fourth time that I tried to start a podcast, it was when I was really starting to blow up on TikTok, like getting like anywhere from like 5,000 to 10,000 new followers a week. Someone had followed me who had a pretty big platform. I had seen her before. She had like 350,000 followers or something and I had seen a good bit of her content before and she like her content kind of aligned with mine in the sense that like she would talk about things that mattered, like politics and race and homophobia and transphobia and different things like that. But she would also be a little bit messy and she would talk about, like who she was beefing with or like you know how, this man ain't shit. Like it was a good mix and that's like what I had envisioned for my podcast was like doing both.

Daijné:

So a couple weeks after she followed me, I seen she had posted this post and it was like a friends only post and she had jokingly said like oh, views are low. If anybody wants to get into beef for some views, like let me know. So I DM her and I was like, hey, I saw your post about you know the beef, like that's so funny. Um, not interested in getting into any beef with you, but if you want to start a podcast, like I'd be down for that. And so she messages me back and she's like oh my god, like you're so iconic, you're so funny, that would be amazing, like we would be great in a podcast. And I was like, yes, like finally it's gonna work, like we're gonna, we're gonna start a podcast. And so I was like, yeah, like let me know, because we, we also both live in New York City. So I was like let me know if you ever want to get together, um, we can like meet and be friends and maybe talk about starting a podcast.

Daijné:

She left me unread. So I was like oh, okay, like okay, like, okay, girl, okay, period, um. And then I just recently found out that she has her own podcast, which I mean she could have just told me that. Like she could have just said hey, I already have a podcast that I'm solo hosting cool love that for you, get your bag, whatever. Like no hard feelings.

Daijné:

So at this point I'm just like okay, I've tried multiple times. They failed, honorable mention, I did kind of try a fifth time. I asked either of my roommates if they wanted to start a podcast. They both said no. So I'm like, okay, we've tried to do a co-hosted podcast, why not just maybe try to do a solo hosted podcast and see how that works?

Daijné:

And I feel like there are benefits to both a co-hosted podcast and a single hosted podcast. I feel like with a co-hosted podcast, you have someone to bounce ideas off of. It's more of of a conversation, which, again, is what I wanted. It's just like me talking to a friend and us bouncing ideas off of each other and feeding off of each other. With a solo hosted podcast, it's just me. It's just me and my mic and my dream. Like. You know what I mean. Like.

Daijné:

So it is kind of scary. At the same time, it's also been nice because everything that I want to do with this podcast is 1000% in my control. Whatever I want to do, like if I want to record an episode at 2 am, I can do that. If I want to, you know, record three episodes a week, like I could do. So is it kind of scary to have a solo hosted podcast? Yes, but at the same time, I'm feeling very hopeful. Like I feel nervous, I feel excited, but I think, most than anything, I feel very hopeful because I feel like anything that I really set my mind to and this is not just me, but anyone, for you guys too, listening anything that you set your mind to, you can accomplish and you can do so. Here we are.

Daijné:

I finally grapple with the fact that, okay, if I want to start a podcast, it might have to be a solo hosted podcast. So I start looking at equipment everything that I'm going to need for a podcast, which, by the way, podcast equipment needs to be more expensive, and this is coming from someone who hopes to have a successful podcast when I started looking for equip ment you can get a bundle deal, everything that you need to start a podcast on Amazon, I saw one for $40. 00, 4 0 USD. Hello. And mind you, it's gonna say not only is it $40, it says delivered to you tomorrow. I beg your finest fucking pardon, bitch, raise the price.

Daijné:

If tarrifs are gonna start affecting anything, it needs to be these podcast mics, because there are too many people who are picking up mics and speaking, and I know what you're thinking. Oh my god, Daijné, freedom of speech. First of all, freedom of speech protects you from the government, bitch, take a fucking civics class. Second of all, maybe all speech shouldn't be free. Maybe we need to monopolize some of it because too many people are able to communicate with the masses. They can pick up their phone, pick up a mic and talk and post it and there's a chance of thousands and millions of people seeing it. We don't need it. This is what happens when you start to hand out participation trophies.

Daijné:

Everyone thinks that what they say and do matters, not everything you say and do matter, not everything I say and do matter, and that's fine. Not everyone needs to do everything, not everyone needs to pick up a mic. I'm looking at you podcast bros and you orange drink lady. I end up getting all of my equipment. I actually reached out to one of my friends, Sam, who is a sound engineer, and I was like, hey, like I want to start a podcast. If you have any recommendations for equipment, you know, send it my way. And even when she sent me her recommendations, the cheapest one that she sent me was a bundle and it was still 198 Dollars. I'm like this shit is too cheap. That's why we just have anyone and everyone with a podcast. We need to cut the mics, raise the price on the mics immediately. So that's how we got here to my solo hosted podcast and I'm very excited and very happy that I'm finally starting it.

Daijné:

So let's talk about what you can expect from the podcast. I definitely envision the podcast being very similar to what I already do on TikTok, so I plan on sharing my views on what's happening in the world, what's happening in pop culture, everything like that. But something that I want to do more on the podcast is more of just like my personal story. I feel like I don't share a lot of my personal life on TikTok and I would love to do that, so definitely expect some of that on the podcast.

Daijné:

I also have this idea that I got from one of my followers actually Your Favorite Gerontologist, shout out to you for this idea. She had posted a video and she was studying for I believe it was finals or maybe a midterm. She was studying for some sort of exam and she explained in the video that she had gotten to the point where she was listening to music and the music was coming, becoming sort of distracting in the background, and so she wanted to switch from music to a movie and she was going to watch the movie enough", or like not watch it but have it playing in the background. The movie enough, which stars that orange drink lady. And so she said she thought in her head, wwdd, which stands for what would a Janae do? And I was like that is on an influencer with influence, like the fact that she had that thought and like she was like mmm, WWDD, I love that. So what I want to do is I want you guys to send me, you know, your stories, your scenarios, whatever, and I'll give you WWDD, What Would Daijné Do, in that situation?

Daijné:

And this is kind of a combination of, like I said, Your Favorite Gerontologist and her story, but also, as some of you may not know, I have a master's in social work and I worked as a therapist before I got into what I do now, which is nannying, and I want to put my degree to use, like it was an expensive piece of paper bitch. I used to have my license, I don't have a license anymore, so I can't call myself a licensed social worker because social workers have fought for licensure protection, as they should, and so I don't have my license anymore, but I still have the social work degree and I still would like to put that to use in some way. You can send your submissions to my email, which I forget one second. Let me look, I'll put it on the screen also, but for the audio listeners, the email is thenapkininbetweenpodcast@ gmailcom.

Daijné:

Send me your stories, your scenarios, your situations, and I will. I'll keep you guys anonymous too, if you don't want me to talk like, say, your name or whatever, we can definitely keep you anonymous. But send me your situations, your scenarios, whatever you need advice on, and I will tell you what I would do in the situation. Now, keep in mind and let me hold your hand with a napkin in between when I say this, I am going to give you my complete and honest thoughts. okay, if you do not agree with them, remember you still have free will, you can do whatever you want in your situation, but I'm just going to tell you what I would do in this situation and take that information however you will.

Daijné:

Other things that you can expect from the podcast I would love to have a few guests. I've already reached out to some people in my life who I feel have had an impact on me and I would love to just talk with them and, you know, share with them. They're very smart individuals and I want to talk about them and their lives and you know things like that, so they will be on the podcast as well whenever they're ready. But yeah, that's what you can expect from the podcast is me sharing my thoughts on anything and everything that I want to share my thoughts on, a little bit more of me opening up about my personal life and different things like that, and then I'll have a guest, here or there, hopefully, and we'll have conversations and see where that goes as well. I'm not gone to hold you, I don't really know how to end this. I feel like I don't have anything else to talk about, but I don't know what to say in order to end it, so I guess I'm just going to say I'm done talking now.

Daijné:

Thank you for tuning in. I appreciate everyone and I'm really, really excited for the future of this podcast, and I hope you guys are too. Oh, shameless plug before we go. For the audio listeners you can't see but for the visual listeners, I am wearing my merch right now, which is available at shopdaijnebrielle. com. I am also looking for an illustrator to do a graphic for some more merch. So if you're an illustrator, please DM me, email me anything. I would love to look at your work and see if maybe we could work together. Okay, now I am actually done. Okay, thank you for tuning in and I will see you guys in the next episode. Peace and love, talk to you later. The Napkin in Between, hosted by Daijné Jones, produced by Daijné Jones, post-production by Daijné Jones, music by Sam Champagne and graphics by Isma Vidal. Don't forget to like and subscribe. See you next episode.