The One Thing Stopping Your Story from Being Heard (And How to Fix It)

What if the only thing standing between you and your story being heard… is the right room?

In this episode of the SD Podcast, host Stephanie Davila sits down with business owner Melissa Lewis to talk about the journey of building The Forum: a podcast & content creation studio in Fort Lauderdale, FL built by business owners for business owners and creators with a message worth sharing.

They dive into how they met at a business event, the growing pains of entrepreneurship, the power of being present, and why your 30s might just be your best chapter yet.

Here is what you'll get out of this episode:

• What The Forum Studio is and why it was created 
• How to plan 30 days of content in a single session using a unique strategy 
• The content blueprint that shows what you need to tell your story
• Why repurposing content is the smartest move any creator can make
• A real conversation about stepping into your 30s with confidence and purpose
• How two women in business connected, collaborated, and built something meaningful

Learn more about The Forum Studio:  theforumstudio.com

Download your free content blueprint: theforumstudio.com

Timestamps: 

00:00: Teaser

00:28: Introduction to the SD Podcast

00:34: Meet Melissa Lewis

00:47: What Is The Forum Studio?

01:35: How Stephanie & Melissa Met

04:49: Building a Community for Business Owners

08:57: The Power of Being Present & Turning 30

13:09: What Makes The Forum Different

14:32: The Free Content Blueprint

15:46: Where To Learn More

If this episode resonated with you, share it with someone who has a story to tell. Like, subscribe, and leave a review. It helps more people find the show. 🎙️

#StartingAPodcast  #PodcastStudioNearMe  #PodcastStudioSetup  #PodcastStrategy

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

It's strictly an hour, but it takes so much more than that. You need to talk to your creators, you need to talk to the the people on camera, you need to talk to your host, your guests, and really align because sometimes we're just so it things go so fast that like you don't have enough time in an hour.

SPEAKER_01 0:14

Yeah, 100%. And I feel like nowadays, especially in our generation, it's all about finding your people and finding a community, especially building spaces or building businesses, building, you know, teams in general. Everything is about finding your people.

SPEAKER_00 0:41

Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of SD Podcast. Your host here is Stephanie DeVilla, and I'm here with the beautiful Melissa Lewis. Hey, how are you? I'm good. How are you? I'm great. I'm great. So, Mel, um, talk to me about this room a little bit. And why are we here today?

SPEAKER_01 1:00

Yeah, absolutely. Well, let me introduce you guys to the forum. Um, this is our little um everything you pretty much need to be able to put together a podcast. If you're somebody who's an influencer, you're getting new into influencing, if you're somebody that has a small business, you're somebody that even has a topic that you could talk about anything, and you're like, I'm sure people would love to hear about it, then this is perfect for you. Um it's a studio that we kind of put together, an essence where, you know, people can kind of come in here, uh, you know, feel at home and really just given them the opportunity to make something and create a voice for themselves. So um, we've also created a bit of a platform that kind of gets everybody ready for those types of things. But that's a little bit about forum.

SPEAKER_00 1:44

I love it.

SPEAKER_01 1:45

I love it. Yeah. Mel, do you remember when we met each other? I do. It feels like it was almost yesterday.

SPEAKER_00 1:51

How far? How how long ago was that?

SPEAKER_01 1:53

Um about three years ago we met. Yes. So we were at a this is fill in the blanks, by the way.

SPEAKER_00 2:00

So Okay, I got you. Um, so we were at a business event. It was like a little mixer. And we got introduced, not sure by who. Do you remember who we got introduced by? Um well I think we introduced ourselves.

SPEAKER_01 2:18

Yes. So um I remember somebody, I remember, I believe somebody who I don't actually know who who it was, but I remember just going around at that particular event. Um, I came up to you and I had when I had I had been I bro I got brought to that event by somebody else and I was like, you know what? I'm really in um the time of my life where I'm looking to meet more like women in business. And um particularly I went to that event like only looking to speak to women, and you were one of the women I was like, hey, how are you? Like, nice to meet you. I'm Melissa, and then that's kind of, you know, you told me a little bit about your business, and I was like, Oh, that's awesome. Um, and then you told me you had a business partner, and I was like, okay, cool. And I remember some other people came up to you, so then I kind of left and then went and actually uh met Christy. And then uh Christy was telling me a little bit about her needs, and then I was like, you know what? I actually just met somebody that I think that, you know, you guys would be a really great fit. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:12

And the next thing you know, here we are. Yeah. And I love what you said, women in business. Um, I had been in business already for four years when I met you. Um, I'd been growing with a lot of growing pains, and it was so refreshing because typically at these networkers, you do not see a lot of women that are willing to go out there. Yeah. Now it's a little bit more popular. Um, a lot of people are pushing women in business, but at that time, it was still very unusual. And I loved that about you, how you just had this wonderful approach. You came through and you you did you have something that's fantastic. You're a fantastic integrator. So you you pick up on synergies and you connect people extremely well. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:53

I love that. I try to, I try to. I feel like that's a little bit of my sales background, just kind of, you know, reading the room or reading the conversation and picking up off of what people need, and then saying, like, oh, this seems like something you might need. So let me connect you to that person solving a problem. Correct.

SPEAKER_00 4:08

Yeah. And then as we evolved, we started working together and we always had different ideas. And one of those ideas for me on a personal standpoint was being comfortable behind camera and having that opportunity to have a community where I felt comfortable, where it was private, where, hey, you know what? If I wasn't very good at being in front of camera, like I can come and practice here and then have guidance. And the more we talked about that, because we started putting ourselves out there with media, social media. We we have our own content. I know that you also have your content, you have your different key, but you're you're a public speaker, right? So I I've always seen you, you do really great. But not everyone is in that position that has that podium where they could speak, or they have an opportunity to speak to several people, and they have such a beautiful story to tell. Yeah, absolutely. And the more and more we talked about it, more and more we said, hey, you know what? Let's create a community. Let's create a community where folks can feel comfortable, where creators can come in, have their um guests over, and if they want to practice, they come in. And the beautiful thing about what we created in forum is that we also provide a free value blueprint, and that blueprint gives you all four of the all what do you call that? Pillars. Yeah, they give you all four pillars. Uh-huh. But aside from that, you can also see how you can repurpose your content and then how you could use it to your advantage. So that's something very unique that even if you do have a studio based. I remember we were still when we started to record, we would record in our own office. We created a space in our own office. But then that became very inconvenient. We re- we outgrew that. Then we went externally. So there's like these a lot of these co-op offices that you could rent a room for like an hour. It's strictly an hour, but it takes so much more than that. You need to talk to your creators, you need to talk to the people on camera, you need to talk to your host, your guests, and really align because sometimes we're just so things go so fast that like you don't have enough time in an hour. So that was not like the best. And then sometimes you there it's unrealistic to go somewhere and then and then just drive and all that. You want a place where you could build community, you can invite people locally, and then also host people externally, which I really love, which is a completely different concept that I haven't seen elsewhere.

SPEAKER_01 6:30

Yeah, 100%. I feel like nowadays, especially in our generation, it's all about finding your people and finding a community, especially building spaces or building businesses, building, you know, teams in general. Everything is about finding your people, people that you can relate to, people that you can connect to, people that you can can you can share common differences or common opinions, and then you know, create something, you know, that's meaningful, something that creates purpose. And I think that's really something that is heavy for a lot of people at the moment is just having that purpose, having that camaraderie between different people that come from different backgrounds and different generations, because in one way or another, we're all kind of saying the exact same thing, but through different lenses, different visions. Uh, and that's kind of one of the biggest things when we create community like this is that other people from different backgrounds can come here and feel that same sense of belonging.

SPEAKER_00 7:20

Yes, yes, I love that too. That's really important because at the end of the day, that's what we're trying to build is community. Absolutely. A community not just for women entrepreneurs, but for anybody that's coming to even boost their their confidence. I think that's another another part of our community that's different. It's that having that confidence to go out and do something, put yourself out there even if you mess up, even if it doesn't come out great the first time, the second time, you're just putting yourself out there because what you have to say won't make a difference. I've I was so surprised, I don't know if it's happened to you, that you maybe have a message, you shared an antidote, then you're like, nobody's gonna like this. And then you get very nice feedback and you're like, oh, that made me feel good. I've I've had a lot of content that I talk about my struggles in entrepreneurship as a single mom and so on and so forth, and people really think that you know it just looks great from the outside, that it's so that they just see the success, but there's so much more to the success behind that. There's a lot of lonely days, a lot of lonely hours behind it. And just talking about your story will make an impact, and you want to inspire, at least if it's just one person, it's more than enough. And then having that space to be able to say that really having the guidance, having the community around you, and then inside of that community, connecting with other people that you could collaborate with is very important.

SPEAKER_01 8:44

Definitely. I can agree with all that.

SPEAKER_00 8:47

What's something that you've done lately, um, or a message that you've you know shared with your audience that has created some impact that you felt like some good community came out of it?

SPEAKER_01 8:59

Um a message recently, let me see. I feel like that's a really good question. Um I mean, I feel like just a little bit of like what we were talking about before is that this um just really being more present, more present in the moment has been something that's been really big for me. I feel like in my entire in my entire life, I usually plan. I'm an over planner, um, where I plan for, you know, like months, years, weeks, days, like even five, 10, 15 years down the road. And just of recently, I've just been trying to live more in the moment, on the more, on the day-to-day, not not look too far ahead, but looking ahead. And sometimes I think that we can get too caught up if we focus too much on this is the future, this is the future, and just being more of, you know, this is the present. And I think it's really just about maximizing the time that you have because at the end of the day, we don't really know ever how much time we have, right? Uh and I feel like for a really long time it felt like I didn't have enough time. And now I feel like because I'm living more in the present with the day-to-day people that I surround myself with, I feel more in tune with actually what's going on. And sometimes I do feel like, wow, maybe I feel like I'm not as busy, or maybe I feel like, why don't I have like maybe I need to be doing more things, but I actually feel more fulfilled in the instance of like, oh, maybe I'm taking care of more of myself. Maybe I'm taking care of more of the people that are around me, maybe I'm taking care of more of like the things that are in my business because I am more present rather than just constantly thinking about maybe the next win or constantly thinking about maybe this is the next project I need to do. So just being more present. And I think that that's also for me something that's really been um an eye-opener just based on the fact that, you know, this year I'm turning 30. And I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm turning 30 and I'm really excited about it. Yeah. And um a lot of people are like, oh my God, you know, that's kind of scary. Uh and I'm like, no, I'm actually really excited to turn 30. I feel like it's a huge milestone because in my 20s, it literally felt like every single day I was waking up, I was grinding my you know, ass off. And then it was like, where did the where did my 20s go? And now I'm like, okay, my 30s, I feel like I'm just gonna run it back. But like now I actually feel like, oh, I'm 25 again or I'm 24 again. Like I genuinely feel like I'm still like 23 at heart, but mentally, physically, I'm like, oh, I'm definitely a lot older now.

SPEAKER_00 11:19

You're your experience. But I like where I said, you know, the being present is so inspiring because when you're present, that means you're more conscious and you make more intentional decision making. That's why this bringing it back to the idea and the concept of forum. When you are more present in your life, your messaging is more clear because your identity has been cemented. You already know who you are. Like you're you're you talk with so much confidence behind everything that you said. Number one, yeah, you grinded, you work through your 20s, but you come into your 30s knowing what works, what doesn't work. So you're like 100%. You're much more refined. And someone that's already like in her mid-30s. I'm gonna tell you one thing. It's like a better version of your 20s in your 30s. Right.

SPEAKER_01 12:09

So everything really does go uphill. It's honestly it's the calm confidence. Like you've already proven yourself, or you've already created, established this identity. And it's like I feel like looking back at it now, I'm like your 20s is really where you have to you prove something. You prove your worth, you prove that you belong in business, you prove that you can do what other people can do, right? And it's like when you hit those milestones, you're like, what did I have to prove really at the end of the day? Like, nothing. Yeah, but it's more, I mean, in some instances you do, but when you look back on it, you know, not everybody is gonna want to, you know, take those same roads and or say it take the exact same, you know, path to success. And I think that that's really important to understand is that everybody has a different path. Some people want to work harder than others, and that's a-okay, and some people want to work a lot less. But it really just and sometimes you kind of get there and then you're like, wow, maybe it really wasn't worth it. And and I think that's where a lot of people always end up struggling, is that they're constantly working for something or it's constantly like, what is ever enough? And I feel like I used to be a little bit of one of those people just putting constant pressure, and now I'm now I'm still that type of person, but I just do it on a day-to-day basis. Like, what's the pressure that I want to give myself today?

SPEAKER_00 13:24

For content creators and people being their messages out there, all the things that you said, what makes it so different of being in here of what we've created, what makes it a better space for them to be able to really revolutionize their messaging and and they're coming out?

SPEAKER_01 13:41

Um, yeah, I feel like this particular space is really good for people who have an idea, have a vision, who want to create something. And I think, again, like I said in the beginning, is that we're creating a community for people from different backgrounds, different businesses, different experiences. And it's a little bit like a melting pot, right? A melting pot where you have all of those people coming together and you're creating a community, cooperative, collaborative, that's you know, doesn't necessarily have an identity saying this is every like one particular thing that we stand behind, but it's you have a lot of people with different ideas and different perspectives. And I think it's a little bit of, you know, kind of a debate, right? The forum also in the the name is like the forum, right? You can debate with somebody of, you know, a different mindset or you know, as long as it's respectful. And nowadays I think sometimes people get out of hand with like it's not, it doesn't debate does can be professional and debate can be respectful. It doesn't have to necessarily get nasty. Oh yeah, certainly you know, certainly. So I think uh really at the end of it is that this is just a great community and a starting place for people that want to get their voice out there.

SPEAKER_00 14:48

The second thing that we do is create and help content creators learn about batching templates. When you come into a session, what is the most that they can take out of it? Plan out your social media 30 days out, all of that has to do with batching templates, which is the second free value that we have. Number three, recording checklist. When you come in and you're if you know you're a newbie, what do you need? Well, how do you prepare? Um, do you need different outfits? Do you need different lightings? Do you need an ASCII card? All of that we provide also to you. So that's an important value offer from that. Because as we when we start something, when you do your first video, you're not always like the best. When you come into a podcast video, you sometimes don't know what to expect. So make the most out of it while you're here. Like I said, coming into a space where you can be comfortable, where you could do and be yourself. And then four, the most important, in my opinion, is repurposing that content. What can you use that content for? What are the different channels that you can use it for? Whether you're going to do it for Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, whatever the purpose is, how can you refresh and repurpose that for your own creation and for your messaging to be crystal clear?

SPEAKER_01 15:59

If you're interested in knowing more about the forum, you can download our free blueprint online at theforumstudio.com. If you'd like to come check us out in person, you can also schedule an in person tour. We love the opportunity to meet you.

SPEAKER_00 16:11

Guys, thank you for tuning in to the SD Podcast. This is me, Stephanie DeVilla and Melissa Lewis checking out.