Today we’d like to introduce you to Liz Lapp and Karen Uyenco, Co-Hosts of L.A. based, The HoopsTalk Podcast.
Liz and Karen, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
It all started with a simple conversation back in 2018. We were meeting for work and the phone call quickly veered into a conversation about the latest NBA drama and drafting for our NBA Fantasy League, it was the start of basketball season after all. Then the idea popped up — Why don’t we start a basketball podcast on the ins and outs of NBA/WNBA culture from the perspective of women in color? And that is how The Hoops Talk Podcast was born!
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The road overall has been smooth because we are passionate about sports and we have support from friends, family and our listeners. Ultimately, buying the equipment, finding a quiet space to record and opening our mouths to talk was the easiest part of the process. The Hoops Talk is a labor of love and we juggle the show amongst our other work projects, full-time gigs, and our families. However, there are other challenges to creating our podcast as women in sports media. Here are two of the big ones are:
Imposter Syndrome – As any woman in sports media can attest to experiencing imposter syndrome in her craft. We have definitely felt this and continue to overcome it throughout our journey. Our knowledge and passion for basketball is often questioned and scrutinized. We were scared to venture into this industry, because we knew we didn’t know all the basketball stats but we knew we had a huge and unique passion and perspective of the game and culture surrounding it. We continue to push through this with the knowledge that no one is perfect, but that we are passionate enough to succeed.
Gaining Agency- This goes hand in hand with our personal challenges over imposter syndrome. To this day, we still get the usual annoying questions: You have a basketball podcast? Do you really know basketball? Did you play? Who was the 1985 NBA finals MVP? (BTW, it’s Kareem Abdul Jabar). Oh, you’re a Lakers/Warriors fan? … bandwagoner! The list goes on. But that’s why we do what we do, to inject a female perspective into a male-dominated field. To add our voices of color to a monotone basketball media landscape. It may be a challenge, but it’s a big reason to why The Hoops Talk was created.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
Definitely our friends and family who listen to us day in and day out. They pitch in, give us feedback, and encourage us to keep going. We also have a tribe of creatives who want to collaborate with us because we don’t take ourselves too seriously and the work is exciting. And of course, The Good News Radio team, who found us and welcomed us into their family of podcasters in LA and beyond.
Pricing:
- The Hoops Talk Podcast can be livestreamed for FREE every Wednesday, from 630pm-8pm PST on The Good News Radio and Podcast App. You can jump in our chat box and interact with us during the live recording. Subscribe and listen for FREE on Apple Podcast, Spotify, IHeartRadio, Pandora or wherever you listen to your podcasts. If you’d like to support this growing brand by women of color you can check out our store for The Hoops Talk merchandise at: https://thehoopstalk.com/merch/
Contact Info:
- Address: The Good News Radio Sports Station
4637 Rosecrans Avenue
Hawthorne, CA 90250 - Website: https://thehoopstalk.com/
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thehoopstalking/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/thehoopstalking
Suggest a story: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
