A passion project rooted in a vibrant friendship, the ‘that’s so real… kind of’ podcast consists of half hour episodes discussing the lifestyles, hardships and pressures of being a Lamorinda teenager. While initially called a fun joke by its creators, it has quickly developed into a show with many dedicated student and off-campus listeners.

Sophomores Akhila Bhagavan and Maneli Malboubi released the first episode last fall. “It was crazy because we started off with these tiny mics that I bought off of amazon,” Bhagavan started. “We recorded our first episode and we got 400 views and 1000 impressions.”

While it may seem hard to believe that a podcast gained such immense traction with just the first episode, Bhagavan and Malboubi’s chemistry makes such a result a no-brainer. “In general I just love talking to Akhila,” Malboubi said. “I feel like with anyone else it could be awkward to talk about a topic and stick to it, but I feel like the way that we talk meshes well together.”

In the podcast, the two share their thoughts on how societal and cultural norms have impacted their teenage experience. Past episodes have covered specific topics such as money, friendship breakups, burn out and other teenage problems.

The purpose of the podcast is to be a safe environment for their listeners. “We don’t want to recommend others do something in a specific way,” Bhagavan said. “[We] just want to make sure they know that they’re not alone.” Malboubi agrees, saying that a lot of people share experiences of the podcast’s discussed issues, yet don’t have a place to share them. “[To be a] relatable space and safe haven” is an important value held between the two girls.

The production of the podcast has come a long way from tiny microphones as the girls have made drastic changes to improve the listening experience and engage their audience. When asked to describe the process that went into making the podcast, Bhagavan covers a variety of factors. “I found this one mic for $35. Sound quality is amazing… I usually try to make the episode and upload it the same day so that people know- it builds up suspense.”

When discussing their goals, both girls were very adamant about wanting to hire a social media manager for their business to be more recognized. “We’re trying to get a bigger audience and be reconcognized on a local scale.” Said Malboubi.
The girls said that they’d like ‘that’s so real… kind of’ can be listened to on Spotify and followed on Instagram with the handle @thatssoreal_podcast.