Three iHeart Podcasts For Women: Fashion: Past-Due Female Recognition; Katie

If TV can do it, why can't podcasting. Networks like Lifetime and Hallmark program shows that appeal to women. Therefore, it's only fair that iHeartPodcasts has several excellent podcasts for women. 

To be clear, podcasting has podcast networks that are female-owned, such as Critical Frequency and Earios.

First up is Climbing In Heels, which just returned every Friday for season three. If you didn't know (I did not), Rachel Zoe is recognized as one of Hollywood’s most powerful fashion authorities. She welcomed audiences into her fast-paced life as an A-list stylist on her Bravo show, The Rachel Zoe Project and her fashion brand is known globally.  The podcast's marketing pitch is: "Host Rachel Zoe’s podcast Climbing In Heels promises to be your weekly dose of glamour, inspiration and fun!"

 I listened to an episode with celebrity stylist Dani Michelle, whose clients include Hailey Bieber and Kendall Jenner. Zoe is a sold host, keeping down the melodrama in favor of sharing her expertise and that of her guests with her listeners. The January 2024 episode with Kroma wellness founder Lisa Odenweller discussing health and nutrition was informative, and kudos to Zoe for not turning it into a Kroma commercial spot.

I think the best episode is the March 29, 2024, show with actor Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who played Meadow Soprano on the hit HBO TV series The Sopranos.  While Sigler continued to work in the entertainment industry after the show ended, she was diagnosed with MS, which she didn’t share publicly for 16 years. Zoe does a superb job as host, as Sigler discusses her career, motherhood, and MS.

Season three promises, "Conversations with incredible women across many industries, from models and beauty industry stars to doctors, entrepreneurs and TV personalities, and Rachel will be sharing her insight and knowledge of her over 20-year career in fashion."

 Next, we have Womanica. Here is their marketing pitch: "Historically, women have been told to make themselves smaller, to diminish themselves. Some have used that idea to their advantage, disappearing into new identities. For others, a disappearance was the end to their stories, but the beginning of a new chapter in their legacies."

 

I listened to several episodes and loved the show. Its premise of women not getting the attention, respect, adulation, and recognition they deserve for their contributions is inspired and so overdue.

Every episode starts with the title "Disappearing Acts." Then the five-minute episode highlights a woman whose contributions have been overlooked by history and society.

There's an episode on Fanny Eaton (1835-1924), who was a model and muse for dozens of iconic paintings from the pre-Raphaelite era. Her face can be found in museums around the world, and yet she remains unnamed and overlooked even today. Jean Ritchie (1922-2015) was the mother of folk music. She was an instrumental voice in the American folk music revival of the 1940s and 60s, and introduced a traditional dulcimer sound to a wider audience. Sophie Germain (1776-1831) was a French mathematician and physicist who contributed to the study of acoustics, elasticity, and number theory. She was forced to assume a fake male identity to have her work taken seriously, but her efforts paved the way for further breakthrough discoveries in mathematics.

Take your pick. It's a daily show. Womanica is a podcast for everyone. For all those male-oriented podcasts where the host whines about men playing second fiddle to women and minorities, please listen to some of these episodes about women who made major contributions for little or no recognition.

 Finally, we have Katie Couric. Unlike other celebrities jumping on the podcasting bandwagon like carpetbaggers and scalawags, Couric began her podcasting career long before it was cool to be in podcasting. Ten years ago, a celebrity starting a podcast often elicited a "what happened to their career" comments.

Couric has done a nice job with her show. Last week, iHeartPodcasts

and Katie Couric Media announced the launch of the ninth season of Next Question with Katie Couric.

The marketing pitch is: "Katie is back on the mic for a new season, promising listeners intimate and unexpected conversations with some of the world’s most interesting and influential people."

The season premiere serves up Couric with Kris Jenner to talk about Kardashian-Jenner stuff. If you're into that, you'll love it.