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What Dolly Parton Taught Me About Being a Podcaster · Abbey the Podcast Lady

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  Dolly Parton died. What a freaking bummer. Dolly
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  Parton passed away, and I am not doing okay with
• 0:15
  this news. And for someone who's never met Dolly
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  Parton, I shouldn't be as weepy as I am about
• 0:23
  this, but I... have been so inspired by that
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  woman my entire life. And it's just hard to imagine
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  a world without her shiny rainbow -ness in it.
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  This is not the podcast I intended to put out
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  today. I actually have a different podcast coming
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  out tomorrow, regularly scheduled programming.
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  But I just wanted to talk about how Dolly Parton
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  has impacted. how I am as a person on the internet,
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  as a public speaker, as a media business entity
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  personality. Before I was a podcaster, I was
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  a radio DJ on a country station nonetheless.
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  And I always looked up to Dolly Parton as someone
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  who was just this ray of light for people. Like
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  always so positive, always so wonderful, always
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  the shining light looking for the best in everyone
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  and everything. And I think that that is something
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  that the world does not have nearly enough of.
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  And that's something that I've always strived
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  to be whenever I was on air, whenever I'm recording
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  a podcast, whenever I am on stage emceeing something
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  or giving a speech. Like my goal is always to
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  be. a positive force of nature and inspire other
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  people to be happy and positive and shine their
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  light on others. I'm crying a lot for someone,
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  like I said, who's never met this woman, but
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  she's just so impactful. And I think that shows
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  the power of her impact is I'm someone who's
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  never even been in the same vicinity as Dolly
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  Parton, but I am at a loss. for words when it
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  comes to her passing because of how her positivity
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  and love and happiness radiated out of her and
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  into the world through her music, through her
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  speeches, through her imagination library, through
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  the countless charity events she supported, through
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  all of her endeavors. She was a force to be reckoned
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  with and it was a force of positivity. And I
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  think that's a huge lesson we can take into.
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  podcasting and into how we interact in the world,
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  you may never meet someone that you have such
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  a profound impact on. Like you have no idea who
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  your podcast truly is reaching unless they reach
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  out to you and tell you, hey, I'm so impacted
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  by what you're doing. You've helped me so much.
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  You probably will never hear from those people,
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  but you can leave a legacy that you have no idea
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  is going to reach someone in small, rural Minnesota.
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  from the smoky mountains like it's crazy the
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  impact this woman has had and I think there's
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  a lot of lessons to be learned when it comes
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  to being a personality on the internet being
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  a podcaster being a leader in your industry and
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  I think that's just something I kind of want
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  to chit chat about today because This loss of
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  Dolly Parton is hitting me so freaking hard.
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  Oh, if you're watching the video version of today's
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  podcast, you're going to see a lot of tears.
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  You're going to see a lot of runny noses. You're
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  going to see a lot of wiping my eyes because
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  I am just distraught over this loss of Dolly
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  Parton. I am unwell. I saw the video of her nephew
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  announcing her passing on Instagram today. I
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  opened it up and it was posted three minutes.
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  ago when I opened my Instagram account today
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  and I was I saw his face and I saw it was from
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  the Dolly Parton account and I knew this was
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  not going to be good news and I just have been
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  kind of a hot mess but I had some thoughts on
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  the whole thing that I think can apply to being
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  a podcaster. And what we're doing in the world
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  with what we share online and what we share to
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  our audiences. Dolly Parton has been a huge influence
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  on my life growing up. I loved her music. I loved
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  all of the sparkly outfits. I loved the big hair.
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  I loved the big personality. For context, like
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  in middle school, one of my favorite movies was
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  Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. I think that
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  says a lot about my personality. But I just,
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  I... Loved Dolly Parton. I loved that she was
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  so authentically her. Even when she was playing
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  a role in a movie. Even when she was singing
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  a song. Even when she was doing an appearance
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  somewhere. She was just always 100 % her. And
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  I think that's such a huge lesson we can take
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  from her as podcasters. People gravitate to you
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  because you are you. It doesn't matter if you're
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  wearing rhinestones. It doesn't matter if you're
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  wearing camouflage. It doesn't matter if you're
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  just wearing your gym clothes. People love you.
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  And that is a huge lesson that Dolly Parton has
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  taught me in this lifetime. She was just unapologetically
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  herself. And I think that's what makes so many
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  people love her. And I think that is just something
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  that we can carry in the conversations we're
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  having with our audiences is just being so authentically
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  you. People are going to love you for that. People
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  can see through the fake. They can see through
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  the artificial. But if you are you, people are
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  going to love you for that. And I think we have
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  Dolly Parton to thank for that lesson. I think
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  another big lesson we can apply to podcasting
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  from Dolly Parton is to be generous with our
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  time and our talents and our resources. I credit
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  her a lot with the childhood literacy crisis
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  not being as bad as it is because of her imagination
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  library. That woman donated. millions of books
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  to people all across the country to help children
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  find a love of reading at a young age. Like what
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  a beautiful use of her time and resources and
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  fame to give back to help a greater cause. She
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  has been a champion for so many charities. Whenever
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  there was a big crisis, you'd see her popping
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  up on social media, using her platform for good
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  to say, hey, I'm donating to this cause. It'd
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  be great if you could join me too, or just share
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  it, help in any way you can. I think that's something
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  that we as podcasters don't realize. We have
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  a bigger reach and a bigger platform than the
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  average bear. And I think we can all take a note
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  out of Dolly Parton's book here and use that
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  platform for good. Leverage it to help something
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  that you care about, that you believe in, a mission
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  or a cause. Use your voice. Use your time. Use
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  your talents. Interview people. Get the word
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  out about something you care about. I think that
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  is a huge thing that we can learn from Dolly
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  is to give back and be generous and help a cause
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  that you really care about because it goes a
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  long way. It truly goes a long way. Remember
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  during COVID when she was one of the first people
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  to throw money at a vaccine? I'm just saying
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  that like when there was a crisis, she was the
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  first celebrity to step up and say, hey, I'm
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  donating this much money to hopefully find something
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  that's going to do a lot of good and save people
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  and help people. We can all take a note from
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  her and say. I'm going to step up. I'm going
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  to help out. I'm going to do something good with
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  my platform, with my voice, and help out in any
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  way that I can. Another big lesson from Dolly
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  is branding. That woman was a master brander.
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  You think Dolly Parton, you think butterflies,
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  you think big hair, and you think rhinestones.
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  That is a lesson that I've carried into my own
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  personal brand, into my podcast, into my life
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  in general. My signature thing is the color purple,
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  this light shade of purple. I try to have it
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  hidden somewhere in everything I post, even though
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  it's not hidden sometimes. Sometimes it's a bright
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  purple blazer, like in the logo of this show.
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  Have a signature thing that people can identify
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  you for. Like we all know that butterflies and
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  rhinestones and big hair, that is Dolly Parton
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  through and through. And I think that that is
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  just such a valuable lesson in branding because
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  I know like just the other day I saw a butterfly
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  fly past my window. I'm like, oh, Dolly Parton.
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  That looks like a Dolly Parton butterfly. So
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  think about your own branding and what can you
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  have that is so signature you that people automatically
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  associate your name. With that thing. I think
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  that's so important. That woman was just a master
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  brander. That woman was just a mogul. In so many
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  ways. And she's always said in her interviews.
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  She's like I didn't come from anything. I came
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  from a poor family in the smoky mountains. And
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  I became something. Like the drive of that woman.
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  I think that's what I want to end on today. Is
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  you can be one of the biggest stars. In the entire
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  world. And you can come from absolutely nowhere.
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  Just the grit and the work and the drive and
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  the gumption that she had to make a name for
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  herself, to make some really incredible art,
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  to help so many people. That can be you too.
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  That truly can be you too. It can be absolutely
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  anyone. You just got to have the heart behind
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  it, the work ethic behind it. It is so important.
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  And to lose... inspiration like Dolly Parton
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  is so hard but just because she's gone doesn't
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  mean the inspiration is gone I think that's another
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  important thing to remember is she may be gone
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  but she's so far from forgotten and she is leaving
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  a legacy of hard work being a good human helping
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  out and just being a shining light in this world
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  and now that she's gone it's our turn to be the
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  shining lights. So as podcasters, let's all use
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  our platforms for good to shine light on others.
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  And remember a true icon, Dolly Parton. Oh gosh.
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  I haven't been this distraught about someone
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  passing away since Tom Petty. Oh God. I don't
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  even know how to aptly wrap this up. I just wanted
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  to put out this bonus episode today because obviously
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  I'm very much in my feels about it. And I think
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  it's important for you to be vulnerable with
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  your audience. That's another lesson. That's
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  a lesson from Abby. I think it's a lesson from
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  Dolly, too. She was, like I said, unapologetically
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  herself. And this is unapologetically me today.
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  So love you, Dolly. We will always love you.