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The Power of Podcasting for Nonprofits: Behind the Scenes at The Rose · Your Mic

• 0:00
  Welcome back to your mic. My name is Freddy Cruz, founder of
• 0:02
  Speak Podcasting and Happy International Podcast Day.
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  Today, September 30th, 2025, I have decided to not publish a
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  brand new episode, but rather,
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  publish an episode that's currently on Speak Podcasting's
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  longest clients' feed.
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  That is the rose. Their podcast is, "Let's Talk About Your Bre
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  asts."
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  And I'm doing this because there is so much to love about their
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  show.
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  It's mission-driven because the rose is mission-driven. It's a
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  breast cancer non-profit.
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  We're coming up on breast cancer awareness month, but because
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  as our longest client,
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  they are open to so many different things, like 31 straight
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  days of podcast episodes,
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  every breast cancer awareness month. Tomorrow starts the third
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  campaign.
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  But when it comes to hosting different formats, when it comes
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  to curating the guests
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  that are on their show, making sure that their guests have a
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  one-of-a-kind experience,
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  they've got a beautiful studio, and they have endured. We
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  started in a conference room with
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  mics to go, and then they have this beautiful, amazing studio
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  that you see on their YouTube channel now.
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  So they have evolved, and we're coming up on 100,000 downloads
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  projected before the end of the year.
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  So without further ado, here's that episode. It's a podcast
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  interview with yours truly,
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  and CEO and co-founder of the rose, my dear friend, Dorothy Gib
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  bons.
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  Welcome to a special National Podcast Day episode of Let's Talk
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  About Your Breast.
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  I'm Dorothy Gibbons, co-founder and CEO of the Rose,
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  here with our producer, Freddie Cruz, who got this all started
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  for us.
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  Let's talk about your breast, a different kind of podcast
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  presented to you by the Rose,
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  the breast center of excellence, and a Texas treasure. You're
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  going to hear frank
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  discussions about tough topics, and you're going to learn why
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  knowing about your breast could save your life.
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  Dorothy, I came to you in 2022 with the proposition, and I
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  remember messaging you directly
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  on Facebook and you're like, "Well, we're going to meet. It
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  better be at my office."
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  Yes, you said. I'd love to have coffee one day and just talk to
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  you about something.
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  I said, "Freddy, if you're trying to sell me something, then
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  you're going to have to come to me.
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  I don't go to you." It was a podcast, and something that reson
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  ated with me was that this was
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  on your list of goals to do for quite some time, longer than
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  just a few months.
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  Right. Freddie, if you remember, I make 104 goals every year,
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  and so I had put that on my goal list
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  in 2019 or so, and each year I never got accomplished and I
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  move it to the next year.
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  The thing was, I wasn't even listening to podcasts back then. I
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  really didn't know what it was,
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  but I just knew that it would be a way for me to grow and a way
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  to talk about the Rose,
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  that I'm very different with. I would like to know is why a
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  podcast or where you got the idea from,
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  so it was, "Oh, I want to have a podcast." It was a
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  conversation that you have with somebody
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  at a networking event or was it just, "Hmm, I saw this on
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  Facebook and now I want to do it."
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  You know, Freddie, when I do my goals, I'm usually alone, and
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  it's usually not at work,
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  and I never at work, and I take that time just to let things
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  come to me. So, I don't know,
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  I just knew it was another way to communicate, and I knew that
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  we had so many stories of our
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  patients that were never going to get told. We'd bring a
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  patient in and do a video, and that was,
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  there were great, great videos, but we always limited, and I
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  think that's one of the first things
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  you told me in your sales pitch was, "You get sales pitch, you
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  get 30." Well, it was, and
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  it really was. You know how grateful I am to you. And I'm a
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  million times grateful to you too.
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  Because when you said, "You know, this is where you could talk.
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  You're not going to have
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  someone clip it out, and how many times have I been on TV or in
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  a radio station?" And I go,
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  "God, they didn't catch anything I wanted." Or how many times
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  have our folks said them,
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  "You know, here's the key points we want to make," and then you
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  get in the interview and it's
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  totally different. In three minutes is like 30 seconds when you
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  're live on TV. I remember
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  several years ago when we were promoting the shrimp oil
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  together, and you and I met
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  at a local TV affiliate on a Saturday morning, and it was like,
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  in the blink of a nigh,
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  you and I were already on our way walking out the building. I
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  know, I know. So I think that I knew
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  about podcasting that way. I had no clue about what it took to
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  make one.
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  Oh, it's easy. Yeah, no, it's not. And when you came along and
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  said, "Look, Dorothy,
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  the Rose needs a podcast," it was like, "Oh my gosh." And I
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  would never say this to you,
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  normally. If you were an answer to a prayer. Oh, truly. And
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  likewise, I feel the same way.
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  It was a really interesting time in my life. I had felt like I
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  needed something new.
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  I felt like I needed to stretch. I felt like I needed something
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  , and you reminded me of this,
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  that was fun. The world we live in is not always very much fun.
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  Right. Well, when you told me, I think this is going in the
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  second year that we were working
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  together, and you told me, and no one's certain terms for Eddie
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  , this has to be fun for me.
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  And there were conversations that you and I would have that,
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  you know, this is some of the
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  button I'm paraphrasing, but this is some of the most fun I've
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  had in a long time. And so,
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  when we were talking, going into year two, and I'm like, "It's
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  got to be fun. It has to be fun."
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  And so that is a, that is a North Star for what we do as a
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  company, the company that I own.
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  It's like, "It has to be fun for everybody." If you cannot make
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  it fun, then I can't help you,
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  and I haven't done my job as a producer, you know?
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  And, you know, I think the other thing is, and this has always
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  been true of my personality.
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  I'm curious about people. I really, I'm very much an introvert,
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  you know that,
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  but when I'm sitting talking to someone one-on-one, you know, I
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  go, "Why did they do that? How did
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  they get there?" What was it that led them to this? It's just,
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  I'm fascinated with the resilience of
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  people, fascinating with how they think. And I think one of the
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  things that you've helped to create
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  along with the team, Roxanne and Karina, is a feeling of
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  comfort in this area.
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  And once our guests calm down, you know, then they just start
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  talking.
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  Right, because you and I are used to all of this, you know, you
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  're not looking at the camera
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  right now, but the guest doesn't see who's never been on a
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  podcast or on TV or on radio is that,
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  they don't see the three cameras and the two big menacing
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  lights. And so that could be
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  very intimidating to somebody who's not used to a career that
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  you and I have had.
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  Right. Yeah. And you make everybody at ease. Well, maybe, but
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  definitely appreciate that. I think the other thing is, you
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  know, I have a great belief in that if you
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  don't tell your own story, someone else will. Oh, yes. And it
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  will not be the story you wanted.
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  That is correct a thousand times. And I think every podcast
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  that we do, we give that person a chance
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  to tell their story and their own way. And it's not, it's never
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  , you know, they get to do it,
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  not anybody else. We're so many times when you're on some of
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  these interviews, you're kind of
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  feel a little manipulated or whatever, to get to some point.
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  And you're always worried,
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  you know, you're going to say something. Right. But with the, I
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  wouldn't say
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  the last, but it's the first word to come to mind with the lax
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  sort of timeline that we have.
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  You know, we've got what between 20 and 35 minutes to play with
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  that you can talk about,
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  you can talk to bear about the shrimp boil and being the rose's
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  first auctioneer to talk about
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  his wife's experience of breast cancer. And then it can get
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  real heavy. And then you go right
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  back to, hey, join us at the shrimp boil where you can see bear
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  and you can, and it's his roller
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  coaster of emotions, but it encompasses what you all have built
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  at the rose. And also, hey,
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  can he help us out? Oh, and by the way, we're going to have fun
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  on June, whatever. Right. So come on out.
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  Yes. And we've got to really feature some of our, our employees
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  who have explained the process of
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  mammography in laypeople's terms. And exactly as if they were
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  talking to their patients, you know,
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  and suddenly all that mystery and, and concerned about having a
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  mammogram doesn't seem so scary
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  anymore. Right. And that has been a real pleasure. So what do
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  you think about the patient interviews
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  we've had? The patient interviews, sometimes I will leave here
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  and I'll get in my car and just
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  start weeping. Yeah. Um, you and I both know Jennifer Parish
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  through one other one of our podcast
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  partners, the lighthouse of Houston. And I had no idea she was
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  going through breast cancer. Um,
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  and that's an episode that you all definitely want to listen to
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  because she lost her dad during that
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  time too. And that was really because I'm a dad. And that was
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  heavy. And then there's Montserrat,
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  Montsy, the 18 year old survivor. Um, and then behind the
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  scenes moment that really just,
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  you know, I think we were all moved was when Dr. Boniface got
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  to meet her. And that was off
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  camera. Right. Um, and I still have that moment on my phone.
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  And I'll watch that.
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  So here is a young girl at 18 who, uh, didn't have insurance
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  who we sponsored took through
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  to biopsy and, uh, referred around to Harris Health. And there
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  is where she met Dr. Boniface.
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  But the unique part was Dr. Boniface took such a special
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  interest in Montsy and did not want to
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  leave her until she arranged it truly was hers to find another
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  doctor to do the reconstruction,
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  to do all those things. And what was it, 10, 12 years? About
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  that. Yeah. And, and they both
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  got to be. It was a very, very special moment. Another one that
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  I always think about is Joe,
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  Joanne Patterson. Oh, yes. Did we not have fun with her? Yes.
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  She was so much fun and so positive when
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  this is someone who this is someone who you would justify is
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  like, I can see why you
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  wouldn't have a negative outlook on life, but she's anything
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  but that any so positive.
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  Of course. And then it was our yoga person, Nancy. Oh, man.
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  Yeah. Maybe you've got to do some yoga. Was that the tiger put?
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  No, uh, it was supposed to be the
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  child's pose for Eddie. That's supposed to be the easiest. I'm
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  a little, I'm a little stiff. Oh, my gosh.
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  But I think, I think the other thing that we've tried to do in
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  this podcast is to
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  give solid examples. Well, we don't do it's patience to it or
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  the guest about being your own advocate.
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  Yes. That's a big one. That has been a big one. Yeah. So many
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  times. And you would think that
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  for the most part that we have evolved, that you would think
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  that physicians would listen to their
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  patients. And that's not the case. Or that there's so many
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  rigid rules. I don't know any of the way,
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  you know, you're not supposed to have a mammogram to your 40.
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  Right. How many young women have we
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  diagnosed? How many women have we diagnosed to it just had a
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  baby? I mean, it that was that
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  series just amazing. It was right. And, and hearing the
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  episodes. So what I envision is that there are,
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  that there are women and their families out there who might
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  just happen to know of the rows who
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  hear a podcast interview of someone that got diagnosed when
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  they were pregnant or someone who got
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  who's physically fit and has no written objectively has no
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  reason to catch cancer to get it.
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  Although we all have cancer cells, but they hear them, they
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  hear these stories and they're like,
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  oh, wow, that's important. I should get myself checked out. Are
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  they here and think, you know,
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  I've had a feeling. Yeah. That's the one. I think everyone has
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  intuition. I think sometimes
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  women can be a little more in tune with it. And maybe don't
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  want to listen to it. I don't know.
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  Yeah. I mean, all the things that we, we are afraid of, we are
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  want to ignore, want to deny,
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  you know, never any criticism from this, this chair, but that's
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  the way we are. And we're going to
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  find some other person to take care of first. Hmm. That came up
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  a lot. While men get it, it's
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  overwhelmingly women who get breast cancer. And it's, oh, I
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  found a lump, but you know what,
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  I've got to take care of the kids. I've got to go to work.
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  There's a story of Jessica. I was
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  actually, I was at a podcast networking event. And we were
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  talking about the rows and the podcast.
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  And I was talking about Jessica's story, because that one
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  really hit, that one really hit home. Here
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  you have a mom here, she's fit and is very active and works at
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  a breast cancer nonprofit organization
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  and was putting others first before herself. Yeah. She had an
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  event to get through.
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  She had, she had an organization to run. Yeah. But what a
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  boy or she is now for breast cancer. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That
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  was a,
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  that was another one of the tougher ones to get through. What
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  about our community
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  guests that have come in? The people have supported the rows.
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  Did you have any idea that we had that
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  kind of community support from so many different organizations?
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  So just recently, the Port
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  of Houston, which is, I mean, you would, you would not. Where's
• 16:14
  the connecting? Where's
• 16:15
  the connect? Right. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that is awesome.
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  Yeah. The, the Crowder Foundation.
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  Yes. Well, the Crowder Foundation, you know, which Bill and
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  Helen Crowder Foundation were the
• 16:34
  ones that got this studio going for it. Right. And we also had
• 16:39
  a cell anise that came on. Do you
• 16:41
  remember that? Yeah. Now, when we think of, of the podcast that
• 16:45
  truly moved us, I think Mike
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  Hazelwrigs. Yes. And his ride. It, it was just for Cathy. Yeah.
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  I mean, we did a series on that in,
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  it's again that what you do for love. What you're willing to do
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  for love. And he suffered,
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  I mean, you would think, Oh, it's just a motorcycle ride. No,
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  that was not a motorcycle ride.
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  And I remember when he said, now, I hope I don't scare you when
• 17:20
  I come in. Then when I met him,
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  it was going, wow, you're a big guy. So you had never met him
• 17:27
  in person until he came in.
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  You know, if I had a credit, it, it didn't click. Gotcha. But
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  yeah, he was a very special guest.
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  So why, why else are podcast important? Everyone is interesting
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  in my eyes. There's something
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  interesting that is going on between the ears. And so many
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  times we either silence ourselves
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  or allow others to, to influence, right, you know, us to
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  silence ourselves. Right. And I think
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  the arts of podcasting enables people who would otherwise not
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  have the opportunity that if for some
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  reason that one young woman or young man or middle age or
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  elderly person who had something to say,
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  and now they're emboldened and now they're empowered to do it
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  and now they can do it. And then they
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  can transmit not just to a local radio frequency, but all over
• 18:36
  the world.
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  That has been an eye opener. You know, when you bring your
• 18:42
  numbers in and go, do you know that
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  let's talk about your rest is number two or 13 or whatever in a
• 18:50
  country. What was
• 18:53
  India one time? India, I feel like one of the one of the
• 19:00
  countries in the UK like Ireland or something in
• 19:02
  Asia, I think y'all are number whatever in Singapore. And does
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  it help with fundraising recruitment or
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  whatnot? Okay, maybe not. Also, the message of breast cancer
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  awareness is getting out there
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  and the education and the stories are reaching people who
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  obviously need to hear them and they're
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  not getting that service in their home country. And that is the
• 19:29
  that is the magical thing about
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  podcasting that one might not think that when they do when they
• 19:35
  consider starting, they don't
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  really think about that. Well, and there's all of different
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  kind of pressure if you're going to get
• 19:42
  into podcast, but you know, I think I think we can't put a
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  dollar sign on the joy of hearing another
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  person's story. I don't think there's there's any way we can do
• 19:53
  that. So for national podcast day,
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  what's the message you have? I used to think that everybody
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  should have a podcast, but I no
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  longer think that. Oh, why? I think there's so many zombie
• 20:08
  podcasts out there, you know, podcast
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  just kind of give up after a few episodes for no good reason
• 20:13
  other than, oh, well, no one wanted
• 20:15
  no one listened to me. So I'm just going to give up. Now I
• 20:17
  think that everyone should have a podcast
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  as long as and this is at in the call caveat, as long as you
• 20:25
  are willing to go the distance for
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  at least 25 episodes or two years. It's two years if you do two
• 20:34
  episodes per month, right? So
• 20:39
  That's my, that's, that's my advice. Well, I'm so glad we were
• 20:43
  your first clients because you had
• 20:45
  us doing 20 episodes before we ever even launched it. That's
• 20:49
  correct. Yes, that is correct. Oh,
• 20:52
  this is the way it's supposed to be done. No, but you know, I
• 20:57
  've got a friend and his name is George
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  and he's got George Blitch. His podcast is the son of a Blitch
• 21:03
  podcast. And something he told me
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  really resonates with me is that his whole first year, he didn
• 21:09
  't even look at his analytics because he
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  wanted to treat the year as a master class and learn every
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  single week how he can improve and how he
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  can be a better steward of his guests time and how he could be
• 21:22
  a better steward of his listeners time.
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  And so he didn't look at any of the, the data that we all look
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  at that it's important to us.
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  So I would, I was great advice. It's great advice, right? And
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  so I would say that anybody who
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  wants to launch a podcast and has the, the, the fortitude to
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  stick it out. And the means and the
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  bandwidth to do it like that. Well, we're celebrating national
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  podcast day. We're celebrating
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  over 250 many episodes, do we have now? It's north of that.
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  North of that, we're celebrating
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  having more than 80,000 downloads. And we're celebrating all of
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  our guests that have given us
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  one thing that you can never get back. And that's a little bit
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  of their time.
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  And the other thing is their story.
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  And they have no idea who is going to listen to it that needed
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  to hear it at that time.
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  That's it. Yeah.
• 22:27
  Thank you, Freddie again for getting us going.
• 22:30
  Thank you hanging in there with us. And you are an answer to my
• 22:34
  prayers.
• 22:34
  Thank you for joining us today. I'm let's talk about your
• 22:40
  breasts. This podcast is produced by
• 22:42
  Speak Podcasting and brought to you by the Rose. Visit the rose
• 22:46
  dot org to learn more about our
• 22:47
  organization. Subscribe to our podcast. Share episodes with
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• 22:57
  your feedback and suggestions.
• 22:59
  Consider supporting the Rose. Your gift can make the difference
• 23:02
  to a person in need.
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  And remember, self-care is not selfish. It's essential.