Share the Elevator
A new podcast from the YWCA Auckland, sponsored by AUT, shines a bright light on the inequities and challenges experienced by young women of colour starting their careers in Aotearoa, and calls all those with power to make structural change into the conversation.
Share The Elevator explores the challenges and triumphs of six young women of colour in a 13 episode series. The first three episodes are available now on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Hosted by AUT alumna Gyllian Falute Taei and edited and produced by current AUT School of Communication Studies Radio and Journalism student Ella Simanu, Share The Elevator is a hard hitting, authentic and laugh-out-loud funny insight into the lives of its guests, the challenges they’ve faced and the moments of joy and connection along the way.
Gyllian emphasises the importance of creating a safe space for Share The Elevator’s guests. “Our guests are redefining what it means to be a diversity tick. The stories they share are raw. They use humour to diffuse some of the tension and the hurt, and are offering real insight into the lived experiences of the women diversity and inclusion policies are meant to help.”
Ella adds that each guest brings not only their own story, but that of their community. “Each guest’s story is intersectionality in action. It’s impossible to separate our experiences in our work lives from our home lives, or from the issues facing our communities, or the support our communities offer to us. I’m really proud to have been able to lift the stories of these women up alongside Gyll, and for as many people as possible to hear them, because they’re important.”
Ella was paid as producer and editor of the series, which she completed alongside her ongoing studies at AUT. “Putting into practice what I’m learning AUT on Share The Elevator has been awesome – I had been keen to get involved in producing a podcast, and the technical experience I’ve had on this project has been great.”
Associate Head of the Communication Studies School Dr Rufus McEwan helped facilitate Share The Elevator, which was recorded in the School’s studios at AUT’s city campus. “When the opportunity to sponsor and support Share The Elevator came up, I could see it would be a wonderful opportunity for Ella to be involved in, and a great way of demonstrating the industry standard facilities we have here in the School.
“Right from the first meeting between Gyllian and Ella, I could see they would be able to create an engaging and entertaining podcast, while empowering an impressive range of guests to tell some really important stories.”
Dellwyn Stuart, YWCA CEO, says Share The Elevator aims to “help listeners be more aware of how they treat and interact with young women. Understanding that women of colour are multifaceted and multi-talented because of their cultures, upbringings and struggles and have so much to offer organisations. So organisations need to listen to how best help them thrive.”
Listen to the first three episodes now, and follow for the rest of the series. Connect with the Share The Elevator team on Instagram. Change starts with a conversation.