I struggled making friends during my freshmen year of high school. Of all things, conversational podcasts saved my life. In a way, the hosts of my favorite podcasts became my friends, and they taught me how to be more sociable and funny. One such show was Podcast Beyond, an IGN PlayStation podcast hosted by Greg Miller. More on that later. For years, I dreamed of starting a podcast that could brighten someone else’s life too, and today, that podcast is Critically Panned. But first came Kids in College.

During my freshmen year of college, I started Kids in College with my best friend Jacob Douglas. It was a show about college life, popular culture and surviving life as a young adult. We hosted more than 180 hour-long episodes, many with notable guests like musicians, fellow content creators and even Kinda Funny co-founder Greg Miller. It was a dream come true to meet Greg and podcast with him.

After graduating college, we launched Kids in College’s spiritual successor, Critically Panned, with our other college friends Caitlin Brenner and Sam Kingma. Every week, we each bring a pop culture topic from the worlds of film, TV, music, gaming, and celebrity culture. Across both shows, we have released more than 200 episodes without missing a week, earning more than 30,000 lifetime listens and more than 200 Twitter followers. I promote the show on social media and engage with listeners to gather feedback and questions for the show. I edit each episode using Adobe Audition and GarageBand.

I love this show. It’s been a passion project from the start, and I am so thankful for the many dedicated listeners who tune in every Monday. The show can be found on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Stitcher. Find us on Twitter and Instagram @PannedPod.