Need a new podcast? Check out our staff favorites.
Here at The Avoka Group, we are always searching for new inspiration, for a way to disrupt our current thinking and challenge us to see the world from a different perspective. We have collected a few of our favorite podcasts and hope that you can find some new ideas and inspiration from these. Please enjoy.
Picks from Barb, CEO:
The Art of Happiness - Arthur Brooks is a scholar and writer who has been focusing on how and why people are happy and what happiness actually means. This podcast is chock full of the latest social science, philosophy, and spirituality and how they relate to things like finding purpose in our work/lives, success addiction, fear, and how to build a more sustainable and healthy life. Unlike with other podcasts, I find myself looking up the show notes so I can learn more about their research and how it explains why we do what we do. Great choice for a car ride or long walk.
Tides of History - I love history and my choice of reading escapism is often historical fiction (I like to convince myself that I am learning something while reading something kind of fluffy). This series goes deep into various eras and spends a solid hour or more on a theme, a royal family, or some aspect of the real lives of the people from that period. Host Patrick Wyman weaves the boring bits with some really good storytelling and uses real characters and some composite ones to make the history real. This is one that needs you to pay attention so you don't lose track of which King George they are talking about, but worth it. Great for doing mindless chores or more mindless cardio.
David Tennant Does a Podcast - This has been my go-to for getting away from the news and when I just need to listen to a soothing voice that isn't my yoga or meditation apps. You might not recognize his name but you probably have seen him as Dr. Who, the guy from Broadchurch, or any number of other great Brit shows. He interviews interesting people from Stacey Abrams to Dan Levy to former British PM Gordan Brown. But if I'm honest, it's all about the voice.
Picks from Rachel, Associate:
The Daily by the New York Times is pretty much exactly what it sounds like - a daily podcast that dives into one relevant issue each weekday. Ranging in content from European vs. American COVID response, the hangovers of the 2000 presidential election, to biographical retellings of Tonya Harding’s career, the Daily engages topical conversations that help the average listener - one without knowledge of the medical, political, or skating world, in these examples - better understand the situations at hand. Guided by the inquisitive Michael Barbaro alongside his colleagues like Maggie Haberman, Astead Herndon, and other familiar voices, The Daily is a weekday morning staple perfect for commutes or getting ready in the morning.
In each episode of The Good Life Project, host Jonathan Fields sits down with an engaging guest for an inspirational and unfiltered conversation about life, love, career, and much more. Past guests have included former U.S. Women’s Soccer Player Abby Wambach, New York Times Bestselling author Elizabeth Gilbert, former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro, and Dr. Sayantani DasGupta. The ideal podcast for puzzling, picking up around the house, or seeking just a little more motivation in quarantine, The Good Life Project shares the diverse stories of some incredible people, many of whom are experts in their fields. Each episode ends with Fields’s crucial question “What does it mean to you to live a ‘good life’?” and each answer offers its own important wisdom.
The Moth is a non-profit organization focused on storytelling, and their podcast of the same name is the perfect way to escape into something new. Their episodes are recorded at their mainstage storytelling events, as well as smaller “story slams” around the country, where individuals share a personal story based on a nightly theme. Diverse themes yield diverse stories - for example an episode about Mother’s will cover a mother’s care during a child’s bee sting, a new mother in Zambia waiting for the results of her child’s HIV/AIDS test, and an embarrassing tale of a mom acting out a school performance. The stories range from hilarious to dramatic, but are engaging across the board and an ideal way to unwind from a hectic workday or just a pandemic day that has you feeling a little low.