Think about the places you frequent most. What’s the experience like? How does it make you feel? How are you connecting? And who are you connecting with? Whether online or offline, Naj Austin has been exploring these questions through her visionary endeavors, which include Ethel’s Club and, most recently, Somewhere Good, an “audio platform for intimate community conversations.”
With its distinct, design-driven app and a growing suite of partnerships and offline offerings, Somewhere Good is poised to become a leader in how we can authentically connect in our complex digital age. For Naj, shifting away from scrolling our feed and moving towards feeding our relationships remains a through-line. And with that mission comes recalibrating how we pay attention to ourselves—and each other.
In this interview, Naj shared more about the role of slowness and solitude in her work, her relationship with listening, and the importance of community participation. This episode also opens with a story from Amy Snook.
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Episode Transcript: https://slowstoriespodcast.com/naj-austin
Learn more about Naj's work: https://najaustin.com/
Follow Naj: https://www.instagram.com/najaustin/?hl=en
Learn more Amy's work: https://www.pareastudios.com/parea-books
Follow Amy: https://www.instagram.com/asnooks/?hl=en
Brandon Stosuy and Rose Lazar — "Crying is a cool thing."
Mason Spector — "I find a lot of value in the sadness."
Chelsea Hodson — ”I’m genuinely excited about creating things.”
Katherine May — ”It’s okay to get on with the business of living.”
Tembe Denton-Hurst — ”Growing isn’t always in the big moments.”
Allie Rowbottom — ”The questions in your writing are the questions in your life.”
Ross Gay — ”There’s always a gathering inside of us.”
Tarajia Morrell — ”We imagine our future, our family, ourselves.”
Ella Frances Sanders — ”People ask questions differently, and they also answer questions differently.”
Kayla Maiuri — ”Fiction teaches us so much about reality.”
Jon Staff — ”Our words matter, and our lack of words matter.”
Lisa Taddeo — ”I’ve been there, and you’re not alone.”
Ashley Merrill — ”Design is in service of your rest.”
Coco Mellors — ”If you create something and no one sees it, does it count? Yes.”
Hannah Traore — ”The context is always important.”
Laura Cramer and Starr Hout — ”We’re so capable of realizing dreams.”
Katie Kitamura — ”There’s also incredible power in grief.”
Grace Miceli — ”Slowing down is about trusting myself more.”
Matthew Herman — ”I hope we’re all realizing that we can live by our own rules.”
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