Cats, culture and the cost of connection
With Amanda B of 6 Degrees of Cats podcast: As featured in episode 13 of Creators from TrueFans
For episode 13 of Creators from TrueFans I had the pleasure of chatting with Amanda B, AKA Captain Kitty, host and creator of the brilliantly inventive podcast, 6 Degrees of Cats. Dialling in from North Brooklyn, Amanda introduced us to what she proudly calls the world’s number one and only cat-themed culture, history, science, and now nature podcast.
The Purr-fect Podcast
With the help of some bonafide experts, 6 Degrees of Cats explores everything from whether cats are cuter than babies to the history behind the connection between cats and jazz, or the truth about whether Sir Isaac Newton really created the cat door. This dedication to evidence-informed trivia recently earned the podcast an Ear Worthy indie award for best nature podcast.
The interview offered candid insights into the life of an independent creator. Amanda revealed that the show started as a passion project that was brought to life after she was selected as one of the 10 first participants out of 18,000 applications for a Spotify USA program seeking women of colour podcasters back in 2017/2018.
Amanda spoke openly about the intense workload, noting that for a narrative podcast, the creator – who handles the research, sound design, outreach, and marketing –spends much more than an hour of work for every minute of tape heard. To dedicate time to her art, she strategically built a financial “runway” by working both a full-time job and a part-time gig for three months before resigning from the full-time role.
A huge source of joy for Amanda is the humanity of it all and the “kind, generative, beautiful, creative, wacky, completely bonkers community” of audio creators. This focus on connection is intrinsic to the show, whose log line is: everything is connected.
Crediting the Co-executive Producers
During the chat, we discussed a fun way for 6 Degrees to use the Podcasting 2.0 Person Tag, and listeners who visit the podcast on TrueFans will be able to see Captain Kitty herself, alongside her esteemed co-executive producers: Binky, Snuggles, and Peanut.
Furthermore, listeners can easily show support by setting a streaming rate (sats per minute) or leaving comments for episodes right within the app.
Want to hear the whole conversation and find out why Amanda is not the person to go to with your cat’s health concerns (though she’s happy to send you to her expert guests)?
Listen to episode 13 of Creators From TrueFans here, or on another podcast app