Today we’d like to introduce you to Mandi Charles, Ashley Rubio and Carolina Perez.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My name is Mandi creator and co-host of Scary Not Scary Podcast. Growing up, I was always interested in the paranormal, scary movies, and all things horror. It was something my grandfather and I shared together, he loved watching scary movies so I did too. My family in general also has a long history of paranormal encounters happening, so I grew up listening to the stories and also retelling them to friends of mine. I always wanted to tell these stories to others on a bigger platform, but never actually did it.
I tried the YouTube thing for a while but I always felt awkward in front of the camera. In 2018 I started listening to podcasts and that’s when I came across paranormal and true crime genera. From there it all clicked, I told myself “This is what I can do!” I would talk about it with my best friends Carolina and Ashley all the time *hint, hint* we decided yes let’s do it. In reality, starting a podcast is not as easy as I thought it would be. A lot of research goes into it, finding a podcast host (this is where you upload all of your episodes and link them to the different platforms), picking the kind of genera, podcast name, logo, and most importantly your team.
I reached out to my friend Chris who I knew had his own podcast called “The One Man Show” he pointed us in the right direction and he was the creator of our very first original podcast logo. As far as genera we knew paranormal was a must, but we also loved conspiracy theories, true crime, and other outrageous stories. This fits the personality of each co-host for our podcast Mandi (me) who loves everything horror and is a paranormal magnet, Ashley who is terrified of everything except for true crime, and Carolina “Caro” who loves everything Halloween and spooky. So as you can see from our little description that is how the Scary Not Scary Podcast name was born.
Let’s introduce the rest of the team: Drew who is also Ashley’s brother created our intro music and also was our producer until he left for the military. Tim who is my husband is our editor and now our producer (he also makes bonus episodes of his own in-between times we take breaks from recording). Nick who is Ashley’s husband is our digital artist he creates all of the artwork for each episode and is the creator of our newest logo. Our podcast would not be what it is today without their hard work and support it truly is a family.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
We all laughed when we read this question. No, it has not been smooth, as I said before creating a podcast is not so easy. Opening up a podcast host was a little stressful because it was all new language to us Google was literally our best friend through that process.
Then halfway through already putting episodes we received an email from a recruiter for Podbean who offered us a spot on their platform, Podbean was a new up-and-coming podcast host to the market and they offered so much more than our original host. The thing that sold us to Podbean is that we were able to do Live shows and interact with our listeners. This was a huge help especially when the pandemic hit and we weren’t able to get together to record.
But making the switch from one host to another was not easy, Ashley and I both cried out of frustration but eventually it was figured out, and from then on it’s been working great even though making the switch was stressful it was completely worth it. Our second biggest struggle to this day is coordinating our personal lives.
Besides the pandemic, our personal lives sometimes took priority over recording new episodes. That’s when Tim would come in and upload “Bonus” episodes or sometimes we make episodes with one of us missing. This is understandable we all know we each have so much going on, even our listeners are understanding.
It’s so amazing every once in a while we will get an email or message on social media asking if we are okay or messages ensuring us no matter what they will be there waiting for a new episode to be put out. Despite the struggles knowing we have people supporting us no matter what is amazing.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Our podcast specializes in everything about everything paranormal, with a splash of true crime, and comedy.
We are known for the various topics we cover each episode and we also let our listeners suggest what topics to cover next. We always update everyone on what’s going on in our personal lives and crack jokes in between. We create a fun, safe, judgment-free space for everyone. Besides the podcast, we each have our outside jobs and hobbies.
Mandi is a part-time secretary at Methodist Specialty Hospital, full-time mom to her two children Sabrina and Jason. She is also an inspiring writer. Ashley is an assistant with the City of San Antonio but is slowly moving into the virtual assistant role. She is mom to her cutie Sophia, and fur mom to her pug Benny and chocolate lab Cara.
Caro is the receptionist at Nova Aesthetics Medical Spa and is fur mom her to cat Voodoo.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
We each have different personalities that somehow mesh well and create great content. We’ve gotten feedback from listeners that when they listen to our podcast it doesn’t feel like they’re just listening, it feels like they are sitting at a table with a group of friends who are laughing and enjoying each other’s company. That is the greatest compliment we can get knowing that we can make our listeners feel like they are a part of our family.
With our different personalities, we were finally able to come together and create our podcast merch, of course with the help of our talented artist Nick. Creating merchandise was talked about for two years since making the podcast, it never happened until October 2021, our creativity and teamwork are what made this long-time goal for our podcast happen.
For 2022, our biggest goal is to be nominated for Your SA Readers Choice Award for local Podcast
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: https://scarynotscarypodcast.com/
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/scarynotscarypodcast?utm_medium=copy_link
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ScaryNotScaryPodcast/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/scarynspodcast?s=21
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCKV-cwDp1uTPtMpN7XuFMaQ
- Other: https://www.scarynotscarypodcast.shop/
Image Credits
Jessica H. Garcia @blissful_J.photography
