Becoming... Director of Audience Development at iHeartMedia Amber Smith (Custom Podcasts)

As the Director of Audience Development on the custom podcast team, Amber Smith leads the team's podcast growth strategies, ensuring the content we produce for brands gets the largest reach. Amber started her career as a researcher on the Today show before jumping to audio. She has worked on multiple sides of the podcast industry as a producer for SiriusXM and later joined the team that negotiated content partnerships for podcasts on SiriusXM and Pandora. Before joining iHeart, she led audience development for Slate Magazine’s podcast catalog. Amber is an alumnus of both the University of Southern California and Louisiana State University. Outside of work you can find her chasing her toddler. In this episode, we talk about: • Starting off as a casting intern for Twinkie Byrd and a working actress before becoming a PA at WBRZ-TV • Working at the Today show and understanding that journalists are the first tellers of history • How Sirius XM slid into her DMs on LinkedIn • How Amber got their first original podcast greenlit which was a news show • When Sirius XM acquired Pandora, she met with the Pandora team which started her interest in podcast partnerships (and defining what those are) • The key networking strategies she implemented to move up the ladder • What a senior audience development manager does and how to build community for your podcast • Amber's advice for those wanting to start a podcast Guest: Linkedin Host: Instagram: @MentorsontheMic @MichelleSimoneMiller Twitter: @MentorsontheMic @MichelleSimoneM Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/mentorsonthemic Website: www.michellesimonemiller.com Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/24mmichelle If you liked this episode, check out this episode with the Celebrity Memoir Book Club podcast and see how they grew their incredible community and 315+ Tik Tok followers.