461 - A Story About Building Community in Podcasting on Riverside w/ Kendall Breitman
Welcome to Episode 461 of Your Morning Drive.
In this episode of Your Morning Drive, host Logan Lewis welcomes Kendall Breitman, the community manager for Riverside. Together they discuss Kendall's background in journalism, podcaster's challenges, building trust in community, human connection, Riverside's features, user feedback & much more.
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Transcript
Logan (00:00.792)
Hello everybody. Welcome to another edition of your morning drive. I am Logan coming to you from the interwebs on Riverside. Before we dive in, go ahead and hit follow or subscribe so you never miss an episode on whatever platform you're listening, whether it's Apple, Spotify, or watching on YouTube, a review, a comment, a like, all of those things. It helps us grow and leaves a good feedback for me to
take into account when we're considering making some changes to the show. So I appreciate any and all feedback I can get for updates, behind the scenes fun, follow on social media, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok even, and you'll get clips and behind the scenes stuff, sponsor information, everything in between. Thank you for tuning in today. Let's go ahead and get started. My guest today,
is the head of community at Riverside, a leading online recording and editing platform for podcasters, video producers, content creators, and other remote recordings. This podcast is being recorded on that very platform. So this is very, very cool for me in her role. She supports thousands of creators in the Riverside community, helping them hone their skills, create new connections and reach their goals. A people person to her,
her passion is connecting with creators and hearing their stories. Before joining Riverside, she worked as a reporter and television producer for news outlets like NBC and Bloomberg. Please welcome my new friend, Kendall Brightman. Hello.
Kendall (01:42.781)
Hello, hi.
Logan (01:45.56)
How are you?
Kendall (01:47.027)
I'm good, thanks so much for having me. I'm excited to get to be on the show.
Logan (01:51.126)
I know, right? This is, was, we were talking a little bit before I hit go, but this is really cool because you know, I, I switched to Riverside probably around a year ago at this point. I was using a no another platform similar. you got, they're probably y'all's biggest competitor. I'm sure you know who I'm talking about and it was no back to them, but what I really liked about Riverside, because at the time before you guys have implemented so many of the new features,
Kendall (02:11.593)
Mm-hmm.
Logan (02:20.846)
that you have, they're pretty on par with each other. There was a couple things that the other one was missing that you guys had and vice versa, but for the most part, very comparable things. But you guys were $1 cheaper a month to use. And I noticed the community behind Riverside did not exist for this other platform. And I got invited to that Facebook group by a woman
Kendall (02:36.319)
That'll do it.
Logan (02:50.232)
who I know in the podcasting space and she was like, hey, you should join this community. She also used to use this other service. And she said, and I just got hooked on the people that just interact with each other on a daily basis. And I was like, okay, I'll check it out. And that pushed me over the edge. And that's in part by you because you're the community lead at Riverside. So kudos to you.
Kendall (03:15.099)
I can't tell you how much that makes my day to hear. Wow. I'm really glad to hear that because community is such a hard thing to measure. Like, it's when you put out an ad, you're like, OK, this many people clicked on this ad and got and purchased this plan or something like that. But communities is so much harder to measure because it's really about just having impact in people's day-to-day lives. And how do you measure somebody like, I didn't know this story, like a friend saying you should join this and then
that's what put you over the edge from going to somebody else. It's really cool to hear and really validating. So I love that. Thank you for sharing that. Yay.
Logan (03:51.544)
Of course, of course. Yeah. mean, tell me, actually before that, I want to kind of get to know where do you come from, Kendall? Where are you from? We talked about your parents a little bit before we started, but I mean, where are you born? How did you, what was your upbringing like? mean, tell me kind of your little quick origin story.
Kendall (04:05.301)
Mm-hmm.
Kendall (04:12.969)
Yeah, so I'm from a suburb right outside of Philadelphia. It's called Havertown, Pennsylvania, Delaware County. And yeah, I mean, I was born and raised there, same house. Parents still live in that house. A tree recently fell on the roof of that house, and they are reconstructing it, and they're staying there. So no plans to go anywhere else. so born and raised there. And then I ended up going the first chance I could left and went to college.
I went to American University, it's in DC, and I ended up studying politics and journalism there and then became a political journalist. But yeah, I mean, I have two brothers and all my family still lives in Pennsylvania. So that's a little bit of background, yeah.
Logan (04:58.84)
Very cool. Very cool. why were throughout your upbringing, was it obvious that you were going to study something like journalism, like political journalism, or was that something that kind of evolved over time or had that always pretty much been the get go for you?
Kendall (05:18.013)
No, so I've always really loved storytelling. I've always really loved to hear people's stories. I when I was little, used to, before I could actually write, I used to tell stories to my mom. It was very cute. And she would write out the stories on computer paper, just one line on the bottom of each. And then I'd draw the little illustrations. So I'd make my own little books. And so, yeah, it was very cute. And so I really loved storytelling.
Logan (05:38.953)
how cool.
Kendall (05:44.475)
And I also just really love to hear what's going on. Maybe that's called gossip in some circles, but maybe let's rebrand that to storytelling. And so I just really like to chase those stories. I really like to hear what are the people going through? Basically, I wanted to do feature writing. I wanted to be magazine writing about a profile about somebody.
So I started working at the school newspaper, and I was doing journalism there. And then I actually applied to a dean's internship for journalism in, and it was at USA Today Politics. And I later found out that they just went alphabetical order and called all the people that applied. And I guess I'm lucky because my last name starts with a B. And they called me, and we had a really great interview and then kept going on from there. And so that's how I kind of
fell into politics, but I wasn't growing up super into politics. I moved to DC, and I think anyone who's gone to school in DC would know that it's the way that the entire city works, so you really get into it. But then I started covering, when I was covering politics, was, like the stories in that, how people addressed if, like, I was working in presidential politics for a while.
how people address different crowds, what they're wearing when they go to different parts of the country, what they say, how they change, how they speak. It's all just really interesting, the story that they're trying to tell people. So yeah, that's kind of how I got into it.
Logan (07:15.724)
Wow. Yeah, I definitely understand what you're saying about the whole DC vibe. I lived in Virginia, about 30 minutes south of DC when I was in high school. We were up there for a job my dad was working on with the, I don't know if I'm allowed to say it. I don't know. CIA. It's no secret. the CIA was expanding their headquarters and
Kendall (07:36.437)
We'll bleep it out if you can.
Logan (07:43.382)
My dad, the construction company that he worked for was hired to do so. But this has been 10 years ago or so, so I'm sure it's no big deal anymore. But either way, we were up there living there and I loved the area. But you're right. Politics is just kind of in the air. It's like it's weird. Like I'm in the South now. I'm in Atlanta. And the thing that's in the air here is just it's all sports like football, baseball. That's all that's like.
Kendall (07:59.402)
Mm-hmm.
Kendall (08:09.535)
Philadelphia is the same. Philadelphia is the same, yeah.
Logan (08:10.998)
Yeah, it's just the whole aura of existing here. But in DC, it's like more so than other places I'd noticed. Everyone has an opinion. They're not afraid to state the opinion. And that's fine. We have that right. But it just kind of is this overwhelming like aura that's just in the air. Nothing like nothing like down here. And I'm sure nothing like Pennsylvania, right?
Kendall (08:24.467)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Kendall (08:38.419)
Yeah, yeah, very different. But it's hard to separate yourself from it. And I mean, even if you're working as a bartender and you're not really related to politics and the people that are coming to the bars are related, there's really no escaping it. And so it's not that much of a surprise to me that I went to school in DC and ended up covering politics.
Logan (08:58.742)
Yeah. Yeah. So talking about Riverside though. So you started your career in this, in this political journalism space, but then you moved on was, was your first pivot straight to Riverside from this past life. Where did you go and why did you decide to leave the, this reporter political lifestyle?
Kendall (09:23.637)
Yeah, so very long story. But basically, 2016, I was covering the presidential campaign. And I got to work for Bloomberg at the time. And I was also working for journalists that were part of a documentary series on Showtime. It was called The Circus. It's still called The Circus. I think it's still running. And it was behind the scenes of the election. So I got to do some incredible like,
incredible stuff. Like got to be on Bernie Sanders campaign bus and go on to go to do interviews with Donald Trump, like really behind the scenes, cool, interactive stuff that I wouldn't get to do otherwise. And then my plan was to cover 2020, the 2020 election. And as I was going on, I was realizing that I wasn't going to get that same experience again. I felt like I would kind of be in the same flock as all of the other journalists, kind of like everyone.
you've seen, like everyone kind of crowding around, like that one person in the middle, like the politician. And so was kind of falling out of love with my job a little bit, and then simultaneously falling in love with my now wife. And so she was from abroad. So then I was like, OK, let's try it out. Let's see how it goes. We were long distance for a while. And then I thought, let's try this. originally,
I was like, okay, I really like writing because I'm a journalist. That's the obvious way to go. So I started marketing writing. But before that, I actually briefly worked at a company that did those articles that are like 25 cats sleeping in funny positions. Or you'll never guess what this guy found behind his wall during his renovation. And anyway, just because I needed a soft landing, I was like, I want to make friends. I need a soft landing to a new space.
And then after that, I moved to Wix. I was writing a marketing copy there. And then quickly realized that what I loved about journalism, to take it back to what we were talking about before, wasn't the writing. Because it was painful to be back and forth of like, do you want to say grow or expand here? And I'm like, I don't know. Just press publish. So instead, I realized what I loved was stories. That's what I loved about journalism.
Kendall (11:41.96)
So Riverside had reached out to me about community management. And I was like, what does that even mean? And once they told me about it, hosting webinars, getting to meet with users, getting to understand their struggles, what drives them, it was like, this is perfect for me. And especially with podcasters, it's like, I think there's no better community. Because you all love to talk, just like me. But also because people are friendly and really willing to share with each other. It's just like a really unique community.
Logan (12:10.262)
Yeah, yeah, I agree. Self or not selfishly, but maybe I'm a little biased, but I agree with everything you said. It's a really supportive community. Like maybe it's because it's almost similar to how I feel that like, I don't know, like musicians celebrating each other's album releases. It's like when you're a kid, you think of stuff like that as like
Kendall (12:22.175)
Mm-hmm.
Logan (12:39.206)
well, there's no way that Biggie would support Tupac. There's no way because they're in the same space. They're both popular at the same time. There's no way they would support each other, but they do. And as a kid, you're like, that's weird because someone's got to make that money. And if I'm Biggie, I want to sell more albums than Tupac. But in the podcasting space, it seems that everybody is on each other's side and
Kendall (13:04.156)
Yeah.
Logan (13:04.97)
Everyone is there to lend a hand or give a tidbit or a piece of advice that they maybe didn't get along their journey that they're willing to pass on to someone else. And that's really nice. It's nice to be able to have answers and supportive people in your circle.
Kendall (13:10.453)
Mm-hmm.
Kendall (13:23.765)
It's also 100 % different than journalism. mean, like it's a thing that you don't expose how you get your sources, the methods that you use, because that's your currency. Like I'm a better journalist if I can keep those methods a secret, because then I can beat out other people that are reporting on the same thing as me. In podcasting, that's just not the same vibe. It's not the same culture.
Logan (13:47.948)
Yeah, you know, I was curious about, so when Riverside hit you up and they inquired about you coming on board, how soon thereafter joining Riverside after leaving this journalism kind of background, how did that shape your perspective or how did, I'm sorry, how did it shift your perspective on storytelling or did it?
Kendall (14:16.957)
You mean that like, did joining Riverside shape my perspective or did journalism?
Logan (14:23.402)
Yes. All of the above. did it, how, when you got to Riverside, how did you, was there like a culture shock and the difference between podcasting and journalism? Was, was there a huge shift for you with mindset? Like how, tell me a little bit about that. You know what I mean?
Kendall (14:25.334)
Both?
Kendall (14:37.886)
yeah.
Kendall (14:43.84)
Yeah, no, I know what you mean. I would say that, first of all, I came in with lot of assumptions. I'm like, people want to connect with each other because they want to network, because that's what I was used to in journalism. So my first thing when I started, I was actually suggested this by my manager, so shout out to him. But he was like, you should get on calls with as many people as you can. And so my first two months here, I just went call after call and spoke with different people.
And I was first of all, really blown away by how nice everybody was and how giving they were and how much they wanted to share. And you'd say, oh, that's a really cool light you have in your background. And then you'd hang up from the call, and they would send you the Amazon link with some affiliate code that they have for the light. It was just so different than what I was used to. so, yeah, also think that it's nice to work.
Because as you said in the intro, I'm very much a people person. It's nice to work with people that are just very, a lot of people are doing this for their business, but this is the passionate part of their business, one of them. And a lot of people are doing this because they're passionate about podcasting, and they love to do that. And they come back from their full-time job and do it as something that drives them and makes them happy. So it's just really inspiring. think that I have a really cool position within Riverside,
everyone gets, everyone has to work on the new features, but I'm the only one that actually like hears from people saying, wow, this makes my life easier or I just am really having so much fun with this. And so I get to kind of reap the benefits of seeing the, like the end result of people being happy.
Logan (16:20.832)
Yeah. I mean, that's, that's a really reward. can, I can think about how that would be a really rewarding, if I can speak, position to be in because I mean, like one of our earlier interactions was me sending you a message and saying, Hey, like the other platform had this feature. Do you guys plan on doing it? And you're like, yeah, I'll add it to the list. And I forgot about it. And then
Like two weeks later you messaged me and said, Hey, this is, this is here now. And I was just like, Whoa, like I have never used a product given feedback and seen a turnaround that quick. Now I assume other people had requested that same feature. Yeah, I'll own that thing. You're welcome. Riverside community. but, I was just impressed with a,
Kendall (17:06.166)
No, it's just you, just you. Yeah.
Logan (17:17.23)
companies willingness and action behind hearing customer feedback. Like it would, it just blew my mind honestly. So that shows how Riverside truly values you as this liaison between the users and the company. And they really take to heart what you observe about the community's thoughts, reviews,
gripes, favorite things. Like it just, it's really cool to see a company actually value what their users are doing.
Kendall (17:55.102)
Yeah, I mean, it's like it's very much the core of the place here. So that was also like you're asking about kind of culture shocks and changes. Like there is that part about the difference in culture between journalists and podcasters. Then there's the other part where I was I mean, I was working before I saying like Bloomberg, gigantic company, NBC owned by Comcast, like Comcast Universal, like huge companies. And so then to be at Riverside.
and have them be like, I'd love to do you know any users who are going live? I really would love to hop on a call with them and hear what they like and what they don't like and what they wish that they had. Like that was just so cool to me. yeah, that's just been like, like feedback and actually speaking to people is very much like the core of what people want to do here. So yeah, it's not like I have to sit there and be like, please, the community wants it. They're very much actively asking what they can be doing. So it's very nice.
Logan (18:52.204)
Very nice. And so with all that said, being the head of community, you're connecting and having conversations like these, probably with other creators every day, I assume. What does building and maintaining a strong community look like for Riverside? Because I'm sure when you got here, and I'm just assuming here, did Riverside have a community lead before you?
had they really invested that money and time into a role like that?
Kendall (19:28.828)
No, they had the product marketers really lead the community. They'd set up the community like there's a community on Facebook. But when I stepped into the role, that was the first time that we had done community in that way. So what it takes to really set that up, mean, I think that it takes a lot of trust building. And it takes a lot of being authentic. So for example, you writing to me saying, I wish there was this feature.
Like, it's inauthentic to write back, like, yep, noted. Like, I make a point to actually note that. And then when it comes, I will come back to you and let you know that that's there. Because that also encourages somebody like you to be like, OK, I'm going to share more feedback, which is helpful for us. It's also, maybe I'll help other people in the community. So when you display what you want to be displayed in a community group,
then you get that back, like being helpful, being friendly, starting conversations. I used to every single day. hold on. Sorry. That was. I used to post every single day in the group, for example. And after a while, once you show people that these posts are getting responses and you could actually have these conversations, then you find that other people start to do it because they see the value in it.
So in the beginning, to make a community, it's a lot of work in the beginning. And it's a lot of proving that you actually are authentic in what you're saying. If I'm going to say, I'm going to do something every month, you do it every month. If you say, I'm going to get back to you, you do that. so, yeah, it makes a lot of very small touch points. So sometimes it's hard to be like,
You're like, leave and you're like, what did I even do today? And you're like, I answered a million people's questions and sent articles and answered emails. like, yeah, it's a lot of little touch points. But it makes a bigger output, I guess.
Logan (21:30.338)
Yeah, I'd say, mean, it's wise for a company to, no, you're fine, man. You're fine. it's, it's, it's fun knowing that and here me too, with the, with the ringing, come on, man.
Kendall (21:34.634)
Sorry.
Kendall (21:46.91)
It's like there, so the, our room used to be like, there's no way to lock it because the people who left this office didn't give us the key. So there's a little sliding sign that says occupied. And I was like this, but I was like, this guy's just never gonna work. if you like try that in a bathroom and let's see if that works. But anyway, if you could tell it doesn't work. Yeah, anyway, sorry.
Logan (21:56.519)
nice.
Logan (22:07.842)
Yeah. Well, I'm sitting here trying to, figure out with this, these new iPhone and Mac softwares and stuff that released this week. It's like telling me that we're screening your call and it's like, I love that. Thank you for screening my call for this random number, but it's like, do you want to hear it? And then like, if you don't answer with a certain amount of time, it like rings your iPad, your Mac, your seat, there it is again, the cell phone. Like this is just,
Kendall (22:34.624)
suddenly your mother's at your door, knocking down, being like, Logan, you have a call?
Logan (22:39.094)
Right. Like here I am. Here I am doing a podcast with Riverside, who is this Georgia power. Wow. Not my electricity company trying to call me. probably just like, we're your bell off.
Kendall (22:49.302)
doors out. God, that's nice. They're building, they're building community, you know, look at that. The touch points, all those small touch points make for a community.
Logan (22:56.546)
Hey, true, let's think about it from that perspective.
Logan (23:03.18)
Yeah, well, listen, these touch points need to go away. So back to back to Riverside, it only it just makes sense for a role like yours to exist because ultimately at the end of the day, if you take all emotion out of it, Riverside is a company that has a software for podcasters. And if podcasters are giving feedback on how to make
the platform better and Riverside's just like, yeah, noted, and we'll get to it one day. They might lose business and they might lose accounts and that's not good for business. So it only makes sense for the community to be listened to.
Kendall (23:52.478)
It also, mean, and so that's one area is feature requests. But then if you also think about it, how many people start a podcast, get overwhelmed, and then drop it. And that's something that as a podcasting platform, a recording platform, recording, editing, publishing, end to end. But when you have people that are starting getting overwhelmed by just the sheer amount of work that goes into podcasting,
So why not build webinar programs and education that can make them feel more confident, teach them how to grow their subscriber, to get more subscribers, teach them how to write their scripts better. When you have that knowledge, people will also continue to do what they love to do and not feel as overwhelmed by it. it's also in that way. Beyond Future Requests is about educating and continuing them on that path.
Logan (24:44.812)
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So with that said, what are some with when you are interacting with creators and other podcasters on a daily basis, what are some of the most common challenges that podcasters and creators are facing? And then part two to that is how is Riverside helping them overcome those obstacles?
Kendall (25:09.248)
So I'd say, there are two things. Number one is that a lot of people are like, I love to talk. I love to have conversations. They can get in the studio and record, and they love that. But then, as a podcast, you know, there's so much that goes into it afterwards. So a of people go into it blind. They're like, yeah, let's just have some fun conversations. My friend and I love to talk, and people love to listen. Let's do something. And then they're like, my gosh, I have to do the show notes. I have to publish it. I have to...
Make clips. have to like all of these small steps that go into it Just really add up and people get overwhelmed. So that's number one But number two is even the people that are aware of what they're doing and like what they're getting into when they start It's that like podcasters are expected to be their own marketing teams now their own content teams. So Right now I mean always
But so they are making this episode. But then if you really want to grow, you need to have clips, right? And if you really want to grow, you also need to have a blog post and a newsletter and blah, blah, blah. Now it's clips. Now it's under 30 seconds. Now the medium length is a bigger thing. So you better have those 10 minute clips as well. It's like it adds up and adds up. So you're like when like.
Who has time for this? So few podcasters are actually monetizing. A lot of people look at the Joe Rogan's and the Alex Cooper's and they're like, they're millionaires, but most people are not monetizing in the way that they'd like. So it also is like they're unable to make it their full-time job, but the amount of work that goes into it is a full-time job. And I can see that you're nodding in agreement because it's all very relatable and true that this is, that's a struggle.
What Riverside tries to do for both of those people, so for the person that got a little bit in and over their head and was like, wow, there's a lot to do here, and the person who's like, I'm not a full marketing team, it's being faster and easier, but still being like, at the core, Riverside is like getting high quality files and high quality audio video. But it's also, what can we do to make editing easier for you? What can we do to make writing show notes easier for you? All of those steps, like that's kind of what
Kendall (27:25.6)
drives us is just easier, faster, but still keeping high quality.
Logan (27:32.27)
Sure. Yeah, that's, that's perfect. I mean, it's all of the things you've said are so true. It's, it's unfortunate that fortunate, unfortunate depending on how you look at it, but podcasting is a full-time job. It's you are expected to be your own PR person and your own social media person and your own
guest booking person and your show note generate. mean, everything can be overwhelming, but Riverside has seemingly been leading the charge to make all of these things.
I want to say a lot of people also to before I finished that thought don't know. Like you said that there's this much work in front of it, but Riverside makes it obvious that that stuff is stuff that you should be doing. Like the clip generation, the show notes generation, like it kind of lays the groundwork in a way to like, Hey, this is what you need for success. Here's some thumbnails. Here's some clips.
Here's some branding tools. Here's all of these things that go into making your show look as professional as possible. And it's great because Riverside's features make those things that could seemingly be overwhelming, very accessible to the average Joe Blow that, know, it's, few and far between that people are super duper tech savvy when it comes to podcasting. Like you say,
Kendall (29:15.926)
Mm-hmm.
Logan (29:15.948)
A lot of people are just like me and my buddy like to go to happy hour and we talk over a drink for four hours. Why don't we just start recording it? But the technical aspect that goes into podcasting can be overwhelming. And I guess what this ramble is, is start trying to get at is that Riverside makes it easy for people to, or more accessible rather than easy, more accessible than, than anybody else.
Kendall (29:18.676)
So, I hope that can help.
Kendall (29:41.728)
Well, that's what I was also going to say is like, shouldn't these two people who like to talk for four hours at the bar have a podcast? Like if those people want to make something and people want to listen to it, then like even if people don't want to listen to it, do it. But I also like to say that I think that what I personally really like about it is that it used to be if you want to have a podcast, you'd have to have a multimillion dollar studio and all of this money to be able to put into it. And so.
When you kind of take down that barrier and make it more accessible, it means you get more stories from more people in more places. And that is kind of, I mean, I think that's really the way to connect with other people is to hear their stories, always keep taking it back to storytelling. But really, like, I think that when you don't limit the stories and the people that are telling them, the guests that are talking with you, makes it so that people can relate to each other in that way, because that's kind of a lot of what podcasting is about.
Logan (30:38.35)
Sure, sure. so speaking of those stories, we've talked a lot about how a lot of your passion behind being at Riverside is hearing those stories from other creators. Is there any particular story or experience that you've had that has stuck out to you that's just been like, man, this is why I do what I do, because of stories and people like that. You know what I mean?
Kendall (31:04.416)
Yeah, I would say, mean, I don't like, I'm not going to say like a specific person because there have been so many, but I would say there's like a lot of podcasters that talk about grief. And those ones are really, really like emotional to me because they go through something. Like I spoke with one creator who lost like so many people in one year and like their mother and then their father and then like a brother. It was, it was a wild story. And then
They started a podcast just because they felt like they had no one to talk to and they had so much that they wanted to talk about and so much that they were trying to get through and understand. So she started a podcast and so many other people have also done this, that they started a podcast to talk with other people who have been through grief, are grieving currently, just to create a community for each other. And it create the fact that they're not only able to help themselves during that process and heal in whatever way they can.
but also that they're able to help all these other people heal and they created communities out of it. And all of these people now can come together around something that they need a community for. Like those are the stories that really get me that I think are just like what it's all about.
Logan (32:18.55)
Yeah, grief is, is one of those things that, you know, I'm no therapist, but it's best to get that stuff out and in the, in the open and to have these hard, uncomfortable conversations about loss and grief and addictions and everything that revolves around that universe. it's, good to get them out in the open because the more people talk about them, the more
Kendall (32:27.179)
Mm-hmm.
Logan (32:46.368)
relevant they are in society and the cl- that means the ever so much closer we are to getting to solutions for addictions and, and, know, and, and sickness and, all of these things that can really bring a person down. And it's funny, as you're describing this person, I'm going to have to ask you off mic or off after we're done recording, but I might know who this person is. I mean, very small world, but I think I know unless
Kendall (33:09.864)
Yeah, that's great.
Logan (33:14.912)
you know, this, probably happens to millions of people, but I know somebody that I've had on the podcast that has this exact story. So I'm going to have to ask you afterwards to make sure that this coincidentally could be the same person.
Kendall (33:25.482)
wow. Amazing. Yeah. Okay, well then if it is, then you could link to that show in the show notes. There you go.
Logan (33:33.834)
Hey, there you go. There you go. so with, with all of this said, you know, with all of it you're doing with Riverside and with creators and with all that Riverside is doing by implementing features. mean, I know I don't want to get too ahead of ourselves and I'm sure you're limited on what you can and cannot say, but are there a features and stuff that you're really excited about that Riverside is bringing to us?
towards the end of 2025 and going into 2026? Is there opportunities that creators should be paying attention to? Kind of give me your little what you can on that.
Kendall (34:15.382)
I mean, yeah, there's a lot that's actually, I don't know how much I can say, but basically what I will tease is that we are working on one, like a brand new way of editing, which I think is gonna be really cool. I'm excited for people to try it out and it'll only kind of get better as things go on. And then two, we're really focused on being end to end. So we ever started as a recording platform and then we branched out to
more editing. And so now we have a full editor and also content creation with those show notes, transcripts, all of that. But now, I mean, the next step is publishing and putting them up on platforms. And mean, we already started by posting, by putting out hosting to publish on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you like for new podcasts. I will just say I'm excited to see what the future holds for.
that, definitely.
Logan (35:16.45)
Yeah, that's, that's exciting stuff. mean, just those little tidbits gets me excited personally because I'm thinking the transcript editing functionality is something that I had never thought of before I had heard of, you know, Riverside and it's, you know, some of its competitors. I'd never even thought about how much easier editing could be with
that functionality. to hear that you guys are working on another new way to edit, it's just that I'm excited because like, how could it get any better than it already is? So I'm excited to see you guys one up yourself yet again, I'm sure.
Kendall (36:00.032)
Thank you. We try. try. I I just get to deliver the news, but I do think it's the best part of the job. It's like they have to stay up all night working on it. And I get to be like, feature announcement and like celebrate with everybody. So yeah.
Logan (36:05.372)
for sure.
Logan (36:12.566)
Yeah, that's really, really neat. So now my friend, there comes a point in every conversation I have with my guests where I ask them a collection of questions. They can be rapid fire or they can be short or I'm sorry, or they could be, we can discuss them in full if needed. But they're really just kind of to get to know who you are. You know, we got to know your
Kendall (36:33.59)
Let's do it.
Kendall (36:37.419)
Cool.
Logan (36:39.724)
kind of your, your early stages of your career, where you went to school, a little bit of upbringing stuff and what you're doing at Riverside. But I also want to get to know you just so you know, if we, if we, if and when we publish this in the Riverside community chats, which I would love to do. and people are listening to this conversation. I want them to know who you are as a person too, so that that can be another bridge for connection. are you ready for these questions?
Kendall (37:07.242)
Yeah. Yeah, enough about Riverside. Let's talk about me. I'm kidding. But yeah, no, I'm ready for the questions.
Logan (37:11.694)
Heck yeah. Do you know who you are? Yeah. What is your favorite movie?
Kendall (37:18.534)
God. my gosh, I'm so bad at these questions of like favorite movies, favorite songs.
Logan (37:22.85)
yeah, this is, this is, these are all first date questions.
Kendall (37:26.132)
Yeah, Okay, mine's going to be a little bit embarrassing, but like I used to love and I still love Now and Then. It's like an old coming to age movie. I think it was like coming to age in like the 50s or the 60s. And it's like four girls, then they grow up. O'Donnell's in it. Demi Morrison is so good. I actually recently revisited it because I used to love it when I was younger. And I was like, this still still slaps. So I'd say Now and Then. And just because I love girlhood.
I love those coming of age stories. yeah.
Logan (37:58.358)
Yeah, that's that's fun. I love that. I've not seen this flick, but now I'm intrigued and I now want to so stand by.
Kendall (38:04.39)
It's just like about like girl, like four friends who like have like a summer together when they're younger. And then like it's it tracks also to when they're older. And it's just like very sweet. It reminds me of when like summer you like when you want to see a friend and you'd actually like go to their home and knock on their door and ask their mom if your friend can play, you know, like the good old days. So yeah.
Logan (38:27.852)
Yeah, very good, very good. What was your first job ever? The first time you were hired in high school or college or whatever, what was your first job?
Kendall (38:36.608)
Mm-hmm.
OK, my first job was I worked at Cold Stone Creamery. Do you know Cold Stone? Yeah, so I worked at Cold Stone, which of course meant that if they took me, had to sing. I do remember some of the songs. Like they have one that was to the tune of Britney Spears' Toxic that I still remember. And it sometimes comes to me at random times. had one that was like to the tune of the Addams Family song. But anyway, yeah, I was mixing those mix-ins right into that ice cream. Yeah.
Logan (38:47.041)
Absolutely.
Logan (39:10.04)
God, I love Cold Stone. was like a, that was like a staple when I was a kid. if mom was like, you guys want to go to Cold Stone, there's no way we're saying no.
Kendall (39:11.538)
It was so good.
Cake batter.
Kendall (39:19.414)
Yeah, like I don't care if you make me go to the grocery store for an hour beforehand, because I hate it doing that. Like if I go to Coldstone, I get to have that cake batter ice cream with like whatever mix-ins I want. Like, oh, yeah. So that was my job. And so I got to have it as much as I wanted. And then people at school knew about it. So they'd come by, try to get some free ice cream. It was like my power play of whether or not I actually liked them. know? Yeah.
Logan (39:25.487)
yeah.
stop. Stop. Get out of here.
Logan (39:42.222)
Yeah, that's that'll make her break your popularity in school for sure.
Kendall (39:47.21)
Yeah, I mean, for the right people, free. For the wrong people, you're like, that will be full price. you know, strategy.
Logan (39:52.064)
Yeah. In fact, that's going to be full price plus an additional 10 bucks just because I hate you. Yep, exactly. if you were entering the ring for a fight, Kendall, what would your walkout song be?
Kendall (39:56.406)
Yeah, and then you'll have to tip me because I have to sing that Adam's family song. So please give me that money.
Kendall (40:09.686)
Ooh. Oh my gosh, that's a really good one. I feel like this weirdly the first thing that comes to mind is like Soulja Boy, you know, that's like you. That could be fun. I don't know why that's my first one that comes to mind.
Kendall (40:30.198)
I'm going to think about it, but I will say that the first thing that came to mind is that. But then another one should be like, what is she doing here? Like that kind of vibe for a song. You know? Yeah. Yeah.
Logan (40:40.086)
Yeah. Yeah, I like it. Yeah, Soulja Boy's a vibe. I mean, we can we can throw on some crank that while you're walking in.
Kendall (40:46.804)
Yeah, yeah, maybe. I'm gonna see if I edit that by the end of this rapid fire, but right now it feels right.
Logan (40:54.894)
It'd be really funny if as you're like climbing over the ring, like you like Superman it out like in the dance, like it kind of fits.
Kendall (41:02.844)
Exactly. Exactly. Like you can time it really well. It fits perfectly. And then they're like, here's Kendall. And it's like, you know, like immediate, like, I'm producing it. used to be a producer with as well as the journal as a journalist. So, I mean, I'm just producing this whole moment now. Yeah. Really makes you think.
Logan (41:16.022)
Wow. Yeah, this is, this is huge. It does. It really does. additionally on the music train, you get to organize yourself a music festival. Who are your three headliners? They could be alive or dead.
Kendall (41:34.678)
No, see, people are like really gonna, I have to, like, people are probably gonna judge me for this, but you know, so be it, judge me. Number one's Rihanna. And I won't say, right, right? Number one's Rihanna. I feel like number two needs to be like a, first of all, they're all gonna be women. Number two needs to be like a, like a throwback type of vibe, you know?
Logan (41:46.616)
That'd be fire.
Kendall (42:00.694)
Like after Rihanna, maybe I want to yell a little bit with some Alanis Morissette, know? And just like, yeah, yeah, yeah, get really like, get real wild. And then, I don't know, maybe I don't. This is hard. Ooh, third.
Logan (42:05.486)
Okay.
Kendall (42:17.248)
Like, I feel like Stevie Nicks. Yeah. Right? I feel like it's a good line up. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you.
Logan (42:21.648)
Ooh, great choice. That's a fire lineup.
Yeah, I'm buying tickets, damn.
Kendall (42:29.874)
I don't even know who would headline it, but yeah, as long as Rihanna's there also, I'm there.
Logan (42:34.38)
Yeah, Rihanna gets a pass. She just gets to show up. There you go. There you go.
Kendall (42:39.018)
Yeah, and Beyonce will be a special guest, obviously. Make a surprise guest, because I'm just throwing her in there. Four. I make the rules. This is my, I am the captain now.
Logan (42:47.182)
This is my show now. What on a day that you're not working and serving the Riverside community, what do you do to recharge? How do you take care of yourself?
Kendall (43:02.912)
So actually, I live near a beach. So I would used to say that I would go to the beach. But I will say now that I am a new, recent mother. So I'd be with my daughter. She's 10 months now. it's just like, you come home. And I'm just like absolutely obsessed with her. And it makes me smile. And being a parent, not.
I need to clarify because it sounded like it, I was referring to my child, but like it as in like the act of parenthood. But yeah, I just like, love coming home to her and then like playing with her and go into the park. just like, it resets my day always.
Logan (43:42.946)
Wow, that's powerful. I love that. had no idea. I mean, rightfully so. I don't know you personally like at all, but congratulations. That's amazing.
Kendall (43:51.862)
Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. So she's actually 11 months now. Wow. But yeah, so it's been really, really great. Her name's Nellie. Shout out to Nellie.
Logan (44:00.782)
Very cool. Nelly. Wow. Shout out to Nelly. what is a quote or a piece of advice you've been given that sticks out to you that you tried to embody and live by every day?
Kendall (44:16.662)
Okay, I'll give you two. The first one is, it's more of a tip that I give to creators. When I worked at NBC, or Bloomberg, when I worked at Bloomberg, I had a really incredible executive producer and I would ask him, how long should this video be? And he'd always say, as long as it wants to be. And I really use that all, like we use that now for videos, for things that I write. There's a time where things that you create,
you feel like they're dragging. know, it's like usually the time when like you're watching the YouTube video and you tap on your screen and be like, how much longer is there here? Like making things as long as they want to be. I also apply that to just like life. You know, if you're at a party and like, this is as long as it wanted to be. That I will, that's one. And then another quote that I like really love. I'm not, I will admit, I'm not a big Bill O'Reilly fan because yeah. But he, there's a very funny,
video of him rehearsing and rehearsing this line and the tele... and the tel... have you seen this? The teleprompter, the teleprompter keeps messing up and he just is like, I don't know if I can curse, I'm just gonna say f it. He just goes, he's like, fuck it, we'll do it live. And he starts like yelling, you know this, you know this video and he's like screaming, fuck it, we'll do it, we'll do it live, we'll do it live. I use that term all the time, just being like, we'll do it live. Well, I'll say, fuck it, but it's iconic.
Logan (45:16.435)
iconic.
Logan (45:24.29)
You can curse.
Logan (45:30.515)
it's iconic. I love that video.
Logan (45:37.746)
I love that. Cause I also use that term a lot. If anything's ever messing up, I'm just like, we'll do it live. And there's at least, there's a, there's at least usually one person in the room that gets it. very, very, for sure. You have to get like really angry, but then like, try to calmly stack papers and then like lose your cool again and just be like, it.
Kendall (45:44.458)
If we'll do it live and you throw the pen down. Yes.
If they don't, it's even more key. Even if they don't, you just really seem like you're having a moment.
Yeah. Exactly. You have to like really like, like feel yourself unravel while you do it. But it's just iconic. Yeah. So that's it. That's one of my inspiration quotes. Yeah. Yeah.
Logan (46:10.614)
Yes, yeah.
Logan (46:14.766)
Yeah, it's that that's gold. I'm so glad you said that. That's I love it so much. A couple more here, Kendall. What is your biggest fear?
Kendall (46:28.048)
ooh. Yeah, what am I scared of? Biggest fear? I feel like I really don't like heights. And yeah, I guess heights. I feel like also getting like really sick. You know, I'm like one of those people that like doesn't like to the doctor because I'm like, what if something's wrong? Ignorance is bliss, you know. But my wife's a doctor, so she doesn't love that outlook. But yeah, so I would say...
Logan (46:29.986)
Got a little dark on you, sorry.
Logan (46:52.205)
Yeah.
Kendall (46:57.878)
heights and then to get even deeper i would say illness like yeah i don't know
Logan (47:09.196)
Yeah, that's that's that's perfectly. Illness is a very valid fear.
Kendall (47:14.538)
No, just like, getting like very like, I don't know, I guess the real answer is like death. But yeah, it's been heights, but it makes sense. Because if I fall, then I fall to my death. that's what I'm scared of.
Logan (47:25.432)
There you go. There you go. And then lastly, Kendall, what is your main motivator? What pushes you? What keeps you going every day? What is your morning drive?
Kendall (47:37.6)
My morning drive, this is going to sound cliche, but my morning drive is really the fact that I get to work in this job and get to speak with people. I think that what drives me is being around people, living life. think that I really love the spontaneity of life and being able to connect with people. I think that.
being with friends, going out, meeting people from the community, like all of those things just like really drive me. Human connection, that's the word for it. Yeah, yeah.
Logan (48:12.014)
There you go. I love that. Now, Kendall, I'll go ahead and give you the opportunity to tell the people how to get involved. What Riverside does, tell them how to get, you know, how to sign up, how to, how to learn more, everything, just advertise.
Kendall (48:30.612)
Yeah, so you can check out more about Riverside at riverside.com. Actually, it's an update. You might not have noticed, but it's not .fm anymore. We changed it over. So if you go to the website, it's riverside.com now. so you can also find the community that we were talking about on Facebook. It's Conversation Craters by Riverside. And so you'll see a lot of me there. You'll also see a lot of Logan there. Come on. Just come and join us.
And then if you want to connect with me, can find me. Let's just say on LinkedIn. So Kendall Breitman. My name's somewhere on this screen or in those show notes. So you'll know how to spell it. yeah, you can check out. There's also Riverside on YouTube. So you could really check out everything that Riverside can do. And yeah, I've given you enough destinations. So check it out.
Logan (49:20.204)
Yeah, tons of destinations and I'll make sure I throw Riverside's website in the show notes so that we can, if people are interested in what we've talked about and want to join a community or get involved, can, they can go to riverside.com and check it out. We love to see that. Kendall, thank you so much for giving me about an hour of your time today. I appreciate you being invested in the community enough to
Kendall (49:37.59)
And yes.
Logan (49:48.588)
be open to doing this with me. This is really cool for me because because I am a big fan of Riverside. I use Riverside every day. and I love the constant feature updates and enhancements. I love, I love it. So thank you for being here and giving me your time.
Kendall (50:07.722)
Yeah, thank you so much for having me. This is like one of my favorite parts of the job. So I really appreciate you giving me the opportunity to come on your show.
Logan (50:15.756)
Absolutely. So guys, again, I'll throw Riverside's information in the description of the episode so you can get to it if you choose to do so. I appreciate everybody from tuning in. If we've got some new people here from the Riverside community, hello. Connect with me on Facebook as well. I'm in that group. I try to be in there as often as I can. And find me on LinkedIn as well. But you can connect with me on...
all the social media platforms, really Instagram I'm very active on as well. So you can jump over there. but of course follow the podcast and all the platforms. Like I said at the beginning, leave a follow, leave a like, leave a comment, leave some feedback. I appreciate it very much. Thank you guys for tuning in today and we will see you next time.