An Interview With Sophie from The Haitian-American Dream Podcast

Podcasts, podcasts, podcasts everywhere! Of course the Haitian-American community is not going to be left out of the podcast phenomenon, thanks to digital entrepreneurs like Sophie from the Haitian-American Dream Podcast! Though just a few episodes in, the 40-minute-plus podcast is information-packed, touching everything from skin tone controversies to Haitian cuisine traditions.

In of the episodes, for instance, the host digs deep on the subject of colorism, and cites articles by scholars and integrates colorism in modern pop culture into the discussion. Whether you’re into podcasts or are just getting into them, it’s worth reading what this creative had to say about how she got her start, and how her early years led to the initiative.

Kreyolicious: What was your Haitian-American upbringing like?
Sophie/The Haitian-American Dream Podcast: Hmm, my Haitian-American upbringing, I guess I would say it was typical but also atypical. The most typical part about is that I grew up mostly in predominantly Haitian areas such as West Palm Beach, Florida and spent my teenage years in Irvington, New Jersey. Also, like one of my favorite comedians Haitian Jonas used to say all we did was go from “Lakay, lekòl, legliz.” So we definitely fit the script for a typical Haitian family when it came to that because we sure did stay up in church all day and I do mean all. Of course school was heavily encouraged and sleeping over or even visiting a friend’s house was not a thing.

As far as how my parents were though, I don’t feel like they were as strict as some other Haitian parents but I still knew better than to try them. My father would definitely scream “Mete’w ajenou,” in a heartbeat if you wanted to act stupid. However, [neither] he nor my mother ever threw the narrative of us having to be doctors, or lawyers, in our faces. Instead they encouraged us to obviously stay in school, but also do what makes us happy. Aside from that, my upbringing was pretty Haitian from the biblos, the china cabinet that no one was allowed to touch, the plastic couch at one point, of course, the daily intake of vitamin rice, and you could definitely hear the static-filled radio stations playing from a boom box either in the kitchen or my parents’ room.

Kreyolicious: How did the concept for the Haitian American Podcast take shape?
Sophie/The Haitian-American Dream Podcast: Back in high school while living in Irvington which like I mentioned earlier is a predominantly Haitian area in Jersey, I began to fall in love with the culture even more. During that time I was also exploring my writing and creativity more whenever I’d get home from school. One day, I started thinking about how I would like to start a documentary centered on Haitian-American life. So being that I had recently learned about the American Dream in my history class, I began thinking about what the Haitian dream or more specifically the Haitian-American dream would be if we studied the culture more in depth. With that said, in this documentary I really wanted to discuss how we deal with the daily struggles of embracing our culture in a society that is basically anti-everything that we are. As a teenager, I was tired of seeing the hatred others would display regarding our blackness, to our language and even down to being immigrants in this country, which of course adds another layer of oppression. However, as a teen I didn’t have the platform yet nor the funds to really make that documentary pop off. Hell, I still really don’t but I figured why not use what I do have to finally bring that idea forward. Then maybe one day the documentary can come.

Therefore, as far as the name of my podcast goes it’s always existed but in different forms. I even had the idea of making it into a book series of some sort since I’m also a novel writer. So, that’s basically where the idea came from. But as of recently I’ve been obsessed with all things podcasts and back in like September I thought to myself, “Man, where are the Haitian podcasts?” I finally found some, but realized there weren’t a large number of them. With that said, I figured I might as well start my own.

Kreyolicious: The art of start is everything. Did you ever find yourself getting stalled about getting started?
Sophie:/The Haitian-American Dream Podcast: I like that saying, “the art of start.” I might have to steal that one but on a serious note yes, yes and yes. I struggle getting started with everything. I am a bona fide procrastinator who excels at stalling. Sometimes I blame that flaw on my anxiety, but other times it can be me just being lazy or very afraid of what can happen when I finish the task at hand. The funny thing is that I definitely tried to convince myself that I couldn’t get started on my podcast without a proper mic or headphones, but finally I ditched that fear. My iPhone headphones work just fine for now. I do think that as a creative I tend to get anxious about my work or how it will be perceived. I’m often afraid that it won’t come out the way I envisioned it, and therefore, others will judge me for it. So, I will procrastinate until the idea disappears. Unfortunately, as a creative, most of my ideas just stick around haunting me until I start them. My podcast and blog being one some of those ideas but I’m doing much better these days learning how to relax my mind in order to just get my work out there into the world.

Kreyolicious: What are some challenges you come across when it comes to running a podcast?
Sophie/The Haitian-American Dream Podcast: All of the challenges, all the time! I am a one woman show so that means I draft up episode ideas, write the script, record it, edit the audio, upload and promote it.

Kreyolicious: How do you handle them?
Sophie/The Haitian-American Dream Podcast: I handle the challenges by giving myself some room to mess up because when you don’t have a team it’s a bit hard to really perfect everything. In a sense I’ve got to choose which part of the podcast I make the best. For example, this week I wanted to have it edited and uploaded Monday night but that didn’t happen until Wednesday. Granted, I was upset with myself but once again I had to give myself room for that. So I worked even harder on the content itself due to the lateness. Not to mention life is not exactly peachy for me at the moment so I also have to remind myself that I’m doing my best even in the midst of distress.

This concludes PART I of the interview with Sophie of The Haitian-American Dream Podcast. Tune in for PART II. Meanwhile…you know what to do!