Actor Shay Rudolph and cultural expert Jess Weiner join Cheddar News to discuss their new 'The Smart Girls Podcast.' 

Between Bells

Podcast Hosts Talk New 'The Smart Girls Podcast' 

Welcome back to between bells conversations ranging from body image, relationships, social justice and more need to be talked about now more than ever with the mission of educating by providing multigenerational voices. The first of its kind podcast from the american girl podcast network, The Smart Girls podcast has launched today and we're joined by the host of the podcast actor Shay Rudolph and cultural expert Jess Weiner Ladies welcome to the show. This podcast is based off the popular books The Smart Girl's Guide which does so well, it's so popular. These books have been a trusted resource two parents and of course they're kids jess. Let me start with you, How does this podcast build on that success? Well we're bringing those books to life so all those topics that you mentioned from puberty to crushes and relationships and body image and more. Shea and I are posting conversations with celebrities with experts with you know, girls from all over the world who have written in questions, asking this advice right now and I think as you mentioned too, it's so important because we know mental health is at an all time low for teenagers right now and so we're really hoping that this program in bringing the books to life, gives young audiences and their caregivers and parents a place to go to ask the hard questions and get some really authentic advice. What I love about this is parents can actually listen to this with their kids and like you mentioned have discussed discussions, Shay, what kind of guests can we expect this season, Oh you can expect just all around incredible people, some of the people that we were able to interview are Chandler Kinney who her episode came out today Julia Lester Malia baker Navia Robinson and so many more incredible girls that I really look up to and I think we just had an amazing time with, I can't wait to hear now. This podcast just has touched on some very heavy topics. Any challenges when you guys were recording and just putting this together? Well you know what's really beautiful about working with somebody like Shay, she's 16, I am not 16. So as you said, we have these multigenerational voices and I think what we thought might be a challenge and how we approach the topics actually revealed itself to be quite compatible. I mean look we're all adults, we have adult bodies but we're all little kids inside. So these issues never really go away and I think Shane and I found more common ground than we did challenges in give giving advice from our own lived experiences because even though I've got more years on this planet, I learned so much from Shea about the relationship to mental health and social media and friendships and I think we were able to reverse mentor each other on this, I'm so glad you mentioned that because it really sparks that conversation between generations and I think that's so important. Especially these days, shame any, no, you from your role from the babysitter's club on netflix. What inspired you to join this podcast? Oh, so many things. First off I was just really excited to be able to work with jess because she is such an amazing human being for many different reasons, but I was also really excited just to be able to have these conversations and have people that follow me and know me from the babysitter's club, be able to listen to the advice and the personal experiences that I've been through and I think this podcast as a whole is just really honest and everything we talk about relates to exactly what young girls might be going through today and I can speak personally as a teenage girl that I'm going through these same things, so I think it was just an amazing opportunity to be able to have people listening know that I relate to exactly what they're going through and hear what I have to say about it. And I think a lot of girls and boys would love to hear that, that they're not alone through this journey jess. What do you hope listeners take away from this podcast? Well, I hope that they take away exactly that that we're a community of people all going through the same challenges, but most importantly, there is really tangible advice that we offer some of it comes from the smart girls books, some of it comes from our guests and our experts, but this isn't a show about problems, this is a show about solutions and ways to navigate growing up, whether you're in it like Shay or whether you're raising somebody in it like a parent listening. And the other exciting part of this is that we didn't really want to do a podcast which we love, but we also put full episodes up on Youtube and Youtube kids so that it can get discovered by everybody who needs it right now. This question is for both of you, Shay, I'll start with you dream guest Oh my gosh, my gym guest would probably be elle fanning because I just love her. I don't know, there's a little bit of a reach maybe, but I think she's really cool, it's not a reach, I could see it happening jess. What about you? I mean let's get her, we'll get her in season two. Um oh gosh, I think for me it would be amazing to share the chairs and the setting that we're in right now in the smart girl studio with the queen herself, Oprah, I would love her Oprah to come in and and have a conversation with young people. She was so formidable in my life as a young person. It would be awesome to have her on our show as well. You know, I ask that question to a lot of guests and Oprah, I have to say it's probably the top five answers from anyone I talked to, it's always Oprah, Well, thank you. I mean, I mean, go to the goat, right? The best of the Best. All right. Well, thanks to a host of the Smart Girls podcast, Actor Shay Rudolph and cultural expert Jess Weiner. We appreciate your time and you can listen to their new podcast right now.