Today we’d like to introduce you to Matt Gilhooly
Hi Matt, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
The Life Shift Podcast started as a school assignment. During the pandemic, I returned to school and got a second graduate degree. I joined the College of Journalism and Communication at the University of Florida for a degree focused on Public Relations and Communication starting in the Fall 2020 term. Throughout the journey, I chose elective courses that scared me each semester. In Spring 2022, I chose “The Art of Podcasting” as my elective, where The Life Shift Podcast was born.
I chose “The Life Shift” as my concept because when I was eight years old, my mother was killed in a motorcycle accident. The moment that my father (whom I was visiting in another state at the time) sat me down to tell me that my mother had died, everything in my life changed. It was a line-in-the-sand moment. Because of this time period, people did not share emotions or face grief head-on. So, I kept things inside for a long time.
With “The Life Shift,” I wanted to have candid conversations with people about the pivotal moment in their lives that changed everything. For nearly three years, I’ve spoken to over 160 individuals for deeply personal stories of tragedy and triumph and everything in between.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Struggles always exist. Technically, it was a journey of understanding how best to record, edit, and distribute a podcast across all channels. This was an iterative process that eventually has been a decently smooth experience.
Finding an audience in the wild world of podcasting (with discoverability issues) is often at the top of my mind, but I genuinely believe that the right people will find the episodes they need to hear. This is my true goal.
I think the biggest challenge in this journey would just be holding the appropriate space for the guests who generously want to share their stories on The Life Shift. It is a hard responsibility to hold space for someone sharing something they may not have communicated with anyone else. I want to do my part to have an honest conversation and approach the recordings with curiosity, even if that means asking questions that might feel taboo.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I feel like I’ve been on a journey of finding the medium to communicate how I felt at certain times in my life. For a long while, I was creating digital art for others, whether abstract or a digital portrait of their pets. And then, I moved into creating cartoons out of dogs and cats, which led to publishing 13+ coloring books on Amazon. The last art piece I made was a children’s book, “I Can Be Anyone: A Soul’s Journey,” also available on Amazon.
Once I created The Life Shift, I leaned into this new medium and found it to be one of the most fulfilling journeys I have had. I hope to continue this journey for as long as possible while supporting myself through my regular 9-5 job in marketing for a mortgage technology company.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
I think it would be inspiring or helpful to see some of the reviews left for The Life Shift on Apple Podcasts – https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-life-shift-pivotal-life-changing-moments/id1613618660
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thelifeshiftpodcast.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thelifeshiftpodcast/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thelifeshiftpodcast
- Twitter: https://x.com/thelifeshiftpod
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thelifeshiftpodcast
