Visionaries is a podcast and community for storytellers shaping the way we see the world, and those looking to change it. Host Alice Aedy, a National Geographic Explorer, documentary filmmaker, Forbes 30 Under 30 honouree, and Earthrise Studio Co-Founder, set out to create a space for her community of 150,000, expanding the podcast format to hold honest conversations about storytelling, purpose, and building a values-aligned creative career.
The Visionaries audience is made up of passionate creatives, filmmakers, photographers, journalists, and artists, navigating an industry in flux. 89% of Millennials and Gen Z say purpose is key to job satisfaction, but only 50% feel they are achieving it. The Visionaries podcast and community speaks directly to that moment.
The podcast brings the conversations; the community gives people somewhere to take them. Through webinars, film screenings, and live events, Visionaries moves its audience from passive listening to active participation, providing the tools, connections, and practical guidance that Alice wishes she had access to at the start of her own career.
The goals were clear: establish a premium, video-first show that stood apart in a crowded market; build a genuinely engaged community of values-led creatives; and demonstrate that purpose and commercial viability are not mutually exclusive. Alice wanted to create the conversations she wished she had access to at the start of her own career, and to make them available to everyone who needed them.
At a time when creative industries are shifting faster than ever, Visionaries offers, depth, authenticity, and community.
The starting point for Visionaries was simple: with over 4.5 million podcasts in the world, how can we create a show that stands out? While the podcasting space is saturated (yes - everyone and their mum is starting a podcast!), video podcasting is the fastest growing format in the industry and YouTube is now the most used platform for podcast consumption globally.
To cut through this, Alice wanted to build Visionaries as a show authentic to her, not just a podcast, visually ambitious and produced to a standard that reflected the calibre of the people sitting across from her. Brand was central to that ambition. Alice worked closely with Art Director Liliana Saldanha to build a visual identity that was aspirational and premium but deeply human and felt authentically like Alice. This was carried consistently across the set design, epsiodes and social output. The score was composed by Mercury Prize-nominated musician Jon Hopkins, giving the series its own emotional atmosphere. The result: 68% of listeners chose to watch on YouTube, with over half viewing on a desktop screen, reflecting the show's high production value as both a visual and audio experience.
Guest selection was fundamental, chosen not by followers, but by authenticity. The series opened with photojournalist Lynsey Addario, Alice's previous mentor, for a deep dive into what it means to balance a career with purpose, motherhood, and a changing industry. In episode three, wildlife cinematographer, one of the first women in her field, Sophie Darlington ASC shared insights from 30 years behind the camera, foregrounding the craft and resilience behind environmental filmmaking. These are the people Visionaries exists to spotlight: unbelievable individuals whose stories deserve far more attention than they have received. The episodes themselves proved the appetite was real. Across the first five episodes, with no paid spend, Visionaries accumulated over 21,000 plays.
The brand carried seamlessly into social. Drawing on Alice's existing community of 150,000, the strategy focused on converting Alice's most engaged fans into show followers over on @visionaries (even securing the Instagram handle for Visionaries was no small feat!). The social content was designed to feel as considered as the show itself, and across just five episodes generated 1.5 million organic impressions. As one listener put it: "Every episode becomes my new favourite. I always walk away feeling connected, renewed and inspired."
From the outset, Alice was clear that Visionaries needed to go beyond conversation. Alongside the podcast, Visionaries has ran webinars with storytellers like director Petra Costa, film screenings, and hosted an intimate launch event at Shoreditch Arts Club, all working towards the Visionaries theory of change: inspiration leads to participation, and participation leads to impact.
Building all of this from scratch, without institutional backing meant challenging decisions at every turn about where to invest resources, but we feel so proud of the outcome and cannot wait for series two!
The episodes themselves proved the appetite was real. Across the first five episodes, with no paid spend, Visionaries accumulated over 21,000 plays, with an average completion rate of 38%, significantly outperforming industry benchmarks and demonstrating that the audience was not just finding the show but genuinely investing in it. As one viewer put it: "THANK YOU FOR CREATING VISIONARIES — I don't think there exists anything like this on the internet."
The visual-first strategy paid off equally on social. Visionaries generated 1.5 million organic impressions, reached 776,000 unique people, and gained 7,500 new followers gained across Series One without a penny of paid spend. The audience resognised the quality of the content: "It's impossible to only listen to this podcast, it just begs to be watched as well. I'm obsessed with everything — the interview style, the set, the editing, the guests." Perhaps most tellingly, guests chose to actively collaborate on social content themselves - not out of obligation, but because the conversations felt worth sharing. When the people you feature become advocates for the show, you know you've made something that resonates.
Beyond the numbers, Visionaries earned cultural credibility fast. Notion Magazine featured the show at launch, recognising it as a new creative ecosystem for filmmakers, photographers, and activists. The launch event at Shoreditch Arts Club filled a room before a single episode had aired, proving the community existed and was hungry.
