Powerful. Passionate. Unsugarcoated.
Unsugarcoated with Aalia is a podcast produced by Unsugarcoated Media, a 501(c)(3) organization. Having launched EmpowerCon, a 1-day empowerment event in August 2019, founder Aalia Lanius wanted to continue the effort of highlighting extraordinary people with powerful stories and conversations that cause society to ADMIT the issues we are facing, ASK the questions relative to how we create change, and ADJUST our behaviors and mindset in order to better serve ourselves and our communities.
This podcast is intended to have a strong sense of advocacy on society’s critical issues such as racism, human sex-trafficking, suicide, and mental health, all with the goal of bringing value to humanity through its thought-provoking, authentic and “unsugarcoated” manner.
At the same time, it provides inspiration for the student, entrepreneur and business-minded individual because it showcases the strategic thinking, bravery, and resilience needed to build an empire. It celebrates diversity and healing, welcoming the opportunity to amplify individuals that provide representation, loads of empathy and better understanding of one another, dedicated to providing education, healing, and growth to all—especially survivors of trauma.
Production of this seasonal empowerment themed podcast is done for an audio and visual audience. Launched on Christmas Day 2019, originally as Unsugarcoated Podcast with Aalia and Alex, on the United Broadcast Network, the show is syndicated to all major podcast streaming platforms and broadcast on YouTube.
After two seasons, it continued as Unsugarcoated with Aalia, with its creator and host, Aalia Lanius, who herself stands out to the audience as not your average grandmother. The 45-year-old is an award-winning novelist and 3-time cancer survivor who speaks candidly on personal traumas such as homelessness, sexual assault, domestic violence, and experiences surrounding her own multicultural background and building multi-million-dollar companies—her vulnerability and transparency are part of what makes the show unique.
During each season, episodes are released once a week and promoted via social media platforms. Collaboration has been key in order to broaden the potential for growth and audience participation. The show originally focused on in-person studio recorded episodes. Due to COVID19, the show pivoted allowing guests to be interviewed via Zoom. With each release, creative trailers are used to promote parts of the social message within an episode.
The interview-style format features rising stars, change-maker organizations, and celebrity guests that give the audience a range of perspectives and ideas about humanity. Examples:
Blossoming audience of people experiencing growth, inspiration and understanding of one another.
Since launching, the show has created a lot of changed perceptions and lessons learned—all in an effort to build more understanding and empathy for one another. It has produced and released 32 episodes over four seasons.
Streamed in over 12 countries, the social media impact has exceeded 200,000 impressions and over 15K views across multiple platforms. The listenership continues to grow with the most recent episode garnering the most listens to date. Season 5 is currently in pre-production, with recording to begin in October 2020. It will continue to share the stories of rising and notable figures in society with the vision of supporting Unsugarcoated with Aalia.
Listeners love it and support it!
APPLE REVIEW:
“Empowering indeed…As a queer person of color and an immigrant, I appreciate the topics Aalia and her team tackle in their podcast. They bring to light issues that often get swept under the rug…very informative, inspirational and empowering!”
“Very Enlightening…Very interesting guests and topics that are quite mind stimulating! I love tuning in. Looking forward to future programs keeping an open mind to much I might not have thought of.”
Here are some more of the things people have said on Apple Reviews.
The podcast will continue to create socially conscious media that brings value to audiences and greatly appreciates the opportunity to be recognized for the effort and contribution to society.
