Over the past few months, I’ve ventured into the whole podcast world and have quickly become a huge fan! (I know, I know – podcasts have been around for forever and I’m so late to the game!). But once I gave it a go, I became hooked! For so long I was resistant to listen to them because I’m such a visual person (#photographer) that it’s sometimes hard for me to pay attention to just sounds without tuning out. But since I’m in the car so often driving all over the great (and GIANT) state of Texas for weddings and portrait sessions, and I HATE being unproductive (aka: spending hours just sitting in my car), that I decided to actually try listening to a few.

Because the way my brain is wired, if I’m spending time on something, it has to be productive, be adding value to my life, or I need to be learning something, so that automatically knocked out anything fiction-based. When searching for shows to check out, I settled on two categories: photography + business and anything faith + Christianity based. After dabbling around for a bit, I’ve landed on my favorites and thought that I’d share them with you!

My Favorite Podcasts

The Happy Hour with Jamie Ivey

This was the very first podcast I started listening to consistently! I was told about about for YEARS from some of my old college roommates and finally decided to take their advice and listen. I was a fan after one episode! (Scratch that: Half and episode!) Jamie’s show consists of interviews with different women talking about “the big things in life, the little things in life, and everything in-between.” Two of my favorite episodes are with Lauren Scruggs Kennedy and then her mom, Cheryl Scruggs. I don’t want to spoil them for you, because their stories are so much better told by themselves, but I loved hearing how God had worked in such big ways in their lives and in their family! (Listen to Lauren’s episode first, and then Cheryl’s!)

Journeywomen with Hunter Beless

I met Hunter during one summer in college while working at Pine Cove Camps. We were on leadership teams at neighboring camps, and would run into each other once a week or so. Even though our conversations weren’t ever very long (anyone who has worked at a summer camp knows there is always somewhere to be or something that needs to be done!), I remember every little chat with her being so incredibly life-giving! I heard about her podcast through another friend and instantly gave it a listen. Her goal behind her show is to chat with “Christian leaders about the seasons and challenges we face on our journeys to glorify God.”

I recently started leading a weekly Bible study for some High School girls (shout-out to my DCOMM girls!), and loved Hunter’s chat about Leading Small Groups with Jennie Allen. Another recent favorite is a conversation about Prayer with Valerie Woerner with Val Marie Paper. Hunter also did a series on relationships where she talked to different women about what singleness, dating, and marriage look like as followers of Christ.

Online Marketing Made Easy with Amy Porterfield

Now the business nerd in me is coming out, but I’m all about short, sweet and practical tips to apply to improving and growing my business, and Amy’s show does just that! She’s a marketing + business genius, and so open to sharing what she knows to help others. From social media and blogging, to productivity and organization, she covers it all!

Building a Story Brand with Donald Miller

Another business-y one for ya! I love this podcast because it focuses on creating a story behind your brand to help effectively communicate what you do and why you do it. Donald interviews prominent and successful business people on a variety of topics AND provides free helpful worksheets to go along with many of the episodes so you can apply what he’s teaching. (Again, visual learner = a love for worksheets!)

Honorable Mention: How I Built This

I don’t listen to this one all that often, but it’s an NPR podcast and the host, Guy Raz, interviews business owners to find out how they built their companies. And by businesses, think: Kendra Scott, Kate Spade, and Instagram – just to name a few! I think it’s so valuable to hear from people who have grown successful businesses and find out what worked and hasn’t worked well for them to see how I can apply it to my own lil’ biz.

So there you go: A few of my favorite podcasts! Hopefully if you’re not into podcasts just yet, these will give you a place to start. And let me know what you’re listening to – I’d love some more recommendations!

If you liked this post, you might also like:

5 Take-Aways from Running My Business Full Time for 2 Years