Hello, lovely subscribers, it’s that time of year when we recap 2021. Let’s start with our top episodes from the past year, in reverse order:
It’s been more than a year, and like Covid (alas), Zoom calls are still here. From the constant refrain of #YoureOnMute to the after hours video chats, it’s just too much–especially for introverts. Join Sharon and Lisa as they explain why Zoom fatigue is a real thing, and how you can manage it.
In the ongoing struggle to be understood in a world that is built for extroverts, many introverts choose to become “textroverted.” What is textroversion? It’s appearing extroverted (excited, happy, upbeat, peppy) in written communications like emails, texts, and DMs. The sisters discuss whether they are textroverted, and provide tips for how to weave textroversion into your communication style. Plus, in their “Introverts Unite Separately” segment, Sharon and Lisa chat about the second summer of Covid, whether they should both do a doctorate, and how to cope with the return to office.
The sisters’ convo with James Pogson was so good that it couldn’t all fit into one episode! Ergo: here’s part 2. In this follow-on, Sharon, Lisa, and James continued chatting up a storm (as West Indians do, lol), delving into racism, microaggressions, code switching, and working while Black. And, of course, sharing a few more jokes about West Indian parenting.
On April 20th, almost a year after he murdered George Floyd, Derek Chauvin was found guilty on all counts. 30 minutes before the verdict was handed down, 16 year old Ma’Khia Bryant was fatally shot by a police officer. In this TIS Off-Topic episode, the sisters process the hollow triumph of the Chauvin verdict juxtaposed with the murder of Ma’Khia, and discuss a way forward from here.
Six days into 2021, in a shocking but unsurprising turn of events, the United States experienced an attempted coup, incited by the Seditionist in Chief. Just…wow. There is much to unpack, from the possibility of the orange one being impeached again, to the spate of White House resignations, to the failure of law enforcement officials–and their possible complicity. Join us as we discuss these historic events.
Inauguration 2021. Wow. Like the song says: It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, it’s a new life. At least that’s how it feels. President Biden and Vice-President Harris were sworn in on January 20th, and already the country feels like a calmer, more civil, and more hopeful place. From Biden’s and Kamala’s speeches, to Amanda Gorman’s poem, to the fabulous fashion, and yes, all those Bernie memes, Sharon and Lisa discuss all the details and drama around the Biden/Harris inauguration.
Interviews can be rough, especially for candidates of color. But they are a necessary part of the job search process. What a lot of candidates forget is that interviews are a two-way street: while the company is assessing you, you should also be evaluating them. That can be easier said than done, however. How *exactly* can candidates assess a potential company? Join Sharon and Lisa as they provide clarity around what red flags global majority job seekers should look out for, and what specific questions to ask when interviewing.
As the world begins to open up more fully, many companies are tightening the screws and insisting that employees return to work. There are a few that are letting their employees choose, some that have embraced the WFH forever model (Twitter, Slack) but it seems that most (e.g. Goldman Sachs, Amazon, Apple) have decided that office is best. Here, Sharon and Lisa, the Introvert Sisters, discuss why they feel companies should not force introverts. Black women, or anybody that doesn’t want to, to go back into the office.
Introverts just want to be understood—but somehow that keeps eluding them. That said, the sisters are determined to do their part in normalizing introversion, and making the world a more introvert-friendly place. With that in mind, Sharon and Lisa present to you The 12 Commandments of Introverts (taken from the TIS Version, lol). In this tongue-in-cheek episode, you’ll discover what makes introverts tick, what makes them shut down, and how to successfully relate to the introverts in your circle. Tune in and enjoy!
And our top episode in season three was, drumroll please:
“Why are you so quiet?” “Are you upset?” “You need to come out of your shell.” “You should speak up more.” Every introvert has heard phrases like these over and over, and to be honest, it gets irritating. It can be difficult moving through life knowing that just by dint of how you exist, people consider you to be deficient, and that you need to be “fixed.” In this episode, the sisters turn the tables. They flip these questions and statements that extroverts direct towards introverts, in the hope that some behavioral mirroring will show extroverts just how messed up, judgmental, unhelpful, and unnecessary these kinds of words can be.
In 2021, we did quite a few videos, but our most viewed video was actually from the previous year: Don’t be a Lazy Anti-Racist: Stop Performing Allyship and #DoTheWwork.
Other stats
Notable stats for us include:
- We released 27 episodes
- We covered introversion (of course), as well as activism, politics and entertainment
- More than half of our listeners are in the US (54%) with another large group in the UK (12%). We’ve also got quite a few listeners in Canada, Barbados, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Australia, with France and Nigeria rounding out the top 10 listener locations.
Here’s what’s coming in 2022
If you listened to our last episode, we talked about managing our time better as we’ve got busier. That has some implications for the podcast. One of those is that we’re going back to being primarily an audio product and putting video on hold for a while. This will help us manage the production schedule better right now, and we’re not ruling out releasing episode videos in the future if resources permit. In the meantime, catch up on back issues on our YouTube channel:
Thank you for listening, and we’ll catch up with you in Season 4. In the meantime, we’ll be sharing quotes on our Instagram profile and our LinkedIn page, and if you want to make our Christmas very merry, you can support our podcast on our brand new Patreon page. Wishing you the happiest of holidays and a great new year,
Sharon and Lisa, The Introvert Sisters.