Earlier this month, Kerry-Ann Reid-Brown, the New York-based founder of Breadfruit Media and the most popular Caribbean American podcast, Carry on Friends, launched an iFundWomen crowdfunding campaign to improve the company’s production capabilities.
Breadfruit Media is a media and lifestyle company dedicated to amplifying the voices of the Caribbean American community. The company hosts and produces its chart-topping podcast, Carry On Friends, while also offering podcasting courses, producing client content, and managing the first-of-its-kind Caribbean Podcast Directory, which lists quality podcasts from the Caribbean diaspora.
Crowdfunding has become a viable means of raising capital and is increasingly a prerequisite for securing more conventional forms of funding such as venture capitalist investment.
According to Breadfruit Media, a few reasons Caribbean Americans should consider supporting the campaign include giving Caribbean Americans a stronger platform to see themselves, their views, and the nuances of their experiences. “By supporting Breadfruit Media, you are helping to promote diversity and inclusion, while also celebrating Caribbean culture,” the crowdfunding campaign page states.
Even though Breadfruit Media is already a success, Reid-Brown is mostly a one-woman production house. She says she has been stretched paper-thin for years, and while it has never reflected in her always excellent Carry On Friends podcast, she’s ready to push the show and Breadfruit Media forward in new ways.
“I need support in order to grow… It’s hard when you’re the main person – the creative conceptualizer, the technical person, working with clients. I’m splitting myself into too many roles, and it is not sufficient or sustainable,” she laments.
Supporting Breadfruit Media will allow Reid-Brown to scale up production, embarking on more interesting and diverse programming. The company will also be able to better market its shows through further-reaching online advertisements. “Discovery for podcasts is incredibly difficult. The work to get the would-be audience to know you exist is hard, but important,” she explains.
Finally, meeting the modest crowdfunding goal of US$10,000 will also give Reid-Brown a large enough budget to engage freelancers to take off some of her load, and free her to pursue the innovative work that pulled her to the medium to start with.
Breadfruit Media’s iFundWomen crowdfunding campaign ends on October 31.
