Above Standard
Become Our Best Friends via The Internet
Francesa Georgia Pietkiewicz (she/her)
Let me take you back to a Sunday morning, not too long after lockdown. Two Vic students have moved back to their flat, away from their family homes, and in and amongst the Te Whanganui-a-Tara flatting crisis once again. They happen to come into the kitchen for a well-needed coffee at the same time. The vibes are a little dusty after a night of drinking sugar-free Nitro and Sharks out of old wine glasses, experiencing deep-level bonding at a party with people they’ll never see again, and ending the night by once again saying “why the fuck didn’t we go to Club 121?” These flatmates happen to be Ella Hoogerbrug and Alice Chrisp, now chatting shit to their fellow ‘flatties’ over avo on toast. They’re about to start a podcast Together.
Now, let’s flick even further back to 2019. As the end of the year rolled around, I said goodbye to my first year of university and my last year at Massey, the world said goodbye to being COVID-19 free, and back here at VUW we said goodbye to our radio station Salient F.M. Thankfully, 2020 Salient Editors Kirsty Frame and Rachel Trow weren’t done with the audio medium just yet, and Salient Podcasts was born, parented by one of our very own 2021 Editors Matthew Casey.
Back in 2020, I applied for Matt’s job as Podcast Manager, and thankfully didn’t get it. I was far from ready; I did, however, get to be a part of Podcasts behind the scenes, helping Matt produce the Salient Podcast. This year, as the current Podcast Manager, I have the privilege of working with not only the 2021 Podcast newcomers, but the OGs from last year such as Above Standard. Ella and Alice, now with a loyal listenership of 5k and sponsored weekly by their favourite cafe (the one and only Swimsuit on Dixon), have come a long way since the beginning, and it’s safe to say Matt and I are pretty proud.
Ella spouts to me: “We came up with the podcast idea over lockdown. I messaged our flat chat saying who wanted to start [a podcast with me] and Alice said ‘me lol’”—she’s completely serious. A mixture of being socially deprived and driven to find a hobby after lockdown, Ella, inspired by Happy Hour by Lucy and Nicki, messages her ‘flat chat’ with an idea. And, after one call with Alice, the Above Standard podcast is born. Crazy to think something that they’ve come to put so much effort into started so casually.
I became aware of Ella late last May. I was working as the producer for the Oversharers Podcast, and flicking through message requests on our IG page. Ella had reached out to us about how she wanted to start a podcast with her friend (Alice), but she didn’t know “how to execute it”. I had told her I could help get them organised at Salient Podcasts. We arranged to meet for coffee and chat about the whole process, but this never happened. I happened to be extremely busy, a little mentally overwhelmed, and low-key a bit of a flake.
Finally Alice, Ella, and I sat down for that coffee, bundled up in the studio on a rainy Friday. We had a chat about Above Standard and the whole Salient Podcast shabang. Ella and Alice are top-tier when it comes to duos. They are not only podcast hosts, they are also best friends who live together. Chuffed with themselves, they told me about how they somehow manage to balance “professional [and] productive” meetings, flat antics, and still have fun together. “Our friendship is always the thing that’s gonna push us through” says Ella with a straight face, which makes me laugh—it all feels very Frozen, but I can confirm they are 100% that wholesome.
Alice tells me that she barely thinks about the distinction between podcast, friend, and flatmate time—even though the changing dynamics “can be hard to manage sometimes”, underneath it all they’re just “really good friends hanging out”. “To be honest, I don’t really take too much notice of it. It’s not like ‘oh, my god, I have to talk to Ella with my podcast face on’, it’s honestly really helpful that we can just kind of like, bop into each other’s rooms and be like, ‘hey, so I was thinking this for the podcast could be fun’. Rather than like, ‘let’s sit down, have a meeting.”
I think Ella senses that I’m not convinced and says: “It’s definitely a blessing and a curse. Like, I remember before going into flatting [people were] like, don’t flat with your best friend, but it’s been great. And at times I’ll think some things are a bigger deal than they are. And so it’s learning to be like, ‘okay, just let it go’.” “It’s really just about being open and saying, ‘look, I’m actually having a fucking horrific week right now’. And we can be empathetic and more progressive when it comes to [podcast work and] planning—in that sense, being flatmates and friends first helped us out, we got used to asking each other for help with the podcast.”
Obviously, adding a podcast on top of your uni life is going to be stressful but I think anyone that does anything co-curricular knows the personal benefits. “I cannot stress enough how good it feels to just take a good fucking crack at something you care about”, Ella laughs. “I totally agree with Ella”, Alice jumps in. “It’s such a rewarding experience. You have to know it takes work, but if you’re keen, go ahead and do it. Why not, right? It doesn’t matter if the only people who are going to listen are your mums, at least you’re doing something exciting and new. It’s awesome.”
Having a podcast and watching it grow has been a massive confidence boost for Ella and Alice. As their relationship strengthens through this experience, Ella and Alice’s main goal is to make their audience feel included in the conversation, which I think is the essence of podcasting. And overtime, as Ella and Alice have “learnt how to open up around the mics” more, they’ve mastered the vulnerability of podcasting. “You know, it’s really [about] being personal and vulnerable, cause I know when I’m listening to a show, that’s what I love to hear”, says Alice. Ella continues: “People appreciate honesty and transparency. We’ve learned the more transparent you are, the more people value that conversation, so that’s what we’re moving further toward”.