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When you think of podcasting, you probably picture chart-topping celebrities and shows from major publishersnames like The Joe Rogan Experience, Armchair Expert, Call Her Daddy, MeidasTouch, and others. But heres the reality: Its the smaller, independent creators who dominate the podcast world. The vast majority of the approximately 435,000 actively publishing podcasts are independentscreators operating outside the umbrella of major media companiesand they play a huge role in the industrys ability to maintain its freshness and authenticity. Theyre also important to strengthening the financial foundation of the entire podcasting market. Thats because, for the advertisers that drive podcastings growth, indies are not just plentifultheyre powerful. Their hosts excel in fostering loyal, highly engaged communities built on trust and direct connection. In an era when consumers crave authenticity and can be wary of larger media companies, indie podcasters offer a unique bridge between brands and audiences. Because of this, they’ve become essential partners in any serious audio strategy. The mediums recent shift to video threatens to undermine all of that. Not only are the additional demands of video production potentially a larger burden to independents, but if podcast advertisers shift their budgets to video, they risk defunding indie podcasts that arent moving in that direction. Without funding from ads, many indie podcasts will suffer, hurting the entire market in the process. Why indies matter Its important to remember that independence is central to the culture of podcasting. The idea has always been that podcasting had a low barrier to entry, meaning that anyone with a point of view could start one. This not only resulted in a huge range of podcasts covering a variety of niche subjectsallowing listeners to curate according to their own interestsbut also a built-in authenticity, creating a deep connection between creators and listeners. This intimate relationship, still enjoyed by independent podcasts, has always delivered value for advertisers. Our research shows that not only do indie podcasts feature more and longer host-read adspodcastings most effective advertising formatbut theyre 37% more likely to hit their performance targets when compared with those on larger network podcasts. And indies tend to offer more creative options, and their ads are about 50% more likely to continue to deliver advertisers impressions for months, or even indefinitely, after the initial insertion. By comparison, podcasts from major media companies face bureaucracy that can slow down creative decision-making and lead to safer, less innovative content. They also operate under brand safety mandates and scale requirements that can restrict experimentation. Infrastructural and perception barriers limit the agility and authenticity that independent podcasters exercise freely, rapidly adapting content, collaborating personally with advertisers, and taking creative risks that resonate deeply with engaged niche audiences. The right balance Yes, independent podcasters may have smaller, niche audiences, limiting the broad reach needed for large-scale awareness campaigns. And they may lack business infrastructure and legal expertise, complicating outreach, contracts, media and analytics operations, or compliance. Thats why its important for podcasting media plans to include a mix of major and independent titles in order to earn the benefits (and offset the weaknesses) of both. Instead, many advertisers are forfeiting potential earnings by allowing indies to get left behind; podcast advertising revenue continues to concentrate among top-ranked shows, with the top 500 receiving nearly half of all ad spend. And as podcasting shifts to video, that imbalance may get worse. Brands know that major podcast networks bring scale, consistency, and reach. Its often an easily executed media buy. But a good media plan requires balance, especially if the goal is to preserve the independent spirit that has made podcasting such a powerful medium. Both in ROI and cultural impact, indie podcasts are worth protecting, and brands must invest accordingly.
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If you search for your city on a new map and zoom in, you can see pollution drifting from factories, power plants, and ports into your neighborhood. The mapa first-of-its-kind air quality tool from Climate TRACE, a nonprofit coalition cofounded by former Vice President Al Goreshows how pollution moves through cities. The new interactive tool, launching September 24, is powered by a sophisticated model that tracks local air pollution and weather data and feeds the map. It shows PM 2.5 pollution (responsible for nearly 9 million deaths each year globally) in more than 2,500 cities. Orange dots indicate sources of pollution, with a stream of smaller dots showing how it moves over the city, shifting course with the wind. Right now, the map presents snapshots of average and bad air days in each city. But it will later offer data in near real time. [Image: Climate TRACE] Eventually, we will have it on a daily basis, so that if you have a child with asthma or if you have family members with lung and heart conditions that make them sensitive to air pollution, you can go to your favorite weather app and see exactly what the pollution flows have been through your neighborhood that particular day, Gore says. Health researchers can use the data to see how pollution is linked to disease at the neighborhood level. Louisiana’s Cancer Alley, for example, has one of the highest levels of air pollution in the world. One community in the area, called Reserve, has a cancer rate 50 times higher than the U.S. average. [Image: Climate TRACE] The tool’s visualizations can aid policymakers in making the case for more state regulation and help the worst-polluting sites transition to cleaner tech. (As the Environmental Protection Agency moves to stop collecting some emissions data, Climate TRACE, which stands for tracking real-time atmospheric carbon emissions, can also help partially fill that data gap.) Companies can use its data to identify and replace the worst polluters in their supply chains. Because the same sources are responsible for both climate emissions and air pollution, highlighting the health impacts also helps build support for climate action. “Connecting those two streams of pollution, and tracing them back to the same combustion process, makes it easier to understand exactly why we have to accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels,” says Gore. [Image: Climate TRACE] The coalition launched in 2020 to track greenhouse gas emissions using satellite images, other data, and machine learning to estimate the pollution emitted by industrial sites. Last year, the group added co-pollutants like particulate matter and sulfur dioxide to its database, using data on the size and type of each polluting site. The new tool can help make the issue of air pollution seem more immediate and personal. “My experience with everyone I’ve showed this to is that it feels abstract until they see themselves in the story,” says Gavin McCormick, cofounder of Climate TRACE. “You can show people on a map where their house is, they can show you where their kid goes to school, and you can see the pollution. I think that’s just kind of making people realize this is happening to them.
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Brittany Poulin and Kate Adams each realized that the other was their work person when they met at their PR job six years ago on a Zoom call. Both zero in on a simple compliment Adams gave Poulin on a Lilly Pulitzer dress as the moment they knew. I was like, Oh, Poulin recalls. Thank you for recognizing that. Before long, it became apparent that the two shared a bond beyond fashion sense. They had similar backgrounds, common views, former straight-A students, grew up in Catholic households. And most of all, trust in each other. We never really had that conversation of, Okay, we’re a team. But I will defend her tooth and nail until my dying breath, Poulin says. And I know she’ll do the same for me. Since then, Poulin has traveled from her Orlando homebase to visit Adams in Boston; this past summer, they spent time together at Adams wedding at the Jersey shore. Lots has been written about the red flags to spot in coworkers: self-centered leeches, narcissists, energy vampires, bad bosses. But what about green flags for people you want to be around? How can you find the coworkers who uplift, advocate, help, and defend? These coworkersthese office alliesare more than simple happy hour pals. Theyre the anti-narcissistic stalwarts that can anchor you in the workplace, and help transform your entire career. In this story (for Premium members only), youll learn: How to spot those green flags that someone is a potential workplace ally or BFF Why this particular type of workplace friendship is vital to your career growth prospects and ultimate happiness The best thing you can do to make your workplace friendships stronger BUILDING BONDS Jim Harter, Gallups chief scientist for Workplace Management and Wellbeing, maintains that having someone whos a close workplace ally can deliver a number of benefits: boosting your confidence, standing up for you, championing you when youre not around, giving you honest advice, helping you network, and giving you a safe space to vent. Not to mention, having a ride-or-die in your corner helps job performance, provides perspective, and makes you happier overall, among other benefits. Gallup research from 2022 found that employees with workplace best friends are significantly more likely to be more productive, engage team members, and share ideas. Adams says she immediately admired Poulin, who has always been more senior in her work role, for her realness and good judgment when giving advice or speaking to coworkers or clients. I was like, This is someone I can trust. This is someone I can go to. And people really respect her at work for that, as well, she says. Each says they use the other as a sounding board when theyre trying to navigate a work situation, or to gauge their own reactions and responses. Navigating the waters of management sometimes can be a little weird, especially, I think, as women too, where you want to be liked and you don’t want to come off as being rude or being bossy, she says. She adds Poulin is honest with her from not just a workplace perspective, but from a friend perspective, too. IN SEARCH OF GREEN FLAGS We often stumble into office allyships naturally and without having to tryAdams compliment on that dress just organically blossomed into something more. But experts do cite some things to look for as you scan your workplace horizons for authentic, trustworthy people. Someone consistently displaying good character is one sign that this is someone you can trust, says workplace risk and culture strategist Kelley Bonner. They’re not just nice because it’s the boss or someone of high position. They’re like this regardless of people’s background and regardless of the setting, she says. Another green flag? They give credit where credit is due, Bonner says, or speaking up on someone elses behalf when something is unfair, like if a colleague tells an inappropriate joke. It shows consistency and integrity, she says. Also look for people who leave you feeling good, says friendship expert Shasta Nelson, author of The Business of Friendship. That is, they dont leave you drained, or filled with negativity. At the end of the day, who are the people that leave you feeling most accepted and most liked? she says. Whereas the red-flag opposite is someone who makes you feel like we never quite know where they stand. Other times, an office ally is someone who just meets you where you are. The number-one way you can connect with somebody, and this is coming from my therapy background, is just validating what it is they’re experiencing,” says licensed psychologist Candice Balluru, founder of The Workplace Psychologist. They may have deep insight into some aspect of your life where you need to be supported, such as being a working parent, or navigating a climb up the corporate ladder. And not just someone who listens to you vent about the RTO policy and agrees with yousomeone who might take another step with some sort of action, and follows through. Its one thing for a colleague to offer to introduce you to someone who can help, but when they actually make that introductionthat’s a sign that theyre invested in your success, the experts say. THE POWER OF THESE ALLIES Harter says that finding people who will be objective and honest with you about work situations is also important in building trust. If trust is built, critical feedback is more likely to be taken as constructive feedback, he says. So, is the process of seeking out office allies simply looking for the opposite of those toxic coworkers? Not exactly, says Nelson. It’s not just a bunch of one-off traits. Its the collective of these things being present, and that foundation being built incrementally and safely over time, she adds. And when you give these friendships room to grow, they can improve your life outside of work, too, says psychologist, professor, and friendship expert Marisa G. Franco, author of the New York Times bestselling book Platonic: How the Science of Attachment an Help You Makeand KeepFriends. To build true allyship, Franco recommends extending the friendship outside of the office by inviting your coworker to join you for a walk, drink, or meal, which she calls repotting,” term coined by friendship expert Ryan Hubbard. And just as repotting an already thriving plant makes it thrive even more, doing this with your office ally makes your friendship more lasting and sustainable, since youll become comfortable seeing each other in other settings. That’s going to make for a closer connection than if you’re only at work, she says. Balluru advises staying open to becoming allies with people who might not be your typical friend outside of the office, as well: Work is a controlled environment where you don’t really get to choose who you work with, she says. That provides opportunities to form friendships across generations, personality types, and other differences. Adams says the bottom line is to look for people who would get a thumbs-up from people who love you. So while you want to improve your ability to spot your next office allydont let your ability to spot toxicity rust, either. Look for someone who’s giving off an energy that your mom would be proud of, she advises. Steer away from the bad egg energy.
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Fuma Terai is not a Lego designer. Based in Japan, he is far away from Billund, the small Danish town where all the companys official design work happens. And yet, Terai is responsible for one of Lego’s best sets of the year: Gizmo, the iconic creature from Joe Dante’s 1984 classic Gremlins. In 2024, Terai submitted an adorable Mogwai as part of 80s design challenge from Lego Ideas, the companys crowdsourcing community platform that turns fan ideas into real sets. More than a year later, his idea is now selling for $110 on Legos website. Building a Lego set is an exhaustive process that marries creativity and technical precision. Before fans ever see a finished Lego product on shelves, its creation demanded a special negotiation between structural strength and playability, realism and abstraction. Lego designers have always needed to resolve impossible-seeming tensions to bring a set to life, and the creation of Gizmo, with his expressive features and fur, forced this process to its limits. Chris McVeigh, Lego senior model designer, says creating Gizmolike many other Lego setsrequires playing geometric tricks on the builders mind. There’s a lot of nuance to the shaping, McVeigh says. How can I round this corner in just the right way? How can I fill it in? How can I fill this in and make it look organic? Where is the abstraction? 10,000 votes and counting Gizmo, codenamed Project Midnight internally, was born from Legos Ideas platform, which crowdsources ideas for new sets from Legos biggest fans, as part of its 80s challenge. After Terai uploaded his design, it quickly garnered more than 10,000 votesa number that automatically triggers Legos internal review process. [Screenshot: Lego Ideas] Monica Pedersen, Lego Ideas’ marketing director, says the first step is for Legos team to check for feasibility: can this physically be built? Are there intellectual property conflicts? Then there is a review of the submitting designeris the fan a good person who can represent the Lego brand? After those questions are answered regional sales teams and retail experts evaluate commercial viability across different markets. Fuma Terai [Photo: Lego] We basically screen for design feasibility. Can it be built in real life? Are there restrictions that we cannot adhere to? Pedersen says. Out of 177 product ideas that hit 10,000 votes last year, only five survived this winnowing process. The redesign challenge Most of the time, Lego designers take a fans creation and rework it from scratch. One of the things that we decided on fairly early was that we wanted a little bit more nuance to the shaping than what we could see in the fan model, McVeigh says. McVeigh’s process began with what he calls reference image workmeasuring proportions carefully against the original Gizmo puppet, determining scale through draw-overs, and identifying the key element that would define everything else. To do that, he needs to draw it. Chris McVeigh [Photo: Lego] Part of my process is to do drawing. This is something that goes back to my art teacher in high school, who always said that you don’t really understand something until you have drawn it, he tells me. With Gizmo, he only did a couple of sketches, to make sure that he got the scale right. The eyes became the project’s North Star for the project design for two reasons. First, he needed to get them right to match the characters warmth and personality; Gizmos eyes are what defines him as a charming living creature. This included getting the eyeballs size and look right but also his eyelids. It was very important to the aesthetic of this model to have these eyelids positioned in a way that they were over the eye, McVeigh says. They could have painted the eyelids on a semi-spheric Lego piece that would act as his entire eye but they wanted to add a bit more dimension. The eye design set a blueprint for everything else: The key element was really the eye size and the size of the model and everything else just was tied to that, he explains. How the eyes would work was determined very early on with some brick-built mock-ups. The completed Gizmo uses 1,125 bricks and measures over 8 inches high, 10.5 inches wide, and 3.5 inches deep in standing posesignificantly larger than Terai’s original concept. The size of the build has increased since I submitted my design on Lego Ideas, Terai tells me with satisfaction. [Photo: Lego] The art of organic abstraction For McVeigh, the relative similarity between his first physical prototype and the final product reflects successful upfront digital work. The first built prototype I made doesn’t look that different from the final model, he says. But beneath that surface consistency lay months of refinementstructural improvements, articulation engineering, and the careful balance between organic suggestion and geometric reality. McVeigh had to find ways to suggest flowing hair and conjure the little Mogwai’s button nose. His job was to solve the three-dimensional problem of organic shapes with bricks. He knows that the magic happens the moment a persons brain translates a cluster of simple plastic forms into the illusion of fur, flesh, or fabric. [Image: Lego] Working digitally in Lego’s internal design tool, McVeigh started with a wireframeshoulder points, pelvic points, basic proportionsbefore tackling the model’s greatest challenge: making plastic bricks that suggest organic fur and flesh. One of the interesting challenges when you’re doing creatures is to give a sense of volume of hair when you are using Lego bricks, McVeigh says. His solution relied on a specific element: a small 2×2 plate with an upturned corner that he had originally developed for Himeji Castle‘s roof edges, a Lego Architecture set released in 2023. I decided to use that to give the effect of wispy hair flowing off the model, he recalls. I wanted to make sure that I use that in several places in the model so that the aesthetic was felt throughout. [Images: Lego] This approach exemplifies what McVeigh calls abstractionthe crucial decision of where the model is going to be abstracted, where I know I can’t match something perfectly. And honestly, I think that’s part of what makes the product Lego-like, just that abstraction. The most challenging abstraction proved to be Gizmo’s nose. McVeigh started with large, flat designs, but they werent feeling quite right. McVeigh made the final change after a colleague’s gentle push: Is there something you could do about the nose? The original Lego Ideas submission (left) and the final nose design (right) [Photo: Lego] He started experimenting with half-circle and full-circle plates, the flat rounded plates with 1 x 2 or 2 x 2 Lego studs, the little round protuberances sporting the Lego logo that make pieces stick together. They were hard to put in the model and required a significant redesign, but he really wanted to use them because of how they could capture the impression of nostrils, he tells me. The final nose solution demonstrates the psychological cleverness underlying Lego design. The 2×2 round plate, with its subtle cutouts on its edge, really sells the idea that it’s a nose by fooling the brain into seeing nostrils where none exist. It’s one of the exciting things about Lego, McVeigh says. The brain fills the blanks. The final model has two poses: standing and sitting. Players will have to choose which pose in advance, however, as Gizmo wont move on its own. This is sometimes implemented in Lego builds with what McVeigh calls a branch build in the instructions: At some point during the building instructions you will be asked to choose between OK, do you want to build Gizmo standing up or would you like to build him sitting down? The model is not static, however. It features a rotating head, posable ears, articulated hands and arms, and leg rotation. [Photo: Lego] From a fans mind to store shelves Throughot the design process, Terai remained involved as what Pedersen calls an honorary Lego Ideas design member. McVeigh says that every time they showed Terai the progress that they had made, he would just light uphe was just grinning ear to ear. For McVeigh, capturing Gizmos soul in brick form is a perfect example of the prototypical Lego abstraction process. For Terai, it was a lesson in bringing an idea to life. Through working with the design team, I was able to see and understand how a product is created from start to finish, Terai says. I saw how they create a product. I have dreamed of designing Lego since I was a child, so it was a wonderful experience to be a part of.
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When using AI, most of us worry about the technology hallucinatingtelling us lies, misinformation, or nonsense that it presents as fact. But legendary fashion designer Norma Kamali has no such fear. Over the past two years, Kamali has been using AI extensively in her work. Kamali, who recently celebrated her 80th birthday, partnered with computer scientists to create an AI platform based on her five decades of work as a designer, and she also took an AI course at MIT to better understand how the technology works. “These scientists asked if they could download my brain,” she says. “They would isolate my intellectual property, brand history, and archive. At first I said, “No way.” But I’ve come to see the possibilities for my brand.” Kamali has used her AI platform to design pieces for her own collection, including variations of her famous Sleeping Bag Coat. But she says that as she interacts with the AI, some of her favorite moments are when it hallucinates, generating bizarre images that explode with a strange kind of creativity. “The image is always a surprise,” she says. “If I say something like, I’d like to put a fishtail on this swimsuit worn with a sleeping bag coat, the AI goes crazy. It’s beyond gorgeous in the most art tech, fashion way.” As AI companies continue to refine the technology with the aim of eliminating mistakes, Kamali believes its only a matter of time before hallucinations no longer occur. But she says she’ll be sad when that time comes. In many ways, her open-minded approach to AI is a microcosm of her openness as a designer, which has paved the way to all kinds of unconventional, creative collaborations. “AI, for me, has been a really joyous experience,” she says. “We’re in this little moment in history that will eventually disappear. But then we’ll find other things to excite us.” [Photo: Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for Fast Company] Kamali launched her label in 1976 and became an overnight sensation when Farrah Fawcett wore one of her red bathing suits in a poster that same year. It’s ironic to Kamali that she first made her name with a swimsuit because she really didn’t like the version that Fawcett had purchased. “I would use my shop as a lab, making six of a new style to test and see what sold,” she recalls. “I had no idea she had come in and bought that one. I really hated it: I didn’t like the fit or anything about it, and quickly took it out of the shop.” Kamali is proudest of the moments when she’s been willing to innovate and explore ideas that to others may have seemed unconventional. She’s often proven to be far ahead of her time. In the early 1970s, for example, she created the Sleeping Bag Coat, inspired by a camping trip. The coat became iconic (its on display at MoMA), at a time when most coats were made of wool. It ended up being a precursor to the puffer coats that are now ubiquitous around the world in cold weather. Another cutting edge-design was her line of Sweats sportswear, which she launched in the 1980s. It was designed to be worn outside of the gym, three decades before the “athleisure” trend would take over modern life. Kamali hasn’t just been willing to take risks with design, she’s also been willing to try new things at retail. In 2003, Target began collaborating with designers to create more affordable versions of their clothing, starting with Isaac Mizrahi and Michael Graves. Walmart, on the other hand, was not known for being particularly design-oriented. But in the early 2000s, Kamali met with a Walmart buyer who proposed a partnership. Much like with AI, Kamali took a minute to think about it before she embraced it. “I was like, Oh my God, I’ve never been to Walmart,” she recalls thinking. Then she realized there was a need for smart, fashion-forward clothes at an affordable price point. She grew up going to public schools in New York City, and she knew there were many parents who didnt attend parent-teacher meetings because they didn’t have the right clothes. There were also teachers who couldnt afford to buy professional-looking clothes on their salaries. “I felt that teachers should dignify the position, and look amazing in front of the kids in their class,” she says. So Kamali created a wardrobe that was everything an adult would need to walk into a school and look polished: a trench coat, a white collared shirt, black trousers, ballet slippers, and pumps. She also worked hard to find manufacturers who could create these products at the best possible quality given the price point, which was less than $20 per item. The popularity of the collection became clear when Kamali noticed that people were reselling these products on eBay for upwards of $200 apiece. Ultimately, Kamali believes the success of her business has been all about being open to going in unconventional directions, and not following the status quo within the industry. This is another moment when she can redefine her work, and Kamali doesn’t want to miss the chance to engage in new creative outlets. There’s a lot of fear, but there’s so much more opportunity,” she says. “I’m having a wonderful time playing around with [AI] and asking it to play with my ideas.”
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