Wednesday Martin on the economics of her open marriage

I'm popping in here with a mini-episode to do two things: Share findings from the Other People's Pockets listener survey that I launched in April Share some news about the future of this show!

Today I’m bringing you an interview with someone I’m calling Heather. She was one of the many amazing listeners who responded to my listener survey and she wrote something that intrigued me so much that I decided to reach out to her. (Don't worry, the survey is anonymous, but in this case she chose to enter her email!) She wrote: "I’m a professor (mid-career) and I’m really struggling to make ends meet as a single mom of twins. I constantly wonder why this is so. Having a PhD shouldn’t mean financial struggle. Or at least, that wasn’t how it was a generation ago." For this interview, Heather wanted to talk to me anonymously so that she could be really open about her financial situation and not risk anything when it comes to her job. Heather lives and works in Baltimore with her twin 10-year olds and with her mother. In addition to being a professor of history, she's also a community advocate and organizer around public education. She has built a village of friends, neighbors, and family members on her street and in her wider community. You'll hear in this episode how deep down, she always knew she desired the collective, rather than a diamond ring. If you’re a regular listener of Other People’s Pockets, or even if this is your first listen, please fill out the listener survey! It gives you a chance to help shape the future of this show. The responses are completely anonymous and it is totally optional if you do want to include your contact info. Find links to all of my socials at mayalau.com If you would like to sponsor this show, please reach out at [email protected] And please give this show a rating and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen! Thank you so much.

Danielle Bezalel is a sex educator and small business owner who is the creator and host of the podcast Sex Ed with DB. It’s a great show that explores all the things you might wonder about sexuality, bodies and pleasure but might be too afraid to talk about openly. She does it all in a science-backed, friendly environment. As I’m exploring building out the business of my show, I was so curious to learn about how Danielle has monetized her content, and how she is teaching other indie creators to do the same. After earning her Master’s in Public Health from Columbia and working for other people, she was able to quit her day job because she was making such promising money on her own business. It did not all happen overnight though — Danielle walked me through the process it took to get there, and the challenges of making money in an industry where you’re often at risk of being shadow-banned or having your social media accounts shut down for having content that gets flagged, no matter how educational it might be.

Today I’m bringing you mini episode — a conversation my husband and I recently had about some aspects of our finances. I love knowing about how couples talk about money, or about how any two people navigate their spending together. Because at the end of the day, finance is not something we manage in a vacuum — it’s almost always an exchange and a representation of a relationship of some kind. Find all of Maya's socials at: mayalau.com Send guest ideas, questions, or suggestions to: [email protected]

Today I’m bringing you a look into a side of my life that is exercise and dance. This episode is actually not about personal finance … there is more of that coming very soon. Instead, I’m featuring an episode from the podcast Secretly Sporty, where they interviewed me about why I dance and how that informs my life. Secretly Sporty is a new podcast hosted by writer and academic Sebastian Langdell about the way that exercise can inform our creative output, even if our workouts don’t necessarily have anything to do with our work. Last year, Sebastian wrote an op-ed in the New York Times called “A Medievalist Hits the Gym,” which was about what weightlifting has to do with medieval literature. I encourage you to go check out that article to see how he threaded that needle. The article served as a spark for Secretly Sporty, where he’s interviewed cartoonist Alison Bechdel, NYT columnist Jamelle Bouie, comedian Chris Duffy and many others about their workout routines and how they impact the life of the mind. I’m by no means a professional dancer, never have been, never been close to that (!) It’s just something I like to do in my spare time. So it was really fun to be asked about it, because it’s just something I *do* — not something that I *think* about that much. So thank you, Sebastian, for having me on! Go listen and subscribe to Secretly Sporty wherever you get podcasts. And! I have been working on a stealth side project having to do with the intersection of DANCE and FINANCE. If that at all piques your interest, what DANCE has to do with FINANCE, whether you’re a dancer, or a financier or both, please write to me at [email protected] or slide into my DM's on Instagram @itsmayamoney, or find me on LinkedIn. However you want to reach me, I would love to talk.