Q: How did this podcast come about? What makes it unique?

A: As I started making friends and discussed my struggles adjusting to the new city and meeting love interests, I found I had similar experiences to many others. When I also shared my stories involving city life and dating in Los Angeles with my friends back east, I learned they were just as shocked as I first was at how different California life and dating was. Based on these conversations, I thought others may be interested to hear how living and dating in varying cities, even just within the US, can be drastically different and affect your day-to-day life. From there, the podcast was born! Season 1 focuses mostly on differences between LA and Philly, the 2 cities I know best, with each episode focusing on a different theme. The newly launched Season 2, however, is expanding to other cities internationally, including Vegas, London, Scottsdale, highlighting people’s experiences dating and living there across a range of topics. I look to interview people with different perspectives and experiences to show varying views when I can, focusing on Millennials and Gen-Z experiences. I try to differentiate my podcast from others by focusing it on the location and cultural aspect that affects dating across a variety of topics to help others understand why people from certain cities may act the way they do or have certain habits in relationships.

Q: What do you want our readers to know about you? 

A: I am a very social anime nerd that loves to travel, roller skate, and learn — a couple of those things which I get to do through this podcast. I am always looking for guests and feedback! If you are interested in sharing an experience and coming on the show or have comments to share, send me a DM @swipeeastswipewest on Instagram.

Q: Tell us your story! Who is behind the Swipe East Swipe West podcast? 

A: My name’s Ashley! I grew up on the east coast (Connecticut most of my life, then Philadelphia after graduating college) before moving to the Los Angeles area 2 years ago – right before the pandemic hit. I had always wanted to move to California but experienced huge culture shock as I adjusted to the lifestyle once I finally landed here. While I enjoyed the awesome weather and having access to more activities here, like beautiful hikes and learning to roller skate, navigating the different personalities and scenes here was more difficult than I was expecting. Though I had visited LA a couple of times before I moved, I quickly learned living here was much different than a quick weekend getaway – especially when it came to meeting people and dating.

Q: Do you have any advice for someone who is starting their own podcast? 

I have 3 main tips: do your research, ask questions, and make sure to plan in advance. Before starting my podcast, I met with my friend Raye Zaragoza of the Create Well podcast and asked her a lot of questions about how she created hers, both on the technical and creative fronts. I also read books about creating podcasts and watched YouTube channels — that is how I taught myself how to edit audio for each episode! I also recommend checking out other podcasts in a similar space to see what they may be doing and how they structure theirs for tips. Also — planning in advance is key, especially if you have a podcast on top of a day job like I do. I always make sure to have my interview schedule and topics as ready to go as I can before a season to make sure I have both enough engaging content and a good interview flow with my guests.

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Q: Anything else you would like to add?

A: Podcasting can be a lot of work, but it’s something anyone can do if you put your mind to it and have the right plan in place. I create this podcast in addition to having a 9-5 job, so anything is possible in this space!