China Vegan Entrepreneurs 01 | Siqing, Earth Babe Radio

“If you’re doing something very small, it may not become wildly successful or make a lot of money. But you’ll feel happy and engaged in what you’re doing, and you’ll also feel like it’s really meaningful, so just stick with it—there will always be surprises waiting for you. ”

— Siqing, Earth Babe cofounder

Name: Siqing

Location: Beijing

Occupation: Freelancer, podcast manager

Project: Earth Babe Radio, a podcast featuring vegan voices discussing an endless variety of topics

In November 2020, Siqing launched Earth Babe Radio, a casual (and sometimes silly) conversational podcast that is secretly vegan. Although the program covers a broad range of topics, all four hosts, as well as all of the guests they interview, are vegans. Read on to learn about Siqing’s experience launching and growing the podcast and her tips for other vegan entrepreneurs.

Earth Babe Radio

Siqing says she started Earth Babe because she realized there was nobody making the kind of podcasts she wanted to listen to in Chinese. "When I started listening to podcasts, I would tell my friends about the interesting things I heard, and they started asking me to recommend some of my favorite podcasts. I usually listen to foreign programs so I can practice my English while learning about topics I'm interested in—spiritual growth, veganism, minimalist life, sustainability, etc. There are so many good English podcasts, so I thought there must also be a lot of good Chinese podcasts. I started looking for a few to recommend to friends. But when I searched for podcasts on these themes in China, I found that there were very few—I could count them on two hands! As for Chinese podcasts about veganism, there were basically none. That's when I came up with the idea to launch one myself.”

Goals

Create a platform that gives a voice to people practicing compassionate and sustainable lifestyles
Maintain a consistent schedule of posting one podcast a week and hosting one free swap meetup a month

Finding a cofounder (or three!)

Having lived in Beijing for over seven years, during which time she worked for several animal rights and vegan advocacy organizations, Siqing was surrounded by like-minded peers. So when she shared her podcast idea with a few friends, she quickly found her co-founders—three of them, in fact!

Although all four of Earth Babe’s hosts are vegans, the show is not focused on the topic of veganism. Instead, they invite other vegans and sustainability advocates onto the show to discuss a variety of topics, from daily life to current events, from a compassionate vegan perspective.

The four Earth Babe Radio cofounders, from left to right: Siqing, Sascha, Ding Jie, and Li Meng.

Team dynamics

Siqing is mainly in charge of planning content and interviewing guests. Her goofy, lighthearted style and charming Taiwanese accent bring interest and variety to the show. Sascha is the resident intellectual, the person everyone relies on to take a high-level view of issues on and off air. She’s good at pointing out problems and giving constructive ideas about how to modify and course-correct. She also manages Earth Babe Radio's WeChat official account. In addition to her wealth of excellent stories, Ding Jie is the wise woman of the team, with the ability to communicate strong views clearly and calmly. Whenever the team finds themselves debating amongst themselves, a word from Ding Jie often results in a quick decision. “The program seems to be in her hands!” Siqing says. Technical producer Li Meng is a perfectionist who makes sure program content and recording quality are up to standard. Siqing says, “Li Meng doesn't talk much on the podcast, but when he occasionally speaks up, his soul-searching questions bring depth to the show.”

Seeking guidance from mentors

In the beginning, when they were first thinking of launching the podcast, Siqing and Li Meng visited the team of well-known podcast Drunk FM. Siqing brought a long list of questions: what equipment to use, how to prepare content, how frequently to publish episodes, how to invite guests, what's the ideal number of hosts... "Their selfless sharing and encouragement made me determined to do it. Whether it succeeds or fails, I must start," Siqing shares. Earth Babe's friends at Drunk FM still give them podcasting advice and guidance from time to time, like an older brother watching them grow up; such friendship is said to be rare in the podcast world.

Growing the podcast

Since Earth Babe started in November 2020, they have updated it weekly and recorded 45 episodes. The total accumulated reach is only about 10,000 plays so far, with an average of about 200 people listening to each episode. With these modest numbers, why does Siqing still want to persist?

"Earth Babe Radio was born just to give us and other friends who are practicing this compassionate way of life a place to speak their minds. I never started it with the idea of taking it really far or making a ton of money. Most podcasts are not likely to make money—it takes a lot of persistence and accumulation. We knew that at the beginning. Now the most important thing to focus on is to do a good job of curating content and to consistently produce content no matter how busy our lives get—we just need to enjoy our time together and don't think too much about anything else.”

Although the podcast doesn't seem very successful from a performance perspective, the hosts feel that each of them has learned a lot and enjoyed many pleasant surprises. They feel very grateful for the experience.

Engaging the community with offline events

Earth Babe Radio also holds a monthly free "Take It or Leave It market" where people can recirculate their unneeded secondhand clothes and household items. This event gives the Earth Babe community a chance to interact in real life, and it’s also a way to share their values and influence more people. Siqing says a key factor in the event’s success is that “a lot of good venues want to host interesting activities. Most venues will welcome this kind of eco-friendly waste-reducing content, and will even let you use the space for free.” Siqing hopes the Take It or Leave It Market concept will catch on and become a trend. “If you like this kind of event, it’s easy to copy it and run it in your own city!"

Earth Babe began as a passion project without any specific goals to gain a certain number of followers or earn a profit. Nevertheless, Siqing and her team have gained a lot from the process. “Because of Earth Babe, Sasha and I were transformed into experienced podcasters!” Says Siqing. “Our future is limitless!”

Siqing’s tips for vegan entrepreneurs

Just start. Whether you want to start a podcast or any other project, just start doing it focus on developing the content and core concept as you go along.
Value the process. Your project may or may not succeed in earning you money and recognition. That’s ok. Don’t overlook the value of your personal learning and growth through the process.

Check out Earth Babe Radio!

To follow Earth Babe’s WeChat official account, scan the QR code below. To find the podcast on the Apple Podcast app, search for “地宝电台”.