Learn About Awesome Historical Women, Womanica

Bringing Women in History to Life

I am Jenny Kaplan and I’m the co-founder and CEO of Wonder Media Network, which is an audio first media company. Our mission is to amplify underrepresented voices. We do a lot of shows, particularly around women’s stories and underrepresented voices more broadly. That is half of our business and then the other half is that we create podcasts and other kinds of audio for businesses. We work with both large and small businesses to help with their communication storytelling goals.  Podcasts are a great way to communicate and fundamentally, storytelling is how we connect as human beings. 

Featuring Historical Women 

I started this podcast with my sister as my co creator of this show. We’ve always loved history and were thinking about our history classes growing up. We felt like you’d learn about one woman every chapter but it was very rare to really understand women’s role in history. That didn’t quite feel right.

We wanted to create a show where we’re revealing the real life Marvel universe of women throughout history. We want to showcase women around the world who did amazing things at different times. Every month of this show is themed. Some of the themes are inspiring such as pioneers, artists, people who did things first, etc. Others are much more complicated such as villains, pirate queens, etc. We wanted to figure out how to show the impact that women have had throughout history in a way that feels entertaining and informative.  

Every episode is about five minutes. We really wanted to create something that didn’t feel like it was a huge time suck to add into your routine. It’s a daily show, so if you want to listen, finding five minutes in a day is totally doable. It’s challenging to find 45 minutes a day. You probably already have things you’re listening to or you’re doing other stuff.

Be Inspired

It’s valuable to hear the stories of these different women and the many different paths that are available to all of us. We’ve highlighted women who found the thing that made them famous when  they were kids. There are also women who had many different careers over time and did the thing that made them famous when they were 80. There’s such a vast array of experiences. It can be really inspiring on a personal level to think about all the different opportunities available to each of us to find something that we’re passionate about, something that we’re good at. That is something that I hope people get out of it.

I also think it’s informative and really exciting to think about how these different women  breathed life into different eras of time around the world throughout time. How these women had a huge impact that isn’t what we typically learn or see when we’re talking about history. It’s a whole layer of texture and facts that have been missing, historically, in our classes and in our education system. The podcast helps to show the reality of the world and how women have been at the core of  all kinds of different changes over time, not just on the margins. 

I also hope it’s entertaining. It’s like hearing an interesting story being told to you. I tell the woman’s story, and then it’s sound designed with music, sometimes with different clips. It depends on the woman in question and the time in which she lived. It’s an easy to listen to rundown of this person’s story.  

Connect with Womanica 

People can find Womanica wherever they listen to podcasts. We’re on Instagram and Facebook, as Womanika Podcast. You can also find all of the Wonder Media Network podcasts if you just look up Wonder Media Network wherever you listen. 

Find a Favorite Theme 

Every month of the show has a different theme and the themes are so fun. This summer we did adventurers, we did folk heroes, and we are doing an episode all about goddesses and different female deities throughout time. We’ve done tastemakers and trendsetters, there’s so many incredible historical women.  

It’s really hard to pick one theme because within each, it’s amazing to hear about the different women who’ve done things over time. We’ve covered a lot of spies and I love covering the spies.

I think if you want to check out the show, you should just find a theme that seems interesting to you. I can’t possibly pick a favorite. 

A Teaching Tool for the Family

It is okay for little ears for episodes. I would say that we generally will give a warning if there’s anything in an episode that isn’t necessarily appropriate. It’s up to each parent’s discretion, what they feel comfortable with their kid hearing. In general, I would say iit is pretty safe for little ears.  

Everyone should decide. Listen and make your own decision. I’ve heard feedback from parents who have incorporated it into carpooling because they love starting the day with an example of a different woman from history who’s done cool stuff. I’ve gotten a lot of feedback that people do use it that way, so I feel pretty comfortable saying it is.