Reilly Mapaye (right) and his friend Brody Suba, both juniors at Miramonte High School, started a podcast called “Boardroom Breakdowns,” in which they talk about business case studies. Check out their channel on Spotify at spoti.fi/4j97T1Q.
Reilly Mapaye might be your typical Miramonte High School junior who loves sports, goes to the beach and hangs out with friends and family, but six months ago, he discovered a new, not-so-typical interest – podcasting business case studies.
He calls his podcast “Boardroom Breakdowns,” in which he and his friend Brody Suba (also a junior at Miramonte) talk about business case studies.
“We ask intellectual and business-related questions,” said Mapaye, age 16. “We also focus on making sure the perspective of high schoolers shines through.”
Mapaye hopes older generations will see past their youth and take their words seriously. “My motivation to create this podcast comes from the idea that business is often dominated by experience and age,” he said. “And by having a podcast that reaches a wide audience, I can promote the willingness of others to take chances on the youth.”
With nine episodes under their belt so far (spoti.fi/4j97T1Q), the two upload bi-weekly on Spotify and Instagram.
Suba, also 16, who participates in water polo, wrestling and swimming, is a baseball umpire in the spring and a swim coach in the summer, said that education through podcasts is convenient.
“They are an easy way to learn and share new information,” he said. “Unlike learning at school, you can be anywhere to listen to a podcast and you get to pick what you listen to. I like to listen to ‘Stuff You Should Know’ on Spotify whenever I am in the car – to learn about new topics that I may have never learned in school.”
While Mapaye is a self-proclaimed “talker” and extrovert, Suba said his experience with co-podcasting with Mapaye has boosted his confidence in speaking – something Suba’s parents have noticed too.
“My parents are very supportive of me in this podcast gig. Prior to starting this podcast, I was a little skeptical because I was not the greatest public speaker, so I did not want to share my words with the world,” he said. “However, filming many episodes has helped me get over this struggle, and my parents have told me that my public speaking skills have developed greatly in the past few months.”
The equipment is simple – Mapaye’s computer, a couple microphones attached with a USB adapter, along with GarageBand (a software application for his Mac), but the production process is much more involved.
Creating the questions takes roughly an hour, refining them – making sure they’re clear and concise – takes another half hour and editing takes another 20 to 30 minutes because, Mapaye said “I want to run through everything and make sure if any cuts were made, that they are seamless and unable to be heard.”
He said editing the videos for the short form content takes the longest – about an hour and a half – not only to find the audio section of the podcast, but to find the video clips, edit them together to make sure they look seamless, and then add captions.
The final touch includes coming up with a catchy way to get individuals to click on the post.
Their target audience is a mix of young and not-so-young.
“We wish to have an older audience who have been in the field a long time and listen to our young perspective. But also we wish to have a younger presence because another goal of the podcast is to kind of be a voice for those who feel they are also excluded from fields where experience dominates. By listening to high schoolers, they realize that they can also get their ideas out there.”
Mapaye’s parents are happy about his podcast.
“They think it’s great that I’m taking initiative on a topic in which I feel strongly about,” he said. “Furthermore, they think it’s good to put yourself out there and not be afraid to speak your opinion and be yourself.”
Some of the topics they’ve covered so far are on Starbucks, Airbnb, Amazon Fresh, Nike and McDonald’s, with their most recent episode on PayPal – one of Mapaye’s favorite so far.
“It’s because the conversation felt the most fluid and the disagreements between us were no longer argued back and forth by speculation, rather it was through practices which were already in place,” he said. “Also, it was my favorite episode because it was the most relevant to our Gen Z style of living with us focusing on topics such as digital payments and money transfers online.”
Ultimately, his hope is that listeners will walk away with more than they came in with.
“Or that they would have an alternative idea to a topic in which they have felt steadfast in their opinion,” said Mapaye. “And I hope that people listen to us and think in their mind ‘Hey, these kids know what they’re talking about,’ because the goal of the podcast isn’t just to have one for the sake of having one – it’s to show people that the youth can have good ideas as well.”
