A Grande Prairie-based podcast called “All Things Relatable” is a weekly podcast that Grande Prairie teacher Candace Dunaway started during the COVID-19 pandemic to spread positivity, listen to people’s stories, and share them with the world.
Dunaway says the pandemic and the struggles that people were going through inspired her to start the podcast. She wants to provide some positivity in everyone’s day, whenever they choose to listen.
“The podcast has a diverse range of stories and I just think the stories are so powerful. I feel that in listening to a story, listeners can relate, be inspired, hear a new perspective, see themselves in a story, and have some hope,” Dunaway says. “My hope in sharing all the stories is that everybody listening can walk away changed, even in the most subtle of ways and in a positive way.”
Dunaway says that what started as a small project really blossomed into a platform that allows her to connect and engage with listeners in Canada and beyond.
“As the weeks go by, people tune in to different episodes. It just started slower and as people heard about it, more and more listeners started tuning in. It’s pretty cool to me that people are tuning in every week to listen and be inspired,” she says.
Dunaway says that she has an episode coming out in December with Disney Animator Saul Blinkoff, who has worked at Disney, Netflix, and Dreamworks.
“His story is absolutely incredible and how he made his dream of working at Disney come to fruition.”
“I’ve also had a lot of local people on the podcast to share their stories of overcoming adversity, like Justin Rille and Jen Edwards. There’s one episode on a woman I know who has OCD, and it was so incredible to hear her story because I had no idea what it looked like for her,” she says.
The podcast has received more than 4,000 downloads and counting since she started it in May of 2021.