Dear Media Raises $8 Million to Produce Podcasts for Women

Photo: Dear Media

Podcast network Dear Media raised an $8 million Series A round to expand its programming slate of women-focused audio shows and fund original projects, the company said Thursday. Dear Media will also use some of the funding to invest in direct-to-consumer product startups that make lifestyle package goods designed for women.

Dear Media was founded in 2018 by Raina Penchansky and chief executive Michael Bosstick as an offshoot of their existing West Hollywood-based influencer management firm Digital Brand Architects. Digital Brand Architects and Dear Media were acquired by United Talent Agency in February 2019, and Dear Media said it frequently draws from UTA’s vast talent roster to both host and appear on its shows.

“This medium has been in need of an update for a long time. Not only in the voices that are represented, but in the way those voices are able to engage in this space,” Bosstick said in a statement Thursday. “This investment will help us meet the strong demand we’ve seen from audiences for our programming to develop new business models that we believe are the future of audio and commerce.”

Also Read: How Podcast Producers Are Coping With Remote Broadcasting

Dear Media has over 40 shows hosted on Apple Podcasts. The focus on topics including career development, parenting, wellness, activism and advocacy, relationships, and wellness. Its predominantly women podcast hosts include chef Gaby Dalkin who hosts a show called “What’s Gaby Cooking” and is running a limited edition series called “What’s Gaby Cooking in Quarantine” to help listeners stay nourished while using random left-over pantry ingredients.

Holding company Magnet Companies was the sole investor in the Series A and a new backer of Dear Media. Magnet Companies co-founder Jeff Berman said in a statement, “Dear Media is far more than a podcast network — it’s a home for a growing roster of spectacular talent and has created a unique monetization model that allows creators to make more in a much smarter way.”

Dear Media would not provide more details about its upcoming lifestyle brand and product plans. It may look to give some of its more well-known hosts their own product lines, or partner with notable women-focused or women-led brands. The company is one of few podcast networks in existence that is both focused on women’s programming and also partly women-owned.

Also Read: TheWrap Launches New Weekly Podcast, 'TheWrap-Up'

“Before Dear Media was established these voices had been underrepresented and underutilized. We view our talent and shows as not only podcast channels but brands within themselves,” Bosstick said.

These Celebrities Reached Into Their Pockets to Help Us Get Through the Pandemic (Photos)

As the number of people sickened by COVID-19 continues to rise, there is certainly no shortage of kind acts from people helping others get through the pandemic. And that includes celebrities and Hollywood artists social distancing like the rest of us. These famous do-gooders are reaching into their own pockets to make life under quarantine just a little bit easier.
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Oprah Winfrey announced on social media that she is donating $10 million to relief efforts, with $1 million of that specifically helping people who are struggling to buy food during the pandemic.
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Rihanna’s charitable organization Clara Lionel Foundation made a commitment of $5 million that will go to U.S. food banks as well as to helping advance testing in at-risk communities both in the U.S. and in Haiti and Malawi. The foundation — along with Twitter's Jack Dorsey — also partnered with the Mayor's Fund for Los Angeles and committed $2.1 million toward shelter, meals and counseling for victims of domestic violence. The fund, combined with Dorsey's contribution, totals $4.2 million.
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10-time Grammy-winner Taylor Swift has been quietly contacting people on social media who have said they've been struggling to pay bills during the pandemic. Those users then shared screenshots of Swift making donations to them of several thousand dollars each.
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TV host Kelly Ripa and husand Mark Consuelos donated $1 million to both the New York governor’s office, for the purchase of ventilators, and WIN, a New York-based organization that provides shelters to homeless women and children.
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Writer Roxane Gay has tweeted several times during the pandemic asking for those struggling to pay bills during the pandemic to share their mobile payment handle to receive personal donations from her.
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Ryan Reynolds and wife Blake Lively announced on social media that they donated $1 million to Feeding America and Food Banks Canada.
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Pop star Ariana Grande said in her Instagram Stories that she had made donations to several organizations, including Opportunity Fund, GiveDirectly, Feeding America, Croce Rossa Italiana and the World Health Organization.
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A physician in Los Angeles, Dr. Thais Aliabad, wrote on Instagram that Kylie Jenner, one of her patients, had "donated $1,000,000 to help us buy hundreds of thousands of masks, face shields, and other protective gear."
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NFL player Drew Brees told TMZ that he's donating $5 million to the state of Louisiana to help with the coronavirus relief efforts.
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Oscar-winning actress and humanitarian Angelina Jolie donated $1 million to No Kid Hungry to help provide meals for children in low-income families, the organization said in a statement.
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Country music legend Dolly Parton said on Instagram that she donated $1 million to Vanderbilt's research for a COVID-19 cure.
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Jay-Z's Shawn Carter Foundation matched Rihanna's donation of $1 million to relief efforts.
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Bruno Mars, who has a residency in Las Vegas, donated $1 million to the MGM Resorts Foundation to help MGM employees in the city who lost work due to the pandemic, his representative said, according to E News.
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The players, coaches and owners of the Golden State Warriors announced they are donating $1 million to help employees at the Chase Center who lost work because of canceled NBC games.
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Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg partnered with a Silicon Valley food bank to put $5.5 million toward creating the COVID-19 Emergency Fund for Feeding Families.
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Twitter CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey said on his platform that he is donating $1 billion in shares of his other company Square Inc. to help fund relief efforts. Dorsey said it is about 28% of his wealth. After "we disarm the pandemic," Dorsey said, the money will also help fund girls' health and education, as well as universal basic income.

Along with Rihanna's charitable foundation, committed $2.1 million toward shelter, meals and counseling for victims of domestic violence for a total $4.2 million grant.
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Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said on Instagram that he is giving $100 million to Feeding America, an organization with more than 200 food banks across the country.
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Beyonce's BeyGOOD foundation also partnered with Jack Dorsey, teaming up with his #startsmall initiative to donate $6 million to local community organizations so they can provide necessities like food, cleaning supplies, protective gear, medicines and more.
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Greg Berlanti pledged $1 million in COVID-19 relief funds that will go directly to the 5,000 staffers working on the 17 series currently in play at Berlanti Productions, as well as others in the entertainment industry that have been affected by the shutdown. He announced the gesture in a company-wide memo on April 29
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There is certainly no shortage of kind acts from people helping others get through the coronavirus pandemic, and that includes celebrities and Hollywood artists social distancing like the rest of us

As the number of people sickened by COVID-19 continues to rise, there is certainly no shortage of kind acts from people helping others get through the pandemic. And that includes celebrities and Hollywood artists social distancing like the rest of us. These famous do-gooders are reaching into their own pockets to make life under quarantine just a little bit easier.

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