Women in Sound: Falmouth student and graduate produce podcast for Hypatia Trust

After an internship with The Hypatia Trust, English & Creative Writing BA(Hons) student Astra Jeffree and Journalism & Creative Writing BA(Hons) graduate Amy Colman returned to the charity to launch Women in Sound – a podcast that aims to amplify the voices of women in Cornwall working across a range of industries, from the creative arts to science. 

The Hypatia Trust was formed in 1996 to collect, and make available, published and personal documentation about the achievements of women in every aspect of their lives. Created initially to oversee a major collection of women’s literature now placed on permanent loan to the University of Exeter, The Hypatia Trust has extended its interests to a wide and international range of educational engagements and partnerships.  

Back in April 2023, English & Creative Writing BA(Hons) student Astra Jeffree and Journalism & Creative Writing BA(Hons) graduate Amy Colman joined The Hypatia Trust through Falmouth University’s micro-internship scheme. A few months after the successful placements, the pair were invited back to the charity to bring community stories to life through a new podcast. By November, the first episode of Women in Sound was launched.  

Speaking to The Hypatia Trust, Astra and Amy said that throughout the process they were trusted with total creative control, which boosted their confidence at a pivotal point in their careers. “Without this confidence we wouldn’t be as keen and ready to take our next steps into our careers, which with the generous support of our audience could be a more permanent role as creators of this podcast,” they said.  

So far, two episodes of the Women in Sound podcast have been published. The first episode sees Amy and Astra speaking to women throughout Cornwall who are working in dance. Episode two focuses on women working in the food industry and includes conversations with historians, community heroes and “women juggling it all for a good bit of grub”. The Hypatia Trust is now looking to secure funding to produce a further 12 episodes of the podcast exploring themes such as Women in Nature and Women in Art. 

Asked about the lessons learned through the experience and their plans for the podcast, Astra said: “The opportunity to be involved with such a fantastic organisation has been a privilege, and I really hope it continues. I have developed new and existing skills and my confidence has grown. I feel that being involved in this project has given me the experience to go out into the world and conquer any project that’s thrown my way.” 

Amy said: “Being supported and celebrated by your peers and supervisors is a great feeling and contributing to such a worthy organisation even more so. Astra and I are keen for the podcast to continue because we have a whole host of ideas for the potential future of the project. We really hope that [people] enjoy listening to it as much as we did making it!” 

You can listen to the first two episodes of Women in Sound on Spotify, below.

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