3 questions for . . . Lauren Bastide, co-founder of Nouvelles Ecoutes

Lauren Bastide first made her name with ELLE magazine where she started as a freelance journalist in 2005. Ten years later she left the magazine and her posts of editor-in-chief of the news column and assistant editor of DailyELLE, the magazine’s digital version which she co-founded with Sophie Fontanel. She next worked as a TV reporter for the Canal+ cable channel’s Grand Journal news show for a season. In November 2016, with journalist Julien Neuville, she co-founded Nouvelles Écoutes, a podcast production studio. One of the first programs the studio presented was La Poudre (along with Banquette, a podcast devoted to soccer personalities). La Poudre presents interviews with women from all fields – from Leïla Slimani, to Rama Yade, to Garance Doré.

Could you tell us about La Poudre’s beginnings and goals? What are your next steps?

I wanted to create a discussion format exclusively for women. One of the reasons was that, when I worked in television, I noticed that women were rarely invited on the set. When they were, they were given little time to speak and were often interrupted. With La Poudre, I wanted to make sure there was a platform for women’s voices for the long term. The show’s success – already over 25,000 listeners for each broadcast – tells me that there was a strong desire for such a format.

Podcasts seemed obvious since I listened to a lot of podcasts from America where the offer is abundant! In France, there still aren’t very many players. Arte Radio, which was a true pioneer, is an exception. Then there’s Binge Audio, which stands out with its culture-themed talk shows. In France there’s a strong sense of solidarity among podcast professionals, since we’re all convinced that we need to increase availability to create new habits.

Nouvelles Écoutes will develop four new shows before the end of 2017, including Parti Pris, a documentary series on voter abstention which will be available the evening of May 7; conversations with people who have influenced the 20th century; and an erotic fiction program. Above all, Nouvelles Écoutes is a journalists’ project. But we’re also going to monetise our model by developing a branch for brand content. To accelerate our development we’ve also launched a participative financing campaign on KissKissBankBank.

How do you choose your guests?

It’s very intuitive. What they all have in common is that I want to listen to them and discover and understand their story. It’s also essential, of course, that guests understand my format.

You worked for quite some time at ELLE magazine. What do you think about fashion today and especially about French brands?

I’m still very involved in fashion. It’s a field that has always interested me greatly. There’s real creative energy in France. I still have ties with certain young French designers like Jour/né, Jacquemus, and Niuku. These brands are led by young people between 20 and 30 years old. And this generation brings a political philosophy to their work. They’re motivated by values which are based more on passion than business.

I’m also interested in ethical fashion, which is, in fact, an odd term since ethics should come naturally to us. I have lead a round table, which will become a La Poudre episode later, at the Fashion Revolution event on 22 April at the Canal Saint-Martin. This movement was created after the 2013 Rana Plaza collapse where 1,135 workers died in a Bangladesh textile factory. The event affected me deeply. In fact, I wrote an article about it for ELLE, even though certain advertisers were accused of playing a role in the tragedy. Personally, I completely changed the way I buy fashion. I check to see where garments are made. I recycle part of my wardrobe. The goal is to consume better, meaning a bit less but better, for example by treating myself to clothing from a designer whose work and sourcing practices I’m familiar with.

In conclusion, I’ll probably eventually work with fashion through La Poudre. I think the fashion houses understand my reasoning and there are synergies waiting to be created!