Tolani Shoneye, Audrey Indome, and Milena Sanchez spill the tea on how they blew up with The Receipts Podcast
Every Wednesday, journalist Tolani (Tolly) Shoneye, PA Audrey Indome, and songwriter Milena Sanchez join forces to deliver The Receipts, one of the most carefree, genuine and honest podcasts coming out of the UK in 2018. Because where else could you hear someone confess: “If I had a PT (personal trainer) that’s a man, I’d be pregnant by next week”?
The girls met on Twitter a couple of years ago after they decided to accept a challenge from Tazer, a male podcaster from the show 3 Shots of Tequila. “He tweeted that women couldn't do a show like theirs that was authentic and straight to the point,” Tolly recalls. The other soon-to-be Receipts girls responded to the tweet and soon started a group chat, before meeting up for dinner. “It's literally a started in the DMs story. We have known each other for two years now, and in that time we have spoken every day. We know each other enough to cut the fake polite shit and just be real. We are actually friends.”
Having just celebrated their 50th episode, the trio are currently making moves. Late last year they did five sold-out live shows in London and Birmingham, and now they’ve joined BBC 1xtra for a Sunday spot at 9pm. They’ve become a platform for the many different perspectives of British women of colour, with guest appearances from TV and radio presenter Maya Jama, YouTuber Jackie Aina, singer Ray BLK and many more.
The trio earned their name through Tolani’s love of pop culture references. “Tolly was telling us about that Whitney Houston interview,” Milena says, referring to the now-famous interview with Diane Sawyer where she accuses Whitney of spending an obscene amount of money on drugs. “The whole podcast is based on our truths and ‘receipts’ so the name fit perfectly,” Milena explains.
In a society where women are often looked down upon for embracing their sexuality or even openly talking about sex, The Receipts podcast creates an unfiltered space to crack a bit of banter, gossip and share some genuine life experiences. “We want to normalise women sharing things that before were frowned upon with zero judgement,” says Milena.
Dazed caught up with the trio to reflect on their journey so far.
For those who haven’t heard of The Receipts Podcast, how would you describe your show?
Audrey Indome: The Receipts Podcast is an unfiltered girl chat, it’s a WhatsApp group chat come to life.
Tolani Shoneye: Better yet – the conversations that happen in club toilets, just three women having a conversation and just being themselves.
Why did you decide to start the show?
Audrey Indome: There was a podcast called 3 Shots of Tequila which is about three lads indulging in lads’ chat, and after the success of the show we realised there was nothing similar for women where we could talk openly and honestly about our experiences.
Tolani Shoneye: There is pretty much a podcast for everything, but before we started there weren’t many that had the voices and stories of black and brown women in the UK. Our stories, our accents, our twangs were not represented in the podcast world. So we decided to do something about it.
“The Receipts Podcast is an unfiltered girl chat, it’s a WhatsApp group chat come to life” – Audrey Indome
What I like about you guys is how open you are with sharing intimate details about your private lives. Do you ever worry about what your partners or families might think?
Tolani Shoneye: We are all pretty open people, which helps, and honestly for me I forget that we are actually recording. I don't have a partner (PSA), but, men I have dated use it as research on me. My sister listened to the first episode and called me crying because she was upset at how bad my ex treated me. I told her to stop after that. My family are very supportive, and my sister and cousins come to the live show. My mum has no idea what I do, but she is happy I am on the BBC.
Audrey Indome: We all decided pretty early on that if we were going to do this we’d be 100 per cent transparent, and the audience love it, because I think it makes us more relatable. It’s easier to give advice if you can relate back to your own experiences. My husband is very supportive, but he also knows I’d never share anything too personal about our relationship.
Milena Sanchez: When we’re in the studio recording, it feels as if (we’re) just at home with friends just talking, and that really translates It’s really therapeutic! My family don’t really know what I do, I’m not too sure I’d want them to hear my most intimate moments.
We saw recently that you guys teamed up with BBC 1Xtra. How did that come together?
Tolani Shoneye: It's so exciting! Like a whole BBC. They emailed us for a meeting, we talked business and it was literally us trying to not get too excited in front of the top guy at 1xtra.
Audrey Indome: 1xtra caught wind of what we were doing and loved the fact that we’d managed to capture such a wide audience, and asked us to collaborate with them on our own show.
What things are off limits when on air?
Audrey Indome: Revealing people’s names is the number one thing for me.
Milena Sanchez: Sometimes we don’t mention dates either, just in case. We don’t want to dig ourselves in a hole!
Do you guys think that there is enough content with women of colour being able to talk about sex freely from their own perspective?
Audrey Indome: Definitely not! A lot of us are still unlearning patriarchal teachings that say it’s unladylike to talk about sex or that you “won’t get a husband”.
Tolani Shoneye: It's so weird, black or brown women are either very over-sexualised, or made to look like timid women who just take part in sex rather than actually wanting their backs blown out. I want black and brown women to take up space everywhere. I want to hear all our stories.
“Black or brown women are either very over-sexualised, or made to look like timid women who just take part in sex rather than actually wanting their backs blown out” – Tolani Shoneye
Are there any other podcasts you guys listen to?
Tolani Shoneye: The Read, 3 Shots Of Tequila, Passing Through with Nneka, Meet Us after 7, Disuomics, and I absolutely love crime podcasts, so Serial, STown, Dirty John. I recently started Teachers Pet. So I listen to a lot of podcasts.
Audrey Indome: I love the Joe Budden podcast, Amanda Seals Small Doses, and Kelechi Okafor’s Say Your Mind podcast.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to start their own podcast?
Tolani Shoneye: Just start it, and find your USP. Oh and be consistent, because it's not always fun and games, but consistency is key.
Milena Sanchez: You end up spending a lot of time with the people involved so make sure you like them!
Audrey Indome: Also, talk about what you love, and not what you think people want to hear – you’ll be surprised, but there’s an audience for everything, no matter how niche you think it is.
Tune into the Receipts every Wednesday on both Apple Music and Soundcloud
