Our Team
Brittany Rush and Karen Steward co-founded the Arkansas Podcast Collaborative and run its day-to-day work, including the festival, the monthly meetups, and the nonprofit filings.
Co-Founders
Co-founders of the first nonprofit for podcasters in the United States.
President & Executive Director
Brittany is an experienced marketing professional with a background in local news and digital media. As co-founder and President / Executive Director, Brittany leads the Collab's efforts to promote the organization and connect with podcasters and supporters across Arkansas.
Director of Content
Karen is an award-winning journalist, NPR veteran, and accomplished podcaster. As co-founder and Director of Content, Karen runs editorial, the newsletter, and ARKAST programming.
How We Work
The Collab operates with a small paid staff. The two co-founders handle day-to-day work, a seven-person board handles governance and larger decisions, and a roster of volunteer producers, hosts, and engineers runs the meetups, judges the awards, and helps produce ARKAST each fall.
That structure lets an organization founded in 2023 produce a five-year festival, run meetups in two regions, and offer a slate of programs at the same time. Volunteer hours from Arkansas podcasters cover most of the work.
The Collab is looking for volunteers to help run events, mentor new hosts, and produce ARKAST. The volunteer form asks which of those you are interested in.