Cyla Grace Hoffman uses her powers as an activator to eliminate bullying with She Sounds Like Me. Let’s learn how you can make change by sharing what you love with friends.
Cyla Grace Hoffman uses her powers as an activator to eliminate bullying with She Sounds Like Me. Let’s learn how you can make change by sharing what you love with friends.
You can find out more about She Sounds Like Me and listen to new episodes by visiting https://shesoundslikeme.com/!
The Activators
S1 EP03, Cyla Grace Hoffman and She Sounds Like Me
[INTRODUCTION]
Leo: Welcome to The Activators!, A Kids Podcast About Activism. I’m your host, Leo Abelo Perry!
On this podcast, we want to celebrate and amplify kids who are activating social change by doing what they love to spread more love. Social change means providing opportunities for people and communities to recognize what’s wrong and do something about it, for the betterment of humanity.
And on today’s show we’re talking to Cyla Grace Hoffman, co-host of the She Sounds Like Me podcast.
It’s a great show and it was a lot of fun getting to talk to another podcaster!
But first, how are you today? On a scale of 1-5, with 1 being “things are rough” and 5 being “off-the-charts amazing”, I’d say I’m a 3. No matter how you’re feeling, it’s all okay. I’m glad that you’re here with me today. And doing a self-check can help you to understand how ready you are to learn new things or meet new people.
For now, you can just sit back, relax, and get ready to be inspired.
[MEET CYLA GRACE HOFFMAN]
Leo: Today’s guest is Cyla Grace Hoffman, the 8-year-old co-host of the She Sounds Like Me podcast. According to their website, She Sounds Like Me is “the first un-scripted mama/daughter podcast of it’s kind with a kid co-host.”
While you listen, think about what it might look or sound like for you to use your voice in a space where people all over the world can tune in.
Cyla is doing an amazing job doing just that!
I can’t wait for you to meet her!
Here’s my interview with Cyla Grace Hoffman.
[INTERVIEW]
Leo: Hi. Hi Cyla. How are you doing?
Cyla: Good. How are you?
Leo: I am great. Okay. Can you tell us your name and your age?
Cyla: Yes, I am Cyla Hoffman and I am eight years old.
Leo: So cool. So cool. Okay. So how are you feeling out of a one to five? One being, I don't want to be here. Five being, “I feel amazing.”
Cyla: I feel five.
Leo: That's great. Everybody says that.
I know that you have a podcast that you started with your mom. Can you tell us a little bit more about that?
Cyla: Yep. It is called She Sounds Like Me, and me and my mom talk about important…. I guess you could say... things that happened in real life today like racism, bullying, emotions, and ways to give back to the community.
Leo: Can you tell us what all those things mean?
Cyla: Yes. So racism, as some people might know, is bullying people that are Black or brown or different colors or different genders… and that are different.
Leo: Yeah. That is a great definition. Great. What's one of your favorite hobbies?
Cyla: One of my favorite hobbies is dancing, like you Leo!
Leo: Oh, okay. That's new. No, one's ever said that.
Cyla: I love to do contemporary hip hop, but yeah, most of all jazz. Yup.
Leo: That's exactly what I do. I basically, I literally do everything. Like I I've done ballet. I've done contemporary. I've done technique. Like I can name everything me too. Like I've done tap. I've done jazz. I've done Bollywood. Like literally I haven't not done a single thing.
Cyla: Yeah. The only thing I haven't really done is a competition. Yeah, I never really acrobats.
Leo: Nope. Never did that.
Cyla: I'm honestly scared too.
Leo: Yep. Me too.
Leo: Cyla and her mom started She Sounds Like Me in September of 2020, over a year ago! That’s a lot of episodes!
Cyla: So one of my favorite episodes that we've done on, She Sounds Like Me was the friendship episode that I luckily got to do with my friend, Elena.
Leo: Yeah. We actually this morning, I listened to that exact episode.
Cyla: What a coincidence. Elana had a sleepover with me that exact day we were doing the podcast episode. So she said, Hey, could I join a podcast of yours? And we were like, yeah, we were about to, we were about to record a podcast about friends. And since you're Cyla's friend, you can join us. So. Yeah. It's fun.
Leo: Very, very, very cool. How do you consider yourself an Activator?
Cyla: Uh, well I not, I would consider and myself an Activator because I use my voice for good on a podcast, like we've been talking about. And it helps other people that feel maybe alone or they need somebody else to say, “Oh, they're going through the same, the same things as me. So I have a friend. I'm not just doing this by myself.”
Leo: Yeah. How does it feel to have a friend who supports you?
Cyla: It feels. It honestly feels like you have someone that is like by your side and won't give up and is always there for you. It feels very comforting to know that you have someone that supports you.
If you're doing something that maybe nobody else likes or people may think you're weird by doing that. It feels very comforting and very enjoyable and loving, I'd say, to have someone that supports you like that.
Leo: We're going to take a quick break. And when we come back, Cyla talks about what it was like when her friends and classmates learned she was a podcaster.
[BREAK]
Leo: Welcome back to The Activators! And my conversation with She Sounds Like Me co-host and podcaster, Cyla Grace Hoffman. She’s 8 years old. She’s made over 25 podcast episodes with her mom. And she is a voice for change!
Cyla: I haven't really met anybody else that does, like, another podcast or they've even been a special guest on one.
Most of my friends, and by most, I mean, like all of my friends know that I did this podcast, but they don't really know what it means to be doing a podcast.
It's interesting cause you expect, since you know about how to do a podcast, that everybody else knows. So then you don't stop to think, “How do I explain this to someone?”
And then when you find someone that doesn't know how to do a podcast, it's, it's kind of awkward. So you don't know how to explain it quite yet.
Leo: My best friend has asked me many times what I... Like he's asked, like, I call him every day and he asked me what's happening. And I'm like, “I've been recording a podcast for the past five days. Like he's. And he's like, what type of podcasts? Because like, he listened to like other podcasts, but like not kid-grown.
Cyla: That makes sense. It's kind of what's going on here too. So
Leo: I have to like, kind of tell him what's the difference between a podcast which is boring kind of, and then a kid's podcast. You're like, yeah, yeah. Kids podcast. They're actually going to talk about something fun.
Cyla: Yeah. Like stuff we do in our regular basis that we can relate to. Whereas growing up podcasts are more like, blah, blah
Leo: news news,
Cyla: news, news, news. Yeah.
Leo: What do you love doing? And what's an issue that really means a lot to you?
Cyla: So, what I would say is my big thing is what I'm really working towards is to have a world that nobody is bullied because of how they look or what they do.
And the world is just... There's no bullying and nobody... nobody has to feel like they can't show their true selves because of how they look or how they act or something like that.
I really am.
Leo: Okay. That's great.
So for every Activator out there, or even if you're just getting started, I want you to do your favorite superhero pose.
And when I count to three, we are all going to do our superhero pose and say, “Activators”. Okay. Are you ready?
Cyla: I'm ready.
Leo: 3, 2, 1. Activators!
Hi, thank you so much, Cyla!
Cyla: You're welcome. Thank you so much!
Leo: It was great having you.
Cyla: It was great being here.
[CONCLUSION]
Leo: It was so great to chat with Cyla. I learned so much from her!
Here are some things I learned and lessons we can take with us as we make the world a better place.
I love having a buddy, someone who has my back. Now, I get to do the same thing for them, because right now I get to do the same thing for them. That's what friendships is about. I love my best friend.
[CLOSING]
Leo: Thank you to Cyla Grace Hoffman for joining us today. You can find out more about She Sounds Like Me and listen to new episodes by visiting https://shesoundslikeme.com/!
The Activators was written by me, Leo Abelo Perry, (with a little help from my mom).
Our show is edited and produced by Matthew Winner with help from Chad Michael Snavely and the team at Sound On Studios. Our executive producer is Jelani Memory. And this show was brought to you by A Kids Podcast About.
You can write to us at listen@akidspodcastabout.com. And check out our other podcasts made for kids just like you by visiting akidsco.com.
See you again next week for another episode of The Activators!