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After a remarkable ten-year journey filled with open dialogue and honest exploration, the creators of The Receipts Podcast have decided to step down from hosting duties. Audrey Indome and Tolani Shoneye, better known as Tolly, spoke candidly about the emotional weight of this choice, describing it as the toughest decision they’ve faced. Reflecting on their experience, Tolly told the BBC, “I’ve never cried so much in my life, it’s the most difficult decision ever.”
The podcast, launched in 2016 as a platform for black women to discuss a wide variety of issues, has produced nearly 300 episodes to date. Throughout its run, The Receipts Podcast gained widespread acclaim, including a pioneering BBC spin-off that became the first podcast hosted by black and brown women to top the Apple Podcasts chart. Their success was further marked in 2019 by an exclusive agreement with Spotify. Despite these achievements, Audrey and Tolly agree that stepping away from hosting is the right step forward. Audrey reflected, “I can get comfortable and I could probably do this for 20 or 30 more years without evolving,” while acknowledging the dynamic between her and Tolly as key, saying, “That’s why the relationship between me and Tolly works, because she’s a visionary and I need someone to kick me into action.”
Though Audrey and Tolly are leaving the front mic, they intend to remain integral to the podcast’s future by becoming executive producers and guiding a new generation of hosts. To find fresh talent, they are launching a “Pod Idol”-style search focused on identifying distinctive voices rather than simply replicating themselves. Tolly emphasized this direction, stating, “We don’t want copies of us. We want new voices, new perspectives and new ideas.” The selection process will be comprehensive, involving open applications, workshops, and training, ensuring all participants benefit from the experience. Tolly highlighted the importance of inclusivity, especially for those who might not fit conventional expectations, sharing, “I have a speech impediment, I stutter, so for people who feel like they’re not the ‘typical’ host, I want this to feel like a home.”
The hosts were well aware that their path was both groundbreaking and challenging. From humble beginnings—Audrey considered the podcast “just a side hustle”—to becoming trailblazers in British podcasting, the evolution was remarkable. Tolly noted how the show’s impact sometimes goes unnoticed in day-to-day life but acknowledged it “has actually left its mark on British podcasting.” Alongside their public success, both hosts spoke openly about coping with increased scrutiny and the importance of setting boundaries, particularly on social media. Audrey mentioned strategies like turning off comments or making stories private during difficult times to protect her mental wellbeing. Tolly shared that having Audrey as a partner helped her navigate the intense pressures, saying, “If you were doing this solo, you’d lose your mind. We got through it because we had each other.”
Their decade-long collaboration was not without internal struggles. In 2023, former co-host Milena Sanchez departed after “years of a rift,” a situation Audrey and Tolly described as blindsiding and emotionally hard, especially given Audrey’s pregnancy and pending Spotify deal at the time. Audrey reflected on the departure saying, “It wasn’t about the leaving, it was about the way it was done, it could have been done beautifully,” calling the way things unfolded “an unnecessary stain” on what they had built. Milena, reflecting later, explained her decision to leave was driven by declining mental health, stating, “Ultimately, I had to be true to who I was and remove myself from that space.” Despite the difficulties, Audrey shared that the experience strengthened her partnership with Tolly. She recalled, “I remember crying, holding my baby, thinking the podcast was over and then I spoke to Tolly and she was making sure everything was ticking over in the background. She told me that she would figure it out and we did.” Tolly remarked that these experiences have shaped their approach to mentoring future hosts, emphasizing that building a successful podcast involves not only what happens on air but how team members interact behind the scenes
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