#4: Reflections from our first Folklories
Updates from last week and thoughts after a week of recordings
👋🏽 Welcome to The Folklore, our weekly newsletter where we talk about our journey of building Folklory. Every week we’ll share updates, wins, and learnings, so sign up if you’d like to hear from us 🚀
In this week's edition of The Folklore, we’ll start off with some updates from the last week and then share some reflections we’ve had after recording a few Folklories over the last few days.
Updates from 26th March - 2nd April 2022
🏆 Wins
We got 1 new customer this week. That takes us to 5/100 on our #Mission100to100.
🤔 Learnings
Over this last week, we spoke to a few companies and realized that there are many areas where Folklory can help - especially in areas of Hiring and Employee onboarding. We can help founders and management teams create Folklories about themes like the company’s culture, vision, and times of success and hardship. These can help attract high-quality talent as well as help create a better onboarding experience for new joiners. We’re still exploring this new opportunity and would love to speak with more people, especially those working in HR and Recruitment.
Reflections of a Folklorist
We’re calling our interviewers Folklorists. Why? Firstly, the word “interviewer” sounds too boring and impersonal. Secondly, if you think about where in our lives today we encounter “interviewers” - it’s things like job interviews. In these situations, there’s a feeling that we’re being tested and there’s a lot of pressure to say the “right” thing.
That’s not the feeling we want to create when someone is recording a Folklory. A Folklorist’s job is to make a guest feel comfortable, while at the same time, leading the conversation well. Having a conversation, with people you haven’t met, isn’t the easiest thing to do. We wrote about this in our last edition.
So now that you understand who a Folklorist is, here are some of their reflections over the past week-
“Even as a Folklorist, I do get nervous before every recording. I've done so many but the same questions arise - how will the conversation go? Will I keep it casual? Will the guest be comfortable? Yet, it never fails to surprise me when our guests do open up and share some wonderful memories. Maybe it's the questions. Or maybe it's just a shared vulnerability. Either way, it's these moments that make me feel so energized after every recording, and unbearably excited about the potential of Folklory. It makes me nervous too though, but I hope the nerves never go away.” - Haresh T
“Being a Folklorist is a delicate dance that feels like a privilege. Somehow, through the push and pull, back and forth, reminiscing and yearning of a simple conversation, we're able to get a peek into places in the heart which even one's closest kin are unable to access. With this privilege, there also comes a lot of responsibility; after all, we're dealing with people's memories, which are their most visceral links to their past” - Terence C
And that’s a wrap! Hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s episode of The Folklore. If you like what we’re doing and want to help, we’d really appreciate it if you could share this with one other person, who you think might like the idea. Our biggest challenge right now is getting the word out, and hearing from people about what they feel is missing, so that we can iterate and improve.
If you have feedback, ideas, or just want to get in touch, you can always write to us at theteam@folklory.com. We would love to hear from you ❤️
Until next time
Haresh