Why Roar Exists: Advocacy Beyond Political Office
This podcast is secretly named after a goddess who turned men into swine. Here's why.
In 2017, I ran for local office. I lost that race, but I also walked away wondering if there wasn’t a better way to fight for women than what I'd just spent all this time doing. Seven years later, I started a podcast to answer that question.
I sat down with my friend Amy Stone for her show, Creator Showcase, part of the UnMuted Creator Network, where she profiles women building things in independent media including podcasters, video creators, newsletter writers. On her show, you don't just get the résumé version. Amy asks why you actually started, and what's kept it going.
In this episode, I get into why the name Roar is inspired by the novel Circe, what actually makes someone a fit to be a guest, and how the show's changed across five seasons.
Topics covered: The origin story of Roar, the mythology of Circe, running for local office, advocacy beyond politics, what makes a Roar guest, the show's format and evolution, and women podcast hosts in independent media, and building a show from a 5-episode trial season.
Chapters
0:00 Why this conversation kicks off Season 5
1:22 Welcome to Creator Showcase with Amy Stone
2:14 Running for office, and finding another way to advocate
3:17 Why Roar is named after Circe
4:12 What makes a Roar guest
6:18 The show's format, and what's new in Season 5
7:25 Who listens to Roar
9:10 What makes Roar different
10:13 Five seasons of Roar, and favorite conversations
12:04 The moment I knew Roar was working
What You Will Learn
Why Danielle started Roar after running for Cape May County Freeholder in 2017, and why she realized elected office isn't the only way to advocate for women
The real origin of the name "Roar", inspired by Madeline Miller's novel Circe, which reframes the mythological "monster" as a woman responding to violence done to her, and the pet lion that came with it
What actually qualifies someone to be a guest on Roar: not just being an inspiring, successful woman, but doing something that specifically improves other women's lives
How the show's format has evolved, including the shorter "in-between" summary episodes Danielle introduced heading into Season 5
Key Takeaways
Being inspiring and successful isn't the bar for a Roar guest—the differentiator is doing something that specifically makes life better for other women, not just "everyone"
Roar was born out of Danielle's own experience that political office is a powerful way to advocate, but far from the only one
The show started less than two years ago as a 5-episode trial season and is entering Season 5 in October 2026
Roar's audience isn't only women — it's anyone interested in how culture shapes women's lives, and how women are working to reshape that culture back
Hearing directly from guests and listeners that the show resonates is what has kept Danielle going through a slow, iterative build
Listen to ROAR with Danielle Davies: Women, Culture & Impact on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. New conversations every Tuesday.
Full Transcript
This transcript was generated automatically and lightly cleaned up. It may contain small errors.
In 2017, I ran for office. I lost that race big time, but I left wondering if there wasn't a better way I could fight for women than what I just spent the better part of a year doing. 7 years later, I started a podcast to answer that question. Recently, I sat down with my friend Amy Stone for her show, Creator Showcase. It's part of the Unmuted Creator Network, and she profiles women building things in independent media, people like podcasters, video creators, news newsletter writers.
on her show, you don't just get the resume version. Amy asks why you actually started and what's kept it going. So, today, kicking off season five of Roar with Danielle Davies, we're actually resharing that episode so that we can be reminded of exactly what we're doing here at Roar. I get into why the name Roar is inspired by the novel Circe, what actually makes someone fit to be a guest, and how the shows changed across five seasons. But before we get to that conversation, if this is your first time here, Roar with Danielle Davies is about women womening, about how culture shapes us and how we shape it right back.
That's the whole show. New episodes drop twice a week seasonally. If that's your thing, stick around by following, turning on all notifications, and maybe sharing with a friend. That's how these things work. All right, on to today's conversation.
This is creator showcase where I introduce you to a woman who is doing the work of being a creator in independent media. This is also sometimes called being a digital creator. It might be an audio podcast, a video creator, a streamer, or even a subscription newsletter. I'm your host Amy Stone, and this showcase features Danielle Davies and her project Roar with Danielle Davies. Welcome to Creator Showcase, Amy.
Thank you so much for having me. I'm like very excited to be here. I'm trying to tamp down how excited I am. Me, too. I'm excited.
Let's start with this. The name of the show is Roar with Danielle Davies. Just went through a little rebrand. Where did you come up with the idea for the show? So, I'm going to have to do a little backtrack.
In 2017, I ended up running for office. And it was a great experience, but I had I had no experience going in. And I thought at the time that was how I could affect change. And it certainly is. It is a really important way to affect change.
I encourage women and really everybody to go run for office. I think it's a really important part of our civic duty and I think that the more people involved in government the better. but what I also realized coming out of that because that world currently and even in 2017 2018 2019 was very heavy and very depressing that it's not the only way to advocate. it's not the only way to show up for women and to represent women and to you know change the world and that in fact there are so many women changing the world in so many ways that was the focus of it and the name itself I actually had read the book Circe by Madeline Miller which reframes the myth of Circe the goddess from this horrible witch-like women woman who turned men into swines to someone who turned them into swines in response to having been raped by them. And so, she was really a powerful woman who, you know, it reminds me of the show Furious, but, she had a pet lion and I was thinking of, you know, what is more fierce than a lion and her roar, a lioness and her roar.
And so that's where the name came from. And there are a lot of roars, hence the name change. Share with us if you would show about. So it is really exactly that focus that I that I mentioned. I have to find a better way of inviting women on to the show where I'm not saying inspiration alone, being an inspirational woman who's achieved success is not quite the marker to be on the show.
It's being a woman who is doing something specifically to make the lives of other women better. So, I mean, there have been times where we've kind of walked the line on that where it where she's maybe making the lives of everyone universally better, but how is it specifically what's the woman tie in? So, how is it making the life better for women specifically? Do you want to give us an example of what that looks like? absolutely.
Yes. Because you're like, what the heck does that mean? So I've interviewed women from femtech which is kind of like all of women's health kind of falls under the auspices of femtech now in terms of technology. So I'll interview a woman who created who is in the process of developing a nipple shield that measures the output of milk for her baby. But I'll also interview a woman who is setting up a women's only online television network or a woman who is creating safe creative spaces for women or a woman who has performed a one woman show.
this one's actually with Pamela Redmond who performed the show Old Woman Naked in response to her basically going into all kinds of large museums and searching the artwork for one old woman naked and not finding any. There are plenty of young women naked and there are lots of old men naked, but no old women naked. And that's her response to us being basically invisible as we get older. So it's our response to culture. So let's talk about this.
I think you've answered it indirectly but let's say it directly. Share with us what is the format of the show? Interview solo. What are we doing? It is always an interview.
well I have a caveat. So thus far it's always been an interview with at least one woman. 5 where I just kind of come on and give a summary because I they are longer the interviews and sometimes I think people need a little bit more of a summary of it before they get involved. That's an excellent answer showcasing that we don't always fit into one category with the content we create. Share with us now who from your perspective is in the audience of the show.
Okay. I think so you know you want to say everybody should love this everybody should be interested in women and that is not always the case but it's also not just women I would say that it's people interested in how culture affects women and then conversely how women are working to reframe culture so that it more benefits 51% of the population or at least levels out the playing field. I get it. Is this and this and actually Amy, sorry I don't mean it, but it's women like you actually because you've created this network for women. So I like you would be a perfect guest because this is what you are doing in your world to level out the playing field and I'm curious about how other women are doing similar things in other niches.
100%. I love that. I love that addition. So there we go. This question doesn't fit for every show, but it's in here in case it does to give a chance to talk about it.
Is there a geographical region or language that is that defines your audience? Well, it's English speaking, but I've also interviewed women from Australia and the UK. So, I think that unless you're in a you know, a Wonder Woman type culture where it's a matriarchy, it probably affects women from all cultures. Got it. Or the information affects women from all cultures.
Very good. All right. This one's a fun one. What would you say, Danielle, makes your show unique? I think that it really is that threshold line of I hate to say just in any case for any woman, but they're not only inspiring.
You know, I feel like there are so many awesome conversations with women out there and it's hard because there's so many and you're like, I just want to I want to hear them all and I do want to be inspired. so I think that what I've really tried to cultivate on ROAR, the thing that makes it unique is their the impact has to be on women as well. So they can't just they can't only be the head of a company who you know somehow despite the odds got there and then the company serves everyone. That is absolutely inspiring and storyw worthy. It's just not going to fit the concept of roar.
I see the difference. Now, I think you mentioned this. Tell us how long you've been doing this, how many episodes or seasons you've been making the show. So, we're coming up on our fifth season, which will launch October of 2026, which is really coming up. And I only started it less than two years ago.
I will say the first season was like a mini five episode arc that I was just trying it out and seeing if we wanted to go forward. So, it's it's I would like to say it's vastly better now production-wise, but those early guests are still absolutely amazing. The only way to start is to start and the process is definitely iterative. So, I honor that experience of yours. So, now in five seasons, do you have a favorite moment or in from your side from the show?
That is the only question that I do not really have an answer for because so many of them get me really excited. I will say some conversations I know more about. So conceptually I'm like I get that. I feel that. So when you talk about middle-aged stuff specifically that me that episode I mentioned with Pamela Redmond or there's a woman named Sharon Kenny Rudy who is a Vedic astrologer who works with women in midlife to kind of reframe their perspective of midlife and hers was a really interesting and fun conversation.
but I am guilty of being universally inspired and that is a little bit of a problem because I get really excited. I hear that. I hear that. So thinking again about the bank of work that you've done and the process, is there a moment in this that stands out to you just in your memory as something that inspired you to keep going or was a signal of success or that there was momentum behind the concept of the show? I apologize for the pause.
I think when I started to hear back from guests that they were loving the conversation because I want to say also that I'm a former journalist a freelance journalist. I was never like a New York Times bestselling author or journalist. but I have experience asking questions and I'm a naturally nosy person and I'm also really I'm just curious and excited about the things that people do. So, I feel like the conversations have really upleveled and that's given me my own permission to keep going because as much as I'm trying to shine a spotlight on the women who are making lives better for other women, this is my way to do the same thing. So, I'm starting to feel that.
And I remember in one episode one of my guests actually at the end she was like and this is why we roar you know and she brought it back in and I was like it's working. It's it's happening and you know it's a super slow build but I feel like this is the thing that prevents me from running for office again and I don't want to run for office again. All right. This is the time where I give you the chance to share with everybody who finds the showcase. How can people find your show?
Okay. Well, it's easy. com and there you can click through. You can find it anywhere you listen to your podcast. I'm on all the social networks and I also have a Substack if that's of interest.
com. com and you can click through to find everything else there. Very good. That's all for today, Danielle. Thank you for joining me today on Creator Showcase.
For the audience, please be sure to subscribe to the channel, give this video a like, share it with your friends, and if you are in the audience and you would like to be featured on a creator showcase. The details for how that works are in the description below the video. Thanks for watching and or listening to Roar with Danielle Davies. If you love this show and want to continue to support women centered media, please subscribe and follow us on your preferred podcasting platform or on YouTube. All right, until next time.
Have a good one.
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