‘Do You Want to Be My Friend?’

A year or two into their podcast Crina and Kirsten Get to Work, co-hosts Kirsten Barron and Crina Hoyer discovered something surprising. While the podcast focuses on topics of interest to women in the workplace, their audience was more diverse than they thought.

“There are some people, particularly men, who listen to our podcast to learn how to talk to each other,” says Barron, a business and employment attorney with Bellingham-based Barron Quinn Blackwood. She and Hoyer heard positive feedback from a number of men. “They want to be better communicators.”

Five years on, Crina and Kirsten Get to Work continues to grow its audience, averaging about 1,000 listeners per month from 49 states—“What gives, South Dakota?” jokes Hoyer—and an ever-expanding list of international countries. And judging from feedback, listeners love everything from their rapport to their vulnerability and experience.

“Smart, funny and right on the mark,” writes one female business owner, while another fan’s review credits the duo for “A+ advice … that has arrived at a really important point in my career.”

Barron met Hoyer, a business consultant, when a mutual friend connected them because Hoyer needed to sell a business. “I do a ton of pro bono work, and it was a very simple asset sale,” says Barron.

“After that initial introduction, I knew I wanted to get to know Kirsten better,” says Hoyer. “She came across as someone who I could learn from, admire, laugh and commiserate with.”

Barron, who juggles work and caring for a blended and extended family of nine children with her husband, Steve Brinn, had a busy calendar.  But Hoyer persisted, and they agreed to meet for a drink with another mutual friend, who immediately noticed their easy rapport and shared sense of humor. Their friend suggested they start a podcast, and the pair created their first episode not long after, in July 2019.

“It turns out we really are a great match,” says Barron.

The episodes, recorded every other week, come together in roughly the same way, with whichever host suggested the topic taking the lead. Subjects range from finding happiness at work to using AI advantageously. “Topics arise for both Crina and I all the time out of our daily lives,” says Barron. “What I find is that, as I go through my day as a woman who’s working in the world, who does a ton of volunteer work and has a huge family and an aging mother and a family member with an illness, I’ll think, ‘Oh, yeah, we should be talking about that.’”

Barron and Hoyer conduct research and talk about the topic beforehand. At one point, they even took an improv class to fine-tune their conversational skills. “We do have an idea of what we want to cover and how we want to cover it, but we’re always surprised at how it turns out,” says Barron.

By the end of March, they were at 135 episodes and counting.

For Barron, who has been practicing law more than three decades, the podcast adds a sense of play that’s not necessarily present in her 9-to-5 job. “I enjoy the practice of law deeply, and I really get a lot of meaning out of the service, and I certainly have great relationships, but I would not describe it very often as fun,” says Barron. “So it’s truly nice to have this kind of constant fun.”

Barron’s Favorite Episodes

Episode 1: “Do You Want to Be My Friend?”—Barron says the topic mirrors how she and Hoyer transitioned from working together to becoming pals. “It’s about what being friends is about: being vulnerable. It’s a revelation.”

Episode 23: “The Problem With Being Likable”—“This is the episode where we came up with our catchphrase, ‘Don’t frost yourself in likability, be who you are.’ Probably because that’s one
of my issues,” says Barron.

Episode 65: “The Best Coworkers Are Trauma-Informed”—Recorded just as the world was coming out of lockdown in the summer of 2021, this episode, says Barron, generated a lot of feedback. “There’s so much trauma in the workplace, and nobody knows how to deal with it. A lot of listeners were like, ‘I’m so glad you talked about that.’”