Introduction
The Golden Mike Podcast is Emberlin Studios’ youth-focused conversation platform exploring the experiences, ideas and questions shaping a generation.
It is not exclusively a teenage platform.
Golden Mike speaks to young people navigating the many stages of becoming—from school and university to work, relationships, identity, creativity, entrepreneurship and adulthood.
It is a space for conversations that are sometimes difficult, sometimes unexpected, sometimes funny and sometimes deeply personal.
Most importantly, it is a space where young people can speak for themselves.
Culture Identity Healing Creativity Africa & the World
We talk about
Golden Mike explores the realities of growing up in an African and increasingly globalised world.
The Conversations
(01)
Culture & Identity
What does it mean to be African in a changing world?
(02)
Tradition & Modern Life
How do young people honour where they come from while navigating where the world is going?
(03)
Growing Up
The transition from childhood to adolescence, university, work and adulthood.
(04)
Education & Opportunity
The realities of learning, careers, entrepreneurship and finding a path forward.
(05)
Relationships
Friendships, family, love, expectations and the ways relationships evolve as we grow.
(06)
Healing
The conversations we inherit, the experiences we carry and the possibility of breaking cycles.
(07)
Creativity & Expression
Art, media, storytelling, music, performance and finding creative ways to make your voice heard.
(08)
Africa & the World
How young Africans understand their place within an interconnected global community.
Keepers of the story
Where culture lives
Culture does not only live in museums, archives or history books.
It lives in language.
In music.
In family stories.
In food.
In traditions.
In the way generations speak to one another.
In the stories we choose to preserve—and those we choose to question.
Carrying stories forward
Golden Mike sees young people as participants in that cultural conversation.
The podcast creates space for young voices to listen, question, remember, challenge, reinterpret and carry stories forward.
“It is about becoming part of the generation that does not simply inherit culture, but actively helps shape what comes next.”
Conversations that heal
Room to be heard
Some things are passed from one generation to another without ever being discussed.
Golden Mike creates room for conversations about experiences, expectations, relationships, family dynamics, identity and the things that shape us.
The intention is not to tell young people how to live.
“It is to create conversations in which people can recognise themselves, hear another perspective and perhaps begin conversations that continue long after an episode ends.”
From school to the world
Every stage, new questions
One of Golden Mike’s central interests is the journey young people make through different stages of life.
- School
- University
- Work
- Independence
- Relationships
- Adulthood
Each stage brings new questions.
Who am I?
What do I want?
What am I capable of?
Where do I belong?
What does success look like?
How do I build a meaningful life?
Golden Mike gives these questions a microphone.
The SDGs in Golden Mike
UN Sustainable Development Goals
- SDG 3 — Good Health and Well-being Creating space for conversations around wellbeing, relationships and experiences that affect young people.
- SDG 4 — Quality Education Exploring education, learning, skills and lifelong development.
- SDG 5 — Gender Equality Encouraging conversations about gender, expectations, relationships and equal opportunity.
- SDG 8 — Decent Work and Economic Growth Discussing careers, entrepreneurship, creativity and young people’s participation in the economy.
- SDG 10 — Reduced Inequalities Giving space to different backgrounds, perspectives and lived experiences.
- SDG 11 — Sustainable Cities and Communities Exploring culture, identity, community and the places young people call home.
- SDG 16 — Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions Encouraging dialogue, understanding, responsible participation and respectful exchange.
- SDG 17 — Partnerships for the Goals Connecting young people, creatives, educators, organisations and communities through conversation.
From conversation to ecosystem
Beyond audio
Golden Mike is designed to extend beyond audio.
A conversation can become an article.
An episode can inspire a publication.
A topic can become an Academy discussion or workshop.
A conversation around healing can inform Foundation programming.
A cultural conversation can become a live Experience.
A compelling story can become a future Emberlin production.
This is how the podcast fits into the wider Emberlin ecosystem.
The microphone is the starting point—not the destination.
The making of Golden Mike
Every conversation begins with a question.
Explore the creation of Golden Mike—from the original idea and editorial direction to the development of the format, conversations and voices that will shape the platform.
Studio photography
Microphone imagery
Recording photographs