Creative journey shapes podcast venture

A North East content producer has turned a lifelong fascination with cameras and conversation into a podcast production business helping people and organisations tell their stories.

Heywood Similon is the founder of Stuff Podcasts, a professional podcast studio on Station Road in Whitley Bay offering podcast, video podcast and social media content production.

His route to launching the business has taken him from photography and radio to social media production, with each experience helping shape the service he provides today.

Heywood’s interest in cameras began during childhood, when he would film magic tricks using his father’s camera.

He said: “I started recording myself with my dad’s camera when I was a kid. 

“I was doing impressions of family members and making my own little magic shows, but all on camera.”

That fascination developed into a career in photography and, by his mid-20s, he had opened his own small studio.

At 28, Heywood moved to Barcelona, where a search for work led him to Radio Barcelona City FM and sparked a love of conversation that would later become central to his career.

He added: “I really, really enjoyed the conversations. 

“You could have these intentional, long conversations with someone, and then other parts of radio could be really fast-paced. I loved that.”

After moving into social media video production, initially after approaching a tattoo shop and pitching his photography and radio experience, Heywood spent several years developing his filmmaking skills.

He added: “They started asking me to do video. 

“I was like, ‘I don’t know how to do video.’ 

“But you kind of fake it until you make it.”

Around four years ago, Heywood launched his own YouTube channel, speaking openly about his experiences with mental health, anxiety and ADHD.

After a year focusing on his own story, he began interviewing other people about their experiences and discovered that he enjoyed creating the space for others to talk.

That eventually provided the foundations for Stuff Podcasts, which Heywood turned into a business around two years ago.

The Whitley Bay studio now features a four-person podcast set-up, with four microphones, three cameras and 4K 10-bit recording alongside professional lighting and production facilities.

However, Heywood places equal importance on creating a relaxed environment where guests can feel comfortable enough to speak openly.

He said: “I’ve created the space very intentionally so it feels relaxing. 

“You come in and it feels a bit like a chilled living room.”

His own experiences have helped shape that approach. 

Diagnosed with ADHD as a child, Heywood says he only began to fully understand its impact on his work, relationships and everyday life much later.

He believes running his own creative business provides the freedom to work in a way that suits him, while his experience of discussing personal subjects has helped him understand the value of longer conversations.

Heywood added: “I think I was always destined to be self-employed because of the nature of ADHD. 

“Working for other people was always going to be really difficult.

“But working for myself, the urgency is always there, and that urgency helps me stay motivated.”

Stuff Podcasts now covers a broad range of subjects, allowing Heywood to move beyond mental health while retaining the openness that characterised his early interviews.

And while his extensive tattoos can occasionally lead people to make assumptions before meeting him, Heywood enjoys the opportunity to challenge those perceptions through conversation.

He added: “I’ve definitely had some people where it’s taken months for them to warm up to me.

“I get it. But I appreciate art. Tattoos are art.”

Now a father, Heywood says providing for his family has added further motivation to grow the business.

From childhood camera experiments to photography, Barcelona radio and video production, Heywood’s unconventional career has ultimately brought him back to what first fascinated him: cameras, creativity and telling stories.

He added: “I think all my experiences have led me to where I am now. 

“I had to build up a certain level of confidence before starting my own business.

“I wouldn’t have been able to do what I’m doing now ten years ago. I wasn’t equipped. 

“But now I’m in a place where I’m really grateful that I get to speak to so many people and watch the conversations unfold.”

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