From Sound Design to Sustainable Sound: Kacie Luaders' Podcast Pivot

Kacie Luaders has always loved audio. Long before she ran her own company, she was working in music and live theatre sound design, shaping how stories reached an audience through what people heard rather than what they saw. That love of sound eventually found a new outlet when the pandemic upended live performance work and pushed her toward podcasting. That pivot became Could Be Pretty Cool, an audio-first media company, and Pretty Cool Data, its companion research platform. Together, the two operate as a hub for podcast production, data insights, and educational programming aimed at helping creators build something lasting out of their work. For Luaders, the shift from theatre to podcasting wasn't just a change in medium -- it was the start of a business built around helping other creators do the same. What drives her, she says, is the idea that indie creators can become real business owners, finding sustainable ways to thrive doing what they love. That belief shows up most clearly in her current project, the Pretty Cool Creator Collective, a virtual program teaching creators and business owners how to produce podcasts for thought leadership and education. Rather than just teaching people to hit record, the program is built around using audio strategically -- as a tool for building authority and connecting with an audience. Community sits at the center of how Luaders talks about her work. She wants people who engage with Could Be Pretty Cool and the Creator Collective to walk away understanding that growth as a creator doesn't happen in isolation -- and that there's room in the industry for more than just a few success stories. Her own path, from theatre sound booths to running an audio media company, is offered as proof that the opportunities are out there for anyone willing to build toward them. As Pretty Cool Data continues developing its research side alongside the Collective's educational programming, Luaders is positioning her company as both a service and a resource for Atlanta's growing creator economy.