Ordinary Freaks: A Local Podcast Gives People a Platform

Two young guys from Milwaukee had an idea to create a podcast that gives a platform to people who are passionate about what they’ve created or are creating and to shine a positive light on the city that they’re proud to call home.

Bryant Robles, 26, and Eduardo Juarez, 26, are both co-hosts and co-founders of their podcast, Ordinary Freaks. The foundation of how they came to make their podcast togetherstemmed from finding each other later in life and having the same interests, reading, and from a quote that they found to be true, “excuses are a disease,” by Cam Newton.

“I think we were like-minded in the way we interacted with people, like the way we carry ourselves,” Juarez says. “And I think the bond carried from there.”

It started off with the quote “excuses are a disease” in Cleveland, where they printed out slogans with wheat pasting; wheat pasting is a paste made from wheat flour and water and is typically used for papier-mâché and to put notices onto walls. The messages they created were printed on 9 and a half by 11 sheets. For them, it was a way to reach out to more people because they believed that there’re people out there who can use the message.

This was about three years ago, and they found a little bit of purpose and self-fulfillment in the project they started in Cleveland and started rolling with it. The idea of creating Ordinary Freaks came from them listening to a lot of podcasts and being motivated by them.

While talking about their podcast, Juarez mentioned jokingly that if they went the book idea route, it would’ve been a children’s illustrated book. But, when Robles said a podcast, Juarez was on board with the idea.

Juarez has a photography background and, by having that background, he already had the cameras to start the podcast, and all there was left to get was the mics. Once they got everything set up, they started playing around with the camera, mics and began recording. Around this time in November and December is when they recorded their first episode, “Anousone Bounket;” he is a lifestyle entrepreneur from Milwaukee. It took around a month to two and a half months for their first podcast to be released, and there was no turning back.

“We want to give people a platform, to let them speak about what they’re doing, what they’re creating,” Robles says.

What the Ordinary Freaks co-founders would want to get out of their podcast is two things: to inspire people to pursue their dreams and passions and to give a platform to people who are doing great things, especially those who are from Milwaukee, whether that be creators, entrepreneurs, or business owners. Juarez goes on to explain that if nothing comes from the podcast, having the sense of community and making those friendships are some of the main purposes why they do this.

“We are trying to be f*cking extraordinary, ordinary…freaks,” Juarez says.

This year, they expanded their podcast to a new project called the “Creator Series.” It stemmed from people’s attention spans, as a lot of people don’t have the grit to sit through a 40-long video and or story. Right now, shorter content is in trend and a part of that is to figure out what to show in an eight-minute video.

The Creator Series is like the podcast, undefined; one day, you’ll see a documentary style and another would be a day in the life of someone, Juarez explained.

“There’s more to come,” Juarez says. “We have ideas, and we’re piecing everything together and how we’ll execute.”

Ordinary Freaks are proud to call Milwaukee their home and believe that there’s no need to move to another city like L.A. or New York City to make your dreams come true. They want to show people that there are great things in Milwaukee and that people don’t have to turn to other resources to make it happen.

Robles, thinks that there are more opportunities here in Milwaukee than in L.A., New York City and other big cities; they are constantly wanting to deliver more to people and to the city, either by branching out to other aspects and interests and by planning to grow their brand a little more.

Even though they’re impacting the community, they want to learn how they can do that directly; maybe that means creating events around the city or partnering up with people who have the same ideas and who care about the same issues.

“Why not make your city cooler?” Robles says. “I think we definitely shed a positive light.”

The first six months of the podcast was a way for them to be planted on the ground, to actually do it and be dedicated, and to show what they can do and what other things they are able to do. Flash forwarding to five years later into the podcast, Juarez hopes that Robles will be able to quit his job, so that they can be working full-time in Ordinary Freaks. They might just buy a building, rent it out and call it Ordinary Freaks Studio.

Robles and Juarez see it as a way to become entrepreneurs, such as if people need help in a project they are able to call Ordinary Freaks to lend them a hand and to be able to be paid for it.

In five years, they don’t just want to do a podcast, they want to be more than that. They want to have their brand established and to be seen to have everything ready. Ordinary Freaks has big plans coming in the new year, they are ready to attack and to keep going.

“We know our legacy, what people are going to remember us about,” Juarez says.