After several delays, Meghan Markle has returned to podcasting. The Duchess of Sussex has teamed up with Lemonada Media, which says her original podcast series, titled Confessions of a Female Founder, will premiere April 8. The eight-episode season will feature Markle in conversation with female founders, while also giving listeners a peek behind the curtain of her own entrepreneurial effort in the launch of the As Ever lifestyle brand.
“I’m so proud of what we’re creating, and the candid conversations that I’m able to have with other female founders as we unpack the twists and turns of building a business,” Markle says in a statement. “Through my friendships and relationships, we’re able to dive into the type of insights that everyone wants to know as they’re building a business, and that I’m able to tap into as I’m building my own business with As Ever.”
Jessica Cordova Kramer, Lemonada’s CEO who co-founded the podcast company with Stephanie Wittels Wachs in 2019, says the new Markle show is a good fit. “As female founders ourselves, Steph and I are grateful to get a chance to build alongside Meghan the exact podcast we needed when we started Lemonada,” Cordova Kramer says.
Wittels Wachs says the show will also feature conversations that are “more break room than boardroom” thanks to Markle’s personality.
“Meghan is such a warm and welcoming person, and you feel that in her interviews,” says Wittels Wachs, Lemonada’s Chief Creative Officer. “She creates a comfortable space for her guests to bring fascinating personal stories to the table and open up in a way they likely haven’t before publicly.”
Lemonada announced it had signed Markle to its roster in February 2024, saying a new talk show was in development. But after a spring launch was announced, the two later said the new podcast would be pushed back to 2025 after Lemonada reportedly had concerns about clashes between the Duchess’ new Netflix show and her podcasting work. Under the deal with Lemonada, the earlier episodes of Archetypes, which had been exclusive to Spotify, have been re-released and widely distributed across all podcast apps.
Under the deal, the earlier episodes of Archetypes, which had been exclusive to Spotify, have been re-released and widely distributed across all podcast apps. The podcast launch comes as Markle debuts her new “With Love, Meghan” lifestyle series on Netflix.
Terms of Lemonada’s deal with Markle were not released. Spotify earlier paid a reported $25 million to Markle and Prince Harry, but the podcast marketplace has changed and such lucrative deals are much harder to come by. Spotify and Archewell Audio parted ways in June 2023
following the release of a single, 12-episode season of Archetypes.
While its content output was small, what it did release seemed to be a hit with listeners. Since Archetypes was released in 2022, it has had more than 10 million downloads, averaging nearly a million listens per episode after it debuted as Spotify’s No.1 podcast in 47 countries around the world two years ago with interviews of celebrities such as Mariah Carey, actress Mindy Kaling, and tennis great Serena Williams.
Markle’s new show will apparently have a similar vibe. “I’ve been having candid conversations with amazing women who have turned dreams into realities, and scaled small ideas into massively successful businesses,” she wrote in an Instagram post. “They’re opening up, sharing their tips, tricks (and tumbles), and letting me pick their brains as I build out my own business, As Ever. It has been absolutely eye-opening, inspiring… and fun!”
Markle’s Confessions of a Female Founder joins Lemonada’s lineup that also includes shows such as Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Fail Better with David Duchovny, My So-Called Midlife with Reshma Saujani, Last Day, Believe Her, and Add to Cart with Kulap Vilaysack & SuChin Pak.