Podcasting has made its way onto Loyola University Maryland’s campus. Many students have taken it upon themselves to create their own podcasts. Gavriella Hardoon Hodge ‘23 is the founder and host of “Mustaza,” a bilingual faith-based podcast that began in 2021. Hodge is majoring in business with a concentration in marketing and minoring in communications with a specialization in advertising and public relations. Since the beginning, Hodge has followed her own path when it comes to creating content for the show and said that God has played a significant role in its origin. 

“I felt like God told me to do it,” she said.

Mustaza started in 2021 during one of many surges of the COVID-19 pandemic with Spanish episodes and slowly transitioned into adding English versions. Mustaza currently has one season with 23 episodes. The name of her podcast originated from the Bible verse of Matthew 17:20, which talks about having faith the size of a mustard seed. 

Hodge is not the only Loyola student who has become inspired by the podcasting craze. Daelin Cook ‘23 and AJ Tolentino ‘23 are two of the five hosts of a show called “5 Stars Podcast.” The show currently has two episodes available. Tolentino, who majors in business with a concentration in management, said that the goal of their podcast is to share their experience as African Americans on a predominately white campus. 

“For entertainment purposes, we just want to show everyone what we are doing on campus, [and] what college life is like from our perspectives,” he said.

Hodge said that her show is different from 5 Stars Podcast because they fall under different genres, and they are a group of hosts. When she first heard that 5 Stars Podcast would be launching, she was interested in what they would have to say. 

“When they first mentioned it, I was like: this should be interesting. I want to see what they end up talking about because at the end of the day, what interests culture and what interests people nowadays has to be sexual. If you’re not talking about sex or gossip nobody is going to be interested.” 

Tolentino said that their show is not centered around sex or gossip at all. 

“We talk about relationships but nothing really of gossip or sex. We try to leave our personal lives out of it and other people’s personal lives.” 

Cook said that everything that they talk about on the show is to entertain the audience. “Everything is hypothetical situations, really. So, while yes, we are entertainment, we also are trying to bring in information as well.” 

Both Hodge and the hosts of 5 Stars Podcast have big plans for the future. Hodge said that she wants to have guests on her show for the second season. 

“I’m going to come out with a second season with testimonies, kind of like interviews, conversations, and whatever. I know a lot of people who have just randomly told me their testimonies and I believe those testimonies should be recorded.” 

Cook said that the group plans to bring different perspectives into the mix.

“We know we are 5 men, [and] we know we need different genders in there, as well. Having a woman’s perspective is definitely needed for us and our viewers.” 

Tolentino said that they also plan to continue producing the show over the summer and hope to add a business component to future episodes. 

“We are trying to host events on campus and off-campus. We want to focus on the business aspect of it, too.” 

Both Mustaza and 5 Stars Podcast are examples of how podcasting and podcast culture has made its way onto Loyola’s campus.

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