Meghan Markle Launches Her First Podcast With an Episode with Serena Williams

Meghan Markle is adding another job to her list of careers: podcast host. Her first podcast, "Archetypes," launched this week on Spotify, with an episode featuring her friend, tennis star Serena Williams. The show begins with the oft-told story of how Meghan started a letter-writing campaign to change a sexist soap ad when she was just 11 years old. It later goes into a conversation with Williams, who recently announced she was retiring from tennis, about the "standard women face when they are labeled 'ambitious' and the ripple effect this has on other aspects of their lives." The episode also includes an interview with Dr. Laura Kray on gender in the workplace.

Archetypes promises to unpack the labels and stereotypes that hold women back in modern society and the workplace. Over the course of the series, Meghan will speak with historians and experts "to uncover the origin of these stereotypes and have uncensored conversations with women who know all too well how these typecasts shape narratives."

In the teaser, Meghan says, Archetypes is "the podcast where we dissect, explore, and subvert the labels that try to hold women back." She explains, "I’ll have conversations with women who know all too well how these typecasts shape our narratives. And, I’ll talk to historians to understand how we even got here in the first place."

A number of famous names will be featured as well. The second episode, for example, is set to feature a conversation with Mariah Carey.

"I'm going to sit down with some of the smartest funniest strongest most passionate women and people i know— and some that i've never met before," Meghan says.

In December 2020, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced they would partner with Spotify on exclusive podcasts under Archewell Audio, the Sussexes' newly-launched audio production company.

"What we love about podcasting is that it reminds all of us to take a moment and to really listen, to connect to one another without distraction," Harry and Meghan said in a joint statement in December 2020. "With the challenges of 2020, there has never been a more important time to do so, because when we hear each other, and hear each other’s stories, we are reminded of how interconnected we all are."

In January 2022, the Sussexes raised concerns about Spotify spreading COVID-19 misinformation.

"Since the inception of Archewell, we have worked to address the real-time global misinformation crisis. Hundreds of millions of people are affected by the serious harms of rampant mis- and disinformation every day," an Archewell spokesperson said in a statement. "Last April, our co-founders began expressing concerns to our partners at Spotify about the all too real consequences of COVID-19 misinformation on its platform. We have continued to express our concerns to Spotify to ensure changes to its platform are made to help address this public health crisis. We look to Spotify to meet this moment and are committed to continuing our work together as it does."

Town & Country understands that the Sussexes are encouraged by ongoing conversations with Spotify regarding how the platform is working to minimize misinformation and to support transparency.

Listen to the teaser Meghan Markle's "Archetypes" here:

And the first episode here:

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