This Is Her Place is a new podcast that tells the remarkable stories of Utah women, past and present, in all their diversity. Businesswomen and religious leaders, poets and politicians, healers and homemakers, artists and activists, women in the Beehive state have never fit into easy stereotypes.
Through interviews and lively narrative retellings, each episode features at least two women, one historical and one contemporary, whose stories are distinct but whose lives illuminate a common theme. Today we’ll talk with the podcast’s co-host Naomi Watkins and the executive producer Patrick Mason. We’ll also hear sound clips from the first two episodes, which drop today.
Naomi Watkins is an educational leader, women's advocate, and community builder who believes that diverse representation plays a vital role in the empowerment of young people. She authored Champions of Change: 25 Women Who Made History, a book written with Katherine Kitterman and illustrated by Brooke Smart as part of her work for Better Days 2020, a non-profit dedicated to popularizing Utah women’s history through art, education, and legislation. An expert in teacher education and literacy pedagogy, Naomi earned her Ph.D. from the University of Utah and resides and hikes in the mountains of Salt Lake City.
Patrick Mason is Leonard J. Arrington Chair of Mormon History and Culture and associate professor of history and religious studies at Utah State University. Born and raised in Utah, he pursued his graduate studies at the University of Notre Dame and held faculty positions at Notre Dame, the American University in Cairo, and Claremont Graduate University before returning to his native state in 2019. He is the author or editor of several books, including Mormonism and Violence: The Battles of Zion and What Is Mormonism? A Student’s Introduction. He and his wife Melissa are raising their four children to be proud feminists.
