Meet Rosa Ragoonan | Writer & Podcaster

We had the good fortune of connecting with Rosa Ragoonan and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Rosa, let’s start by talking about what inspires you?
I would say generally I’m inspired by writers and authors that were not afraid to put their work out there. Whether it’s an author like Stephen King or a person I see posting their poetry on the internet, they inspire me to write from my own perspective and share it with the world. I’ve been through my own fair share of struggles and I know that writing is a great outlet for me to process some of my emotions. I put my writing out there to potentially help someone else that may be going through a similar situation that I went through. As far as podcasting goes, my own husband’s band was the inspiration in starting a podcast. My husband’s band Galaxy Beat has a podcast called The Drunken Bard. I was on a few of their podcast episodes and I thought it was a lot of fun having a conversation and making an episode for everyone to listen to. So in a way, it if wasn’t for that experience, there wouldn’t be the No Latex Needed Podcast.
Overall, there isn’t one specific thing that inspires me. It’s the fact that people are brave enough to put themselves out there and share their work with others that inspires me to share my own thoughts with anyone that is willing to listen to what I have to say.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
What sets No Latex Needed apart from the other podcasts out there is that we are a married couple that just says what we want without any restrictions. We’re not tied down by any sponsors and we encourage guests that appear on the podcast to say what they want even if it includes cussing. Although we allow saying what you want, we try to do it in an entertaining way. We are always constantly excited to put out new episodes of the podcast. We try to stick with topics that we like and think are worth talking about. Though I will say it has not always been easy. It took time to get to where we are at today. When the podcast first came out, we were exclusively on SoundCloud. For some reason we thought that it would make us more appealing but what we did not realize was that we were restricting the growth of our podcast. I think that everything changed for the better once we made No Latex Needed available on platforms such as Apple Podcast, Google Podcasts and Spotify. Our listeners were happy to have more places where they can enjoy the podcast. We also set up a YouTube channel to post a video version of certain episodes as well as additional content. We also have our own format of discussing a topic and having me share my own personal writing at the end. It helps me getting my writing out there and encourages me to write more. Most importantly, I want everyone to know that I enjoy doing the podcast with my husband and it’s a lot of fun making the episodes with him.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
The city of Fort Lauderdale is a place worth visiting. You’re nearby the beach and Las Olas is the hot spot here. Though there are other great spots in Broward County in general. I would start off by taking my best friend to Dania Beach, more specifically Dania Pointe to grab breakfast at either First Watch or Too Jay’s. You cannot go wrong with either restaurant. There is plenty to do in Dania Pointe. My best friend and I can go shopping and go bowling at Bowlero. Coopers Hawk would be my top choice to have lunch. If there is a good movie playing, definitely hit up Regal. We could grab some candy and treats at the Its Sugar. The next day, I would take the Davie. We could spend the day at Flamingo Gardens. Afterwards, I’d take them to Falcons Pub for some great bar food and beers. One day, we could drive over to Sunrise to Sawgrass Mills Mall for more shopping and they could choose between California Pizza Kitchen, Shake Shack, P.F. Changs or the Rainforest Cafe to dine at. Right across from the mall is the FLA Live Arena. Given the right time, we could catch a Florida Panthers game or a concert. Another day, we could drive further to check out Tate’s comic book shop to geek or nerd out over the comics and various items they have. During the night time, we could slide over to Game Night in Coral Springs to play video games, have great drinks and food. For their last day, we could kick it here in Fort Lauderdale and take a walk around the downtown area and check out various restaurants and bars on Las Olas. A few other recommendations I’d make is the Backyard and catching a show at Revolution Live. If they want a great tattoo to commemorate the trip, I’d take them to either Crossed Keys Society or Babylon Tattoo Shop.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I want to dedicate this shout out to two people that really helped shape both my writing and podcast. Those two people are my younger brother Christian and my husband Shane. Christian has his own YouTube channel called Chris Whis where he makes a lot of Dragon Ball related content. He’s given me some great ideas what to cover on my podcast, how to stand out to get more listeners, how to gain more subscribers on the podcast YouTube channel and has even read some of my work before I post it. Chris has also done a bit of artwork for the podcast. Most notably a logo for the series Players, Pucks & the Cup. He’s been a bigger help to me more than he realizes and I always welcome any advice he offers me. As for my husband Shane, he’s always been my number one supporter and encourages me to pursue what I want to do. He is also the other half of No Latex Needed. I love that we’re able to feed off of each other and come up with great ideas for the podcast to make it more entertaining for our listeners out there. I also love that we just have fun making episodes together.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skittie/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/skittie

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nolatexneeded

Other: https://www.instagram.com/nolatexneeded/

Image Credits
Shane Ragoonan