Rising Stars: Meet Elliot & Sam Archuleta of Denver

Today we’d like to introduce you to Elliot & Sam Archuleta.

Hi Elliot & Sam, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
After living in Albuquerque all of our lives, we decided it was time for a new chapter in a new city. We’d been married for over four years at the time, together for nearly six, when we decided that Denver would be the next place we would call home. We traveled to Denver many times together previously and always really enjoyed it, and there were no jobs that were keeping us from deciding on a particular place to live. I’m really close to my family and didn’t want to be too far away from them, so Denver it was.

We knew right away that if we didn’t make friends and build community in Denver we wouldn’t like it, and in addition to that, we both felt like humanity was suffering a relationship crisis post-pandemic. Thus, Something More Human was born. Sam and I have always been open about our relationship and our struggles and pretty much every other area of life, and we thought that was a special dynamic that people might be attracted to as they listened to conversations about humanity and how to improve it.

The show turns one year old as I’m writing this in November 2024, and we’ve just to eclipsed the 200,000 download mark. The message seems to be resonating with people from all over the world.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
To be quite frank, there haven’t been many struggles, but I think and hope that’s a matter of perspective. It’s not to say it wasn’t a lot of work, or that it hasn’t been difficult, or stressful at moments, but it’s mostly just been fun and rewarding. The scripts, the guests, the content of each episode happens so organically because we talk about things we’re passionate and curious about; human connection, how humans relate to one another, how they build (or destroy) relationships, and the practical strategies for how we can create new relationships and strengthen existing ones.

The “struggles along the way” part has mostly been the technical aspects of creating a show that’s audio and video and uncovering how we best collaborate. When we first started we didn’t really know what we were doing with the mics and the cameras and the post production, but as time has gone on we’ve gotten better in those areas. If you watch the first episode on YouTube, and then you watch our latest right after, you’ll see that’s pretty evident. We’re also quite different in most ways. It took us some time to shift our perspective from the challenges that come with that and see these differences as complementary skill sets contributing to the whole. Do we still stumble, disagree, and fight friction? Absolutely.

The hardest part about any endeavor is getting to where you want to be, growing the thing that you’ve brought into existence, whatever it is. In our case, viewership is the goal, and we’ve been lucky enough to be featured three times on the homepage of the Apple Podcast. It just goes to show that the message is pertinent for so many right now and a reminder for us to stay grounded in the mission and purpose anytime we stumble.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’ve always struggled with consistency. It’s been my achilles heel. The podcast has been going strong for nearly 52 weeks now. We have released an episode every other week without missing a beat. That in and of itself is something I am proud of us for committing to and doing. We’ve also curated two live, phone-free events, spread across two cities, with over 140 attendees, and we just had our first ever live podcast at The Clayton Member’s Club in Denver, CO, with John Block as our guest. I’m proud of practicing the habit of being uncomfortable. I’ve been comfortable for too long. There’s no growth in comfort, not for me at least.

The main ingredient for what sets Something More Human apart from other shows about human connection and relationships is that we are our own unique individuals, with our own unique perspectives and stories. That’s the beauty of life. Everyone is unique, everyone is set apart from their competition, as long as they are authentically themselves. The best thing you can be is you.

What are your plans for the future?
We want to go all in on improving the quality of the show, and that starts with scripting and visuals. Humans love stories, and I think we can do a better job at relating to our audience with more personal storytelling. Our YouTube channel is something we are going to heavily prioritize growing in 2025. With that comes a better set design. Right now the episodes are filmed in our living room, which our guests have really enjoyed, and I think is partly responsible for how impactful some of our discussions have been. Setting is a key ingredient and our audience feels comfortable in our home on the couch, sitting next to a cup of hot tea, and petting our precious four legged daughter, Venus. BUT, we can still keep it homey and personal while investing in elevated set design. We want to curate a very intentional universe that when people see it, they know it’s ours. Some of the best YouTube channels are great because of what surrounds them in the frame. Take Brittany Broski’s ‘Royal Court’ or ‘Brooke and Connor Make A Podcast’ for example.

In addition to getting better and better at writing and producing shows, we want to focus heavily on our community (Denver) and deliver some really cool in person activations such as pop-ups, dinners, phone-free retreats, live podcasts, etc.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://somethingmorehuman.co/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/somethingmorehuman/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samantha-archuleta-134910194/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt6mVeguuxNRyjhPauip2xw
• Other: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/something-more-human/id1716186600