Men dominate the top of the podcasting charts. As listeners, they slightly outnumber women, too. “Brocasters” and the “manosphere” have even become a media obsession and for good reason. During the election, conservatives successfully tapped into a world of dude-driven content to reach disengaged voters.

But there has been a surge of podcasts made by women, for women, too. And a company called Dear Media is at the center of much of it.

Based in Austin, Texas, Dear Media operates the largest network of podcasts for women. Its nearly 100 shows are as freewheeling and chummy as those in the “manosphere,” similarly hosted by comedians and content creators. Except here, Joe Rogan’s alpha masculinity and Logan Paul’s unabashed idiocy are swapped for girlboss confidence and therapy speak.

Gone, too, is the overt conservatism that now blankets the manosphere — but not all of its ideas. Dear Media emphasizes health and wellness in its programming, at times dipping into the same kind of contrarian thinking that powers Make America Healthy Again, the agenda of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Some of its shows are hosted by medical doctors. Others promote raw milk, parasite cleanses and communicating with angels. There is a do-your-own-research ethos, already familiar to those who follow “MAHA” or even Goop. But here, it is slid between dating diaries and reality-television recaps.

This range is working. In 2024, Dear Media reached No. 7 on Apple Podcasts’ list of top channels, alongside media juggernauts like iHeart, SiriusXM and The New York Times. This year, it debuted a Khloe Kardashian show on social platform X and acquired “The World’s First Podcast,” which inspired a hit Netflix romantic comedy. And its success could open the door for more networks to embrace women’s interest in alternative health.

“These conversations are not new to me or to us, and it’s exciting to see the pickup and the traction,” said Paige Port, president of the company.

Whether labeled fringe, woo-woo or crunchy, alternative health has long drawn both devotion and debunking. But since the ascent of Kennedy, a vaccine skeptic who believes autism is preventable and seed oil is poisonous, it has never been more mainstream.

If feminist news was the nucleus of “lady blogs” a decade ago, wellness takes its place today. Edison Research recently identified the two topics most interesting to female podcast listeners: self-care and mental health.

In an interview, Michael Bosstick, chief executive of Dear Media, described his editorial sensibility as “nonjudgmental” and oriented around free speech. He has described himself as a political independent, with a “Don’t Tread on Me” tattoo, and publicly supports Kennedy, once writing on X that COVID-19 vaccines were “experimental shots that caused many harm.”

Bosstick, 38, co-founded Dear Media in 2018. Formerly, he was the CEO of JetBed, a company founded by his father that manufactures beds for private planes. His wife is Lauryn Bosstick of The Skinny Confidential, a self-care product brand operating within Dear Media that began as a blog in 2011.

Together they host one of Dear Media’s most popular shows, “The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast.” Their interviews often complement products in Lauryn Bosstick’s line. Andrew Huberman, a neuroscientist and wildly popular podcaster, helped inspire her bubble-gum-pink mouth tape. In April, a guest claimed falsely that tap water contains birth control and that toilet paper is toxic. Bosstick sells bamboo toilet paper rolls, $33 for a dozen.

Michael Bosstick is firm that he has no interest in policing or censoring his hosts. On his own show, he said, whether he agrees or disagrees with a guest, “I want to listen openly, and I try to kind of culturally push that to the rest of the company.”

His thinking aligns with that of the manosphere: Cancel culture is bad; unchecked conversation is good. People are too “hypersensitive,” he said.

During the election, that attitude attracted President Donald Trump’s campaign to new media, as he racked up appearances with podcasters including Theo Von, Lex Fridman and Andrew Schulz. In January, two prominent Trumpworld women were similarly drawn to Dear Media.

A week before the inauguration, the Bossticks released a rare interview with first daughter Ivanka Trump, followed by one with Cheryl Hines, the actress and wife of Kennedy, three days later. (Over the summer, the couple also interviewed Calley Means, a top adviser to Kennedy.)

Ivanka Trump hardly talked politics, which she called a “very dark, negative business.” Over nearly two hours, she talked more about her life, burning French toast and practicing jujitsu.

Some hosts have joked that their progressive politics were out of step with the beliefs of the Bossticks and their guests: “Unfortunately they have ended DEI at Dear Media,” comedian Mary Beth Barone quipped on her podcast, “Ride,” in February. “Unfortunately Ivanka will be taking the reins.”

But Dear Media’s recruitment has not been hindered. On May 20, Savannah James, wife of LeBron James, will bring “Everybody’s Crazy,” the podcast she cohosts with entrepreneur April McDaniel, to Dear Media. The company is also introducing shows from Cory Corrine, the former chief executive of Refinery29; Togethxr, a women’s sports brand; Jordin Sparks, the “American Idol” winner; and Anastasia Karanikolaou, an influencer with 10.3 million Instagram followers.

Aurora James, a fashion designer and activist who once dressed Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in a gown reading “Tax the Rich” for the Met Gala, said she chose to work with Dear Media precisely to reach audiences outside her bubble, such as white women who voted for Trump.

“I could go to Crooked Media” — a left-leaning podcast network — “but I’m still going to be talking to the same people,” James said. “If you can’t talk to someone with a different opinion than you, then you also can’t defend your position.” Her show, “Curious,” will begin in June with a conversation on “partnering and polyamory” with Diane von Furstenberg, the fashion designer and wife of media mogul Barry Diller.

While declining to provide specific figures, Bosstick said Dear Media’s revenue fell between $51 million and $100 million, largely through advertising. But he does not see podcasts as the primary business. The goal is to “help creators monetize” through various channels: events, merchandise, television, publishing. Video podcasts may be booming, but they are just “one sliver of media,” Bosstick said.

The company, which has raised about $12 million in investments, has in turn invested in about 10 consumer brands attached to its talent roster, such as Spritz Society canned cocktails and Arrae supplements.

Dear Media hosts have described their audiences as open-minded, even suggestible. Gabby Bernstein, a motivational speaker and medium, said her “Dear Gabby” listeners were “spiritually inclined” and “looking for answers.”

“They’re coachable,” she said. “I do not experience naysayers.”