“Recovering politician” Joan Cergol has traded in her town board seat for a mic and is telling all in her new podcast “Ungoverned.”
The podcast, which released its first episode in February, focuses on short-length storytelling influenced by the former Huntington councilwoman’s experiences in her life and careers in the public and private sector. She says it encapsulates both her departure from government roles and her newfound freedom to express herself “without constraints.”
“The title, ‘Ungoverned,’ means two things,” Cergol said. “That I no longer work in government and that I am also allowed to say things that I might not have been able to now that I am no longer an elected official. Not that I was hiding anything, but there is a freedom to knowing I will not lose a voter over something I say.”
Cergol, 62, had a 21-year-long career serving Huntington. She was elected to the Huntington Town Board in December 2017 where she held her seat for six years until her departure last December.
Prior to her role as a councilwoman, she served as director for the Huntington Community Development Agency and executive director for the Huntington
Economic Development Corporation.
Before her tenure in the public sector, Cergol held numerous jobs in public relations and marketing. She sees this new avenue of content creation as an opportunity that will help her reconnect with her passion for creative writing and old-fashioned storytelling.
“The common thread [between her private and public sector jobs] is to touch people in my own way. Impact them whether it makes them laugh, think or even be sad,” she said.
Each episode is a labor of love, with ideas often emerging into spontaneous, late-night writing sessions that fuel the initial drafts. Recording and editing follow the next day in her home podcast studio — which she constructed herself.
“My viewpoints are shaped by everything that I have done, everything that I have touched. I hope to inspire people to think in different ways.”
You can listen to ‘Ungoverned’ here.
Layne Groom is a reporter with The SBU Media Group, part of Stony Brook University’s School of Communication and Journalism’s Working Newsroom program for students and local media.