Employees Retirement System of Texas Health Promotion Administrator Lacy Wolff invites you to tune in to lively conversations about health and wellness as you break a sweat.
Wolff, the host of the ERS Walk and Talk Podcast, hopes the podcast encourages people to take time to do something beneficial for their health physically as well as mentally.
“I had the idea back in fall 2020,” Wolff said. “The way I was coping during the pandemic was going out on walks and listening to podcasts or having phone conversations. I thought maybe this would be a good way to promote walking to others while listening to a great conversation about wellness. Now we’re off and running, and it’s exciting.”
Wolff writes the scripts, records the conversations and edits and uploads the episodes. Her colleague provides the show notes for each episode.
The first episode was released on April 21. New episodes are released every other Friday and are between 20–30 minutes in length.
“The goal is to align the speakers and topics with our monthly wellness toolkits at the time of release,” Wolff said. “Each month ERS offers articles, social media posts and webinars on various topics related to health and well-being to support state agencies and higher institutions that use ERS benefits. There’s a through line with the podcast to promote the webinars, and the webinars will promote the podcast.”
Wolff talks with state agency and higher education institution staff as well as medical researchers and retirees. Some of her recent guests include Texas State Parks Director Rodney Franklin, former personal physician to former first lady Laura Bush, Dr. Janet Tornelli-Mitchell, and founder of It’s Time Texas, Baker Harrell, Ph.D.
“Everyone I talk to has a shared goal of creating a community to help support Texans and improve their health and quality of life,” Wolff said. “Walking is one of the simplest and most wonderful ways to improve your health, and walking while listening to a great conversation can make the time fly by. It’s a great podcast for anybody to listen to, and I hope it’s inspiring to people and continues to grow.”
The ERS Walk and Talk Podcast can be found on most popular podcast platforms, such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and the ERS Walk and Talk Podcast website. Subscribe to receive updates and notifications when new episodes are released.