Brian Melendez created and hosts the local podcast Coffee with an Indian.
PHOTO/LUKA STARMER
“We’re all looking to be represented, and we’re all looking to be cared for, and we’re all looking to be heard, and we’re all looking to simply exist.”
Brian Melendez Coffee with an Indian
Lessons learned A local podcaster tells his stories on Coffee with an Indian BY LUKA STARMER
T
he last year was a big year for podcasts in Reno. It was featured in season two of The City Podcast, a series from USA Today. That season investigated the power struggle between Reno’s grittier identity of strip clubs and casinos versus the glittery, techy Tesla vibe that’s emerging. Reno is home to other critically acclaimed podcasts with national audiences like Grammar Girl and Van Sounds. Then there are other more grassroots localized shows like the Biggest Little Streets Podcast that
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comments on issues of homelessness and the disappearance of public spaces in this city. For me, one of the most moving podcasts of the year is Coffee with an Indian created by Brian Melendez. It’s a podcast worth stopping whatever you’re doing and binge listening. Go on a roadtrip across the desert just to immerse yourself, or just listen on the way to work. They’re easy to digest, 20ish-minute episodes—21 episodes in all. Implied by the title, the episodes are meant to feel like you’re sitting across the table from Melendez in a coffee shop. As it turns out, that’s not just a persona he puts on for his listeners. He’s actually down to have coffee with anyone. You can find Melendez regularly hanging out at Old World Coffee on California Avenue. That’s where he does his writing. “When I knew I needed to start a podcast, I didn’t have the technical skills to start it,” Melendez said. Friends and professionals pointed him to Chris Webster,
a Reno local who founded the Archaeology Podcast Network. Webster also teaches podcasting production techniques. Melendez said he was part of Webster’s very first podcast training class at The Reno Collective. The workshop taught him about microphones, editing software and so on. Then he turned his home into a recording studio. “I took a bunch of blankets, and I used safety pins and thumbtacks and I created this little blanket fort cocoon, and I started recording.” Local songwriter and comedian Grace Hayes produced his custom theme song to open and close each episode. Melendez figured out how to market himself on various social media platforms, and he’s made the podcasts available on everything from iTunes to Spotify. He also publishes longer, more in-depth, often times more R-rated versions of every episode on the paid membership platform called Patreon. That show is called Coffee with an Indian, Black. According to Melendez, as a production team of one, he’s getting roughly 14,000 downloads per week across the globe.
BREAKING GROUND Melendez, 40, grew up on the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony. He’s Northern/Southern Paiute and Western Shoshone. The podcast is only one arm of his selfproclaimed journey to explore the depths of spiritual self-determination. He teaches guided meditation. He runs an LLC, and he’s starting a nonprofit. He’s worked as a tribal legislator, law enforcement officer and as an operations officer with the Federal Bureau of Indian Affairs. Last week, Melendez was invited to participate in the Native American Presidential Forum at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Last year, he and his wife, Teresa Melendez, established the Native
