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Case Kenny
Case Kenny
There are myriad approaches to elevating mindfulness. For Case Kenny, creator of the top 25 Apple
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and Spotify podcast New Mindset, Who Dis?, the key is being a regular, mindful, millennial guy.
“Everyone is given a talent of some kind, and I think the talent I’ve been given is simplifying emotions for myself and then for others,” says Kenny, who realized he was onto something in the way he was processing his own feelings and decisions. He launched his podcast in 2018 to share perspectives and dive deeper into topics—and he hasn’t stopped since.
“I’m obsessed with mindfulness. I’m obsessed with communicating ideas on complex topics and I’ve been doing it every single day for five-plus years,” he says. “It’s a very meta thing. There’s not a clear line between what I do professionally and personally, in a good way I think.”
In an increasingly crowded market for mental health content creation, Kenny’s voice stands out as one of relatability. He’s closing in on 450 episodes that focus on themes including self-worth, empowerment, relationships and career advice.
“I love experts, don’t get me wrong, but if I want to figure out my life I want to listen to average people with skillful perspectives. I’ve come up with 450 topics to address, but I have a Google
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doc of 100 more topics I want to discuss. Life just gives you so much fodder to react to. It’s a gift,” he says.
“I’m just trying to be myself, as relatable and simple as possible. And I always try my best to never touch a subject I don’t have first-hand or second-hand experience with. People say, ‘Talk about divorce’ or ‘Talk about marriage or children.’ And I can’t, I’m not there yet and it would feel a little disingenuous to do that.”
As he’s grown his podcast base, Kenny also has elevated his presence on Instagram, where more than 450,000 followers stop by for affirmations and mindfulness prompts that often come in the form of photos of sticky notes he pens and places around his hometown of Chicago. Recent excerpts include: “In case no one told you, inner peace looks good on you.” “People who are interested AND consistent are hot.” “It’s your turn to be loved like you’ve always loved others.”
The posts—which have been shared by the likes of Hailey Bieber, Sophia Bush and Lucy Hale—are beacons of positivity in what often can be a sea of stress-inducing triggers.
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“I’m a big fan of social media but unchecked it can lead us to have some negative ideas about life,” he says. “I do a lot of episodes on the way we see life and the way social media has led us to see life—the assumptions we make based on other people’s assumptions. It makes me sad to see people make assumptions based on other people’s words and thoughts and feelings in a negative way, so I see it as my mission to introduce some compassion and some kindness.”
Feedback from fans continues to grow, and Kenny welcomes it all. “I always tell people to DM me and I try to stay on top of that as much as possible. Practically, that’s where I get my ideas for content. People tell me what’s going on in their life and then I’ll do and episode on it if I think it’s relatable. I love getting that perspective,” he says.
“I’ve had DMs from people who say they were on the verge of very self-destructive behavior and something I said on the podcast totally changed their mind. And I get a lot of people saying, ‘Are you in my head? How did you know this?’ That makes me feel like I’m doing my job. I’m not sitting here trying to create content that makes me look good, I’m trying to share perspectives that could help people.”
Kenny has no shortage of ideas to bring mindfulness into different experiential realms. Beyond his podcast and social presence, he’s the author of a growing library of books and journals including The New Mindset Journal, Unbothered and Single Is Your Superpower; and the creator of the new game Better Than Yesterday, a collaboration with the creators of What Do You Meme? that comprises 365 daily challenges to boost a more fulfilling life.
He’s also immersing in a mashup of music and meditation, the concept for which came to him one day when he was at his desk working.
“I’ve always loved dance music, house music, any genre of EDM,” he says. “One day I had Spotify open, and at the same time I was going between tabs trying to find a podcast to promote. I was listening to my podcast and the music was playing at the same time and something about the timing of that clip worked out perfectly. There was an interlude in the song before it dropped and I was speaking, and then it dropped and I was like, Woah that was cool… maybe I should combine those two things.”
Kenny started doing mixes where he fuses music with his own spoken-word interludes, and he began reaching out to artists and DJs to join him. During the past year he’s done “music x mindfulness” podcast episodes in collaboration with Martin Garrix, Gryffin, Cheat Codes, Frank Walker and Sam Feldt, and his Zen Disco radio show can be found on Mixcloud and SoundCloud.
“I think it’s a huge idea, and I’m excited to see where it goes because I think people identify very closely emotions and music, music and mindfulness,” he says. “I’m very passionate about fusing together my influence with other mediums.”
Mind Reading (formerly Hollywood & Mind) is a recurring column that lives at the intersection of entertainment and wellbeing, and features interviews with musicians, actors and other culture influencers who are elevating the conversation around mental health.
