We had the opportunity to interview Julie Frost and Mike Dombrow, two veteran Disney performers and creators. These two have created an empowering musical adventure podcast for kids called The Super Secret Hive.

Interview with Julie Frost and Mike Dombrow

The Super Secret Hive follows the adventures of a cast of quirky characters (all voiced by Julie and Mike) as they navigate a host of challenges to help kids save the world. It covers topics like honey bees and pollinators, plastic in the oceans, germs and our immune system, inclusion and kindness vs. bullying (as expressed by a T-Rex!), loneliness, and taking care of ourselves, each other, and the world we live in.

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Season one features six full-length episodes, 14 original songs, and FREE online activities. Their goal is to engage, entertain, and inspire kids while also providing parents and educators with much-needed content during this challenging time of distance learning.

Where did the idea for The Super Secret Hive come from?

Julie– “We have been building projects together for a number of years. All of the projects revolve around helping kids become happier and healthier.”

But as with everything in the entertainment business, 2020 hit and they had to pivot from their live musical formats to something new.

Julie– “We realized how impactful audio could be and how engaging it could be when it is done well. So we thought how cool would it be to do a podcast for kids? We wanted it to be extremely interactive and engaging.”

Mike– “So many of us have been sequestered to the same location for many of these last months, this opens a new world they can imagine in their mind.”

We love that this is a fun, entertaining podcast for kids. After all with distance learning happening children and even adults are getting burned out on screen time. With The Super Secret Hive you can listen in and use your imagination all without staring at a screen.

There are a lot of fun characters in this podcast, all voiced by you both. Tell us a little bit about how you decided on how each one would sound and their names?

Julie– “We had a lot of fun creating these characters. From a young age I had the ‘Disney sound.’ I never had to manipulate that sound, so this was a big stretch for me. This was the first time I had to put on a ‘character voice.’ That was a fun learning process.

Mike on the other hand is just awesome at coming up with these characters. He is very funny and very creative with how he uses his instrument.”

Mike– “A lot of it is kind of the tone and how you deliver the different words.”

Their goal was to make this podcast enjoyable for the whole family, because you know that a lot, A LOT of kid stuff is grating on our nerves and our ears. Thanks Julie and Mike for thinking about us too!

You both have worked for Disney for so many years. How did your roles as Cast Members inspire and prepare you for what you’re doing now?

Julie– “My background has been solely in entertainment. All of those roles were very much in my wheelhouse. For Disney Junior Live On Stage there was a lot of improv that happened. Because you never know how the audience is going to react to you.

That is really great for what we have to do now, improving the different voices and characters. The beauty of Mike and I wearing all the hats is that if we wanted to go off script we could do that. Disney prepared me for this [because] I was able to explore improvising and interacting with the audience.”

Mike– “My education background is what brought me to Disney. In the Disney Youth Programs I got to teach workshops to visiting choirs. We hosted a lot of events and competitions and all sorts of things to get kids excited about creating.

That is really the endgame fo us. [Teaching kids that] helping each other, being kind, and doing all these wonderful things is just the thing that you do. Performers know about collaboration and you can’t get anything done unless you work together. And all of that is hopefully it is echoed in our work.”

For the complete interview with Julie and Mike and to learn what is next for The Super Secret hive listen to the full recording below!

Be sure to check out The Super Secret Hive, available now on your favorite podcast apps and on the website HereAtTheHive.com.

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Ep: 19 Interview with Julie Frost and Mike Dombrow