About Us
Our
Story
Tone Def Culture started in a living room during COVID, when the world felt heavy, and joy felt… complicated.
Like many people, we were looking for ways to manage stress, stay connected, and remember how to feel human. For us, that looked like karaoke—loud, imperfect, sometimes emotional karaoke—paired with long conversations about why certain songs hit so hard.
Somewhere between questionable song choices and very serious lyric analysis, we realized we were doing something more than singing. We were unpacking how music had shaped us, helped us survive, and quietly taught us what the world expected us to be.
Those conversations kept coming back to the same themes: culture, politics, identity, power, humor, harm, and healing. Eventually, we thought, “Maybe other people want to have these conversations too.” And thus, Tone Def Culture was born.
What began as a coping strategy turned into a space for reflection, critique, laughter, and connection—proof that music isn’t just background noise. It’s culture. It’s memory. It's meaning. And sometimes, it’s very worth interrogating.
Co-Host
Jaime Curl, MFA
Jaime is a learning designer with an almost suspicious amount of knowledge about music and culture. Their brain seems to operate like a jukebox cross-referenced with cultural theory, pulling out connections between artists, movements, eras, and moments you didn’t realize were related—until now.
Jaime brings sharp cultural analysis, deep musical knowledge, and a knack for naming patterns that others feel but can’t quite articulate. If there’s a hidden reference, an industry backstory, or a cultural through-line, Jaime probably already knows it—and is delighted to explain why it matters.
They approach music with curiosity, wit, and a critical eye that keeps the conversation grounded, expansive, and very entertaining.
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Co-Host
Alisha Guthery, PhD, LMHC, CATP
Alisha is a mental health professional, professor, researcher, and former musician with a doctorate in Counseling, Education, and Supervision. She brings a trauma-informed, psychological lens to the podcast, exploring how music shapes emotional development, identity, relationships, and resilience.With a background in counseling education and youth-focused work, Alisha is especially interested in how songs reflect and reinforce cultural narratives around power, gender, violence, healing, and belonging. She’s the one likely to say, “Okay but what did this lyric teach an entire generation about feelings?”—usually followed by laughter and a deep dive.She loves music not just as art, but as a lived experience that stays in the body long after the song ends.