Inside Saudi is the English-language podcast about daily life in Saudi Arabia today, co-hosted by two women who live in Riyadh, made for Saudis, residents, and anyone trying to make sense of the Gulf right now.
You don't move to Riyadh and stay the same person. The city rearranges you.
A new conversation every Monday
Latest episodes
Real stories from people building a life here
About the show
Not the expert who explains Saudi. The real friend who actually lives here.
Inside Saudi is the English-language podcast about daily life in Saudi Arabia today, co-hosted by two women who live in Riyadh, made for Saudis, residents, and anyone trying to make sense of the Gulf right now. We started it because before we arrived, we searched everywhere for a glimpse of what everyday life would actually be like, and could not find it.
Co-host · Production
Carly Overman leads production for Inside Saudi, her media house COVRE's first podcast in the Kingdom and its biggest project yet. Canadian, based in Riyadh, she holds a degree in psychology and political science and over a decade in corporate communications and strategy for global tech companies, including Ericsson. She sits as board member at large at the Canadian Business Network, and is an accidental influencer with a community of over 125,000. She turns every conversation into a published episode.
Vesna Petrovic leads community and events for Inside Saudi, from the live shows to the Women's Series. Australian Serbian, with a degree in HR, marketing and recruitment, and mum to three, she holds Premium Residency and brings the fun, the party, and the practical, what-it-actually-costs perspective to every conversation.
Not the brochure version, and not the scary headlines. The actual texture of daily life here, the good, the confusing, and the surprisingly normal.
02
The specifics
No "10 shocking things." We go for the real detail: what it actually costs, how it actually works, and what nobody tells you until you have already arrived.
03
A seat at the table
Whether you live here, just landed, or are watching from the other side of the world, there is a way into every conversation.
The hosts
Two women, one studio in Riyadh
We met here, we built our lives here, and we make the show we wish had existed before we arrived. Here is where to find each of us.
Carly
Co-host · Production
Carly Overman
Carly is a media producer and creator. Canadian, based in Riyadh, she runs COVRE, her media house. Inside Saudi is her first podcast in the Kingdom, and its biggest project yet. She has fallen for the beauty, magic and culture of Saudi, and loves sharing it.
With a degree in psychology and political science and over a decade in corporate communications and strategy for global tech companies, including Ericsson, she sits as board member at large at the Canadian Business Network, and is an accidental influencer with a community of over 125,000. On Inside Saudi she leads production, everything that turns a recording into a finished, published episode.
Vesna leads community and events for Inside Saudi, from the live shows to the Women's Series. Australian Serbian, she studied HR, marketing and recruitment, had three kids (now 10, 12 and 14), then built a run of her own things: women's coaching, an online antiques business importing pieces from the UK, and a Zimmerman community over 30,000 strong in Australia. Building rooms full of women is what she does.
She is the kind of person who takes a project and makes it succeed, all while raising three kids. A Premium Resident now, she is in the Kingdom to stay. She brings the fun and the party to Inside Saudi, and if you are looking for something in Riyadh, she has probably already found it.
The story behind each conversation, in our own words. A companion to the show for when you would rather read than listen, plus longer notes on life here between episodes.
Episode companions
One read per episode
Notes between episodes
More on the way
← All posts
Keep listening
New episodes every Monday. Follow wherever you listen, or get the Monday note in your inbox.
Next up
Riyadh Tourist Guide Desert Day
A full day in the red sand desert. Camel riding, quad biking, dune bashing, and a stop in the Ushaiger heritage village. In partnership with Riyadh Tourist Guide.
Sep 18
This edition
400 SAR
Per person
Mixed
Everyone welcome
Spots are limited and go first come, first served. If you are not on the waitlist, you will not be let in.
The Women's Series
Pick your mood, we have the plan.
We are always looking for a good reason to get out, get together and have some fun. So we built a community that gives you all of it, with different plans, different moods, and plenty of women to meet along the way. A new experience to discover every month. Pick a plan, bring a friend, or come solo. Just come.
Before the series
She is ready for a life here. She just needs the community to go with it.
Our ideal guest is cool, curious and up for it. She wants to get dressed up, get pampered, stay active and try something a little adventurous, and she wants to do it alongside women who feel the same way.
She is not missing plans. She is missing her people.
What changes
We hand her a community. A reason to get dressed up, a room full of women who get it, and the start of the friendships she has been waiting to make.
Free · every second Tuesday
Pin Drop
Every second Tuesday at 10am, we drop a pin at a mystery location and the community shows up for a coffee or a smoothie. No RSVP, no sign up, no pressure. Just join the group, watch for the pin, and come as you are.
A girls-only pool day made for unwinding. Swim, lounge, sip and chat, with massages, nails, and hair built into the day, plus food. A full day, just for the women.
Oct 3
Next edition
Full day
Girls only
Swimwear
Dress code
The one that asks for zero effort. A reason to see the same women again without waiting for a special occasion.
Pamper treatments sponsored by Yammak (partner, to confirm)
The monthly one
Reserved for Her
The one thing women told us they miss: a reason to get ready and sit down with women who feel like friends rather than strangers at a table. Brunch or dinner, the mood changes every month even when the reason for showing up does not.
Monthly
Frequency
50 guests
Capacity
Dress up
The whole point
Getting dressed up and having somewhere to be is its own kind of therapy, every single month.
Next: September 18
Riyadh Tourist Guide x Inside Saudi
A full day outside the city on a private licensed tour. Camel riding, quad biking and dune bashing in the red sand, a stop in Ushaiger's mudbrick lanes, lunch, and afternoon tea to close, the one touch that is ours.
Sep 18
Next edition
400 SAR
Per person
Mixed
Everyone welcome
The one she would never book for herself. A full day out of the everyday, seeing a side of Saudi most people never reach.
In partnership with Riyadh Tourist Guide
Waitlist
The wellness one
Tonic x Inside Saudi
A morning that starts on the mat and ends in the plunge pool. Yoga in small groups while others rotate through massage, pressotherapy, hot and cold plunge and red light therapy, then a healthy bar to land at.
Two sessions
Same day
20 guests
Capacity
Activewear
Dress code
She spends most of her time looking after everyone else. This flips that for one morning, a reset built around her.
Hosted at Tonic (partner, to confirm)
What is coming up
The calendar
September
8 Pin Drop
18 RTG x Inside Saudi 4-9pm
22 Pin Drop
30 RTG x Inside Saudi 4-9pm
October
3 Float and Glow
6 Pin Drop
14 RTG x Inside Saudi
20 Pin Drop
30 RTG x Inside Saudi
November
3 Pin Drop
17 Pin Drop
27 RTG x Inside Saudi
Reserved for Her and Tonic slot in once dates land. Follow the WhatsApp community for the first word.
The community
Find your group
The community lives on WhatsApp, in three rooms depending on what you need. Join the one that fits, or all three.
Our biggest room yet. The next one is smaller on purpose.
In December we filled a Riyadh rooftop for the first Inside Saudi Coffee Social. Golden hour, a long grazing table, and a room full of women who found each other through the show. The Women’s Series is the next chapter, a new plan every month.
Dec 2025
First Coffee Social
Riyadh
Rooftop, golden hour
Inside Saudi Live, March, Riyadh
The first time we did the show in front of a room.
In March we took the podcast off the screen and onto a stage. Three guests, one live audience, and a single conversation about what life in the Kingdom is actually like. A Saudi media professional, a decade-long radio host, and a creator who came for five days and stayed. It became episode 23, and the start of doing this in person.
Mar 2026
First live show
3 guests
One live audience
Everyone welcome · sign up below
Join the Women's Series
داخل السعودية
Pick your mood, we have the plan. From the biweekly Pin Drops to the desert day out with Riyadh Tourist Guide to the monthly brunch, our events are how the community actually meets in person. Sign up once and we will let you know what is coming up, and save you a spot where spots are limited.
Pin Drops
Biweekly, free
RTG x Inside Saudi
Desert day out
The brunch
Reserved for Her
Who
Women only
Join the community
Sign up for the Women's Series
Tell us a little about you and we will add you to the list, then reach out on WhatsApp with the next dates and how to save your spot.
Applications are reviewed individually, not first come. If there is a spot for you, we will confirm by WhatsApp. Applying does not guarantee a place.
✓
Application received
Thank you. Applications are reviewed individually. If there is a spot for you, Carly and Vesna will confirm by WhatsApp before the date.
The newsletter
The Riyadh Debrief.
Riyadh, unfiltered and all ours.
Your weekly note from the two of us, for anyone who wants the real version of life in Saudi. We share what we noticed this week, the finds worth your time in Riyadh, the thing we could not say on the mic, and the occasional chaos. One screen, forward it to one friend. Subscribe xo
A few paragraphs on the week, the small thing that stuck, the part that did not make it onto the show.
02
More on the episode
What we didn't say. The idea from this week's conversation that needed more room than the episode gave it.
03
Our favourite finds
What we are loving right now, from abayas to beauty to the kids spots worth knowing. Noticed, not advertised.
04
One more thing
What we are doing next week, and the upcoming events, so you always know where to find us next.
The rhythm
Every Monday, with the episode
The note lands the same morning the episode does. If you only keep one thing from Inside Saudi in your inbox, this is the one that holds the whole week together.
Get the Monday note
Closer in
The WhatsApp community
The newsletter is the letter. The community is the conversation. A smaller room for the people who want the back and forth, the first word on event dates, and the day-to-day of life here.
Join the community
Work with us
Put your brand where the trust already is
Inside Saudi is where a warm, engaged, English-speaking audience comes to make sense of life in Saudi Arabia. We work with a small number of brands we actually believe in, and we build partnerships that feel like part of the show, not an ad break stapled to it.
14M+
TikTok views, past year
450K+
YouTube views, past year
320K
Instagram views a month
16K+
Podcast downloads
Where the audience lives
Instagram
@insidesaudiarabia
22.1K followers
320K views a month
TikTok
@insidesaudiarabia
26.4K followers
14M views this year
YouTube
@InsideSaudiArabia
2.5K+ subs
450K+ views this year
Podcast
Spotify · Apple
16K+
Downloads and climbing
An engaged, English-speaking community that trusts what we recommend. Full audience breakdown, demographics, and engagement rates are in our media kit, just ask.
🎙️
On the podcast
Host-read integrations and episode partnerships, written in our voice and always disclosed. The kind people actually listen to instead of skipping.
📲
Across social
Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Reels, stories, and content built for how our audience already watches, not a template dropped on top of your product.
🌿
At our events
The Women's Series puts your brand in the room with the exact women you want to reach, in person, at Pin Drops, the desert day out, and the monthly brunch.
✦
Something custom
A series, a takeover, a co-hosted event. If you have an idea that fits the show, we would love to build it with you.
Let's talk
Tell us about your brand and what you are hoping to do. We will send our full media kit and rates, and whether it is a fit.
Every sponsored or gifted collaboration is clearly disclosed. We keep editorial and partnerships separate, because the trust is the whole asset.
Be on the show
Everyone has a Saudi story. We want yours.
The best episodes come from real people with real stories. Whether you want to sit down for a full conversation, or just call in and answer the questions everyone is asking about life here, there is a way in.
Share a story
Got a story?
Expat, Saudi, or somewhere in between, if you have a fun story or a moment from life here worth sharing, we want to hear it. Recorded remotely, always audio only, with video only if you want it. Never in person, so no need to leave the house.
Perfect if you have
A "you won't believe what happened" moment
A culture-shock or "nobody warned me" story
An answer to a question everyone secretly wants
Share about
The thing nobody warned me aboutMy most Saudi momentWhat I got completely wrongCompounds, cost, driving, schoolsA hidden spot I loveAn unexpected kindness
The full sit down
Be a guest
For people with a story or an expertise worth a whole episode. This is the in-person one: you come into the studio, we sit down properly, and we go deep. We choose these carefully, so tell us what makes yours worth an hour.
Good if you are
Someone who built a business or a life here
A voice most people never get to hear from
An expert on something specific to Saudi
Topics we love
Building a business hereSaudi weddingsRaising kids in RiyadhModest fashion & Saudi designersPremium ResidencyFood & majlis cultureA Saudi woman's own take
Share a story
Tell us your story
Recorded remotely, always audio only, video optional. Give us the headline and the full story. If it is a fit, we will email you to set up a quick recording, and you can stay anonymous if you would rather.
✦
Got it, thank you.
We read every story. If yours is a fit, we will email you to set up a quick remote recording, on your terms.
Be a guest
Apply to be a guest
This is the in-person studio conversation. Tell us the headline and the full story. If it is a fit, we will email you to arrange a time to come in.
✦
Got it, thank you.
We read every application. If yours is a fit, we will email you to arrange coming into the studio.
Contact
Find us, follow us, work with us
For guest pitches, partnerships, and press, the fastest way to reach us is by email. For everything else, we are most active on Instagram and TikTok.