Dance Moms Alum Kendall Vertes Launches Podcast to Share Life After Her ‘Worst Moments’ Aired on TV (Exclusive)

Kendall Vertes may be all grown up, but she’s not distancing herself from the little girl she once was.

On Thursday, Nov. 13, the Dance Moms alum launched her new podcast, Not So Little with Kendall Vertes, with Alex Cooper‘s media giant, the Unwell Network. In weekly episodes, the 22-year-old will discuss her transition from child stardom into adulthood, sharing her life after graduating college and well after leaving reality TV in 2017.

Vertes’ podcast is named in reference to an iconic Dance Moms line spoken by her mom, Jill Vertes, during the show’s season 2. It may sound ironic, but the newest Unwell Network host tells PEOPLE that “my little Kendall” perfectly suits the project’s forward focus.

“I do want this to kind of be a maturing podcast, kind of stepping away from my childhood, making it something a little more mature. I thought it fit so well,” Vertes explains. “It’s something that doesn’t put me into a specific box. It kind of gives me room to talk about anything, honestly.”

Plus, she knows her audience will be made up of many fans of the Lifetime show, the same way they’ve flocked to her social media pages. The content creator remains thankful for the platform and notoriety the series has awarded her — “I’d be stupid to deny that my fan base isn’t from Dance Moms,” she admits — and she’s not interested in discarding her television history.

Instead, Vertes sees her latest endeavor as a distinctly new chapter. Not So Little is a leap into “bigger and better things,” she tells , and she’s keen to showcase her true self, the sides of her that never saw airtime.

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“All [Dance Moms fans] saw was 45 minutes of me basically crying … They didn’t get to see my full personality,” says Vertes. “I was 8 years old. I never spoke. We were never really allowed to speak until later on in the seasons.”

She continues, “Everybody always thinks that they know who I am as a person from what they saw on TV. And I’m like, no, that’s literally 15 to 20 percent of who I actually am. You saw my worst moments because they had to make a good reality TV show, of course.”

Not So Little will offer plenty of intimate looks into Vertes’ personal world, her social scene and her family life. She envisions the podcast following a “vlog-esque” style, incorporating her travels and routine into more standard conversations with guests. She teases a rotating case of “familiar faces” and people even Vertes hasn’t met yet.

“I want it to be interesting for all viewers … I want athletes and authors and musicians, kind of everybody from any background that’s willing to come on,” says Vertes. “That’s the most exciting part: the unknown of like, ‘Oh my gosh, who can I have on next week?'”