From being born one minute apart to now being over 1,600 miles apart, St. Thomas first-year student Claire Bentfield and her twin Rachel Bentfield, who attends school in Washington state, are staying connected through their weekly podcast.

The podcast, Identically Different, allows their sister bond to stay intact and helps them foster connections with others. Listeners are able to learn about how the sisters’ personalities are polar opposites, per the podcast title.

“We’re the most fraternal people that you will ever meet,” Claire Bentfield said. “We don’t look even related, let alone twins.”

Listeners include family members, longtime friends and even classmates.

“One girl in my philosophy class, back when it was still in-person, came up to me and was like, ‘Hey, are you from Identically Different?’” Claire Bentfield said.

That classmate, first-year Irene Shin, found the podcast on Instagram and realized that Bentfield sat behind her in class when she recognized her voice.

Shin said her favorite part of Identically Different is the sisters’ honesty.

“In class we’re kind of holding back … it’s a Catholic university, you gotta be a little careful about what you say,” Shin said. “Especially with the election that happened recently, people are very on edge.”

While online classes come with their own hardships, Shin said one struggle has been making friends over virtual platforms.

“It feels nice that I can listen to her talk and maybe get to know her better just from a virtual point,” Shin said. “Since I haven’t talked to her much in class, I haven’t really had that opportunity, and she’s really cool.”

Shin has been able to connect to the podcast on a personal level as she has a sister who is two years younger than her, and many mistake them for twins.

Identically Different was a result of boredom during Minnesota’s stay-at-home order this past summer. The sisters released their 20th episode on Dec. 7.

When the podcast began, the sisters were living together in Minnesota. Now that Rachel Bentfield is back in Washington for school, they have had to get creative for their recording process.

“(Rachel) records it on her iPad and we FaceTime through our phones,” Claire Bentfield said. “We have AirPods in, so you can’t pick up the other person’s audio, and then we just cut the audio together in GarageBand.”

They begin with a topic but normally go on tangents throughout the episode. They also make sure to do life updates, letting listeners know what they’re up to in their respective states.

“I think it’s definitely brought us closer. Now that we’re so far apart physically, it’s really nice just to sit down and talk to her for an hour,” Claire Bentfield said.

One of Claire’s favorite parts of the whole process is listening back to their conversations while editing. She enjoys hearing how they interact and talk to one another, as she doesn’t notice their sibling tendencies in the moment.

Identically Different episodes are released every Monday and can be found on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Radio Public, Breaker, Pocket Casts, Anchor and Overcast.

Taylor Shupe can be reached at shup9397@stthomas.edu.