1. The Real Bold Brave Woman Project Begins Here

Andrea Matthies: 00:00:00

I'm Andrea Lee Matthews, writer, photographer,

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and Clairvoyant Medium, and this

is the Bold, Brave Woman Project.

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This podcast is a living, breathing,

unfolding of what it really

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means to step into our becoming.

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Born from the ashes of a failed YouTube

channel, this weekly podcast brings you

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real unfiltered moments of failure, of

bravery, and of deep intuitive knowing.

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so that you too can step into who you are

becoming with even more trust and bravery.

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Let's dive in.

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Welcome to the Bold, brave Woman Project.

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I'm so excited To be with you here today,

finally, with this podcast launching

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because this podcast actually started

out to be something else, something

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other than what it is right now, and it

has been such a journey to get it here.

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It has asked me to be the boldest

and bravest version of myself because

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The original version of this project

was actually a YouTube channel.

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The idea was born on International Women's

Day this year, At the time, the Melbourne

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International Comedy Festival was about

to kick off here in Melbourne and in town

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at the time, there were so many incredible

comedians, particularly female comedians,

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and I thought, What an incredible

opportunity there is right now to contact

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and interview all of these amazing

comedians who are in town about their

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journeys with their bravery and their

boldness and so when this idea first

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dawned on me, I went through the program

for the comedy festival and I wrote down

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the names, I watched the videos of every

single female performer and started one by

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one with some bravery, with some boldness.

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Reaching out to these comedians

with this idea of this bold, brave

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woman project to invite them to

come and tell their stories, not

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the stories of their show, exactly.

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Not the stories of their standup.

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But the stories of the women

behind the show, the real journey.

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What it takes to have a dream, to have

a creative idea and to make it happen.

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And as a performer, I know how much

it takes to dig in to your bravery,

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into your courage, into that trust

that you can actually have the

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dream that you picture for yourself.

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And so I wanted to tell those stories.

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You know, It's always been my dream to

be a TV host of my own show that helps

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women really embrace their bravery.

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So I thought.

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Well, rather than waiting for a TV

network to pick up me and my idea,

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I was gonna create it in this form

of this YouTube channel reached

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out to a number of the comedians

performing, I had an overwhelming

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response of yes, yes, yes, yes.

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We love this idea of telling the real

story, the fun stuff, the hard stuff, the

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vulnerable stuff, the stuff that it really

takes to be brave and do what we do.

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And it was very interesting because.

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Very quickly, almost within 24 hours,

it went from a idea of I'm gonna create

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this project to becoming a real project

that I had to then actually action.

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So I created a website and I poured into

it the vision that I had for this project.

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I sent out shot lists and questions and.

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Started to schedule the interviews for

each of these comedians, and I realized

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very, very quickly, I'm not equipped, uh,

to create a YouTube channel off the bat.

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I'm a podcaster I've never created

a YouTube channel before So I

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went and spoke to a friend of mine

who runs a production company,

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We discussed the vision.

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He gave me lots of tips and tricks.

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He lent me a whole bunch of audio and

camera gear, and I started to watch.

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YouTube channels and videos to

help me unpack what it is that I

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wanted to create in terms of my

style, and it was a big hussle.

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I had to dig really deep within myself

to Really reach into that creative,

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that big dreamer, the bold, brave

version of myself that I know exists

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to continue to push forward every

day with this project, even although

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I was terrified most of the time.

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It took me about four days to finally

realize, oh no, now I actually

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have to do something about this.

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Now I have to put myself out there.

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Now I have to figure this out really quick

because the comedy festival was starting

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almost immediately at this point, and

these women were only gonna be in town.

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for a matter of a week or 10 days if

they were having a short show run.

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Some of them were in town for a month, so

I knew I had a little bit more time there.

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But I had created this idea that had

this ticking clock, and it created

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a huge amount of stress because all

of a sudden I felt out of my depth.

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I thought, oh my God, I can't do this.

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What am I doing?

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And each day I just had to show up

and just dig into these reserves

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of boldness and bravery that

I know reside deep within me.

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You know, there were some days where I

had to just sit with the fear and sit with

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the childhood memories of failure that

were coming up with some of the past life

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conditioning with some of the fear and

old stuff that is existing in my system.

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I had to sit with that and really feel

it and heal it and process it and move

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it through my body so that I could take

a different step each day, whether that

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be, to finally unpack the equipment

that he gave me and run some tests,

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whether that be attending every single.

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Show that I could, with the energy that

I had to meet and greet with these women,

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to see them live on stage to support them

and allow seeing them in their bravery

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to fuel the reason why this project was

really important and needed to happen.

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And so this was an

incredibly chaotic time.

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And before I knew it, I

had comedians scheduled.

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I was heading out on shoots, shoots for

interviews, but also to shoot, clips

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from their shows as well to be able

to cut them in and it was exhausting.

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And obviously what you're listening to

is not what I am describing right now.

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Even although I had put all this

effort into it, A lot of this that

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I captured I actually couldn't use.

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I had all of these significant issues

with all of these interviews I had

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cameras overheating, I had audio cut out.

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And when I reviewed a lot of it I realized

this project in the way that I was

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creating it right now, in this moment

of time, in this timeline that I'm in.

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isn't going to come to fruition

in the way that I had intended.

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And so I had to make that really

tough choice to shut the project

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down in its version that it was.

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I knew that if I was going to take

time from these women, I wanted it to

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be for the highest of quality, for the

highest of output, and in the highest

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service of them and their stories,

and with all of the issues that I was

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facing in my own exhaustion trying to,

frantically bring this project to life

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because I knew I had this ticking clock.

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There was a part of me that knew that

I wasn't gonna be able to service these

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women in the highest of the vision that I

was holding for both them and for myself.

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And so I had to make that really tough

choice to shut the project down And it

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took me a couple of days to get over

that, that that felt like a failure.

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That felt like I had had this beautiful

idea and I was creating this amazing

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project, but I had failed, like I hadn't

managed to succeed in the metric of

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success that I had set for myself, and

so it felt like I had failed myself.

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It felt like I had had another idea.

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'cause I am someone who has a lot of

ideas a lot of the time, and and I had

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tried it and I had not completed it.

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I had.

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had to spend a couple of days really

decoding that, unpacking that, not

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bypassing it, not trying to sweep it away

or flush it away, but sit with it and

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understand what was there for me to be

able to heal it and then move forward.

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After a few days of moving through

that and a lot of tears and a

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lot of, well, what do I do now?

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If not this, then who am

I, if not this project?

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If I'm not a storyteller, if

I'm not doing this amazing work

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that's in service of women and in

service of the world, who am I?

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What is, what is my value?

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I felt really, really low.

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I'm gonna be very honest to say I

was really low and really wayward

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and not sure what to do next.

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But here's the beautiful thing, I

realized the bold, brave woman was me.

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By allowing this idea to drop into my

space, to drop into my mind, to grab hold

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of it with both hands with anticipation,

and to work through the fear, to work

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through the imposter syndrome, to work

with the, yes, this sounds great, but

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I have no idea how to make this happen.

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To finding answers to that,

to seeking help, to talking

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to people, to reaching out.

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That was me sourcing my bravery

I was being and walking the

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journey of the bold, brave woman.

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And through this I had become

my own project, I had become

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the bold, brave woman project.

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And that's why I am sitting here now

sharing this story with you, sharing the

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journey of being bold, being brave as the

woman in the story so that you too can

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become your own bold, brave woman project.

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Within us all are these incredible,

bold, brave women with these ideas,

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with these healings that need to

happen with these conditionings that

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we need to sit with and heal so that

we can step into the full expression

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of our bravery, Because you are here.

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Not to just live a mundane, boring life.

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you are here for magnificent.

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For an incredible life to lead these

amazing earth changing movements to

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shape and heal and shift the perspective,

even if it is just one other woman

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or one other person on this planet.

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That is why you are here, and the more

that I can help you tap into that boldness

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and bravery through my stories, through

my journey, through my channelings.

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That is a life fulfilled for

me and that is why I am here.

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I'm so excited to go on

this journey with you.

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And of course, at any time, you

can connect with me on Instagram.

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I'm at Andi Matthies.

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I'll pop the spelling in the show notes

for you You can reach out to me anytime.

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Send me your voice notes, share with me

your successes, or you can drop us an

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email, which again is in the show notes,

and share and connect and ask questions.

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I am here.

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We are doing this together.

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We are sourcing our braveness, our

boldness as women on this planet who are

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here to lead by force and do incredible

things, and I cannot wait to see what you

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create as you step into your own bravery.

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I love you and I cannot wait

to see you in the next episode.

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Andi: Thank you so much for

tuning into today's episode.

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If you loved listening, please subscribe

to the podcast and leave a review.

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You can also find me, your host,

on Instagram at @andi.matthies.