S2E5: Mérida Miller

Episode Transcript:

[Static]
W: Nailed it! Did I nail it? I think I nailed it.
[Static]
W: Testing one, two. Testing one, two.

[Intro tune]

E: Hallo, and welcome to WordUp Podcast. I'm Evy
W: and I'm Webster
E: And today, we're here with Merida
[applause sound effect]
M: Nice to be here
E: How are you today?
M: Yeah really good. Chilly, but good. Excited to be here.
E: And you're here with your project, project fearless.
M: Yeah, which is after school programs for girls, based in Amsterdam. And I'm really excited to chat about it.
E: Yeah
W: I like that you're rocking the Project fearless shirt.
M: Always on brand, you never know who's watching.
W: I like it, I like it.
E: Can you tell us a little bit how it all started for you?
M: Sure. It started in a whirlwind of despair, to be honest. I spent 7,5 years as a corporate designer, which is amazing and I had a really cool, sexy title, but I realised eventually that that wasn't my end goal. So after a year of just... to be honest, despair and panic of "What do I do with my life? How do I help people? How do I make me... Come out and give the world what I'm best at?" I realised three things were really important, and that was 1: I loved creating communities where I could empower and cheer people on. I was never MVP on a team, but I was always the coach's award for being the biggest cheerleader. And I have to be in a place where I'm physically active, making things, doing with my hands. And then also: creating an impact. And so I thought about what was missing, and what I was really lucky to have as a young girl, growing up. And I wanted to bring that to future generations.
E: Cool. Sounds very exciting. And how did you start? What was your process like, when you realised those three things? Like how do you...
M: When I finally had that brain explosion, I feverishly went home, and I just started researching. So... My background with design was human centric design, so I was huge into research gathering, collecting, collecting, building binders of why people do things or how they do things... So I started researching all those who had inspired me or were doing something I think was really amazing. Whether that was a restaurant that, by day was a child's cafe and at night was like a happening sushi club. Or like, a program in the States called "Girls on the Run" Which gets girls anywhere from the ages of five to fourteen running their first 5K, with mentors and stuff. So pulling all of this research together and thinking like: "What do I love about them?" and then "What would I do?" Like what would be my spin on it? And going in those themes that I talked about... The empowering and working... That became sort of my market research. And from there, I went into consumer research because it's also part of my background. "Is this something people actually want?" You know... Listening to parents, looking at what's currently offered in the Netherlands, and in the States to be honest. Because I'm from the States, but I live here now. And I know there's a lot of empowering programs in the States, but not doing what I wanted to do, after I had pulled all these pieces together. And from there I started writing a business plan, which is super boring, and looking at black and white letters on a screen was just killing my designer soul. But it was fine, I knew it had to be done, and it was a great brain dump, and it also helped me write my story, too. Because at that point I had quit my corporate job too, and people were like "What are you doing?" And by having a business plan, I could actually start formulating eventually that 90-second pitch. And then I hired a brand strategist and a brand team out of London, which was amazing. And they were two women who just got my mission, and what project fearless was and were able to take my semi-articulate self, and make it to something that was... I mean... Just blew my mind. Yeah... And then I did an accelerate program at the impact hub, which is actually where I met Webster. We were buddies on the first day. I may have overwhelmed him with my enthusiasm.
W: Not at all. Still alive, so...
M: good, great. And that was great, because it gave me homework, it gave me guide rails, I had my north star, but... As you know, when you first start any sort of start-up, you kinda go like: Oh I need to do this and I could do that and then what if I had... You know... But they give you guide rails to kinda shoot towards that north star without getting too lost among the galaxy, if you will. Really helped... June 13th, we launched our website, there was a pitch at the impact hub, and it's been a rocket ship ever since.
E: wow. But it's still only been... half a year, not even, right?
M: Not even, right.. So I quit my corporate job in December, and then all of that... The business plan and everything until June 13th, website launched... A week later, we were lucky enough to have our first sponsor reach out to us. I put a call to action for team mates, for women to join this mission. August 9th, we opened registrations for our program. It's crazy to think about this... September 9th, we started our first pilots, and now we're 8,5 weeks in and wrapping those pilots up. It's just been an incredible journey, and the feedback from the girls and the parents is just... More than I would've expected or even put like a goal or a tag line on. Because yeah, it's amazing.
E: Nice.
W: I wanna know... What it's been like throughout this process, since starting the program. What are the conversations you're having with the parents and the girls?
M: So, The parents are more like "What are you doing? What did you talk about?" Or like: "How are you doing this?" and it's a little bit of magic behind the scenes, right? We even had a parent who said: "I don't know what you do, or how you do it, but it's working" And we were like "Okay, that sounds great, we'll keep going" So the conversation... It's definitely more with the girls. And we talk about... In all of our courses... So on Mondays, we've had skateboarding, on Tuesdays we've had Mind & movement lab and on Fridays is Community service & leadership and throughout all our programs, no matter what the physical part of that... Whether it's skateboarding, or boxing or creating a prototype, we're also talking about leadership and impact. And how everybody has a voice, you know... You don't have to be the super extrovert that's standing on a soap box or leading a march to create an impact... You can use your passion to create a change, every single day of your life. That's a lot of pressure, but you could, if you wanted to. And then also just discussing about "What do you feel is leadership?" and "What do you feel is a good team mate?" and "How do you define success?" you know, we're coming into an age where parents, with the best intentions, are saying "you can do anything, you can become whoever you want" And it's true, right? But that's also a lot of pressure to put on one person. And it also... What you want may not necessarily be a neuroscience engineer who's going into space, you know. And that's great. As long as you're happy doing what you want to do, there's nothing better in the world that you can give.
W: Wonderful
E: And I'm wondering, what is it that you know now, that you wish you knew when you started?
M: That's a really good one. I think... Something that I've been trying to keep as my motto throughout this entire year, has been "trust the process". So yeah, I really try to keep believing that. And I think... There's been nothing that's been so surprising that we've had to do a complete 360, you know, there's definitely been some pivots and bobs and some weaves. But what's amazing is that our team of coaches, of volunteers, behind the scenes are incredible women. And we take the feedback, literally at the instance. So you know, we see a class, something goes a little bit wrong, or a little bit right... We can take that and directly put it back into next weeks class. Or I can say... For instance, on week three, no matter the course, all of the girls are completely different. So, I was able to go on skateboarding, we were like: "Wow, what just happened?" Like, these girls are crazy, compared to where they were in week one. But what's great is that I can go to the Mind & movement lab (we've got different coaches for each course) and say "By the way, don't be surprised if the girls are, you know, completely different" They're more confident, they're used to each other now, they're used to us. They're pushing their boundaries, they're getting excited. they're... you know... Just feeling out who they are now. So it's really great. So there's nothing that's like: "Oh man, I wish I knew that when we started" But it's more of... "If I could continue this whole... Every week is a learning process" And to take it as that, as opposed to... A failure or a big hiccup.
E: Right, right...
W: Must be really wonderful seeing the girls grow in that way?
M: I think it's... Again, it's something we never expected, right? Our goal is impact, of course. Like, our goal is emotional and behavioural change that happens over these six or eight weeks. And we knew that the girls are smart. But we didn't know how quickly and adaptable they were. So, I guess from week one to week three, they're completely different, but also from week to week, and depending on what we talk about. So, one interesting thing that happened in the skateboarding class: On week two, all of a sudden we noticed that the girls were quite competitive against each other. They were jumping in front of each other to get more of the coach's attention or they're going up saying "Oh, you didn't learn that yet?" And it was weird, because the week before, I guess it was all still new, but I hadn't seen that in our mind & movement lab But there, we talked about team work and leadership and supporting each other the very first day. Whereas that was something we were going to talk about in skateboarding a little bit later in the course. And the coaches and I were like "Okay, we need to nip this in the bud." So then next week, prior to getting onto our skateboards, we spent a whole hour discussing "What does it mean to be a leader? What does it mean to be a team mate? And what do you need... You know, When you are feeling insecure, what would really help you?" And instantly, literally instantly, they were able to put that into practice with skateboarding, and instead of "Oh, you haven't gotten that trick" it was like "Hey, let me help you. This is how you stand." etc. High fives, screaming like... the girls were taking out... Kinda like a jab in the face, of like literally screaming like "SUPPORT, SUPPORT" And I was like "okay, we get it, you're smart."
W: Relax.
M: Smarter than us, you're cheeky, hilarious. Yeah, and our Mind and Movement lab was six weeks, because it's the pilots. So we did one that was 6, one that was 8, one that was 9. Just to see what the best option was. 8 weeks / indefinitely has been the feedback from parents.
W: That's great
M: Which is great. But we needed to make a stop. So... the Mind and Movement Lab was the shortest one, and on the very last day... We started and finished every single class with a circle of like... Check in, where you are, body scan... At the end of every day we got in the circle and we said maybe something we're proud of, something we wanted to give a compliment to somebody else on the team, or something that we're grateful for. And on the very last day, this girl, who is, I think she's 10, she's Dutch. Because our classes are taught in both English and Dutch, or we've got an even split of Dutch native speaking and English speakers. And this girl raised her hand and is like: Can I go first? Yeah of course.. she said "I'm really thankful that I was able to join here, because here I can be myself, whereas at school I'm too embarrassed to be. And it's really nice to be myself." And all the coaches were like... We all looked at each other and like, the biggest goose bumps and... Because if we could've created one goal for all of project fearless... That was it. That was the one thing we wanted. And then.. She was so brave that she said it out loud, that other girls felt that they could also say it out loud. So we think... Wow, that was in just six weeks... One day a week, for six weeks. Can you imagine what could happen if she comes back next year? and we keep doing this over and over again? What the impact could be, and who could she really become?
E: And is that your plan, to go on and take over the world?
M: That's the plan. As daunting as it may seem. Yeah, that's the plan. So right now, we're wrapping up the pilots, we are taking feedback and impact measurements from the parents, from the girls. Discussing with the coaches and our team to see Who do we have going forward? The re-launch, the official re-launch here-to-stay will be in February. Our goal for the end of next year is to have... you know, 2020 is a big year. Is.. We want to have a permanent space, to call our own clubhouse, which would be amazing, and we want to be able to offer courses 5 days a week. In various programs. But we always will offer a program... We have three themes that our programs align with. The maker's space, so that could be woodworking, it could be bike engineering, art and science blends. The community service and leadership, and then the Mind and movement lab. So the courses will always fall into one of those three themes. And we may have multiple Mind and movement labs going in one week, we haven't figured it out yet.
E: That's super exciting.
M: Yeah. That's one word for it.
W: It's amazing that you're doing all these sort of practical workshops that girls and I guess some boys wouldn't get access to otherwise in school. What do you think is stopping young girls from let's say, doing woodworking or skateboarding and stuff like that? Like what are the.. I guess social pressure is against them...
M: Yeah I definitely think of course there's the stereotypes, right? But I think a lot of it is just access. You know, we had some girls who joined our skateboarding program who knew how to skateboard. And purely their reason for joining was "I just wanted to skate with more girls" And we did the same recap of "What are you thankful for?" "I'm thankful to know more girls who skate". The woodworking... I do think schools are offering that. When I was speaking to some teachers, ahead of time, they said: "What's interesting is... especially in the makers spaces, is that the girls love the makes space. But what ends up happening is, especially if you have boys that outnumber girls in the classroom... The boys kinda take over and the girls kinda fade to the back." So we wanted to create a space where everybody's voice was heard, everybody's way of tackling a problem was supported. But I don't think it's... Luckily I think we are moving away from like "Oh, that's just for boys, or Oh, that's just for girls" But I think it's jjust access, and I think it's also creating a safe space where you can come in, in your comfort zone, and then expand outside your comfort zone.
W: Makes sense. I wish I could... I wish I had stuff like that when I was growing up. For me it was... Being a boy, it was like: Al right, you're gonna do sports. You're gonna do hockey, rugby, football".. And my sisters got to do like dancing and theatre and stuff... Which I got to in my later life. But I always wished as a young kid, that I could try all those things. Because I think kids are curious, and I think a lot of the things they learn is because they look around, and they're like: "Oh, there's no other boys, or no other girls doing that, so I probably don't wanna do that because I don't wanna be an outcast"
M: I don't wanna be an outcast or who do I approach or what would that lead me to? you know, cause it's... For instance.... we wanna do a bike mechanic course. Like a bike engineering mechanic course. And I've been like canvassing the city for bike mechanics who are women. And it's not because we're anti-men, or we don't think men don't have a voice, it's more of the fact that part of our program is the "see her, be her" So, yeah, we could have a course taught by a guy, but at the end of the day, we really wanna show girls that there's jobs for her and it's such a simple connection, but it's really important. But also, back to your point about the idea of just having options to try things, without the pressure of being the best. So, one of the girls in our mind & movement lab, her thing that she was thankful for, was that she got to do, like try all this stuff, without feeling the pressure of having to be perfect or the best. Because a lot of stuff.. whether it's team sports, which offer so many great learning skills, I'm a huge supporter of team sports, I think it's really important. But at the end of the day, sometimes you just want to dance goofy, and not have anybody tell you that your toes need to be turned out that way, or you're not skinny enough to be on stage, you know? So it's just giving them a place where they like... You can be yourself and you can be your best, your worst or just your medium self, and we will support every moment of that.
E: It's like people who want to sing and are scared to be alone on the stage. That's the choir option.
M: Yeah!
W: We'll do it together
M: Yeah exactly. Yeah absolutely! And you know, the Mind and movement lab we didn't have a... We only used a mirror one day. The rest was kinda just... It doesn't matter, you know? Unless... If we saw someone who was about to like, injure themselves, we would of course make a little tweak... But it wasn't a "You have to box with this sort of ferocity" of "You have to have your hips in this exact position" It was just feeling what it feels like. And also just getting stoked for moving your body, because that's such a powerful feeling.
E: And they're so young, also, it's not the time to be... They need to play and they need to be kids.
M: Exactly, absolutely! And you know... I've heard from three different girls across our courses that they've dropped out of dance or gymnastics or something, because it gave them anxiety attacks. These girls are under the ages of 14.
E: That's crazy.
M: That's like... Man.. I mean, I understand, again... I understand the importance of sports, I understand the importance of competition, but if it's driving you to that point... What's the... Then there's no point. Like, this shouldn't be where you're going. So it just gives them a break.
E: But this is how our society, unfortunately, is wired.
M: Oh, I've got parents asking me if there's homework.
W: That sounds amazing
M: No, the homework is to just be excited for next week. That's the homework. You know? Or sometimes we give them little challenges... Of like: Al right, we've learned about how to create an impact, next week we wanna here how you've made an impact. And sometimes it's celebrating things like this girl said: "I saw a guy was having trouble throwing a piece of paper away, so I helped by throwing that away" and I was like "Yeah! High five! Woohoo!" That's great, and she was thinking about us, and that's all we ask for.
W: Were there any things that you as a child really wanted to do, that you didn't get to do?
M: No.
W: That's great.
M: I know, and I feel really guilty even saying that. And I think that was one of the reasons for starting project fearless, was that I realised how lucky I was as a child, that my parents really supported.... If I was into monster trucks, we would like explore that option, you know.. And it wasn't because we had all the money in the world, it was just because my parents didn't really see a gender stereotype and they really wanted me to push my boundaries and fall and get back up. And I tried some stuff and I realised: Yeah, that's not for me, like dance. I can dance on my own, but for some reason when I'm with a team... In like a group, that we're all supposed to be doing the same thing, I get really distracted by what everybody else is doing, and then, yeah... So that doesn't work for me. But no, I was really lucky in that sense. And I was also really lucky that at a time in my life when stuff was really hard at school, I had... Whether it was parents or adults or a mentor, I don't really remember who was the exact person who said this, was like "just be yourself. It may suck, people are still gonna be mean, and it's still gonna be hard. But just be yourself, and I promise you that at the end of this.. Whenever this curb will be... You're gonna be so happy that you stuck to that." And I'm very happy. It sucked, it was hard, but I'm very happy that happened. And so I think I'm very lucky that I was given those pushes... You know, the pushes of "You have no boundaries; you can try these things; you don't have to do it because you have to be the best; and just be yourself".
E: And that brings us to what I'm really curious about.
M: Oh gosh...
W: Yeah, cause everything before this point was totally irrelevant..
M: Yeah right, that's fluff, so if you just wanna skip ahead until now, fine.
E: No, like, as far as I understand, I mean... This project fearless is taking 110% of your time, but uhm.. What's your private life? What is Merida behind the curtain of project fearless?
M: Uhhmmm... Cat-mom, recently engaged
W: Fabulous cat.
M: Incredible cat. Recently engaged, to an incredibly supportive partner, Elliot, thank you so much for sticking with me through the downs and the ups and the "Oh my God I can't do this" But, you know what? People ask me how I started project fearless, and I say "Selfishly", right? Like, when I go back to three things, which is the empowering people, the physically active, and making an impact... Those are three things that make me the happiest and the best me. And so when I'm doing those, I know... I feel really confident of like who I am. So I do a lot of those behind the scenes as well. You know, I sew a lot, I bake a lot, I have my little custom baking side gig. I try to stay as active as possible, and yeah... Just trying to manage the balance, the balance is hard. Some days it's easier than others, some days you go to bed at 10 o'clock after not, like literally saying two words to your partner after getting home at 9:30. But at the end of the day, at the weekends, I'm really trying to tune off, and get back to... Whether it's sewing quilts or baking cakes or...
E: Right, like doing something with your hands?
M: again, doing something with your hands... That's super important to me. But yeah... project fearless is really a super reflection of me. And whether that's a good thing or a bad thing....
E: I think it's wonderful.
M: But yeah, it really is a reflection of me, so my behind the scenes really aren't that behind the scenes. Yeah, if I could add more courses to project fearless, and teach them all myself, We'd have a custom-ing course, have a horror make-up course, a sewing course, and a baking course. TBD on those.
E: I would sign up for that.
W: Fearless cupcakes
M: Fearless cupcakes... Every week I've been baking muffins for all the girls, they've been extremely spoiled. And I was just talking to one of the girls in the other course and was like: I really wanna do a baking course, and she was like: I would do a baking course. Great! We're doing it. But yeah, behind the scenes it's really... It's very similar. Just a little bit... I guess... When I don't have make-up on, my eyes are a lot more sunken in, but other than that, it's pretty exposed.
E: And what's your advice for people who are still searching for the balance that you mentioned? Like how to... What's the tip? Or a few maybe?
M: Yeah... But I'm still finding it, right? And some days it feels a lot easier than others. I've been saying this a lot, but trust the process. And trust your intuition. Like if you need... You don't have to say yes to everything. And I know a lot of entrepreneurs, when you go to those networking events and stuff like that, they're like... You know, I just started saying no for the first time and I'm really starting to understand that. Because especially as you're first starting out, you almost wanna take every single opportunity that's thrown at you or given to you, because "Oh my gosh, thank you so much" But at the end of the day, it's also okay to say no. And if you believe that what you're doing is worthy enough, and you've set your north star, you'll get there, no matter how many things you say yes to, or no matter how many things you say no to. Again: way easier said than done, I have to write an email tonight actually, that I'm not stoked about, to say like "Thank you, but no" But I know it's really important for me, and it's because family at that point, that date comes first.
E: Of course.
W: I know the feeling.
M: Yeah, exactly, everybody... It's such a... It's a weird guilt feeling, right? it's like your intuition saying "You really need the rest, you know you've set this date as family time, it's supposed to be family time, it's really important to you." But you've also got this guilt of like "Are they gonna think that you're not a good entrepreneur?" you know "Are they gonna think you're not hungry enough for this? Are they gonna think..." And it's... Maybe it's a story I'm telling myself, but it's also that story that entrepreneurs have always told of like "Well I get up at 4 AM, and I go to the gym, I check emails, and then I go to the office, run five board meetings .... Come home around 7, kiss the kids goodnight, say hi to my wife then go back to work until 2 AM and sleep for two hours" And it's like.... shit.
W: It's like the mom from the incredibles, you know?
M: Exactly! And so... I won't make it, if that's the case.
E: Yeah but on the other hand, how many no's do you think those people say?
M: Right, 100%. They think...
E: If you think about Anna Wintour, for example. Or like women who are like, so fierce. And then... I'm sure she's a serial no'er.
M: Oh yeah for sure, I think that's kinda her vibe. It's... Her brand is like: no. Mine is a: No thanks. But yeah, it's definitely a hard thing. But just trust your intuition and the process and tell your story. I think that's the other thing.
E: Yeah, I think it's really important, because I think we are so stressed to just like lose opportunity, just in case it comes and you're not at home and it's knocking. And nobody is opening the door... And it's like, Dutch postal service, nobody leaves a message.
M: The worst. Oh my gosh, we could have a whole podcast on that alone.
W: Wait, what's this?
M: Have you ever had a package delivered, or attempted to delivered to your house?
W: Yeah
M: And it's okay?
W: I've never had a dud. As in I've never had something not delivered to my house.
M: What? Oh wow.
E: You're very lucky.
W: I don't order stuff that much though.
M: WHAT? you've got like a concierge at your apartment?
W: Yeah, James receives all my packages and...
[laughter]
M: I've considered it.
E: A butler
M: Yes seriously.
W: I guess I don't order stuff that much, maybe I've been lucky.
M: Oh wow.
W: But tell me more.
M: It's notoriously the worst, like... Notoriously that you just won't get stuff, and they're like, but we left a note, nah you didn't.
E: Or they leave it at like at someone you don't know like five houses down the street.
W: Yeah I've had that, for my... well, my landlord's had that. Where her stuff just goes to someone else's house, and then she gets a random guy knocking on the door, going like "I've got a package"
M: well at least they deliver it. I've had people at the door saying "It's here" Yeah but I've never got a note to say that it was there, or... I've had so many.... issues.
E: Yeah, I know.
M: Wow
E: This is like therapy for...
M: Yes seriously, like I said, it could be an entire podcast. I forgot where we were. Oh yeah, the opportunity thing. Yeah totally. And I don't know if that's a harder thing for women too, with the whole scarcity at the top situation of like.... Breaking the glass ceiling, and having to push forward always and pretend or prove that you've got this beautiful work-life balance, that you can be all the things. And at the end of the day, that's not possible. And it's okay, which is even harder to accept.
E: Amen.
W: I know the feeling. As like being a freelancer, I think when you start out, one of the things you do is just say yes to absolutely any project, any time, anyone.
E: "I'll sell my soul"
M: Yes, 100%.
W: Yesyesyesyesyesyesyes
M: awareness, great, love it.
W: But then, as you grow, and you start to see the value that you provide, you can start to kinda suss out like which opportunities or which clients or whatever, are worth spending your time with. And I think it's like that with you know, entrepreneurship, or anything that, you know, requires your personal time. And then you get to a point where you can be "Okay, this is what I believe in," Like you said, your north star, "if anything deviates from that train of thought, than it's probably not gonna be good for me, and have to respectfully decline".
M: Yeah, absolutely. Again, I don't think it ever gets easier though.
W: No, probably not.
M: I think you get more maybe concrete about saying it, but I don't think it'll ever get easier.
W: I hope so, I hope it will get easier.
E: Well, you get better, it doesn't get easier.
M: Yeah exactly, that's the thing. You get better, it doesn't get easier, right, good.
W: What are you excited about, for the future?
M: This is super dorky, but we just got t-shirts in, and we had an event last week, and some of the t-shirts sold to like, strangers. So yeah...
W: What? That's great.
M: Yeah, so really excited to see like a project fearless t-shirt in the wilderness, and they're gonna be photo-bombed like they won't believe. But yeah, we'll be selling those, which will be really cool, because I can't wait to like pepper the world with them. I don't know, I'm excited to see the girls again. We have a 100% retention rate on our courses right now.
W: That's amazing
M: Which is amazing. What would be even more amazing, is if all of those girls came back to another project fearless course in the future. So if they started skateboarding, then next year they come into mind and movement lab. So I'm excited to see those girls. Cause after 8 weeks, like, you know their ins and outs. Like you know their personality types, you know when something that they've done is like, way beyond their comfort zone, and they just did that. So I'm exited to see that growth, and then I'm excited to welcome new girls. And that'll also be really cool is to see girls who have gone through our programs partnered with new girls, and see that dynamic as well. I think that's gonna be really special. We already have some project fearless, like best friends, that have formed because of our classes. Which is hilarious, and equally sometimes unmanageable in the course. But great at the same time, you know? And it's so cool to see that happen. And that was one of our big goals too, the idea that if we've got twelve girls in a room, or a course; that these girls, who in other circumstances wouldn't be able to meet each other. You know, they're coming from different schools, different backgrounds, different parts of the city, from different languages. And so it's really cool to see this new interaction build. So I can't wait to see how that develops in the future.
E: And I'm going to take a selfie with the t-shirt.
M: Yeah exactly. My friend just sent me one with her aunt wearing one, and like brunched somewhere, and I was like "That's amazing" I cannot wait to start seeing them in the future. It'll be great. Yeah, so the word is spreading.
W: The word is spreading. And if you could have one positive word to say to the girls who haven't heard about project fearless yet? Or who haven't been able to do the things that they want to do, what would that be?
M: Oh... I think it would just be "You've got this" like...
E: That's not one word
M: Sorry. Does it have to be exactly one word?
W: That is not one word. Evy's kidding, a few words.
M: yeah, so I think it would just be "you've got this" and get it, you don't have to be the best, you don't have to be the worst, you don't even have to do it completely.
E: You just have to be
M: You just have to be, yeah exactly.
E: Cool, I'm so excited for you and for me too
M: Yeah, exactly. If anybody didn't know, Evy's on our team.
W: Yes.
M: Yes, we're excited for the future and the team is... you know, shout out to the team, cause I've never experienced so much support and love and I trust these women with... with my child, basically, and know that they've got it, and the coolest thing about my team is: whenever we're at an event or something like that, I've overheard like coaches talking about project fearless as if it's theirs, right? As if they own the whole thing, and that is the coolest thing that could possibly happen. Because you know how proud and empowered they are to own what they offer at project fearless and... It's magical. So I'm really thankful to them, to all the women who've come to us and all the supporters all over the world, who've reached out and high fives and...
W: Well, thank you very much for being with us.
M: Yeah, thanks for having me.
W: So for our audience listening, where can they find information about project fearless?
M: Yeah, so our website: www.projectfearless.org of course you can follow on our social channels as well, so we're on instagram and facebook, twitter, if you wanted to follow us, that'd be great, because we've got like two followers. But just search for project fearless, we would love to hear from you. You could sign up for our news letter, you can follow us along, give us high fives in the street, get a sticker, whatever you want.
W: Brilliant. And for our audience listening at home, you know where to find us at www.worduppodcast.com, where you'll find our social media, past episodes, and information about our special guests. Thank you very much, and see you next time.
E: Doei!
M: Doei!
W: Bye bye.

[outro]

M: Are we allowed to clap?
W: Just edit it in, it was appropriate.
E: Just by the way
W: It was just little baby claps, you know?
W: I gotta edit this. Okay, let me do my best





Transcript by Audrey van Houten