Message from Jamie: Future Plans

Transcript 

Jamie: Hello. I'm Jamie Yuenger. And this is 'If You Knew Me', a podcast about the inner lives of women. Most weeks on this show, we walk into the heart and mind of one woman. Some weeks we offer interviews with experts on themes, relevant to women's lives. 

This week, I'm stepping out and finally sharing the bigger vision that Piet and I have been dreaming and developing for 'If You Knew Me'. 

First of all, if you've been listening to.. The show for a bit, I wanna say that it is so nice to have you with us and part of this community. And if this is your first time listening to the show, welcome. 

This show is an antidote to the loads of crap, we have to put up with every day, as women, as humans and as modern people living in this world. 

This show is based mostly on stories. Piet and I believe that everyone is sitting on a story. I mean, how could you not be a sitting on a story? We believe that the simple act of sharing your story is really the profound act of reclaiming your life. You might think that you don't have a story or you might not know what your story is. You might not be ready to share it, or you might not be able to share it for a variety of reasons, but I know, and you know that you have a story.

So story is the thing. We aren't supposing that you should get stuck in your story. But we believe that sharing your story, lets you release it, lets you set it down and free yourself from whatever has been entangling you.

And the act of being witnessed is profound. Having other people hear your story, is profound.

So obviously this is a podcast, but for us, this is a launching path for a much bigger initiative around women's stories and people's stories. So the first project out of this podcast is going to be a book. We are going to take selected podcast stories and translate them into written narratives. And then alongside the written stories of these women will be documentary photographs that show the lives and the transformations that have taken place as a result of this woman telling her story. 

So it's kind of like a before and an after, on a soul level of what happened with this woman. 

In the written narrative, you will see a kind of version of her podcast story. And then there will be a follow up interview with the woman about what happened in her life, after she told this story. What happened in her family system, what happened in her heart? What happened in her career? what decisions did she make as a result of finally kind of releasing and publishing and sharing her story? 

So, it will kind of be a before and after story piece, alongside these gorgeous, stunning documentary photographs that will be taken. 

So it's gonna be quite the journey for Piet and I and the photographer that we've chosen for this project, because we will be traveling all across North America and Europe to go to these women, to their homes and photograph them. And do these, follow up interviews with them about what happened after they told their story. 

So this big, large format book will have these beautiful photographs, and then these stories, and it will take us a. Quite a long time to put this together. It will be a big journey and we want you to come with us on that journey.

If you are excited about what we're doing, of course, we would love for you to share your story. We would love for you to share this show with people. And if you're so moved, we would love for you to support what we're doing by joining The way that you can do that is to become a patron, on the platform that we've chosen Patreon, and you can offer up a small or medium or large sized monthly donation, and then you gain access to behind the scenes of this book making journey that we'll be on.

So there's a link in the show notes for how to join us on Patreon and how to join us on this journey.

So right now, and over the next few months, we will be developing, what's called a proof of concept. This will be a mini version of the book. we envision it as kind of a magazine version of what will eventually be a large format, hard hardcover book. 

So the proof of concept will show the photography style, it will show the book layout. And most of all get people excited for the bigger book project, because not everyone can kind of envision what we're thinking. And so we're creating this.

Some of, you might remember Brinda van den Berg. She was the woman who told her story in the very first episode of the podcast. She had lost her mom when she was just two years old. Here's a bit from her story. 

Brinda: "Funnily enough, it's like, what I would've actually wished was that my mom had written a letter to me. If she would've said something to me directly. Of course it must, it must not have been easy to know that you're dying. You're leaving behind two young children. My brother has memories of her. My aunt has memories of her. My dad has memories of her. Everyone has memories of her, but me."

Jamie: So we'll be working with Brinda to tell her story in written form and also to share what happened to Brinda After we published her story on the podcast and all of that will be laid out alongside beautiful documentary photographs of Brinda and her life at this moment. In addition to Brinda we'll work with a few other women in that collection of that proof of concept.

 For example, maybe remember Kaitlyn she, had struggled for years and years with her weight and then made a radical decision to take charge of her life.

Kaitlyn: " I think, especially after having kids just realizing, like, I want better for myself. I want happiness for myself. And the one area in my life that I really struggle with the most is being overweight and feeling inadequate in regards to. How I look and feel about my own body. I'm kind of in the early process stages of seeking surgical solutions for weight management."

Jamie: We really look forward to updating you on Caitlin's story. And so many of the other women. So the idea is that once we have the proof of concept, this sort of mini magazine version, we'll share it with people far and wide who might wanna get onboard and potentially financially support this project with larger donations.

That might even be you. 

So all of this is really exciting and I definitely invite you to join us. You can join us on Patreon. You can get in touch with us and let us know if you would like to take part in this project in some way. 

this is just the beginning. We also are envisioning a documentary film and so much more, but I think that is enough for now. thanks so much for listening and, being with us on this journey. 

This podcast is produced by me, Jamie Yuenger, and my husband, Piet Hurkmans. Next week, we will have a regular episode of 'If You Knew Me', with a woman's story, we're really excited to share it with you.

So until then. Be well!