Speaker 1: Hey, guys, you're going to be so excited for.
Speaker 2: This episode because it was our first ever pod recording
Speaker 2: in front of a live audience, and we did it
Speaker 2: at the Apple Store in George Street in Sydney.
Speaker 3: It was a part of.
Speaker 2: Their Today at Apple series. We'll set the scene for you.
Speaker 2: We're in the Apple Store in the middle of the
Speaker 2: city doing the.
Speaker 3: Pod in front of a live audience. How crazy is that?
Speaker 3: And behind us is this giant media war that you
Speaker 3: could put photos and videos up, so we reference them
Speaker 3: throughout this episode so you can just imagine them.
Speaker 2: Okay, But the whole concept of the Today at Apple
Speaker 2: session was around storytelling.
Speaker 3: And the power of stories.
Speaker 2: So we're really hoping you enjoyed this episode because we
Speaker 2: put a lot of love and effort and time into it.
Speaker 3: So enjoy.
Speaker 1: Let's go.
Speaker 2: Thank you everyone for coming to First Things, first first
Speaker 2: ever live podcast here at Apple.
Speaker 3: We're so thrilled to see you all. I know that.
Speaker 2: Kieran did a wonderful acknowledgment, but I just like to
Speaker 2: share a little bit of our culture when it comes
Speaker 2: to acknowledgments, and I know that he acknowledged the Gatigil
Speaker 2: people of the nation, and.
Speaker 3: I know that you've probably heard that word gagigel many.
Speaker 2: Times, but you probably don't know what it means. It
Speaker 2: means people of the grass tree. So that's a little
Speaker 2: bit of our culture that we would like you to
Speaker 2: take home.
Speaker 4: I'm so excited to be here. Oh my god, this
Speaker 4: is I know, it feels so surreal. Let's jump into
Speaker 4: and welcomes the first things.
Speaker 2: First, you know, we're here because we are so passionate
Speaker 2: about storytelling and we are two First Nations people who
Speaker 2: get to use our platform to tell First Nation stories.
Speaker 2: And we know that we hold a unique position in
Speaker 2: the media in Australia as to modern day First Nations storytellers.
Speaker 4: It is the cornerstone of our culture. Storytelling just holds
Speaker 4: so much significance for us. Not only obviously is around
Speaker 4: passing down knowledge, It's about connection to country. It's preserving
Speaker 4: our identity as First Nations people in this country. And
Speaker 4: a lot of our storytelling is around healing and resilience
Speaker 4: and persistence resistance as well. So you know, we have
Speaker 4: a lot of strength in our communities and we're so
Speaker 4: proud to be sharing our stories for all of you
Speaker 4: today and educating obviously the wider world and the wider.
Speaker 1: Generations and our future generations as well.
Speaker 4: So talking about the future, Maddie, but we're going to
Speaker 4: go back to the past a little bit. Okay, Maddie
Speaker 4: and I have been podcasting for a couple of years now,
Speaker 4: but we've been sharing our story for pretty much the
Speaker 4: day that we were born, pretty much right. But our
Speaker 4: stories share so many parallels, but so many differences as well. Yeah,
Speaker 4: can I ask you to share a little bit about
Speaker 4: your childhood and I guess what that was like growing up,
Speaker 4: and I guess how storytelling kind of comes into play
Speaker 4: for your totally.
Speaker 2: I definitely feel like Brooke and I were separated the birth.
Speaker 2: There is something about that is so uncanny about our stories.
Speaker 2: There are so many parallels. Our experiences really do marry
Speaker 2: up with each other, but the start of our stories.
Speaker 3: Are a little bit different.
Speaker 2: You know, I grew up without a lot of storytelling,
Speaker 2: without a lot of culture in the early days of
Speaker 2: my childhood. I grew up in the western suburbs of
Speaker 2: Sydney with a single mum and two brothers. And this
Speaker 2: follow here on the board, as you can see, holding
Speaker 2: that incredibly gorgeous little man's name, Little.
Speaker 3: Maddie that's my dad.
Speaker 2: But when I was young, I was told that my
Speaker 2: dad had passed away, and I grew up without the
Speaker 2: connection to culture that part of my identity. And it
Speaker 2: wasn't until many years later, when I was taken into
Speaker 2: the care system as a part of foster care, that
Speaker 2: we actually realized that this man that you see on
Speaker 2: this board here was actually alive. I grew up with
Speaker 2: the belief that he had passed away, but he didn't
Speaker 2: have a death certificate. So we went on a search
Speaker 2: for my dad and that's where the connection to my culture,
Speaker 2: my identity, and the stories from my family that I
Speaker 2: was missing out on came back into my life. And
Speaker 2: I really feel like as First Nations people, when we
Speaker 2: don't have that connection to family, culture, story, there is
Speaker 2: a big part of ourselves that feels like there's something
Speaker 2: that's lost. And so being able to connect with my
Speaker 2: family back on Gomorroy Country in the northwest corner of
Speaker 2: New South Wales and reconnect with my dad after all
Speaker 2: those years was a really beautiful moment in my story.
Speaker 2: Once I reconnected with him, you know, he told me
Speaker 2: many stories about my people where we come from the
Speaker 2: country he grew up on and It was like something
Speaker 2: that had been missing in my life had been found.
Speaker 1: Oh Maddie.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Also, how can you look that good as a young
Speaker 4: Maddie and still even twenty even more gorgeous.
Speaker 2: I mean, look the forehead if you need evidence, the
Speaker 2: forehead is still the same.
Speaker 1: Oh Maddie.
Speaker 4: That story is just I guess the gravity of that
Speaker 4: and the weight of that, you know, little Maddie growing
Speaker 4: up not thinking that his dad was there and then
Speaker 4: finding that and then so that, you know, storytelling is
Speaker 4: about reconnection sometimes, and I think that's really beautiful.
Speaker 2: And I know that you know your story you started
Speaker 2: a little bit different. You know, you had your family
Speaker 2: around in in your younger days. And I love the
Speaker 2: story that you tell about the turtle and the totem
Speaker 2: from when your mum was pregnant with you all the
Speaker 2: way back there.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: So my story again similar to Maddie is, but very different.
Speaker 4: So growing up in Canarvin on Yemagee Country, I was
Speaker 4: so blessed to have a family of matriarchs, my mother
Speaker 4: and my grandmother who are in those photos and they will.
Speaker 1: Now look at them.
Speaker 4: And I grew up, you know, looking after my siblings
Speaker 4: and the story around the turtle, which is really significant
Speaker 4: to totem ship and spirituality for First Nations people, is
Speaker 4: something that my grandmother really held onto and as a
Speaker 4: story that I hold onto because it keeps me connected
Speaker 4: to her. So when my mother was pregnant with me,
Speaker 4: we grew up on the coast of Wa, so we
Speaker 4: were on like I think it was in Coral Bay
Speaker 4: or shot it was an ex mouth.
Speaker 1: Actually I talk as if I was alive. Then I
Speaker 1: was still in my mum's ballet. My mom was.
Speaker 4: Pregnant and she was, you know, buoyant in the water,
Speaker 4: like just swimming. And my grandmother was on the shores
Speaker 4: of this beautiful white sand, blue water, and she could
Speaker 4: see these beautiful green sea turtles popping up around my
Speaker 4: mum taking a little breath of fresh air. And that
Speaker 4: was like my grandmother gifted me the green sea turtle totem,
Speaker 4: which is like an animal connection usually when it shows
Speaker 4: up around pregnancy or when the birth as well. And
Speaker 4: so I was gifted the animal bow and gara, which
Speaker 4: is the green sea turtle. And so throughout it, I've
Speaker 4: got it tattooed on me. I've got it on my
Speaker 4: spine of my book somewhere that storytelling for me like
Speaker 4: I wasn't even born, But that story will carry on,
Speaker 4: and I'll pass that on down to my daughter, my
Speaker 4: grandchildren and hopefully you know forever, that story will pass on.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think you know you've obviously gone through
Speaker 2: a lot of difficulties in your life in the early
Speaker 2: days as well, in terms of loss and grief, and
Speaker 2: that's a huge part of our culture's first nations people
Speaker 2: and our varience. And I know that you know these
Speaker 2: photos of your beautiful moum and you'll.
Speaker 4: No, so yeah, I probably should have mentioned before that, Yeah,
Speaker 4: my mother and my grandmother have actually passed on me.
Speaker 4: I'm down obviously the bottom there, and then my two brothers.
Speaker 4: We are actually the only life people today. Everyone else
Speaker 4: has actually unfortunately passed on. And that's I guess a
Speaker 4: bit of a reality of my life is that I
Speaker 4: grew up so connected at culture in my starting years
Speaker 4: and then when I was eleven, I kind of all
Speaker 4: lost it and it kind of.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was in and out of care.
Speaker 4: I was taken and to live with my dad, who
Speaker 4: he is white and he lived in a different cultural
Speaker 4: background place, and so I grew up so connected and
Speaker 4: then kind of got disconnected and then in my adult
Speaker 4: life had to reconnect and find my way. So yeah,
Speaker 4: a bit of a different journey we've been on. Yeah,
Speaker 4: stop looking at me like that.
Speaker 2: I always look at her at all because this girl
Speaker 2: right here, you know, I call on my sister, but
Speaker 2: she has gone on to do incredible things, you know,
Speaker 2: and you would know her from the Bachelorette, you know,
Speaker 2: the first ever queer and first nation's bachelorette the world
Speaker 2: has ever seen, and the most beautiful. But you know,
Speaker 2: I look at you in all because you know, you're
Speaker 2: somebody who isn't afraid to break down barriers and also
Speaker 2: be vulnerable and share your stories so openly with the country.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: I think it's a really powerful thing that you have
Speaker 2: the ability to do. And I know that you know,
Speaker 2: it wasn't just being the bachelorette that was, you know,
Speaker 2: the first thing for you. There's been many firsts and
Speaker 2: that's one of the things that we want to do
Speaker 2: with our careers and our media opportunities is that we
Speaker 2: want to break down the barriers in the mainstream media
Speaker 2: and that's what we're doing with our storytelling through the podcast.
Speaker 4: You bring up a great point about first and I
Speaker 4: think for us and for myself, I was the first
Speaker 4: to in my family to graduate school.
Speaker 1: I was the first to go to university.
Speaker 4: I was the first to really get like a full
Speaker 4: time stable job to help support back and give back
Speaker 4: to my family. And so from a young age I
Speaker 4: felt a lot of responsibility. But part of the responsibility
Speaker 4: felt like I wanted to tell stories. I wanted to
Speaker 4: My mum and my nana didn't really get to live
Speaker 4: out their life. My nana died when she was fifty two.
Speaker 4: My mom died when she was thirty four, so very young.
Speaker 4: And I'm Nelly thirty So I had this obligation in
Speaker 4: a way to share stories and become the first of
Speaker 4: many things. And I'm Maddie you had the same aspirations, right,
Speaker 4: and like it just goes to show how much they're
Speaker 4: instilled in us, and how much culture is like a
Speaker 4: part of us, but how deep those stories run through us.
Speaker 1: I don't know where I'm up to.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm going to actually just come off the back
Speaker 2: of that. When you talk talk about, you know, our
Speaker 2: stories and the power of storytelling. I really believe that
Speaker 2: in this country, when we are telling stories the First Nation.
Speaker 2: Stories must be considered, you know, must always be considered
Speaker 2: when we're telling the story of our country and our
Speaker 2: national identity.
Speaker 3: But you know, oh yes, no stop, I know what
Speaker 3: it is here, I go come back.
Speaker 4: He was given me the biggest rat before this is
Speaker 4: my brain. He was giving me the biggest rap. He's like, yeah, bachelorette,
Speaker 4: blah blah. Anyways, I was. Yes, I was the first
Speaker 4: queer First Nations bachelorette, and I was also a published author,
Speaker 4: et cetera. But Maddie has done some incredible fast like
Speaker 4: could you not This man has like not only just
Speaker 4: broken down barriers, like he is stormed right through them.
Speaker 4: He is like, no, no, there is no path. I'm
Speaker 4: just gonna make it myself.
Speaker 3: What shame really? Really, So you were.
Speaker 4: The first First Nations man person queer man.
Speaker 1: I would just not over tick your boxes but pick
Speaker 1: them off.
Speaker 2: On Getaway, Yeah that was you know, I was the
Speaker 2: first ever indigenous host on Getaway. The show has been
Speaker 2: on air for thirty two years, and it is a
Speaker 2: show that you know, tells the story of place and country.
Speaker 2: And to think that over the thirty two years that
Speaker 2: that show has been on air, they've never had a
Speaker 2: First Nations person be a host. I was watching get
Speaker 2: Away on a Thursday night and I went away and
Speaker 2: came back to the TV, and I didn't know if
Speaker 2: the presenter had changed.
Speaker 3: Everyone was blonde hair and blue eyes. Not joking.
Speaker 2: So I sent an email into Channel nine and I said, Hey,
Speaker 2: I have an idea for you. Why don't I come
Speaker 2: in and present you with an opportunity that you know,
Speaker 2: I feel like is needed in this media landscape, in
Speaker 2: mainstream media. So this follow as you went in and
Speaker 2: had a meeting with Channel nine and said, look, you know,
Speaker 2: I think that there needs to be a First Nations
Speaker 2: presenter if you're going to be talking about country and
Speaker 2: place on a show like Getaway.
Speaker 3: So that's how I get away.
Speaker 2: People think that Channel nine called me up on it
Speaker 2: and told me that I was amazing and said, hey,
Speaker 2: do you want the job?
Speaker 3: Absolutely not.
Speaker 1: No, you went after it, You went for it and
Speaker 1: you got it.
Speaker 2: And as First Nations people, we are constantly having to
Speaker 2: knock on the doors and we get a lot of no'se.
Speaker 3: We get a lot of knockbacks.
Speaker 2: But I've always been a bit tenacious in my spirit
Speaker 2: where it's like, what is the worst that can happen.
Speaker 3: They can say no and then you find another way through.
Speaker 3: You know. But I always say, you know that.
Speaker 2: I struggle with this saying you can't be what you
Speaker 2: can't see, because you can be what you can't see.
Speaker 1: Just be the first create it yourself.
Speaker 3: You can create it yourself.
Speaker 4: And I think, yeah, I feel like now Maddie works
Speaker 4: at NV, he works in entertainment, he presents he this
Speaker 4: man inspires me so much because one he's an.
Speaker 1: Extrovert and I'm like the opposite I am.
Speaker 4: But you inspire people to tell their stories, and through
Speaker 4: that you inspire me because I feel like you have
Speaker 4: this ability to draw out what people can't always express
Speaker 4: and share like I find like in sometimes our podcasts.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I might.
Speaker 4: Not feel like sharing, but Maddie makes me feel safe
Speaker 4: and comfortable to do that, and I feel like the
Speaker 4: world needs to see that. And I'm so excited to
Speaker 4: be beside you're doing that. But how you do it
Speaker 4: and the ability that you do it with is just insane.
Speaker 2: Well, I think, you know, I always had a passion
Speaker 2: for storytelling, and that's why I work with NTV because
Speaker 2: it's a way to elevate the voices of black followers,
Speaker 2: and I will always do that no matter where I
Speaker 2: end up in the media, I will always have a
Speaker 2: connection to community and more. And I love doing entertainment,
Speaker 2: So I love Black joy, happiness, entertainment. You know, it's
Speaker 2: a bit of escape from the real world sometimes and
Speaker 2: being able to elevate the voices of First Nations entertainers
Speaker 2: is legit my dream job. So I do get to
Speaker 2: live out my dream interviewing, you know, mob around the
Speaker 2: country and telling their stories.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 4: I've sometimes even feel like podcasting is like work because
Speaker 4: I have like the most amazing team. I get to
Speaker 4: rock up. I talk, which I wasn't always good at.
Speaker 4: Guys actually funny enough. I'll tell you a bit of
Speaker 4: a yarn and I won't ramble. But when I was
Speaker 4: in I guess eleven and twelve after losing my mom
Speaker 4: and my nan, a post traumatic response for me was
Speaker 4: that I went quiet and I couldn't talk. I actually
Speaker 4: went mute. And that's what now, twenty years on, or
Speaker 4: Nelly just under having the ability to like talk in
Speaker 4: front of people is just crazy for me, to like insane,
Speaker 4: Like I've spoken in front of thousands, hundreds of people.
Speaker 4: I've been on national television. And it still blows my
Speaker 4: mind that little Brook at one stage when she was
Speaker 4: eleven and twelve, couldn't even say like, how are you?
Speaker 4: Like the most words that you could get out of
Speaker 4: me was hello, goodbye, thank you, please, and sorry, which
Speaker 4: is kind of sad.
Speaker 2: Talk about the Bachelorette, like this was obviously a monumental career.
Speaker 2: It was incredibly beautiful the way that you opened your season.
Speaker 3: Yeah all right. I was waiting for it to trade.
Speaker 3: I was like, come on, look, how beautiful she is.
Speaker 2: So the Bachelorette, you know, you did a welcome to
Speaker 2: country on your season, which was so beautiful. It was
Speaker 2: a way to share our culture and share our stories.
Speaker 2: Tell me about the Bachelorette and like what that meant
Speaker 2: for you and how you've become this role model because
Speaker 2: of it.
Speaker 4: Well, to rewind time to get to the Bachelorette, I
Speaker 4: had to do the Bachelor, and the Bachelorette was like
Speaker 4: a crazy experience where I left it and I left
Speaker 4: with this amazing platform, but I didn't actually know how
Speaker 4: to quite use it then because I was working as
Speaker 4: a youth worker. That's my qualification, Like, that's what I've
Speaker 4: been working in for the last decade. I'm so passionate
Speaker 4: around young people and helping young First Nations kids. So
Speaker 4: the Bachelor was just a bit of a side step.
Speaker 4: And then two years after that having to be Bachelorette
Speaker 4: was insane. But I didn't take the responsibility lightly and
Speaker 4: nothing that I do I ever take lightly. And you
Speaker 4: know this, like when I throw myself into it, I'm
Speaker 4: one hundred and ten percent into it. And so I
Speaker 4: used this as an opportunity that to storytell, to like
Speaker 4: show people that First Nations people aren't what Australian media
Speaker 4: always make us out to be, which is violent and
Speaker 4: aggressive and drug addicts. Like it was actually not okay
Speaker 4: that people thought of us like that, and I wanted
Speaker 4: to show that we're a culture of love and community
Speaker 4: and respect. So yeah, being the Bachelorette was a crazy experience,
Speaker 4: and I just wanted the Welcome to Country to open
Speaker 4: up that and show that this episode this season was
Speaker 4: about love, community and also I welcomed anyone like whoever
Speaker 4: watched my season. It was a bit different to normal seasons,
Speaker 4: like it was actually carried out with a lot of
Speaker 4: acceptance and a lot of love and a lot of queerness.
Speaker 4: Which I'm so proud of. But coming out of that
Speaker 4: experience was a bit of a downfall as well, because
Speaker 4: I also had some trauma happen. My sister passed away,
Speaker 4: so it wasn't all love and roses at the end,
Speaker 4: Like I had to deal with grief and I then
Speaker 4: had to tell my sister's story and that was also
Speaker 4: very heartbreaking for me.
Speaker 3: Huh.
Speaker 2: You know, like, I think you just touched on something
Speaker 2: that is our experience to a t. We have amazing
Speaker 2: moments in our lives and I'm sure all of us do.
Speaker 2: And where you have these pinnacle moments, maybe it's in cream,
Speaker 2: maybe it's in personal life, but then it's always met
Speaker 2: with like in our experience, it can I feel like
Speaker 2: when you're on your highest it can always be met
Speaker 2: with a moment that brings you down, you know, a
Speaker 2: sad moment in your life.
Speaker 3: And that's what you know.
Speaker 2: You just had completed this incredible show and on the
Speaker 2: last few days of filming, your sister passes away.
Speaker 4: You know, it's Yeah, it was inspiring in a weird
Speaker 4: way though, like because.
Speaker 1: I felt like.
Speaker 4: My sister, yeah, didn't get to live her like childhood
Speaker 4: or life, and I feel like that's also seeing her
Speaker 4: grow up was what led me into youth work, and
Speaker 4: I wanted to show young people, I guess, the life
Speaker 4: that they can have, full of an abundance of love,
Speaker 4: community and happiness and black joy and fun. And I
Speaker 4: guess like my sister sort of inspires that story in
Speaker 4: so many ways, because I guess overnight when I went
Speaker 4: on the show on the Bachelor and then Bachelorette, I
Speaker 4: became all of a sudden, like an instant role model,
Speaker 4: I guess, But I didn't have those role models growing up,
Speaker 4: so I kind of had to like mimic or try
Speaker 4: and be what I needed when I was younger. And
Speaker 4: so for me, that was about being honest where I
Speaker 4: came from being really proud of who I was, using
Speaker 4: my story as power, using my vulnerability. I am the
Speaker 4: most like siokiest person ever, Like I will cry.
Speaker 3: One of us has emotions.
Speaker 1: He has emotions he just hides.
Speaker 2: Late will be in an episode of the podcast and
Speaker 2: she'll see me starting to get emotional and she's like,
Speaker 2: let it come.
Speaker 3: I welcome, move it on.
Speaker 4: But like I have, I thought I had a lot
Speaker 4: of shame around that. I held a lot of shame
Speaker 4: about how sensitive I was and how much attachment I
Speaker 4: had to things. But I think it's a really beautiful
Speaker 4: thing now, Like I feel like I embrace it and
Speaker 4: I love it. I'll cry at anything, but I'm like, whatever,
Speaker 4: it's just tears.
Speaker 2: Like, I think vulnerability is actually a superpower of yours.
Speaker 2: It's something that you do so graciously but also beautifully.
Speaker 3: I love when you're vulnerable.
Speaker 2: I feel like seeing someone be vulnerable is actually one
Speaker 2: of the deepest forms of connection and I get to witness.
Speaker 3: That with you a lot.
Speaker 2: And so, yeah, but I did want to talk about
Speaker 2: you being vulnerable in your book. I know you're gonna
Speaker 2: do an excerpt later of the book, which is exciting.
Speaker 2: But you know, you wrote your story and it was
Speaker 2: something that you're really passionate about rewriting the narrative, you know,
Speaker 2: and that power of taking back your story and not
Speaker 2: you know, being what everyone sees on social media. But
Speaker 2: this is the real me, the real What was it
Speaker 2: like that process and was it cathartic?
Speaker 3: Well?
Speaker 1: I feel like.
Speaker 4: When you're thrusted into national television or into the media,
Speaker 4: it's such a crazy thing. No one prepares you for it, Like,
Speaker 4: no one really prepares you for it. And obviously I'm
Speaker 4: very vulnerable in my story and I tell it a lot,
Speaker 4: but there's no protection.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 4: I didn't have a lot of protection, and the only
Speaker 4: person that was protecting me was myself. But I loved
Speaker 4: from a young age, I really loved educating. I would
Speaker 4: go to school, I would come back what I had
Speaker 4: learned at school. I would try and teach my brothers,
Speaker 4: to the point where my brothers would be like, I'm
Speaker 4: done hiring schools with you, and I'm like, no, let
Speaker 4: me be teacher. My brother still has a little bit
Speaker 4: of a digger me now. But I just loved educating.
Speaker 4: And when I decided that I was going to write
Speaker 4: a book, it wasn't about anyone else. It was actually
Speaker 4: about me and it was about my family, and it
Speaker 4: was about reclamation, like reclaiming something that the tabloids like
Speaker 4: to use, like Brooks Trauma story, Brooks Big Bombshell, Brooks
Speaker 4: Big Secret, blah blah blah blah blah. It was like
Speaker 4: so over it. I was like, I'm so sick of
Speaker 4: people telling my story, so I'm going to tell it myself.
Speaker 4: And so I wrote this book. It was my story
Speaker 4: to put out there and it's like reclaiming my identity,
Speaker 4: reclaiming my country, and reclaiming my story like to no
Speaker 4: one can take that away from me.
Speaker 3: It's a power move.
Speaker 1: Thank you. It was a power move.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: When I put out to the world, I was there.
Speaker 3: That's the power of storytelling.
Speaker 4: Stick this daily Man. And no, they've never written about
Speaker 4: me ever. Again, they really have it, they really have it.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, you've got another book coming I do,
Speaker 2: which is really exciting. But we also wanted, you know,
Speaker 2: to share some recommendations of some of the stories outside
Speaker 2: of our world that we love and that we connect with.
Speaker 2: Brook tell me about some of the things that you
Speaker 2: find interesting in terms of storytelling and what would you recommend.
Speaker 4: Okay, I feel like the trend of my story is love.
Speaker 4: My book is called Big Love. I went on the
Speaker 4: Love Show Reality TV shows.
Speaker 3: Would you do another show like a love show? No?
Speaker 4: Okay noo? But if there's casting agents, no. I love
Speaker 4: Ja Shetty And if you don't know Ja Schetty, you should.
Speaker 4: He's amazing. He's a really great life coach. I look
Speaker 4: for his guidance in every way. I also love a
Speaker 4: lot of positivity and I'm sure you do as well,
Speaker 4: So Ted Lasso, if you've never watched it on Apple TV,
Speaker 4: you know he always says like be a goldfish, which
Speaker 4: is like forgetting ten seconds, and I love that. And
Speaker 4: he says big curious, not judgmental. When you lead with curiosity,
Speaker 4: you throw all judgment out of the way.
Speaker 3: You've been saying that a lot lately enough, it's really
Speaker 3: stuck with me. Be curious.
Speaker 1: What about you, Maddie.
Speaker 2: So I am like a big entertainment for end. You know,
Speaker 2: I love shiny floor shows. I've always been the person
Speaker 2: who would go home from school and watch Australian idol,
Speaker 2: X Factor The Voice. Sometimes I'll even sit at home
Speaker 2: and pretend I'm in a big red chair and turn
Speaker 2: around if someone's a good singer.
Speaker 3: But I love It's escape for me, you know.
Speaker 2: So I love watching music interviews, so you know Apple
Speaker 2: Music with Zay Low.
Speaker 3: I don't know if you know him.
Speaker 2: But he's an incredible interviewer and he's able to get
Speaker 2: really deep with artists and he's an inspiration to me
Speaker 2: because that's what I do to my day to day job.
Speaker 2: But I wanted to recommend a couple of well why
Speaker 2: and actually one in particular a First Nation storyteller who's
Speaker 2: a rapper and his name's Kobe D and he is
Speaker 2: such an incredible storyteller. He has an ability to be
Speaker 2: so poignant with his music and there's an education to
Speaker 2: his lyrics that I think is so powerful for our country.
Speaker 2: So at the moment, I really believe that Australia is
Speaker 2: having a moment with music and especially First Nations artists.
Speaker 2: So if you want to learn more about First Nations
Speaker 2: culture and identity, go and listen to the Mob, Go
Speaker 2: and listen to Kobe D, listen to Barka Canina. But
Speaker 2: a book that I wanted to recommend, and speaking of
Speaker 2: you know Barker and Miss Kanina, you know, women.
Speaker 3: Of color inspire me the most.
Speaker 2: I feel like I've been so touched by so many
Speaker 2: incredible matriarchs in my family. But there's a book that
Speaker 2: I read a few years ago and it was Michelle
Speaker 2: Obama Becoming, and it was a book that really took
Speaker 2: me out of I suppose the darkness that I was
Speaker 2: in at the time, and it really inspired me to
Speaker 2: find happiness independently outside of anyone. If she can do
Speaker 2: that from Barack Obama, you know what I mean like
Speaker 2: she found her independent happiness and you're not relying on other.
Speaker 3: People for that validation. Validation.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so speaking of you know women of color who
Speaker 2: are absolutely inspiring.
Speaker 1: Ayah, I just had the musk. Well, I'll read a
Speaker 1: little bit of my book.
Speaker 3: Let's do it.
Speaker 1: Ah.
Speaker 4: The whole goal is to get through this without crying.
Speaker 4: So this will give you a little bit of insight
Speaker 4: into my life. So this is up to chapter nine,
Speaker 4: so it kind of covers a little bit about It
Speaker 4: was kind of like a full circle, I guess for
Speaker 4: a brief period of my life. It took on an
Speaker 4: easy rhythm. With the bachelor behind me and the support
Speaker 4: of a loving, stable relationship, I started to really hustle
Speaker 4: in my career. So won I was working with lots
Speaker 4: of different organizations, advising and consulting on youth work programs
Speaker 4: with fin a focus on suicide prevention in First Nations communities. Occasionally,
Speaker 4: when I would walk into a room full of old
Speaker 4: white men, the energy in the room sometimes felt a
Speaker 4: little bit hostile, as if they were thinking, what can
Speaker 4: this little black girl teach me? But then I had
Speaker 4: grown in confidence so much that I knew what I
Speaker 4: was offering was important and I could help save lives.
Speaker 4: So I just looked them in the eye and they
Speaker 4: didn't waver in any of my advice or suggestions, and
Speaker 4: I think I honestly felt like I'd earned slightly a
Speaker 4: real respect in that industry. Some really exciting opportunities came
Speaker 4: my way at this stage. One of the best was
Speaker 4: being asked by UWA to give a ted X talk.
Speaker 1: It's actually out.
Speaker 4: There, so if you still want to listen to it,
Speaker 4: and this is where I was talking about my experiences
Speaker 4: growing up, and that request was just insane and it
Speaker 4: completely changed my life. I loved having such a big,
Speaker 4: engaged audience, and sometimes it was a struggle to see
Speaker 4: how many people were there, even strangers on the street,
Speaker 4: and seeing me in a particular way, the girl from
Speaker 4: the Bachelor with a glamorous easy life. Sometimes I had
Speaker 4: a bit of an unusual way of thinking about that.
Speaker 1: But while I hadn't broadcast the details.
Speaker 4: Of my family life and the trauma and hardship I'd
Speaker 4: suffered growing up, I'd never hidden the toughness of my
Speaker 4: background as an aboriginal person or shared away from talking
Speaker 4: about or expressing my queerness and the assumptions about who
Speaker 4: I was bothered me. One of the other things that
Speaker 4: bothered me was that some people saw me as a
Speaker 4: damsel in distress who needed to be saved by Nick
Speaker 4: on The Bachelor, and that wasn't true either. So these
Speaker 4: assumptions meant that a lot of people didn't see the
Speaker 4: real me, and I wanted to make sure everyone could,
Speaker 4: especially any young girl or woman who was living with
Speaker 4: poverty and disadvantage in their lives. I knew how important
Speaker 4: visibility is in breaking down stereotypes, and now I had
Speaker 4: an opportunity to talk about my story with more nuance
Speaker 4: than just headlines in the End to Time news items
Speaker 4: and snapshots and soundbites on my Instagram account. I worked
Speaker 4: with some incredible women from the TEDx unit at the
Speaker 4: university who coached me over the weeks leading up to
Speaker 4: the event, and they helped me write my presentation with
Speaker 4: those girls and young women living with disadvantage firmly in
Speaker 4: my mind. I talked about my life, how I'd had
Speaker 4: to negotiate labels all my life, how I firmly believe
Speaker 4: that if this is possible, to transcend the worst that
Speaker 4: life can throw at you. I made sure to talk
Speaker 4: about the real details some of the darkest points of
Speaker 4: my life and hope they'd connect with any young person watching,
Speaker 4: to show them that they could change their own stories
Speaker 4: and their own narratives. This was one of the most
Speaker 4: gratifying things I'd ever honestly did, and I still get goosebumps.
Speaker 1: Whenever I watch it.
Speaker 4: I can see that young woman on stage and still
Speaker 4: working out who she is. But there is like such
Speaker 4: a strength at two.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, see I'm such a sooky bum.
Speaker 4: But just as one part of my life was really
Speaker 4: taking off, another chapter was coming to an end. Blah
Speaker 4: blah blah. I broke up with my boyfriend. I'm like,
Speaker 4: I'm going on about it. We're both heartbroken. It made
Speaker 4: a decision that, you know, we needed to quit. But
Speaker 4: through all that chaos, I really needed to get out
Speaker 4: of the city where I was.
Speaker 1: Living and to be alone on country.
Speaker 4: But there is something so liberating about the highways stretching
Speaker 4: out ahead of you and nothing holding you back. Honestly,
Speaker 4: if you're going through a breakup, go for a road trip.
Speaker 4: My biggest suggestion. I went to Broom, and when I
Speaker 4: left Broom a few days later, my carp was just
Speaker 4: so much for full like if you went to Broom.
Speaker 4: You know what Broom's like. It's stunning. Just don't go
Speaker 4: in the wet season. I took the drive home back
Speaker 4: to Perth and stopping when I needed to, and there
Speaker 4: was one place I wanted to visit before I went
Speaker 4: back to my busy life. I wanted to commune with
Speaker 4: Mum and Nan and there was only one place for that,
Speaker 4: which was the Quaba Blowholes and Beach, which is where
Speaker 4: I was kind of talking about before the Blue Waters, and.
Speaker 1: That's kind of like how I pictured my childhood.
Speaker 4: Driving up to the park, I stopped at the rangers
Speaker 4: station to get my permit, and the ranger asked me
Speaker 4: if I was here alone, glancing through the window of
Speaker 4: my car, I lied and I said, oh, my boyfriend
Speaker 4: is coming later today to join me, suddenly realizing in
Speaker 4: that moment I was very vulnerable and I was a
Speaker 4: woman on my own heading into an isolated bush to
Speaker 4: camp overnight. It was pretty flimsy prediction, but it quelled
Speaker 4: in uneasy I felt. I drove to the cliff tops
Speaker 4: where we used to camp with Mum when we were kids,
Speaker 4: and just as I got there, I honestly felt so
Speaker 4: much closer to her. I pulled out my tent, set
Speaker 4: up my camp, and then walked to the best spot
Speaker 4: along the cliffs where you can gaze down at the
Speaker 4: blowholes and the ocean stretching out in front of you
Speaker 4: as far as the eye can see. It was beautiful,
Speaker 4: and watching the spray from the blowholes glint in the
Speaker 4: red sun as it started to slide into the horizon.
Speaker 4: The ocean sent all around me, the soft breeze on
Speaker 4: my skin. All I felt was peace. Then I walked
Speaker 4: the short distance to the white sands of the beach,
Speaker 4: and as I swam in the water, it felt as
Speaker 4: if the ocean was washing away all the pain from
Speaker 4: my breakup with Nick. Immediately I felt strong. I felt
Speaker 4: more like myself than I had in a long time.
Speaker 4: Country always grounds me, and water is so central to
Speaker 4: who I am, who my people are. There on the beach,
Speaker 4: it felt as if my mum and then could hear
Speaker 4: every thought that they were there with me. Taking in
Speaker 4: the sorrow. I fell and reflecting back to the strength
Speaker 4: and I hope I knew I had inside me too.
Speaker 1: Sorry, I could gather that.
Speaker 2: I mean that like that ending, you know, or yeah,
Speaker 2: being cuddled by country and your mum and Nancy like,
Speaker 2: it's such a beautiful picture.
Speaker 3: So thank you.
Speaker 4: I thought I was ram playing a little bit because
Speaker 4: I was talking about my breakup, but I feel like, yeah,
Speaker 4: you need context, So there you go.
Speaker 3: Hell And that's the power of storyteller.
Speaker 1: It really should be on his own show, shouldn't you.
Speaker 4: Guys. I know that there are other moments in my
Speaker 4: book that if I just cannot, like, I will just
Speaker 4: I will just burst out. But thank you so much
Speaker 4: for listening. Honestly, guys, it means so much to share
Speaker 4: that with you.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much. Guys. I just want to take
Speaker 1: this moment to.
Speaker 4: Well, we show up, and today you guys actually showed
Speaker 4: up for us Apple for this great opportunity, our team
Speaker 4: for this awesome opportunity, and to our followers and people
Speaker 4: that just popped in and made the time to come
Speaker 4: to watch me cry kidding. Thank you for listening to
Speaker 4: our stories. Thank you for taking the time. And I
Speaker 4: hope you feel the love reciprocated from us. That's really big.
Speaker 4: Is like a give and pool, pull and push, give
Speaker 4: and take relationship.
Speaker 2: So the best thing about you sometimes is that you
Speaker 2: say the saying that it's just not the same. It'll
Speaker 2: be like you'll try and get it out and it's
Speaker 2: like that's definitely me.
Speaker 1: Like I love you, guys, you love me.
Speaker 3: I love you.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, you, thank.
Speaker 3: You, Thanks guys, thank you.
Speaker 4: Oh.
Speaker 2: We had such a fun time doing that. We hope
Speaker 2: you enjoyed listening to that episode.
Speaker 1: It was epic. My heart is still racing from that.
Speaker 2: We just have to thank Apple again for the opportunity.
Speaker 2: It was such a great experience for both Brooke and I.
Speaker 2: But stay tuned because there is more like this to come.
Speaker 1: We hope you enjoyed it, guys,