Collective Conversations
Kia ora! My name is Tiki. I have been working with a group of awesome young women to create The Conversation Collective, a podcast all about young women’s wellbeing, for Shift! Right now you listen to series one, and subscribe to the podcast, on Spotify and Apple podcasts.
I have to mihi to the wonderful Lily Chalmers and Mike Duffy at Naenae Clubhouse, LowerHutt. Thank you for generously sharing your expertise, and the Naenae Clubhouse equipment and space with Shift! Thank you to our funders for this project: The Centre for Sport, Peace and Society at The University of Tennessee, and the Ministry of Youth Development here in Aotearoa New Zealand.
I want to share what I’ve learnt through this youth led podcast project. If you are interested in empowering young women and youth voices then read on!
What does a youth led podcast sound like?
Six months ago I had no idea what a podcast that was genuinely led by young women might sound like! But then I had one of those magic moments when the penny drops. Unsurprisingly that moment happened while I was listening to young women speak, and it happened in a car on a sunny day…
I was whizzing up the highway between Wellington and Waikanae. Three young women from the podcast project were crammed into my tiny car with me. We were on our way to our third meeting to co-design and dream up the structure, style and content of what would become The Conversation Collective podcast. As you might imagine, none of us knew each other that well yet. I had been feeling nervous… what would I talk to these inspiring young women about for an hour-long drive?! I should have known better! Car journeys have a mysterious way of pulling you out of your day to day thoughts and freeing up your mind. Cars can be wonderful spaces to talk.
That day, as the girls began to chat and the coast sped past the passenger side windows, the conversation grew more and more animated. Before I knew it I was listening to an earnest discussion about dealing with climate change anxiety, the power of choice, and the hopes for the future that these young women nurtured. The conversation stretched and expanded, each person taking turns to voice her opinions and thoughts. There was laughter and hardly a pause for breath. I stopped trying to get a word in and just listened. And that’s when the penny dropped: this was exactly what our project was trying to capture! The podcast would be a vehicle, a space, for these young women’s voices to be heard. Just as we turned off the highway the car fell silent. After a moment of quiet Cayla exclaimed “Oh! We should have recorded that for the podcast!”
“I’ve loved creating this podcast with everyone so much. We learn so much from each other and get to talk about our shared experiences as well — we also laugh HEAPS!” ~ Gina
Holding space for young women’s voices.
We wanted to create a Shift podcast that would act as a platform so that young women’s voices might impact and shift perspectives on wellbeing issues that concern them. This is a framework with a real opportunity for system changes to be driven from the bottom up! But how, I asked myself, do you go about capturing these conversations about young women’s wellbeing so that they are genuinely led by young women?
At Shift it doesn’t matter if you’re making a podcast, going tramping or leading a dance class, the goal is always the same: empowering young women and girls. Within this ethos the process or journey is perhaps even more important than the end result (be that a podcast series or a dance choreography). Eventually I realised that my role was to create and hold a space where empowerment was possible. If I focused on, trusted, and empowered the young women in front of me then I didn’t need to worry about the podcast itself. In trying to achieve this I learnt three things that felt essential to this kaupapa of holding space.
1. Co-design.
This is Shift’s empowerment 101. Co-designing with young women is everything. Essentially what it means is that you support young women to make decisions and create outcomes, rather than making decisions for them. This is empowering because it gives young women a real, tangible experience of personal power and agency in enacting their decisions. But co-design isn’t always the easy option! When you fully support a co-design process you have to put aside your own ego. You have to give authority to someone else’s voice. Giving young women authority, while supporting and encouraging them, is empowerment.
// An example of co-design in a youth led podcast project:
The only parameter that was set for the podcast project was that it would be about young women’s wellbeing. But the first thing I did was to ask the girls “what does wellbeing mean to you?”. From the beginning it was the young women who defined which topics were most important to talk about. I supported them in creating a common structure for the podcast, but then each of them took ownership over an episode. The young women decided who they wanted to interview and what they wanted to ask them.
2. Be present.
After co-design, the second thing I learnt was to be present and to take time. When you are present with someone you are showing them that you see them and you’re listening to them. Ultimately it’s about respect. But being present isn’t just an ‘in the moment’ thing. It’s about consistency too. Showing up and being present again and again tells someone that you can be relied upon. It’s a huge privilege to work closely with young people, and they don’t owe you openness or vulnerability. Only over time can you build up relationships that are based on mutual respect and trust.
// What does this look like during a youth led podcast project:
I knew I wouldn’t get a group of young people to recreate their informal ‘car chats’ by shoving a microphone under their nose on day one. So there was a “delay” between starting the project and starting the recording process. In fact we had about 7 weeks of meeting up before hitting the record button. This was seven weeks of co-designing, organising, contacting interviewees… but all the while it was about whakawhanaungatanga, building relationships. Of course, it wouldn’t be a Shift project if it wasn’t for check ins, chats about wellbeing and co-design! This is the good stuff. For the young women to get the most out of being involved (leadHERship skills, confidence, personal growth, friendship) it’s essential to build up relationships based on trust and respect. This takes time.
3. Be authentic.
My third learning sounds simple but is perhaps the most challenging to do. Being yourself can be hard! We all want others to see us in a certain light. But if you try to authentically be yourself then you set the tone for others to do the same. When you combine this with holding space for others then you won’t be saying “be like me” but hopefully “you do you!”
// Being authentic during a youth led podcast project meant:
Being real during check ins (no one is always 10/10), respecting boundaries, making mistakes, not pretending to be an expert, laughing at myself and keeping some of my silly recorded moments in the final edit!
Special thank you to Jess, Gina, Kaitlyn, Cayla, Ronia and Brooke for making a brilliant podcast series and for teaching me so much!
If you want to learn more about The Conversation Collective, the young women behind it, and our upcoming second series then head over to our website and follow us on instagram!
