Mahara Wayman [00:00:05]:
Welcome to the art of badassery where I explore what it takes to live life on your own terms. Break free from the status quo and unleash your inner badass. Whether you're a rebel at heart or simply seeking inspiration to step outside your comfort zone, this podcast is for you. I'm your host, Mahara Wayman. And each week, I dive into the stories, insights, and strategies of those who've mastered the art of badassery and are living life to the fullest. They smile when no one is lucky. Welcome to the art of badassery, the show where I am blessed to chat with badass women from around the world. My name is Mahara Wayman, And today, we've got none other than Braun Williams joining us.
Mahara Wayman [00:00:53]:
Braun, tell us all about you.
Bron [00:00:55]:
Thank you, Mahara. It's so great to be here. I'm in my 3rd act of life. So in my first act, I did the traditional things. I got married, had children, and I trained to be a teacher. That was something I wanted to do from the age of 8. 2nd act of life started when I turned 50. And, I walked away from my marriage.
Bron [00:01:21]:
I'd given it 28 years, and the last 15 of them had been rather difficult. And so I just couldn't do that relationship any longer. So I stepped out and shifted gears and joined the Salvation Army as the Salvation Army officer, became an ordained minister of religion, which was really interesting, and I loved, being involved in pea with people. And during that time, I worked, on a little Pacific island called Nauru with asylum seekers because the Australian government, an agreement with the Nauruan government to process asylum seekers who came to Australia by boat there. So, that was a pivotal moment for me. Net when I turned 60, as you do, I decided, okay. It's 3rd act. I'll start a business.
Bron [00:02:12]:
And so at the age of 60, I stepped into building a professional speaking business. And that's what I've been doing for the last nearly 8 years. And hopefully, this will be my last act. I think I've I've found the right place for me to finish out my working life.
Mahara Wayman [00:02:30]:
Oh my goodness. What a story. And, I'm curious if when you decided to change acts, as you said, you had act 1, act 2, and 3. What was going through your mind that allowed you to go, yeah. No. I gotta do this?
Bron [00:02:43]:
Yeah. Okay. Because each each change of act was different. With the first one, having been raised in a conservative Christian tradition, divorce was not something that was on my radar at all. In fact, the only advice we were given, when we got married was don't get divorced. And I took that to heart. And as I said, married for 28 years. So, you know, a good solid lot length of time.
Bron [00:03:14]:
However, I was really unhappy for, you know, the good say the second half of the marriage, and I tried really hard. I sort of insisted that we go to counseling. And in the end, I I left because I'd without really knowing why I was leaving but just knowing I couldn't stay any longer. But prior to that, for about 4 years, I had been looking at verses in the bible. I've been reading things all about divorce because this, for me, was almost like the unforgivable sin. It was such a huge step. I didn't know. Nobody in my church had been divorced.
Bron [00:03:51]:
Nobody in my family was divorced, so I didn't have anybody in a sense who'd gone ahead of me into this space. So yeah. So it was just like, you could call it a leap of faith, but it wasn't that. It was just I I just have to go and then figure out, you know, what what to do next. And, of course, I did that, and I've actually discovered that the what I'd recognized as passive aggressive behavior with my, my first husband, that that type of behavior is still abusive because passive aggressive is still aggressive. It just presents in a different way, like no shouting, no hitting, no throwing of anything. But in in many ways, the effects are the same, sometimes worse because you don't see the words. So that was that was the transition there.
Bron [00:04:47]:
The second, again, doesn't come like, no major life changes are ever done with on a whim or in a snap. For a long time, I'd wanted to be a professional speaker because I knew I had that ability and I wanted to impact the world. And it just seemed that at 60, I could access my superannuation. And so I knew that I actually had some finances behind me to step out and do something new. So that was it was actually turning 60 was quite a significant, point because I could then draw down my super. I had some money. Let's go and see what I can make of this next stage.
Mahara Wayman [00:05:26]:
Would you say, though, that the the decision to leave your marriage versus the decision to join the Salvation Army versus the decision to become a speaker, that the degree of desire was different in each of them?
Bron [00:05:43]:
Oh, very much so. Yeah. Because leaving my marriage wasn't so much about like, I didn't have, you know, I wasn't moving straight into a new relationship. It was 11 years before I really dated, again or no. 8 years. 8 years before I dated again. So it wasn't like I was sort of you know, I had already had somebody else lined up. It was like, that was probably the most courageous thing I've ever done in my life.
Bron [00:06:12]:
It was it was huge. So the motivation it wasn't even about trying to build a a new life or something better. I you know, when you just think, I can't stand this. I can literally cannot take this anymore. Even though I hadn't yet, at that stage, recognised what the impact of the relationship was having on me. I just knew I I can't do this anymore. I've tried so hard. I can't do this anymore.
Bron [00:06:43]:
So that was the motivation. The motivation to join The Salvation Army was, you know, because having a strong Christian background and being a woman who is a leader, you know, the the ability to be a minister, in a, you know, in a in a sort of a subculture where women are generally not leaders, for me was really, attractive. And, you know, it enabled me to get a degree as well. So I got you know, I was able to get the training. The then the step out of the Salvation Army and into professional speaking is probably the easiest or the and the simplest and the most straightforward. That does not mean that the journey for the last 8 years has been anything but convoluted. And it circles and up and down and all over the place. But the decision to do it was easy because this was about me following my heart.
Mahara Wayman [00:07:34]:
I think what's what's a big call out here is there are there's two reasons why we make it why we move, why we make a change. And one is that we're running from something. We've got to get away from something. And the other, as you know and you've said quite eloquently, is I was moving towards something.
Bron [00:07:52]:
And
Mahara Wayman [00:07:52]:
Yes. Both cases require courage. But without a doubt, when you don't know what you're running what you're going to, you just know you gotta leave, that's especially courageous and very, very powerful. Tell us a little bit more about how life was for you once you'd made that decision. Like, how did it go Okay. For school, your husband?
Bron [00:08:14]:
Yeah. Look. I love that that question. I had this image. I used to describe myself in those first couple of years after leaving the marriage as like a little frog on a rock in a pond. And I was on this rock and all I needed to know was what's the next rock to get to to get across the pond. And that was really because I was in such uncharted territory. I as I said, I did not have anybody in my circle, family or friends, who had been divorced, who'd actually navigated this, at least recently.
Bron [00:08:54]:
Well, yeah. So there really wasn't anybody to sort of say, Bron, this is the thing that you need to do or even give me any advice. So I was really very dependent. For me, it was on guidance, you know, God opening up something, you know, as the next as the next rock, in the pond. And that's very much how I felt it. Of course, there were, you know, there were impacts on family. You know, my my sons were in their teens and older. And don't let anybody ever tell you that, divorce doesn't affect older your older children? It certainly does.
Bron [00:09:31]:
And sometimes I think it's harder because they've had a lifetime of knowing you in one role, and then all of a sudden you you step away from that role and, you know, and depending on the person, they find it, more or less easy to come to terms with. And, you know, that brings a whole lot of other dynamics. Yeah. But, look, I think, actually, when I look back to those, particularly those first couple of years, you know, having to find a little place on my own, support myself, You know, I I had no money. Like, so many women of my generation, you know, I'd I'd stopped full time work before my children were born. I'd only done part time teaching to, you know, supplement my husband's income. The only thing that I had on my own was a credit card with, I think, a maximum of $5,000 on it. But the interestingly, when I was able to get that credit card before I left the marriage, I I knew that that was significant because I knew if I have to go, I've actually got access to some money because I didn't have me in the bank.
Bron [00:10:35]:
So yeah. So it was, you know, very tenuous. Starting again from scratch when you're 50 is hard. But you do it because there you in a sense, there's now you either go back or you go forward.
Mahara Wayman [00:10:51]:
Well, I think that's that's the thing that is that's so powerful about this journey of being human. Right? I I say it all the time for spiritual beings having a human existence. And when we give ourselves permission to grow, sometimes it really hurts. Right? And we know that we can't stay still. And there's that balance of, okay. Okay. What's next? Am I willing to jump in and do that? But I I'm curious to go from divorced Christian, what was it about the Salvation Army that attracted you so? And had you yeah. This is next.
Mahara Wayman [00:11:30]:
Yeah. Yeah. Hitch my wagon to this.
Bron [00:11:33]:
Yeah. Look. That's a good question. Well, you know, I was living in regional New South Wales, so not in a big city. And, you know, when you separate, and you're always and you're part of a church, it was be it became awkward to keep rocking up to church as 2 separated people, you know, when you'd always attended, like, together. So I left the church, where I had been. But there were and the other the other churches in the area were not ones that I felt I would feel at home with. And I knew some people at The Salvation Army, and I thought, okay.
Bron [00:12:19]:
And I I went on that first day and I sat in the back row just hoping to sit quietly and go and observe, but they welcomed me with open arms. And so, that was that really was why it was like I knew some people, I went there, and then I was made welcome. So that that was really, it was about finding a new community. Mhmm. And then there was a process after that of of then re of training with them as an officer.
Mahara Wayman [00:12:51]:
So what's the biggest thing you learned about yourself with your time with The Salvation Army?
Bron [00:12:56]:
Oh goodness. No one has ever asked me that question. Well, the biggest thing I've learned about myself is I am more powerful than I ever thought.
Mahara Wayman [00:13:09]:
Hence, I'm I'm doing a high five for those of you that aren't watching the, the video of this. That's an amazing thing to recognize. Specific incident that you can share with us when that became crystal clear to you?
Bron [00:13:21]:
Yeah. Actually, I I don't think it's I really become fear until the last couple of years. So, like, I left the marriage in 2006. So, you know, it's 18 years ago. And I think it's it like all most of these things, you know, it's more a process than a than a big bang. I've I've had to unlearn the messaging from my childhood and growing up years. You know, to be the good daughter, good wife, good mother, good Christian woman, and to, you know, sit down, be quiet and play small. Knowing all the time that I'm a woman of decided opinions, that I'm intelligent, articulate, and I make decisions quickly, and I, you know, and then I know what I want.
Bron [00:14:16]:
And yet I felt that it wasn't in a sense, wasn't right for me to be the way I am naturally or the but I didn't push back against it because my faith culture was important to me. That was my family, my community. I trusted what they said. And so I think I just operated from the fact of, well, I have to change these things in me that don't fit the pattern that I have been said, you know, a woman should be shaped into? And it's, I suppose in terms of incidents, I was at a lunch in Sydney, probably gosh, the year's running into each other. So I was pre it was pre COVID. So let's say 5 years ago, and a random man who was a friend of the the woman who'd organized it, said to me, who are you giving your power away to? And immediately, I said men, and then I said, no, my sons. So I recognized in that moment that I had been giving my power away to men and then particularly my sons because I believe I'd actually been taught that that was what a woman should do. You know, you should be submissive.
Bron [00:15:37]:
A husband needs to be the head of the household. So that, I think, was the catalyst moment for me to recognize, a, that I had power, and b, I was responsible if I was giving it away. And so it's probably been these last 5 years where I have started to really step into my own power and not apologize for the fact that I'm intelligent, articulate, and have decided opinions, and then to encourage other women who are like me, because there's lots of us out there, to do the same. Not necessarily leave your marriages, but, you know, step into your power.
Mahara Wayman [00:16:15]:
I I really first of all, thank you for sharing that story, and I think it's worth calling out that often we have our biggest lessons from things that we didn't weren't even aware of. So the minute you acknowledge that you had given your power away, it also means that you had something to give away.
Bron [00:16:34]:
Yes.
Mahara Wayman [00:16:35]:
Right? And that is really powerful. Not to use that word too much in this in this conversation, but what a great call out. You know, so listeners, if you've ever felt that you have given your power away or in anything similar to this, recognize that the minute you would you admit to that or you recognize it, it means that you have it. And here's think. If you give it, you can take it. You know, we are not stuck with our behavior up until you know, we always have a choice. We always have a choice. So curious.
Mahara Wayman [00:17:09]:
How did or did you change your energy exchange with your sons after that realization?
Bron [00:17:21]:
Yeah. I think, as I said, the, you know, marriage breakup, I was the active one in it. I was the one who left. And passive aggressive behavior is such that the people who operate that way appear nice, funny, all that sort of thing. And yet underneath, there's this quite angry person who's taking it out in little subtle ways, often disguised with humor so that, you know, oh, can't you take a joke? And that, you know, they've just said something quite nasty and, you know, oh, can't you take a joke? So on the face of it, I was I was the bad one. I left the marriage. And my ex husband was very good and still is at playing the victim. You know? Oh, poor me.
Bron [00:18:17]:
I act I actually had a friend who, who knew him and said, look, you know, he says to people, oh, my wife lent me and I don't know why. You know? So I know that he's so that was in a sense the images that were being, were being cast. So I was the, I was the bad person for leaving the marriage and breaking the marriage up. And that it impacted my younger sons more than my eldest. And so I did a lot. So getting back to your initial question, I did a lot of I'm gonna think of the word. Pacifying, placating their anger. And so, you know, it was a case of I would take their anger and their disappointment and their, you know, whatever frustration.
Bron [00:19:07]:
And I would just carry it and wear it, because I understood. I understood why they were angry. I understood why they were disappointed. I you know? And I could see oh gosh. Talking about this is giving me a real weight on the chest. So this is actually really still something that's hugely meaningful for me, a period in my life. Yeah. Just, I carried all that weight because I felt I could.
Bron [00:19:38]:
Because I, I know I'm strong. And, I wanted them to be able to heal and I wanted them to, to know in a sense that I was a safe place for them, that I loved them regardless of, what what they did to me in a in a it's not that you know, again, it's just about they're being angry with me. But I wanted them to know that I was a safe place. However, after understanding that I was by doing that, I was actually giving my power as a human being away to them. I was putting my needs down, privileging theirs. I actually, at one point, blocked my my sons on social media. And because I just needed to step away from their energy and not be involved with them. If I didn't block them, I unfollowed them or just so that I didn't see even the things that they were doing.
Bron [00:20:53]:
And that was probably about 6 months that I did that because I just needed to step away from that energy. And, really, thank you so much for asking these questions because I don't know that I've actually articulated this as a whole before. And I so I'm really valuing, the the opportunity to do this because it helps me again keep putting things in perspective and slotting them into their places in my in my growth, in my journey. So, yeah, that that's it was that sense of stepping away, of protecting myself. And then when I felt as though I was ready to step back, and engage with that energy again, I did that under my own terms. And, you know, that it it brings with it, Well, there's disappointment from my perspective because that is not how I I thought my life as a mother was going to turn out. You know? Because because we have this picture that we'll always, you know, have these lovely relationships, with our with our children, and it doesn't always work out that way. You know, that said, I have sufficiently good relationships with all my sons that we can talk on the phone for half an hour or we can be in a family gathering and there's no tension.
Bron [00:22:13]:
But I don't have the closeness, particularly with the 2 younger ones, that I would have liked. And I just had to keep coming to terms with that, that that's the reality of my life.
Mahara Wayman [00:22:26]:
I'm gonna take a short break right now, but promise to be back with my guest soon. Hey, ladies. Are you ready to level up? Join my 6 month group coaching program and get 24 live hour long Zoom sessions with personalized guidance and a connection with a community of like minded ladies. Get crystal clarity so you discover your passions and feel significant growth personally and professionally. Become unapologetically authentic, so you embrace your badass self, and say goodbye to impostor syndrome. Grow your mindset so you attract success effortlessly. Strengthen your inner courage so you crush challenges with confidence, And set empowering boundaries so you celebrate unwavering determination. And craft your dream business so you step confidently into your future.
Mahara Wayman [00:23:19]:
Unleash your inner badass today and build a better business. Visit www.mindfulnesswithmahara.com to learn more and secure your spot. Here's to you. Thank you for your honesty and your vulnerability in sharing. I think so many women that are either in a difficult marriage or relationship or have have actually separated have years of guilt and shame and, you know, all of those things that come with being a mom. Because, guys, being a mom, I'm telling you, it's something special. Right? We can we have we carry so much want and so much we can carry so much guilt for what we think we haven't provided for our children. But I think it's important that we talk about the fact that everything there's a what am I trying to say? There are consequences to every action.
Mahara Wayman [00:24:17]:
And when things don't go our way, it doesn't necessarily mean that it has anything to do with us or as a reflection of our worthiness. And I commend you for being able to say, I am disappointed, but I have accepted it. We can be disappointed. Right? I have 2 children, and we can be disappointed in their behavior. We can be disappointed in our behavior, but it doesn't take away our worthiness or it shouldn't if we if we have if if we've learned to do that. Did you have support to navigate this? Because you're articulating it so well, and I'm wondering, oh my god. Did she have some help? Did she have did you have therapy? Did you have a coach? Did you have counseling? How did you navigate this?
Bron [00:25:03]:
I think I've had support all the way along. In the initial years, I had a very good friend in the town, that I was living in. And she just stood with me. And, and that was and she said, I don't have any, I don't have any answers for you. Right? And I'd say, I don't need answers. I just need you to be here. And I will always be, grateful to her for that. And so probably for the first 3 or 4 years, she was a really good support for me.
Bron [00:25:39]:
Once I joined The Salvation Army, I was able, oh, even before that, I'd accessed some, some counselling. And so I did counselling probably for 5 or 6 years. Some of it to do with me personally. And then, The Salvation Army, has what they call supervision, which is basically going to see a counsellor about what's happening in your church because you're doing all this interpersonal stuff. And often it brings up your own junk. You know? So, yeah, I probably did that probably even maybe 7 or 8 years of of, you know, semi regular sessions with a counselor, like, you know, every month or every couple of months. And that was really good. It you know, like, it was not necessarily always about finding out something huge, but huge things did come out just as we talked through things.
Mahara Wayman [00:26:34]:
What a great call out. I know that, you know, as a coach, I have you know, people have an assumption that and I admit that even I had this assumption that you have to be really, really, really hurting to ask for help. And I I think it's one of the biggest misunderstandings in in my profession is, you know what? You don't have to be that. You don't have to hurt to ask for help. We all need help. It just looks differently. And many of us, myself included, had no idea how much help we actually needed until we started on something surface. And I've said this I've shared this story before, method coach, the first 6 months of the of the year long program, we learned all of the techniques and we would practice on each other.
Mahara Wayman [00:27:25]:
And And I remember thinking, oh my god. I'm not that like, I don't have that many problems. Can we just get to the business part of this? I don't need to do inner child work. Like, what is that? And, of course, within, like, first 30 minutes of doing inner child work with my partner, I was sobbing. And who knew? Right? And it brought up all of these things. But as far as being a badass, I wanna make sure that our listeners recognize that badasses need help too. And what makes them badasses is they're willing to ask for it. Because I believe that when we ask for help, we are telling the universe that we matter and that it's okay that we don't have the answers.
Mahara Wayman [00:28:04]:
Right? It's okay. If I was born with all the answers, I'd be the messiah, and that's not me. I'm Mahara. Right? So thank you for sharing that and and letting us know that you did have help along the way. Can we jump forward now to your time with the Salvation Army and became an ordained minister with them? And, obviously, you, really developed your leadership skills. You said that your biggest learning from that was recognizing the power that you have. What did you do with that power?
Bron [00:28:36]:
Okay. Now that's interesting. I don't think yeah. That's that's a good question. The recognizing my power actually didn't come until after I left the Salvation Army and completely stepped away from the, Christian tradition in which I'd been raised. And I had spent literally 6 decades of my life Because it there continues to be the messaging that, you know, despite being an ordained minister, I was still only a woman. And, you know, and you could see it in the hierarchical structure that that women generally did not get the same sort of promotional, opportunities. But the thing that was significant the most significant thing for me from my time in the salbos actually, there was 2.
Bron [00:29:32]:
1 was working with a woman who had schizophrenia, while I was in Canberra. And that's probably my biggest if I can say what was your biggest achievement with them, it was actually just being with this woman, helping her navigate doctor's appointments, you know, meetings with government departments. She felt unsafe in the rental housing that she had, and she needed to get out and move. And over an 18 month period, you know, I wrote letters. I went to group meetings with her, and she got to a safe place. And for me, that was the most significant thing I did because I helped change someone's life. And I learned a lot, in the process. But personally, it was when I was working on, as I said, on Nauru, so Pacific Island, very different culture to the Australian culture, working with, then asylum seekers and refugees who were from the Middle East largely.
Bron [00:30:36]:
And I was confronted by all this difference. You know, here's the girl who's grown up in largely white Australia who only speaks English from, you know, this Christian faith background. So all these people who had brown, black skins, who spoke different languages, and a lot of them were Muslim, you know, like, totally, totally different to me. I recognized that I had this latent racist bias. Not because I wanted to. It wasn't part of my value system. But I'd learned, again, messaging, that people who were different to me were were a threat. And also the whole thing around white privilege and white superiority.
Bron [00:31:16]:
Being now in a different culture, people whose skin color was very different to mine, who had different languages. You know, I only speak English, all these other languages. I had a Christian faith background. A lot of the refugees were Muslim. I was confronted with difference on a big scale, and that helped me. My my own bodily reactions, you know, feeling afraid helped me recognize that I had this latent racist bias, largely from growing up in white Australia. That was didn't fit with my values of connection and of being inclusive. So, you know, I I recognized that I had these values here, but I also had this other way of thinking that I didn't like.
Bron [00:32:07]:
And I had to recognize that the two things were true in my life. But I also recognized, as I observed, how the white expats, including myself, were responding to the narruins. You know, like the whole, oh, I come from a developed country. I've got a university education. Therefore, of course, I know better. And when I sat down with Fatima, who headed up the Salvation Army and the Ruined team, and said this is what I've been observing, she said, oh, we know that about you guys, but we just accept it. So here she was reflecting back to me what I had been observing. So, you know, that's the first time I understood about it, white privilege and white superiority.
Bron [00:32:52]:
So those two things, which were things I had to learn about myself, when we talk about power, I believe the more we know ourselves, the more powerful we are. So having to face the dark side of us And it's not necessarily, you know, big monsters inside. It's just things about us that don't fit with our values, but recognizing and owning those things. When we know those things about ourselves, we think it's choice. What am I gonna do? Am I going to continue to allow those unconscious ways of doing things to impact my relationships and my decisions? Or can I change that? Can I be aware that I've got these ways of thinking but not allow them to impact me? So that's, in a sense, is where your power comes from too. It's recognizing what's in you and who you are and then deciding, well, if you don't like what it is, what
Mahara Wayman [00:33:51]:
are you gonna do about it? Here. Here. Hands up. Giving you a high five. One of the hardest things that I've learned on my journey so far is recognizing that just because I feel something doesn't make it true. And that's a really that was a big one for me. And also that I actually do have a choice in every single thing I do, think, act, say, And that's part of being a badass. It's not about being a bitch or being the loudest or the meanest or the most aggressive.
Mahara Wayman [00:34:30]:
It's about, to your point, I think, recognizing our power. And our power lies in being authentic and vulnerable and questioning, wow, why do I feel that way when I see the homeless man across the street? Why does my heart race? Why do why am I saying that in my head? Of course, I'm just picking things out of the air here, but part of being human is figuring out why we're feeling the way we're feeling. And truthfully Yes. A lot of us have. There's a reason why we feel this way because we had lousy things happen to us, but it doesn't make us lousy. Right? And I I that's what I'm hearing from your story is even, you know, as as this grown up woman with in this church having these epiphanies later on in life. I'm right with you because, of course, my epiphanies have come fairly recently as well. But it is a great thing to have, and it's okay if if you're human.
Mahara Wayman [00:35:31]:
Right? It's what you do with it that matters.
Bron [00:35:33]:
Yes. Absolutely.
Mahara Wayman [00:35:35]:
Okay. So what was what got you to jump from the Salvation Army to public speaking?
Bron [00:35:44]:
There are a couple of things. One was this is something I'd always wanted to do even before I joined the Salvation Army. But also, I knew that, like, The Salvation Army really looks after its long serving officers. But because I joined midlife, I wasn't gonna qualify for that support when I retired. So I knew I was gonna have to make it on my own at some stage. So let's do it at 60 rather than at 67. That that was one of the deciding factors. And, really, it was just again, you know, finances came together.
Bron [00:36:25]:
I started out, house sitting, so I knew, you know, I knew I had I had some safe places to go. So it really was just, in a sense, getting all the ducks in a row and going, now now I will start this. Had no idea how I was gonna do it, but that didn't matter. Sometimes you just gotta start.
Mahara Wayman [00:36:46]:
So what is it about public speaking that fills your cup?
Bron [00:36:52]:
Oh, I like that. Because I am one of the, like, I think, 1% of people in the world for whom public speaking is a joy rather than absolute terror. Why is it that that fills my power? It is my happy place. It doesn't mean that it I don't expend energy. I do expend energy and often I feel quite tired after it because you're literally sharing of yourself, even with the most well constructed presentation. There most of it is is you, you know? You you are sharing out of your heart, you know, you're not winging it, but you are sharing out of your heart out of things that are important to you. And I think it's because there has always been stuff in my heart that I wanna share. Plus, I have the gift of the gab.
Bron [00:37:40]:
So I have this ability to speak and to be articulate. And being in front of people does not scare me, at all and really hasn't for a long, long, long time. Not since sort of teenage years, really. So this I think that's just I've got a natural, ability in that area. But and I think this is what attracted me to teaching too. I'm a natural teacher. I want to impart things. I know I have wisdom.
Bron [00:38:09]:
I know I've learned lots of stuff And I was talking with, talking young men from the US this morning, and I said, you know, gray hair, the wise woman stuff. And I think, you know, that's particularly the area that I'm in now. I don't want other people, particularly other women, having to do the journey that I've done if they could, you know, jump a few steps. You know, if I could share some stuff with them so that they can have that epiphany in their forties or in their thirties rather than in their fifties sixties. So that, you know, it's, yeah, you know, I just wanna I just wanna be able to help people understand themselves better because that is the most exciting journey of our lives.
Mahara Wayman [00:39:01]:
Oh, amen to that. So do you call yourself a motivational speaker, or do you speak on specific topics as a public speaker?
Bron [00:39:10]:
Yeah. Look. I suppose loosely, I'm a motivational speaker. My two main areas that I speak about, speak on are unconscious bias and women and their power. And the 2 actually meld together often.
Mahara Wayman [00:39:27]:
Nice. So would you say, now that you, you know, are looking back on your life, would you say that this has been your secret power, your superpower all along, and it just took you 50 odd years to find it?
Bron [00:39:43]:
It's a again, that's a good question. One thing that I've recognized over time is that I have a really well developed injustice right now. And I I I'm I've I've often wondered, and I'll probably need to give this some more thought. The fact that I see women and I saw women even before I was cognitively able to start joining the dots, I saw capable women not being used to the best of their ability. That whether that that was tugging at that injustice that is so strong in me. You know, and so I I think that's I think that's the motivator. And I I saw that around me with women and I continue to see that around me with women, you know, and, you know, women of all colors, races. Like, this is a global issue.
Bron [00:40:49]:
This is not a Western culture issue. This is a global issue. You know? Patriarchy is a global system. So I think it's the injustice is at the heart of it. So it's fighting the injustice that I see that half of the population suffers under.
Mahara Wayman [00:41:12]:
Well, I wanna say thank you for that because not all of us choose to act on what we see. Right? Not all of us do that. And I wanna call out that it takes a lot of guts to do what you're doing. And I wanna thank you for that because every, you know, every time we talk it's why I do the podcast. Every time we have a conversation and people hear it, it's an opportunity to affect change. And if we want the world to be a better place, then we have to do our part. Not saying that everybody needs to get up on a podium and and beat the stick and beat the drum. But if you have a calling, and I'm speaking to you guys listeners, if you have a calling in your heart to step a little bit outside of your comfort zone to make a difference in the world, do it.
Mahara Wayman [00:42:00]:
It makes you badass, and it's what you're here for. Right? We are we're not here just to grow up and have kids and and, you know, and experience challenges. We're here to make a difference in our world, and we are one community. Right? It's so evident now. Look. I'm in Alberta, Canada. You're Melbourne, and we are chit chatting like you're next door. So the world's a small place.
Mahara Wayman [00:42:25]:
And just as a challenge to to all of the listeners, if there's that little thing that you've been thinking about, wouldn't it be nice if? I'm challenging you to take one step towards that because that's what we are here for. We're here to make a difference in the world. Ron, what's coming up for you as far as your public speaking or anything else that you'd like to share with our audience today?
Bron [00:42:46]:
Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. I'm I'm doing quite a few workshops at the moment. I'm, yep, so I've got, hopefully, some workshops in Kuala Lumpur, which will be wonderful. That'll be an opportunity to go to Asia, which I've not done before. And also, you know, doing some professional development work with, an educational institution here in Melbourne. So, yeah, I'm loving the diversity of opportunities that I'm getting at the moment.
Mahara Wayman [00:43:18]:
Sounds amazing. Well, I can't thank you enough for sitting down and chatting with me today. I've loved our conversation, and I'm excited to see what the rest of the year brings for you. So please do keep in touch. Listeners, check the show notes. Anything that I can put in everything that I can put in there, I'm gonna put in there because I would love you to know more about this amazing woman and all of the work that she's doing to make the world a better place. My name is Mahara. This has been the Art of Badassery, and I will see you next week.
Mahara Wayman [00:43:47]:
Thanks again. Thank you for tuning in to the art of badassery. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and gained valuable insights to help unleash your inner badass. If you found this podcast helpful, please leave a rating or review on your favorite platform. Your feedback not only helps me improve the show, but it also helps others like yourself discover the podcast. Until next time, keep embracing your authenticity and living life on your terms. Here's to you.
