Inspirations

NDN Talk-O's with Mary Big Bull-Lewis
In this first episode of NDN Talk-O's, I talk about reconnecting with my culture, what inspired me to launch my second business, Wenatchi Wear, how I launched a land back fundraiser and formed a nonprofit, Indigenous Roots & Reparation Foundation. I also talk with my friend, Chelsea Murphy, who is a local advocate and inspiration. She wears many hats and recently added co-producer to her title as the new Brave Space Media film Expedition Reclamation has now entered the film festival world. She shares how they as a female lead media group are looking to redefine what the norm is in this predominantly male lead industry.

Transcript

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t’il’xest išc̓qwǝnčút OKII NITANIKKOO hello everyone. My name's Mary big bull Lewis. I'm here today coming from the homelands of my ancestors, the p'squosa Wenatchee. Today we're launching my first episode of my new podcast called NDN Talk-O's. On this podcast, I'm going to share my lived experiences, stories, information, and also meet with some really cool people to discuss what they're working on, their advocacy work and how they're making positive change. I am an enrolled member of the Colville Confederated tribes of the Wenatchi, Moses Entiat bands and a descendant of the Blackfoot Tribe. In this first episode, I'm meeting with my friend, Chelsea Murphy. If you're not familiar with her, she has a great Instagram page called she colors nature. If you don't follow her, I recommend you should. And she shares information and her lived experiences as a black woman living in a primarily white community and the importance of BIWOC in the outdoors. Today on this first ever podcast, I'm going to be talking about what it was like to launch my second small business in 2019 called Wenatchi Wear, I'm going to talk about how that led up to fundraising for a community center for all indigenous peoples. How that quickly transformed into me, founding a nonprofit to take that over as well as about the difference that Chelsea and her co-producers are making with the new brave space film projects. She's a co-producer of expedition reclamation, which is a story of 12 by one. In the outdoors. So black indigenous women of color in the outdoors and how we recreate. It's also important to talk about how they're changing the dialogue with payments for using land and how they're making a positive change in that industry. So I hope you enjoy the first episode. Here we go. I wanted to have a discussion with her and talk about, like how we first met and some projects and different things and give an update on how things are going. I first met Chelsea through advocacy work, we found each other on Instagram. With good old social media and, had came across her and what she was doing and she helped form a fundraising thing to amplify this clothing drive that we had been doing for the Colville children, and family services. It was a great, like the first time I met her was at this event in person. I wanted to invite her on here to share her story and her information, but also to, just tell us about brave space media and the current film project. So I will go ahead and pass that over to Chelsea. Yeah. Hey, Mary. Thank you so much for having me on I just appreciate you as a community member. I'm a really strong indigenous voice and presence here in our valley. So thank you so much for bringing me on. I appreciate that. As you said, my name is Chelsea Murphy. I use she her pronouns and I founded a community on Instagram, right called she colors nature back in 2019, which for some reason feels like eons ago. I just began to explore the outdoor community and hopes to connect with other black indigenous people of color who love to get outdoors. And my family and I live, work and play on the ancestral lands of the p'squosa So peoples where my husband grew up I Grew up in San Diego and Tacoma, Washington. But in my work today, I advocate for racial equity and inclusion and bring representation of black motherhood outdoors and encourage conversation on racism in regards to the back country community. As a mother creator writer, speaker film producer. Now I can add that to my resume and a lover of all things in the outdoors. I'm on a mission to create space for people that look like Mary and I. In regards to the film projects, expedition reclamation, which is being screened right now at no man's land film festival. I am a co-producer and co-director and character. So brave space media is a product of a really intentional community in hopes to create a film, highlighting the stories that flowed from this community or what we used to refer to it as the brave space film project. Before we had a title for the film. At the tail end of 2019, I was approached by a local filmmaker now, forever friend named Erin joy Nash. She recognized my advocacy work on social media, and at that point had already made her stance in the local film world or the Leavenworth film festival with an all women outdoor film. The year that she put that film fail forward, fast into circuit. I actually saw it. My husband and I had attended live more film festival. And I just remember thinking and leaving man, there really are no women in this film, let alone women of color in the film world. Aaron was really hard pressed to change all of that. So she reached out to me and asked if I wanted to be a producer on a film project that she was dreaming up, but she needed my help and understanding and telling the stories of the women she was hoping to reach. She was at that point I had no introduction to film. So when she asked me to be a producer on the project, Just asked for a definition what does that mean? What does my workload look like? What am I supposed to do? And so we just first started talking about dreaming up all of those things. Yeah, she has a certain level of understanding that I haven't seen in other white women in this outdoor mountain town that we live in. She recognized the need for not only women of color in front of the camera, but behind it as well. So that's really where it all began. And that's where I came into this picture of. Brave space, film project, which then turned into Brave Space Media, which is working on there, our first film ever expedition reclamation. Yeah, so I guess in, at the tail end of 2019, and then rolling into 2020, the pandemic hit. And so Erin and I began hashing out and dreaming of all the ways that we wanted to bring this community to a movement and a film project. It started with just, hanging out and getting a beer at icicle brewery in downtown Leavenworth, and then moved to lots of porch chats and Hangouts and making. Documents and Google sheets and different things. Just trying to sort out all of our hopes and dreams. Then as the pandemic began to creep in, we had to get really creative about the ways that we wanted to interact with each other and the women we wanted stories from, it was a lot of social media and zoom calls. A lot of zoom calls. Our intention was to create a brave space with each other and with them. And we essentially had to lay out the foundation in this really digital world, which was, it created barriers and ways that were more difficult, but we did it. And so it's cool to take, be able to talk about the beginnings of how this all started with you, for sure. Yeah. No, that's great. And that's, getting a timeline of when brave space. Like form than the idea of that. And that's coincidentally, when I launched 20 actually, where, and when I decided that me and my husband are co-owners of two small businesses here in Wenatchee, Washington our digital design. And then we wanted to launch a clothing brand that not only shared our love for the land, but ways to give back, live in reciprocity and change the way that, the meaning of wearing a t-shirt that it's not just a t-shirt or just a sticker. And so we finally launched that in 2019 after about a year of planning and meeting with people and discussing and trying to come up with the name. And what does that mean? And that kind of became a whole. Revelation for me as a person growing up in this primarily white community as a native woman understanding that, I don't need to assimilate in that. I can be proud of who I am and I don't need to blend in. I can still learn the things despite, my non-traditional upbringing. And, that's when I say that it's not like a jab or anything negative, I'm not unique in that because there's a lot of native Americans that are raised this way, because that's the way that our society has. Brought us to be through assimilation, residential schools, genocide. And so it became a really big part of my life to do something different and think outside the box. so sharing stories through art is something that both me and my husband are passionate about. And so we launched it and I was honestly like, how is Wenatchee going to take this new brand? Is it going to be welcoming? Is it going to be not welcomed? I wasn't sure. And we launched that in part of, our native community is to give back and to help our community and find ways to do that. And so another big part of that was defined out what can I do? And so finding a way to create a welcoming space for all those young natives, all those kids that are raised here. Our native Americans that aren't around traditional teachings, that aren't around the languages that have been assimilated. How can we create a welcoming space for them and for people to come to, to travel and to teach languages, to teach basket weaving, to just teach our culture. And a lot of the languages are lost. There's not very many fluent speakers. And so that's really important. And this was always a goal to create a better future for our next seven generations. So I actually met with organizations, businesses, people, boards, councils, and ask them, Hey, can you be my fiscal sponsor? Here's my idea. I'm doing this land back project. And people are like, that's interesting. I was like you get the sense, like maybe they don't fully understand what the whole. Schema. This says, I see this big picture and I know there's all these steps to get there, but I know what this can be. And so I just said, I'm going to do it myself. I believe in this, I'm going to, put my name forward. I utilized Wenatchi Wear's social media to help gain that momentum. And the whole goal was to have a nonprofit, to have an organization to give the funds to, I don't want those. It's not going to be up to me. This is a community project. It's not a one person project. Unfortunately, we couldn't get that through these other avenues. It was, let's see, late December, 2020, actually new year's Eve. I had a local attorney reach out to me and that I had went and spoke to on a social justice. And he says, Hey, are you still interested in starting this nonprofit? Because if you are, I will help you. I said, holy smokes wow. That just made my whole year. It was like a crappy end of the year. And then I got this and I was like, this is how you start a new year with this goal. And this is what we're going to do. So 2021 set forward and I didn't have to beg and plead anybody to join a board. I had all of these people across Washington state that had helped as wildfire recovery efforts that were on the ground, helping getting resources and things distributed that were ready to be a part of this, regardless of what it was. They believe from the time that I first spoke to them. And we formed this board. My goal was to keep it indigenous led because as we know here in the valley and the area, many boards are not diverse. It's very rare to find even a person of color sitting on a board for an organization. It didn't exist, but it can. And so we went ahead and did it. We have this great diverse board, this representation currently there's 12 tribes, 12 native American tribes throughout Washington state and Canada that are sitting on our board as well as a person from Guam. I still encourage those boards that are not diverse. Just keep trying even if you asked one person, ask another, redefine your policies and criteria to fit that. So then the indigenous roots and reparation foundation was formed in early 2021. We came up with our name. We worked on our bylaws, our policies all with the help of Steve Clem, who was the attorney. And he's been such a huge help. It would have taken me so much longer to do this because we accomplished so much in one year. So we did that. We became a charitable organization and then we filed our 5 0 1 C3 and I almost a year. Exactly. After he reached out, we got our letter that we are a 5 0 1 C3 nonprofit. And so that means that we can grow our grants. We can grow funding. We can do so much more with this 5 0 1 C3 status. That is just amazing. That's the quick run-around of how IRRF was formed. But I know that brave space had allocated to give back and help with that. And you've done that. You've done that throughout the whole land back fundraiser. We did go through a name change as well. Just as we're working on being as transparent as we can be because that's important and it's okay to change things. It fits better for organization. And when they did take over the project, it officially became just a land back project. Our goal is to collect funds, to purchase land back. People are like, why would you purchase it back? Like, why wouldn't you just take it? Our goal isn't to take land away. As we know the land that we all live on was stolen from native American tribes. And so there's a lot of unresolved history there through treaties and things. We can share that information, but we're not here to try and rectify or. Fix those because, we are native Americans that are trying to create a better space. And so there's many non native organizations that are doing really good things, but, it becomes confusing when I'm trying to figure out a way to explain the whole process of like people thinking that there's just one person in charge or one, one person that says everything or that native Americans are just connected hardwired together. And that we just know everything. I don't know the Cherokee history or Navajo, I'm learning my stuff, my tribal history. So again, there's not one entity, that's a say all for everyone. And I am definitely not that person. And so I, that's why I encourage people to, reach out and connect with the various native organizations that are doing things right now. But yeah, so I'll let you talk about, your guys' thought process. And how that became because you guys gave a very generous donation from crowdfunding. And I just wanted to say, thank you for that, because that was huge. It's amazing to have that kind of support and, to help us get to our goals, because one day we can have a piece of land that we can build a community center for all indigenous peoples to come and gather that's going to be a safe place. We don't have that here in the Wenatchee area. This place has so many dreams and ideas of having a community garden, just a place to gather. And teacher language is just, having a safe place. Some people don't understand what that means because. They feel comfortable everywhere they go. They're not the only person of their color in a room. So having community is just so powerful and healing, it just provides that sense of belonging. And so if we can do that and create that space and have it as an educational piece, and it's not only gonna be for indigenous people only, we want it to be a space of learning to where we can host events and to educate the public. Yeah. And I just, Like you said about your board members, you didn't have to go out scratching and clawing and pleading to get them on your team, it was like they were ready and waiting. And I feel in this small area that we live in people who are in the social justice, racial equity activism world, like we are it's, it is, it feels like that, like when you have something going on that you're advocating for as a black woman in this area, I, 100% support you. I want to, be the first one to. Donate or amplify or advocate. And I know that it's reciprocated, right? Like it's just this thing that happens when you are the only in a space or a community and you share lived experiences. Maybe they aren't aligned, exactly or down to the T, but we have similar lived experiences throughout our lives. And so it's really easy to just see what you're doing and want to support you. And just wanting to make sure that is put out there and then with our project expedition reclamation yeah, we individually, as individuals we're supporting. You when you weren't a non-profit and for me and my family, it is important to me that my kids, and my husband, we have conversations about first people in this area and we, have books and we bought the books from your uncle, Randy, and, they are our bedtime stories. Like they are ones that we want to know. And when we pass Peshastin pinnacles, we call it the salmon people. And when we visit saddle rock, we refer to it and it's indigenous to bears title. It's all these things that might be minuscule to someone, but are really important for activists. And advocates in an area. And I think ultimately that made me be encouraged to donate, to land back. And then when we all got together on this film project, we incorporated Sanjana who lives in at the time she was in Utah. Now she's in LA. She is another co-producer co-director coast cinematographer on the project. We are a very collaborative group, so nobody has right. One title or any kind of hierarchy happening in our women led group of people. And that's why I'm saying co this co that if anyone's wondering out there it's so for us, we were all doing our individual donations to our specific land back organizations that were going on behind the scenes. And so when we all came together It was actually Aaron joy who brought up the initiative of just, making sure that we allocate some of our funds at the end of our campaign to land back. And me not being in the film world, I really didn't understand that when someone goes out and gets a documentary or gets film on production or anything like that, there's usually a location fee or something like that. And so that is something that's already established within the film community. And so there is a level of understanding that you have to set a percentage towards that. If that certain location or place asks for permitting or whatever. And so Sonde and Aaron already knew this. And so they brought that into a team meeting one day and. As we were, I think it was March, 2021. We were gearing up to start our campaign to try and fund expedition, reclamation lots of co collaborating going on and asking brands and getting money and funds and everything. And before we even started, we budgeted for a location fee, but since we're. We're we're filming, we didn't need to, we didn't have any permits. There was no location fee you should say. So we implemented it into land back and just designated, I believe 10% of whatever we made. And at that point we had no idea how well or how little we would make which is a cool thing. But yeah, it was just this conversation where Erin brought up, like why are we paying national forests or whatever, like we should be paying our first nations and people who have this land stolen from them. And, there are, and maybe we'll talk about it, but there are so many things with this film project that we are doing differently. And I have to say, Specific one about allocating your location fee and film and documentary to the land back initiatives in that area is just game changing, and it's not even something that it's not something that you should have to be told to do or encouraged to do at this point. It just feels like a no brainer. And we are finding as Erin and sauna are moving forward into more projects and doing different things with bigger brands and more grants and whatnot, we're writing this as brave space media into our projected budgets going forward, right? Whether that's IRRF land back or the land back initiative going on the east coast or wherever we're filming, we're writing that into the budget. And surprisingly, I guess I should say surprisingly or thankfully. Brands organizations, corporations are on board, which is such a cool thing to have started out tiptoeing. Is this something people are going to be receptive to? And then, all full year later, we're like, we don't really care if you're receptive to it. We're not willing to work with you if you're not receptive to it. Like these are our expectations. We're not lowering them because you're in that mentality. That's not how we've always done it. And it turns out like how we've always done it. These location fees, paying people where we have no idea where the money goes is not right. Like when we. Give back to a land back initiative, like when ACCI we understand, and we know you, we know where it's going, and we know that more than likely any land back initiative or an indigenous led organization is going to be true and right. And doing the right thing for their people. It's not up to us just to say beyond where this money goes, but yeah, I am so thankful upon entering the film world that I again have set the bar so high for my expectations working with all women, there was a lot of vulnerability. There was a lot of really great conversations. There was a lot of, advocating for pay. There was a lot of, conversation around. What has been going on and what may work within a patriarchal male dominated culture, but what doesn't work when you then start incorporating ideals that women like to be sensitive to, and so it was really just a joy working with both Aaron and Saundra on this project from start to finish. And yeah, this thing tested, I was constantly being tested of the ways that I'm thinking. Because the outdoor community has been a predominantly white male cis-gendered space for so long. And then when I come into spaces like this, whether it be through just hiking or camping with my family or documentary and film world what's the word I've been programmed, to think that there's only one way to do things. And then you have amazing women like Erin joy and Syngenta who come along and are, re-imagining all of the ways that these worlds and these communities and cultures can be different and can be better for people who look like you and I, yeah. And that just, sparks a lot of things for me, like discussing, This movement to think differently and allocate funds and the, native American population in the world is fairly small compared, but native Americans are known for, stewarding the lands and advocating and taking care of the lands more than any other demographic. And so that circles back around to the reciprocity and the understanding that like we, we don't own the land, we belong with the land and, the land takes care of us and we take care of the land and we have a duty to do that. And a lot of native American tribes, we're a matriarchal tribes. And so that's something that. Is becoming more aware because we've lived in this primarily patriarch society for so long and just that, everybody is waking up a little bit. It's refreshing to see and to see these movements and for people to step out of their comfort levels. And, I've done that where I'm like, oh, am I sharing too much and being really vulnerable? And like, how is this going to be perceived? Is it going to be well-taken because you don't know, but the majority of the time it will be because if you're doing things with, good intentions and a good heart that's, what's going to shine through. Yeah, just hearing all of that about how you are are rewriting the script or film industry it's huge, it's, I'm excited to see that change and to see it happen more throughout. And I hope that happens with others that are in the same realm, like photography and different things. Cause I'm sure that they have their location fees and whatnot. We had lots of individuals and small organizations like step up and start to allocate funds. There's a cabin in lake Wenatchee that she had set funds aside for every booking. What if every hotel place did that? What would that mean? It's a small percentage of what they make. Rhubarb market here in town, for three months of harvesting, they recognize that these foods are being grown on p'squosa homelands and that they're gonna collect donations and match those for those three months. How amazing is that? Yeah. Wow. I, when I think of community, like those are the things that I think about, right? Like it's not so much with power and Money at the center of it all, but just, this idea that we all succeed, when one of us succeeds, we all succeed and it's just like, how are we allowing everyone a seat at this table and allocating funds and moving them around re redistributing decolonizing and just allowing space for us all to thrive, the word equity, I think of it often, what does that look like in a community structured where there's predominantly white people when we have our Latin X community and then we have indigenous peoples and it's just, it's so hairy, right? What does it look like and how can people continue to step up? And, But their money where their mouth is their actions with their actions. We let their heart lead before all of these other things. And that's it right there. The Airbnb and then VRBO community in Leavenworth alone could get your nonprofit, a community center, like in one year, every single one of them did that. That would be actually incredible. Yeah. So if anyone out there is listening to this and you have a vacation rental in the, on the ancestral lands of the p'squosa peoples. It seems easy. It's a, it's really a no brainer to think about where you're putting your money and how you would have never had that land, had it not be stolen from people. So that's really a cool thing. Thanks for sharing that with me. Yeah. Yeah. No it's exciting to see just these actions taken. Cause that's, we're used to talk, people can talk and there's ideas, but when somebody actually does something. Like it just speaks volumes and goes above and beyond because it's just awesome. So I'm grateful for the community and, that's just a couple of the organizations and people that have done things here, not to mention, like I said you supported from day one and even with our minor name change now, it's just great. And then with the Wenatchee valley premiere of expedition reclamation, the donations that were collected from there and people were donating that night as well. Thank you for donating that again. That's just awesome. We're really excited and have a lot of events and things that we're hoping to do with the indigenous roots and reparation foundation. Last year we, was our first. Trying to get the ball rolling, but we did a field trip with tribal members where we went and had some of the elders come out that teach or our basket weavers. And so they taught us how to harvest Indian hemp and then how to process it. And so how to make that, and then our friend Paige who does macrame actually processed all of hers that she collected and implemented that into her macrame art, like so cool. I love that. Yeah. Yeah, and just, I love the idea that like these kinds of things. Are not impossible. They've moved from the dream category to a reality category. And so I'm just loving seeing that come to fruition. And I can tell you, with our I idea of implementing and allocating funds to land back initiative we're sharing about that. Like we are, it's not something that we're keeping a secret. It's something that we want people to know and people to understand at the film festival that we were in this last weekend in Denver, Saundra was on a panel of women in film and photography. And in that, they were asking like, how, how are you guys shaking things up and doing things differently? And that was the answer that just flowed. So simply out of her mouth, because I think. For one, even the women on that panel, weren't doing that yet. Like it was a new concept to even them. They talked about other things like on their website, creating a dropdown button for other women in films, so that if brands or anybody comes there, it's like a resource hub for that. There's a lot of really cool things happening in the industry right now, because just the simple fact that more women are being inserted or inserting themselves into these spaces. And I think, as as women, we just bring something different to the table. We are rockstars. There's just always something that happens when you bring a woman on your project. And so I think that ultimately, like it's something that I want to continue to share and continue to. Highlight and bring to people's knowledge that we don't have to pay location fees to anyone. Like we can change it and shake it up and pay the land back initiatives on the land that you filmed or did a photo shoot or the list goes on and on in that specific industry, for sure. Wow, definitely. And if there's not a land back initiative in the area, there's so many other indigenous led projects happening, whether that's within tribes like tribal communities or a non tribal communities, but indigenous led there's so many great things happening. Ways to give back. It's important to understand that it always doesn't have to be monetarily. It can be time, it can be sharing or liking a post as that social media monster it's always changing. There's always this new platform or something new about it that we have to do to engage and to do that. And it can be just overwhelming, but if you follow a page and you like a post or you comment on it, interacting with it is like the best way to help those brands or those pages grow. From what I know, again, that could change, you just see like magic dust or something to get that gut got to love it. Oh my goodness. Yeah. But you had mentioned that there was other. But the Brave Space Media was looking to change that. So do you want to share a couple of those things as well? Yeah, to highlight, first of all, we are ultra collaborative team. And so that right off the bat is something very different. I think when you have, think of film, you have one director and you have one producer and you have one editor, you have one cinematographer and they all answer to this hierarchical system, where it's just I value your opinion, but we're going to do this because I said so. And so we just slashed that right off the bat and just said, we are going to work with the team that we have and try and ignite everyone and their talents in different ways. And so the best way that we wanted to do that was to just create this way of. Collective voices coming through. And not only just in the film, behind or in front of the camera, but also behind the camera as well, to where all of our opinions truly do hold weight. And before we make a decision moving forward, we all come together and we talk about it, before Aaron and saw, and she started working together. They talked about the ways that they would handle conflict, upon editing or production or anything like that as we were coming into these spaces, not knowing each other well. And I really had only just just met, and then Sonjay lived in another state and our project intern and co producer, Rebecca she. Also was in another location. And so we had to harvest these relationships and really attend to this collaborative nature from afar. And so there was just so much vulnerability, so much conversation that is what we, coined our intentions as a brave space. You were, you were a part of that. When I put a call out to characters to try and get stories from women and to be a part of our team of who story would be a part of this film project. And over 55 women, responded and said, I want to be a part of this. I am a black indigenous and woman of color in the outdoors, and I don't always feel like I belong in these spaces and I want to talk about it, and it was really just a beautiful thing, but I think ultimately with the four of us behind the camera. Slashing down those hierarchical ideas of ways of just existing in the film world were mandatory and necessary. And I think that more people should harness those ideas of really just like working together as a team, because that's what you call yourself. But when it comes down to decision-making, it really is just one or two men making those decisions. Yeah. And so beyond that just this idea of yeah, but being really intentional about the ways that we held the stories of these women I think. Oftentimes when you're a person in a film behind the scenes, it's there's no relationship formed beforehand. You're paid. And you're given this model release form, you tell your story we edit your story down to what we want it to sound like and what will sell for this brand. And then you get a thank you email that follows, and we never talk to you again, and like that for this particular film project It was, we did the complete opposite, right? We flipped all that on its side. We had zoom calls to form a relationship with everybody. We have a slack going where if any point anybody needs anything or sees an opportunity that works for another black indigenous or woman of color. We're communicating there. We have a hub where if you want a hiking partner or you're going camping and you want to bring another family along with you, it's like this community that's happening and forming. And the film project is already done, right? Like it's just this really cool thing where we didn't want to just have characters. We want to have friends, we want to have relationships established and I think oftentimes that doesn't happen. And then I guess the last thing to highlight besides the land back and allocation of funding is that we are all women on the team. We spent about a year and a half dreaming and planning and going on production with everybody campaigning and raising funds. And then, it had been a year and a half before we even got into conversation where we were on zoom with another man, like we had spent a year and a half and we hadn't been in relationship with any men in relationship to this project. And then all of a sudden we're on this call for asking for funding and. How do we even talk to you? I've forgotten how to like, interact with men in relationship to this project, because it was such a big, a big shift that we had really just made this space where it was all women for so long. They did end up funding and helping our project along, which we think that it was just so interesting. And it's a really cool thing. Erin being in the film world and me only really understanding film from the Leavenworth film festival that I attended back in like 2018 and understanding film in relationship to males and also under understanding the outdoor world in connection with male domination. I just was thriving, in our film project, in our partnership and collaboration. Yeah, yeah. With all of that is so cool. Okay. So I am a character in the film and when you put out that call, I was like, heck yeah, let's go. Cause everything that you're doing in this community that you're building is you build that instant trust. And like you said, everybody was there and sharing really deep rooted stories and being vulnerable and like to create that space. It takes a lot to, you do it without it's just effortlessly for you. Cause I feel like just your personality and who you are and what you put up there. So much about you. And so when people came and said yes I'm going to do this because they already had this bond. I did my film part with Paige which we're friends and we met via social media as well, but we've became good friends and, being out in the space with her and. Just honoring the land and just seeing every single woman in the film, they acknowledge the land that they're on and understood what that meant, and that they're recreating that they're living and they're playing and visiting. Just being in that community is just so empowering. And the level of understanding is just great. Having the conversations like the zoom calls and being, even though we can't be in person, I've met quite a few of the characters and Khaja was one that I recently met and I didn't know she was going to be at the outdoor event. And I was like, oh my gosh, I know her. I've seen her on film. So that was just so cool to be able to meet her in person and meet Nikki and spend time with Erin and do things. Cause there's been other little. Fun outings that we've done, like you said, hiking and camping and different things. It already feels like everybody's been friends for a long time and just has that trust level and that we can just show up together and have fun. And that we know that there's no judgment and all of that, first friendship type of thing. So it's just amazing. So I really appreciate that. Yeah, for sure. I cannot take any of the credit really, like I mentioned it's ultra collaborative and not one of us wants to be shining over the other and we couldn't have come. To a brave space without each other. It took all of us and all of our opinions and all of our working through things and, and things that were going on in our individual lives too, like 20, 20 was a freaking storm, like we did not see that coming. Like it was a storm and we had to navigate it. And that was the start of the creation of having this brave space. And and, even on production, you can tell there's so many people who are in such a vulnerable state of being there's a lot of growth happening, even when you're watching the film. You can sense it. It's a emotional it's big, it's like larger than life. And yeah, I think ultimately, like we, we didn't know what we were doing. We didn't know what we were doing right in the first place. And we just knew that we wanted so deeply in our hearts to create this brave space for not only ourselves, but everybody who was going to be a part of the project. And I think that, being here on the other side just a little bit, and looking back on, 20, 20, and just the beginning of a really beautiful relationship between Erin and I and Sanjana and Rebecca it's just, it's so cool to see that, we have, we've created this space but it took, it took you and Paige and Kaja and Michelle and Nikki and everyone showing up. It took you guys showing up Buying into what we were giving you guys. And yeah, it is, it's such a collective, it couldn't have happened without one person or the other. And I just, yeah, I'm so thankful for everybody on the project, both behind the scenes and in front of it really did take a team of women to, to accomplish what we've done so far. For sure. And just, yeah, again, all the work that everybody did producing, and co-producing, we'll say I'm putting that together with the music, the, just everything, and I don't know the film industry, so I'm just like, you guys are just slapping that together and piecing that together. So everything that you did was so beautifully done, and I know that took so many hours for you all to just. Decide how much of this do we pair down and, yeah. It's just great, it's, I'm really grateful for it. And even watching, my piece, I'm like, I won't watch it, but just seeing my personal growth and like where I was, and it seems so long ago, but it really wasn't, but I think, 2020 was really the equivalent of, four years just seriously. I feel that for sure. But honestly just seeing that and just honestly, you guys creating that space for each character to heal and to express what they were going through and yeah, it's just, it's great to see where everybody is now and what's happening. And I just love hearing everything about what Brave Space Media is doing. And you guys are definitely changing the norm and I'm excited for what you guys come up with next too, because it's going to be big. This one, I'll let you share what award was won this weekend at the no man's land film festival. That's so cool. Yeah. Such a surprise too. We had just come out from watching lots of really amazing films. We went to intermission, I sat down and took my shoes off, sat back, got real comfortable, like ready to watch our film for the first time. And then the lady just the MC starts announcing, like leading up, talking about her film and these women and all of these things. And all of a sudden I'm like looking around oh my gosh, what is she about to say? And then she's like expedition, reclamation, best of film festival 2022. What in the world, it was incredible. Like in that moment, all of our hard work paid off. I quickly shuffled my shoes on because they wanted us to come up to the stage and say the words. We were all shell-shocked and I think Sanjana and I like shoved the microphone in front of Erin's face. It was just like you talk Erin's beautifully as she always does. And then, I just said a few words about. The ways that we are doing things differently and how appreciative I am of being introduced to the film world through this media company. And yeah, then we hustled off stage because it was just like, oh my gosh. Yeah, but it was, it's a great award. We're excited to share it with the rest of the community and just continue celebrating and have this momentum, take us into more screenings, more film festivals, ultimately we just want everyone to be able to see this film. It is for everyone. It's for the cisgendered white man it's for the outdoor white girl who literally just like encompasses what the males put out there. It is for brown women. It is for black women. It's for indigenous women. It's for everybody, right? Ready. And I just want as many communities to be able to see this and to step in to our shoes, to learn our stories, to understand the importance of supporting land back initiatives and yeah. To just be a part of the movement that is being more inclusive in the outdoors and redefining what it means to be outdoorsy. Yeah. That's all beautiful. I love all of that and I think that's a good wrap to the first ever podcast. And I'm just so excited to share this and just have the opportunity to talk with you about this. I think it was long overdue, we've chatted and texted and message and everything, and we've had good conversations, but it's good to be able to share this with the world and who knows how far it will go, but. I love it. All there. It, so just give me an I'll share. I'll share it because everybody needs to listen in. Definitely. I love that. Sure. Yeah. And so this will just be the first of my new podcast to share my personal experiences and stories as an indigenous woman growing up. And then when I asked you valley and I'm excited for what's next. So I don't have a schedule as far as when things will come out or what they'll be. But I plan on doing several and just discussing some big topics that are important to me and just to educate. So yeah, I love that. Thank you for having me on, I feel a huge privilege for being a guest on your show. And I can't wait to hear about where this goes and yeah, I know it's going to be great. Cause everything you do is just amazing. So thank you. Thank you. Lamlamt, thank you all for tuning in to the first Indian tacos podcast. And just to recap, we met with Chelsea Murphy. If you want to follow her on social media, she's on Instagram at she colors nature. The brave space media also has their own, Instagram page. So it gives them a follow. You can follow. My company, when ant you, where and our new indigenous lead nonprofits. Which is the Indigenous Roots and Reparation Foundation. We're on Facebook and Instagram. We also have a donation page on our website, which is www.indigenousrrf.org. And there is a PayPal link where you can donate there. we also collect donations at our Wenatchee where shop. So thanks for tuning in and hope y'all have a good rest of your day.