I have been working on this for a while now and this week is the week when the podcast is out!
The idea about podcast came gradually some time ago, and now finally it has materialized. First of all, for a while now I was pondering that I should be more socially active and responsible, beyond my designs, especially in the topic of promoting women's rights. I understood that we should talk about women's experiences in our society much more than we do now and podcast as a format seemed the right one.
Secondly, (also) for a while now I have grasped the feeling that I have been very blessed with a gift of knowing so many wonderful and strong women. Don't get me wrong, I am lucky to know many wonderful man as well, but that's besides the point. I still strongly believe that nowadays women deserve a bit more extra love and care and attention regarding their social status and place in the system, to right the wrongs that has been created for centuries before.
And of course, I am a woman as well, so lately I really appreciate women's solidarity. I have had super close girl friends all of my life and hands down they have been the best, but the world of women's experiences goes further than that, right? Women around me, the ones I don't know personally, but see around you, and then you get to know them, and understand that there is much more than meets the eye and you can see from the IG posts. And that is how I get to know friends of my girl friends and the world becomes more whole.
This is why decided that the podcast is - must do! Tho for now its only in Latvian, I will try to figure out, how to make it more international!
The name of the podcast came to life in the last minutes before making it public. At the beginning it was meant to be completelydifferent. I thought that it will be called "You should also know about her" (Tev arī par viņu ir jāzina - in Latvian), and that would describe my feeling, that I think everyone should know about the heroines of my podcast, because they are so rad! But few days before the releasing week we met with most of those inspirational women in one completely podcast unrelated event, and somehow my tattoo featuring this wild girl on my arm became a topic of conversation. I told about this girls, that I made this character up as a response to a male character/ hero Lāčplēsis that is existant in Latvian culture for a very long time, but she wasn't and that her name is Lāčplēsene*
Actually Lāčplēsene came to life about 6 years ago when I made a special order brooch to a friend, to help her remember how strong of a women she is. Since that it has been on temporary tattoos, other brooches and sweaters. Even on mine and my friends tank tops when we were running our first half-marathons. And after finishing my first full marathon she came to life on my arm to stay there forever as a tattoo.
And I believe that the idea of Lāčplēsene should spread and with this podcast I would like to start a philosophical (and letter perhaps even real) Lāčplēsene tribe. I hope it will spread like a viruss of positivity and women's friendships will bloom and women's solidarity will strengthen, because we understand each other the best, we can help and support each other. Because it doesn't matter what has been the course of our lives, our experiences frequently has been alike .
Technical stuff: Podcast is recorded at my studio (tho sometimes for the convinience of my heroines I might go to them) using utmost simple equipment and it will stay this way for a while, I think. We are trying to create as pleasant sound as possible, but if you hear anything in the background, these are natural sounds happening around us and we consider those noises perfections not flaws. Regardless of that I am so very opened to constructive criticism and suggestions for technical and structural improvements.
I am keeping my fingers crossed that new episodes will be available weekly. I have decided that those would be Tuesdays. you will be able to listen podcast on all the biggest podcast streaming apps. And hopefully some of the episodes will be on English.
And here on my webpage you can find all episodes here! (tho remember, it is in Latvian)
I hope you will enjoy them! Cheers!
Malvīne
* Lāčplēsene is a female fictional character created by yours truly as a response to an ancient male fictional Latvian character (a hero) Lāčplēsis created long time ago.
My Lāčplēsene is a women, every day hero and a representation of the authentic self - strong, driven, independent, but also with her weaknesses.