WE WERE ON THE KELLY CLARKSON SHOW!!!!

In this exciting episode of Offstage & On Duty, Raye and Rhy are sharing some of the biggest updates in Stage Wives history—including the incredible story of how they landed on The Kelly Clarkson Show and what that experience meant to them personally and professionally.

They also give listeners a look at their upcoming children's book, created to support families navigating the unique realities of life on the road, and share the heart, mission, and vision behind Stage Wives.

Plus, this episode marks a major milestone: it's the very first video podcast episode of Offstage & On Duty!

Whether you're a longtime member of the Stage Wives community or you're just discovering the podcast, this is the perfect episode to jump in and get to know the women, the mission, and the movement behind it all.

Join Raye and Rhy as they celebrate a season of growth, gratitude, and exciting new beginnings—both onstage and off.

Connect with Stage Wives:

• Website
• Follow us on Instagram
• Join the Private Facebook group
• Follow us on TikTok

Transcript

unknown 0:00

One, two, three, four, eight.

SPEAKER_03 0:13

Hello, hello.

SPEAKER_02 0:15

Welcome, you guys, to another episode of Offstage and On Duty.

SPEAKER_03 0:20

I'm your host, Rai. And I'm your host Ray. And look at us, guys. We have video now. We have faces. We have faces.

SPEAKER_02 0:27

We have personality.

SPEAKER_03 0:29

Look at that.

SPEAKER_02 0:30

This might be wildly entertaining or a giant train wreck, but we are going to figure this out together and it's going to be great. I'm actually really excited about this.

SPEAKER_00 0:38

I'm super excited. This is our first one that we're doing with video. Cute.

SPEAKER_03 0:46

I'm actually a little nervous, but I think it's going to be great.

SPEAKER_00 0:48

I think it's going to be great too. It's been a long time coming. Had some technical issues trying to get this off the ground video-wise.

SPEAKER_02 0:55

We also want to do things well. Yeah. We both have a problem, I think, with a little bit of perfectionism.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

So we're a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 1:03

But we're doing the thing. We're doing it. And it might not be perfect, but it's going to be great. And you guys can see that we have faces. But we have exciting news. By the time this podcast comes out, y'all will have already known. It'll be out. It'll be out. It'll be well announced.

SPEAKER_03 1:18

It'll be announced. Announced. But guys, we were on the Kelly Clarkson show.

SPEAKER_02 1:25

Which is like crazy to even say out loud. But we wanted to give one the story of how that even happened. Because it's just, I don't know what everyone believes. Everybody is welcome in Stagewives. We love all of you from whatever walk of life you are coming to our group. Like we love you. Yeah. But there are just God elements in this story that cannot be denied. Like it's wild. So uh we wanted to share how that even happened of how we got on the Kelly Clarkson show to begin with. Hopefully, you have all seen it by now and seen our crazy, you know, excitement on the internet and all of the things. And hopefully we came across composed and you know well spoken. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:09

But let me tell you, we were so nervous. We were so nervous. We will probably post some bloopers for that because it's just so funny how insanely nervous we were.

SPEAKER_02 2:22

Yeah. Well, praise the Lord that Hunter was in town because he got everything set up so nice. The backdrop looked amazing. The audio sounded good. We have a light. We had a little light so that our heads didn't look like they were floating. Like he was the reason that went so well, I would say.

SPEAKER_00 2:41

Like wired us into the internet so that we didn't have to worry about it. Yeah, like we hardwired it in. And praise the Lord again. We zoomed, uh, for those of you who may not have seen it, we zoomed in uh for her what I'm liking segment.

SPEAKER_02 2:54

And um and we only had three minutes to explain what Stagewives was and talk about the book. So once we got like ourselves dressed and ready, we literally sat in this chair once we knew it looked good and sounded good, and we did not move for like what four hours? Four hours.

SPEAKER_00 3:14

Legitimately, we got here, got it set up because Hunter had other calls and other stuff to do, as he does. And like he got us set up. He's like, Okay, I think you guys are good. And then we looked at the clock and we're like, we literally have two hours before the pre-interview thing, and then uh two hours until hours of interview. So we were just like, Okay, and he we we sit down and he's like, Okay, you guys are good, and he just looks at us.

SPEAKER_03 3:38

He's like, Y'all can get up and move, and we're like, absolutely not, we're not moving. I'm not going to the bathroom, I'm not drinking water, I'm not doing anything. Yeah, this is where I live.

SPEAKER_02 3:46

And so we like rehearsed probably over a hundred times, like just going over our three-minute interview, like over and over and over and over and over, like crazy people.

SPEAKER_00 3:56

Oh, let and we have like all these recordings so we could see how it looks and stuff, too. Like it was just so funny because you have three minutes. Like, I mean, you guys have most likely listened to this podcast before. Yeah. If you're listening to this, and if you've listened to that, you know we can gab. Oh, yeah. We can and we can rabbit trail like crazy. We love a good rabbit trail. We love rabbit trails, and it's the best. So when you put that together and say, Oh, by the way, you have three minutes.

SPEAKER_02 4:23

Um Just anxiety went through the roof.

SPEAKER_00 4:26

Yeah, because it's like we want to do you guys justice. We want to be able to like say what's needed to be said, and so that was like a ton of pressure, but yeah, not that we aren't grateful, we are so grateful. Grateful for this opportunity, but it was so funny just to see the chaos. And it was, I I have to give them an insight too to like the week before, because obviously we knew this was happening and we knew this was like leading up to it. But Rye and I are sevens on the Enneagram. And if you go, if you know anything about sevens, we are avoid, like avoid uncomfortable things and avoid pain, avoid, yeah. We don't want to be feel trapped. And so, like both of us were like compartmentalizing, we're just like, we're not gonna talk about it. We're not gonna talk about it. It's not happening. Don't worry about it. We have to talk about what we're gonna talk about the weekend before, because we were uh filming on a on a Monday, right? And literally, we were together that whole weekend, and I'm like, we should talk about the thing, and you're like, Nope.

SPEAKER_02 5:28

Absolutely not, nope, nope.

SPEAKER_00 5:29

And then Sunday came around and you're like, we should talk about the thing, and I'm like, Nope. Nope. So Monday morning we get here and we are just like in the bathroom, panic practicing while we're putting her makeup on.

SPEAKER_02 5:44

And yeah, and like fine-tuning it. And I will say, we are sevens with an eight-wing, which means if y'all are interested in the Enneagram, we like it because it helps us understand the people around us and ourselves. But that basically means that we can fight well. Yeah. And we weren't fighting, but we were definitely fine-tuning what we were going to say. And like, she was like, Well, I think we should do it this way. And I was like, I don't agree. I think we should do it this way. And she was like, Yeah, but this says this. And I was like, Okay, but if that says this, and so we were just like, we were fine-tuning. I think we got to a really good spot. Oh, I think we got to agree. And so, and again, you know, fighting well from this it are we're rooted in love, which is part of the reason why we love talking about marriage because it's like, anyways, rabbit trail.

SPEAKER_00 6:29

Here we are. But good full circle moments of like what it's like in a healthy relationship, like you need to communicate. And sometimes that means having harder conversations or like trying to parse through opinions. Yeah. And so I think we did that really well. I think so too.

SPEAKER_02 6:43

I'm so proud of that. But uh, but the setup was a lot like this, and I my heart was beating so hard that I thought it was gonna get picked up on the mic. I think it might have.

SPEAKER_00 6:52

It probably did. They were probably in the production studio going, fix, fix, fix, fix, fix. Like, yeah. Turn turn down the heart rate fader.

SPEAKER_02 7:01

I actually want to share a little bit of the background as to how this even happened because it's such a big deal. Like, she is the number one talk show in America, and it's her last season.

SPEAKER_03 7:13

How does Stagewives, who is How did Stagewives, who's not even a year older?

SPEAKER_00 7:16

It will be a year by the time you're listening to the part show. So happy year anniversary.

SPEAKER_02 7:20

One year one year anniversary. We did it. Woo! Uh but yeah, how does a an organization like Stagewives get on the Kelly Clarkson show? It's such an out-of-body and out of mind experience because we didn't dream this. Like this was not on our vision board for this organization.

SPEAKER_00 7:42

We didn't sit down, which I looked at the calendar. Today's May 15th that we're recording this. It is officially a year that we had our coffee. Today. No way, is it? It is legitimately a year.

SPEAKER_02 7:56

Anyways. Anyway, but yeah, how does that even happen? It wasn't on our vision board, like we didn't plan this. So, rewind. It had to be 2022. Maybe it was 2023. I am a songwriter. I randomly get a phone call from one of my producer buddies, Chad Cruthers, and he's like, Would you ever want to write a musical? And I just start losing my mind because that is like the dream. That was for the David film and such an honor to work on it. But we got a brief from a friend of ours who wasn't supposed to send it to us. I don't even know how he got a hold of it, to be honest. But we wrote for it. We sent it in to Jason and Rhonda, who I didn't know at the time. And they were like, the deadline was two weeks ago, so sorry. They gave it a listen. They're like, hey, actually, can you come to an audition in Nashville next week? I go to the audition, we end up getting the gig along with a couple other uh writing teams, and that's how I meet Jason and Rhonda. Fast forward to Ray and I getting coffee on this day a year ago. They have a huge heart for Stagewives, and it's been something they've been wanting to do for the longest time. And surprise, like Jason is the band leader for Kelly's band, and they are the publishers for our book. It just came together so beautifully. And if I were to tell the entire story, it would take like five to six hours because so many little things happen along the way that I'm just like, wow, this is mind-blowing and this is mind-blowing and this is mind-blowing, just that led up to this moment. We are very intentional people. Ray could work with terrible humans and probably make a ton of money. She chooses not to do that because of her values and the goals for her life. I could probably work with terrible people and make lots of money and make terrible choices at the cost of my character and everything else, but we choose not to do that. And so when we wrote these children's books, we wanted to work with publishers and people that got the lifestyle that understood what we were doing. And Jason Naronda, as you guys know, if you've listened to our interview with them on the podcast, they get this lifestyle and they do it super well. They do it so well.

SPEAKER_00 10:06

And so And how's not without like a lot of effort and fun of stuff, but like, man, yeah. Like what a perfect pairing.

SPEAKER_02 10:14

Yeah. Well, and how beautiful is this moment of like a book for Stagewives from Stagewives, published by Stagewives. That includes you, Jason.

SPEAKER_03 10:26

Honorary. And then Kelly, who's also understood tour life. Like it's just she's toured with kid. Could we make this up? I couldn't. Like just perfection and and on that, like, how much work would a human have to do to make that happen? I don't have the capacity. I couldn't make that out in a year, bro. Wow. In a year, my guy.

SPEAKER_00 10:48

Well, also just like the fact that Ryan and I have full-time jobs outside of this. Oh yeah. This is not our full-time job. No. As much as I would love this to grow to be that, but like this is something we're not going anywhere. Don't stress. No, don't worry. We're not going to this is locked in, locked and loaded, guys. But uh yeah, in a year. Yeah. In a year for all of this to happen. And this is also the last season for Kelly's show as well. So one of the things that I wanted to make sure to talk about today was just listening to your heart and listening to God when you feel like something needs to happen now. Oh my god. So that was like our big thing when we started a year ago, which this is kind of like perfect timing that this is we're recording this episode on our year anniversary. But like a year ago makes me want to cry. I know, but a year ago, we both around this time were like just getting wild feelings of not like not dread, but just this sense of you have to move now. Because it's something that we've talked about for doing for years before this, and something that needed to happen and something that needed to exist for years and years, as all the people, all the stagewives that we're working with right now, you know, constantly say, like, I wish this would have been years ago. And specifically last year, both of us got the word now from God.

SPEAKER_02 12:11

We kept having dreams.

SPEAKER_00 12:13

I mean, it was just like it was a while. And I even told my husband, I'm like, he's like, Are you sure that you're gonna be able to do this? Because your business is really popping off. Like, I was just starting to get into this like really good swing with the business and it taking off. And like, to be honest, I did not have time. Neither of us had time to do this. All that's to say, I'm super grateful for this community, and I am so happy with where things are going. But like it required a lot of a lot of tenacity and a lot of like listening to our hearts and saying, and like being in touch with yourself and with God and your mind, and like, you know what, this is gonna be really tough, but both of us feel like this needs to happen now. And lo and behold, a year later, here we are, just being featured on the Kelly Clarkson show. And if we had not listened to the word now, that timing would have not worked out.

SPEAKER_02 13:06

I will I would also like to add, too, like when God calls you to do something, there is also an exponential gift of grace and energy. In capacity, because there were weeks and weeks on end where you and I would meet up and we're like, How are you doing? You're good. How are you doing? Good. How are we doing good? I don't know. I've no idea. No idea, no clue. Because by all logic and everything else, we should be exhausted, we should be spread too thin. We should be having panic attacks like on the daily.

SPEAKER_00 13:37

We literally wrote all five children's books within what, two weeks? Yeah, within two weeks, we wrote all five children's books, edit, edited them as best as we were both, you know, able to without a publisher. And we're just like, okay, we're good. This is great. And we had a plan, we had it, the the organization written up, we had uh contract structure things within within like a few months of starting out the LC, like all of these different little things. Like both of us knew we're like this thing has to be set up well. It's just wild, like the the way things work out, and like when you are doing what you're supposed to be doing, away is made. Yeah, always, always, away is made, which is and it doesn't make it easy. No, there's lots of rocks, it is definitely an uphill climb, but like Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:29

I think with Stagewives too, just uh for those of you if you're new to the podcast and you're just now listening or you clicked because we said we were on the Kelly Clarkson show, like Stagewives is an organization for women whose husbands are in the music industry or the touring industry, whether it be, you know, stage hands, lighting directors, audio engineers, artists themselves, band directors, tour bus drivers, catering. If they tour and you stay home and hold down the fort, this podcast and this group is for you. And we do that through our private Facebook group and through social media for through virtual meetups and through in-person meetups. But we both knew when we started this organization that we are building a house to eventually give it away. Because at some point, Ray and I are gonna be too old and decrepit to run it anymore. And we wanted this to be generational.

SPEAKER_00 15:23

So this exists past our lifespan.

SPEAKER_02 15:26

Well, it will exist past our lifespan span, but we want it to be a staple of Nashville and of course, you know, LA, New York, Atlanta, Dallas, all these other like big hubs for touring and for music. But if your spouse tours, you should be a part of stagewives.

SPEAKER_00 15:40

It should be a hand-in-hand thing of And if you're if your spouse travels for work, if you're if they're in like the sports industry and they're traveling a bunch, if they're in like the sales, like you're gonna have to bear through some music puns. Yeah, and every time Sam's on the podcast, everything says a licensed therapist who is a stage wife in the industry. If you haven't heard anything from her yet, she's fantastic.

SPEAKER_02 16:02

I just love bragging on her because she's so great. But every time she's on, I always think to myself, like, man, this is these are tools and these are things that apply to like anyone who travels and who tours, and it's just such valuable information. But it doesn't cost you guys anything. I'm so in love with this community. I cannot believe that we were on the person show. Like, I and I also cannot, I hope like that by now we've shared a lot of bloopers. But what as soon as the interview was done, guys, we literally were shaking so bad. We couldn't walk. So we stood up, fell to the ground, just our crazy laughing.

SPEAKER_00 16:38

That was probably also due to the fact that we were in these chairs for like four hours. That's true.

SPEAKER_02 16:41

We were. We sat here for four hours. And yeah. I do just want to take a second and brag on our stagewives who are in the private Facebook group. Ray and I, obviously, we get in there, we check on, you know, the posts and the comments that are made and everything else. But nine times out of ten, if there is a new member to the group and they post that they are new and tell their story and blah, blah, blah, by the time I look at it, like five of our stagewives have already like gone on there and welcomed them and like, let's get coffee, or like, oh, what part of town are you in? You know, it's just it feels like family. It is, dude. And it's just grown so organically, and everybody in there has just been so kind and warm and welcoming, and it's just been beautiful. I really, really, really love this community.

SPEAKER_00 17:31

I do too, man.

SPEAKER_02 17:32

I just like I can't, yeah. Well suck it up. Suck it up, get back in there. But yeah, it's just been such a beautiful, a beautiful organic growth of you women just being for each other. And we've even seen on TikTok that a lot of people have been commenting, like, there needs to be a sport group, there needs to be a sport group. And like, there's been mentions of Stagewives, which has been awesome. Often, yeah, often and awesome. But every time we've reached out to those people being like, hey, you should come, or like, hey, you're wanting to start something, awesome. But if you don't want to start start from the ground up, come join Stagewives. And trust me, we have a leadership role for you. Because again, as of right now, it's just Ray and I like doing all of the things. But man, just there is such a need for this community, and I'm just so incredibly, incredibly grateful. Also, speaking of bragging, guys, we're gonna take a pause for the women to women, and I want to talk about a person near and dear to our heart called Trey Bailey. Love you, Trey. Trey, dude. My dude, bro. Bro, bro. He is the one who illustrated our children's book. No AI was used in the making of this freaking children's book, and we are so grateful we want to keep it that way. And Trey, okay, I'm just gonna hold this up and we're gonna see if there's any reflection or not. But look at this, y'all. Just like, look at it. Look at that. He did such a fantastic job. I'm not gonna open it because surprises. Okay. We're gonna have to be patient. I just, it was stunning. We wanted it to feel nostalgic, but also feel modern, but also feel true to stage wives. So you can see on, I don't think you can actually, but you can see like the gauges in the dad's ears. He's got some tattoos.

SPEAKER_00 19:20

He has an all-access pass hanging from his hip. There's lots of little like hidden there's a lot of Easter eggs. Easter eggs for the stage wive community. By the time that this podcast is out, pre-sales should be live. Woo! The official book release date is going to be on July 28th. Woo! We're so excited.

SPEAKER_02 19:40

Cannot wait. And this is untraditional, but our organization is not traditional anyway. So, like, we just kind of want we we do what we want. But our release party and the release date are the same day. So keep a lookout for details for that because it's gonna be open to the public. Anybody can come. It's on a Tuesday.

SPEAKER_00 20:02

So hopefully your men will be in town. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:05

Because they're on weekend warrior schedule. Yeah, we tried to put it on a night where hopefully your men would be in town. So bring everybody, bring the husbands, bring the kids, bring yourself, like bring a friend. Yeah. Like if you think that anyone would benefit from this, from this group, but also from these children's books, come on down. We're gonna have the book for sale, but we're also gonna have some stagewife merch.

SPEAKER_00 20:29

Yeah, which is super exciting.

SPEAKER_02 20:31

I cannot wait.

SPEAKER_03 20:32

As you can tell, we're hat girlies. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:34

So we'll definitely have a hat. It's about time we have a stage wife hat. I've wanted one for forever. I've been asking for one.

SPEAKER_00 20:40

I know, I know. I'm working on it.

SPEAKER_02 20:43

And then she's our in-house graphic designer. That's why I'm looking at her.

SPEAKER_00 20:46

We'll also be doing uh book signings for anybody who gets a book. And then if you cannot come to the release party, we are also going to be signing the first hundred pre-sales. So if you would like to get one ahead of time, or if you're not in the greater Nashville area and can't come to that uh release party, then go ahead and get onto the pre-sales immediately when that comes out so that you can get your signed copy and we'll send that to you.

SPEAKER_02 21:13

And you guys, along this process, reviews are gonna matter so much.

SPEAKER_00 21:16

Oh my gosh, yes.

SPEAKER_02 21:17

And I mean, we actually we haven't done this with the podcast. We have not had, we've we wanted you guys to join, which has been great, but we haven't even done a call to action with the podcast. Like, please read leave a review.

SPEAKER_00 21:29

I think we've done a few, but just not like a proper.

SPEAKER_02 21:32

Yeah, like we definitely we need reviews for the algorithm. That's it. The reviews are just for the algorithm to be able to tell streaming platforms that people want to hear this. So they'll suggest it. So if like somebody is listening to the gigs podcast, um, your reviews will help Stagewives be the next suggested listen. Um, and yeah, our goal always. Forever is you ladies. It's for the stage wife that's home alone, thinking, How like how the hell do I do this by myself? Like it's for the stage wife who hasn't found this group yet. Like that's why we're so passionate about reviews and everything. And also for the book as well, because if it starts charting, which it's so niche, who knows? But like God put us on the Kelly Glarson show. So, like, whoever you're not, like, who knows? We're not gonna shut any doors for him. We're not shutting any doors. We're not saying anything.

SPEAKER_00 22:26

So, um, yeah, if you guys can leave reviews and um share, post about it if you can, especially if you are a stage wife and in the stage wife community, and or your husbands are on socials, like have your husband shared his crewmates and stuff like that. This is not we very we we trust me, we'll not be getting rich off of book sales. Sorry for the burst of bubble of any authors out there. Yeah, seriously. We're not gonna be quitting our day jobs due to the book itself.

SPEAKER_02 22:56

Yeah, I am not, we're not gonna go into numbers, but I will say this book was expensive and we have four more to do.

SPEAKER_00 23:02

Yeah. So all this, all that to say, this is all for you. The purpose of this book is to help kids and parents on the road be able to have that connection again and to give visibility to the touring individuals and give something for like the kids to tangibly understand to say, like, hey, this is what my dad does. He's not just disappearing on a plane, this is this is what happens. He still can still connect with me while he's on the road. As a kid, explain this to my friends and what my dad is doing. The whole purpose of this series is to give you guys tools to help with your kids and help with your own relationship. And so, if that is something that resonates with you and you can or cannot buy it at the moment, whatever your you know finances allow, sharing is free. Reviewing is free. And this is the kind of thing that like I wish I had for my daughter years ago. And so if you know of other people in your husband's crew, share it with them. The reason we're pushing that of like sharing it and reviewing is literally just so that we can help more people in this in this industry.

SPEAKER_02 24:13

Like, yeah. And we very intentionally set the release date before the new school year because we know that fall tours are gonna kick back up, like that loneliness, that separation, that like, well, why isn't dad home yet is gonna hit hard.

SPEAKER_01 24:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:27

So we want to give you guys a tool in your tool belt to help your kids understand, to help them regulate those big feelings. And when you guys get the invisible backpack, you'll see the therapy tools that are used in the book. And our in-house therapist, again, Sam Beretta, left us a great review. We actually she has a little quote on the back. Should I read that?

SPEAKER_03 24:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:50

Let's do a little What does Sam say about this? Why do I feel like Sam's opinion is so much better than ours? Like it's so much more, it has so much wise, yeah. It has so much like weight to it. You know what I mean? Okay, this is this is You read the whole back too. This is what Samantha Beretta says, who's an L P C M H S P. That's a lot of letters. That means she's really smart and she knows what she's talking about. So it says as a whole, as a mom, stage wife, and therapist, I truly believe the invisible backpack is such a meaningful story for families, spending time apart. It helps children see and make sense of their feelings when a parent is away, offering a gentle way to handle big emotions. Oh my God. So well said. When kids imagine backpacks filled with love, notes, and little reminders, their feelings become easier to understand and comforting to hold. That's just so beautiful. Thank you, Sam. We love you so much. Yeah, we wrote the Invisible Backpack for Visible Reconnection. And we're hoping that it helps set up your school year well with your kids and with dad going on fall tour. We hope that it just gives a little bit of an easier transition. I feel like so many stage wives like white knuckle it through the first couple weeks of school because they're doing drop-offs by themselves. They're doing all these first with their kids by themselves, they're having to handle like bullies, maybe, or teachers that the kids don't necessarily like.

SPEAKER_00 26:18

Um you lose the flexibility of being able to go visit um dad on the road if that happens to work out. And if you're homeschooling, like having to balance all of those different curriculums and things to do. Like it's just the complications grow when school comes back into session. And it also for the on the dad's side of thing, too, or like just the touring spouse's side, it's hard to be separated from your kid and your spouse during that time because they feel like they're missing out on everything as well. So it's not just like the kid missing their dad, the dad's also like stuck in a hotel room by himself, wishing that he could be with his family. Um, yeah. Cause I know that's something that like my husband has missed both of my daughter's first two teeth that she's lost. Yeah. There's there's been a lot of firsts that he's missed because of this job. And it's really tough on him. And like I try to include him however I can in that, but still, like, there's so we're we're we're just hoping that this book bridges that gap and gives families a tool to feel more connected. And I'm just so I'm so excited. I know, dude. I cannot.

SPEAKER_02 27:32

I cannot wait for our party. Oh, I can't wait either. It's gonna be so fun. So, yeah, like that's the entire point of this podcast is just to give you guys the background of how that even happened, because what the heck um of being on the Kelly Farkinson show. Just the fact that it's a year from when we first had coffee is just I can't get over that. That's just so beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 27:52

Because it's not even a full year since we had our LLC official.

SPEAKER_02 27:55

Yeah, this is just when we sat down and talked about it and we're like, okay, for real though, we are both feeling this, like we're we're doing this and like daydreamed, and we're like, okay, we are starting this. What do we need? Yeah, how do we make it sustainable? How do we make it? How do we do this right so it's we don't burn out?

SPEAKER_00 28:13

We don't like, yeah. And that's and that was such a big thing for us too, is we just do we this thing is not going to die.

SPEAKER_02 28:20

So it's much easier to build a house on a foundation than to build the beams and then put the foundation down. You know what I mean? Like we wanted the foundation to be strong before we continued with any other part of the house.

SPEAKER_00 28:30

So if you don't like stage waves, we're not going anywhere. Sorry.

SPEAKER_02 28:35

Sorry.

SPEAKER_00 28:36

Sorry, none, sorry.

SPEAKER_02 28:37

We're here for our women. Yeah. Where are we gonna go? Nowhere. Um we are happy to build this house for you. Like we're happy to do all this work. Like we genuinely love it. It's time for women in the industry, especially those who are married into the industry, to feel seen, to feel understood, and to feel supported because it's a travesty that it's been this long and there's been nothing.

SPEAKER_00 28:59

I wanted to make sure that like you guys understood like this is a passion of ours that we are so committed to. Yeah. And we're not going. We will grow and we are growing and we have been growing at an exponential rate. Yeah. And we'll continue to grow at an exponential rate. Woo!

SPEAKER_02 29:14

And uh any agram eights for stubborn.

SPEAKER_00 29:16

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 29:17

That eight-wing is strong.

SPEAKER_00 29:18

Strong. Yeah. But um, I'm just excited to see how this grows and how we can create a family, not just here in Nashville, but and it's just gonna keep growing. Like we've got people in England, uh, France, all across the US. So California, Hawaii. I think we have somebody from Alaska now. Yeah, Florida, Pennsylvania, yeah, North Carolina.

SPEAKER_02 29:43

I actually, this might be the tiny bit rabbit trail, but I actually read this study recently that was talking about the modern family unit and how families operate, specifically in the West. Go back 75 years ago with the 1950s format of the family unit. That was not normal. That's not how it's supposed to be. Creating the perfect home and doing all the things by yourself as the woman, as far as child bearing, child rearing, and taking care of the house. That's not normal. To find the normal family unit, you have to go back a couple hundred years where people were literally raising kids as a village, where it was like you've got mom and dad and extended families, cousins, uncles, aunts all living in the same area.

SPEAKER_00 30:30

To go hunt while the women were not doing everything, but they had like some women were watching the kids for a while while others were sewing and gathering and doing all these different things. Like it's a everybody had their role as a community, but like that one individual mom wasn't meant to watch the kids sew, gather, cook, clean, all these different things.

SPEAKER_02 30:54

Like everybody did everything for the community and switched off different roles, and that allowed space for rest and laughter, and and then dad would come home and plug right back into the family unit and do what needed to be done as far as like being with the kids and like helping with you know other household chores. It takes a village and it takes a community, and this is a very this is where we're gonna talk about the commune that we're building. I'm just kidding, guys. Like low-key, I wish, but we're not doing that. But just to give you a a look into my personal life, at my most stressed out being a single mom and taking care of my son, like he, I think he wanted to, it was innocent. He was three years old and he just wanted to play with me, but I could not cook dinner because I had no clean dishes. And I like broke my heart. And like out of my frustration, I was like, buddy, I'm one person I can't. I just can't. Like, I have to cook for us, and that means I've got to do dishes, so I can't play with you. And it broke my heart, but women are not supposed to be in that of a stressed-out state. So you're not crazy if you feel like you can't do everything, you're not supposed to do everything. Like, there's been a lot of times where Ray and I have called each other crying, and she'll come over and do my dishes, or I'll come over and do her dishes, or we'll do laundry, or we'll do laundry together, like where the kids are playing downstairs, and I'm we're up here, like in her room, folding laundry together and like watching the office or whatever it means to just have community to where you can lean on each other, you can take care of each other, and hopefully you find that in Stagewives. That's what we're hoping to build for you. Is that obviously we can't have, you know, 200 women at Rachel's house or at my house doing live together. But within Stagewives, maybe you can find your Rachel, or maybe you can find your Ryan, where you're like, oh, you're in South Columbia, I'm in South Columbia, let's get coffee, let's, you know, hang out, let's do a play date, whatever. If you're in the nations, oh, I'm in the nations, cool, let's do, you know, coffee, fill in the blank. We really hope that you find that community here. We hope that you feel seen, understood, and supported and go at your own pace too. There's no pressure. Like Ray says it all the time, and it's so beautiful that if you want to come and join the private Facebook group and just be a fly on the wall, you're allowed to do that.

SPEAKER_01 33:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:22

If you want to come and join the private Facebook group and be a fly on the wall and just find your support through the podcast, you're allowed to do that. We just had one of our members introduce herself and she's like, I don't know why I've been holding holding off and avoiding doing this. But here I am, and she was welcomed with like such fantastic comments and such kindness and such open arms. Such open arms, and like, yeah, you're allowed to at your capacity, yeah, go at your own pace.

SPEAKER_00 33:49

If you want to join and a year later introduce yourself, why not? If that is what you need in the moment, we are here for what you need, when you need it, where you need it, how you need it. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 33:58

Like we we trust me, we get it. Yeah, like there have been moments where I've been in writing rooms where I'm supposed to write worship music, and I just straight up tell them, I'm like, I have nothing to give. I got nothing. I can't even pray. Like, I don't even have the capacity to pray for myself. And that was at like my my deep dark times, but um, but it takes time, it takes healing. And now me and Jesus talk all the time. You know what I mean? Like, but it took a long time to get there of coming back to healing and wholeness and community and being myself again. We've all experienced what it's like to live this lifestyle and along every chapter of it.

SPEAKER_00 34:37

So and there's no shame in wherever that is either. Oh gosh. So if you are in a place and need to talk to somebody about it, please reach out. There's so many women in that group who have been through what you are going through right now. Like, there's women in there who have been married for 30 plus years. Lots of women who are been married for a long time. Yeah. Done this longer than us. Yeah. And then, like, you know, I've been married for 10 years. You have women in there who are like not married yet, but soon to be married. Like, it is just such a wide variety of women who have such beautiful things to say and ways to help. And so if you can, if you are in a place where you need to ask for help, please reach out. Yeah, because you would you'd be surprised how many people are going through what you're going through. And just to know, even if there's nothing that they can do to help, to know that you are not alone is a big pressure off the shoulders.

SPEAKER_02 35:30

Yeah, for sure. We love you guys so much. We are so honored to be along this journey with you. That can feel like a patronizing statement from time to time, but genuinely, you, Stagewife, are strong. You are tenacious. You are a multitasker. You are living a lifestyle that's incredibly anxiety-ridden from time to time and a lot of pressure, but you are doing it. It is an honor to know you. Like the like we are women, we are girls, girls, if you can't tell. Like we love supporting other women. And the fact that you are in this group means that you want to work on your marriage, that you want to have a healthy relationship in the touring industry, and means that you want to get out of victim mentality and start walking as a victor, as someone who is victorious over her mindset and over her anxiety and over her depression and over like all of these other thoughts that can come in our head. It means you want to be a good mom. It means that you want to be a good contributor to society within this community. Like, you're an amazing human. If you're here, you're amazing. You just are. Like people don't understand what we go through. Yeah. But you are here and you are doing it. You are in the elite, you are incredible. So glad you're here. So if you want to continue to, if you are new to Stagewives, if you're new to this podcast, if you're new to everything we've been talking about, please join our private Facebook group. It's at We Are Stagewives on Facebook. That's our private Facebook group. You do have to fill out some paperwork just to prove that you're you are in fact a stage wife.

SPEAKER_00 37:07

By paperwork, it's literally like three questions and read the rules.

SPEAKER_02 37:11

Yeah, make sure I agree to not be a jerk.

SPEAKER_00 37:14

Yeah. Check.

SPEAKER_02 37:16

Yep. I actually have a husband or a boyfriend or a partner or my brother. Like it can be anything.

SPEAKER_00 37:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:23

Someone who's traveling. And I did give the invite on one of the questions on there. It does say, is your partner in the music industry? And so if your partner travels for work, like sports or TV film or anything like that, you count. Just put that in there. Yes. It's just to make sure that we don't have any weirdos.

SPEAKER_02 37:39

Yeah, we've had and we've had a couple weirdos try to join. So you show up! We also have an Instagram page and a TikTok. And a Facebook. And a public Facebook page that's just at Stagewives. And of course, we've got the website just as the grand connector. And for our email list, if you want to stay in on all of the news, especially with the book release party and pre-release and pre-sales and all that fun stuff.

SPEAKER_00 38:07

That's www.stagewives.com.

SPEAKER_03 38:10

Woo!

SPEAKER_00 38:10

We love y'all.

SPEAKER_02 38:12

We're honored to be here. We are so excited for what the future holds.

SPEAKER_03 38:16

Cheers to a year. Cheers, Stagewife.

unknown 38:19

Boop.

SPEAKER_03 38:20

Happy one year anniversary, Ray.

SPEAKER_00 38:22

Happy one year anniversary. Wow.

SPEAKER_03 38:24

Happy one year anniversary.

SPEAKER_02 38:25

Happy one year anniversary, guys. From all of us here at Stagewives to you. We love y'all dearly. Have a great day. You got this. Woo! Bye.