Bonus: A Send-Off for Laura Borichevsky

Bonus: A Send-Off for Laura Borichevsky

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Find the episode below, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you stream podcasts.

Featured in this episode: Laura Borichevsky, Noël Russell, Hailey Hirst, & Tori Duhaime

Hosted by Gale Straub

Music is licensed via MusicBed.

Resources

• Take Our 2021 Listener Survey
• Featured in this episode:
  • Laura Borichevsky
    • Instagram: @howsheviewsit
  • Hailey Hirst – Instagram: @haileyhirst
  • Noël Russ: Instagram – @noel_russ
  • Tori Duhaime: Instagram – @toriduhaime
• Sex Outside
  • Website
  • Instagram: @sexoutsidepod
  • Listen On Apple Podcasts
  • Listen on Spotify
• Ravel Media

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Featured in this Episode

Laura Borichevsky

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TRANSCRIPT

Note: This transcript was lightly edited and created using a transcription service. As such it may contain spelling errors.

Gale Straub – Narration:

I’m Gale Straub and you’re listening to a bonus episode of She Explores. But before we jump in — we need your help shaping She Explores in 2021. I’ve linked a five minute listener survey in the show notes so we can learn more about you and what you want to hear this year. And as extra incentive, three survey takers will be picked at random to win a copy of the She Explores book. Thank you so much for your time and help. Ok, on with this special bonus episode.

Gale Straub:

Laura?

Laura Borichevsky:

Hey.

Laura Borichevsky:

Hi. Can you hear me?

Gale Straub:

Hello? Hey, can you hear me?

Laura Borichevsky:

Yeah, I can hear you.

Gale Straub:

I, I can hear you, but Oh, our timing’s a little off, I think.

Laura Borichevsky:

Okay. Is there a delay?

Gale Straub:

Yeah, there seems to be like a few seconds delay.

Laura Borichevsky:

Yeah, I can hear it now too.

Gale Straub:

Call me just one more time.

Laura Borichevsky:

Yeah. Hold, uh, I’ll call you right back. Okay.

Gale Straub – Narration:

This spectacularly ungraceful bit of conversation was recorded April 22nd, 2017, between me and Laura Borichevsky. It was for the first episode of Women on the Road, a podcast she hosted for three years and over a hundred episodes before it evolved into Nomads at the Intersections. Laura, I think it was the first audio that we recorded together, but it wasn’t the first time that we got on the phone or planned to call each other back in hopes of better reception. I’m going to play another clip from that first episode, Laura, I hope you’re not mad. I know how hard it is to hear your early voice, but it’s to show how far you’ve come.

Laura Borichevsky:

The series is being recorded from the road, which means that it’s going to have its own grit and realness to it. Based on wherever we’re recording from, it’ll be like getting a little extra flavor of life on the road as you listen along. But that also means that studio quality sound is not guaranteed. I’m embracing it and hoping you will as well.

Gale Straub – Narration:

Laura and I have worked together consistently since the start of that podcast. And if you’ve heard her on She Explores or Women on the Road since that first episode, you know that she’s grown a whole lot as a podcaster since then. I wouldn’t say she’s found her voice, I think she’s very much always had it. But I’m so proud of her when I say she’s moving on from Ravel Media with her voice and her perspective to launch her very own podcast and education platform, Sex Outside. If you didn’t catch the bonus episode last week, I definitely recommend that you queue it up and listen. But for now, this is a tribute to Laura.

Noël Russell:

I think the words I would use to describe Laura would be..

Tori Duhaime:

Three words to describe Laura… As if that’s enough for somebody so rad.

Hailey Hirst:

She’s passionate, driven, and energetic.

Tori Duhaime:

Tenacious, expansive, conscious.

Noël Russell:

Thoughtful, compassionate, and fierce.

Gale Straub – Narration:

Those voices are Noël, Tori, and Hailey – we’ve been all working together with Laura at Ravel Media for the last couple of years, making podcasts and miniseries, writing blog posts, taking photographs, consulting with brands in the outdoor industry. There are lots of different ways we’ve shown up for each other, but we don’t often have an opportunity to share how we feel about each other – what we respect, how we make each other better. Gosh don’t we all need more of that in our lives? Laura, in certain ways our relationship started as a teacher/student one – but it evolved quickly. It flip flopped all the time, sometimes we were both teacher, both student. Often I learned from you. I can confidently say that you pushed me in ways that made me braver in owning my voice, bolder in the stories we tell. And that bravery, it’s a muscle you’ve taught me to flex frequently, to keep it strong. Hailey went on to describe Laura as it relates to her favorite animal:

Hailey Hirst:

She said before, the hummingbirds are an animal that she identifies with. And I feel like that’s pretty fitting. I think about this Brett little thing that flips between bursts of color, collecting sweetness along the way, and like the small territorial birds. She’s also not afraid to fight for things she cares about or believes in

Gale Straub – Narration:

Hummingbirds don’t just collect sweetness. They pollinate the flowers, allowing plants to produce fruit or seeds. Here’s Noël.

Noël Russell:

The first time interacting with Laura was actually being interviewed by her for a Women on the Road, episode, episode two. And I was really comforted by how much space she creates in a conversation and how safe she makes that conversation feel. Conversations can be, they can sometimes feel daunting like walking on a slippery trail and you have to watch your footing, or they can feel like a, a park with like really steady fencing and soft ground. And you can just run and play and you don’t have to worry about falling or slipping or something coming out of the blue. You can just enjoy your experience. She’s really disarming in that.

Laura Borichevsky:

I am the first and possibly the only person who’s going to sit in this confessional. We’ll see if other people decide to join, but it’s interesting because everyone else is being recorded at all the time. So maybe it makes sense that I’ve been listening so much that I decided to come in here and talk in my spare time.

Gale Straub – Narration:

This is Laura again, back in February, 2018, three years ago, we were on location for a special episode of she explores in Marfa, Texas. There was a recorder set up in a tent with a few prompts. Laura was the only person who picked it up and did some reflecting. That’s very Laura, by the way, I want to share with you now, Laura, because you were new to audio them and that excitement you had it didn’t go away.

Laura Borichevsky:

For the past seven years. I have been a photographer first before anything else. My camera goes with me everywhere. It usually is right next to my bed and it was next to my bed. When I lived in an apartment, it sits on the bed. Now that I live in a camper van, I’m anxious. If I’m not taking photos, that was my state. That’s how I knew to interact in the world. And I was very confident that that was my main way of being able to make a contribution was through visuals, through photography. I never, ever, ever would have thought that using my voice and encouraging other people to use their voices would make an equal or very likely greater impact than what I was doing with photos. But last year I had the opportunity to work with. She explores on creating the women on the road podcast, and that completely changed the trajectory of my creative life.

Laura Borichevsky:

And my self perception being here in Marfa has been such an interesting twist for me because normally I would be behind a camera with my eye to a viewfinder, changing out lenses and squatting and all kinds of interesting, uh, crouched positions to get the shot. And that’s not what I’m doing this time. It didn’t occur to me until I got here and put on headphones and started listening to all these amazing conversations about whether it’s okay to change your dream and what the transition is like when things don’t go the way you planned or when you don’t feel in alignment with that dream that you wanted. At one point, I didn’t realize that that had kind of happened to me too. Um, just recently with my creative self, I’ve always loved listening and now I have the opportunity to do it professionally. I never would have thought a year ago or even six months ago that this is where I would be in my career. I was certain that photography was going to be my forever, everything, and it still continues to be a big part of my identity and my self perception. But in a short period of time, I’ve been able to say, I don’t consider myself a photographer first before anything else.

Laura Borichevsky:

And there’s something really liberating about that. I don’t know that that’s necessarily been replaced with audio storytelling and podcasting and journalistic audio and interviewing, but it’s nice to know that I don’t have to be forever attached to something, even if it’s something I love, even if it’s something that was a huge part of my identity. So it’s nice to hear all these women’s voices and their own journeys going through changing their dreams and the struggles associated with that and the grief and the hope, because I feel that too. And I guess that’s why we’re all here

Gale Straub – Narration:

Today, Laura, you’re at another crossroads and we’re thrilled to hear what you do next. We compiled some of our wishes for you and Sex Outside. First up, Hailey – who designed the branding for Sex Outside and helps make things beautiful for us at Ravel, whether it’s through visuals or her way of putting words together:

Hailey Hirst:

In her work as a podcaster and a community builder, she can be exceedingly generous with her attention, graceful with difficult subjects and tireless at working to build what she has envisioned. And she does have quite the vision for sex outside and all that. It can be watching her nurture this new idea over the past several months has been like bearing witness to some rare flower blossoming. And that is Laura. I hope that she and the show and the endless possibilities surrounding it continue to bloom in surprising ways and knowing Laura, I think she will.

Tori Duhaime:

Long before knowing Laura in the flesh, her voice was a constant on my own car stereo bouncing along on similar roads she spoke of.

Gale Straub – Narration:

Tori joined the team in 2019 as a sponsored content producer. I first heard her voice through a submission for She Explores. And she first connected with Laura in a similar fashion:

Tori Duhaime:

The stories she shared both of her own and others gave way to conversations. I didn’t know. I craved and altered the perceptions that I needed jiggled out of their settled ways. Her words in writing and sound are offered with confidence to the community she speaks to and in return learns from she isn’t afraid to accept mistakes or take a step back when necessary. But most importantly speaks up when required. Once our paths finally crossed after a few years of virtual kinship, her friendship, leadership and guidance have become a staple to my own present and future a commodity of kindness. I hope to carry forward into every relationship. Laura has normalized many of us in our own personal and shared ways while pushing the boundaries, we need broken down the way she listens leaves no air of judgment, even in the most difficult to discuss dialogues while ensuring that we don’t settle back into habits of harm and her reflections of self and situations is something I will forever work to soak up into body.

Tori Duhaime:

These traits are some of the many reasons why I’m so deeply excited for the future of sex outside. I trust her to tell the stories that we don’t know we need until they’ve reached our ears and teach us the way we’ve been hungry to be taught. I’m thrilled for the opportunities sex outside. We’ll be giving others to have their voices and stories heard while we have the opportunity to feel seen through a lens that hasn’t been crafted for us. Quite yet, we have so much to learn about this intimate world within us. And there are a few people I would trust to drive this magic school bus of an adventure. Then Laura [inaudible] Laura, because I know you’re listening. Thank you so much for the opportunities conversations, laughs, education and friendship you’ve offered. It’s just the beginning and as always, thank you so much for existing. Have a good enough time.

Gale Straub – Narration:

Last up, Noel Noel heads up our brand partnerships and is an incredible storyteller in her own, right.

Noël Russell:

Um, one of my hopes or dreams for sex outside is for Laura to do what I think she does really well and invite others in to have conversations that help people feel seen and known, and also challenge certain narratives in a way that gives us room to grow. I’m really excited that that platform is going to be created through sex outside and, and that we’ll be able to learn together and be stretched together as far as anything else that I’d like to add. When we see so many different versions of storytelling these days, and people like Laura really lead, lead us in ways that that creates opportunity for us to re-imagine what these conversations look like and find flourishing in these engagements, whether it’s listening to someone share or sharing yourself, I get really excited about what the world could look like when I see storytellers like Laura continued to succeed. So I just am really excited and hopeful that this next adventure is a wildly good one. And that it allows for more people to be brought into a space that feels safe and feels welcoming and feels affirming and encouraging. And I think that that’s, what’s going to happen with sex outside. And I hope it gets a little weird too.

Gale Straub – Narration:

Ooh, I guess that just leaves me Laura. The team said it so well on our last episode, I said that Sex Outside is buzzing with potential. And that’s because of you. I admire you for being someone who is unafraid to live out her dreams to take chances to think big. This isn’t really goodbye. I know your voice will fill up my headphones. As I listened to your work, it will be on the show again. Heck I even have a call with you the day that this episode airs, but I’m grateful to you for all. You’ve given us these last several years and as you take flight I’m here and I promise if there’s a delay on your end of the line, I’ll call you back in a few minutes and we can pick up back where we started.

Gale Straub – Narration:

Thank you to Hailey Hirst, Noël Russell, and Tori Duhaime for taking the time to share your reflections. Thanks again to Laura Borichevsky for all that, she’s contributed to Ravel Media and She Explores over the years. You can find Sex Outside wherever you listen to podcasts. As always, you can join us in our She Explores Podcast, Facebook group, and you can learn more. We’ll be back with full episodes in March, but in the meantime, we still have a couple of bonuses up our sleeve. So until then stay curious and have fun out there.