Subscribe on iTunes | Subscribe on Spotify | View all episodes
Sound bite
[00:00:00] Evie: We were talking a lot about consent, um, but we were actually talking about it mostly, like, I think a couple of the parents were a little apprehensive, uh, but we were really talking about consent in the way of friendship, you know, and siblings and those first formative kind of relationships and about how, you know, also the gray areas.
[00:00:28] It’s very easy if you’ve got someone, for example, at school, who you don’t get along with, who may not be very kind to you in P. E. lesson or whatever, it’s very easy to know where you stand on that, what your feelings are about that, and it’s more just a confidence of using your voice to say stop. I don’t like that.
[00:00:50] But when it’s your friend and your friend’s doing something that makes you feel uncomfortable, that’s a lot harder for girls. Um, and it’s, well, for anyone, but it’s a lot harder, especially I’m really noticing in that kind of pre tweens. 9, 10 kind of age, even younger, 8, 9, 10, um, that they have a good friend, but there’s still things that happen that make them feel uncomfortable.
[00:01:18] So how do they voice that then?
Podcast introduction
[00:01:20] Amanda: Hello and welcome to the youth mentor podcast. This is your short burst of inspiration tips and research about teens for parents, educators, and mentors. I’m your host, Amanda Rootsey, founder of teen personal development school Shine From Within and coach to incredible youth mentors all over the world. From psychological insights to really practical advice, this is your moment of inspiration, motivation, and a few laughs amidst the ever changing world of teens and tweens.
episode introduction
[00:01:48] Welcome to this episode, titled consent, creativity and community inside Evie wilson’s Stardust Squad. Evie shares about, the beginning of Stardust Squad, which is a magical gathering place in regional Victoria for girls aged five to early teens, where each girl is celebrated for her uniqueness and empowered to explore the wonders of mindset, friendship, self-love, growing older, communication and connection. How beautiful does that sound? Evie shares how she started, how it actually blossomed from this realization that her daughters can’t be the only ones in her regional town, not into group sport. And, you know, the realization that without that, they were missing out on, um, on the mentoring that can come in, those groups, sporting environments, and she really wanted to create something that would work well for her girls.
[00:02:36] It’s just exploded into a thriving community program. She opens up about some of the powerful discussions that come about in these different sessions that she runs and the way that they run. So for example, the make and take sessions where girls create meaningful projects while exploring important life lessons like consent and friendships and self-expression. Evie shared some really great tips for parents in this episode, as well as. Um, the inspiring story of just having an idea, giving it a go realizing that this is the thing, and this is working really well. And how that’s evolved so that all of the things that she’s done in her life as a, as a teacher, as a parent, as a coach, Um, have all come together in this beautiful business.
main interview
[00:03:24] Amanda: I just love everything that you’re doing and I have so loved getting to know you over the last 12 months or so, 12, 24 months, something like that.
[00:03:33] Evie: Yeah.
[00:03:34] Yeah.
[00:03:34] Amanda: I
[00:03:34] Evie: was going to say about 18.
[00:03:35] Amanda: Right in the middle. Would you mind telling us about, about your beautiful, your beautiful project, your beautiful business Stardust Squad? Of
[00:03:44] Evie: course. Um, so it started off as an in person event that we were running for girls, kind of primary school age, mostly, about 5 to 12 years.
[00:03:58] Um, we’re based in a very, um, small rural part of Victoria in Australia. And we were just finding, well, I was finding as a mother of girls, my girls at the time weren’t sporty. There wasn’t really anything else for them to do. And I think a lot of the time in rural communities, sport is very, uh, it’s such a big thing.
[00:04:19] It’s such a priority. And I was just really noticing, like, if my girls weren’t playing team sports, then they were really lacking that opportunity for mentors and for other adults that were in their lives that were important for them. So I thought to myself, there can’t be just my girls, there must be others as well.
[00:04:42] So that’s why, I decided to start, Stardust Squad. So yeah, and we’ve got it now to the monthly events. And we run these events. We do like, um, different sessions. Sometimes they’re ritual sessions or meditation sessions, but our most popular ones are our big ‘Make and Take’ sessions, which are 90 minutes.
[00:05:02] And we kind of pick a topic that we’d like to discuss with the girls. And then they, uh, we team like a creative project to go with it as well. So they’re creating something to take home, but there’s always a lot of, um, group discussion and messaging around what they’re making. , and it’s, I guess, a bit of an anchor so they can take it home and remember what was spoken about and that kind of thing.
[00:05:30] So yeah, that was, that was the base of Stardust Squad. And, um, Yeah, slowly, it’s kind of, hopefully, when I get a bit of time, um, in the next year, it’ll slowly evolve a little bit as well, but for now, it’s our in person sessions.
[00:05:51] Amanda: Amazing. Oh, I love that. I love that you just, you realized that something was needed for your girls and put it out there just to see if anyone in the community might also take it on board and, um, yeah, yeah.
[00:06:05] I feel like that might be when we started connecting was when you’d just done a few and then kind of realized, Oh, this is, this is the thing. Everyone wants this.
[00:06:13] Evie: Yes. And because before that I’d spent about two and a half years doing monthly women’s events. Um, and that kind of kicked off during COVID and I really noticed that people were just craving some kind of connection and to leave the house.
[00:06:29] And when the kind of restrictions were on, off, on, off. Um, where possible, I was able to, you know, with restrictions, obviously allowing most the time you could have a group of 10 people, you know, um, safely. So I was doing these. Monthly events for women and we would do journaling or, um, I’d bring kind of a topic and we’d discuss it so that it was a get together, but a bit deeper than just talking about the weather or covid or, you know, something like that.
[00:07:05] So I had been doing those and my girls started to say things like, oh, why can’t we come and do something like that, ? Um, and they were seeing like the things that I was prepping. Um, and for these events, and so they were kind of like, Oh, you know, we want to cut to something like that. And then, um, funnily enough, though, what happened was it’s very hard to convince women to invest in themselves.
[00:07:35] And what I have discovered is it’s not hard at all to convince women to invest in their children. Um, so the monthly events for the women, it was just getting harder and harder to fill the numbers. And, um, so I decided to have a little break from it and then, yeah, when I started the idea of starter squad, um, it was just like selling out like in 20 minutes I could sell out three to four sessions.
[00:08:06] Um, yeah, so like, you know, 40, 30, 40, 50 children, um, really quickly. Um, cause there’s nothing else like that around here. So, yeah, so it did, it took off really quickly and I felt like it was my sweet spot. Yeah.
[00:08:26] Amanda: Yeah. Bringing together so many things that you love and experiences that you have too. Hey, because you’re also.
[00:08:34] You were also trained as an early childhood educator as well, is that right? Yes.
[00:08:38] Evie: Yeah. So I’ve got a bachelor in teaching in early childhood. So I felt like it was the perfect storm between my teaching degree and then the life coach degree that I, like, qualification that I had, plus having my girls. So I was able to kind of really see from that kind of point of view.
[00:09:00] Um, and. Yeah, it just all kind of came together, um, which was really nice. I think it’s such a, you know, you hear it all the time. People saying about how nothing’s ever wasted. Any study you do, anything like that, it’s never wasted. It’s all worthwhile. And I really thought that I’d never go back to teaching, um, just because more of the demands on teachers, especially when you’ve got a young family, it’s very hard to make that work.
[00:09:31] Um, but now I’m so grateful that I did it because I feel like it’s coming into you so much. So yeah, it just took a little while and then it all kind of brewed together to, yeah, to be just what I needed and what everyone else needed evidently as well.
[00:09:47] Amanda: Yeah. Beautiful. You sound like, um, a pretty creative person and you know, once you get an idea, you just run with it and it comes to life in this really big, beautiful, magical way.
[00:10:01] Yeah.
[00:10:02] Evie: Um, yeah, I get bored really easy. That’s another way to put it. Yeah, I get bored really easy. I often say now I’d be a terrible employee. I’ve worked for myself for too long. So I love the idea of not having to, um, kind of, I guess, go to hire people to ask if I could do something to get approval. I love being able to run with an idea, like you said.
[00:10:30] Bye! I don’t tend to be. A perfectionist, you know, a lot of the time I’m, I, I obviously put a lot of effort in, but if it’s to the point of getting something out there or agonizing over details that, you know, logos or colors or whatever it might be. I’ll always get it out there. I’d rather just do the thing and learn from it.
[00:10:55] So, yeah, I don’t really have, I don’t really have much patience in, um, waiting for something to be perfect. I’d rather just, and a lot of the time I found too, the details that we get caught up in as business owners so often are things that other people don’t even notice. Um, yeah. So. Yeah, I’m a, um, yeah, Gemini, true, true and true.
[00:11:23] So I’m always kind of thinking, thinking, thinking, um, and just, I like to try new things.
[00:11:34] Amanda: I love that. And from the outside looking in, um, you’re so, you’re so right. You know, like everything that you, you put out in the world is so fun and beautiful and there is a lot of, um, it’s done so well, you know, like it’s, um, Yeah, it’s done so beautifully and it’s been really nice to see the iterations from I’m just going to do a workshop to, okay, this is the thing I’m going to, I’m going to invest more in the name and the branding and, and, um, and take it to that next kind of level.
[00:12:06] And it’s such a beautiful way to kind of play and take the pressure off and then really lean in when, when it’s done. When it’s taking off.
[00:12:15] Evie: That’s right. And I was going to say too, I should say that I have the, like, I don’t, don’t take that granted either. The fact that I think that I can move quickly and play with it more because it is popular and it’s filling up so, um, maybe if the spots weren’t filling up as much, I could, I could see that I would be in a position where I would agonize over things a bit more, but because it’s popular, um, and it’s.
[00:12:46] It’s just really well received in our area. Then, uh, I guess it’s, it’s easier to make those quick decisions, try something new. If it didn’t work this month, that’s fine. I just won’t do it next month. And there’s been plenty of those too, but when you’re doing monthly events and, you know, we now have nearly a hundred girls.
[00:13:09] Um, enrolled just for this year. It means that you’ve got a lot of people that you can kind of keep trialing with. Um, yeah. So,
[00:13:23] Amanda: and what a great way to just constantly have to come up with new ideas every month and like that I imagine would feed your, your need for something new all the time. And I bet the kids love it too.
[00:13:35] Evie: Yeah, definitely. It’s, I mean, it definitely helps having the girls at home and my girls. So they’re, uh, 10 and seven.
[00:13:43] Uh, so, and then their opposite personalities, which opposites in every single way actually. So, which I find is actually really good because it’s, I can kind of check in with one of them. What would you think of this idea? We could do this. One might not like it, but the other might vice versa. And so, uh, or, and there’s also the age difference as well.
[00:14:09] So the older one might be, you know, she’s starting to say, I’d love to do different kind of events. The younger one is still loving the creative project, part of it and stuff. So I find that really easy. It’s, you know, like having, um, I just kind of surveyed them all the time at home, how are you feeling about this?
[00:14:29] Um, but I should mention too, like I’ve got a beautiful friend, Steph, who’s our creative director. That’s what I call her. And she, I asked her to kind of come on board when I first started the idea, I I knew that I could do it, but I had felt a little bit burnt out from the Women’s Monthly events. It’s always every single month coming up with something and I thought if I want this to have the longevity that I was really wanting, that two brains is better than one.
[00:15:01] And Steph’s, uh, so opposite to me in so many ways, um, very creative as well, but she’s very, She’s very slow, very calming. She’s beautiful to have in the space, uh, very much. She’s probably more nature based than I am. She’s got her own flower farm, um, and she makes everything, uh, you know, makes her own candles and just really beautiful stuff and an amazing energy.
[00:15:33] So I knew that having her there as well. Would just give it that extra mention, but it would also mean that it, I could go for longer. Mm-Hmm. , you know, she would supplement me and compliment me and that bring new ideas and then that meant that starter squad would actually survive the length of time that I wanted it to.
[00:16:01] Amanda: I love that and I love seeing what you come up with together. You mentioned that the, one of the most popular things is the make and take.
[00:16:08] Evie: Yes.
[00:16:09] Amanda: What kind of things do you do? What’s like, what’s one
[00:16:11] Evie: of the
[00:16:11] Amanda: things you’ve done recently?
[00:16:13] Evie: The most recent one that we’ve done, that’s turned out to be really, really popular, is we have these beautiful journals.
[00:16:19] Um, and they were just like the brown cover craft journals that I got online. And, We did a session with the girls where they actually embroidered the front of the journals. So when they enrolled, they had like a bit of a dropdown menu that their parents would do, uh, what kind of thing they would like on the cover, whether they’d like their name on the cover or moon and stars or a rainbow or something.
[00:16:45] And I free, free hold, like free prepped all the journals while I was sitting at soccer training. Um, and did all of those. So I think we ended up doing, there was 45 girls over those sessions. That was a really popular session. Yeah. So prepped 45 journals. And then when we had the sessions. We were talking a lot about consent, um, but we were actually talking about it mostly, like, I think a couple of the parents were a little apprehensive, uh, but we were really talking about consent in the way of friendship, you know, and siblings and those first formative kind of relationships and about how, you know, also the gray areas.
[00:17:37] It’s very easy if you’ve got someone, for example, at school, who you don’t get along with, who may not be very kind to you in P. E. lesson or whatever, it’s very easy to know where you stand on that, what your feelings are about that, and it’s more just a confidence of using your voice to say stop. I don’t like that.
[00:18:00] But when it’s your friend and your friend’s doing something that they, that makes you feel uncomfortable, that’s a lot harder for girls. Um, and it’s, well, for anyone, but it’s a lot harder, especially I’m really noticing in that kind of pre tweens. 9, 10 kind of age, it’s coming up so much, even younger, 8, 9, 10, um, that they have a good friend, but there’s still things that happen that make them feel uncomfortable.
[00:18:30] So how do they voice that then? So we were speaking a lot about that. So we started off with a group discussion. We always sit in a circle and, um, we’ve got beautiful cushions and we sit there in a circle together. We talk about what we’re going to do today. And we start off with a discussion and really talk to them.
[00:18:46] It’s very, Uh, gentle. It’s very open ended. No one has to participate if they don’t want to. Um, and they always have like coloring in or something to do so they’re not having to sit there and forcefully make eye contact. They can be busy doing that. And I find that that kind of, you know, it helps them chat away a little bit more.
[00:19:08] And, um, and then. They, after we had the discussion, then we taught them how they employed the front of their journals. And they all worked away on that and they were given stardust squad journal starters to put like a sheet of them to put in the back cover of their journals just to start talking to them about like, you know, that whole.
[00:19:31] confused feeling and conflicting feeling of, um, what to do if you’re uncomfortable, but it is a good friend, but you still don’t like it. You know, that can bring up a lot of feelings and they can be confusing and hard to process. And so we talked about starting to use journals to help with that. Kind of those feelings, and that was a really popular session, and the feedback from parents was really good.
[00:19:59] Um, quite a few of the girls have started using the journal to write down their feelings and then leave it next to their parents bed. And then the parent writes back and leaves it with them. Um, and it was really interesting, some of the older girls who, Uh, girls who I know have really beautiful relationships with their parents, even though they were saying things like, Oh yeah, but I hate waiting for that moment of mom’s reaction.
[00:20:28] If I have to tell her something in person and They would say, Oh, not that she’d get mad necessarily, but it’s just that anticipation, that awful feeling of how’s this going to end? How’s this going to go? What’s mom going to think? Um, which I found really interesting. And there was things like girls were saying, Oh, I just hate it when people touch my hair.
[00:20:50] But my friends are trying to be nice and say, gosh, look how beautiful and glossy a ponytail looks, and they touch it and they’d say, but what do I do about that? Because I hate it. But I don’t feel like I can say anything. So, and then there was lots of like, um, one girl said, You know, her and her dad used to always wrestle and tickle and stuff.
[00:21:11] And she was like, Oh, but I feel like I’m getting too old for that, but he hasn’t changed, but I have. So how do I kind of voice that with him? Because that was always something we did together, but now I feel uncomfortable. Um, it was really, really interesting. And then on the back of that, um, I had one starry who always comes and she had least.
[00:21:37] all of those sessions just with different things. So we actually did a one on one session together and she made her journal and we talked about different things that had been going on for her and that was really, really beautiful. I loved that. Um, and it’s just, again, the simple act of doing something with your hands.
[00:21:57] So that you’re not put on the spot uncomfortable that you have to spill all your feelings out. It worked really well.
[00:22:08] Amanda: And did you find when those questions were coming up from them, that older girls in the group or other people in the group would share what’s worked for them? Was it more of kind of like a group discussion or did you find that they were asking you and, and you?
[00:22:21] Evie: It was,
[00:22:22] Amanda: it
[00:22:23] Evie: was a bit of both, but a lot of the time the girls were kind of, I was there facilitating, but a lot of the time they were kind of answering each other’s things. Another thing that came up a lot was sleepovers. About like how they felt like they had to. ’cause it’s cool to do sleepovers, but actually everyone feels really uncomfortable at sleepovers,
[00:22:46] Um, which is really interesting. And once someone started and was brave enough that they were all kind of saying, oh, me too. I feel like that. I don’t know how to get out of it. I don’t know what to say. Uh, yes. So I was able to just kind of every now and again prompt it and maybe just throw in a different question.
[00:23:09] And a lot of the time it was questions that You know, like with a lot of this kind of stuff, I didn’t have a perfect answer. I don’t think there is a perfect answer, but I was able to just throw something into the mix and see how they all kind of took it and responded to it. And even just them having that conversation and seeing how a lot of the time they all answered things differently.
[00:23:32] I think even that was amazing because I was able to point that out to them saying, well, see, you don’t like your hair being touched, but you don’t mind that, but you over there, you hate hugs, but your friends, you know, they’re coming from a really lovely place because they want to give you a hug, yet it still makes you feel uncomfortable, even though the intention is good.
[00:23:53] So. Yeah, it was really interesting.
[00:23:59] Amanda: What a beautiful way for them to see, yeah, to think about their actions with their friends too and not take it personally if someone says no.
[00:24:08] Evie: Yes, because we did talk about that too. I said also on the flip side, like what if you’re on the receiving end of that? What if someone says no to you?
[00:24:17] And it was so interesting, they were all, like, you could all see them kind of like cringe. And, um, the older girls especially, like they were saying, that is an awful feeling because you almost feel like you’re getting told off. No one wants that feeling. You feel really bad, but, and they all just kind of said, but you have to listen if they don’t like it, they don’t like it.
[00:24:43] Yeah, that was really interesting to watch like even their body language like oh, I would hate that you know So Yeah, just even the different perspectives and stuff. They did really well.
[00:25:00] Amanda: Oh, what a beautiful Nourishing special space that you’re setting up for these for these young people in your community.
[00:25:08] Yes
[00:25:09] Evie: amazing Yeah, that was, that was, I think, one of my favorite sessions so far.
[00:25:14] Amanda: Oh, wow. Um, and I’m curious, was there something that you were able to say to the parents that were apprehensive about this topic of consent? For young people, for quite young people that like helped get them over the line or were there some that you think maybe didn’t show up because they’re just, it just wasn’t something they were comfortable with.
[00:25:36] Evie: I tried to explain it as much as I could. Um, on social media, like where I was advertising the session and really talking about how it was going to be age appropriate. I think that in general society, we hear the word consent and all of a sudden we go to sexual consent and we don’t think about anything else.
[00:25:55] So I think some of them who had seven year old daughters were thinking, my God, why do we need to have that conversation? You know, um, so. I really kind of set about how it was age appropriate consent within friendships, that kind of thing. Um, uh, there was a big handful of parents that were like, we’re coming no matter what, cannot agree that, you know, like we need this so much right now.
[00:26:24] So that was really good. And then what I also did, I don’t do it for every session, but for the sessions that I feel like are a bit more complex and things, I do like a big parent info sheet. Kind of like a newsletter or something like that. And I just write things that we’ve talked about, touched on, and then how they can extend it at home.
[00:26:45] Um, because, you know, it’s not uncommon for kids to come out of sessions like that and the parents say, What did you do? I don’t know. We made the journal, you know, we made this journal. Which, yes, they should have been proud. They did an incredible job of the journal. A lot of them had never done sewing or stitching or anything before.
[00:27:03] However, I know that if that was me as a parent, I wouldn’t love that I just kind of then get nothing. Like, I have no idea what they’ve talked about or what’s been covered. So I did that for that session and yeah, again, the feedback was really good for that. And I did things like, you know, for the older girls, it just so happened that the ones that I had, none of them had phones yet.
[00:27:31] Um, but I did say, like, I gave, like, different websites and things like that that they could go to for different information. But then even the younger ones, you know, I talked about, you know, How they can like everyday things like there’s that bluey episode where, um, you know, everyone kind of railroads bingo into making all these decisions and then at the end bingo so upset because she’s made decisions that weren’t even hers.
[00:27:58] So I’m like, even for the youngest ones, there’s so many things around that start the conversation around consent and the idea is that when you’re building the, you know, the basic blocks for consent. Then, when they get to 14, 15, 16, and it’s consent in a different way, or even, you know, whether it be sexual consent or making decisions about who you’re getting in a car with, or, you know, all those kind of things that they’ve got the building blocks there and they remember, you know, and it’s contextual, they can take it from one context to another.
[00:28:36] And so that’s kind of what I said. Um, another thing is, like, just giving the parents suggestions to around, Uh, we’ve been talking about it a lot. We’re quite a way off getting phones in our house. I’m going to put that off, obviously, as long as I can, but also too rurally, there’s no public transport. So once my biggest girl goes to high school, I’m probably not going to be able to avoid it for as long as I would like, just for more of a safety thing, uh, and logistical thing.
[00:29:08] Um, but talking about how, like, that parents can set up things, that I heard, I can’t even remember where I heard it, but having like an emergency emoji. So I remember when I was a teenager and I was at a party, I didn’t want to be there anymore. And I wanted my mom to come and pick me up. So I messaged her on the sly and someone stole my phone and saw the message and read it out to everyone.
[00:29:34] So then I was mortified, you know, whereas I’ve heard of people having like an emergency emoji, something really random so that they send it and then the parents call and say, Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry. All our plans have changed. This has happened. I’m going to have to come and get you now. It’s out of your control.
[00:29:50] You have to come home. And that there’s no questions asked, they get picked up straight away, and if they feel comfortable afterwards, when they’re home or on the drive home, they can talk about why they didn’t want to be there anymore or what was going on for them. Um, so I even put suggestions like that so that while most of them aren’t quite there yet, That they can start to have a think about how they can use things like technology, which often gets such a bad rap with our young people, how they can use it to really work together as a family and, you know, build strengths rather than be this constant issue that’s You know, a fight and a, you know, a hard thing between parents and young people.
[00:30:39] Amanda: Oh, wow. I love that so much. Um, and it reminds me that I’ve seen on your Instagram that you are, um, starting something in September called Raising Staries. Is that right? Yes.
[00:30:52] Evie: Working with the parents
[00:30:53] Amanda: too?
[00:30:53] Evie: Yes. Yep. So I was really, I ran, um, Must have been through COVID. I ran like an online group coaching, uh, program with women and I loved it.
[00:31:05] I really, really loved it. And that conversation kind of came up because a lot of the parents were saying, it’s really great that we can send our girls to stardust squad, but we’re kind of still left thinking, well, what can we do? There must be more that we can do at home to compliment it. Uh, so yeah, I just put it out there and said, you know, when I get back from having this baby, I would love to do something like that and have a group coaching.
[00:31:38] session program for mums of girls to really start going deeper into those conversations. And I really love them too. It means it’s status quo. It’s kind of a multi generational approach then, which is real. It’s just feels really lovely. Uh, and it also means to, you know, that the one issue is that status quo is Like we’re rural, not everyone obviously is anywhere near us can get near us.
[00:32:07] So at least this way, then, um, yeah, women who are maybe further away and would love to access StataSquad that can’t, can still tap into, yeah, a little bit of that. Yeah. So I’m really looking forward to that. That’ll be heaps of fun. So I would love it if that was like my, you know, that I got to run it.
[00:32:29] Every year or a couple of times a year or something that would be really lovely. So we’ll see how it goes.
[00:32:35] Amanda: Oh, exciting. I love that approach to the whole family ecosystem, the multi generational approach where you’re getting to support everyone at each level. And, um, again, just love the way that you’ve kind of.
[00:32:50] incrementally added things depending on what people are asking for or what you’re feeling cool to do. And there’s just always more to do, isn’t there? It’s just kind of endless. When you’re running your own thing,
[00:33:01] Evie: young
[00:33:01] Amanda: people, there’s always more to do.
[00:33:04] Evie: And I think it’s more, my problem probably is being, uh, like really picking and choosing and being conscious of what to choose to do.
[00:33:15] Um, and yeah, this just felt like a really, it felt like good timing and it felt like a good, you know, now that status was kind of a bit more. We’ve got our groove on a bit more and the pattern of how we do the monthly sessions and things like that. Um, yeah, it felt like good timing, but yes, so many tempting things, do it all.
[00:33:41] Amanda: Like a magical Taylor Swift, mother daughter disco kind of thing.
[00:33:46] Evie: Oh my gosh, that was, I mean, I do kind of wish that I wasn’t quite so pregnant when I ran that. I didn’t get to dance anywhere near as much as I would have liked to. But that, um, that event that we ran, like it still gives me goosebumps. It was so amazing.
[00:34:01] Um, yeah. And I think I’d love to run another one in the summer, not Taylor Swift, but just some kind of, um, yeah. Think of some cool theme and run another event, big event in the summer. Um, yeah. Did you have 200 people at that? Yeah. So I had a hundred girls and. Um, yeah, about 89 mums or something like that.
[00:34:28] Um, my husband was there. He was handing out glow sticks at the door. He was the only male. Um, yeah, so there was one little boy there who came. Um, and he danced his heart out, which was so beautiful. But, um, there were mums there that, you know, were like, I just kind of thought that it would be like, obviously it was a child centered event.
[00:34:56] But I had mums who like, had either tiny babies or just boys that didn’t want to come, or older children, and they were borrowing people’s girls. So that they could come. So I thought there was just going to be like a handful of mums.
[00:35:14] You know, maybe 50 mums. Like by the time everyone’s got a couple of kids themselves, you know, or I thought it would be like, Oh, I’ll take all the kids. Um, but yeah, like the mums and every, all the mums were dressed up. Everyone went all out. Sequined jackets and fringe boots and like everything. So, um, yeah, that was really fun.
[00:35:37] It Oh,
[00:35:39] Amanda: it sounds
[00:35:39] Evie: amazing.
[00:35:40] Amanda: Okay. I do have a final question for you. I’m more just curious, I think for myself, um, as someone that you’re already trained as a teacher, you already had life coaching under your belt. You’re already a mum of, Girls, um, what drew you to enrolling in the youth mentor training?
[00:36:02] Like, what were you looking for from the youth mentor training? And yeah, how did it support you?
[00:36:08] Evie: That’s such a good question. I think what happened was I thought that maybe. Stardust squad would be similar to the women’s events that I’d done. So it was like, I thought it’d just be kind of a trickle every month and maybe it would be something that would be good for my girls and that would be enough. And then when it kind of took off like it did, I thought, yeah, I need a bit more support. , I need to. Kind of get my ducks in a row. Like I need to do this properly. And I got really excited cause I was like, this could be my thing. You know, I’d I’d done, I had been coaching with women, like I said, and I was doing a lot of mindset coaching and I loved it.
[00:36:49] But it didn’t feel like my thing that I could really kind of run with. And so once it kind of took off, I thought, yeah, I really need a bit more, um, a bit more support with this. And it was one of those, like, just perfect timings. It must have been the Beautiful You Awards the year before. Um, and I had seen on there, we were on zoom for those awards because of COVID and you had won and all the winners.
[00:37:19] I just looked everyone up and I was like, Oh, what do they do and everything. And, um, yeah, I had a real moment of like, Oh, this is crazy timing. Like I needed to know who you were. It was very good timing. I needed your, like, I need your help. I need, and I was just like, Ooh, okay. Yeah. I was supposed to see that.
[00:37:40] Um, and yeah, I just felt like the training was It was just everything I needed, you know, it just was really good foundational stuff, set everything up, got my head really clear about where I wanted to go with it. Um, but it was also very practical. So things that I hadn’t even thought about. you know, um, like risk assessment stuff and, you know, which I should have for my teaching days, but like things that I kind of, you know, lost just reinforce that kind of stuff.
[00:38:16] Um, and yeah, so I loved the, I think for me, what made it so special, I loved the practical side of it. And like, here are handouts, here’s how this would look, here’s how you could do this. But I also loved the space. to be able to kind of dream and plan and think, well, where could this go and how can I take this?
[00:38:39] And, um, my brain works really well with both of those elements, like when that’s both being fed to me. And so, yeah, the training is just perfect.
[00:38:53] Amanda: Thank you. It was so, it was so cool to have Steph join you as well and see you come through it together and get to, um, yeah, get to discuss those things together as well, I think, and just get to be on calls with you as it all came to life.
[00:39:10] Evie: Yeah. And it was perfect timing because it was quite early on for us. So then it was really great that we got to do it together because then we were having conversations. Like, Oh yeah, what did you think about that? And did you listen to that audio and that training? And that’s maybe think maybe we should flick like tweet things with this.
[00:39:28] And it was, I mean, I think that doing obviously doing the training at any time would be so beneficial, but it was just one of those things that it just was magical timing for us because it was so early on it meant that we got to set things up properly right from the start.
[00:39:47] Amanda: Yay! Oh, it’s been so cool hearing all about Stardust Squad and a bit more about you and the way that you run things and it just sounds so, so special and like, like you said, everything, everything you’ve ever done kind of coming together
[00:40:06] Evie: to
[00:40:06] Amanda: be your thing, you know, yeah, and to get to co create it with your girls too sounds really special and with the young people in your community.
[00:40:15] And I
[00:40:16] Evie: think it’s like even, um, my big girl pal, she said to me the other day, cause I was saying about, Oh, like I was, you know, I’m ready to have a baby and go on maternity leave. So I was kind of packing up my Stardust Squad stuff and I felt a bit sad. And she said to me, it’s pretty good that you’ve got a job that you don’t really want to go on leave from.
[00:40:35] And I was like, yeah, that’s so true. I’m going to miss all the starry’s and all the girls. And, um, yeah, yeah. I mean it won’t be for very long. Um, the good thing is, you know, it’s like sessions here and there. It’s not like it’s an eight hour work day. So I’ll be able to do that with baby. Um, but yeah, I love it.
[00:40:57] Amanda: Yeah. And how can people find you?
[00:41:00] Evie: They can find me, um, on Instagram.
[00:41:07] Um, it’s, well, now I feel like I need to double check that at underscore stardust dot sport.
[00:41:15] Amanda: I have it open underscore stardust dot squad. Yup.
[00:41:19] Evie: Yup. And, um, the website is stardustsquad. au.
[00:41:25] Amanda: Yup.
[00:41:26] Evie: And Evie Wilson as well. Yes. That’s right. Evie Wilson on Instagram as well.
[00:41:33] Amanda: Yay. I’ll pop all of that in the show notes wherever you are.
[00:41:38] Thank you so much for taking the time to do this, like two weeks, if that, before having a baby.
[00:41:44] Evie: That’s okay. That’s all right. Like I said, it’s perfect timing now rather than afterwards. But yeah, thank you for having me. Thanks for everything.
[00:41:53] Amanda: That’s been so, so, so many, um, nuggets of wisdom there for us too.
[00:41:57] So for any parents, yeah, check out Raising Starry, sounds like it’s all online and you can do it from anywhere.
[00:42:04] Evie: Yes. I’m
[00:42:04] Amanda: Yeah. Yeah. And you have just so many beautiful resources and reels on your Instagram. I know you’re like building out Pinterest is just, you’ve got so much magic for people to, to, um, to check out.
[00:42:18] And I even know one of the youth mentors coming to our current rounds. Has just run a Taylor Swift inspired mother daughter disco after seeing yours and talking to you and going, Oh, I need to do this in my area. I know. So good. So good. Loved it. Loved it. She said, um, a girl came up to her as she was leaving and said, This was the best day of my life, too.
[00:42:41] It’s like, amazing, magic.
[00:42:45] Evie: I know, I know, my girls still talk about it. Um, yeah, it was, it was so good. And like, I had big professional speakers, and we could still, like, in our amazing country hall, um, you could still hear the girls singing over the top of the music. And, um, that thought, like, when I hear some of those songs, even now, I’m like, goosebumps.
[00:43:11] Like, that was so amazing. Yeah, well, uh,
[00:43:15] Amanda: thanks, Evie.
[00:43:16] Evie: You’re welcome.
outro
[00:43:18] How good was that? I wish I was young enough to be a little starry in the Stardust Squad. If you’d also love to explore, setting up a program, like Stardust Squad, in your own community, but of course doing it your way and bringing your own flavor to it, then you might like to check out our new, how to start your youth mentor business mini course that we’re creating.
[00:43:38] I’ll pop a link to that in the description below. Um, and we’ve also got a new page of resources from master classes, lesson plans, worksheets you could use with your, with your clients, whether it’s in group settings or one-on-one. And I’m a couple of different bundles, all sorts of stuff that can help you get started as a youth mentor. Check them all at ShineFromWithin.com.au
[00:43:59] thanks so much for being here today.
[00:44:01] And I look forward to. Ah, spending time with you with another wonderful conversation in the next episode. Thanks for being here. Talk to you soon and keep shining.
Mentioned in this episode:
-
Connect with Evie on Instagram @_stardust.squad
- View her website here https://www.stardustsquad.au
- For more information on the Raising Staries program, follow her on social media for updates.
-
Jump on a 15min call with me to talk about your own dreams of starting or growing your youth business at https://shinefromwithin.pages.ontraport.net/letschat
-
Join our award-winning Youth Mentor Training at https://youthmentors.shinefromwithin.com.au
We acknowledge and pay respects to the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which we run our workshops and business.
We welcome students of all social, cultural, community and family backgrounds, and of all identities, and all abilities. Shine from Within is LGBTQIA+ friendly. Read our complete commitment to our social and environmental impact here.
Shine From Within® and Shine On The Inside® are registered trademarks of Amanda Rootsey T/A Shine From Within ABN 79216354231
