Measuring Success the Media Girlfriends way
It’s Garvia here writing to you from seat 15A on my Air Canada Flight to Yellowknife (more on Yellowknife in a hot minute.)
Did you know that podcasts from Media Girlfriends are now part of the inflight entertainment on many Air Canada flights?!
Our podcasts aren’t on this flight, but just the idea that we are on some flights is thrilling to me. This to me is the perfect level of success. Quiet success. Like a Jacqueline Durran level of accomplishment.
(Don’t ask me about The Barbie Movie, I haven’t seen it yet).
Speaking of success, a few weeks ago podcast host, Natalie Ruskin asked me to hop on her new podcast (Fall of 2023) to talk about success. She’s been following the ups and downs of my media career and wanted to know if the way I defined success had changed over the years. It’s the kind of question that can bounce around in ones mind unanswered and unexamined if you let it — it often gets pushed back and abandoned by our busy lives (The Hidden Brain just did an excellent 5 part series on the topic.)
How do we define success?
To me, success and fame are not the same thing – clicks, likes, follows, being recognized on a plane– none of that denotes success. I recognize that success comes in all kinds of packages.
A week after I did the interview with Natalie, I was surprised to learn that success, could be measured in chickens.
More specifically measured in A chicken. More specifically, specifically in the naming of said chicken.
Introducing, Feather Morrison.
This handsome bird lives on Prince Edward Island and was named for Heather Morrison, the province's Chief Health Officer.
Looking back to look forward
In 2020 , Dr. Morrison faced the most daunting challenge of her career. COVID-19 was on the creep and Dr. Morrison was tasked with keeping her province safe from a pandemic that the world knew little about at the time, other than it was bad. Really bad.
Dr. Heather Morrison, who is also an emergency room physician, knows a thing or two about keeping calm under pressure. Her steady hand led the province to some of the most impressive COVID-19 numbers in the country (the province has reported only 96 covid deaths since the pandemic was declared). She was so successful, so present and such a lighthouse in the eye of the storm, that to this day people in PEI are doing things like making t-shirts with her face on the front (“What would Dr. Morrison do?), dropping flowers off at her doorstep and naming chickens after her. (Yes, she also faced vitriol and hate and threats, because Covid).
Why do I know so much about Dr. Heather Morrison? It’s because Media Girlfriends has been collecting the stories of Healthcare workers and now leaders in healthcare as part of a project called Healthcare Salute. The first run of videos we produced featured the voices of ten Healthcare professionals, all giving up a few hours of their time to tell the story of how the pandemic and the continuing fall-out has affected their mental health.
Doing the Work
These videos were commissioned by the McKinnon Trauma and Recovery Centre at McMaster University. Collecting these stories from these workers took up a large part of our 2022, we got to stretch our visual storytelling muscles with the help of photographer May Truong and editor Reza Dahya. We leaned heavily on our trauma informed approach to journalism in order to tease out these deeply personal, sometimes harrowing stories.
Now we’re doing the same for another round of videos. That’s how I found myself in a quiet cul-de-sac in Charlottetown, in-front of a caring, generous, bright leader, who happens to have a chicken (and a cow) named after her. It was a privilege to sit down with Dr. Morrison and ask her about the personal cost of being a leader, listen to the genuine love and deep affection she has for the province she serves and have her breakdown the lessons learned as we brace for the next pandemic (yes, she says there will be more.)
I also asked her about success — and what it looks like to her. She didn’t mention the chicken, but she did mention her team. She mentioned pushing beyond what she thought she was capable of doing and surviving. She mentioned, pulling closer to her staff and the feeling of trust that naturally bloomed out of the chaos.
On this journey we also interviewed the Chief Public Health Officer for the Northwest Territories, Kami Kandola. Her love of angels, her loyal staff, her boundless energy were all on full display.
Me and May Truong shooting b-roll at Bush Pilots Monument in Yellowknife.
It was smokey, but beautiful.
I can’t wait for you to hear and see these stories and the stories of the other leaders we’ll be interviewing for the series.
How do I personally define success?
So, what is my answer to the question, ‘What does success look like to you and has that definition changed over time’? Well it’s pretty simple.
Success to me no longer resides in how I am perceived by the people around me, success is doing good work and gaining the respect of my peers. Media Girlfriends has set out to do good, meaningful work. Although we would love for millions of people to hear or see our work, it might not be seen or heard by millions and we are (mostly) ok with that.
Knowing that we are part of archiving a pivotal time in our country’s history, knowing that we are sharing stories that matter…that feels like success.
On a personal level, success is waking up and feeling like the stuff I spend the most time on—the work–brings me joy, satisfaction and accomplishment. It’s legacy work that matters.
I don’t expect that a chicken will be named in my honour or in honour of Media Girlfriends, but I’m pretty sure what we’re doing is pretty clucking important.
What does success look like to you? Has your idea of personal success shifted over the years? Let us know.
What's cracking with Media Girlfriends? 🍳
I promise that is the last chicken joke in this newsletter.
Nana aba guest hosted Day 6 on CBC Radio in July and she’s talked about everything from the hijacking of therapy speak (we see you, Jonah), to a stellar interview with Keith Ellison — the man who led the prosecution in the police killing of George Floyd.
If you missed her live, you can always listen back via the archives.
Nanaaba Duncan in studio hosting Day 6 with CBC.
Hannah is immersing herself in all things Korea and you can read her in the Globe and Mail — this one is about K-beauty (which I LOVE).
Thanks for sticking around to read this very long newsletter, but it is summertime so I figure you’ve got a few minutes.
Take it easy, breathe deep and remember that only you can define your success.
Talk soon,
Garvia