Transcript
000: Intro Episode

Theresa Christine: Welcome to The Wild and Curious Podcast, a show that's part travel 

Suzanne Schmedding: part feminism 

TC:  And completely inspired by extraordinary women worldwide. I'm Theresa Christine, 

SS: And I'm Suzanne Schmedding.

TC:  Hi there. I am Theresa Christine. 

SS: And I am Suzanne Schmedding.

TC:  The Wild and Curious is a project that came about, honestly because we were bingeing some travel shows. So Anthony Bourdain’s show, 

SS: Right. 

TC:  Parts Unknown is truly brilliant. I love his show. I don't want to say anything bad about it. But I will say I was watching the show and feeling really hungry for more of the stories from the women's perspective.

SS: Yeah, like we talked about this like where you, you watch and you really wanted to see the story of the woman who was actually cooking the food and preparing it.

TC:  And very often I felt like it was Tony, first name basis, Anthony Bourdain, you know, sitting at a table talking with the son or the grandson about this particular dish. 

SS: Yeah. 

TC:   And so it got me thinking about how can we highlight some of these female stories not necessarily related to culinary but just in general. The Wild and Curious pulls in all sorts of different elements from feminism to culture and travel and also female bonds and friendships, so it only made sense for me to bring on my best friend you, Suzanne.

SS: Me! you know when you presented this option, I was ecstatic I was like yes of course. I want to do this of course.

TC:  Yeah, like passion project together. How cool is that?

SS: It's super cool. It's so funny. We met because you had placed an ad on Craigslist and I you know, I was looking for a roommate and I sent what I thought was a very funny, tongue in cheek email with like the headline, "I'm the Craigslist killer," being like, of course, I'm not, because why would you put that as the subject? 

TC:  It was so bad.

SS: Yeah, okay, well 

TC:  I saw that email and I was like, next. 

SS: But you know like you gave it another shot because—

TC:  I didn't give it another shot, you gave it another shot because you emailed again to be like, “Hi. Just checking in.”

SS: Like “hi um I'm actually very nice and have killed next to no one.”

TC:  And you know when I came in person you did seem sane, which was good. And I was like well, I really need a place to live so I'll take the chance.

SS: We should also mention my apartment is v cute. 

TC:  Oh, your apartment's so beautiful. 

SS: Yeah, it's fun. So we met that way and I'm so thankful that I was persistent and you were desperate. Best relationship ever.

TC:  Yeah that's that's how it all started. 

SS: Yeah, it turned out.

TC:  And since then. I have actually, when I moved in with you I did tell a little white lie and I said that I was employed when I was not but I got a job pretty quickly as a writer and since then I have become a full time freelance travel writer so I travel the globe and uncover really cool stories and get to share them with people.

SS: For my own career, I've I've been working for a nonprofit for the last few years doing arts education for schools that don't have federal funding and you know, we provide a safe space for kids but I think because I met you, I've recently decided to try and expand that and live abroad and just just be helpful and teach across the world and I love that our friendship has inspired me to to do change, to meet more women to to meet more people to you know, just be a more global citizen. There's, what is that quote by Mark Twain? I butcher it always, 

TC:  Oh my gosh, nope, this is the exact quote, you're gonna quote it perfectly down in history right now. What did he say? 

SS: Oh my gosh, this is so much pressure, said Mark Twain. No, he said something like, you know, to travel the world is the death of prejudice and ignorance. You know.

TC:  I have heard that quote, yeah. 

SS: See, I'm close-ish.

TC:  Yeah. But I know what you're talking about. 

SS: Yeah. But it's, I love that idea that like through meeting people and talking to people and finding our similarities and differences, like the world gets bigger and smaller. 

TC:  I think what I'm most excited for with The Wild and Curious Podcast, and this wasn't something that I necessarily set out with the project. I just thought it would be really wonderful to share these stories. But then a side product of that has been I feel like we're really uplifting other women. So it's like the epitome of women lifting women up. And I think that's so beautiful. 

SS: I have so loved getting to chat with some of the amazing women we're doing and you know, they're working to lobby governments. They're changing cultural barriers and practices. And even if it's, you know, just on a podcast across the world like we are, we're sharing their stories. We're making them a little bit more known. And I don't know, I kind of love that. 

TC:  So thank you so much for joining us. And you can find out more at thewildandcurious.com, and we hope that you enjoy the journey with us.

You've been listening to The Wild and Curious Podcast hosted by me, Theresa Christine 

SS: And me Suzanne Schmedding. If you've enjoyed this episode, there's more where this came from. Subscribe to The Wild and Curious Podcast wherever you listen to your favorite podcast. You can also follow along with our adventures on Instagram. Our handle is @_thewildandcurious_ and we will also put that in the show notes for you.

TC:  We are always looking for extraordinary women to talk to on our show. If you have someone in mind or you are that someone go to thewildandcurious.com to let us know