Sunday’s Bondfire Radio live audio festival was surreal. We rolled through at 10am and found ourselves on an incredible rooftop with sweeping views of Brooklyn. All the studio equipment was set up and the live broadcast had begun. Tasty Keish was perched on the orange couch (came with the roof) and Conscious was behind the boards, their trademark TK in the AM morning banter serving as the anchor for the festival.
Behind the makeshift rooftop studio, vendors were setting up to sell fancy lotions and soaps, candles that smelled like the ocean, and cookies and cupcakes. In another corner, a grill was being fired up for pounds and pounds of BBQ to be cooked for all the festival goers.
Around 12pm, Dyalekt and I jumped on the orange couch to do our show live in front of an audience for the first time. We had racked our brains for the last month trying to think of what our show should be about. It hit me two days before festival time.
We talk a lot about being open and transparent with your finances and how important it is to have the conversation with people. By doing this, we break down barriers and taboos and remind each other that we are all human and we are all in this together.
I knew I needed to start with me. We opened the show with Dyalekt asking me about my biggest financial mistakes. Things I’d never really shared before and don’t talk about very much. Then he told everyone about his biggest financial mistakes. Then we got crazy and asked members of the audience to step up to the mic and share their biggest financial mistakes and biggest financial triumphs.
Before we knew it, we had started a cypher. People were sharing, nodding along, offering advice and encouragement.
We took away the embarrassment and shame, the feeling of aloneness and worry about money, and replaced it with relief, empathy, and trust, if even for a day, if even for an hour, if only on that roof.
If you’d like to join the cypher, feel free to leave a comment below or shoot me a note at pam@brunchandbudget.com.
We are in this together.
