Chickstory The Podcast
Five seasons down and countless episodes in each season, Phoebe and Annie are bringing to life the stories of women who have been written out of the history books. A podcast that is all about just that – chicks (women) in history! In each episode Annie, the curious chickstorian is joined by Phoebe, who is an actual historian, to share some of the more remarkable stories about often overlooked women in history. From discovering that it was a woman that invented Play-doh, to the woman that was integral to Australia’s wool industry and everything in between.
In your own words… what is Chickstory?
Chickstory is a podcast, a platform to tell you the stories of women in history who have been written out of the history books – or not written about at all. We tell you stories about amazing women throughout history who have faced adversity for a number of reasons, but mainly because of their sex.
Tell us the story – your story, of how you came to be doing a podcast and how has it evolved since the beginning to where you both are now?
Annie established Chickstory with her friend Yvie a few years ago. Taking to the platform to share these amazing and little and unknown stories about women in history. Phoebe, who caught wind of this new podcast (hello, lockdowns) was a bit of a weirdo and slid into their DM’s to offer her services and a lending ear as a historian.
Annie and Yvie told the stories of countless women in history over four seasons and Phoebe was an avid listener. When Yvie had to sadly move on from Chickstory, Annie got in touch with Phoebe to see whether she would come on board. Now, with a new host, the podcast is still so much fun and informative and hopefully relatable to the listeners.
Now, Chickstory isn’t your average 9-5 Dolly Parton-type job… What do you both do during the week when you’re not dusting off the dust that’s gathered and looking into the chicks that were written out of the history books?
Phoebe is a historian and runs her own business called Born & Bred Historical Research where she spends her days solving historical mysteries, completing family trees and delving into all aspects of historical research. She’s a super sleuth always grabbing onto little bits of historical information and getting lost in the archives.
Annie heads up a marketing team – developing marketing strategies within the education sector, encouraging young women and girls as well as people from diverse backgrounds to get into STEM (science, technology, engineering, maths) which are predominately male-skewed areas.
What do you love about history that keeps you coming back each week to do more research and share your findings with the podcast world?
We can learn so much from history, learning about – and telling people about – these remarkable women gives people an understanding of some of the trials and adversity that women in history have faced.
What some of these women have overcome has helped to pave the way for the future of females, but it is also a lesson that we can all learn from. It’s a lot of fun being able to bring these women’s stories to the present day and share them in a fun, relatable and easy-listening way. If we don’t tell these stories, then they may be forgotten and relegated to the history books forever more.
What was your “lightbulb moment”? The moment you realised that Chickstory Podcast was going to be your footprint on the world in representing these amazing women who were banished from the history books?
The idea was originally born around a kitchen table one night over a few glasses of Rose, Yvie would often tell Annie incredible (and sometimes useless) history tidbits and the origins of the words, we thought it would be great to do a podcast about things from history that most people didn’t know, the more we started talking and researching we realised there are so many inventions and ‘firsts’ that women were responsible for that we just didn’t know about. Being feminists themselves, Yvie and Annie knew from that moment that was the kind of podcast they needed to do.
There are a lot of podcasts out there – like we mean a lot… What sets you apart from the next female duo producing their own podcast and why do you find your listeners keep coming back each week?
We love that there are so many podcasts out there – there is literally a podcast for everyone and we don’t try to be the best or the most successful. We just have fun, we have a laugh and we educate ourselves and the listeners which shine through in our weekly episodes. We don’t take ourselves too seriously and people find us relatable. Our stories about women in history are for everyone!
What is the main reason that you keep recording every week with a new leading lady to highlight in history? What is your motivation?
There are just so many forgotten or unknown women who have done remarkable and amazing things but are not given any recognition. From inventors to resistance fighters to spies, the list is never-ending. Often women are included in the history books for the wrong reasons – murder, illegal activities or ‘unsavoury’ events. That’s not to say that men in history were all bad blokes, but they do get most of the airtime when it comes to their achievements.
We want people to be able to learn something and share it with their friends and maybe go away and learn something about other women in history – maybe women in their own family history.
Now, we all know you’re not meant to have favourites but if you had to choose a favourite woman that you’ve put in the spotlight on your podcast – who would it be and why?
Phoebe – it’s really hard to choose, but one of my favourite chicks from this season has been Noor Inayat Khan who was a spy during the Second World War and although she had a short life she packed a lot in and sacrificed so much for her strongly held beliefs.
Annie – oh gosh, that is like choosing a favourite child, for me, and if I am looking at all the episodes, not just this season, I’d have to say it was Alice Anderson – she was Australia’s first female mechanic in the 1920’s in Melbourne – when women just didn’t do things like that!
Tell us your secret… What are some of the little joys that you bring to your listeners that have turned in to Chickstory?
That we can bring a little piece of history in a fun and lighthearted way to your ears every week and all you have to do is listen. There’s no pressure to do anything except listen and hopefully take away something about a chick in history. We try not to be too rehearsed so listeners will often get a sneak peek into our lives as well, constantly being interrupted by dogs, trains and whipper snippers!
Looking into your “Chickstory crystal ball” what do you see the future looking like for the podcast?
Well, there are so many more women that we need to tell you about so we have a lot of research to do to bring their stories back to life for our listeners. We’d also love to do a live show one day – to bring some incredible stories to life with a live audience would be incredible.
How do I tune in and have a listen to the podcast and how can I follow along with what you chicks are up to?
You can listen and subscribe to us where you get your podcasts from, including iTunes and Spotify.
You can also follow us on Instagram to keep up to date – @chickstory_podcast