Shattering Stigma One Story at a Time

Hi, I'm Ashley Jo Brewer - mom, executive, board chair, and founder of Could've Been Me.

In October of 2020, after learning about a colleague losing their life to suicide and realizing it could've been me, I felt a massive sense of unrest. I knew it was time to break my silence about my struggle with, anxiety, depression, and addiction, start talking about life's challenges, and enlist help to make a difference. So, I started Could've Been Me a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that exists to inspire those who are struggling in life to use their voice and ask for help. Our podcast, Real Stories Real People, is one of our global outreach programs.

It's a personal journal, mental health, and self-improvement podcast. We know that life's challenges don't fit into a 'one size fits all' box, so we aren't trying to put them into one. Our podcast covers a wide variety of topics related to mental health and life in general - depression, anxiety, mental health, suicide, abuse, assault, death, the diagnosis of a terminal illness, and so much more. These topics can be difficult for some people so use your best judgement when listening to the show.

I got the idea to start a nonprofit organization while I was sitting at a soccer game on a Sunday afternoon. I knew there were millions of people in the world, just like me who were struggling and too scared to speak up. I wanted to provide a platform for these people to share openly and freely without a fear of judgement. And I wanted that platform to be a global platform. Thus, Real Stories Real People was born. In the 2020 COVID world, we knew that podcasting was one way to reach people who are struggling around the globe.

The idea for a nonprofit came to me in mid October of 2020. We incorporated as a nonprofit in the state of South Dakota in November of 2020, and we released our first podcast episode just before Christmas of 2020. Our journey into the realm of podcasting has been fast and furious!

Real Stories Real People releases new stories every Tuesday, and we release a new after the show on the last Thursday of every month where we recap the stories shared throughout the month.

When we started our journey with podcasting, we had no idea how much time it would take. Well, it takes a lot more time than one would think, but it has been a learning process and a lot of fun along the way.

I (Ashley) now work in the podcasting realm full time, but Real Stories Real People is what I do for fun and for free. I am blessed to have two board members who help me host episodes, so I'm not the one who is recording every guest interview. Outside of that, I do all of the editing, marketing, and promoting myself.

At Real Stories Real People, one of the greatest honors we have is the honor of taking somebody's story and handing it to the world. By sharing stories, we are shattering stigma, one story at a time!

Our ultimate goals are awareness and hope. We strive to bring the facts that surround life's challenges to the forefront by sharing data and statistics about tough situations in life. We hope that by doing this, others will know they are not alone and find the strength they need to keep going.

We currently have 3832 total downloads and are averaging around 1000 downloads per month.

At Real Stories Real People, we are all about connections in life! We find guests by talking to people, joining collaboration groups on social media, and asking people we interact with if they'd be willing to share their story.

Since we are funded by a nonprofit organization, our budget is small! We record all of our episodes via Zoom and use dynamic microphones since we are recording in an untreated space.

Prior to each guest interview, we research our guest's story so that we can go into the interview with an idea of what we want to cover in mind. That being said, we like our guest stories to unfold organically, so they don't get a list of questions in advance.

All of our marketing is done by word of mouth, our website, and social media! Our listener acquisition breaks down as follows:

39% Apple Podcasts
24% Embed Player
9% Spotify
28% Other Sources

We find that our nonprofit's Facebook page is the best avenue for marketing.

Here's what you need to know about podcasting before you get into it:

1. It takes way more time than you expect.
2. You'll need to be more organized than you think.
3. You'll run off of adrenaline first, and then the real work eventually kicks in.
4. You can figure ANYTHING out if you are good enough with Dr. Google.
5. You don't need fancy equipment or a huge budget to start a show.
6. It will be beyond rewarding if you are willing to stick with it!

ashley.brewer@itcouldvebeenme.org
Website | itcouldvebeenme.org
Facebook | @couldvebeenme | facebook.com/couldvebeenme
Instagram | @it.couldve.been.me | instagram.com/it.couldve.been.me