Stef (formerly Steve as referenced in the interview) Garvin’s fellow MBA colleagues thought xe’d won the career lottery. What they didn’t know was Stef cried Sunday afternoons dreading going to work the next day. Stef felt stuck inside someone else’s story until xe discovered the ability to rewrite the script. After years on a journey to recreate xeir story, Stef now loves Monday mornings and helping authors and speakers cross the financial wilderness to use their valued voices.

Quick Note: Stef Garvin uses Xe/ Xim pronouns.

Empowered • Independence • Passionate

There’s nothing quite like a TikTok creator crush and our host, Heather, has a big one on today’s guest … Amy, the brilliant mind behind WEMAD – Women Making All Decisions. Her TikTok videos take on intense and powerful topics related to women’s rights and equality but in the most hilarious and approachable way possible.

After unexpectedly going viral in March of 2021, Amy’s platform exploded into a world of possibilities. With her brilliant mind and her wicked sense of humor, Amy puts herself out there with no apologies and it’s so refreshing to see how the world is responding.

Amy says she went from angry to unsure to empowered!

From just playing around on TikTok to being an incredibly well-known creator with a thriving merch line and an excellent non-profit business opportunity – Amy (whose last name we’re not sharing to protect the privacy of her family) tells us how she got here, what the process has been like and what her dreams for the future may include.

Belated • Transformational • Unapologetic

Have you ever thought “If I do this, will I still be lovable?”

Well, that question get’s even more complicated when the “this” is coming out as Gender Queer. This week’s guest is a dear friend of our host, Heather Vickery. Stevie Manns had a moment of clarity where they, finally, realized that they no longer had to accept what was unacceptable to them!

After years of living with “self-inflicted” internalized homophobia, Stevie is now living out loud in an old-school, male-dominated industry. After their own transition, Stevie became a fierce advocate for other Queer and Trans folks in the finance industry.

Imagine a curated App dedicated to sharing music and podcasts SPECIFICALLY from and for BIPOC and QTPOC … Well, Anna DeShawn has imagined it, then she hustled for it, raised the money for it and it’s now a REAL LIVE THING – Like a effing Queer Super Hero Magician Anna and her team have released The QUBE because they are determined to ride media into its next era by utilizing digital media streams to tell the stories and play the music that deserves to be heard.

We talk a lot about crowdfunding and raising the money necessary to lift these voices up. If you’re looking to build something – you don’t want to miss this.

Tune in to hear Anna’s story, when apps like The CUBE are so important, and get all the inside scoop.

HAPPY PRIDE 2022!!
This month The Brave Files Podcast is dedicated to amplifying and sharing Queer voices and to kick the month off we’ve turned the tables on our host, Heather Vickery!

This week fellow podcaster and friend, Pamela Stamper, interviews Heather about how she lives brave in action, how she actually practices what she preaches, and does all of the things that she coaches others to do. Hopefully, the episode will give you a front-row seat to the inner workings of Heather’s life and business. 

Junaid Ahmed likes to take things apart and learn how they work from the inside out. This desire has led him to have many fascinating hobbies and even led to a brand new career and a thriving podcast called Hacks and Hobbies.

This UX designer turned storyteller has been a passionate technologist for three decades and loves to tinker with tech software and woodworking, beekeeping and so much more.