Welcome to TBH – To Be Honest – Capsule’s monthly column with our columnist and old pal, Brodie Kane! This month, Brodie writes about becoming an author, writing a memoir about her life and why it was so important that Woman Uninterrupted was an unflinchingly honest look at her life so far.
And for her previous columns, click here!
I get to call myself an author now. And that is quite wild. My new book is called Woman Uninterrupted (read an excerpt from it here). It’s a few things. It’s a tip of the hat to The Girls Uninterrupted – the podcast I do with two of my best friends, Caitlin Marett and Gracie Taylor, which has allowed me to unashamedly be the person I am in a wonderful, safe, beautiful community of wāhine.
It’s also a collection of stories of a woman who’s had the privilege of doing a lot with my life, but I also wanted to make sure I’m really honest and truthful with how it all happened. I think sometimes in life we tend to get caught up in the finished product, the end game, the success story, and I personally feel like we need to be open about the good, the bad, the ugly, the messy and everything in between that leads us to the finish line.
As someone who has a platform and is in the public eye, I feel a sense of responsibility to share the steps along the way. And in doing so, if it means someone else can relate, or feel heard or seen, then it’s all for the right reasons.
I have also had some time to reflect on how grateful I am for my family and friends, my upbringing, and the values I’ve been taught along the way. It’s not lost on me that this full life and the opportunities I’ve had and jumped on are because I’ve had people support me every damn step of the way. I will never take that for granted.
So what’s in the book, you say? It’s a collection of stories and experiences I’ve had through my life that I think have taught me the most and helped me land at the woman I am today.
The chapters are presented as “How to,” which is kind of a bit of a piss-take because it most certainly isn’t a guide-to-life book. But like I mentioned above, it gives you the lessons at the end, but it also gives you all the bits that get me there.
The opening chapter, I warn you, comes in pretty hot. It features the time I had to nip into the hospital on my way to the airport to fly to Paris, because I’d been bleeding heavily and we needed to be sure I was safe to fly. Then of course there is the DISASTROUS situation in the shower of my hotel once I’d arrived in Paris – all while trying to hold down an ambassador and MC gig for All Blacks Tours.
I talk about how “winning” has taken on a new meaning for me. Sure, I may’ve beaten Dame Lisa Carrington – our greatest Olympian ever – in Surf Life Saving as a teenager (not that I go on about it at all, haha), but often the best lessons have been served coming second, fourth, or actually the times when things haven’t gone so well. If you learn from any outcome to progress yourself forward, then that’s a bloody win. We MUST celebrate the small wins. We MUST not shy away from disasters or failings either.
There’s the time I joined the Army! Four amazing years in the Territorial Force from age 17 to 21, and what that was like. There might potentially be a military walk of shame thrown in the mix, and a “shituation” in the middle of the jungle…
It wouldn’t be a book written by me if I didn’t mention I’d been single for 3 million years and counting, how I’ve never been in love, and how I’m absolutely at peace with that.
There’s dealing with redundancy and building yourself back up, there’s the inspiration I draw from my mum, standing up for the reproductive rights of women and why that is so important to me, a delve into my journalism career and an insight into running ridiculously long distances.
It’s a book designed to pick up, read a chapter, and put down and carry on with your day (or look, by all means smash it out if it lures you in, haha). It’s a book for all the women. As you navigate through life, with the thousands of societal pressures and messaging and loud noises around you, it hopefully serves as a reminder that you should be proud to be you. Be unashamedly you.
Thank you for all your support, and a massive thank you to the beautiful Capsule Wāhine for all the amazing mahi you do – you are part of creating a safe and remarkable community for women and I appreciate it so much.
To hear more of Brodie, jump onto her podcasts The Girls Uninterrupted and Kiwi Yarns
