Mamamia Out Loud podcast aims to help farmers in drought

Mamamia Out Loud is a twice weekly podcast that has been going for three years and has 250,000 listeners each week.

Hosted by journalist and Mamamia creator Mia Freedman, plus Jessie Stephens and Holly Wainwright, the three women are taking their podcast on a live regional tour to raise money for farmers and communities affected by the drought.

The tour will see Mamamia Out Loud Live in Tamworth and Dubbo later this year and they have partnered with rural charity Drought Angels.

The idea for the partnership came about when Mamamia’s producer Lize Ratliff visited her hometown of Barraba, near Tamworth, to speak with local people and find out how the drought was affecting them.

After reaching out to Cassandra McLaren - the woman behind the very popular ‘One Day Closer To Rain’ Facebook group - to gather more information on drought charities, they realised that partnering with Drought Angels was perfect for them.

“It was so important to find a partner who aligned with our core values of supporting women and families and also encouraging female entrepreneurs! And that’s exactly what Drought Angels do,” Ms Freedman said.

The core purpose at Mamamia is to make the world better for women and girls, Ms Freedman said, and they understand how tough people are doing it in rural areas.

“So many of our listeners and readers at Mamamia are in these areas and we wanted to help raise their voices to the rest of Australia and do our bit to contribute,” she said.

Podcasting reaches people everywhere, not just in the city, Ms Freedman said.

“And we know we have a lot of listeners in the bush,” she said.

“Many of them are doing it tough so we wanted to get out there and spend time with the incredible people in these areas.  We also wanted to shine a light on the serious issues affecting people in the bush and do whatever we can to help.”

Ms Freedman said they wanted to make sure if they went to those communities the money raised from the shows would stay in the local area.

“So Lize has been working really closely with our charity partner, Drought Angels who provide supplies including gift vouchers for food and fuel to help people doing it tough,” she said

“As soon as we announced the shows we had people in the city who couldn’t be there asking how they could sponsor a seat so someone in the local area could go. The response has been amazing.”

Ms Freedman said if both the Tamworth and Dubbo shows sell out, they hope to raise between $15,000 to $20,000.

“We’ll then be working with Drought Angels to make sure that money stays in the areas around Dubbo and Tamworth so we can help the communities there,” she said.

“The great thing about Drought Angels is that if they supply a voucher to someone in the area, the voucher will be for one of the local stores so they’re making sure money stays in the community.

“We also wanted to bring some light relief to those communities who so often miss out when shows just tour big cities.”

Audiences should expect laughter, tears and the most incredible sense of community, Ms Freedman said.

“Anyone who comes along can expect a show that makes them think, laugh and feel. It’s a fun night out with girlfriends,” she said.

For more on the live shows please visit the Mamamia website.