Meet the farmer supporting rural Aussies with remarkable storytelling
Meet Kelly Shann. She’s a fifth-generation farmer, a horse trainer and a vlogger.
From her property 2-hours north-east of Clermont in Central Queensland, Kelly produces her vlog of remarkable stories about everyday people (as well as a few super well-known people). Her efforts are designed to help people overcome the isolation that can face those living in rural and remote parts of our country.
Here is the storyteller herself, speaking about the creation and publication of Life Journey TV.
What kickstarted the Life Journey TV vlog?
“We launched Life Journey TV in March 2019 and I guess the original idea was to help people,” Kelly Shann, creator of Life Journey TV, says somewhat contemplatively.
“But when the monsoon event happened in north-west Queensland, that was kinda when I really got myself into gear and got some interviews from some people out there,” she says.
In January and February 2019, an extraordinary monsoonal deluge devastated the communities in more than half of Queensland’s council areas. More than 56 per cent of our State’s land mass was impacted.
But specifically, in the north-west of Queensland, Kelly says there were six council areas and more than 800 families affected.
“Life Journey TV focuses on helping people deal with everyday challenges through listening to the lived experiences of others,” Kelly says.
“We’ve had everyday people, we’ve had people going through cancer, people who have been affected by suicide and we’ve had a suicide survivor.
“And while that might all sound depressing, these are people who actually have a really good sense of humour,” she says.
She’s also had an impressive line-up of well-known personalities on her show including Stephen Bradbury, Libby Trickett, Tracey Bevan and Ben Dobbins.
Those in the horse training industry may be excited about her interview with Warwick Shiller on mental health issues impacting rural men.
[IMAGE CAPTION: Screenshot from Life Journey TV Instagram account promoting Warwick Schiller interview]
How do you conduct your interviews?
“Originally I was having to travel and reach out to people face-to-face, which is lovely, and I do love that aspect of interviewing, but I am a homebody,” Kelly shares.
“Sky Muster™ Plus, with the Zoom platform, has been a godsend,” she says.
“I really don’t think I would have been able to keep going in the way that I was, having to travel away so much, because I’m very involved with our property as well.
“It’s just been so wonderful being able to sit in my lounge room and conduct the interviews without having to go anywhere.
“I actually had one interview with a girl in Sydney and her internet connection was terrible,” Kelly says.
“I was really proud to be able to say that our internet was not the problem.
“You think that living remotely the problem would be on our side, but that absolutely wasn’t the case with that interview,” she says.
What’s the furthest distance you’ve ever been from an interviewee?
Without a single hiccup, Kelly interviewed life coach and former Oprah Winfrey employee, Libby Moore.
Libby lives in Canada, a whopping 13,300 km from Kelly’s outback Central Queensland lounge room.
“Sky Muster™ Plus certainly made it seamless, quick and easy,” Kelly says.
“Chatting to Libby, it was just like she was in the next room, not all the way over the other side of the World.”
[IMAGE CAPTION: Kelly Shann and Libby Moore. Image supplied]
What’s it like to edit and publish video online from a remote part of Australia?
Kelly breathes a deep sigh, and she says that in the past she’d have to work around going into town where she could get access to a really good internet service.
“I have my interviews edited and it cost me a fortune,” she says.
“Previously, if I wanted to upload my video to the Editor, I would have to work around when I was in town.
“Now I’ve got Sky Muster™ Plus, I’m able to do all that from home and it’s really reasonably quick.
“Some of these videos are quite large so it does take a little bit of time, but it’s just made such a difference,” she says.
“I worked out that it takes about 700MB to upload a 1-hour video. If that was all getting metered, I would just be SkyMesh’s best customer because I would be using so much data.”
[IMAGE CAPTION: Screenshot from Life Journey TV Instagram account promoting Tracey Bevan interview]
There is more internet usage than you might imagine in the production of a vlog. From research through to the promotion of each story, there are lots of moving parts and each of those parts requires Kelly to complete some sort of online activity.
As you can no doubt tell by now, Kelly relies heavily on Zoom, but the collaboration with her Editor means she is also constantly uploading and downloading files from Dropbox and One Drive.
Each video is published to the Life Journey TV You Tube Channel and the audio files are repurposed and published as a podcast on Spotify and iTunes.
Then there are the exorbitant number of emails involved, as well as marketing across her website, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn accounts.
“The great thing is that it’s all unmetered on Sky Muster™ Plus,” exclaims Kelly.
“So, I’m not constantly thinking I’m going to be using up too much data uploading a video. It’s an added bonus for me. It’s a win-win for Life Journey,” she says.
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A parting comment from Kelly
Kelly says that anyone out there in rural Australia who has ever wanted to start their own vlog or podcast should not delay.
“Just get in and start,” she says. “But definitely before you start, I would be joining SkyMesh and making sure I had Sky Muster™ Plus.”
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