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There are some stories that are worth telling….some that are worth telling over and over again. The story of Brave Girls Club is one of those stories…
It’s a story of doing it anyway, of moving forward despite obstacles, of finding a way, of following your heart. It’s a long story, but so worth the read. I hope you love this story as much as I do.
Whether you’re a dreamer with big plans or not, this story will show you that impossible things might not be as impossible as they seem…
Brave Girls Club was founded my my mom, Kathy Wilkins and by my aunt, Melody Ross.
Sisters who love life and have a passion for spreading goodness and kindness wherever they go.
2006 – 2009
In 2006, Melody and Kathy went to work together for Chatterbox (a scrapbooking company that Melody founded and successfully ran, but that now belonged to someone else). Every day for years they worked together on projects for Chatterbox, they spent all of their free time dreaming and talking about something new….they called it “project x”.
Here’s something Melody wrote on her blog on December 5th, 2006…
I just can’t hold this in any longer….but, I also can’t tell anyone exactly what I am talking about…so, today, I am going to introduce to you PROJECT X (obviously, not the real name…) because I WANT TO TALK ABOUT HOW EXCITED I AM ABOUT IT…..so, from now on…
When I talk about PROJECT X, just know that it is something SO HUGE, SO WONDERFUL and SO EXCITING that it will blow your mind…….AND….all of you are going to be the first to know about it and to have the opportunity to ‘participate’……..it’s something you have always wanted, always needed & it it will truly CHANGE THE WORLD and make your life a lot more fun, too….and, who doesn’t want to change the world for the better?
….if you’re gonna be alive and going through the day, you better make it meaningful, right?
I am so excited about this……….and, it’s a milllion of my dreams, clear back from my little girl-hood, coming true……I want to talk about it in the upcoming future because I know that YOU all have big dreams…..and I want us to help each other to know that anything is possible….to help each other make all of our biggest dreams come true.
Believe me…I wish I could tell you more…..but….it’s just too important that we don’t reveal it until it is time………..and believe me, it will be worth the wait….it’s been worth the kajillions of years (it seems like) that I have waited and worked for it (and lots of other phenomenal people, too).
Being Kathy’s daughter and Melody’s niece, I was in on a lot of the conversations that went on…or I at least overheard a lot of them. Watching Melody and Kathy talk and plan was like watching two little girls plan their dream birthday party. They were full of excitement…they dreamed of finding women all over the world and of teaching them the truth about how spectacular and loved they are. They dreamed of hosting retreats and inviting women to come and be taken care of. They dreamed of sitting down with these women at beautifully set tables, where Kathy dreamed of serving delicious meals. They dreamed of teaching women the truth about who they are and what they can accomplish in life….of shining light on the dark and scary parts of life. Melody dreamed of teaching women to heal through art and journaling….
and for years that’s all it was….a whole bunch of dreaming….
Kathy tested recipes…
Melody journaled and made art…
and even though it seemed impossible they kept dreaming….
Til it finally felt like it was time….
July 2009
Melody and Kathy still worked full time and then some…but it felt like time to start, so they did it anyway…and that became their mantra…
Melody described how it felt to finally be moving forward on her personal blog in July 2009:
This little piece of metal art I made a few days after I was faced with a giant, enormous, life changing and absolutely devastating/wonderful decision…and everything flowing out of me came out in plain words, ones that I could not MISunderstand…..most of them were FLY FLY FLY and GO GO GO and biggest of all….IT IS TIME…..but…here’s what I made…..
Can you see that it says WON’T BE BACK? -can you see there’s a big diamond in the middle of the cage??? …… can you see that the rusty old tarnished birdie is ME??? why would I fly away from a safe cage with a diamond in the middle?
well…
Because it was time.
Well…….at the moment that I made this little cage.. I was making a contract with myself that no matter what happened…..I would stay true to the decision I had just made……
And…let me tell you, it has been hard to not fly back into that cage….or some other cage….cages typically come with a hand that feeds them…..free birds gotta make their own way…. Times are tough for a free birdie these days……
HERE’S THE DEAL…
It still has not been made public so I won’t go into all of the details, close family and friends know…but as of last April…….I am no longer with Chatterbox….the company I founded and built and love, and after I was done running it and owning it, I had a wonderful contract to lead the vision of it and design all of the products….in April, it was time for that to be over…..not sure the future of my tender and sweet and oh-so-been-through-the-ringer company….but, I will sure let you know as details unfold…I really love and respect the people who own the brand now, and know that they will do what’s best for Chatterbox…..For now…the information that is mine is that as a family, it was time for me to go and to do what’s been in my heart for a very long time…..
WHAT IT’S LIKE….
Well, holy moly…I sure didn’t know that it would be like this. I knew I needed to get out of any restraints, any confines, I needed to be able to do and say and create and build what has been stirring inside of me. I knew we needed to have our own business again. I think that a part of me expected that once I made that really really REALLLLY hard decision, that the hard part was over….but man, oh man…I’m here to tell you…the hard part is STICKING with the decision.
….it would be easy (or easIER) if things were easy on the outside…but as I wrote about in the last posts…..we have been confronted with these decisions, which feel more like little “tests” at the craziest possible time…I mean, I still don’t have a car….we are still living on a shoestring…………and, hey…I don’t need to mention the economy…….seems like I should take a really great job offer when it comes up….but, where does that put me? Back in the cage….distracted from the stirrings deep in the beat of my heart that I know for sure are coming straight from heaven….
I have been working my tail-feathers off, though….freelancing like crazy from home for lots of different companies (which has been so fun but OH SO MUCH WORK!) and getting OUR big projects (project x) off the ground with all the time that’s left….it’s just things that have required sacrifice and discipline. Me + discipline = STRUGGLE……but, I am learning learning learning it…..I AM BEING BRAVE. I have been managing all of my own deadlines and putting my own deals together and I am actually pretty darn proud of myself for not missing a deadline yet!
So…anyway…here’s more….I go through ups and downs…….pretty normal. I kick myself some days for taking the road less traveled. I get scared. I feel stupid and worn out lots of days……I feel utterly paralyzed some days with the sheer vastness of the open skies once you are out of a cage…………where do you fly to? Where do you build a nest now that you are a nest person? Where do you get your food? Where does the wind go when you are riding it? How does all of this work??????? Each of these questions are equally lame because WE HAVE DONE THIS BEFORE…it’s just that….last time we were here…we were young and naive and had no kids and didn’t know how mean and crazy and dangerous the world could be………and, I just have sorta forgotten the answers to all of these questions….
But then I just get really really really quiet. And…I even started to just watch what birdies do…I don’t think they really ask these sorts of innane, time-wasting questions….they just listen, they have instincts….they don’t worry (or at least I coudln’t tell if they were worrying) We are people though…we don’t have bird brains…..we have big hearts and big brains and books and other people and we can do it……..we ARE DOING IT….
August 2009
“Project X” got its real name….Brave Girls Club…and Brave Girls Club got a logo…
…and a website, which was super simple at first. It only included the logo and a place to sign up for the Brave Girls Club mailing list.
September 2009
In September of 2009, Melody and Kathy announced the very first Brave Girl Camp by sending an email out to the people who’d signed up for their mailing list. They were nervous and scared. They had room for 20 people at the cabin they would rent for the event, but told themselves, “if ten people sign up we’ll do it.”
Before those ten people showed up it was time to put a deposit down on the cabin that they’d chosen in Garden Valley, Idaho. They’d looked at several other cabins, but this one just felt magical…
The deposit to rent the cabin was $600. Money was short…really short, but their dreams were big. On the day the deposit was due, Kathy put the only $300 she had into her purse and drove over to Melody’s house. When she got there, Melody pulled the only $300 she had out of her pocket. They put it together and paid the deposit with only the HOPE that their hard work and their hard-earned money would turn into something beautiful.
October 2009 – The Very First Brave Girl Camp
They’d said that if ten people signed up they would do follow through…they ended up filling every spot at Brave Girl Camp, and having to start a waiting list for future camps.
With a small budget, but an enormous desire to provide an incredible, life-changing experience in the most loving, nurturing environment they could provide, Melody and Kathy scoured thrift stores for beautiful dishes and linens and they spent hours creating hand-made decorations and art.
They got their friends and family together to help sew handmade bags and gifts for the women who were coming…women they already loved and felt they’d waited their whole lives to meet.
Brave Girl Camp came. It was more than any of us imagined it would be. It was magical and life-changing and filled with a soul that was just beginning to grow.
January 2010
Melody and Kathy had a great desire to share goodness and light with the women of the world. They wanted each woman to know her infinite worth, and to give a daily gift to women everywhere…That’s how “a little bird told me…” Daily Truths started. The mailing list was still small, but they sent their love and all the truth that they wanted to share every day in these little emails…
4 Brave Girl Camps followed in 2010
September 2010
As Brave Girls Club began to grow, Melody and Kathy became more and more anxious and ready to nurture it full time. They both had secure jobs that came with guaranteed income. Quitting would mean letting go of surety and security…and saying hello to freedom and to what they really REALLY wanted to do with their time and with their lives.
They took the risk and both took a leap…Kathy quit her full time job and Melody stopped taking contracts and they turned all of their attention and time to Brave Girls Club.
March 2011
By March 2011, Melody and Kathy were both being buried alive in their homes by Brave Girl STUFF. It was obvious they needed to move on and find some space…and the dreaming began again…
They wanted a place where they could do all their art and sewing…where Melody could record videos…a place with enough space for to store all the things they’d picked up along the way, and all the things they planned to pick up.
So they leased a building…a warehouse really….with cold cement walls and really nothing else. And in true Brave Girl Style they turned this:
Into this:
In 2011, Melody and Kathy hosted 5 Brave Girl Camps…still debt-free and still bursting with happiness and excitement for what was happening with Brave Girls Club.
January 2011
Kathy and Melody launched “Soul Restoration 1” – an online class about finding your own unique and individual truth – that has already changed hundreds of lives…
July 2011
In July of 2011 came “Soul Restoration 2“…because once you have found your truth, you’ll want to follow it. Soul Restoration 2 teaches you how, and has helped women everywhere get on the path they want to be on…living and loving life!
October 2011
Brave Girls Club introduced “Life Art A La Carte” where they offer even MORE amazing online courses…
January 2012
Melody and Kathy are now in the middle of their very first “Body Restoration” class…teaching women everywhere to love the beautiful bodies that are homes to their beautiful souls…
Whew! All that and it’s only been 2 years! I’m tired just reading about it all! 
Can’t wait to see what the next 2 years holds and the next 22!! Here’s to Brave Girls Club and to Kathy and Melody and ESPECIALLY to dream building and dream following!!!
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truly inspirational.
This was beautiful…THANK YOU so very much for sharing it with us. I have always wanted to know the whole story. I met Melody at CHA a few years back…right before I found out about Brave Girls. I think I found Brave Girls through Ali Edwards blog or something. I dreamed of signing up for Brave Girl’s Camp that year…but it didn’t work out. I was THRILLED when they announced their SR! class…I took and have taken many since. I am currently taking BR…in fact my hands still have mod podge on them from Week 3 which I am putting together now:)
Kathy and Melody have changed my life. I am learning and growing and leaping. Someday I will get to Camp…I am shooting for 2013:)
Love to you all Brave Girls!!!
What a truly inspiring, amazing and wonderful adventure the girls are journeying on. I LOVED reading this. They have come far. I wish nothing but all the very best for their futures and it just goes to prove that DREAMS DO COME TRUE
Fabulous story. Thank you for sharing, it is truly inspiring.
Thank you so much for putting all of this into one story…I knew some of it, but not how it all fit together. It’s been an amazing journey so far and I’ll be anxiously watching it unfold…
very nice job, Kallie, honoring your Mom and Aunt… and for letting us in on more of the Brave Girls Club journey. And I’m with you… here’s to 22 more years… and even more. Really, here’s to creating a LEGACY!
Wow! I am completely blown away by your story. (i just heard your interview last week in the soul sessions course which blew me away) I am in awe. So many parts of your story that I really connected too. I am at a loss for words, except for the fact that I am so thankful that both of you are on this earth taking brave steps and showing the rest of us the way. Thank you truly … for sharing so much.
This story has become an inspirational touchstone in my life, and I have been sharing it with all my friends. Thank you so much, Kallie, for putting it all down here for everyone to see. You’re pretty terrific yourself — a wonderful daughter and niece!!!! I am so lucky to be a Brave Girl, and I look forward to every lovely new thing you guys do in the future!!! <3<3<3<3<3<3
so grateful for your dreams melody and kathy!! because of you and your bravery you have blessed so, so many women around the world! i am honored to have been a small part of the begining. i am a better, stronger and braver woman because of you gals {and the brave girl staff}. i remember that very first camp. i remember being afraid to go. i remember being afraid to be there. i remember feeling alone. through this camp my life was changed and i will forever be grateful!! i still remember my first day like it was yesterday. then and there i knew my life would change. then and there i knew i was blessed with those lemon blossoms kallie shared when i was done. then and there i knew i was right where i was to be at that very moment. that camp…ocober 2009…the best thing to happen to just {ME} in my entire life. again, thank you gals for continuing your journey, following your heart and bulilding on those dreams. i love you all and i love every single BRAVE GIRL out there. xo
{{hugs}}
…those lemon blossoms kallie shared when i was DOWN.
What an inspiring post! Thank you! For years I ran the “Beautifully Created Girls Conference” in Saskatchewan and it slowly dewindled down and then stopped all together. Over the past few months I have felt it stirring in me again. And now with technology it would be so much easier to get it going again. This post really has my mind going again. I am excited to see where this may lead. Thank you!
What an incredibly inspiring story of making dreams come true. Gives me so much hope that the dreams I am working on will come true too. Thank you x
Well, I had to take a moment so the tears would allow me to see the screen before commenting.
What an amazing story and I believe so many of us can really connect with the emotions and celebrate with Melody and Kathy for touching lives all over the world. I had the pleasure of meeting Kathy and Melody at The Creative Connection last fall. It was joyful to hear Melody speak on the panel and a short time later, Kathy wandered into my booth and had me customize a necklace (a bird and a nest with five eggs – so precious) for Melody’s birthday. It was a gift to be in their presence when Kathy gave it to Melody. It is so amazing how the spirit of people shines through… I cannot tell you how many I have received the daily truth and the subject of the email was the exact message I needed to hear that day.
We want to thank you for your vision and spirit. Someday I hope to come to a Brave Girl retreat!
Thanks for the beautiful story!
Kris
Wow, loved reading that! You were (are) right – it was so inspiring and uplifting! I love that you had your sister/family to work with you, that makes it even more beautiful. It also shows what keeping your dream in front of you will do. And it also just gave me an “aha” moment!!
beautiful story! so happy to have found the brave girls club….lots of fun and the soul book class i took (and am still working on!) is fabulous!
Love this! Thanks for sharing!
Kallie, you honor your Mom and Mel so well!
Having been to BGC this past July was probably the best investment I made in myself at a point that I needed it. And all from a dream, perseverance and belief In doing something impactful.
We had the best time, so much so as you probably know, I hosted 8 of my fellow BGC’ers a couple of weeks ago at my home and we had a blast (yeah, that was us that created the BG Clubhouse Christmas in January for Mel and Kathy extravaganza). Our group is so connected and supportive and all because your Mom and your Aunt Mel’s dream.
You are so fortunate as a young woman to be able to experience this firsthand and also to appreciate them and honor them.
Hats (cowboy or otherwise) off to you, Brave Girl!
thank you….for telling this story….for sharing your learning….for inspiring us all…..most of all, thank you for dreaming this big dream and sharing it with the world!
an absolutely beautiful tribute to two loving souls. I remember finding Melody’s blog years ago and finding it so refreshing that she talked like a REAL person. I remember the post when Melody started talking about her projects and the little birdies….and when her soul burst free.
I’ve done SR1, SR2, soul book, Mothers and Daughters and now BR…and I continue to love you all as if you are family..because you ARE!
Love to you all….
WOW. So inspiring! I found out about BGC from a Seth Godin blog post and I never knew the backstory. Thank you for sharing. Tears in eyes…
LOVE LOVE LOVE!!! Gives me the nudge to just Do It Anyway!!!
Thankyou BGC, really <3
FANTASTIC…all of it!!! This is my first time to this site..how fun!
As others have shared, this is tremendous. When I stumbled across Brave Girls Club I would never have guessed that you all were just getting a good start at it. You are on the right path, with the right spirit guiding. Such wonderful refreshment in times such as these. Thank you for sharing the blessings! I soooooo enjoyed Soul Book and look forward to enrolling in SR1 soon. Thanks again for all that you do to make life a better place.
It is great to read the full story of Brave Girls Camp! What an inspiration, and what an example to me. I have done soul restoration 1 and soul restoration 2 and now excited to be part of Brave Girls Camp this February. I have had big dreams… ( I think many of us do
).. making it to Brave Girls Camp seemed like the jumping off point for me so I focused on making that possible for me! I am so grateful to Kathy and Melody and know they are truly inspired! Way to Go Girls!
What a wonderful recount of the last 2 years. I’t refreshing to have people actualling “living” what they are teaching. Way to go!
Kallie,
Thanks so much for the “history” of Brave Girls Club and how it all began. I took SR1 online last year and am in the middle of BR online class now – and loving it! I’m learning to be brave every day, and look at myself, my body, my life and others with new “soul” eyes. It’s been an amazing experience, so far. Thanks to Kathy and Melody for living their dreams and sharing with the rest of us.
xoxo,
Debby
I don’t know if I would be in the place I am now without you both having pursued your dreams. Sufferin from depression and anxiety for my whole life and having a really rough time two years ago, I was in traditional therapy but not improving. I started SR1 in summer 2011 and it changed my life! The messages were so compassionate and reassuring and making art just help release all the demons I had been feeding all these years. I moved on to SR2 but not done yet, and taking BR – which I love. Thank you for being you and having the courage to leap!
AH*mazing!!!
thank you Kathy & Melody…
for following your dreams and freeing your little safe birdie…
so we can learn to free “ours”…
xoxo…
-p
Thank You Melody and Kathy!!! And Kallie for the History (HERstory?).
What an inspiration you are to me every day.
LOVE you,
L
I’m crying a lot today…and this had me bawling. I’m so proud of Kathy & Melody! And so very delighted that I have had “something to do with” Brave Girls Club during their first year — I did Soul Restoration I, starting July 2011!!
Blessings on you all! You’ve sure been a blessing to me!
Thank you for this story. I feel so privileged to be a part of this community.
Thank you so much for sharing their story! I am in the Body Restoration class now and am being so blessed….the daily truths are jewels of truth to take in every day!
So INSPIRING and amazing!! We are so lucky that you decided to follow your dreams. I am inspired everytime I visit here or receive my daily truth email. You really have made a difference in my life! xo
Beautiful story! BGC has changed the way I think and look at life and I am so very grateful your both took the big LEAP!
Boy do I know that feeling. I have always been afraid to leap out there with no income. I’ve been married again now for 8 years and my husband is such a good support system. But that fear of doing what I would love to do is overwhelming. I work full time as a Educational Coordinator for a major Childcare Chain on the East Coast and a couple midwestern states. I live at the beach in an artsy town and I always feel my stuff is not good enough. I do a lot of marketing and artsy stuff on my job for children. I feel like my life is flying by and 51 just came a few months ago and is going fast. Your Brave Girls series have been such a help to me I can’t begin to tell you. For the first time in my life I can say I am an artist. One day I hope to put myself out there and fulfill my dreams. Thanks so much for your generosity and inspiration.
Awesome and encouraging story!! I’ve been waiting to take a leap for the past 10yrs! I can’t give up! Thank you for your unconditional love to empower us all Brave Girls Club!!
wow, what a beautiful story to read this morning, as I start my day out. thanks so much for sharing. I will carry it with me. thanks so much!
Thanks so much for sharing the Brave Girls Club story. I wondered how it all got started and I truly admire Kathy and Melody for having the fortitude to stick with their dreams and make them happen. What a wonderful example they are to the rest of us. I only recently discovered them through a friend and am now taking the Body Restoration class. They were truly inspired as they put this class together. The class has brought tears and ah-ha moments. I look forward to each class and what enlightenment it will be bringing into my life. Please give your mom and aunt a big hug and thank you for me. The camps sound pretty cool too. Hopefully one day I will be able to attend one.
Oh, Sweetie,,,,how beautifully written….Meeting all of you last October has been one of those points in my life..where things are thought about..before BGC and after BGC….meant the world to me and I need to come back. felt so secure…like being back in the womb~
Kallie, I am grateful to you for writing this “Uncommon Story” and sharing it with us here. We see and hear the bits and pieces through Brave Girls classes, blogs and videos but you have given the story a timeline that we can each plug ourselves into and feel a part of – THANK YOU! Thanks to all of you who are a part of the success of BCG – Kathy and Melody’s family and friends who are behind the scenes and out in front! I am grateful for each one of you, because your love and support for Kathy and Melody are what makes it possible for them to work their magic!
thank you for sharing this story, there is so many of us daughter’s of our Heavenly Father that struggle with addiction. I’m one of many. May we find the courage and conviction to overcome and conquer!