Latest / The Jeff Crilley Show / Jessica Spawn, Author & Host, Gal on the Prowl | The Jeff Crilley Show
Transcript
- Coming up next on The Jeff Crilley Show, you're gonna meet Jessica Spawn. She is the host of one of our most popular podcasts. It's called Gal on the Prowl, and she's also the author of a children's book series. You're not gonna wanna miss this next episode. Many are predicting that the worst is yet to come, which is unfortunate, said one person here. Until now, they've enjoyed the reputation of being the nation's icebox. Watched a burglar in his home this morning by webcam. As a journalist of over twenty five years, stories are what make my world turn. Reporting live from The Dallas Newsroom tonight, Jeff Crilley, Fox four news. But in 2008, I took the jump from my familiar life and started a PR firm from my home. We're talking about anyone with camcorder like the one I'm using becomes a television network. We started slowly growing the company and we now have over a 100 clients and we've branched into the world of live digital broadcasting. I now own eight different TV studios and have a huge team. And the stories that I now get to share are sometimes the most important of my life. Life has a funny way of coming around full circle. This is The Jeff Crilley Show. I'm so excited about this next show because Jessica Spawn has been a dear friend for many many years. We met at a networking event probably a decade ago and she's become best friends with my daughter. She's a part of the The Real News family. She has a very popular podcast called Gal on the Proud, which we're gonna talk about in a minute. But I wanna talk about your children's book series Yes. Because this is fascinating. Yeah. The latest book Yes. And we're gonna go through all of them. I'll hold that up. Vacation Kitty. Okay. Tell us about this book. Vacation Kitten. So it's a water safety book. Okay. I it's actually a collaboration. I have a co author on this. Oh, wow. So after my first book, years later, I met this lady and she wanted to do a water safety book. And I was like, no, no. My books are holiday related. They're holidays. Right. I don't do a water safety book. But eventually she wore me down and I was like, okay, what if we call it Vacation Kitten? So it still sounds like a holiday book. Wow. It actually gives me three months of sales instead of one month, so it's a lot better. That's incredible. Okay. But it's for water safety, like it teaches water safety. It's it helps kids. Alright. Put this on the screen if you will. I think the artwork is amazing. Oh my gosh. Benjamin Vincent. He lives in Dallas. Okay. He's fantastic. Give him a shout out. I love Benjamin. How did you how did you meet him? Oh my god. 2007. Was doing grand openings for twenty four hour fitness when they were like a big thing. Yes. And so he came out as a character artist and we became friends. So almost twenty years I've known him. He's designed all my logos for my businesses over the years. He did my first book, The Christmas Kitten Yes. In 2017. And I'm I'm gonna use him for every single book, no matter how much AI becomes a thing. Okay. And we're coming It's gonna be hand drawn. We're coming up on Memorial Day Yeah. Which is Yeah. The holiday. Boating season Summer season. Swimming and so what lessons will they learn from the water safety book? The three important lessons that are actually in the back of the book. First of all, you need to take your swim lessons, you need to find a life vest, and then you need to have a water watcher. And that's something I didn't really understand or until I met this lady Vicky who's the co author of the book. Trying to find that page. I didn't understand water safety which is weird because I was actually a swimmer. Yeah. In high school competitive swimmer. Okay. But like so here's the list that we recap at the back. Swim lessons, life vest and water watcher. Water watcher. And a water watcher could be a parent. That can be anyone who's capable of helping. Anyone who's old enough capable of watching and also help inner intervening if they need to. Okay. Let's talk about your first book and The Christmas Kitchen. There we go. Christmas Kitchen. Alright. Tell us about Christmas Kitchen. Well, that My life kinda started after my divorce, weirdly enough. This was actually because of the divorce. I had a company called Reindeer Roofing that I had co founded. I was really sad about the reindeer. It was Christmas and I was like, oh, I'm so sad. I don't wanna think about this. And I was like telling God that I was sad, you know. And the next day I woke up and I had this idea for this Christmas kitten book where the reindeer are the hero and they rescue the kitten and the kitten helps all these other kittens get Yes. Homes at Christmas. And it's a really sweet story. When I got to reading it myself after like creating it, took about a year to get it out. So yeah, about a year. It came out the following Christmas. Didn't have enough time for marketing, I learned that lesson on both books actually. I need to actually apply it next time. But I realized I was the kitten. Like I was the orphan kitten. I felt very alone and very scared because I had just gotten divorced. I didn't feel like I had a home or community. It was really interesting how it was like a like a part of my healing was writing the book. You know what I mean? What do you want children to learn from reading that book? Kindness and helping others. Like motive matters and so like there's a part in there that talks about the request doesn't matter only the reason. So like I want kids to understand that the motive, the heart behind the the what they're doing matters. Yes. Before I forget, you have a backpack. Oh yes, so Or not not a backpack. It's very life. Yes, yes, yes. And cooks children. Yeah. I mean so I don't know if you know anything about Lori Cerami with Run for Lease. So she has Run for Lease, it's a foundation and it supports swim for lease which is where she gives out she she makes it she makes like college age kids, high school kids able to learn how to be Okay. Yes. Water watchers and water safety. Cool. Because her daughter drowned in 2016. This is actually the ten year anniversary I of do remember that. Yeah. So May 9 May 9 Yeah. Is gonna be her run. So if you guys do wanna go to the run and support her cause, you can go to run for Elise or swimforelise.com. Yes. I'm not sure which one. But I'll be there with the books. She's it's a huge thing. It supports a great cause and it's ten years since her daughter drowned. So do remember. We actually did a dedication in the book. Her best friend Vicky is my coauthor. Wow. And they work with Cook Children's. So when Cook Children's heard we were doing a new book on water safety and they wanted they were kinda you know, they used the same book for a long time. Yes. And it's a great book, but they kinda wanted something just a little more modern something. So we were able to we were the book that they're using this year. So we've 9,000 copies so far Well, shout out them. Shout out to Cooks for doing that. That's amazing. They're making our dreams possible and we're hopefully saving some lives. So, yeah. Alright. I wanna transition to Gal on the Prowl which is one of my favorite names for a show ever. I love it. We're gonna scroll down your podcast website and it's Okay. It's beautifully designed get rid of Okay. Good. Good. There we go. There we go. And that's actually I think you were on the Jeff Crilley Show. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sarah. This was with Sarah. We were testing out Grainscape. And then I was a guest with Bobby Ray. Oh, yeah. Sure. Sure. It was the Friday the thirteenth right before pandemic. That was when you guys were doing the iHeart. Yes. Yeah. That's awesome. Okay. Keep scrolling down if you will because you can see so Scroll down and you can see that we're doing live events. All the way to the bottom. There you go. Wait. Boom. There there so that's the live event. So we just added this. This last beautiful. Yeah. So Ty helped me, my fiancee helped me get that going because I'm not a website person. And so I was like, when I was talking about opening it up to the to the an audience but not having to really focus on an an event and make a big whole thing that I have to manage. Yeah. He's like, just put it on your website. I'm like, how do you do that? Alright. So I love that you have a tagline. Yeah. Rise, reveal. Rise, reveal. Yes. Okay. Tell us what do you want people to learn from your show? What kind of guests do you get? Yeah. So the guests, I mean, they're just for me originally it was female empowerment and I didn't have the vision like yet. I spent the first year creating shows Mhmm. Without a full plan and I think that's important in life. Sometimes you just keep keep doing the next thing. Right? Yeah. And I was intentional. It didn't just magically come to me. I was intentional about like what is a show? What is a show? And I really drilled down in January and I was able to think and like, okay, well, I want it to be bigger. Want it to be like have some workbooks, have some workshops, maybe do retreats I've been through a lot. Like, yeah, I had a stalker, I've been through bankruptcy, I've been through divorce, I've through spine surgeries. So I've I've overcome a lot and I wanted to encourage women through other women's stories like on there whether there's the rise kind of the getting off the floor and getting up and know you can do, you can survive it. Yeah. Or if it's the rebuild era which is I feel like we're always in that where we're trying to you know rebuild after something. And then there's the Aurora season which is it's it's it's fewer and farther between between sometimes. Like when you feel like you really got it And you're really just like the top mountaintop experience. You know what mean? Well, you have another thing that you triumphed over Yeah. Which is alcohol. Yes. Oh, yeah. Thank you for mentioning that. So And four and a half years sober. Congratulations. Thank you. I am it's an interesting story. So the comic culture Lewisville, huge fan. Thank you so much. They're the sponsors for Gal and the Prowl. I discovered this Clava community a couple years ago, and I had already been sober for a few years. So when I found it, it made me feel so happy because it's like a bar environment without with like non alcoholic drinks. Yes. And so you have that social side of things that you don't get. Like I was missing that. You know how social I am. Sure. Sure. Because I've known you for so long. And I took those first two years when I was sober and I didn't know what to do. I was working and then I had an office that I was renting. So I work and then I go to the office to like work on a film or something. I didn't didn't have a life I didn't have a social life. I didn't know how to have a social life. And it it was really cool to discover a place. And so now I spend a lot of time up at those places. Like, I'll bring my laptop up there. Now now I'm working on a documentary with my fiance called Bula Oh, wow. Which we're starting to get going and momentum. And so Maybe explain for the people What kava is? Yeah. What is kava? So Cava is I don't know how to say it. It's a root. It's a pepper root. Okay. That's like ground up and then it's like brewed into like a tea type form. Yes. And like you have a canned. Yeah. So this is a canned version. So I just really like I just wanted it's just fun. And it does the the root of this plant cause kind of Yeah. Like a calmness. And then so here's also to what we're gonna talk about with the film Yeah. Is the whole kratom controversy because I don't know if you're aware, but like they were trying to ban Kratom in Texas last summer. It's banned in certain states. Yes. Because there's a lot of controversy because I guess there's pills at like gas stations. Right? The Yeah. The dosages are there's no regulation. Yes. So people have had deaths associated with kratom but on other things. Right? Yes. Yes. So I want to investigate that a little more because also the coffee bars around here do offer kratom in the tea form. Mhmm. So it's very low dose. So I kinda wanna bring awareness to like what the differences are, understand them myself as I explain them to other people so they can feel safe if that's something not if, you know, because if if they're scary, it's scary to think like you could wear kratom and now all you've seen is bad publicity. Right. So so it's my it's my heart to see hopefully some some like I wanna hear about the why it's bad and then I also wanna get the lady who did this interview last year. Liliano, she's from New You know what I'm talking about? Yes. She's an investigative reporter. Yes. She flew out here to Fort Worth at the Cava Bar there last year to do a piece on it. Right? So everybody was so excited, couldn't wait to be in this piece. Well, the piece came out and it wasn't a good piece. Oh, really? They were slamming? Okay. The owners immediately were like, how do you get this off? Like, they built it up so much and they're like, hide it. Hide it. This looks terrible. Alright. Well, that tees up. So I'm gonna I'm gonna try to reach out to her too. Wanna hear everybody's side. I want everybody's side of this Philip. I love it. When you're you're so full of joy in it and the conversation tees up this Yeah. Next clip Okay. Oh, yeah. So why don't you It is. Set up this clip that we're about to play? Okay. So recently I just did my podcast with the audience for the first time so that's extra energy I have to spend which I love but energy. Okay? Then there was the podcast collective which we're so excited. It's a it's a big thing in Dallas. We're launching here for local podcasters to come together. Then I went out to my sponsor in Lewisville, Cava Culture and recorded her, interviewed her for to put on my website and all that stuff. So after we get that done, my boyfriend at the time, like he's like kinda weird and he's like, just stay there. And I'm like, oh, and I'm like, have my he's my I'm mic'd up still and he's like, I wanna check the sound. And I'm like, I mean, my brain's just on business and I'm tired. And I'm like, what's wrong with the sound? I'm like, do we have to record this again? Like, my brain goes to like, oh, you know, come on. We all know when you're like, check the sound, why? What what was wrong? Tell me what we need to fix. And so then he's like sits down and he's like, oh no. I'm like, are we okay? And he's like, yeah, we're okay. I'm like, okay. And he's like, we're just gonna have a conversation. I'm like, oh, so I think we're like testing sound. So we're bantering back and forth and I have no idea what's happening. No clue until he gets to this point, which we're gonna show in the videos. Alright. Let's go ahead and roll it. I'm happier than I am with you. Good. Yeah. You should be. I wanna protect us and be with you forever? Yep. Yeah. Yeah. Good. Is that good? Yeah. Is that good? Well No. It's official. Did she know this? Did she tell her? Did not know what I was going to tell her? You were gonna tell her? Will you meow me? Yes. I will meow you. Can you say that louder for the camera? Will you meow me? Yes. I will. I'm gonna put on my finger. I'm gonna put it on your finger. Let's hope it fits. Oh, this is why you're so serious yesterday. It's why I was Jessica, you're you're He's on brand. He's on brand. You're the consummate show woman because you were giving him coaching tips while he's I just wanted well, you know what? I hear what you're saying. But I didn't know he's gonna propose until that second. So I literally when he said, will you meowie me? Which he got off of my first episode by the way. That's my first Gala Powell from February 2025. So Yes. Last year. Before I knew him, so he watched all my shows. And thankfully he took notes because that was important to me. So when I heard him say that, I just wanted to make sure it was super clear and everyone heard it since I realized we were recording and he was asking me to meow him. My brain yeah. My brain was still in work mode and I was like, can you say that again for the camera? And can we get a cutaway? Yeah. I was like, I was still in work mode. But I yeah. I didn't really I didn't shift gears really. I was still in work mode, but it was pretty funny because he kept it on brand for me, he nailed it. Alright. Tell us more about him. What So he met him at podcast movement actually. Nice. Through Sarah invited me last summer So I just started my podcast that last year. Right? And I was moving into Dallas and Sarah was like, we need to go. And I was like, okay. So we went. I you know, she kinda dragged me around and I was mostly like, I'm tired. And we met him. He was representing the Podcast Academy, their booth. And I was like immediately I felt something and I was interested in him. But he was like not he was like not letting me know how what was going on with him. Like I came back that night to network and get to know him better and I literally asked if he was single like to his face. And he goes, oh, do you have to be single to network? And like he kept avoiding like answering things and I was like, what is his status? Because I'm like, I don't want don't wanna flirt with him if he's got like a wife at home or like if he's got I don't know if I'm just trying to figure I was not I was interested. It's you had just told me to start flirting more by the way. I said that. This was my advice as her big brother is, you know, have the welcome light on Yeah. So that guys feel Right. Free But to before that happened, And I was putting myself out there. Alright. What what was it about him that won your heart? Oh, that won my heart. Gosh. I mean, he's so kind and he we laugh a lot. We laugh a lot together. He also is incredibly supportive. So like I I give a lot and people can easily just take and so he's gives a lot back. Like when he he recorded that he recorded that episode for me. Like it wasn't like Yes. He's been giving back to me in ways that I that I need my like my love language is I guess business And cats. So we have about two minutes left. Yeah. And I want you to look into the camera on the left. That's the viewer. And I want you to talk about why they need to rise, rebuild, and Rise, rebuild, and roar. Why they need you need to do this because those are your only options if you want to have a great life. I get it if you're in a bad place I've been there if you want. The rebuild process is brutal but it's also amazing. Right? There's there's highs and lows and then the roar era I think is yeah, the few and far between the moments where you get asked to be meowy meowy me. I don't know what that anyways, that's a roar moment. Or like, you know, your book comes out and Cook Children's picks it up. Like, are those roar moments. Right? Yeah. So I I'd love for everybody to have those and maybe for me like with my brand being cats, that's kind of why I like have created those pillars. But like in your own words, just have those in your life that you like kind of like check as you're going through your your seasons, you know? I love it. Yeah. Jessica, you're you're an inspiration. Thank you so much. Thank you, Jeff. For everything that you've contributed to my company, my daughter, and Yeah. Got me a husband. Alright. We're gonna end with her website, which is galontheprowl.com, the great Jessica Spawn. Thanks for coming on the show. Yeah. Alright. That's it for now. We'll see you next time. Ten seconds left on the video. Four, three, two, one.