We recently connected with Melissa & Whitney and have shared our conversation below.
Melissa & , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?
When the COVID pandemic hit and the lockdown ensued, we would sit down every week and discuss all of the true crime content we had absorbed that week. Eventually, we came to a decision to record our conversations and begin our own podcast. It started out as an absolute trainwreck! Horrible sound quality as both of our kids, 4 boys total, were running amuck in the background. A few weeks into putting the podcast together, we realized that we were approaching true crime content from the wrong perspective and our volunteer traits took hold. We both knew we needed to do more for the families of the victims we were discussing. After a little research and a few conversations with others within the genre, we settled on a specific story of a missing man named Brandon Lawson from the San Angelo, Texas area. We drove out to where Brandon was last known to be to physically see the area, meet with the case advocate, and discuss how we could help spread awareness about Brandon’s disappearance. At this point, he had been missing for almost 8 years. We shared Brandon’s story and then planned for months the next step in advocating for him. A year after that initial meeting,
we were part of a 9-person volunteer search team that headed out into a field that had never before been searched. We covered acres of land thick with mesquite trees, brush, and cacti in 50-mile-per-hour winds and 30-degree temperatures. As we were running out of daylight that winter day, we found clothing items that resembled what Brandon had last been wearing. A pair of shoes that were the same brand, same style, and same size as Brandon’s, as well as a unique pair of mixed martial arts style shorts. Law enforcement agencies were called in, and it was confirmed that those items of clothing were consistent with Brandon’s last outfit. That evening we called Brandon’s family to let them know the outcome of our efforts. This exact moment solidified not only our role within the true crime community but also the motivation behind our mission. We knew that we wanted to create positive change for victim’s families before this moment, but hearing Brandon’s family that night confirmed that action-oriented advocacy was our purpose.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Once we realized our mission was to help families, we focused on unsolved cases and missing persons. As of December 31, 2023, the National Crime Information Center reported 96,955 active missing person records and the number of unsolved cases continues to grow exponentially. Families are propelled into the true crime realm with little help, resources, or support. We decided to use our platform to assist these families. We go state by state weekly, sharing an unsolved or missing person case in hopes of garnering attention for that family’s loved one. Taking our mission for advocacy one step further, we travel multiple times a year, completing an act of action-oriented advocacy with families. This could be a flyer campaign, honk-and-wave event, foot search, vigil, or fundraising effort. We take our cues from the family as each case has a different need. To our knowledge, no other podcast takes quite the “boots on the ground” approach that we do. We pride ourselves on putting families first and ensuring they know we are a safe space for them to lean on. Our relationship with families does not end when the episode airs. We develop relationships for life.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
We are not one of the “true crime giants” in the podcast world. True crime is a huge genre; thousands of other true crime podcasts exist. We foster a “collaboration over competition” mindset. We believe that there is space for everyone with empathetic intentions. Ethical true crime is a “hot topic” right now, and we know that because we only cover unsolved cases, we may never be the most popular. This is where our resiliency comes into play. We aren’t here for notoriety but here for the families. When our podcast gets in front of one person who did not know that victim’s story, we have succeeded.
Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?
When we started our podcast journey, we had no clue about so many resources. First, let us explain that we are a truly independent podcast. This means that from the choice of case to the published product, we do it all: research, recording, editing, marketing, distribution, all of it. The learning curve was hard and fast. For instance, we never thought newspapers were so important until we discovered newspapers.com for research. Many cases we cover happened before the internet age, and the ability to recall articles is an absolute necessity. When it comes to editing, while Whitney had a small amount of editing experience from college, we had to find a program that worked best for us. Thankfully, a fellow podcaster told us about Descript. It is a one-stop shop for editing when you are not an audio engineer. We also make a point to continue our education on ethics, empathy, and general research skills. There is a great program called the True Crime Podcast Training that offers online education on how to become a better researcher. We could share so many additional tools, but you probably don’t have all day to read about them.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://navigatingadvocacy.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/navigatingadvocacypodcast
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NavigatingAdvocacyPodcast
- Twitter: https://x.com/NavAdvocacyPod
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@navigatingadvocacypodcast
- Other: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/navigating-advocacy–5007362
