During her pregnancy, she says she had “navigated by sight”. Then, when one of her sisters became pregnant a few years later, nothing had changed. So, Clémentine Galey, mother of two children aged 8 and 10, took it upon herself to answer all the unanswered questions of her youngest. Then was born the idea of creating a podcast, without suspecting that it would be crowned with success.
In April 2018, casting director at TF1, Clémentine Galey therefore launched, in parallel with her activity, “Bliss Stories”, a podcast in which women tell their story of motherhood. In the era of perfect moms who then reigned over Instagram, the 43-year-old Parisian kicked the anthill: she succeeds in getting these influencers to talk – without filter this time. Stroke of genius, and marketing: “scratch the varnish” of these mothers always prepared by showing behind the scenes and making sure of the attentive ear of a certain number of their subscribers.
Very quickly, the counters fly away. The weekly podcast, which now reaches more than 600,000 listens per month, ranks in the top 5 native podcasts – audio program created specifically for digital distribution – the most listened to in France, according to the Alliance for Press and Media Figures, and has accumulated 25 million plays since its launch, according to its producer. The demand is there, and the supply is exploding. Dozens of women, known or anonymous, write to him to testify. “There was a niche to take”, analyzes Clémentine Galey, who left her salaried job and has lived off her podcast for almost three years.
From the most ordinary to the most taboo
With nearly 200 episodes, the weekly forum offered to these mothers unashamedly tackles all subjects, from the most ordinary to the most taboo: miscarriage, breastfeeding, postpartum, oocyte donation, surrogacy, adoption, perinatal bereavement, denial of pregnancy, abortion… But also all the moments of bliss (“ecstasy”, “bliss”, in English) that motherhood brings.
Clementine Galey still remembers the feeling of“urgency that these women had to speak”. “I was inundated with upsetting emails. I read all these stories lived simultaneously, while these women thought they were the only ones to live them. The audio format appeared to me as a fabulous means of talking about intimacy and transmitting information”, she confides.
In four years, Clémentine Galey has built a real brand, with a book, Bliss Stories. The uninhibited book on pregnancy and childbirth, (Hachette Pratique, 2020), a YouTube channel, an audio program to accompany the future parturient and postpartum (“Bliss Bump”), and even a show, currently on tour in several cities in France, with displays many guests past his microphone. “Bliss Stories” posters are popping up in the waiting rooms of midwives and gynecologists, some of whom recommend listening to the podcast to their patients.
You have 15.79% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.