Meet Trailblazer Shayna Ferm and Tracey Tee

Today we’d like to introduce you to Shayna Ferm and Tracey Tee.

Shayna and Tracey, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
We started The Pump and Dump Show at Local 46 in Northwest Denver in 2012 because we were drowning in new parenthood and felt like all moms (including us) needed a night out. Our kids were 1.5 years old and four weeks old and we knew we were onto something when, by the second show, we had people calling the bar for reservations for groups of 12. The show evolved to a twice-a-month Denver staple at both The Clocktower Cabaret and Comedy Works South, and in 2014 we started touring to cities nationally.

We have performed the show in over 60 cities nationwide, many multiple times, in venues from comedy clubs to huge music theatres to arts Centers. After almost five years of touring, we started a weekly podcast called “Band of Mothers Podcast” where we explore lifestyle subjects and what it’s like to be a woman who also happens to be a mom. In 2019, we expanded our brand by getting ourselves off the road and casting two new casts (one out of LA and one out of Chicago) to tour regionally so we can be home with our families and focus on the podcast and our brand new social media app for moms, Band of Mothers App, now in beta.

We have grown our team, our brand and our skills – learned SO much about our business and ourselves along the way – and are very excited for what’s to come in 2020. We are planning on adding a third cast to the mix to tour the east coast and will be officially launching the BOM app in the next few months. Our goal has always been to spread humor and generosity, mom to mom, and we get to do exactly that every day. We are also committed to changing the way moms have conversations and access to each other since current social media has had detrimental effects on small businesses, mom influencers, and any real, true connection between humans.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
A roller coaster would be the best way to describe owning your own business, especially in this last two years of growth for us. The moments of extreme joy, accomplishment and pride for being brave and taking risks – and having them work out! – are constantly followed up by another disappointment or challenge that can seem so unattainable. We cry a lot from happiness and failures. But the truth is, when we really study other businesses and entrepreneurs and the journeys that successful people take, this is normal.

Our advice to young women in any entrepreneurial endeavor is really do some digging and some work on yourselves so that you can (deep deep deep down – in places you don’t even realize) match your value to what you want in life. It’s the law of attraction. We wish we would have done this kind of work earlier in our careers. For as much as you have to work tirelessly on your business, make sacrifices and push yourselves from a business perspective, you also have to see your true value and know with every fiber of your being that you can have what you want. It sounds super woo-woo, we know, but it really is true.

Please tell us about The Pump and Dump Show / Band of Mothers Podcast / Band of Mothers App.
At the core of our business, we are a live show. It’s how we started and we will always value having real live humans in a room together, laughing and commiserating about the things we all have in common, especially as moms. There is so much power in that. We also know that we can’t be everywhere at one time and it would be silly not to take advantage of digital opportunities to make moms feel like they are still a part of something – a Band of Mothers. So our weekly podcast and our new app are opportunities for moms to tune in digitally but feel the real, raw, authenticity of our brand anytime and anywhere.

One of the things we are most proud of with the app is our zero-tolerance policy for trolling. If you are unkind, you are off the app. Parenting is hard enough without someone being cruel for cruelty’s sake. We encourage conversations and disagreements, but with kindness and respect. Most online content aggregators just push information AT you and then the comments are a free-for-all. We have created a space for communication and conversation BETWEEN moms.

Another thing that has always made us unique is that our show has never been about us, Shayna and Tracey. This is why we’ve been able to cast new, talented moms with young kids to tour for us because our content is about common experiences and lifting each other up. We’ve always felt that although people have enjoyed us as performers, it’s not the make or break for the show. If moms want to hear from us specifically, they can tune in to our podcast where we share a lot about ourselves, but The Pump and Dump Show is not touring the country so people can see Shayna and Tracey. We are simply giving moms an amazing night out and an hour and a half without anyone touching their boobs.

We’re interested to hear your thoughts on female leadership – in particular, what do you feel are the biggest barriers or obstacles?
This is an interesting question for us because we are work-at-home moms. The world has certainly had to shift its idea of what a “work day” means to incorporate more woman leaders who can be effective in balancing career and household responsibilities. There was a time when to be a woman leader, you had to “work like a man.” But the truth is, women inherently have much more to balance and multi-task than men have when they go to the office every day.

For example, we do kid drop off and pick up and sometimes our work day pauses at 3:30pm so we can grab the kids and make dinner, and then we’re back on a conference call at 5pm. Productivity is exactly the same as a 9 to 5 job but we have the extra challenge of running a household AND a business. Thankfully, we both have amazing partners that can help, but the hard truth is that there is just more to manage when you are a mom entrepreneur. So maybe that’s less of a barrier and more of a day-to-day struggle that perhaps men don’t have to deal with when running companies. But we’re women, so we can handle it;)

Contact Info:

• Website: www.bandofmothers.com | www.thepumpanddumpshow.com
• Instagram: @BandofMothersOfficial | @ThePumpAndDumpShow
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/ThePumpAndDump

Image Credit:
Paul Joyner Photo

Suggest a story: VoyageDenver is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.