Cathedral parishioner Kate Milligan had the opportunity to promote her podcast, '1 Girl Revolution,' on popular talk show March 24
DETROIT — When Kate Milligan began her podcast, "1 Girl Revolution," six years ago, it was just that — one woman setting out to tell the stories of empowering women and girls to change the world.
But last week, Monday, March 24, Milligan, a Michigan native and parishioner at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Detroit, had the chance to share her nonprofit and her story on NBC's "The Kelly Clarkson Show" and its approximately 1 million viewers.
Milligan, who in the last six years has released nearly 250 episodes of the "1 Girl Revolution" podcast, produced two documentaries and authored a book, "Living the Feminist Dream: a Faithful Vision for Women in the Church and the World” (New City Press), said the experience was “surreal,” especially as a longtime fan of Clarkson, who first rose to fame as the inaugural winner of "American Idol."
“I love Kelly Clarkson — who doesn’t?” Milligan told Detroit Catholic. “I love how positive her show is, and I think that, in a lot of ways, there is a commonality between what we do at '1 Girl Revolution' and what she does. She always highlights very positive, powerful stories, and she often shines a light on women and girls who are making a difference in the world.”
Milligan said while the turnaround to get her on the show was quick, the road to being on the show began two years ago.
“I found an email address for one of Clarkson’s producers and literally cold emailed them and said, ‘I love what you are doing, and this is who we are at '1 Girl Revolution,'’” Milligan said. “My goal in that email was not even necessarily to get '1 Girl Revolution' on the show, but to get all of the '1 Girl Revolutions' on the show.”
Milligan appeared in last Monday’s episode alongside one of her youngest-ever podcast guests, Ruby Kate Chitsey from Three Wishes for Ruby’s Residents, an organization that brightens the lives of seniors in nursing homes. Milligan is hopeful the exposure gained from being on the show will further amplify the movement of "1 Girl Revolution."
“Kelly loves the mission of '1 Girl Revolution' not just because it is amplifying all of our voices, but really because it is shining a light on the younger generation,” Milligan said. “I believe every single woman and girl, no matter what age, no matter what background, each of us has the power to the change the world through our lives.”
"1 Girl Revolution" has grown to be so much more than a nonprofit, Milligan said.
“It really is a movement of women’s voices and their stories and talking about the dignity of every single woman,” Milligan explained. “I hope that this moment just amplifies all of our '1 Girl Revolution' stories and voices and also creates a space for all women’s voices to be heard and for all women to see their dignity and their value.”
Although 1 Girl Revolution is not faith-based, Milligan’s faith is a driving force in all she does. She believes the stories she helps tell and the opportunity to share them with a larger audience can be evangelistic.
“Anything that '1 Girl Revolution' does really strives to evangelize and encourage every single person to see their value and their purpose and the power that they hold to change the world through their lives,” Milligan said. “I think that is so missing in the world today, where people don’t see their value, and they don’t see their purpose, and they don’t think that they matter.
"I think if we recognize that we were created to be as unique as our fingerprint, and that we are the only person who can leave that specific imprint on the world, how differently we would live our lives and how different the world would look.”
