Introducing: The Census. Nope, not that one.

Summary

Style-ish Podcast Episode Summary

Episode: Introducing: The Census. Nope, not that one.

Date: August 3, 2026
Host: Shameless Media (Michelle Andrews & Zara McDonald)

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Episode Overview

This special drop-in episode features Michelle Andrews and Zara McDonald, co-founders of Shameless Media, introducing their ambitious new project: the Shameless Media Census. Designed as a yearly initiative, this census aims to capture the true experiences, opinions, and inner lives of Australian women—especially around parenting and contemporary womanhood. The hosts offer a behind-the-scenes look at the reasoning, structure, and hopes for this community-driven storytelling endeavor, emphasizing authenticity, anonymity, and inclusivity.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Why a Shameless Media Census?

• Purpose: To find out how average women are really feeling, away from the extremes of social media discourse.
• Motivation: Online conversations are often dominated by the loudest or most polarized voices. The hosts want to reach the “middle band.”
  • Michelle: “If you look on social media, you’re probably seeing opinions of the 5% on either side of the spectrum.” [01:57]
• Audience: Especially for mothers, women in their 30s and 40s, and anyone whose experiences go unrepresented online.

2. Not That Census…

• The hosts clarify that the timing of the Shameless Media Census is a funny coincidence—it's running the same week as the official Australian government census.
  • Zara: “We have accidentally scheduled our census, which has been booked in for six months, on the same week the Australian government is doing their census...” [01:02]
• The Difference:
  • The government census is “for your head, the stats. This is for your heart.” [01:25]

3. What Will the Census Cover?

• Focus on important, sometimes personal, topics affecting women: parenthood, life choices, grief, pregnancy, and more.
• Responses are completely anonymous—no data selling, just for storytelling and future content.
  • Zara: “There might be stuff about grief or pregnancy or loss and we want to make sure that you take care while filling it out too.” [04:56]
• The census will directly inform a new parenting podcast but is open to all Australian women, parent or not.

4. How Will It Work? (Logistics)

• For Australians only due to logistical constraints, utilizing professional research partners (Starburst Insights).
  • “We are working with a professional research and insights business called Starburst Insights. They are amazing.” [06:00]
• Capped Participation: Tens of thousands can participate, but total numbers are limited by state and technology.
• State-Based Timing: Each state has its own day; participation is coordinated via Shameless Media’s social channels.
  • Michelle: “Keep an eye on our socials...we don’t want you to miss your state’s day.” [07:08]

5. Victoria Census Night—An In-Person Twist

• Victorians get a special physical event: a night of census-filling, on-stage Q&As with Michelle & Zara, and community connection.
  • Zara: “Victoria, you will get an event. We are hosting an evening where we can fill out the census...” [07:35]

6. The Future of the Census

• The census will grow and evolve each year, with rotating themes. The hosts encourage audience feedback for topics in future rounds.
  • “If you do this year’s census and you go, wow, they didn’t ask me about all these important things...please remember this is running every year and the topics...will change.” [08:32]
  • Listeners are invited to email topic suggestions.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “[The government census is] for your head, the stats. This is for your heart.” – Zara [01:25]
• “What will genuinely come out of their brain? How do they genuinely feel about their place in the world?” – Michelle [02:23]
• “I have felt really alienated by conversations around parenting online...It wasn’t until my girlfriend started having children that I felt like I understood where the middle band were on everything.” – Zara [03:16]
• “We’re really trying to get the consensus. And I was like, wait a second. That’s where it came from!” – Michelle [04:01]
• “There might be stuff about grief or pregnancy or loss, and we want to make sure that you take care while filling it out too.” – Zara [04:56]
• “This is just year one…we’re going to cover as many topics as we damn well wish over however many years that we do this.” – Michelle [09:20]
• “We’re bursting at the seams. There’s probably like a whole other two hours of census we could’ve put into this census.” – Zara [09:33]

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Segment Timestamps

• 00:00–00:29 — Intro, announcement of the Shameless Media Census
• 00:43–01:28 — Census coincidence with government census & its unique angle
• 01:57–03:53 — Social media vs. real sentiment, value of anonymous story gathering, focus on parenthood and representativeness
• 04:25–05:11 — Inclusivity, anonymity, privacy, handling delicate topics
• 05:11–07:08 — How it will run: logistics, partnerships, state-by-state access, and participation limits
• 07:24–08:03 — Instagram as main information source; special event for Victorian listeners
• 08:32–09:58 — Planning for future censuses, audience feedback, the “bottomless well” of women’s topics
• 10:08–10:13 — Playful sign-off: “It’s the Australian Census week. Shameless and the Gump. Sorry, elbow.”

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Tone & Style

Throughout, Michelle and Zara are candid, witty, and self-aware, maintaining their signature mix of warmth, humour, and earnestness. They are transparent about logistical limitations and openly invite their community into the census process, underscoring a collective mission to amplify honest women’s voices.

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For Listeners

• Follow @shamelessmedia on Instagram for census day info and event updates.
• Write in with future topic suggestions: [e-mail].

The hosts' central invitation: Make your voice a part of the story—this census is as much about you as it is by you.

Transcript

[A]

Hello, Michelle Andrews.

[B]

Hello. Zara McDonald.

[A]

I know we're not usually. Well, this is dropping into every Shameless Media feed. So if this is in the Shameless feed. Yeah, you're used to hearing our voices.

[B]

You know exactly who we are.

[A]

If it's not the Shameless podcast feed.

[B]

Hello.

[A]

Hello.

[B]

Nice to meet you.

[A]

We are the co founders of Shameless Media and we wanted to come into this particular feed and chat to every single one of our community members across every single one of our podcasts and say we have some really exciting news.

[B]

Yeah, Shameless Media is launching the Shameless Media Census. Now, this is not a one and done thing. The Shameless Media Census is launching in 2026, but it's something we are committing to doing every year.

[A]

So before I think we need to say the quiet part out loud, which is to say, but isn't the Australian government running a census, their census, really soon, really soon? And to that we say, yes, I don't know how. And this will sound unbelievable to everyone listening.

[B]

People literally won't believe us.

[A]

We have accidentally scheduled our census, which has been booked in for six months on the same week the Australian government is doing their census, and they do theirs every five years.

[B]

Once every five years. And we've somehow pitched the exact same timing.

[A]

So do both. This is just a week, if you will do the Australian government census.

[B]

Oh, I think you're, like, legally obligated. You must, you simply must do that census.

[A]

That's like the head. That's like for your head, the stats. This is for your heart.

[B]

This is for your heart. I won't call the Australian government census boring. I will say I think ours is a little juicier, a little more interesting and a little more about what life is like for you as a modern woman.

[A]

Okay, can we take it back a second as well? Because someone might be listening to this saying.

[B]

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

[A]

Shameless Media Census.

[B]

Who? What? Where?

[A]

When?

[B]

Why?

[A]

What do you mean? Why are you doing this? And why is this interesting to you? And what are you trying to get out of it?

[B]

We are doing this because I actually think it's very, very tricky these days to find out how the average woman is thinking and feeling based on social media. I think when it comes to big topics, say big topics in parenthood, if you look on social media, you're probably seeing the opinions of the 5% on either side of the spectrum.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

What is interesting and compelling to us is if everyone's anonymous, if everyone just has a glass of wine in one hand and their phone or their laptop in the other. What will genuinely come out of their brain? How do they genuinely feel about their place in the world? How do they genuinely feel about the biggest issues and topics facing them today?

[A]

Yeah, that's exactly it. And I think we're in a really privileged spot to. To have the eyes and the ears of some of the most brilliant women in Australia.

[B]

That's you.

[A]

That's you listening. I mean, around the world. But this is an Australian. We'll get to this. This is an Australian census, and we want to use that to be able to tell stories. And so on the. On the topic of telling stories, what this census will do as a spoiler alert. But, hey, you're listening, so you can hear this part. This will form the basis of our parenting podcast. You do not have to be a parent to take part. We are happy for every single person who is based in Australia to take part in this survey. However, we do have to be honest. If you are a parent, we really encourage you to take this survey. We, like, really encourage you. Because I think so much of. I think if I'm really candid, as someone who's, like, about to become a parent, I have felt really alienated by conversations around parenting online for that exact reason that you've said, Michelle, which is that so often you say 5% on either side. And I. It wasn't until my girlfriend started having children that I felt like I understood where the middle band were on everything. And that's kind of what I want to get from this survey.

[B]

I am so silly. I was thinking about this yesterday when we're like, oh, we have to do this episode announcing the census. I was like, we're really trying to get the consensus. And I was like, wait a second.

[A]

That's where it came from.

[B]

Yeah. Like, we want the consensus on topics. We want to know what the average woman, the typical woman, is thinking and feeling. And to Zara's point, yes, you're welcome to fill this out if you are not a parent, but we are particularly focusing on topics that affect mothers or topics that affect women in their 30s and 40s who might want to be mothers one day.

[A]

Yeah. Or if you didn't want kids. There is some stuff in there, for sure, that we are interested in hearing from you about. Too importantly, you will stay anonymous. We aren't doing anything with your answers.

[B]

We are not selling your data.

[A]

We are just using these. This data to tell stories anonymously. You will see a privacy statement at the start, so it will explain how we're using this. But this is just for storytelling and content and it will be delicate. Some of these questions will might take you off guard in terms of some of these are quite personal. You're not probably used to businesses asking you these questions and we wanted to be really honest about that. There might be stuff about grief or pregnancy or loss and we want to make sure that you take care while filling it out too.

[B]

For sure. We also need to talk about logistics. As we said earlier, it is only open for Australian listeners. We love our worldwide global listeners so, so, so much. We hope you enjoy our upcoming parenting podcast where we share so many of these stuff stats. For a bunch of different logistical reasons, we do need to keep this to Australia only. So we're hoping that you will feel represented by the average Australian woman. You will see your opinion and your thought and feeling and experience represented. We are going to have a bunch of people try to fill this census out. We know so many of you are desperate to share how you are thinking and feeling about your place in the world. We also have to deal within certain constraints. We are working with a professional research and insights business called Starburst Insights.

[A]

They're who we've worked with for so much of our data and insights work over the last couple of years. They are amazing.

[B]

Incredible.

[A]

When we sat down with them and spoke to them about this idea, they were very excited and very open to it, but definitely had to gun shy. They had to give us some context on what we were asking.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Which is to say, guys, you're not just going to be able to not cap this. You're going to. You are going to have to have a cap. The technology will simply fail and you will have to run this over a week. Not a single night. This is us just being honest. To be honest. Cause we went in pretty bullish to be like we want a single night. We want everyone to sit down with their girlfriends. We want them to have a wine and fill it out. It will be state based. So every weeknight your state will be named. It will open up for you and there will be a limited number of spots. We are going to open this up to as many people as we possibly can.

[B]

Tens of thousands of people will have their responses recorded.

[A]

Exactly tens of thousands. But it's not everyone.

[B]

You might be capped out. You might try and click in and really want to fill out the survey or census and it might be at the point where too many people have that day and for the tech not to crash. And for all of your information and thoughts and Feelings to be stored. We have to call it when we call it. Keep an eye on our socials. Given this is a week long thing that Shameless Media is doing, we don't want you to miss your state's day.

[A]

No, do not miss your state's day.

[B]

We don't want you to miss it. You need to follow Shameless Media on Instagram. That is the main place we'll be communicating with you all. Victoria will have a day. New South Wales will have a day. In fact, Victoria, you're getting a whole event.

[A]

Yes, Victoria, you will get an event. We are hosting an evening where we can fill out the census. We can chat about some of the census questions, we can open up about some things. Michelle and I will be doing a little bit. Are we calling it a bit?

[B]

Well, Zahra, it's not a skit.

[A]

I mean, like, we're chatting at our Melbourne event.

[B]

Again, keep an eye out on our socials for tickets and all of that fun stuff and the date and details. Zara and I will be picking some of the questions from our census and answering them up on stage for the audience.

[A]

Yeah, I'm really excited. I'm really, really excited about this. So please, I think it's such a joy for us to build a show, this new podcast where thousands of you are gonna be also involved in that, that you are going to ideally and hopefully and I guess absolutely be represented in that. If you are filling out this survey, you will make this show unbelievable and hopefully it will be a true reflection of how the majority of you are thinking and feeling.

[B]

Can I also say as well, a lot of time and energy has gone into building this first year's survey. But as a woman, everyone listening to this knows there are thousands of topics that are interesting or relevant to any woman's experience of the world. If you do this year's census and you go, wow, they didn't ask me about all these important things in my life. For example, have I encountered violence in my home? Which is such an important topic that we want to do content about. Please remember this is running every year and the topics we cover every year will change. It is simply impossible to put every topic in one sentence. We had to come up with a certain number of questions. We have a document with all the topics we want to cover over future years. We welcome them from you too. If you want to email us helloamelessmedia.com with what topic you want to see covered in a future year's census, please send it to us. This is just year one this is something that's going to get bigger and better as we go, and we're going to cover as many topics as we damn well wish over however many years that we do this.

[A]

Yeah, we're bursting at the seams. There's probably like a whole another two hours of census we could have put into this census.

[B]

We were on a walk with Ri for lunch today and we came up with another census topic and we're like, oh, my God, I need to do our next year's census.

[A]

Which is so exciting to us because it's just a bottomless well of content and that is like, our favourite concept ever. But, yeah, to Misha's point, there will be stuff where you'll probably think, oh, I wish I was able to talk about that.

[B]

They didn't ask me about something that's really important to me right now.

[A]

We really hope we can get there over the next few years. So, as we said, follow Shameless Media asap, because in the next week, you'll be finding out so much more about this census.

[B]

I'm so excited.

[A]

It's the Australian Census week. Shameless and the Gump.

[B]

Sorry, elbow.

[A]

Bye.