The Not So Secret Lives Of Real "Mormon" Wives

The Hulu TV series The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives has been a topic of controversy and online turmoil since it aired earlier this year in September. Several women in the TV series are certainly not representative of an every day "Mormon" wife and mother—far from it.

Ganellyn Condie and Shayla Egan, two of the eight authors of a recent book, The Not So Secret Lives Of Real "Mormon" Wives, discuss the Hulu TV series and their recent book.

In the book, women tell their own stories of their lives, struggles, sacrifices, and testimonies that clearly show how Latter-day Saint women work and live as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The Not So Secret Lives Of Real Mormon Wives - https://amzn.to/3Zzfz5w

 Raw Transcript

the same what gainan was saying like my husband he works with people in New York and they were calling him about it too
and they're just like we were watching it and I don't think you you act that way or you you do these certain things
and he's like no we we don't but I'm glad that the subject was brought up it's kind of like when that Broadway I
think you were talking about the Broadway that came out about the Mormons and uh it the Book of Mormon yes the
Book of Mormon and it brought attention to people and I'm glad that it's brought up because then people are wanting to
learn more about it but at the same time they're getting these perceptions that
are not true that um is brought up a lot in the show and then people are asking like wait do you really do these things
oh and you have to be and it's a teaching thing and it's a learning thing and that's why we I wanted to personally
do this book is just to clarify who we are what we truly believe and uh that we
are real Mormon wives they are real women I understand they are real women but they aren't living the way that
we as latterday Saints um I can't even think of the word
generally practice yeah generally practi and and that's where some of the criticism has been is that are we making
a statement with the title not from those that have read the book because anyone that's read the book generally
the the reception has been so positive because we don't directly talk or comment on the show we just share our
stories but I would just say to your original question I I've grown up with this
discrepancy of it used to just be oh well we know the Osman right and now
there's this other pendulum swing from the Book of Mormon musical to reality show Perception or even social media
perception of EX Mormons and what that experience is like and there's a broader conversation happening and that needs to
happen and a vacuum of information and understanding so it almost seems like
when these shows come out uh these references come out even even if
they're even if they're from an A derogatory approach they do start a conversation I I remember my aunt when
the Book of Mormon uh production came out she was Furious she could not believe that they were taking our
religion and mocking it in this way and they do right it's very much so but I said you know this a lot of people don't
know anything about letter Saints this will actually uh uh instigate a conversation
for them yeah where they'll be able to start learning a little bit more oh I wonder what they really believe is this what they believe I mean if if we all
going to have a a cab as a planet then then you know maybe you ought to find out about this what are they talking
about what does this mean well and I think too there's this beautiful opportunity that I've been hearing
lately is called the Mormon moment that's happening and when Mitt Romney was running for president maybe there was a peak in a Mormon moment there we
see these things where I just would say to those that are concerned that maybe this book is capitalizing on that we're
just trying to have a bigger conversation and one of the biggest reasons I said yes is the goal of cedar
for the publisher was to reach a non LDS readership and they were going to
feature women from six different countries so we are not a monolith we're not even saying that these eight women
from six different countries represents the entirety of a global church but I would say it is a more fleshed out
conversation than just a Hulu show and so for those that are saying well you're being critical of these women that are
choosing not to be Orthodox or not to be active no I understand that we are also having a Mormon moment if you would like
to use that term where we see a church that's young that is going through some Growing Pains where you have people that
may identify culturally as Mormon but they're not showing up at church every Sunday or maybe they're not married in
the temple or they don't have current Temple recommends there's room for that conversation but when there's so much
misconception like Shayla was saying of her husband's colleagues wondering from New York City that this show is the big
representation are we okay saying there's still a vacuum of what the everyday member and if you look at the
church's statement after the show was coming out I think they were trying to also say get to know someone get to know
to a neighbor that is just trying to raise their family and do their job and serve in their community and not assume
we're these extremes we're not these extremes and and the women in this book
I didn't get to read their stories till the book was out and I am so proud of their real lived experience we have two
women that are converts so they found the church in a different way they weren't born into it we have a mom that
is a Down syndrome Mom we have a woman from Nigeria we have a woman from Taiwan we have a woman from the UK we have two
women from Brazil you know and and Shayla is this amazing young mom that and I'm the oldest so you have the
bookends like I'm the oldest in the book and she's the youngest in the book and I share my story growing up outside of
Utah having divorced parents back in the 70s when no one was really divorced in the church and right I went through that
too yeah living through some of those um cultural conversations and religious conversations in a very diverse
Interfaith community and then my own Journey with lupus and infertility and losing a sister to suicide and so I'm so
proud that this can keep a conversation going and I could go on and on about it because there is so many more members of
the church that can give a broader perspective of what our faith really looks like than what a Hulu show started
and so I'm grateful for those women that they were willing to start a conversation but I'm grateful for these
women that are saying we want to have a bigger more diverse conversation yeah
it's uh and then there's and I'm going to have a different take than a lot of people do on this you I'm looking this is why we love swick
media uh I have you know like I I I went and saw heretic yeah I actually I I
figured it was a C+ movie but it much more I was a missionary Mom I just it's
my nightmare yeah so it uh but they actually stuck to the doctrinal things
pretty well the the two sisters are the protagonists they're the protagonists in
the story and they end up well they kind I'm not going to give too much away here but they they stick to it and they're
strong MH and and if anything the weaker one of the two becomes stronger right in
her faith and so I I felt like okay there here's an an example of a a
mass-produced movie that is giving a
fairly good and I know that the two sister missionaries I think were latterday saints were they were previous
so they know what they're talking about um regardless of what their attitudes may be today but uh and I think the
producer or the writer also was as well and so they have a good knowledge of this but they didn't do what is
typically done which is just kind of a a meme of Latter-day Saints yeah they
actually created strong characters that stuck to their guns and uh and so I
really appreciated that the other one was I was watching another movie and and and uh the director what he said in this
scene was this was actually a party scene and these guys are together and he
said just talk just throw out a conversation and start talking to each
other and they they start they bring up Brigham Young and they talk about the
word of wisdom and it's like this is the weirdest thing I mean one of them may have been a Latter-Day Saint I don't know or at some point in their their
life but but that's what they're talking about and so you do get these references where you have kind of a Mormon moment
that that where things are brought up my question is what resp I mean you guys with his
book are have taken on a responsibility right to address the moment in a way
that say is hey we've got this discussion going but let's offer some clarity yeah right do we have a
responsibility do you think to to offer that Clarity out there I 100% feel like I do I mean that's why I even joined
social media it's my missionary moment is I was hearing things on my other
friends platforms of things that were not true things that were twisted and so that's why I started my Instagram it's
one of the main reasons is because I felt like I needed to help CL verify and
share the truth and I feel like that's what's happening right now with this book is that we are sharing truth we are
sharing what we know and what we have experienced in the church where people
when they're watching the show they're getting totally um different I feel like
there's just a lot of Mis representation of the members and I
remember watching it and like I would turn to my husband because I watched the show and he would be like do you really
feel that way about me or do you really feel about this church and I'm like no I have never felt that way and so I do
feel like as members this is a perfect opportunity for us to preach the gospel
to others and then along with that share what we believe and share that we all love Jesus Christ we are all Christian
and uh I think even in gain and I love gainan's story and how she talks about
that uh I'm not going to give it all away but she that she was able to be with other faiths and connect with
others because we love Jesus Christ and she was able to teach and bring people in in that way you know I do I do think
that um some of the backlash or criticism early on was just from a cover
reveal and a title which I thought was interesting talk talk about the cover reveal so the cover the cover um mimics
the show because you know as a content creator to get I mean I don't know how many millions and billions of books are
on Amazon but we are beating Taylor Swift and share the first 5 days from just the cover reveal for a little
Latter-Day Saint book to do that is extraordinary it's extraordinary and I hope our members that are concerned
about it take a minute to read it because any member and non-member that has read it loves it and feels that it's
positive and hopeful We Don't Preach we don't teach we just share our stories we don't criticize the show but to be taken
serious and and someone to stop scrolling and take a minute to notice the title and the cover was directly
referencing this bigger conversation that had started from Hulu the show's not going away it's going to go into
multiple Seasons it's being re-released in ABC so if we think this was some blip in the screen conversation that started
a few months ago that's going away it's not going away it's going to keep having conversations and I'm not trying to
negate that the experiences of the women on a reality show are their experiences
but like Shayla just shared we're trying to show our diverse experiences from a
different perspective so that there's not this continued vacuum and that's a really hard wall to break through
because a lot of I I have 16 published books majority of my readership are Latter-Day Saints I do have a pretty
good chunk of non- Latter-day Saint readership that trust my faith stories and my mental health conversations and
so they will buy my books and they know that I'm going to share that lens but they they trust that it's my lens but
it's Faith promoting and so they'll read my stuff but to really break through that wall and reach a non Latter Day
Saint readership and keep a conversation going in a really positive hopeful way
I'm inspired by these women because some of them like Allison has come from the slums of Taiwan if you want to like weep
and she's a brilliant writer she's a fiction writer I'm a non-fiction writer and so Allison is used to writing dialogue and character and I had to
stretch a little bit because I the editor had to keep saying to me like my style of writing in non-fiction
inspirational is share a story teach a principal share a story teacher principal they didn't want the teaching
they just wanted us to tell our story so I'm trying to come up with dialogue from my baptism day or going to Junior High
and being at the at the lunch table which is what Shayla is referencing and having a friend um say to me and a
Catholic friend that we weren't Christian that were cult members and so I tell that whole dialogue story it was
emotional to tell dialogue of my sister's suicide and mental mental health stuff in my family and so I'm I'm
just hoping that those that are concerned that somehow were were really
directly commenting by the cover design and the title to the show yes we are we
yes we are we're hoping that these bigger conversations that are happening especially outside of Utah can have more
understanding and and un and Enlightenment from a more diverse background than just what the Hulu show
is showing well and I don't think people would stop and look at our book if it had a totally different title totally I
I think that's what we we want or cover totally toally the photo as well 100%
even like if we were even talking about if it was The Not So Secret Lives of the real members of the Church of Jesus
Christ of L Saint they don't they know us as Mormons and so that's what I love about our book is inside the book we use
the name the correct name because we know who we're representing but also they will learn that that's what we want
to be called we want to be called members of the Church of Jesus Christ and you'll see on the title the Mormon
Word is in quotations because the publisher understands that we want to keep using the correct name but there
has to be a bridge I see this book as a bridge it is it it is a conversation
continuer I don't even know if that's the way you should say that word because I have editors but I feel like a
conversation has started like you referenced in movies I'm a huge Gilmore Girls fan and if you read my bio the end
of the book I talk about that there's multiple episodes that talk about being Mormon and one of the characters moves
to Utah to try to find more wives and we just had a business dinner for my husband and his colleagues that had come
in from New York and we were at a very fancy restaurant and this is before the book was out like about um a week or two
before the cover reveal and this executive literally turns to my husband and in all seriousness says so how many
wives do you have and some of the other doctors at this dinner are not members
of the our faith but they have practiced in Utah so they understand culture they understand our beliefs because they've
been practicing in the medical field for a certain population right and so
everyone kind of laughed nervously thinking this executive was making a joke and they weren't and they weren't
trying to be rude they literally believed my husband had chosen me to come to this dinner but had multiple
wives at home and the other Executives was from Chicago and both of these
highly intelligent from very Urban cities still perceived that the CEO of this
major company has multiple wives and so if that doesn't tell you there's still
so much misconception and misinformation and and maybe just lack of proximity you
know unless you live in a community where you know who your token Mormon friend is have you had that conversation
or did you get your information from a Hulu show I just watched a show on Netflix that is about a Jewish rabbi and
it's kind of a dating comedy series that I guess they're going to have another season out it caused me I mean I already
follow people of other faiths cuz I have an innerfaith page and so I already follow Jews that are very considered
Orthodox and ones that are considered more Progressive the show was great but it made me have com questions I wanted
to call up my Jewish friends and be like okay so where does this line why is this Rabbi having premarital sex and why is
this Rabbi not having does he leave being a rabbi at the end no no okay I
don't want to ruin it okay all right all right I don't want a spoiler but I think in that same way I
wonder what Jewish community members and families were saying when this Netflix
show dropped I wonder what conversations were happening at their Shabbat dinners where they were like that doesn't
represent us or that represents that's exactly how my synagogue is and you know
sometimes we're in a vacuum where we're literally just following each other and we're having only conversations with
members of our faith you're not no I'm not I'm intentionally trying to have Interfaith conversations but for those
out there that really think that well we all understand why are you so offended by the Hulu show we're not offended
we're just saying we want to have a bigger conversation and we are a global church we are not a Utah church we are a
global church and I'm so proud of these women some of these women are not on social media um Carrie Owen yeah you'll
she's amazing she's amazing her her cover picture she the we're all wearing white because it mimics the show
branding but she has a a red metal do you want to talk about oh it's because I
mean you'll you'll have to read her story her story is incredible but she it's because she was it was an award
from the Queen Elizabeth Queen Elizabeth yeah for feeding homeless people in New Zealand yeah and yeah she's I and but
she's so shy she's so sh she's so shy she doesn't really want to be on social media she wants to feed homeless people
and she's making an impact in the world that way yeah yeah and that's why I think it's important for the readers to read the book that sometimes you won't
see us on social media but we're behind the scenes so you you talk about uh Mormon in in parenthesis on the title
but wouldn't that also kind of in quotes yeah yeah in quotes doesn't that
also signal maybe something about the existing Hulu series oh for sure like it
was very intentional it was very int well I don't know about that I think that I I don't want to speak for cedar
Fort because we didn't get to decide the final title there were lots of meetings for everyone on social media that started commenting that there should
have been a meeting there were millions and millions of meetings about this like that's not accurate count but there were
a lot of conversations about using the word real and the use of Mormon and it was put in quotes not to say I don't
think it was intended to say the women of the show because I think the women in the show talk about their Mormon
adjacent or they have Mormon Roots I mean a lot of the women are like yeah I'm not active but I have Mormon roots
or Mormon adjacent and then some of the women say no I'm active I have a temple recommend I I did watch the show people
keep asking me did I watch the show yes I watched the show um I think the use of the quotes was to respect that our
current Prophet is asking us to use the correct title and cedar Fort um predominantly does LDS content and they
are showing that with the quotes to say we understand this isn't the correct
usage but it's the common use it's the word that someone from New York is still using to reference us when they have
dinner with us right or my missionary daughter who's doing a door approach in the South that is what people are still
knowing us so there's still work to be done to bridge that Gap and so I love that the church weighed in they did a
statement before heretic came out before the Hulu show dropped there was some
other headlines with other influencers that are LDS that that the church said there is
some misconception from the media of who we are and so I think the quotes are really to reference we know that's not
our name of our church but there is a reference culturally and religiously
that we're trying to clarify and then I think the biggest controversy has been about the use of the word real okay talk
about that well Shayla and I have had lots of phone calls about this because
we we don't we are in let me repeat the title of the book The Not So Secret Lives of real Mormon wives yes we get
asked this a lot especially cuz G and I have a a bigger social media presence
and so when we posted about it we did get a few comments and messages asking why we use the word real they're like
and they kind of took it as well these women are real why are you you know
telling that they're not real and they use the thing of like well C Christ sat with the Sinners and all those things
and I'm not really going to get into that but I just wanted to tell I'm like I know these people are real there are
they are real women there are people that really struggle in the church there are real members but we are sharing our
real stories I think that's what the the confusion is and that's why I want to
just clarify is that these are real stories of members of the church and how
we live and how we are Covenant Keepers how we do have our struggles we have
gone through a lot of grief and and a lot of women have shared that in the book too but that these are real
conversations we want to have these are real stories from wonderful members of
the church and I I want the reader you know the discussion was made by using
that word but it signals to the reader these aren't made up these aren't fictionalized these are true stories
that you're going to hear and if you're taking offense because we we are part of
a book that is keeping a faith focused conversation going I'm sad
that you won't take a minute to try to read it because the reviews are pouring in and they're positive from both
members and non-members alike that feel inspired they do not there's a mention of the show in the introduction to
explain the idea of the book and where it came from but it's not to say now
Greg Shayla and I will come back on and have a whole episode about reality TV that's a whole different conversation we
could have a whole episode about is reality television reflective of real life experience from hunting shows to
baking cakes to any topic out there genre of reality TV that's a very
different conversation and I've worked in media for a long time so I understand editing I understand title choice I
understand marketing and so I understand that some people are like well they're just capitalizing we are trying to do
missionary work and I made a I mean I had a really clear moment to say yes or no to this this was a fast turnaround
for this book book and as an published author that's miraculous only two of us in the book are writers and authors and
so the women in this book did something extraordinary in a very short period of time and I said yes because I felt God
saying die on this hill if you need to because it's the goal was always to reach people that don't maybe understand
us and that to me is what missionary work is about it is not making a statement about women going on a show
saying hey I've had this experience or I'm not active anymore or I am Mormon adjacent but I don't really like this
about the church that's their experience but is that the only conversation we're really having and that for me I was so
proud of these women it's vulnerable it's vulnerable for me to tell my whole story in this Ark yeah I now I will say
though I mean if I'm getting real here okay be real be real be real say it really real real in the title is a
distinguisher thank you right it is a distinguisher because what you see previous to this is A
Narrative of what something that is supposed to represent latterday St women
and it doesn't which is why the church made a statement right regardless of whether there are commenters that are
upset about it or whatever else that doesn't matter to me I mean the truth is this is what is what is is that this
show on Hulu does not represent your run-of-the-mill Latter-Day Saint woman it doesn't at all so putting real in
there I don't think that's a problem I would say lean into it that's what I would say that's why Shayla and I like
yeah we'll go on Greg we'll go talk with Greg because we knew you would want to lean into this conversation we really
appreciate that you speak to an audience that is probably frustrated as well they have had a lived experience where
there's still constant misconception about who they are as a member of the church and that we're the extremes that
we're always a headline we're either the Osman or this other extreme over here
that is now coming from reality TV yeah the question isn't whether or not these women have their own experiences of course they do thank you right on hula
of course they do that is not the point the point is what is representing the culture and the lives of of latterday
Saint women in the world which I didn't bring up the church's statement but that's what their original statement was about their original statement was
saying there's these misconceptions these um these media portrayals that are
these um inaccurate descriptions of what an a everyday member is trying to do and
I've had some people that have read the book that have been so inspired they're like well you at women aren't the average member I'm like yes we are every
single neighbor in I will weep if I talk about my neighborhood and my ward the neighbor that's not active that always
pulls in our garbage cans the the member that has taken care of her Alzheimer's
husband and the elders SCM came to help lift him into bed I I I started writing books because
I wanted to tell stories of everyday people that if you're standing in the grocery store line and you talk to them
for 5 minutes you're like wait what you have an autistic son wait your husband's unemployed and you just got diagnosed
with cancer that's Norm in an LDS Ward I I don't know any LDS Ward if you go on
any given testimony meeting you're not going to have someone stand up and you're going to be in inspired because
they're navigating their faith with real life and it's messy and it's easy to go
from a it to to to not have a bridge yes to others
right othering right to other groups to othering and and and you see a uh uh you set up a kind of uh profile of what this
person is this Avatar right of us against them yeah us against them and you know you see this in Interfaith work
all the time right and it's wanting them to understand us but
it's also hey we need to understand them yes right we need to understand where coming from and the book what I like
about it is it is just average Orin I'm going to say average ordinary woman extraordinary women that are telling
normal stories about their lives and it's like if I can just read this it's like oh I I've never known a latterday
saint or I know very few Latter-Day Saints this is these are people these
are just people and and that's what we want to look at right shayla's story I love because it shows how we are trying
to practice Zion we are practicing it imperfectly in our communities and in our Wards and we're trying to be there
for each other and be aware of each other and we do it imperfectly and so to those that are concerned that we're
othering these women on the show or that we're not being peacemakers as the prophet has asked us to be read the book
we don't we don't I I don't have one ounce of concern that if you read the book you're going to feel that way
you're going to walk away and know that we're trying to create a bigger tent we want the Zion tent to be bigger we but
we do want to include women of like yeah we're trying to get our kids to church and we're trying to get to the temple
and we had some people push back thinking because one of the biggest themes of the show if you've not watch
the show it's fine is there's this perception from the women that they're saying we have to be Tik Tock stars
because women of the church are told not to have careers that is the biggest theme in the editing of the show that I
took away is that they're trying to say you don't have careers and you're not educated as members of the church and so
we are providing for our families on Tik Tok which is fine if that's how you're CH choosing great that women have that
option that they can provide that way but that's not my lived experience why would you have a need to be a Tik Tock
or a social media star if you're not if you're not if you don't have a career well and and and the criticism from
getting out there and having a presence in the world kind of or there that is definitely an option as I talk to my
daughter and she's making decisions about careers and degrees I said I when I was making those decisions of work
life balance and wanting to be a mom top dream was to become a mom and go to school as well I didn't have online
training I didn't have eBay I didn't have Etsy stores I didn't have Instagram I didn't even know how to pray about
that as an option so I don't even know what she's going to have as choices when she's trying to do work life balance but my point was we had some criticism that
there were not women showing in the book at this these are from people that hadn't read the book yet that we didn't
have stay-at-home moms all of us in the book have been stay-at-home moms at some season or not I'm the this and I'm an
empty nester but I have had a career the last decade or more in various ways but
I also talk a lot about being a mom and I think Shayla definitely portrays that on her social media accounts of being a
mom and the focus of that and so this this decision from the publisher to
Market it from a perspective that we have two real estate agents we have Fernanda who started the bom clothing
Empire she's the first chapter We Have Allison who feeds the homeless and gets
awards from the queen I am a mental health educator and an author and a speaker we we do Spotlight where we are
educationally and career-wise because the one of the largest messages from the show was that somehow Mormon women are
suppressed and we don't have degrees and we don't have education and we don't have careers they do realize that they
women are some of the most educated in the world right yeah Shay go ahead on that one and other thing too I
didn't even that kind of um stuck out me too uh with the show was they kind of made it like
here are the Sinners and here they literally did that there's just so much judgment and they try to portray our
church as judgmental and I have never felt shocker at shocking right and I
know there are some maybe some areas that have struggles with that but I have never felt that in I mean I have grown
up in Utah my whole life and I have always have felt an overwhelming love in
including Baby blessings and baptisms and even weddings we invite everyone
everyone is always welcome and even with church right we we invite everyone and so even watching those things online and
thinking oh my gosh like they're acting like we can't invite people to a baby blessing because they're a sinner or
they're not worthy enough and that's what I love about um our our stories is that we we
teach people even in my story I we talk about I talk about service and I do that
a lot on my social media platform but we served our neighbors that aren't even members of the church because we know
we're all children of God we all we all love Jesus Christ and that's who we all want to you know uh worship and so I
there's a few things that were I I just noticed on the um show that I think we
do a pretty good job clarifying and also don't you think in general social media grows because because of controversy
right like reality TV grows because of contention and controversy and so there's definitely that division in the
show of Saints versus Sinners yes and the women one of the things we most of
us didn't know each other and we all read our stories of each other after the book was done and we have committed to
one another to also show the world that women share each other on that we love each other that we're proud um Esther I
I had met her once before at an event where I worked with the Mental Health Organization and then we didn't become
friends even though we felt like we were supposed to and then we showed up at the photo shoot for the cover and it was like God's like I told you to be friends
surprise you're both in this book and she within we had gone to lunch she came to my daughter's homecoming women in
this book were cheering each other on and I think that's the other yeah message we want to show is that women
are not fighting in against each other and I know that sells know that it sells that's contention cells and I do but
what people don't realize is that we are not contentious well I'm not at least
but shayla's the most positive ever I but I I just love that members of the
church and I have experienced this personally is that especially in our Relief Society and they are constantly
asking you like how can I help you how can I serve you and I I think that um
members of the church sometimes I I don't know I see online though on some shows that we are overly nice yeah and
um but with this show it seems that there's way more contention but like I said before that SS but my chapter it's
obvious we're a little spicy oh we all we all little I had we Caroline who's in
the book and is amazing from Brazil and she does a a Portuguese speaking come follow me podcast and she lost her
parents within a short period of time and she's a real estate broker she and I didn't interview with the cultural Hall
and Richie was great he was one of our first people to reach out and want to interview us and he was honest that like
if you're trying to reach an audience that watches a reality show reality show genre is binge watching it's very
different than picking up a book by the end of the interview he admitted okay you've sold me like he realized that
that kind of grit that translates to reality TV or YouTube audiences right that grit that makes people stop
scrolling that thumbnail that makes people stop this cover design and title has stopped people but what he realized
after just talking to us without even reading the book just getting a sampling of our stories is we get it the genre of
a book is very different than the genre of real reality television we get that we're not going to be doing some extreme
viral thing that but I believe the readers that have already previewed it
and read it have left going oh this is some grit this is some real life we've
all gone through some stuff Kimber relas story of she's been an advocate for Down syndrome she has this huge PL platform
on social media because people are just maybe discovering she's a member of the church but they knew her as this um
Zumba instructor that had this down syndrome son and so I would just invite
those that yes I get it I love a good binge watch on the weekend I do I love
that but I've always been drawn as a writer to writing paper books because
you can hand a book so Greg my plea plea to your audience is if you are
especially living outside of Utah and you are a member of the church what a perfect opportunity to hand a book you
cannot hand a a binge watch you can hand a book to a neighbor that has asked you
a question or thinks you're a polygamist or doesn't know if you wear makeup I mean these are all real questions I've
had or do I have horns under my head you know and like happened to my mom yeah like literally Hest questions of
confusion and curiosity of like wait you guys can dance wait you don't have multiple wives wait you do drink
caffeine yes I do I'm a Diet Coke girl right so you can hand a book you can
hand a book and maybe you're not ready to give your neighbor The Book of Mormon but there's good information at the end
of this book that is a great conclusion about how we are living not so Secret
Lives and that I hope I would just love to hear from someone that lives in
Alaska or Nebraska or Florida that said hey my neighbor saw this on Amazon
because it was trending as number one and they knew the Hulu show and I could give it to them as a gift and it started
a further conversation that's been my prayer that's my only reason why that I said yes to this book is that I knew it
was going to be diverse it was going to be women from all over the world and it was the goal was to start conversations
to keep them going and reach a non-lds audience it wasn't to criticize women that went on a Hulu
it really has not been intended to do that but I hope you'll hand a book to a neighbor I hope you'll buy a book and
say I would love for you to understand my faith a little more and what I'm so proud of is it's not one kind of woman
it's not one kind of LDS person it is it is a sampling of our globalness is that
a word globalness I don't know sure it is now it's a word now um Shayla are
we looking at everything that comes from the media right I mean I mean it's Conant how many shows have been
latterday Saint shows Banner of Heaven beyond beyond beyond more and more and more yeah there's a list are we are we
an easy target I think yes I well I think people are interested I think they they find us
fascinating to be honest you know because like gayin saying sometimes we are fasc they think well they hear
things right they and I think but I think that's what makes us so special and I think that's what draws people and
I think that's why they chose the name of the show because it draws people in they're like well we don't know a lot
about the members of the church and let's let's see what they really are about but to be um misre represented oh
my gosh I can't even say the word misrepresented yes and and um not having
what what we're we're truly about I think this is a perfect opportunity for
us to stand up and not even just us in the book but even on our media platforms
like what you're doing right now and we can speak truth and we can show that we do not have horns on our head and that
we we don't go dance all the time in front of cameras but or that we hate
people of the LGBT community or that were racist or and the list goes on and
on but but we can share that we are normal everyday people who is worshiping
Jesus Christ and trying just to live a good life
well Shayla and gainin thank you so much for coming on um and sharing your very secret life with us we so secret we're
so not secret yeah and uh it's very intriguing uh the book came out yesterday is that right so
decal December technically we had a few Amazon typhoon issues but the physical
copies are available as of today for sure just onon on Amazon and the title is the not so Secret Lives of real
Mormon wives yes okay go grab a copy and share it with a neighbor that doesn't know anything about our faith I would be
so happy thanks thanks to both of you thanks for having us Greg [Music]