Kristie Mercer - Singer, Broadcaster, Content Producer
As one-half of The Thinkergirls alongside Stacey June, Kristie built one of Australia's most popular podcasts & National Radio shows. The Thinkergirls videos have been seen over 5 million times, and have consistently sold-out National Live tours.
Kristie also writes for news.com.au and Cosmopolitan and appears on Sunrise, The Project, and The Morning Show.
Kristie has recently got back from a life-changing 8-month adventure after selling everything she owned, buying a one-way ticket to Mexico, and travelling through Central America. Alongside her best mate Sophie, Kristie documented her 'soulful and LOLful' travel content through Meditation And Margaritas.
Kristie on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kristiemercer/
Verbatim from the transcripts — each quote links to the moment.
“It's not like a scoring system where it's like you put in your best efforts and then there's a surety that it will equal, you know, what you thought in your brain it would.”
“I actually also have realised about myself, I really thrive being an underdog.”
“you could be ticking all those boxes and be fucking miserable.”
“He's like, you've got to trust the fear.”
“I think it's really important to ask questions questions like, oh, how did that make you feel?”
How do you manage your social energy while travelling long-term?
Recognise that energy flows both ways — sometimes you need to give energy to others and sometimes you need to withdraw and let your own energy be replenished; it's okay to go days without talking to anyone if that's what you need, and pushing yourself out when you shouldn't isn't good for anyone.
How do you cope when life doesn't go to plan after chasing a results-driven goal?
Stop treating life like a scoring system where effort guarantees a specific outcome; learn to trust your curiosity as it moves through experience without knowing exactly where it will land.
What's the best way to give advice or feedback to someone going through a hard time?
Avoid speaking from a place of assumed authority if you don't have direct experience; instead ask open questions like 'how did that make you feel?' rather than telling people what they need to do, and remain curious rather than certain.
Should a passion or hobby always be turned into a career?
It's not your life's responsibility to turn what makes you tick into a 9-to-5 job; many musicians lose their love for their craft once it becomes a required career, so it can be healthier to keep some passions as unmonetised, joyful outlets.
Kristie left her bag at the end of a pier in Panama to go skinny dipping with a guy she met at a club, and her bag, including her phone, was stolen; she later discovered via a hostel phone call to Telstra that she also had an outstanding $1,658 debt sent to collections.
Kristie did a 9-day silent meditation retreat, which was broken on the 9th night when her friend got stung by a scorpion, forcing them to break the silence and causing a stir.
After a heavy night on mezcal and tequila early in her trip, Kristie became severely ill with a parasite, enduring pain worse than a spinal fusion surgery; a longtime expat named Fran advised starving the bug out with a 5-day water fast (no electrolytes), which eventually worked despite her father urging her to seek hospital care.
After her phone was stolen, Kristie bought a secondhand phone via Facebook Marketplace from a man who turned out to be a missionary; she met him in a public shopping centre for safety, and he said helping her felt like his 'mission from God.'
Kristie attended an overnight peyote ceremony led by Huichol tribespeople around a fire, drinking a bitter cactus-based medicine three times; during the experience she heard what she believed was the voice of her deceased grandfather telling her to 'trust the fear,' a message she says has stuck with her permanently.
Kristie explains that she and a friend started the Thinker Girls podcast around age 21 as a way to discuss topics they believed would never be allowed on commercial radio, and ironically it led directly to a national radio job that let her bring that same content on air.
Drawn from the episode transcripts.
She contracted a severe parasite in Mexico that caused water-like diarrhoea for five weeks; after three failed rounds of antibiotics, a long-term expat named Fran told her the only cure was to starve the bug out with a five-day water fast, during which she thought she might die on a hostel bathroom floor.
From episode 637→She paid about $200 USD to join a Huichol ceremony lasting from 7:30pm to midday the next day without sleep, drinking a disgusting cactus-based 'plant medicine' three times; during the trip she heard the voice of her deceased grandfather telling her to 'trust the fear,' which she describes as a lasting, embodied realisation rather than just an abstract idea she'd heard before.
From episode 637→She and a friend (Stacy) started the podcast Thinker Girls around age 21-22 as an 'anti-radio show' to talk about things they felt they'd never be allowed to discuss on commercial radio; ironically it led to her getting a national radio job that let her bring that same uncensored content on air, and she got her first radio job in Townsville at age 20.
From episode 637→Every episode featuring Kristie Mercer on The Daily Talk Show.
