She typed “lesbian” into the iTunes search bar when she suddenly came across Denise Warner’s podcast.

“Their show was one of the first on top. So I listened — and it was funny and very relevant,” Jemma told CNN.

The podcast became a regular listener, and she always listened until the end.

Towards the end of the show, Denise and her co-host, from their apartment in Florida, encouraged listeners to call or email with any LGBT+ questions they had.

Jemma emailed the host, who was in her late 30s, to let her know she was a big fan of the show and offered a few topics.

The rookie host was happy to have an engaged listener on her podcast, albeit thousands of miles away.

Denise told CNN, “We just wanted to share our girls’ night out with the world and shine a spotlight on LGBT+ projects. That was our goal.”

The host was attracting listeners, but they weren’t the kind of people she was looking to attract. She revealed:

“We’d say the phone number, and then we’d get all these horrible calls from men asking very dark or sexual questions, and we’d be like, ‘No, no, no, that’s not what we want. , to hang up.’

“We just couldn’t get the engagement we wanted.”

That was until Jemma emailed, writing, “Found your podcast. Love it. Listening from Brisbane, Australia.”

Soon after, Jemma got involved with the podcast and they struck up an amazing friendship.

She revealed: “We had, for two solid years, just weekly email exchanges.

“It wasn’t just the questions, it was ‘This is what’s going on in my life’ – boyfriends at the time, and going out and having fun. So we built a friendship for a few years before anything else, which was good.”

Jemma quickly took on a teaching role, which gave her a longer summer vacation, when she decided to visit the United States with a friend. She wrote Denise an email and the couple agreed to meet in Miami.

However, things got off to a bad start when Denise couldn’t even look Jemma in the eye. She revealed: “I arrived and she – after having this amazing online friendship – didn’t even make eye contact with me.”

But Denise put that down because of her shyness and just as liberating, she had feelings for her. But despite the big distance, the age gap, the podcast host thought it would never work out, but the couple went shopping one day and started holding hands.

This was the start of their blossoming relationship. Jemma had to return to Australia, but over the years the couple kept in touch and she flew to the United States twice a year.

Listeners would even contribute flights while talking about their on-air relationship. But things didn’t go well until New Years 2009, when Jemma was offered a job in England.

She decided to move to be closer to Denise for their relationship – with flight times drastically reduced from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m.

And just a year later, the couple tied the knot in Canada after deciding on a meeting place for their families.

It was the perfect day as Denise admitted:

“We even had a rainbow.” “I couldn’t ask for more,” Jemma said. “It was perfect.”