Speaker 1: Welcome to First things First, I'm Brookglett, and my pronounce
Speaker 1: are she and her.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm Maady Meals. My pronouns are he and him.
Speaker 2: And before we get started, we'd like to acknowledge the
Speaker 2: custodians of the land on which we record. For me,
Speaker 2: it is the gaddigle people of the urination.
Speaker 1: And for me it's a under people of the cooler nation.
Speaker 1: Let's get into it.
Speaker 2: Let's get into it.
Speaker 1: So someone's looking a bit wiser, a bit more sexier, juicier.
Speaker 2: You know what. It all comes with age, doesn't it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm going to doing your wise old.
Speaker 2: Age twenty nine and feeling fine, except I don't know
Speaker 2: if I believe that you get wiser with age. I'll
Speaker 2: tell you why. Last night I went out for my birthday,
Speaker 2: my birthday dinner. It's been my first sober birthday. I'm
Speaker 2: going to say this on air. It's been my first
Speaker 2: sober birthday in thirteen years since I started drinking. I
Speaker 2: feel like it's a different me. It's a new me.
Speaker 2: But I want to talk about last night because my
Speaker 2: birthday dinner. When you say you're getting wiser, I'm like,
Speaker 2: I feel so dumb. I literally went out for dinner
Speaker 2: last night to this restaurant with my boyfriend and we
Speaker 2: had been there six months prior and we loved it
Speaker 2: and we were like, Okay, we have to go back
Speaker 2: here at one point, so I was like, let's go
Speaker 2: for my birthday. Great. We walk in, we choose the
Speaker 2: set menu. It's like eight different dishes. They're coming out
Speaker 2: one by one. We're enjoying this food. We get to
Speaker 2: the end and I taste this taco. So it's a
Speaker 2: Mexican place. I taste this tarco and a chicken tastes
Speaker 2: like it's not cooked. And I was like, wait, is
Speaker 2: this chicken cooked? It doesn't really taste like chicken has
Speaker 2: that weird texture. And then I said to the lady,
Speaker 2: so is this chicken? And she goes, no, everything is vegan.
Speaker 2: And I had no idea that we were sitting in
Speaker 2: a vegan restaurant and we ate vegan food. And I'm
Speaker 2: so like pro meat, you know, gay, but like I
Speaker 2: love my meat and gay, and I just was like, okay,
Speaker 2: why are we ate? Like I literally had no idea
Speaker 2: that I was in a vegan restaurant eating vegan food.
Speaker 2: Props to that town good food, super early though, but
Speaker 2: great food. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Wow, I've tried vegan food once and it did not
Speaker 1: agree with me. But I I have eaten something and
Speaker 1: not known what it was and then later been like, well,
Speaker 1: I don't know if I would eat that again knowing
Speaker 1: what it was, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, there was some little hints on the menu,
Speaker 2: so like the tuna was no finn tuna and I
Speaker 2: thought that was just a type of tuna. And then
Speaker 2: the chicken was chick apostrophe en and I was like, oh,
Speaker 2: that's cute how they spelled chicken.
Speaker 1: And ah, you said, it's just like an old like
Speaker 1: marketing thing.
Speaker 2: Like I totally thought that this was just them trying
Speaker 2: to be cool with their words on a menu. Next minute,
Speaker 2: I've had a vegan meal for dinner and I've been
Speaker 2: sober on my twenty ninth birthday. I feel like I'm
Speaker 2: a changed man.
Speaker 1: You're a different version of yourself. Actually, that was good.
Speaker 1: That takes me back to a video that I made
Speaker 1: on social was a couple of weeks ago. I just
Speaker 1: kept having this like ugly error where I was like
Speaker 1: kept looking at myself, yeah, and I was like I
Speaker 1: hate the way that I look. And then you know,
Speaker 1: I think, you know, as you get older, you notice
Speaker 1: things about yourself. And I try not to pick myself apart,
Speaker 1: right because I'm trying to, you know, lead by example,
Speaker 1: per se, and and that if you know, I'm teaching
Speaker 1: other girls to have this confidence, they and I don't
Speaker 1: have that confidence, you know what I mean? And I
Speaker 1: guess confidence is contextual. But you know, if I'm saying, oh, like,
Speaker 1: don't pick yourself apart, and I'm picking myself apart, I'm
Speaker 1: a walking contradiction, right, So I try not to. But this, honestly,
Speaker 1: this is a couple of months. I was just like
Speaker 1: looking at myself and I was like, I don't recognize her,
Speaker 1: Like I don't like her, I don't know her, and
Speaker 1: then the only thing difference is there. I'm joking, but yeah,
Speaker 1: I just kept looking at the in the mirror being like,
Speaker 1: I don't know who that person is. And then just
Speaker 1: one morning I did a therapy session and I kind
Speaker 1: of expressed this can't this confusion, and my psychologist pretty
Speaker 1: much just like bluntly had said, did you ever just
Speaker 1: do you ever just think that maybe you're just a
Speaker 1: different version of yourself and you've grown so much that
Speaker 1: the person that you look at now is just not
Speaker 1: the person that you were and looked at, you know,
Speaker 1: ten years ago, a decade ago. Yeah, I mean I.
Speaker 2: Think that's evolution, it's growth exactly.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, well, why do I want to be
Speaker 1: that person as well? Because that girl or that person,
Speaker 1: that girl actually she was a girl. I'm a woman
Speaker 1: now even though I look like fucking Edna from the
Speaker 1: Incredibles today, I am a woman, Like I'm adulting, you know.
Speaker 2: And how did you feel to put that on social media?
Speaker 2: Being that vulnerable?
Speaker 1: Oh? You know what, I I just don't think about
Speaker 1: anything these days when I'm putting on socials. I just
Speaker 1: try to be my most genuine self. And if I
Speaker 1: think I would post it and send it to you
Speaker 1: per se, I would put it on socials. Like I
Speaker 1: just I don't try to blow the lines like yeah,
Speaker 1: of course we have put our shiny selves on yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, for show on social media. But I've just
Speaker 1: I'm learning to just not give a flying.
Speaker 2: I'm on that I am on that same wavelength. Like recently,
Speaker 2: my social media has sort of gone from being like,
Speaker 2: you know, shiny pictures and perfect images to me really
Speaker 2: showing how I truly feel. And what like the funny
Speaker 2: thing is is that I'm still putting like the shiny image,
Speaker 2: but then as soon as someone slides across or swipes left,
Speaker 2: it's like them having insight into how I really feel.
Speaker 1: And one of those I've been loving this. By the way, well, the.
Speaker 2: First post that I did was all about representation because
Speaker 2: I'm so frustrated at you know, I'm twenty nine now
Speaker 2: and I'm continuously fighting for opportunities and reaching out and
Speaker 2: trying to get you know, more opportunities, not just for myself,
Speaker 2: but for First Nations people in media. And so I wrote,
Speaker 2: I put up this image and this meme, and I
Speaker 2: wrote the caption how I feel after continuously pushing for
Speaker 2: First Nation, for more First Nations representation in mainstream media,
Speaker 2: and then I swipe across and it's like.
Speaker 1: No, I want to see it. Notice it this It
Speaker 1: is nay and it won't fucking do right.
Speaker 2: Why do I doing it like he's doing this way?
Speaker 2: Like no, I'm fucking trying to strain it down like no,
Speaker 2: like going like whoop doodle, and like like to me,
Speaker 2: that is exactly how I feel when I'm pushing for
Speaker 2: First Nations representation. I'm like, I keep on like knocking
Speaker 2: on these doors and keep on being like, hey, where's
Speaker 2: the opportunities at And constantly I'm seeing white people be
Speaker 2: promoted and putting these positions, and it's frustrating to me.
Speaker 2: And it's like, how much more do we need to
Speaker 2: accept in this country that, like, the media is where
Speaker 2: you're seen and where you're represented. And you know, if
Speaker 2: you're just showcasing one demographic in this country, you're really,
Speaker 2: you know, flexing your white privilege.
Speaker 1: And but also what is that telling young who you know,
Speaker 1: young children and younger generations who don't fit into that demographic.
Speaker 2: Or that yeah, that doesn't look like them. And what
Speaker 2: I love about podcasting is if you look across the board,
Speaker 2: in podcasting, I feel like there's an authentic voice on
Speaker 2: this platform. There is a lot of diversity, But in
Speaker 2: other areas in media it really lacks. And I'm talking radio, TV,
Speaker 2: the arts, not just on screen, but also behind the
Speaker 2: scenes too. You know, I'm sick of walking into buildings
Speaker 2: or walking into meetings and having to just be the
Speaker 2: only person of color in that room. It's happening continuously
Speaker 2: throughout my career. Whenever I'm seeking an opportunity. It is
Speaker 2: constantly me going to meet with a white person and
Speaker 2: appealing to them and asking them for an opportunity. That
Speaker 2: is legit the experience of mine since I started. Every
Speaker 2: room that I've walked into, that they that they have
Speaker 2: the power to make the decision for me to have
Speaker 2: an opportunity or not is normally a white man. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it's frustrating to me.
Speaker 1: No, No, I equally feel the frustration. And I think
Speaker 1: the previous conversations, I mean, you know, maybe maybe a
Speaker 1: decade ago or and maybe still now where we're like,
Speaker 1: you know, people in these massive organizations were saying, oh,
Speaker 1: like we don't know any First Nations people who can
Speaker 1: take these roles. So they didn't, you know, have these
Speaker 1: roles filled. It's like, well, you don't need a delegated
Speaker 1: role for a First Nations person, you can, you know,
Speaker 1: And like there's the thing is there are so many
Speaker 1: other there's so many First Nations people out there that
Speaker 1: you can delegate not just a specific First Nations role
Speaker 1: too that they can and have and be taking up
Speaker 1: space in these major roles, these in executive roles, of
Speaker 1: these director roles. Yeah, and moving into these spaces I mean,
Speaker 1: I've been having a lot of these conversations as well
Speaker 1: around getting on boards and having a voice on boards,
Speaker 1: because that's where change happens, and that's where your voice
Speaker 1: is not most heard, because I don't think, you know,
Speaker 1: there is a place where it's like really taken into
Speaker 1: consideration all the time, like do you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: Like fully, like I think you have to sort of
Speaker 1: keep breaking down these barriers, these walls, entering into these spaces,
Speaker 1: taking up seats. But the best thing about you, and
Speaker 1: I love this about you is one you call it
Speaker 1: out and I think that's a huge It's admirable because
Speaker 1: you have the confidence in yourself, your capacity, your strengths,
Speaker 1: your everything that you like you're You're like, well, I
Speaker 1: deserve this, and I'm confident in my own capacity, in
Speaker 1: my capability of this type of role, and I'm going
Speaker 1: to go for it. And it's I think, you know,
Speaker 1: on the other side of that, I think a lot
Speaker 1: of First Nations people lack that kind of forwardness and
Speaker 1: lack that kind of confidence.
Speaker 2: I wonder why, you know, like of course oppression, oppression,
Speaker 2: but also these places aren't you know, especially in the media,
Speaker 2: these big organizations that you know, I'm going and knocking
Speaker 2: on doors and meeting with big executive producers who have
Speaker 2: been in their positions for twenty years. You know, I'm
Speaker 2: talking about men, white men who have held, you know,
Speaker 2: this power. It's really hard to go in and pitch
Speaker 2: yourself as a black fellow, especially as a queen black man,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 1: And then socile is it's run by patriarchy, right, yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: who runs patriarchy exactly?
Speaker 2: And I feel like it's been like the mission of
Speaker 2: my life really to be able to like just be
Speaker 2: confident enough to go in. And it's not because I
Speaker 2: think I'm the best or think that I can do
Speaker 2: a better job than anyone. It's because I know what
Speaker 2: is needed for my people to see themselves and to
Speaker 2: feel proud of who they are. And that's representation. Representation,
Speaker 2: isn't you know. I always go back to this saying
Speaker 2: where people say, oh, you can't be what you can't see.
Speaker 2: You absolutely can be what you can't see. You've got
Speaker 2: to go and do it. So it's much easier when
Speaker 2: you see it. But if you can't see it and
Speaker 2: you feel like that, you know, you see an opportunity
Speaker 2: go and create that that you know that job, or
Speaker 2: go and knock on that door so that other people
Speaker 2: can see it. It makes it easier for them. You don't
Speaker 2: have to wait for someone else to do it. And
Speaker 2: that's always been my little motto. But I think representation
Speaker 2: in you know, in the media is changing very slowly. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it's like every year it's feels like, you know, we
Speaker 2: see more you know, small steps. But the reason they
Speaker 2: set steps are so small is because people are so
Speaker 2: scared to relinquish the power.
Speaker 1: And power comes from that patriarchy that we were talking about,
Speaker 1: and that's been very when you think of that as
Speaker 1: a power source in some way, it's very an aggressive
Speaker 1: and very direct kind of power. Like it's not uh,
Speaker 1: it's not been very it's been very harmful, I think
Speaker 1: is the word. And so I think that's why I
Speaker 1: think a lot of people like stray away from it
Speaker 1: because it's like it's intimidating and they don't realize that
Speaker 1: they really is. They don't realize their own power. But
Speaker 1: the thing is with power is that there's there's really
Speaker 1: negative stereotype of power because it comes with like arrogance,
Speaker 1: it comes with manipulation, like it just comes with like
Speaker 1: these really negative views. But when you look at power
Speaker 1: and power of good like let's per se, like change it,
Speaker 1: it's there's masculine and feminine. I think of ways of
Speaker 1: distributing power per se. And I think when women distribute power,
Speaker 1: like when they I guess, like say, let's use the
Speaker 1: word maybe it's not enforce, but that type of when they, ah,
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 2: Use their power when they use it.
Speaker 1: A lot of women have a more subtle approach around
Speaker 1: using their power, and that in this subtle way is
Speaker 1: like empowering, but it reaches so many more people. Right
Speaker 1: when a guy or when a man aggressively uses his power,
Speaker 1: it will reach a certain group of people, but not
Speaker 1: a lot. It's kind of a scare tactic in some
Speaker 1: say this is this is such a Also, this power
Speaker 1: is so nuanced and like can be so there's so
Speaker 1: much complexity is to it and how you use it
Speaker 1: for good and for bad. But yeah, I think that's
Speaker 1: what comes into play when First nations people have this
Speaker 1: is what they've been taught or this is what we've
Speaker 1: been taught. Sorry, is that we don't have any power,
Speaker 1: and so imagine that and obviously the intergenerational trauma of
Speaker 1: that no wonder why people are scared and obviously don't
Speaker 1: step up and don't take space and are scared to
Speaker 1: take spaces because that's what we've been taught. And so
Speaker 1: we need to remove that mentality. That's a limiting belief
Speaker 1: that we don't need, right that's stopping us. And like
Speaker 1: we can look at our history, and we can look
Speaker 1: at from a perspective like this is I and I like,
Speaker 1: don't I use this phrase lately lightly? But that was
Speaker 1: then and this is now, and it's not acknowledging where
Speaker 1: you've come from to where you're going. And I think
Speaker 1: I use this a lot when I'm speaking to young
Speaker 1: kids because it's fine to acknowledge where you've come from.
Speaker 1: And I use this all the time in my day
Speaker 1: to day life because it keeps me grateful and it
Speaker 1: keeps me humble. But where I'm going is the most
Speaker 1: important right now, Right where I'm wanting to be is
Speaker 1: most important. Yeah, Like, yes, that all those experiences they're
Speaker 1: like historically, intergenerationally is there. No one's going to take
Speaker 1: that away from me. But I'm going to use those
Speaker 1: experiences to better myself and to put myself in a
Speaker 1: position of where I need to go and where I
Speaker 1: want to be, and people get so wrapped up into
Speaker 1: then or like where I was and what happened to,
Speaker 1: not where I want to be and where I need
Speaker 1: to be.
Speaker 2: I agree with you. I feel like people live in
Speaker 2: the past a lot, and their past experiences or their
Speaker 2: past traumas become who they are. And I feel like
Speaker 2: I've over the years, I've developed a way of thinking
Speaker 2: where it's similar to what you just explained, where I've
Speaker 2: had to come out of that world of thinking that
Speaker 2: my past experiences or you know, my experiences through my
Speaker 2: childhood are who I am now. Stop you, always stop you,
Speaker 2: But you can use them. You can use them as
Speaker 2: inspiration and motivation and fuel to the fire to get
Speaker 2: to where you want to go. And like, I've only
Speaker 2: just started to really unpack that in myself, and that
Speaker 2: took like therapy to get to that point, because especially
Speaker 2: when you're a person who shares your story a lot,
Speaker 2: it's living in those moments that can be a little
Speaker 2: bit you know, confronting, and also it can hold you
Speaker 2: down a little bit because you fighting the belief of
Speaker 2: you know who you are now versus who you were
Speaker 2: then or what you went through then and it's like
Speaker 2: you're not that person, You're not your past. Your experience
Speaker 2: has created who you are now, but you do you
Speaker 2: can use them for good. And I always see, like,
Speaker 2: especially traumatic events as currency and the word why I
Speaker 2: use currencies because everything has a price, you know, everything
Speaker 2: in this world has a price, and whether it's like
Speaker 2: a sacrifice or I always think of.
Speaker 1: Should cost you doing day to day things should cost
Speaker 1: you in a way.
Speaker 2: Well, I just think that you know, the traumatic experiences
Speaker 2: in my childhood and the stuff that sort of made
Speaker 2: me really resilient has been the way that I've been
Speaker 2: able to sort of pay for opportunities or get through moments.
Speaker 2: That's my currency. And it's a weird way to look
Speaker 2: at it, but I see it as like the fire currency,
Speaker 2: and yeah, I just and that's the reason why representation
Speaker 2: to me so on my heart and it continues to
Speaker 2: be no matter what I always think. You know, one
Speaker 2: thing that really sticks to me, and it's always been
Speaker 2: in the back of my head, is that you know,
Speaker 2: when you're on the way to the top or when
Speaker 2: you're on your way to doing you know what you
Speaker 2: want to do and success like the fight of like
Speaker 2: how much do I bring with me or how much
Speaker 2: do I go solo and make it to the top
Speaker 2: and way from the from the top of the mountain
Speaker 2: and tell everyone to come on up, because like that
Speaker 2: idea of like you're trying to make it, you're trying
Speaker 2: to make it, You're trying to make it, but you're
Speaker 2: trying to bring everyone with you. It's fucking hard. Especially,
Speaker 2: it really is, you know when it comes to family.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, we feel that. I definitely feel like you
Speaker 1: and I feel the way of that a lot. And
Speaker 1: you know, I spoke to about fifteen year old thirty
Speaker 1: eight fifteen year old girls on Thursday, and you know,
Speaker 1: one of the girls said, like, how do you deal
Speaker 1: with the pressure or the responsibility that you have to
Speaker 1: carry that comes from your family? And I looked at
Speaker 1: her and I said, I'm still learning this, so it's
Speaker 1: always going to be a learning journey. But you also
Speaker 1: can't take on something that is not your responsibility, and
Speaker 1: that's taking on someone else's life. You have to take
Speaker 1: responsibility for your life and what you do. And yes,
Speaker 1: you can empower them and bring them up with you,
Speaker 1: but you don't have to take responsibility for their choices
Speaker 1: and what they want to do, and I think for
Speaker 1: years I definitely did that. The word power came back
Speaker 1: into my mind because it's like, well, you're using your
Speaker 1: power to empower other people, Yeah, and that I think
Speaker 1: that's a difference between using your power just for you
Speaker 1: and to cause harm and using your power to empower.
Speaker 1: And I think that's the difference between good.
Speaker 2: He's reminded me of, Yeah, the difference, yes, good and
Speaker 2: bad people, but also black fellows and white fellows. White
Speaker 2: fellows never go into a meeting with the hope that
Speaker 2: they can empower their people outside of that opportunity because
Speaker 2: they need it, absolutely not. It's very about themselves. It
Speaker 2: might be about their family, but it's not about their culture.
Speaker 2: And this isn't having to go White fellows, but it's
Speaker 2: when I walk into a meeting, I'm going in there
Speaker 2: with the hope that somebody is going to give me
Speaker 2: an opportunity that then is going to filter down to
Speaker 2: a community that needs to see themselves in a positive
Speaker 2: light because mainstream media for decades have put us in
Speaker 2: such you know, deficit when it comes to representing who
Speaker 2: we are. So like, for me, when I go in there,
Speaker 2: it's like a wait, it's like, I'm going in here
Speaker 2: because I want an opportunity, not for myself so I
Speaker 2: can walk out of this building and go, you know what,
Speaker 2: I'm the best I can do it. No, it's for
Speaker 2: my family, it's for my community, and it's for black
Speaker 2: follows in rural and remote communities where there's a lack
Speaker 2: of opportunity. It's so much bigger than who we are,
Speaker 2: you know. It's like if somebody can see on social
Speaker 2: media or can see on the TV, or can hear
Speaker 2: on the radio or hear a podcast where they see
Speaker 2: other black fellows talking about their experiences, that opens their mind,
Speaker 2: that creates a bigger world for them. Then like we're
Speaker 2: doing our job correctly. And I don't know if people
Speaker 2: outside of you know, marginalized communities have that same way.
Speaker 2: I really don't feel like they or know what that
Speaker 2: feels like.
Speaker 1: No. I mean, there's some really good programs out there
Speaker 1: at the you know, doing the work that are trying
Speaker 1: to provide those opportunities, but they're really not noticed or
Speaker 1: really elevated. And I think we need to do you know,
Speaker 1: more of a job as a society, as in government
Speaker 1: actually to support those programs or grassroots programs because yeah,
Speaker 1: that's where the most growth happens. I mean, there's Shooting
Speaker 1: Stars program that I've been affiliated towards. I can't really
Speaker 1: say too much about it, but it's a WA program
Speaker 1: and you know, they've got twelve hundred girls in WA
Speaker 1: and now into Adelaide who have an opportunity to explore,
Speaker 1: you know, industries, whether that's art, sport, beauty, you know, music,
Speaker 1: and giving that opportunity to them is to help encourage
Speaker 1: their dreams and then to inspire themselves to put themselves
Speaker 1: in those places and that they so wholeheartedly deserve to
Speaker 1: be in. But if they didn't have those grassroot programs
Speaker 1: per se, then they would have not really that much
Speaker 1: opportunity in their towns. And these are all in remote
Speaker 1: rural areas by the way. It's the same with my
Speaker 1: mix kids having the opportunity to come to Melbourne, getting
Speaker 1: exposure to all of these crazy and wonderful things that
Speaker 1: they've never seen before, and learning how to communicate and
Speaker 1: learning how to deal with the pressures of moving away
Speaker 1: from home and living off country. Like that's a lot
Speaker 1: to take as a kid. But I know that these
Speaker 1: programs and grassroot programs are going to be so beneficial
Speaker 1: to their future and their success because they're getting exposed
Speaker 1: to so many things, but they're also taking up space
Speaker 1: where they deserve to be, and they're also meeting other
Speaker 1: mob and people that have that same comp confidence to
Speaker 1: do that as well and showing them, yeah, like they
Speaker 1: can be that and as Yeah, I don't really love
Speaker 1: the saying like, you can't be what you can you
Speaker 1: can't be what you can't see, because I have preached
Speaker 1: that over the time of being the Bachelorette, and I
Speaker 1: feel like that was just kind of a thing.
Speaker 2: That a known slogan. You know, Yeah, I think it's
Speaker 2: a bit of a way to block someone from being
Speaker 2: able to achieve what they want if they can't see it.
Speaker 2: It's like, absolutely, you can be what you can't see.
Speaker 2: It's much easier when the whole world looks like you.
Speaker 2: When you're you're a white person and you're seeing every
Speaker 2: white person on the front of a magazine, white and
Speaker 2: TV present, a white radio host, it's much easier to
Speaker 2: see yourself and think, oh, I can do that because
Speaker 2: everyone is doing it who looks like me. Yeah, much easier.
Speaker 1: We also we also know, I don't know if you've
Speaker 1: ever read into this, but statistically and psychologically in adolescents
Speaker 1: mainly just I'm going to use young people as an
Speaker 1: example because they're obviously our next future in our and
Speaker 1: you know, as much as I would love to take place,
Speaker 1: I have had my time of taking a lot of
Speaker 1: space in the Australian media and I won't ever not
Speaker 1: stop doing that obviously, but I feel like I want
Speaker 1: to inspire the younger generation too, and I think this
Speaker 1: is more aimed at them or even you know, similar
Speaker 1: age millennial whatever gen z. But psychologically and statistically that
Speaker 1: when people feel seen and can see themselves in places,
Speaker 1: So if you want to use the Australian media landscape,
Speaker 1: or you want to use school, or you want to
Speaker 1: use community program or even music, dance acting, when a
Speaker 1: young person feels represented on a diverse cultural or even
Speaker 1: in a body type, then they are less likely to
Speaker 1: experience They experience less psychological distress if anything, and they
Speaker 1: feel seen and they feel heard, and they also feel
Speaker 1: like they belong and their identity is actually more like
Speaker 1: their identity is stronger within themselves, which obviously we know
Speaker 1: that when your identity is strong within yourself, you're less
Speaker 1: likely to you know, feel not less likely, but you'd
Speaker 1: probably experience less anxiety and distress and social anxiety. And
Speaker 1: that's all comes down to belonging, and that all comes
Speaker 1: down to identity and feeling seen in this world, and
Speaker 1: that can be a ray of things. But I think
Speaker 1: representation is a very very very powerful tool that we
Speaker 1: probably don't take advantage of in the Australian media landscape.
Speaker 2: Yeah, totally. I think what you see can efect your
Speaker 2: mental health immensely, you know, And I think that mental
Speaker 2: health in our community in particular is something that I'm
Speaker 2: really passionate about. As you can see today actually I'm
Speaker 2: wearing my Push Up Challenge t shirt really focus on
Speaker 2: there's a big focus on mental health for me, but
Speaker 2: also there needs to be more investment in mental health.
Speaker 2: But what you see, what you read, how you you know,
Speaker 2: articulated within the media as a blackfellow, all effects to
Speaker 2: how we feel about ourselves, and there's a flow on effects.
Speaker 2: But representation, as you said, like, is something that we
Speaker 2: you and I have, you know, I will say, the
Speaker 2: power to keep pushing to change. And I think that
Speaker 2: we you know, we do it in our own ways.
Speaker 2: But then you know, some of us are a bit
Speaker 2: of a hurricane. Like me, I just go in and ask.
Speaker 1: You are like a bull in a china shop, is
Speaker 1: what they would say.
Speaker 2: I seriously just don't care anymore. I think what's the
Speaker 2: worst you can get to know what this is?
Speaker 1: Also, the thing is like if you don't know, you
Speaker 1: won't know. Yeah, And I think the.
Speaker 2: Fear is take the leaps of faith sometimes.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know, don't believe everything you read as well.
Speaker 1: I think this is another thing. It's you can always
Speaker 1: rewrite your story, your narrative, change the narrative, like, don't
Speaker 1: always believe in what everyone else says. You know what,
Speaker 1: be de Lulu if you really want to.
Speaker 2: Live in La La Land. Literally, It's my twenty birthday
Speaker 2: yesterday and I wrote a status saying everything is going
Speaker 2: to be new. I want new experiences. I don't want
Speaker 2: anything to be the same. Like what I mean by
Speaker 2: that is that I want to experience life differently. You
Speaker 2: don't have to stay in the same cycle. You know,
Speaker 2: you don't have to. You don't have to be a stereotype.
Speaker 2: Push every day to be opposite to that. And yeah,
Speaker 2: that's like my new direction. I'm like, you know what,
Speaker 2: Like I'm going to keep pushing with the representation thing.
Speaker 2: And I'm talking like I really want to do international
Speaker 2: stuff because there has to be one black fellow who
Speaker 2: makes it in Hollywood.
Speaker 1: Like, come on, Charlie Frazer just made it in Hollywood
Speaker 1: from Furi What is she doing? Well, she was just
Speaker 1: in the Furiosa as there you go. And Clayton Bales
Speaker 1: is in the same movie and he's a black fellow
Speaker 1: and he's like ten years old.
Speaker 2: So you need that. We need that, you know, international
Speaker 2: representation where people you know, outside of our community, you know,
Speaker 2: that's it, that's where there is. That's how they respect people.
Speaker 2: It's like you make it that big and then there's
Speaker 2: respect with that. So it's like, you know, I'm pushing
Speaker 2: for the fucking stars. I'm going, I'm going.
Speaker 1: I say, you know what, shoot for the stars. If
Speaker 1: you land on the moon, that's still good.
Speaker 2: Yeah, all right, well let's I love that.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I feel like that's We've just spoken about such
Speaker 1: important topics and I feel like this, you know, if
Speaker 1: you haven't learned from this episode, I don't know. Fuck
Speaker 1: you kidding, No, I guess you know. I feel like
Speaker 1: all of our points are valid in that conversation. And
Speaker 1: if you are a white person, you know there's more
Speaker 1: work to be done. And I hope you have been listening,
Speaker 1: and I feel like I hope you have been taking
Speaker 1: into account what we're actually saying, because you can also
Speaker 1: contribute and help.
Speaker 2: Positive discrimination when it comes to employing black fellows is
Speaker 2: something that I would say is needed. So if you
Speaker 2: don't think that you need a role, you know, you
Speaker 2: don't need to specifically advise for if you're looking to
Speaker 2: hire someone, look specifically for a person of color. It'll change,
Speaker 2: It'll change your business.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree. Yeah, Well that's all we have time
Speaker 1: for today. Thank you so much for listening to First
Speaker 1: things First, if you love us and like what you hear,
Speaker 1: leave us a rating and a review.
Speaker 2: And if you think that representation is needed, make sure
Speaker 2: you do the.
Speaker 1: Work or if you want us to cover anything, And.
Speaker 2: If you want us to cover anything on the pod,
Speaker 2: reach out via our social Brooks handle is at brook
Speaker 2: dot Bloton, mine is at its Meadie Meals, and you
Speaker 2: can follow all the Nova podcasts over at Nova podcast Official. Alright,
Speaker 2: Blots of Love.
Speaker 1: Bye,