About
The Full Story
If you want to full story this will end up a gazillion-page essay. We don't have time for that, we're here to make audio! Instead, I shall attempt to wrap it up in a concise coco nutshell to give you a mere inkling of my own connection to audio and the sonic vibrations that have guided me through the soundtrack of my life so far.
I grew up listening to music in NZ with the radio a permanent fixture throughout our home. The melodies and lyrics of the 60's and 70's etched deep into my brain, as well as my own 80's infatuation which infiltrated my every thought, clothing choice and hair style. There were only brief quiet pauses when on occasion a prize giveaway was announced. Everything would stop apart from Mum vigorously and repeatedly speed dialing the radio station on a rotary dial phone to get through to win, which she did, often.​
In my early teenage years, I somehow discovered Community Radio via an Auckland university station. This was highly addictive, authentic, comedic, factual, and so entertaining I would stay up all night listening to the graveyard show with presenter Marcus Lush and barely be able to wake up for school the next day. It was here first heard about MacDonalds ice-cream being made from pig fat and many other important life shaping stories and facts I would never have thought existed were it not for the medium of Community Radio.​
Aotearoa NZ 1980's
Music inadvertently took me to London when I was 19 after I found myself at a Simply Red afterparty in downtown Auckland post gig, When I walked into the underground, dimly lit venue where Mick Hucknall was spinning vinyl grooves on the turntables, I felt a sense of familiarity I'd never felt anywhere else in NZ. There was an elegant ease to it all. I thought this must be what London's like, so I booked a one-way ticket to find out.
London in 1989 was on the brink of a house music explosion. Originating in Chicago garage music as it was known, landed in the hearts and souls of UK clubbers and took on its own distinct flavour, the rifts, driving basslines and rhythmic breaks fueling the scene. The underground rave culture was at its peak. Secret raves were held in abandoned warehouses and venues, minimally promoted except for a single phone call on the night (pre mobiles) to a single person in a phone box somewhere on the outskirts of London who would distribute the address by word of mouth to waiting enthusiasts, causing it to spread like wildfire.
It was also the first days of the mighty Ministry of Sound, a multi-level dance music superclub, the first of its kind and a place many of us frequented more often than our own homes. Walking into a space where every single parson felt the same ubiquitous joy and love for life and one and other, expressing that on a dancefloor surrounded by likeminded kindred souls whilst unknowingly becoming part of something much bigger than ourselves, was pure therapy for me and so many others. For that moment in time, we were One. Connected.
The story of London is a long 10-year tale of unbelievable extremes and extravagant explorations and evolutions, yet through it all I carried an overwhelming feeling of isolation. I felt trapped within my own mind and unable to find a way out. Lacking the ability to use my voice and express what was raging away inside of me begging to be set free, I soldiered on carrying this painful part of myself all around the world and back. I could see no way out.
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Yaegl Country
Arriving in Sydney in 2000 I chose to start my life over again. The frilly coastlines, salty serenity and warm rays of the Southern sun melted my frosty London attitude, soothed my soul and brought great healing, yet still my silenced voice was trapped deep inside of me screaming to be released. The uncommunicative patterns of my childhood had locked it so far away I couldn't reach it, nor was I aware of any tools to access it. Until I sat in front of a microphone at a Community Radio Station in Bondi.
It was 2003 post Olympics; Sydney was ablaze with energy and positively drenched in good vibes when my lifechanging radio journey began. I lived directly behind the Bondi Hotel and would often look up and wonder what went on in that little rooftop oasis, to create the warm and approachable sounds that came out of my radio. And then one day I walked into the tiny dwelling perched up there with the pigeons, to find out.
It was a compact three-room studio with an uninterrupted view of the glistening ocean from the presenter's chair. I was there to support two friends who wanted to promote their all-female DJ night by starting a radio show and asked me if I wanted to come along.
After they finished their first two-hour broadcast, they looked at each other, then at me and vowed never to do it again. They hated it! I must have said something like "are you kidding?!" as the whole time I was itching to have a go so when they casually asked "do you want to do it then?" without a single thought I said yes. I started a vinyl DJ show the following week and continued at Bondi FM for the following six years learning from my mistakes, building an audience and learning that when I sat in front of a microphone, it had this insane ability to reach inside of me and pull my words out.
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Hugos Lounge Sydney
Within the same month I had 'become' a DJ having swapped my three-and-a-half-year role as Hugos Lounge Reception Manager to the Friday night resident DJ. Strange but true! I didn't mean for any of it to happen. I simply touched the turntables, and they took over my life. Without any practice or training or records of my own I plugged into the mixer and intuitively knew what to do. The trajectory of my life soared in a completely unplanned direction, and I hung on for dear life weathering the storm of the limelight even when it felt too bright.
Back in 2003 there weren't very many female DJ's around in Sydney, but I didn't realise that at the time. I was just doing what came naturally as were my two beloved sistas of the spin Jackie Shan and Lady Tre both of whom also played at Hugos Lounge. There were so few female DJ's that people would mistaken us for one and other. It would always amaze me when people would come up and state the obvious "You're a woman" to which I would casually reply "Really? How can you tell?" The wild DJ inferno blazed uncontrollably as the momentum and volume built, until the point where I burned out in 2009 and decided to go live in Byron Bay, before the entire rest of the world decided to try and do the same.
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Chopsuey, Jackie Shan, Lady Tre
Starting life yet again, the only thing I knew I wanted to continue with was my radio show, so I applied at Bay FM and was accepted into a very different Community Radio environment. Bay FM had training, they had a management committee, they had a program team, social gatherings, support from the community, they had it all! This is where I truly learned to make radio.
My roles have included Vice President, Program Team Mentor, Trainer, Youth Mentor, Presenter, Producer, Media Team member, Festival OB presenter/producer (Outside Broadcasts), Event Organiser, and Grant Recipient for the past 10 years, delivering projects aimed at underrepresented minorities: Women, Youth, First Nations, Disabled and Elders.
I also completed Cert 4 in Radio Broadcasting along with many other broadcast related courses and workshops offered through CMTO (Community Media Training Organisation). But the learning is in the doing and I've done a lot of doing.
In 2014 I was selected as one of 20 Women in Australia to work on a CMTO project to find ways to encourage more women to join the sector. I developed the Spin Sistas project, a female DJ class to encourage Women to learn new technical skills in a fun and supportive environment. I was invited to the CBAA National Conference to present the project and went on to create the current Sistas of Spin all female DJ show on Bay FM - Fridays 6-8pm.
I've had a radio show for twenty-one consecutive years, and for nine years at Bay FM I had two shows, presenting CHOPSUEY: a vinyl DJ show: 2009 - 2018. on Friday nights 6-8pm along with my current magazine show BELLY: on Tuesdays 9-11am. It's a magazine show with lots of interviews from a variety of authentic souls doing good things in the community and beyond.
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Bay FM
After 21 years in Community Radio, I still love it as much, if not more, than my first joyful unexpected audio adventure in Bondi all those years ago. I've experienced the immense power of finding my voice and feeling supported enough to express myself - finally! My passion is now offering that opportunity to others through interviews and teaching. I have learned that everyone and I mean EVERYONE has a story and not to be too quick to judge another before taking the time to listen to their life experiences. It's taught me that we are all just doing our best to make our way through life and that the skills I have learned in Radio are tools I use in my everyday life.
Being able to make a radio show come to life when you have forgotten the power cord to your computer or when an interview doesn't play when it's meant to or if a guest cancels at the last minute and you have to improvise, these are all things you learn to take in your stride because as they say...
... the show must go on :)
Let’s Work Together
The day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom - Anais Nin