Hey Aunty!

Rounding up with our third instalment of 'Hey Aunty! How’d you deal with a dickhead?' with the incredible, talented and ceaselessly courageous Kim BustyBeatz Bowers.

Kim is an Australian/South African Musical Director, Composer, Producer, Sound Designer, and DJ. Currently making waves globally as Co-Artistic Director and Musical Director of Hot Brown Honey - a show that unapologetically centres the truths and talents of a diverse cast of black fem performers.

Tune in as Shantel & Kim literally put this thing to bed. Laughing as they draw on everyday incidents, professional challenges, the whys and what the hecks? When they say that listening is the most powerful act of acknowledgement... Us hearing each other like this is exactly what they’re talking about. Such a joy to be able to share this really #realtalk. We hope that you’ll check it out and get yourself some of that sweet validation too. We see you Sis.

Pic by Daria Yakina

Some adult language

Ready for our second instalment of Hey Aunty! How’d you deal with a dick head?

This week we speak with the wonderful Pattigrace Lupari. Pattigrace is a humble woman who’s staunchly proud of her Papua New Guinean heritage. She has worked in the Tech, Film and TV space for the last 10 years. As an outspoken WOC working in a predominantly male (white) industry, she has navigated through the tech space, working with IBM and Google. From leading development teams to launching new product into the market, she has kept true to her culture and heritage by wearing her afro out and upholding her feminist view points.

Pattigrace's passion is in storytelling and currently working on her own film projects about PNG and the PNG women who are making waves locally and globally. Pattigrace is an incredibly vibrant and self possessed woman who holds her identity with courage and integrity. So it was wonderful to hear her share how an early run in with a dickhead forced her to choose between shrinking and growing. Falling back on early lessons from her dad and resolving never to shrink in the face of a challenge.

It's finally here! In part one of 3 instalments we're ready to ask... Hey Aunty! How’d you deal with a dickhead?

To kick things off, Shantel catches up with the brilliant Angelina Hurley. Angelina is a proud Aboriginal woman, her heritage is from Jagera, Gooreng Gooreng, Mununjali, Birriah & Kamilaroi peoples. She won’t be silenced, or told that the things that hurt us don’t exist. We know that these ‘harmless dickheads’ make a beeline for anyone who is different, so we have to deal with more than our fair share. Finding a way to navigate through their behaviour, the risk of things turning nasty and the minute scrutiny of our reactions can be exhausting. So what do you do?

If you’ve ever been told you’re being too sensitive or simply left stunned and biting your tongue while everyone else laughs... Angelina’s honest stories, the hilarious and the hurtful, will be a big dose of refreshment. Enjoy!

We continue with part 3 of 'Hey Aunty! Why are we like this?' with the wonderful Léuli Eshrāghi (ia, ū pronouns).

Léuli is an artist, curator, writer from the Sāmoan archipelago, Pārs plateau, Guangdong delta, and other ancestries. Ia makes performances, installations, writing and curatorial projects centred on embodied knowledges, ceremonial-political practices, language renewal and Indigenous futures throughout the Great Ocean and further afield through expanded kinships.

And yet Léuli faces challenges and criticisms that many of us fear in stepping forward within community. Shantel and Léuli share their mutual fear of being called out as an imposter by their own. If you’ve ever feared being told you aren’t black/fem/indigenous, hell anything enough... We hope you’ll find this powerful chat as freeing and affirming as we did

As we return with part 2 of 'Hey Aunty! Why are we like this?' we talk with the incredible Leah Avene.

A Tuvaluan mother, musician, broadcaster and educator who’s works focuses on decolonising our spirits, spaces and systems. Leah is the co presenter of ALL OUR STORIES on PBSfm. She performs music as Philemon. Story telling and narrative healing are central to Leah’s writing, public speaking and therapy work, as powerful ways to reclaiming identity, heal trauma and resisting the dominant culture.

We share a beautifully honest convo on the growing pains and pitfalls of seeking belonging. Sometimes being hurt, sometimes being mean and learning to expand into our lushness. Such a rich and rewarding chat. Check it out, you’ll love it.

Photo by Ivanna Oksenyuk

We're delving deep and asking 3 incredible black pillars of our community the tough question: Hey Aunty! Why are we like this?

In part 1 Shantel catches up with the wonderful Lisa Hilli. Lisa is a contemporary artist, a Collection Manager for Melbourne Museum and a proud descendant of the Tolai and Gunantuna people of Papua New Guinea. Throughout her work Lisa centres indigenous knowledge and matriarchal structures in powerful and moving ways. She’s an artistic and cultural force! Yet she faces the same struggles as the rest of us. Here we get personal and share a beautiful chat about hurting and healing, at the hands of our sisters. Give it a listen, we’d love to hear what you think.

Photo by Atong Atem

In part 2 of ‘Hey Aunty! Where’re you from?’ we welcome incredible guest Faustina Agolley.

Faustina is a much loved TV Host, Actor, Writer and DJ. She embodies excellence, vulnerability and pride in all of her identities, in a way that’s so warm and accessible that you can forget how subversive and political it is. Faustina and Shantel share a wonderful chat about identity, belonging and the experiences that shape who we know ourselves to be. Those conversations that you mull over for weeks? This is one of those, check it out...

Photo by Marija Ivkovic

Hey Aunty, Where're you from?

Kicking off the first of 2 instalments, we're delighted to share a longer conversation for Episode 3 P1. Hey Aunty! Where’re you from? With Dr. Yadira Perez Hazel.

Yadi is an Anthropologist, mom and proud black Latina from the Bronx, comfortable embodying every facet of her identity. In this chat with Shantel, she shares how family and community shaped an early sense of self and the obstacles she’s overcome to hold onto it, as she travels through life and across the world.

This is a question we’ll keep coming back to, because these chats are so damn good. Thanks for sharing with us Yadi! Give it a listen, we’d love to know what you think

Photo by Duwayno Robertson

Some adult language.

In the third and final instalment of 'Hey Aunty, should I still be code switching?' Shantel sits down with Namila Benson.

Namila is a veteran broadcaster, producer and presenter in addition to being a fierce champion for fem and POC talent, passing the mic as often as rocking it. She is also a loving mother and a proud PNG woman. She shared her experience of the pressure on her kids to code switch, the struggle to be allowed to express her anger and workplaces that want to both commodify and control her blackness. A very real and very timely chat. Take a listen and let us know if you can relate!

Photo by Nick Harrison

Hey Aunty, should I still be code switching?

This episode, Shantel chats with scientist, curator and mentor of many, Aunty Sana Balai. Aunty Sana shares her experiences with code switching with a wicked sense of humour and strength rooted in her proud identity as a PNG First Nations woman. Navigating the challenges of study and work in the prestigious NGV, juggling the complexities of identity, this conversation was a nourishing delight that reminded us to always share all of your best assets.