Category Archives: Uncategorised

Back on the grid after sometime away, Australian singer Casey Donovan has just released new music after seven years off the scene. Her EP, Off the Grid & Somewhere in Between showcases a range of emotional and highly personal songs.

The 2004 Australian Idol winner has restarted her musical career after a long period of time away from producing her own songs. She has slowly but surely regained the spotlight this past year though, being crowned Queen Of The Jungle on the 2017 season of I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here, along with appearing in a range of stage productions.

In regard to her music, Casey found that after constantly performing covers for people, she knew that she was capable of creating her own music and had to prove to herself that she could still do it. She’s hoping that listeners get worthwhile messages from her songs.

‘Music these days is losing story lines with most not having that anchor to what they really mean,’ she said.

Casey’s EP was created using money raised by a crowdfunding site. ‘It was an interesting experience, but very daunting asking people for help. I’m a very independent person, I had to take a breath and go you’re not giving up, you’re just merely asking for help.

The crowdfunding process was very stressful because I wasn’t sure if we were going to make it, but then on the last day it started to jump and luckily we got there,’ Casey said.

Starring in theatre productions such as The Flowerchildren, The Sapphires and We Will Rock You, Casey said that she also loves being on stage.

‘It’s a challenge for me, it takes me out of my comfort zone and I just enjoy it so much, it’s such a different anxiety.

I’ve taken something away from every character, I loved playing the Killer Queen in We Will Rock You. She was a great villain and she just had this gutsiness and this sexy and sassy image about her, at some points I was like, why can’t I be a little bit like this,’ she said.

Looking back over the past 12 years since her initial rise to stardom on Australian Idol, Casey said that she would give her younger self the advice to just breath and know that it’s all going to be okay.

While her advice to other creatives and women in general is to get out there and enjoy life and love what you do.

‘There are a lot of people out there that are going to tell you no, and that’s when you turn around and you go, yes I can do this!’

Published on September 11, 2017 on SheSociety

 

Another day and another body shaming incident, this time in its birthplace of Hollywood. Just recently British actress Gemma Arterton revealed on a podcast by The Guilty Feminist the terrible remarks she received while on the set of one of her movies. Where a producer considered Gemma’s weight an emergency and flew out a personal trainer straight away to ‘fix’ the problem.

Gemma was understandably shocked at the comment, “You know when it’s like ‘Is it that f—ing bad that I need an emergency?’ … [it was as if they were] like on speed dial, ‘Get that trainer out here now’. It was so traumatic at the time.”

“They’d measure me and they’d call up the personal trainer at like nine at night going: ‘Is she in the gym? And if she isn’t why isn’t she in the gym?”

One of her producers also told her not to eat some dried apricots on set, to which she responded with, “Do you know what? I’m going to eat about all 20 [apricots], then I’m going to go home and eat all the stuff in the mini bar.”

An ongoing and demoralising issue that is always cropping up throughout film sets and on red carpets, the continuous pressure is setting more absurd standards and creating more body hatred and insecurities. Words can actually hurt and can impact a person’s mindset and their perspectives on themselves, creating unhealthy fixations. Considering that these comments are made in such an environment like Hollywood where you are judged wholly on your looks, it makes unwarranted comments like these so detrimental.

Game of Throne’s star Sophie Turner spoke to the magazine Porter about the unfairness of the constant judgement last month, “I was consumed with thoughts on weight and the idea that you have to be skinny to be an actress, and that I wasn’t skinny enough to get jobs.”

“There are times when I have done jobs and they’ve told me that I have to lose weight, even when it has nothing to do with the character:  It is so f—– up.”

By having more actresses share their own experiences, this can hopefully become a starting point for change in the industry, it may be gradual at first but any progress is worthwhile and can help towards installing a greater sense of acceptance. From that, change can be affected beyond the narrow minds of Hollywood and out into the broader population.

Published September 11, 2017 on SheBrisbane

 

Sophie Payten is certainly rising up the ranks of the Australian music scene, going by the stage name Gordi, she has established herself as an upcoming artist to watch. Her folk electronica sound is a refreshing change from the heavily saturated pop market in today’s music scene. Instead Sophie said that her music aims to try to ‘push through the kind of boundaries of those normal styles and combine it with beautiful instrumentation.’

In Brisbane last week to support the band, Gang of Youths, SheBrisbane chatted with the artist about her newly released album, her hectic life on tour as well as being a medical student with exams just two weeks away.

Discovered by Triple J’s Unearthed music platform back in 2014, Sophie signed a record deal with American label Jagjaguwar early last year. Travelling to the United States and Iceland among other countries to create her album, she had a range of musical talent play on the record, including S. Carey from Bon Iver and Tim Anderson (Solange, Banks).

According to Sophie, ‘compared to the EP I put out last year it’s a richer, bolder sound and uses a lot of light instrumentation. The kind of themes and lyrical content are of a personal nature and reflect on the whole idea of reservoir, which is sort of like a figurative innermost place where you contemplate everything.’

Coming from the small New South Wales town of Canowindra where the population is only 2,258, Sophie said she gained a lot of support from the community growing up.

But in establishing her musical career in Sydney, she said that ‘moving to a big city always helps, kind of just playing live and getting on that live circuit really opened up my life to a lot of different people. A lot of great musicians started playing with bands and I think that was kind of the beginning of it all for me.’

Sophie also got the chance to perform backing vocals for Bon Iver on the Jimmy Fallon show, an experience which she called incredible. ‘It was a pretty surreal moment just meeting Justin Vernon and meeting them all, I rocked up for the first day of rehearsal and I was so nervous, but they were so kind and welcoming. I actually finished the album in their studio and they’ve been real great support in getting me over to do all those things.’

In between recording her album and touring both nationally and internationally she is also currently in her last year of her six-year medical degree.

‘That for me was a bit of a hurdle, getting the album out, but I kind of learnt how to balance it with my hospital placements,’ Sophie said.

‘If I had national tours I would just try and schedule them so I wouldn’t miss my placements and get a red eye from Perth to make sure I was there by 8am the next day. If I had to do international tours, I would ask faculty for time off and then renegotiate my schedule so I would meet all the basic requirements. It’s been a logistical nightmare.’

In regard to her future in medicine, she said, ‘I don’t really know what I want to do with it, maybe go into general practice or do another speciality. To be honest for the moment that seems quite far off, my plan is to just do as much as I can to not totally forfeit the degree and to focus on music for the foreseeable future.’

The advice Sophie wished she could give to her younger self was to ‘just be patient, I think you always want everything all at once and you kind of wonder why it’s not coming.

Even though from the outside of the music industry it looks like things move quickly, but it really moves slowly most of the time. So, I think just be patient and actually just enjoy the ride because I think when I look back on it all that will be the best part.’

Published on September 8, 2017 on SheBrisbane

 

Our emotions are one of the hardest concepts to wrap our heads around, especially as women, as we are considered to be the more ‘emotional’ species. While we are always thinking of improving our overall intelligence to become more knowledgeable and insightful human beings. What we often neglect is that our emotional intelligence (EI) also needs to be worked at so we can become better equipped with our emotions and how we are displaying them to others. Harnessing our emotions to work in positive ways will help in all areas of our lives, allowing us to become more empathic and understanding human beings, and in this day and age, it’s definitely a much-needed attribute.

Josh Freedman, CEO of Six Seconds, The Emotional Intelligence Network observes, ”the bad news is emotional intelligence continues to decline globally. I hypothesise this is due to growing stress and chaos in the world. In our study, we found people with higher-than-average EQ are dramatically more likely to be high performers — it means that essentially, EQ is a requirement.”

1. Observation

By observing the great achievers, or just people that you know who seem to be in check with their emotions will be beneficial in changing your attitudes. Allowing you to see how others are using their EI to its highest advantage. But also, by just observing everyone in general and taking note of how others react to adversity or how they cultivate meaningful relationships, will help determine whether you should either learn from their mistakes or try and emulate them if they are successful.

2. Reflection

By reflecting on your own emotions and how you reacted in certain situations can help you gain more self-awareness and control in how you use your feelings. Reflection is a great tool in everyday life, as it allows you to constantly grow and seek out better options to create a more fulfilling existence.

3. Positivity

When faced with a difficult challenge you will need to gather up your courage and become resilient, facing whatever comes your way head on and putting a positive spin on the situation. This will allow you to better anticipate and react to any challenge that may pop up.

4. Empathy

By putting yourself in someone else’s shoes you can see a whole other perspective in which your own emotions can adjust to better receive the other person and how they are feeling. A simple example is that of a customer service situation where even though the customer is frustrated, by practicing empathy you will have a better hold on the situation and may come out of it unscathed.

5. Repetition

By constantly practicing these steps, you will gain a better understanding of yourself and how you relate and communicate in the world.

Published on September 7, 2017 on SheBrisbane

 

Indian women have had enough of the cotton wool, bubble wrapped lifestyle that people, especially male politicians are wrapping them in. Now more than ever, they are speaking out against the injustices that are happening in their country and providing a platform for change.

This comes after an Indian woman was harassed by two men when she was driving home after midnight. Chasing her in their vehicle and trying to corner her, she eventually escaped but not after being completely shaken and terrified.

Ramveer Bhatti, the area vice president of a local political party said that the incident would not have taken place if she had not been out so late. The outpouring of tweets that came after this statement was widespread, with the hashtag #aintnocinderella trending on Twitter. Women were using the hashtag to fight back against the idea of being damsels in distress, with one Twitter user fittingly posting, “we women believe in breaking glass ceilings not fitting into glass slippers.”

The politician in question demonstrated a blatant case of victim blaming, instead of identifying and prosecuting the attackers he brings it back to the antiquated and traditionalist view of women not being allowed out after dark. Simply being out after midnight does not give anyone the invitation for inappropriate behaviour. This regressive attitude does nothing for the victims, it only incites more anger and more motivation to fight for justice. The question is, why should women be punished for something that is out of our control and why should we live our lives in constant fear when these men are still roaming the streets looking for their next victim.

Sexual violence is a horribly frequent occurrence in India, with 31,446 cases of crimes against women reported just in the capital city of Delhi. This doesn’t even take into consideration the amount of cases that go unreported.

Mahatma Gandhi himself said that, “the day a woman can walk freely on the roads at night, is the day we can say that India has achieved independence.” To enforce such stricter laws and rules to help achieve peace will be tough, but surely with more widespread social media trends such as #aintnocinderella hopefully more politicians will stand up and take notice. By speaking out and letting their voices be heard throughout their country and across the world, these women will continue to smash barriers.

Published on August 28, 2017 on SheBrisbane

 

Former editor in chief of British Vogue, 59 year old Alexandra Shulman shocked Instagram recently with her bikini selfie. Showing the world an untouched version of herself, she has gained thousands of likes and positive comments on the post, ranging from what an inspiring women she is to people thanking her for keeping it real.

Coming from a background that’s notorious for its high fashion spreads and heavily curated content, Alexandra has succeeded in contributing to body positivity, an area that’s not so well developed in the fashion industry. Providing much needed honesty and transparency on a platform that is infamous for its filtered and often unrealistic images.

Instagram has become a terrible place for people to compare and contrast their lives against others. Producing all kinds of jealous emotions including FOMO, which translates to the fear of missing out on something great that’s happening and that you’re not a part of. The constant array of vacation photos, expensive designer gear and café delicacies also promotes the idea of an aspirational lifestyle rather than an inspirational life, providing people with what can often be seen as highly unattainable or false achievements that should not dictate how successful life should be.

While Instagram has banned hashtags such as #thinspo and #thinspiration, it doesn’t stop the flow of photos that pop up of retouched skinny models or fitness stars flaunting their quick tips to get a thin body in an unrealistic amount of days. Some fitness stars and models do take the more genuine approach, dishing out advice that’s beneficial. But unfortunately it comes to the point where some users find it hard to differentiate between the two, finding quick and easy diets to be the answer instead of a more long term healthier approach.

According to a study completed by the Royal Society for Public Health, around 70% of 18-24 year olds would consider having a cosmetic surgical procedure. Out of the five most prominent social media channels YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram, Instagram was rated as the most negative. In regards to contributing to poor body image and anxiety, Instagram also scored the
highest.

If more influencers like Alexandra Shulman began taking raw and candid photos of themselves, then more women will feel encouraged to embrace their own unique bodies. As the saying goes, to have a bikini body all you really need is a body, regardless of how you think you look.

Published on August 24, 2017 on SheBrisbane

 

First Brangelina and now another Hollywood golden couple have called it quits. Chris Pratt and Anna Faris announced their split just last week after eight years of marriage, causing an absolute internet frenzy. Their goofy and seemingly nice personalities have won everyone over and their image as a powerhouse couple has made them a force in Hollywood for the last few years. Their breakup came as completely unexpected, blindsiding people and causing what seemed to be immense second-hand grief.

Judging by romantic Instagram posts a couple of months ago from the Hollywood couple, no one could have predicted that they would ever have decided to call it quits. It just goes to show that fame and celebrity is just a facade, and that behind that movie screen are the real issues that no one can begin to foresee.

Celebrity relationships are a hot commodity in the press, with rumours and scandals extending the life of what celebrities hope to be a closing chapter. Instead of being able to move on with their lives they are constantly hounded and pressured for more information.

It doesn’t help that ordinary people are also putting surmountable pressure on these relationships to work. Conjuring up terms such as power or golden couple or #relationshipgoals adds to the unrealistic view. More people are needing that hope and reassurance that these relationships falsely provide with people becoming heavily invested, whether as a way to compensate for their own lacklustre relationships or as a projection of their own hopes and desires. Expecting too much and pinning their wishes on something that looks good on the outside but as with Chris’s and Anna’s relationship, may be crumbling on the inside.

Along with the pressures of marriage, celebrities also have an endless array of other worries to contend with. New found fame, cheating allegations from persistent tabloids, addictions and long distance struggles are just some of the issues these celebrities have to face beyond everyday married life. So you can never assume that just because these celebrities have the backings of fame and fortune that their relationships will come to be a happily ever after as well.

Published on August 14, 2017 on SheBrisbane

 

‘Back to Nature’ is the theme for this years Royal Queensland Show’s (Ekka) fashion parades. Taking place between August 11 and 20, the parades are celebrating locally sourced fabrics and ethically produced clothing. They are showcasing the connection between farming and fashion, with a focus on Queensland-grown wool and cotton, along with leather, bamboo and silk.

Two prominent names in Australian fashion and contributors to the festival, designers Gail Sorronda and Julie Tengdahl are fierce advocates for sustainable fashion. They spoke to SheBrisbane about their passion for ethically produced clothing and supporting local Queensland businesses.

Julie Tengdahl has established her name amongst the few truly Australian-made luxury labels. Her founding philosophy for her brand is that a garments beauty lies in high quality fabrics.

Her commitment to sustainable fashion is seen in the way that everything is designed and manufactured in Queensland. “We also have a quick response manufacturing process so Tengdahl only produces what our clients need, so there no waste,” Julie said.

“To be honest I love working with all natural fibres, each have their own texture and sensitivity. They also have their challenges in producing the perfect design that will bring out the fibres natural beauty.”

Out of the five fabrics that are showcased in the event, Julie’s favourite was silk, “for its drape like qualities. The wearer truly feels special when putting on a silk garment.”

For people to become more aware of their clothing choices and to purchase more sustainable garments, Julie said that, “knowledge and education is the key, being mindful of our fashion purchases, their imprint on our environment and where the fabric and production originated. I also think looking after our environment is an evolution of our society, given the right choices the community really can make a difference.”

“It’s not always about how many items you can have in your wardrobe. Less is always more. We really have to look at what we need.”

To make sure you’re making the move to a more conscious closet, Julie said, “it’s important to look at the fabric content and where the garment is produced. Treat yourself to the pleasure of wearing a garment made with natural fibres and love.”

Gail Sorronda is another Brisbane based designer with a boutique currently in James Street, Fortitude Valley. Her dark and edgy designs have made waves in the fashion industry, with high profile designers such as Dolce and Gabbana and Karl Lagerfeld recognising her as one to watch.

In the importance of using natural fibres, Gail said, that “besides for sustainability reasons, natural fibres are great for the Queensland climate as the fabrics breathe and are more comfortable on the skin.”

“We support local businesses where we can. Our James Street boutique stocks local artisans including Paula Dunlop and our supplies are all sourced locally. Most of our sampling is done here in Brisbane and some of our production includes screen printing too.”

To convince more people to buy ethically produced clothing Gail said that the key is to, “encourage purchasing pieces that will continue through the seasons that tells an authentic story rather than trend based fast fashion that ends up in landfill.”

“Just like everything has a cycle, there will be a nostalgic return to niche fashion in rebellion to the mass produced.”

Published on August 17, 2017 on SheBrisbane

 

The issue of diversity has become a constant discussion point in The Bachelor and other types of reality shows, with cookie cutter, blonde stereotypes representing what’s expected to be a sample of our population. The show cherry picks their own ideal Australian women for the Bachelor to court, taking on a whole new meaning of the phrase digging through trash to find treasure. Not only are the participants white-washed but a majority of them are blondes with similar facial features. It’s come to the point where if there was a line up at a police station it would be hard to distinguish one girl from the next.

Producers take advantage of the fact that we live in an impressible age where social media dictates our lives, where everything that is broadcasted, tweeted and instagramed has an effect on our own perspective. While it is a purely superficial reality show, every TV show still has an impact on our society. Reality shows like Jersey Shore have created a subculture of heavily tanned individuals, glorifying behaviours such as binge drinking and fighting. Women have enough issues as it is without the pressures of slimming down and achieving a desirable look just to attract their own modern day bachelor like Matty J.

Women are not only competing for their chance at love with The Bachelor but also for their fifteen minutes of fame, after all isn’t that what a majority of them are in the competition for. Or do they really believe that true love is on the other side of a heavily constructed reality show?

The show also takes a dig at the intellectual capacity of these contestants reducing them down to shallow, image obsessed girls whose idea of conflict resolutions are catfights. While progress has been seen with the introduction of a bi-sexual contestant, more barriers can be broken down by introducing gay bachelors and bachelorettes or even upping the age to what’s considered as the true age of an actual real life bachelor, mid 40’s.

We hope people can take these shows very lightly and to just treat them as fodder for the office gossip the next day. Let’s hope that people who are watching The Bachelor realise that there is more than one nationality, that being young and beautiful does not mean everything and that a test based on whether your ideal date is going to the beach does not determine compatibility. There will come a time when the public will become sick of the same ideals being shown over and over again and hopefully this will start a discussion around change.

Published on August 7, 2017 on SheBrisbane