Television personality Yumi Stynes brings her background in music reporting to the table at this year's Australian Women In Music Awards (AWMAs) in Brisbane when she joins a panel exploring the nexus of politics and music.
Yumi will take part in a panel entitled 'The Art Of Rebellion: The Intersection Of Music & Politics' where she'll contribute her own experiences as both a fan of music and a media commentator. “Ever since I first started in the music industry back in the year 2000, I've always been a champion of women in music and I've seen it from many different angles,” Yumi says.
“I've seen it from a media perspective, but I've also been in the audience as a fan and I love when a young girl who likes music, just the way I did, can look up at the stage and see someone who looks like her and sounds like her.
"I really feel so deeply such a joy as a fan of music to be in the audience and have a music experience that connects with you seriously.”
Yumi has been a familiar face on our TV screens for the better part of 20 years since making her debut in 2000 as a presenter for Channel V Australia. Since then she's been a presenter for 'The Know' on MAX, hosted 'The Circle' on Network Ten and hosted SBS documentary 'Is Australia Sexist?'. She's also authored a number of books.
At heart though, Yumi remains the devoted lover of music she was as a teenager searching for her place in the world. “When I was a teenager the way that music spoke to me was so profound and joyful, and also rebellious,” she says.
“It's a way that young people can express themselves and feel sexy and feel naughty, and feel violent and feel in love, and all these extreme emotions in a base way. It's so important that what they see is reflecting into themselves.
“When I was a huge fan of music as a teenager it was all about grunge, which was very much white boys, so to see someone like Adalita in a local band playing music as the frontwoman of Magic Dirt was electrifying for me.
"What we're trying to do with the Australia Women In Music Awards is celebrate that, encourage it, give it a showcase and also have fun on the night.”
For her part in the 'The Art Of Rebellion' panel, which also features Kara Hinesley who is the Head Of Public Policy Australia & NZ for Twitter as well as Alethea Beetson from Digi Youth Arts, Yumi says she's keenly interested in what her fellow panellists have to contribute.
“I think it's a pretty woke and interesting panel anyway, so I actually think my job is to listen,” she laughs. “I'm going to do some pretty active and respectful listening and then if there's space for me to jump in and speak [sic]. As someone with a voice in the media, I hope I have something to offer.
"Primarily I think the floor should be taken by women of colour who are performers and I'll just fill in the gaps without taking up too much space, that would be obnoxious.”
