Ballarat Youth Council launch podcast

The 2021 City of Ballarat Youth Council has hit the digital airwaves with the first in a series of podcasts titled ‘In My Skin - Ballarat Youth Stories’, highlighting issues Ballarat youth care about, including all too real challenges, achievements and lived experiences.

The podcast pilot series is available through Spotify and will consist of five initial episodes including conversations on ‘Queer Matters’, ‘Living and Thriving with a Disability’, ‘Gender Equity’, ‘Lived experiences as a young person of colour’ and ‘Climate Change’.

The first episode launched on Saturday 20 November, with Youth Councillor Coralie (she/her) chatting to transgender youth advocatess Remi (he/they) and Conner (he/him).

Each episode will launch on Saturdays throughout November and December.

City of Ballarat Mayor, Cr Daniel Moloney said ‘IN MY SKIN’ was an innovative approach to getting a very important voice heard by others.

“The City of Ballarat Youth Council is representative of a voice that is often overlooked or dismissed, and I commend this approach to inviting discussion on such influential issues,” he said.

“It is important that everyone understands what is meaningful to our youth. Whilst this is made for young people by young people, I am anticipating there will be a lot to be learnt by everyone on the powerful podcast topics.”

The City of Ballarat Youth Council includes youth volunteers aged from 12-25 who are passionate about youth leadership, youth advocacy and having an impact in their community.

Podcast guests include members of the Ballarat Action Climate Co-Op, queer matters youth champion Remi Turkovic, Ballarat Young Citizen of the Year and Disability Advocate Gabriel Gervasoni, founder and CEO of the Minority Co. Indya Hayes and many more inspiring youth voices.

“As a city we are diverse,” Cr Moloney said.

“We have many people young and old from different backgrounds, and we embrace that for everything it brings to our community. A key component of our 2021-2025 Council Plan is built around the goal of a healthy, connected and inclusive community.

“Such initiatives as the 2021 City of Ballarat Youth Council’s ‘IN MY SKIN’ podcast are leading the way to achieving exactly that.”

Podcast guest Yaya Tuany said it was a pleasure to participate in the series.

“It was such a blessing, honestly, to be able to speak freely about my experience – my life in Australia – and to have people actually listen and wanting to be part of the change is even better,” she said.

City of Ballarat Youth Councillor, Vy Nguyen has also been working on the project.

“COVID and lockdowns have been challenging for us again this year, but it did not stop us from tuning our passion into something real good for young people,” Ms Nguyen said.