Summarising the past 20 years is a challenge, but in short—I grew up in a musical household with a musician mother, giving me a background in singing, guitar, piano, and songwriting. From 8 to 24, I learned instruments, wrote songs, performed, and toured in original bands. I always loved writing, so at 13, I started my first “business,” The MoshPit Music, as a MySpace blog reviewing bands I loved and always on the hunt for new artists to plaster my walls with. 

By 16, I had an ABN, was still in school, had launched The MoshPit Music website, and attended every AA show I could. By 18, I was covering red carpet events at the MusicOz Awards and ARIAs, and being asked to interview international artists for the Big Day Out (showing my age here!).

Fast forward, I freelanced for several entertainment publications while studying and working at a booking agency. I moved between agencies, artist development, and management for major label acts, becoming the “I’ve got a guy” girl for booking shows, management, and connecting artists with photographers, videographers, graphic designers and more. 

From there, I founded Dreamscape Creative Agency—a hybrid production company and creative agency offering artist services like photography, visual assets, marketing strategies, PR, music production, and mastering. A one-stop-shop for label-style services without the ongoing commitment.

In 2016 I found my passion in music video production, and now at 33, I’m fortunate to have worked with incredible talent across Australia and Internationally, producing videos for Ed Sheeran, Tones & I, Timomatic, Stand Atlantic, MAY-A, Redhook, and many, many more.

Over the last few years, I’ve been honoured to be recognised by Studios 301/Abbey Road Institute in my field, having lectured on the importance of visuals in music to aspiring artists and am an Ambassador for music and mental-health charity Listen Up Music

Is it essential? That depends on the role you want to pursue in the industry. In my experience, is it a must-have? No. However, the knowledge I gained from studying at both AIM and Berklee (US) has undeniably benefited my clients, inspired new ideas, and elevated my skillset.

I’m fortunate to have many, making it hard to name just one. My mother played a crucial role in fostering my musical journey from an early age, while my first mentor, Colin Foster—founder of the music and mental health charity Jam 4 Awareness—had a massive impact on shaping my career path.

Beyond that, my best friend, director, and business partner Daniel Sabouné, along with my incredible partner, friends, and colleagues, have all supported, encouraged, and trusted me. Their belief in me has provided opportunities, motivation, and daily inspiration to keep pushing forward.

Like most women in this industry, I’ve had my fair share of challenges. Without diving into specifics, simply being a woman in a leadership role in this industry comes with its own set of obstacles. There are certainly boys’ clubs that make navigating this space difficult. But at the same time, in the music video world specifically, I’ve been so lucky to have incredible male allies who have championed my work and played a crucial role in my growth and development.

A 5-day long shoot for an Ed Sheeran track and doing pre-production out of a hotel in Singapore in the middle of a country-wide, 24-hour long internet outage. Sounds like a nightmare (and it was) but was still a completely wonderful fever dream courtesy of killer Director/Producer Elder.

When I was an angsty teenager, I was once gifted a T-Shirt that said “You laugh because I’m different. I laugh because you’re all the same”. ALL these years later, that quote still resonates with me but has a VERY different meaning haha. I think my takeaway is that there really aren’t any set rules in this industry in terms of how you break into it.  Say yes to everything and learn how to do it, take risks,, don’t pigeon-hole yourself and to anyone who asks “why”, respond  “why not?”.

Setting up a Dreamscape HQ in the USA and working with more international artists to encourage collaboration and exposure for our home-grown talent. 

All of the greats of course. Michael Chugg, Michael Gudinski (RIP), one of my early role models was actually Richard Branson haha. Christine Webby, Annabelle Herd, Poppy Reid, Matt Clarke and Jaddan Comerford are all absolute badasses and in the music video space specifically, Edgar Esteves is right up there along with some of my personal crew Daniel Sabouné, Kim Quint & Elder.

Absolutely! My biggest one is purpose, followed closely by roll-out. Artists spend so much time, money, blood, sweat and tears and pour it into making their music and visuals only to upload it to YouTube as soon as they have their final, have it garner 100 views from close friends and family and walk away completely disheartened feeling like their project was a flop. 

My first question is always what is the purpose of this video? If you just want a visual representation of your song, thats fine, but then, I want to understand who the audience is, what outcome you hope to achieve on the back end and if you have a roll-out strategy in place.

Another is to REALLY understand your Artist DNA/Brand Identity ahead of the video. Your artist persona/identity is going to play into so many decisions that we make from a production perspective. Everything from colour palettes to lighting design, wardrobe, who is selected for hair and makeup, location choices, overall tone of the film with regard to the emotion of the song. 

We are here to support you as an artist but we need a very clear understanding about who you are in this space and what this song means to you. Make us a part of your world!

I hate to admit how many Crowbar gigs I’ve been to but truthfully, I’ll go anywhere I’m invited or know something cool is happening. Frankies Pizza used to be a go-to and life will never be the same again! Artists to keep an eye on :

SaxONLY

 Yours Truly

BESTIES

 Neish

Matilda Duncan and the list goes on!

I have MANY, however, the most recent obsession has to be Taylor Swift ft Brendon Urie – ME!  This clip came out like 5 years ago, however, I used it for a reference recently and it truly is spectacular. Everything from the creative direction to wardrobe/set/post-production is just insane. From a producer’s perspective, I look at a production on that scale and am in complete disbelief at the sheer amount of work that would have gone into that video along with the number of people that would have had to be involved and I’m both inspired and exhausted just looking at it! 

I think there are a number of issues in our industry at the moment. On a broader scale, there is the issue of nearly half of our artists wanting to call it quits on the industry altogether when considering financial stresses, mental health factors, the state of the live scene (particularly in NSW), costs of touring and declining AUS/NZ presence on the charts as well. 

In my particular realm of work, there is the issue of artists struggling to finance their digital assets (be that promotional photos, artwork, music videos or visualisers for streaming platforms), many artists are electing to go DIY to cut costs. 

Anyone can make content on an iPhone and we’re living in a world of “content creators” where anyone has access to a platform and can have a voice. This obviously has a lot of positives attached to it but also impacts our specific industry if artists can’t see the value (or afford) a professional product. 

Real allies don’t just acknowledge challenges; they actively work to dismantle them. True allyship to me isn’t just words; it’s about action and accountability. Using your influence to open doors for others and doing more than just cheering from the sidelines. That could mean speaking up against bias and unfair treatment when you witness it or actively educating yourself on the experiences of underrepresented groups.

I don’t. Send help. 

Headphones and your favourite song. Immerse yourself in music.

This is such an important issue. There’s very little psychological support for young artists who experience overnight success or go through the intense highs of a TV competition, only to face a harsh reality once it’s over.

Artists who make it to the final stages of shows like The Voice or Idol often are young and have no prior industry experience. Suddenly, they’re in the spotlight, surrounded by a full team of producers, vocal coaches, stylists, makeup artists, and fans, creating a false sense of what a career in music can look like. They get used to this “star treatment,” but when the show ends, so does that level of support, and they’re left to navigate an industry that isn’t as glamorous or easy as it seemed.

For those who go viral or get discovered through social media, the shock can be just as intense. One minute, they’re unknown; the next, they have millions of views and followers—but without proper guidance, sustaining that success is incredibly difficult. Many artists come out of these experiences feeling lost, bitter, or with unrealistic expectations. They don’t know how to handle the sudden shift, and without the right support, it can seriously affect their career trajectory and mental health.

I’ve seen this many times with artists trying to navigate their first record deal at 18, having gone viral overnight or simply just on the comedown after making it to the finals of one of those shows. The industry needs to better support artists during that “shift” stage or at the very least have a duty of aftercare on the back end. Whether that’s in the form of counseling services or mentor programs; it needs to be addressed.

As of right now, I am looking at the time because a video we shot for Rolling Stone and an emerging artist goes live in half an hour…. beyond that, some special projects with some incredible Australian artists are on the horizon but under wraps.

Love Is A Battlefield – Pat Benatar