Inspired by Black Lives Matter
Being close to the themes and stories in a podcast can make a difference in terms of its impact. That was certainly the case for Bernadette Phương Nam Nguyễn who is the Producer of SBS’s’ latest offering Seen presented by Yumi Stynes.
Nguyễn says the idea for the eleven episode podcast which launched this March came about during the wave of tension resulting in the Black Lives Matter protests and anti-Asian violence that was happening in 2020.
“As a person of colour and specifically an Asian person, watching all of this happen during lockdown was extremely triggering,” she says.
For Nguyễn, it brought to light the need for marginalised voices to have a platform, and one that was inspiring, rather than reinforcing what it meant to be on the outside looking in.
Image: Polina Tankilevitch
She says she was left feeling disempowered as someone whose identity was directly involved in the negative stories that were shared repeatedly in the news and on social media platforms.
“I started to think about the ways in which our identities are reflected to us and why the narrative often stops at the painful things. “
The producer felt it was important for listeners to get the “full picture about the ways we show bravery, heal and move forward”.
“[That was the] story I felt was missing,” she says.
The aim behind Seen is to illuminate empowering stories with a focus on diversity in the human experience.
“It was also a way to celebrate those who allowed us to feel empowered [and] those who helped us feel like we could change our own narrative. Honestly, I just wanted to make a podcast that delivered a dose of honest, uplifting, feel-good stories, which is the type of podcast that I needed during that time,” says Nguyễn.
The first part of the process was to develop a format that would serve the intention. The team at Audiocraft landed on a single interview format with what Nguyễn refers to as a hero’s type of journey.
“I think what made this production different was that the entire team and our guests cared so much about telling the heartfelt, uplifting stories while [also] being honest about the struggles to get there,” she says.
During production, Nguyễn says one of the team was moved to tears during an interview, and even when listening back through the edited and mixed version of the story, there were more tears that followed.
“Knowing these stories were in safe hands with a broadcast partner like SBS meant a lot [and] we were so fortunate to have Yumi Stynes come on board. She was fiercely passionate about the concept and brought so much energy, personal experience and life into the project,” Nguyễn says.
Handing over the mic to outsiders is what Nguyễn feels makes the series so special. These are the trailblazers who were told they don’t belong, but who go on to break expectations and show others that you can dream big.
“Every guest has a story that leaves you feeling warm and fuzzy inside, and every episode ends with what our team called an Easter egg - a small delicious audio surprise that’ll leave you on a sugar-like high.”
In terms of working with presenter Yumi Stynes, Nguyễn says growing up as a young Vietnamese-Australian and seeing Stynes on TV expanded her idea of what it meant to be an Asian-Australian woman.
“She gave young people like me permission to choose a career that was outside of expectation, and permission to be bold, funny and just freaking cool. It’s truly special to have a trailblazer like Yumi hosting the show,” says Nguyễn.
Listen to the selected episodes in the article above or click here for more.
