Bianca Hunt Media, Culture, Sport, Television & Her Career as a TV Presenter | Nick Egan Times

Bianca Hunt joins Nick Egan Times for a wide-ranging conversation about media, journalism, television, sport, culture, and the evolving landscape of Australian entertainment.

As one of Australia’s most recognizable media personalities, Bianca Hunt has built an impressive career spanning television presenting, sports broadcasting, travel, fashion, music journalism, talent management, and advocacy. Known for her authentic voice and commitment to representation, Bianca has become a respected figure across multiple areas of the Australian media industry.

In this episode, Bianca discusses her journey into television and journalism, the challenges and opportunities facing modern media, and the importance of creating meaningful conversations that connect with diverse audiences. She also shares insights from her work across sport, entertainment, travel, and culture, along with her experiences interviewing high-profile personalities and working behind the scenes in talent management.

The conversation explores media careers, broadcasting, journalism, storytelling, Indigenous representation, personal growth, leadership, and the future of Australian media.

An engaging and insightful discussion with one of Australia’s most influential media personalities whose work continues to inspire positive change across the entertainment and communications industries.

Transcript

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SPEAKER_01 0:18

Hi everyone, thanks for this episode of Nick Egan Times. On this episode, we have a tremendous guest. We have the multi-talented Bianca Hart. Bianca is an Australian TV presenter, media personality, interviewer, talent agent, and activist. Bianca's career spans across sport, travel, fashion, and music journalism. Welcome to the multi-talented Bianca and thanks for coming on the podcast.

SPEAKER_00 0:39

Thanks for having me. It's a pleasure.

SPEAKER_01 0:41

You're welcome. All right, um, how's everything been going?

SPEAKER_00 0:46

Honestly, it's been pretty tough lately. I think um there's a lot going on in the world at the moment, and it's kind of hard to um, I guess, embrace your successes and your wins when a lot of the world is um in sadness at the moment. So yeah, it's a bit of a a different sort of energy, but um yeah, I've been I've been getting through it.

SPEAKER_01 1:07

Yeah, it's a very crazy time at the moment, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_00 1:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:11

All right, let's jump straight into it. Take us back. Tell me about I guess growing up your life and obviously your family, and yeah, I guess how that's uh I guess uh put you on that trajectory to where you are now as well.

SPEAKER_00 1:26

Yeah, of course. Uh so based off background, so both both my parents, my dad is Gamalore and Bark and G Man from New South Wales and Victoria. Um, and my mother, mother is Baladangam Wadjuk, which is from WA. Uh that's two different sides of the country. Somehow they met in the heart in Alice. That's where they had my older sister, and then uh after a bit of moving around different sides of the um country, they set up base in Brisbane, Mianjan. So yeah, I was born and raised there. I have two siblings, a younger brother who's about 19 months younger, and then my sister's about seven years older. Uh, my dad decided uh when the year I was born to go to university. So both my parents only have had around a grade 10 level of education. Uh so dad going to university was actually the first in the family. He kind of set that foundation that education is important and it was going to be the thing that pivoted, I guess, our our family story and where that was going to go. Uh so yeah, I kind of grew up with university as my playground, which is a very unique sort of um environment, I guess, not only for myself, but you know, the kids around me, a lot of my um kids that I went to primary school and stuff like that with, a lot of their parents weren't actually at uni at the time either. So it was just like a different sort of thing to navigate. Um, so I would say like early on, those were the conversations that were being had. We were in a higher education sort of space constantly. Uh, mum and dad were always talking about these different things and how education impacts us and um why it's important. And I think growing up, it was kind of like a almost for me, not graduating year 12 would have been almost like a disrespectful sort of thing. Um, for me, like it's not like my parents ever said to me that you you had to graduate grade 10, but I think because they didn't get afforded that opportunity, and and also the generations before them as well, um, didn't have that, my sister being one of the first in our family to graduate from grade 12. Um, I just knew that that was kind of my thing. But even though both my parents went to uni, so dad went, then mum went um to uni, and then myself and my siblings also. So it kind of carried this like flow on effect. It's probably one of the first things you see in our family's home, is um pretty much a wall full of our degrees, is about 11 degrees between five of us, which is you know pretty, pretty cool, and it doesn't define us by any means, but it's something that no one can take from us, and I think that is probably one of the most important things about education. One of the driving factors for myself is knowing that I have this and no one can take it from me. And uh yeah, so it's been like that's kind of been a bit of the journey, I think, um, growing up, but also just knowing that myself, even though both my parents went to uni, I was not academically inclined. I didn't find school exciting, I didn't really like doing a lot of the things um that came with school, and that was from a bunch of different reasons, realistically, um, whether it was not having enough support from teachers, um, not getting along with peers, everything in between, it can kind of have that impact. So the things that I really enjoyed growing up was music and dance and creativity. Um, my dad was a musician. Well, he is a musician as well, as much as he works in health and everything. I grew up, you know, listening to him uh playing the guitar and going to sleep, waking up and going to sleep to him playing guitar. So it was almost like a natural thing for me to be a little bass player in school. And I really loved my music teacher at the time. So that was kind of the thing that I really enjoyed is in embracing music, embracing creativity. I think out of the whole family, I'm the quote unquote creative one, the unique one, the middle child that got to do all of the fun things. Uh and yeah, so that was kind of a bit of the journey um going through those years. And then I guess once it got to high school, again, not crazily academically inclined. I didn't like a lot of the things by the time I got to 11 and 12, um, years 11 and 12, sorry, I pretty much only had five subjects at school. I did maths, English because those were the things you needed to do. Um, they were compulsory, and then I had dance, dance excellence, and food studies. Um, but I had two jobs in grade 11 and 12. I worked at good old KFC and I also worked as a trainee at Commonwealth Bank, and that was for me how I was going to get into uni. I knew I wanted to go to uni and there were alternative pathways that I could look at. But to show that I had that dedication and determination, I guess, to go to uni was the thing that I needed to show and prove. And having a few jobs, juggling school, doing all the performance side of things, I did a few little leadership things as well during that time. Um, it helped, I guess, the university know that I was someone that they should kind of engage and bring on board. And I'm grateful that that was the case and that I end up, you know, I guess being one of the people that could be afforded the opportunity to go to a higher education. Um, but yeah, the way that I got there was obviously a little bit more, a bit different to others. So I knew I was in uni before most other people in my grade. I didn't do the traditional ATAR OP system. I went grew up in Queensland, so we had a different system to New South Wales um and Victoria and stuff. So yeah, I guess I guess that's probably the easiest little roundup um, I guess, of my upbringing. Uh, but yeah, happy to explain any of that further.

SPEAKER_01 7:09

You've um really articulated that. And something that really strikes me is your confidence. Where that I guess that's a question. Where do you get your confidence? You you come across extremely confident and very articulate. Where do you think that stems from?

SPEAKER_00 7:23

Um I think there's a few different reasons. So I would say growing up, I wasn't necessarily the most confident person uh in the school grounds outside or anything like that. I was probably more confident at home, uh, which I'm lucky to have a family that fostered that, uh, won that creativity and just expressing ourselves and being who we want to be. But um unfortunately, 90% of the time as a kid, you're growing up, you're at school. So if you have kids that kind of push you down, tell you you're different, all of these different things that come with, I guess, being um a black person in this system right now, I think that was a really difficult thing to come to terms with. I was kind of kind of always taught to suppress being who I am, and and that being who I am was so different that uh no one would want to see it or or be around it. And I think that was really difficult growing up. So uh I think when I was performing, like when I was playing music in the band or singing or um dancing, that was almost an escape. Uh it was almost like an alter ego of me. So I got to put on this persona and I could just be someone else um for a moment, for a day, for whatever period of time that we were um performing. And it's kind of sad to think that I needed that as an outlet um to fully embrace who I was, but it wasn't until I was a lot older that I actually could fully sit in being myself. Um, and that's a few different reasons, whether it was the friendship groups um I became around and I had a lot better uh friends coming out once I got out of high school. I think I only have one friend from high school, the rest of them I don't associate with, and most of my mates have come from university or within the industry. Um, so there's that sort of factor, but I think as well, I got to a point where if I wasn't happy with myself and how I was, I wasn't going to be able to achieve anything or be successful. So there was a period of time where people were saying that I wasn't good enough, wasn't going to achieve things and all of that sort of stuff. And then for some reason that shifted. Um, and I think that came from me uh being good at my job. Uh, people started telling me that I was good at my job and reinforcing that. And it is hard when you go to school and and stuff, and if you are told that you're not good enough, uh, you will believe that. And so once that starts shifting and people are telling you you're good enough, at some point you need to start believing that. And I think that's definitely come over the last decade, I would say it's been a growing process. Now I'm quite sure of myself. There is definitely times where I do question it, whether it's from the industry, whether it's from uh my surroundings or or people that have been around me. But I'm not too a hundred percent sure when that shift happened, but I think one of the main reasons why I started becoming very confident in myself is when I actually started in media. So it's that sort of thing where for all those years when I was younger, I thought I had to be someone else in order to be taken seriously or for people to enjoy my presence or or love what I have to say or do was because of like an alter ego. Now it's that sort of thing, whereas I have a career because people like me for me. Um, so you know, I'm not sitting here being like I'm, you know, some other person. It's like, okay, I have an audience and I have a following because I'm Bianca Hunt, not because of anything else, if that makes sense. So it's like I never went into stuff like acting or or which I probably eventually will, but I think if I had gone into that before I knew myself and before I was confident in myself, I think I would have always been chasing to be someone else. Um, and so I think that confidence has definitely shifted in the last few years since being in television and being in um, I guess the quote unquote spotlight of people coming up to me and being like, I really enjoy you for you. And so yeah, I think that's also contributed to my confidence and um just feeling more myself.

SPEAKER_01 11:39

That's really you're really inspiring too. Like, you know, you're just explaining that. Yeah, it's it's really inspiring. And then I guess that brings me to the next question. Obviously, you're a proud indigenous uh lady. Um what without getting obviously too political too. How does that how does it I guess sit with you obviously being that? And how do you I guess see the culture and the future of being an Indigenous lady, especially, you know, you're an inspiration to the younger generation, and you know, you you know, you're really representing, I guess, your culture. How does that yeah, how does that how does that sit with you and what does that mean to you and represent?

SPEAKER_00 12:17

Yeah, I think um there's a few different things. Uh one thing, especially when I came into media and I was offered my first job um on Yock Eye, I kind of sat with it for a little while. I didn't accept it straight away because for me I had to sit there and be like, ask myself a few questions. Um, one, will I be able to handle being in this industry that is so predominantly white male-led? Um, and will I be okay with the backlash that will come from being a visibly black woman in the Australian media landscape when there's less than 1% of us that are here in this industry? And also, will I take on an obligation to represent my community? And there's a few things that come with that. One, I have always committed to speaking on behalf of myself and my lived experience. I will never speak on behalf of um First Nations people in general. I think that is a disservice in a sense because I only have a certain level of experience. I also have different levels of privilege compared to other people as well. And so there's a lot of things and considerations that come with that. But on the other side is knowing that I am coming into this landscape as a visibly black woman, that that is providing representation regardless of what I say, what show I'm on, um, where I'm where I am, and that is important. We didn't myself grow up seeing a lot of uh First Nations mob that looked like me on the screens, in shopping centers, uh just in in general, in this creative industries landscape. Uh and it's pretty incredible because of course we we've had a very long standing of amazing First Nations creatives who have led those paths for us. Um and it's pretty incredible to see that I'm alongside some of them now. And for such a long time growing up, people like Deb Mailman, people like um Ungle Ernie, they were so far away from me in that sense that I thought, oh, I'm never gonna be in the same presence as them, I'm never gonna be in the same room as them. Um, but I'm I'm I I love that they're here, but it just felt like it was so far away from me. And so now having grown up and uh and I'm now in a space that some of my best mates are some of the top of the game in this country, um, and we're all First Nations, is such a weird feeling to kind of come to terms with because one, I feel like I'm not alone, um, which was really scary, especially when I started um university. I did a double degree, I did a Bachelor of Business in Management and a Bachelor of Creative Industries in Entertainment. And when I decided to do those degrees, I did business because that's the practical thing to do. Uh, that will get me jobs, that will give me security. And the creative industries side of things doing entertainment was that's your passion, you know. Um one day, if you're lucky, you'll be able to be in there, but don't don't put too much pressure on thinking you'll be in this industry. And there was only two of us, I think, um, that were studying that degree when I graduated um from my uni. And that in itself, like I didn't have a lot of people that were black in the industry that I could kind of have a yarn with and and get to know and actually have that community around me that made me believe that being in the creative industries as a First Nations person was going to be realistic. So now that I have that, it's almost the complete 360 where I'm such an advocate to other First Nations people to come in this space uh and to feel like they are welcome in the creative industries and that they can have a career here. Um, but that's just in general. I've worked in corporate, I've worked in nonprofit, I've, you know, uh done different industries. But I think creative industries, entertainment industry is such a difficult thing to penetrate. And now that I'm kind of in here, it's like it's important we're here. It's important that people are hearing our voices, and it's important that people are listening as well to when they have someone like us on a screen giving our opinion, um, not to be threatened by that, not to be um worried that we're going to be too controversial. It's just we finally get to be in these spaces and have these conversations and to and to be heard, and I think people shouldn't shy away from that. So that's kind of the work that I do, and and what I've been really grateful for, especially in the last few years of being in this industry, is that I know I'm contributing to the next generation's access into this space. Um, and not only First Nations people, I genuinely believe uh POC communities as well as non-Indigenous communities are benefiting off someone like me in this industry. Um, and the you know, the sweetest thing sometimes is having, you know, the parents of kids coming up to me saying, Oh, just so you know, like my daughter really loves you and really loves what you're doing. And that's coming from all different kids' backgrounds, um, you know, or even just walking around and a kid turning around saying hello because they'd seen me on something. Uh, is just like it's such a weird feeling. Um, but that's one of the main reasons why I'm in this industry is to be here for the next generation and to also follow in the footsteps of the people that have opened the doors for us to be in here. Um they were, I would say, crawling so that we can start running. Um, and eventually, hopefully, the kids that are next will start sprinting. Um, so yeah, I think that's that's a lot of my motivation. I hope, I hope that answers the question.

SPEAKER_01 18:01

It definitely does. Brilliant. It's a brilliant answer too. Incredible. All right. Um being in the media too, what I guess has been the I guess the biggest joy and what has been the career highlights?

SPEAKER_00 18:13

Biggest joy and career highlights. Um I think interestingly enough, it's such a it's a such a hard one because I've had some really, really fun, cool, different experiences. Uh and some of them, it's honestly a lot of the experiences I've had have been incredibly challenging. Uh, most of the time I am the only First Nations person um on a cast in a space, um, having to be in there. And and that comes with its own, I guess, struggles, but also there's a lot of power in that. Um, because I know that there's going to be more. And so that's exciting. I think a big highlight was definitely uh this year. Uh for the first time ever, I was in a global campaign uh and just recently saw that like my image is sitting on a massive billboard in Brooklyn, New York. And if you were to ask me growing up what where I wanted to go as a kid, I said New Zealand or Zora or um New York. And both of those I got to go to, and they were both for work and they were fully paid um kind of experiences, and and that in itself, you know, New York to me is a is the city of dreams, and to even be there was a blessing. But now to have this amazing billboard that I'm standing on alongside a few of the others that I was on the campaign with, wearing an Aboriginal flag, showing that is just something that's like unfathomable to me. Um, and it's something I'm incredibly proud of, and something I wish I could go and see, to be honest. But by the time I was able to go back overseas, I think it would be gone. Um, so there's that, and the other one absolutely would be going on to um I'm a celebrity. Um that experience was something that I knew was gonna challenge me. I definitely um lied in the early stages of saying that I didn't have any phobias. I am an arachnophobe like crazy. I cannot be around spiders, I'm okay with snakes, but even then I'm like, oh, if I've got something on me, is it gonna attack me? I don't know. Um, but I'm really grateful that I put myself into that experience, especially as someone that is um, you know, I was alongside people that I grew up watching. And the fact that I could go into a group where the people that I did grow up watching actually knew who I was, um is just again, is such a really weird experience, um, or probably not weird, unique experience. And yeah, I'm very proud that I went through that that space and that I chose to do it because I wouldn't change anything about it, and I'm grateful I had that. But of course, one of the biggest highlights is starting in a show that was from a First Nations lens, talking about a sport that I grew up, you know, loving, playing and and um like Yokeye, um, being on a show that was co-hosted by two black uh uh like hosts um with an EP who was also First Nations to be on a platform with one of the biggest companies in the country um for one of the biggest sports in the country. I I will never not forget my start, and I think that um yeah, I I'm just I'm pretty blessed, I would say. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:40

Sensational, yeah. You know, and you're only young too, right? You got the you're only just getting started, so it's incredible.

SPEAKER_00 21:45

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 21:47

Um tell me about your TEDx experience and what that was like.

SPEAKER_00 21:51

Yeah, so uh my TED that TEDx was done in oddly enough, 2018. And now, like thinking back. That's quite a decent amount of time. Um, so that role, uh, the reason I did the the the TEDx is I was uh co-CEO of a nonprofit back then. It was the year after I graduated university, um 21 years old. And my uni had asked me, hey, um, you know, we we think you'd be perfect to do a TEDx. What do you think? Um and I was like, absolutely. Uh, regardless of if I believed I was ready for it or not, I I didn't want to back down because I I believe opportunities don't come your way if you're not ready. So to me, I was like, let's do it. Um, so I kind of, you know, I sat there, I got it out. It was actually because I was an executive at the time, I had so many things going on constantly that I actually didn't have a lot of time in the end to write it and to rehearse it. So, to the point that I'd only finished writing it. And don't get me wrong, there is definitely a process when it comes to TEDxes, and you're meant to be going through coaching like things and you're meant to rehearse it with your coach and doing all of this stuff. And I actually kind of avoided doing all of that. Um, and I finished writing my uh speech the day before. I absolutely carved it at my rehearsals. I did the the worst rehearsal I've ever done. Uh, and I couldn't remember any of my speech. Like I just kept like I had it there, and and you're not meant to wait, use your postcards or like uh not postcards, your speech cards or anything like that. So I pretty much spent 24 hours um rehearsing it after that, like straight after I went and I caught up with one of my best mates who uh had a drama background, so it was perfect. We could kind of sit there, and she worked with me on um kind of getting everything right. And from that process, I went the next day to the uni and it was in the theater, and funnily enough, like we had a pre-event, so you kind of went in and and everyone kind of just like to themselves, and some people were talking, but I felt like oh, okay, I don't know like what I'm meant to do. And I kind of just left and then went and rehearsed, and I was rehearsing the whole day because I was the last speaker of the day. So not only did they ask me to be a speaker, but also to close out the whole day, which is a lot of pressure, um, especially when you haven't finished, you didn't finish your um speech until the day before. But pretty much in those theater rooms, you had a speaker, telling like uh you could hear everything that was happening in the actual theater, which was really hard to one rehearse to read your stuff to remember whilst you're hearing someone else talk. And also in terms of speaking, sometimes when you hear someone before you uh and they're nervous, you can start to get nervous. If someone's really confident, you can start get to get confident. And I very much can go off people's energy. And so essentially the time came around that uh it was my my event and uh to to to talk and I got up and I didn't forget anything. I I got through the whole thing, and I think there was one point where I paused, but it was almost and I thought I forgot it, and I just calmed myself down and was able to get through it. But the perfect thing about it was the the time that I actually lost my spot or thought I forgot was actually the perfect time to have a strong pause. So it actually worked out for me, made people think. Um, but yeah, so so to think about that being what nine years ago now? Um almost yeah, eight, nine, something like that. Uh yeah, I'm just yeah, blown away by um the fact that I was able to get up and do that uh at the time. But yeah, very, very different experience.

SPEAKER_01 25:47

Extraordinary. If you're 18 again and you could change anything in your back, I guess your history, I guess, what would you say?

SPEAKER_00 25:55

Yeah, honestly, I'm really grateful. I had like such a good kind of teen, few teen years. Uh but and I'm not a big person on like regretting or or wanting to change things, so I don't think there'd be a lot of things that I would change, but I would would have probably advised myself to like not be so closed off to um to love. I think that's a a big one, and I know I know like when you're 18 and and stuff like that, you can be a bit of the young, dumb character and do all that sort of stuff. And I personally didn't do that. Um, so that's probably the one thing, but at the same time, I think that's also helped shape me um uh focusing on my career instead of other external relationships actually has helped me be in the position that I'm in. And and I think ultimately the decision to not do that was better in the in the long run. Um, I grew up with teen it two parents who were teen parents. Like I didn't want necessarily that for to be for myself. So I think I really focused on getting a career, doing all of that, setting myself up, and and that's worked out for me. But I also kind of wish I had a bit of a young, dumb error as well. So that's probably the only thing that I would have um changed.

SPEAKER_01 27:13

Wonderful. Bianca, thank you for coming on the podcast. I do appreciate it. It's amazing what you've achieved, and you know, your trajectory, as I said earlier, it's it's incredible where you're going. And yeah, I look forward to watching you closely.

SPEAKER_00 27:25

Of course. Thank you so much for having me.

SPEAKER_01 27:27

You're welcome.