What do you do?We run Girls Rock!
Melbourne, an organisation that aims to
empower young female, trans andgender-
diverse people aged 10-17, using music as
the medium. We run camps, workshops
and events to address the gender disparity
within the music industry, create social
change and encourage self-acceptance.Why
did you choose that path? l yBa nn
(le( ft):I wanted to encourage more female-
identifying and diverse musicians and voices
to join the local music scene, as I was fed
up with my band being the only women
playingon lineups, and the sexist attitudes
we continually encountered.Shannon
Driscoll(middle):Dealing with sexism and
feeling like an outsider isn’t something
anyone should be battlingwhen they’rejust
trying to be creative and have fun playing
music!What doyou stand for?RubyWatson
(right):Equality. Animal rights. Human
rights. Kindness. Vulnerability.Greatest
achievement so far?SB:Helping to bring the
Girls Rock! camps to Melbourne and seeing
how much of apositive impact it has on the
self-belief of the participants. Also, building
the Girls Rock! volunteer community, which
is full of inspiring, talented and all-round
lovelypeople.And the biggest challenges?
SD:Besides findingsecure fundingfor
our non-profit, having to learn on our feet
throughout this whole process.Which one
tool could you not do without?SD:Dropbox
Business! It’s invaluable for the typeof work
we do, given we work from home and have
an enormous number of documents and
spreadsheets we need access to regularly.
Who doyou look upto?SD:All the women,
trans, and non-binarypeople who have
started and run flourishing businesses;
who have beate nthe oddstoachieve
success; and who share their knowledge
generously to empower others.What are
youworkingon right now?SB:We’re in
the process of expanding our program to
include skills like live mixing,recordingand
sound engineering, as well as facilitating
some of the camper bands toperform at
various fundraising gigs. We’re also actively
networkingwith other campsaround
AustraliaandNewZealand tohelp people
inother states set up their own programs.
Biggest lesson so far?RW:R Learning to
accept myself for who Iam.I can’t encourage
self-acceptance at camp if I don’t practise
it myself! That, as someonefor whom
speaking upis easy,I need tobequiet and
give others thechancetotalk.Why didyou
enter the Good Stuff awards?RW:frankie
supportslocal artists and creatives, which
lines up withour DIY ethos.It seemed likea
perfectfit!Where can we see your work?At
girl srockmelbourne.com or onInstagram at
@girlsrockmelb.Community judge GraceMcQuilten says:
pp atethatatGirsRock!!Mellb eis
agagagrrasrassrsrosroot ininitiatiiveveeworworworworkinggg elyelywithh
diverse young peopleinpraactictical,tangible
ways bratehe
cre yof oungpeopleleandandopen
oppotunitiesforhsese o aveve ooo
i bba gr nddorexpereienceeb or..PRESENTED BY
ALLPRESS
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GIRLS ROOC
MELBOURRN
PhotoBri Hammond