Articles Women of Inspiration™ Podcast – Rhonda Head – 2019 Women of Inspiration™ Indigenous Leader
Rhonda Head – Founder, Indigenous Superstars – 100 Women of Inspiration – 2019 Women of Inspiration™ Indigenous Leader Award | @Rhonda_head
My name is Rhonda Head, I am from the Opaskwayak Cree Nation located in Northern Manitoba. I am a six-time International award-winning singer/songwriter, with 16 music nominations. I am also the 2019 winner for Indigenous Woman Leadership for Women of Inspiration. I am also a two-time acoustic neuroma brain tumour survivor.
I am classically trained through private music teachers, and still take lessons today. I have released 5 cd’s and numerous singles that can be found on all digital music platforms. I was also traveling nationally and internationally to share my music.
When Covid 19 invaded the world, everything stopped…including the music. All of my gigs were cancelled, shows were postponed, from music festivals to private shows. I had shows booked in New York City at Carnegie Hall, a music festival in Australia, recording in Arizona, concerts in Winnipeg…all cancelled or postponed. That was heartbreaking for me and I sure felt the sting. I sat back and thought about all the other musicians…all of there gigs were cancelled too. For many artists this is our way of life, our means of survival. I thought about my fellow Indigenous Musicians, and I thought about how we have to struggle more than mainstream musicians to get our music heard. Because of this, the idea of starting Indigenous Super Stars began. This was scary and exciting to me at the same time. From my past, when something scared me that means I have to explore it. And I am glad that I took the risk and initiative to start it. I wanted start an online show that’s streamed live, where I interview musicians and they perform their music.
I began to research programs that allowed interviews and also to share music to be streamed live on the internet. I also began researching what questions to ask musicians for interviews. I found a program that I began to use, and I started recruiting musicians that I knew and booked them for interviews. The format of the show was to ask questions about their journey’s in music and to perform to original songs during the show. As the days went on, I found a better program which I now use called Streamyard. This program allows me to interview more than one guest at a time, allows a banner to scroll across the screen and lets the audience be involved the show by making comments during the show and ask questions as well. My interviewing skills have improved as well.
I have interviewed over 40 Indigenous artists from all over the world. Their stories are fascinating, and listening to them perform is very moving. Watching my peers in their elements when they perform is one of the highlights for me. The stories that the musicians share are so compelling. The audience numbers continue to grow with each episode. The show is done live and live-streamed on my Facebook page, fan page, group page, Twitter, and my YouTube Channel – Rhonda Head. I also started a website, where past shows can be viewed and I also started a podcast to listen to the shows.
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