Illuminating Identities: Personal Growth & Palatable Representation with Kath Ebbs

Hellooo, and welcome to Season 10 of Mads World! You're about to listen to Illuminating Identities: Personal Growth & Palatable Representation with Kath Ebbs!

This week I am joined by queer actor, presenter, writer and Australian ICON, Kath Ebbs. With over 75,000 followers on Instagram, their work focuses on visibility and advocacy with storytelling at its heart.

Arguably one of the original Instagram influencers, Kath grew their online following through meme culture as part of one of the first content collectives and has continued to foster that community whilst harnessing the power of new-age advertising. They have partnered with brands such as Nike, Bonds, The Iconic and SBS to name a few, having most recently starred in Nike’s global campaign for the Women’s World Cup. Kath is also the co-creator and star of their own TikTok web series titled Self Care, which follows the fictional character of Grace on their journey of self-discovery after dealing with a sudden breakup. In 2022 Kath graced Aussie TV screens as Asher on Neighbours, the first non-binary character ever to appear on an Aussie soap. When speaking to Variety, they said: “If just one child that is struggling with their gender identity sees Asher on screen and feels as though their feelings are valid and okay and accepted – and not only accepted but celebrated – or a parent seeing Asher becomes more accepting of their child or kids at school, that would be a huge achievement and success point for me.” In addition to being a regular panelist on ABC’s The Drum, they are also the producer and host of their own online talk show titled Conversations with Kath, where they sit down to have hard, soft and sometimes silly conversations with diverse guests on a variety of topics. This has expanded into a podcast allowing Kath to bring some of their life experiences to the table. In this episode, we talk about self-discovery, identity, personal growth, gender representation and the media, tokenism and palatable representation, the importance and value of community, self-care, inclusivity and so much more.

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Cover Art: Veredien

Music: The.Jones.Project_93