It's Personal with Anika Moa

Introducing: It's Personal with Anika Moa

Anika Moa has a new podcast! She chats about issues that are personal to her and her guests, with the likes of movie producer Chelsea Winstanley, White Ferns captain Sophie Devine, actor Robyn Malcolm and comedian Tom Sainsbury - plus many more.Watch the video version of the trailer here.This brand new interview series deals with issues that are personal to Anika and her guests. From body image with Bella Kalolo, touring with Tami Neilson and authenticity with Australian musician Jen Cloher.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Chelsea Winstanley: Overcoming trauma and coming out on top

Oscar-nominated film producer Chelsea Winstanley talks to Anika about overcoming trauma, taking risks, and coming out on top. The first guest on Anika Moa's new podcast, It's Personal with Anika Moa, is the oscar-nominated producer Chelsea Winstanley.Watch the video version of the episode hereChelsea's rise to the top has been littered with potholes - childhood abuse, a life-shattering car accident and a high-profile marriage breakdown. But she proves Anika's theory that the most interesting and inspiring people have often been broken and had to rebuild.On translating Disney movies"Why not? I think if we want to make an impact or a change with our language in this country, we need to go to and work with the biggest global giant in the entertainment industry."One night we were having dinner and we just got out those chalk pen things and wrote on the windows. We were like, what kind of contribution could we make towards te reo Māori for our kids, for our mokopuna, for our babies, and in the future and what do we do in our lives daily that we could enhance that? So, okay, we work in this industry, what would it look like if we just took product in our sphere, in what we do and put that into te reo Māori and put that into public spaces.On making it happen"At the time, Taika was editing Thor so he's on the Disney lot. I said to him, give me the person who can make a connection with Disney. He didn't really have anyone we could specifically talk to, but gave us, like, the intern of someone else. She was a young Hawaiian woman, she put us on to one of the producers, who then put us onto the guy in charge of international voices.""So I get on a plane and go to LA, because we decided to move over there at that point, take the kids. And so I walk into the Disney studio lot, thinking it was probably going to be me, Rick, and one other. It's like a whole big boardroom table with about ten people. And then just basically winged it. They were like, 'oh, this sounds great'."On chasing her dreams while solo parenting"It's a humiliating space to be in, the DPB. You feel heaps of whakama/shame that you're taking taxpayers money so you can feed your kid. And that's not a good space to be in. It's not the right motivation for you to want to go back and study, for you to feel shame. It should be more like, oh, I want to further my education and it was, I wanted to build a life for my son, I suppose."…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Bella Kalolo: Body image & achieving quiet dreams

Singer and Shortland Street star Bella Kalolo bonds with Anika over body image, performing with Chaka Khan, and achieving her quiet dreams.Shortland Street star Bella Kalolo talks about fat-shaming and smashing glass ceilings as she quietly goes about achieving her quiet dreams in this episode of It's Personal with Anika Moa.Watch the video version of the episode hereOn her singing career highlightsDoing Glastonbury (with a broken tibia)"We had to cover my my leg with a rubbish bag - every day. Because that's just poos and dirt and urine all mixed up. The spillage that was coming from all of the lavatories was amazing. That wasn't fun. But everything else, like being able to meet Neneh Cherry outside, at the back of her gig it was just amazing." On meeting John Mayer"So many people asked me, "what did he smell like?" That was the main question from women. He smelled like a person didn't he? I don't know, he was so nice, not fake nice, he was so lovely."Performing with Chaka Khan"The highlight would be Chaka Khan, 100 percent."She's headlining the Sydney Festival and I hear that she's going to be at the...I think it was like a dignitaries night. So we were playing at that night. We finished our gig, went back to the greenroom, so I'm towelling my face and then knock on the door and it's the coordinator for the festival. And then he goes there's someone here that wants to meet you... and then he goes Chaka Khan.""I got called into her little boudoir. She's so f'in cool, she's sitting there with a massive, like, feathered fan, smoking. So I get in there and then we talk, and then we get to the song choice ... she goes, 'I'm Every Woman, do you know it?' I've been singing it since I was like, you know, 19. So then I did it - it's online." On acting"I absolutely love where I'm at. And this has been a goal for me. Just one of those quiet goals, you know, that you keep to yourself in your heart. And I remember crossing the bridge kind of near the Greek Orthodox Church, just in town, going over the bridge going, I feel like in my mind I've made it if I get this and then it happened. And then I was like, I kissed a photo of my mom and dad because they've passed away now. So I was like 'we made it, we made it'."Quiet dreams…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Sophie Devine: Cricket, competition and crises

White Ferns captain Sophie Devine tells Anika about life at the top of her game and living with Type 1 diabetes.Sophie Devine is living her childhood dream of being a professional athlete. In this episode of It's Personal, she tells Anika Moa how she manages as captain of the New Zealand women's cricket team, the White Ferns, while also living with Type 1 diabetes.Watch the video version of the episode hereGrassroots beginnings"Like most kiwi kids, I just would be out as soon as the sun was up, playing sport, have to go to school, come back, be playing any sort of sport I can get. I was a little psycho. Like, I just loved getting stuck into it. And from a very young age, probably a little bit too competitive. Like, I remember, I wouldn't have been older than seven or eight, and me and one of my mates had figured out pretty early playing hockey on the grass... one of us would go in where all the kids would swarm around the ball and the other one would just wait by the goal. We'd get the ball, whack it up the top, score goals. We'd be scoring 10 / 15 goals every weekend.""Yeah, there was no other option. I was going to play sport for New Zealand. I didn't care what sport it was or whatever. That was just it. I couldn't see myself doing anything else."Getting the call up to represent New Zealand"I still remember it as clear as day, being at high school and getting the phone call, which, I mean, you're not supposed to have your phones in class, but stuff that. And I remember leaving and having the phone call with the coach at the time and school was a write off after that. I remember just running home, being like, shouting and hollering and stuff like that. It's an incredible honour. It's real cliche but it's honestly like the best feeling ever to have that recognition. And I would be nowhere near here if it wasn't for coaches, mum and dad, brothers and sisters, like umpires, scorers. There's so many people that have impacted me and have allowed me to end up where I am now." "I was a little psycho" says Devine of her competitive natureOn being captain of the White Ferns"I'd like to think I do a good job, but I think the great thing about it is there's always something to learn. You can always get better. There's always things that you feel that you can grow and evolve and develop, which I think is really exciting for me."…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Robyn Malcolm: On writing her own rules

Robyn Malcolm is one of New Zealand's best-known actors. She discusses creating her latest age-appropriate role in After the Party and how she's navigated solo-parenting, menopause, and mental health setbacks.In this episode of It's Personal, Robyn Malcolm talks to Anika Moa about her latest role in After the Party and how she's managed menopause and mental health setbacks as she continues to break barriers in the entertainment industry.Watch the video version of the episode hereFinding her place"I wasn't finding my tribe in Ashburton, that's for sure. I was doing a lot of music, so I was disappearing into music a lot, into classical music. And I painted and I was disappearing into that. So I liked disappearing into a creative world. And, I also wasn't very happy with myself at the time, who is at that age. So I liked disappearing into other people."There was a moment I entered into a talent quest when I was 14, and I made people laugh. And I remember, you know, how those very key moments in your life, it's like you can remember the smell of things. You can remember detail. And I remember I played Miss Piggy. I remember looking out and everyone was pissing themselves. I was on my bicycle, and it was a warm northwesterly in Ashburton, and the sun was down, and I had my Miss Piggy wig on a polystyrene wig block on the handlebars. And I just remember that bike ride, and I laughed all the way home. I was so happy. It was just glee. It was pure glee that I had managed to galvanise an entire room with laughter."The beauty of the stage"I find it one of the safest places to be. Being a character on stage, telling a story in front of a bunch of people. I don't know. There's something about it that is so, safe. There's something glorious about it. Even if you're playing the villain, because you're in the middle of story. And everybody connects to story in some way, and everybody has their own journey with it, and you're all experienced, because we live lives that are so singular. Right. And when you're in a place of story with other people, it's a beautiful collective experience.""I liken film and television a bit more to something like painting. So you're making the work before you show it to the audience. And there's nothing you can do once it's out there. It's a real gift. It's like, here it is. This is what we made, and you let it go, and then you go, and you can take it however you want to take it. I can't control whether you're going to like this or not."After the Party…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details