How to be a Radio Presenter with Aryana Neo - Presenting, Acting and Confidence tips

#radiopresenter #networking #confidence 

Today I’m talking to presenter and actor Aryana Neo. I talked to Aryana about how she got into radio presenting, networking advice and her tips for having confidence in yourself. 

Aryana is best known for her work on the radio, including BBC Solent, Heart & Capital and her community work on the South’s Asian and ethnic radio station Unity 101 FM. She has also provided voice over for BBC Inside Out South.

Aryana presents live events such as the Christmas Lights switch on 2022 in Southampton, charity galas and sports events including the World Cup Cricket, City Networking and Southampton City of Culture BID. 

This is a great one if you are interested in working as a presenter either on Radio or at live events, we talk logistics of presenting live and how to network and find those job opportunities. Enjoy!

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Transcript

0:00

[Music] hi Jim here and you're listening to the honest filmmaker podcast career advice from people in the business this week I spoke to presenter and actor Ariana Neo now this was a good chat because Ariana is an accomplished radio presenter so if you're interested in a career in broadcasting this is a great one for you to learn some tricks of the trade how she set herself up some of the experiences she's had also um she's a very confident person so it's a great one if you're interested in learning more about how to network and also how to approach people and find those job opportunities enjoy so first question I want to ask you is um I understand you studied law how have you ended up working in entertainment wow okay well I still actually work in law I work as um a part qualified trademark attorney um and if I'm honest I love it but also I just like the money so as you all know in Creative Industries as we all know it's difficult you know you're creating things all the time work is ad hoc and you know it's it's I work in Free as a freelancer so um yeah that's why I work in law did criminology degree and then I still work in law because when it was covid um I kind of felt like I had to go dip back in and I kind of self- qualified myself um put myself through all the first initial exams and yeah that's why I still work in law okay no that's cool yeah um and so radio representing how did you get into that so I got into that through Community radio when I was I'm going to say 18 19 quite young but it's obviously still young so it's not very long ago um and um you know I've been part of them for a lot long long time and everyone says to me why are you still part of that Community station even though I work for BBC Global Brands and things like that and I it's like a family and you know I trained there I did my mvq in Broad casting and things like that that's how we started and you get your initial experience um and I've stayed there ever since but banging on the doors of all the drums that I have finally got into BBC in 2017 18 um as a journalism coordinator and that's kind of where it's gone from there right okay and my when I think of being a radio host this isn't like being a radio host but I would immediately panic and not have anything to say and run out of chitchat what's the how do you get past that where where's that come from well if you're doing an actual show majority of it is scripted you have a little timer and you got little segments and you might have interviews um if you're interviewing and it's you know off the cuff and you don't want to have um preset questions and things like that you just have to do your research I think just always research um if I'm doing you know on location things you don't know who you're going to speak to you just kind of get a broad like assignment or you know research of like the industry or whatever it is and then you just you just have to go with it and just hope it goes well yeah and experience and experience it does all come with experience how experience and is is there a difference in the way that you chat to your friends and is there a different version of Ariana on the radio or performing um I would say yes to a certain extent um obviously I'm more filtered I mean I'm not going to be as rude as I normally am or you know um you have to be a bit more watch what you're saying and things like that and obviously you've got processes um Ariana with her friends is very like party animal like larger than live always laughing so sometimes you do have to kind of reain that in especially if it's a serious topic you know get all the questions done and yeah you just got the feel what's going on and you know sense the tone s the tone and uh so you're um you've done your research but if going back to the beginning if if I wanted to become a radio presenter now obviously I could join a community radio or like a hospital radio something that is there anything else I can do should I practice at home what what how should I kind of learn those 100% practice at home um you know make tapes of yourself make demos for yourself listen to other shows or listen to a presenter that you really want to be like or that you think you can be better than or whatever it is take little bits of you know nuggets of information see how they flow into a song see what every station is different as well so if it's like a BBC station they'll have set Jingles compared to say heart and capital which will have their own processes so make sure you tailor every demo and everything to that it's definitely practice get podcasting get youtubing you know get out in the streets and do boxes youve got to really push yourself out your comfort zone um and talk to as many people as you can networking is huge um and yeah just definitely community and Hospital radio and things like that you need the experience to show any other brands yes if you're a celeb or something they do just overtake but that's just the industry um so yeah if you're an amateur then you just got to get practicing got get practicing and you mentioned networking there because that's sort of a big part of the industry um and I I I assume you're a good person of that because I've seen you on a film set and boom day one everybody knows who you are so good thing yeah no it's a good thing so so what tips have you got for networking H again you've just got to put yourself out out there you really have to be out comfort zone I find it very easy to just walk into a room not knowing anyone and I'll just go and speak to someone because I know everyone else is uncomfortable so I'm that person that kind of just goes and speaks to everyone but it does again come with practice I used to work for a bank and the whole premise of it was Business Development and networking and going across the south of England and talking to people you didn't know so I think again that's kind of uh practice in that sense but you just have to do it because what's the worst that can happen yeah very true and if you got a standard opener or not have you got a something you go to oh God I'm not like one of those business people no I wonder if I wonder if CU like when we're if we're in can at the film festival you can always go how's your Festival going and that's kind of like your little in without going excuse me I am so have you got something you how do you or do you you know you got like an intro you know what it's very easy just to be like oh hi my name's Ariana what's yours wow why haven't I tried that how long have you been in the the industry for make say make sure you say Jim um how long have you been in the industry for um you know or you know if you like someone's outfit or you just recognizing or or there's a something Funny's happened and you want to mention it it really is just a normal conversation I think people find it really unusual but like to to just you're just talking to somebody that you would in the street I just don't maybe it's just an alien to me to not understand how you can't speak to somebody new yeah yeah I mean I it can be intimidating and I think if you're someone who's used to be behind the camera uh uh it's it is intimidating and you kind of need to develop like you say that ability just put yourself out there not panic no one's going to tell you to bugger off do you know what I mean most people have a conversation with you most people are are sort of in those uh places to network anyway so it's a good opportunity yes exactly and if they do want to tell bug Ro then just sense the tone if the rude just turn around speak to somebody else yeah um so going back to the radio stuff what's the um and you said you did you did a a uh qualification in that how uh important is the technical side to you to learning like are all the buttons the same when you go to a radio Studio or do you have to kind of sit down and get taught them every time depending on the brand so BBC yes they are similar across the board um Global I assume so but I've only really done one location for them so I think learning the technical is always really good and I think when I was a producer for the early late show up on BBC Solen what I found really really useful um was you know you know how it works so then when you have your own show you know what needs to be done if you need to quickly edit whilst you're on air it can happen you can you can quickly do it and you know how to fix things and you know if there is a big crash of the system I just think it's better to be a well-rounded person you can present you can produce you can create you're kind of more in demand and you make yourself they used to say like a triple threat when it's like dancing singing and acting but like if you're like a presented producer and you can also write scripts and you can also sort out all the buttons as you say I think it just makes you more attractive to companies um or to Brands to use and they know that they can rely on you yeah yeah yeah that makes sense um so the other thing you do is uh presenting and I've seen you in front of thousands of people Christmas openings corporate events all that Malak did that just kind of evolve out the radio or is that something you pursued uh bit both I think I think having the radio has helped but again it's always always just been me banging on the draw door like asking people can I do this can I do this sending demos sending videos it it's constant I still do it now like it's Relentless to be honest um and you have those moments you think what am I doing with my life like why am I doing this um but yeah it it it just happens and I happened to work for the bid in Southampton um and then because they know I host they said would you like to host the Christmas Market and I thought wow the light switch on I thought that would be amazing to do very nervous at the time but it was really really fun um and again you just got to put yourself out there and I think if people don't know you want to do it um and that you also don't have copies of your work or examples of your work then um you're not going to get the job are you so you literally just have to put yourself out there if that's what you want to do you need to be confident about it you can't be all timid and shy so it does come with practice Yeah Yeah and any tips for dealing with an enormous crowd of people you got to work out the crowd I think when you first get there because sometimes they can be a bit Je or like they you know they want to Heckle so that's quite fun um but so you can't be like super serious presenter or tell them off you've got to just work with them and um be louder than them just make it fun be entertaining and be engaging I think is is a big thing as well and don't I always find people that are on stage if they're just longing out the conversation I get bored let alone if you know the audience are there standing in the cold watching you I think you've just got to make it short Snappy and just engaging yeah yeah yeah um and just looking at in the background so do you have an agent or do you do all that stuff yourself I actually do all this stuff myself I do have various agents I'm not I don't want to say anything bad have they got me any work no um have they got me self tapes and demos and things like yes um I do a lot of that stuff anyway so I've got an acting agent I've got a speaking agent So like um if I was going to speak at a conference and then I have like a hosting celeby kind of TV agent again I haven't had anything from them so far I I think it's quite nice to be on someone's books so they are pushing you out are they useful maybe I don't know I'm yet to find out but yeah I do think they can be useful but at the moment it's me I drive everything I contact people so I think you got to be your own agent to be honest and then you can rely on yourself yes and your tools for getting yourself out there so we're talking website show real head shot is there anything else I'm missing from that list I do think you need to be present on all social media platforms um I really was reluctant to join Tik Tok but I've done it um and you know I do put things on there I do put videos on YouTube and I get people seeing more of the shorts and things on YouTube than I would have thought I did um if you think your work is pants just post it anyway if because you know it will it will end up filtering through the feed and no one will see it as long as it's not really rubbish um you just have to you just have to go for it like even with this acting thing I'm so nervous but someone said to me you just it's done now you can't do anything about it and I was like yeah that's true so then it's done now it's all done yeah Ray actually said that to me Ray said it's done now so you just got to enjoy it just got to enjoy so then yeah so moving on to that so you're moving into acting and I hear you're going to be in this amazing horror film that's coming out soon he says um why why are you going into acting what's what's pushed you into that do you know what I always wanted to do it but I was never the drama student I was never the one that liked doing it um but I always watched actors and thought you know what I think I could do that so um very lovely director gave me this opportunity um so it was a really really good experience I had the best best time learned so much from really like established actors um and now I'm doing actual acting classes to to kind of make sure I know what I'm doing and learning so um yes I'm excited but very nervous very nervous yes first project is always the toughest one I guess I'm just I keep circling back to this but it's about confidence and it's about um because one of the things I find uh when I'm talking to students is technical side really really good skills obviously they've learned the equipment inside out but it's that confidence to put yourself forward and to network and to talk to people and kind of make them know you're available are there any is there anything people can do to get that that confidence build that confidence up if it's say through emails and stuff and trying to contact people that way I would say to make it easier for you make a template have all your links already preset have like some videos have some material because I already have that just because it's easier and it's quicker um so when people ask you for all your links it's there you can send it obviously tailor every email because that would be ridiculous if you didn't um but if it's in person you you do just need to network more um speak to more people just if you put yourself out there you'll see how many other people who are even taking the class or you know doing the presentation how nervous they actually are and actually everyone starts from somewhere um and sometimes it is life experience you know if you're a little bit older maybe you've dealt with more things in your life you might be a bit more confident um with like push backs and rebuttal and things like that whereas some people could just just be shy and timid in themselves so you know you can't change your personality um I'm not going to say if if you're not a confident person then you can't you can't do it you just have to work on yourself whether it's do some meditation do some whatever you need to do to get into a Zone if it's acting you know act the part like act confident that's what someone said to me just act confident oh yeah you could just do that so yeah I think if you're more of a technical person and you want to get on the front side of the camera talk to more people that are on that side start looking at it from a different perspective instead of just obviously being on you know the the behind the scenes look on the other way and think how can you not like copy them but because obviously everyone's got their own style but you've got to emulate a little bit of what they're doing you know what is it that they're doing are they frantically reading and then suddenly they come different on the camera or are they just naturally good on the camera some people are are very different um and they do switch it on which I don't know some people do which is is interesting but um I can't really switch it on into a different character I can switch on and be professional um but yeah so I I don't know how if I answer that question so we talked about uh you do your hospital radio you do your community radio stuff you get your show real together um and if you're looking to then work with a big company like BBC what are you doing are you are you co cold calling them or are you trying to make a contact to sort of Find Your Way in there I think there's no point cold calling them I don't really think that works I don't know how you would do that really anymore um apply on the BBC website they always have jobs it's ridiculous so even if they say once you get in you can move around yes you can but it depends on what part you're in so for example BBC solent there are different departments within there so you probably can move around because they they're quite joined up together if it's something in network so I work for BB Network and one extra it's all on the same floor but then I don't do much with radio one even though I'm on the freelance books you could move to a different department but again you're going to have to apply um within you'll get the internal emails to tell you um jobs have come up so that's I have a voice which isn't good for capital is what I know for news it's great but not for on on air as a fun presenter because I sound too Posh apparently I didn't know that yeah yes it's true I do have Posh boy but I wouldn't have thought that until somebody had told me that so and then the more people you speak to the more people you approach and actually if you want an agent you can just contact them I remember contacting people just for the sake of it they either say yes or they send send your work um I was quite lucky as there's a lady who were used to work on A Place in the Sun or a long time ago she does a lot of camera work she also then made her own kind of agency and I was almost like a bit of a guinea pig for her so she was like you need a website you need this you need all these things and she would look through my work so in a way like a mentor um was quite useful and that was all that was only in lockdown so and she kind of helped me a lot so I think if you do see someone that you want to be with that can help you maybe you can see how they can mentor you even yes good good good advice um who is your TV or radio presenter Idol who do you really admire who do you aspire to be like oh it changes so so I I have different people so I love um AJ dudo at the moment I love everything she's doing and I can see how much she's coming through the ranks I love her I like some you know I like some mainstream presenters because I just like the work that they're doing whether I like them as a presenter is different like I love Allison Hammond because she is a laugh um and I love the show that she works on um but yeah deina mcco used to be a big one when I was younger you know watching The Big Brother Big Brother shows and stuff um I think it just changes mine changes a lot because sometimes they might do a show you think oh what have they done that um but yeah mine varies mine varies I hope you enjoyed this week's episode if you want more advice from industry professionals who are out there at the moment working or you just want to listen to some cool stories from film sets from around the world then please do[Music] subscribe