Actor, singer, radio presenter and proud Gija woman, Naarah has made headlines again after being awarded the Creative Talent Award at this year's 2024 NAIDOC Week Awards.
Held in Adelaide on Saturday ahead of NAIDOC Week, Naarah gracefully took to the stage to accept her award alongside other category winners.
Speaking to Style Up, Naarah said taking home the Creative Talent Award means a lot more to her than just its status.
"It's been such an exciting couple of days," Naarah told Style Up.
"This award is so much bigger than who I am, than me. I think it's such a win for the actors and for the underdogs.
"I'm so grateful, to walk in the footsteps of so many great artists who came before me, and there's so many incredible artists who have paved the way and are creating incredible art around Australia, around this country.
"With these awards, it's not a rivalry or anything. I feel like it's such an exciting thing that everyone gets to celebrate everything when these kinds of things happen in mob ways.
"There is such a new spirit in the air right now and such a positivity towards NAIDOC Week and celebrating us with us, with everyone else... and what we are, to stay black, loud, and proud. Keep the fire burning. It just feels so positive this year and like a start of a new season."
Naarah said she is hoping to push and advocate for more opportunities for First Nations individuals within the creative industry.
"I think it's an exciting time for the arts. I call it long COVID, but really the artists have really suffered a lot with long COVID and really getting things back on the ground (and) running again," she said.
"There's a burning there to get more stuff out there. Look within the industries that I'm in, I'm fighting really hard to get into them.
The day after I won the award, I got a no for a musical that I'm a part of that I was auditioning for, and I was gutted because I was like, 'this is the one, this is the one, this is the one,'" she said.
"I think it's an exciting time to be an artist of any kind, but I think being a First Nations artist we hold a little bit of something magic, deadly magic if you ask me."
Naarah said she is set to have a busy few months ahead, going between Australia and her new home in London.
"I am currently in Australia touring all around, seeing everyone, doing a whole lot of NAIDOC gigs and performing," she said.
"I head back to London (later) this month to work on the West End in London, which is really exciting. That's all I can say for now.
She said she's grateful to be able to work on either side of the globe.
"I've got my weekly radio show on ABC classic at 7pm on Thursdays, which is called The Musical Show with Naarah, and I talk about musical theatre on national radio every week at seven o'clock on ABC," she said.
"I do that wherever I can, so if I'm in London, I've been doing it from London, which is cool. It's really cool to be getting work in London and Australia at the same time."
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