Tucked away in the southern suburbs of Meeanjin (Brisbane) lives Vinnie, a proud Nunukal and Mununjali person committed to sharing their journey as a black, queer and gender diverse artist through music.

While Vinnie is learning and thriving on studio grade equipment with friends at the Albert Park Flexible Learning Centre located in Meeanjin.

Away from mainstream style learning, the Learning Centre offers students a hands-on and integrated learning experience that allows them to flourish and learn in ways that are meaningful to them.

"The school I go to is away from the mainstream - it helps kids that have fallen out of mainstream get back into learning and have an opportunity to get their QCE and their graduate certificate without the pressure of a mainstream school," they said.

"Albert Park is a fantastic example of that. The teachers see you as equals.

"It's not miss or sir, you're calling everyone by their name. Everyone respects each other so it's more of a family than a school."

Recently the Learning Centre had a 'Celebration Day' where Vinnie performed a touching tribute of Who Knew by Pink in honour of their late friend.

"Term four's Celebration Day was really hard because we had lost a very important person in our community, her name was Keana."

"She was a big sister. You could go to her. She was the real definitional of unconditional love.

"She ended up passing away quite abruptly, and so my way of processing that was to go into the band room and practice a song in tribute to her for Celebration Day. Music has always been a thing I use to cope and process. It helped me with the grieving process."

Vinnie noted their late friend was one of the reasons they got into music.

"Keana sat me down, gave me a guitar and taught me some chords and the floodgates opened." they said.

Vinnie shared with National Indigneous Times their experience being an individual in a community that doesn't always necessesarily see eye to eye or understand their identity.

"It's always felt like not quite girl, not quite boy so I just like to identify as me," they said.

"I use that in my writing and my songs to communicate to others who may not know as much about gender diversity.

"I think there should be more support among mob about being not-straight or cis, because times are a-changing."

Vinnie takes huge inspiration from queer music icons such as Prince, David Bowie, George Michael and their own Aunties, rapper Kaylah Truth and writer Melissa Lucashenko.

"I don't think I would ever be the same person without him (Bowie)," they said.

"I feel very grateful to have artist blood in my genes. I remember seeing her (Kayla Truth) perform once and I thought wow! This is what I want to do. I want to be up on that stage performing for people."

Vinnie's mother, Zamira Tyson, noted that young queer and transgender people often face challenges alone and without family support.

"If Vinnie was a young person completely on their own, which a lot of the people are, they don't all have family support at home," she said.

"When I went to a parents' group at Open Doors (Support service for young LGBTIQAP+ people) they said that 70% of young people don't have family support.

"Sometimes as a parent you think you are the only ones going through it but you're not. So they are navigating these systems of their own in the best way they can."

When asked what advice they have to the young people following in their footsteps, Vinnie said "put your hurt into words and don't push it down".

"Imagine a lid on a pot of boiling water. That lid is going to shake and rattle 'till it blows because of the heat," they said.

"So if you ignore your feelings and don't find a way to embrace them and express them creatively or healthily, it's going to take a toll on everything around you.

"You've got to embrace your music, embrace your art and embrace yourself."