Six minutes with Latifa Tee

Latifa Tee is a Sydney-based radio host and law school graduate. Her voice will be recognised by Triple J listeners who have been tuning in to her as the host of Saturday Mix Up and The Nudge since September 2021. Monday 16 January was 24-year-old Tee’s first evening as the new host of popular Triple J show Good Nights, which breaks new releases and shares the latest music news on Monday to Thursday nights.

What music lovers may not have realised is that the prolific Tee managed to navigate her law degree while also fulfilling her radio and DJ commitments. She’s currently completing her practical legal training (PLT) through the College of Law, and expects to be admitted in June this year.

In late 2021, she graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor’s degree in arts/law. At the graduation ceremony in June 2022, she wore a robe of red, black and yellow in recognition of her Indigenous heritage.

“I’ve taken a lot of time lately to come to terms with being Indigenous. In conversation with my mum, I decided to wear the colours of my identity, the red, yellow and black of the Aboriginal flag, to my graduation ceremony,” says Tee.

Representation matters

As a Samoan/Aboriginal woman, Tee was aware throughout school and university that she was not seeing faces like hers around her.

“It was interesting for me in law school because it was hard to see anyone who looked like me in a lecture theatre. I would sit in my Foundations of Law class debating on why Native Title is so important, but I never said I was Aboriginal. To expose your identity in those environments, I didn’t want to feel undermined in those moments.”

Seeing the Disney movie Moana when she was 18 was an unexpectedly emotional experience for Tee, who went with her father. It was the sort of acknowledgement, representation and celebration of culture that she had lacked in her experience of growing up, of school and of university.

“We were both in tears. I know it’s a Disney movie, but representation matters, and a character who culturally represents where I’m from, and maybe even looks a little like me, matters. If I’d seen that when I was four years old, maybe I’d have been out, loud and proud about my Samoan and Indigenous heritage.”

Tee began her studies in 2016, which inspired her to join the Arts Law Centre of Australia in July 2018 as an administrative officer and Brett Oaten Solicitors as an office manager. Simultaneously, she joined independent youth broadcaster FBi Radio as a presenter, where she also undertook media law training.

“While working those two jobs from August 2018 through to February 2020, I was also presenting at FBi Radio, DJing for 14 hours a weekend and making music,” she recalls.

Communicating between the worlds of law and music

“I feel really lucky to have worked with Brett Oaten because he understood the value of a paralegal who knows artists in the scene and can communicate between the worlds of law and music. If you’re a music lawyer and you don’t go to one gig a week, at least, what are you doing? If you’re working in this industry, you have to show up.”

Tee is currently finishing her PLT with the intention of being admitted in June as a lawyer in NSW. Her plan is to pursue legal work while continuing to work in radio, maintaining her networks within the music industry that she hopes to provide legal support to in the future.

“While everyone was applying for their clerkships and graduate jobs, I was applying at Triple J. I do really want to enter the legal profession as soon as possible, to be able to help artists and musicians that I connect with naturally. I think many artists don’t understand their rights. It’s not their fault. With lawyers, and I’m not a qualified lawyer yet, I think it’s our role to convey complex and technical legal terms to artists.”

Tee has witnessed how commonly artists approach lawyers when they experience a problem, rather than seeking advice at any earlier stage – advice that may have prevented them from signing a contract they regret, or caused them to cede their rights to their work or income. Providing pro bono advice and support to early-career artists and those without the means to retain legal counsel is important to her.

“My ideal work scenario is being able to give artists and friends really good legal advice and also have the flexibility to provide pro bono legal advice and representation.”

Both as a media identity and a soon-to-be practising lawyer, Tee values the impact her presence has for other young lawyers who haven’t seen faces like theirs in the law and media professions.

She says, “Now, I claim my identity really proudly. I want people to see me taking up space. Representation is critical.”