Margaret Tra Interview

Stimulate Your Soul

2018 has been a huge year for Margaret Tra, she has travelled to roughly 15 countries whilst working online with her music PR company and teaching empowerment workshops.

Check out her blog: www.stimulateyoursoul.com

Interview with Margaret Tra

Question: What is a typical day like, for you?

Margaret Tra: Every day for me changes, now that I am based in Europe I am waking up at 4am to work Australian time. I check my emails almost all the time, with my public relations company Stimulated Media, all of my clients are in music so I have to be available 24/7 (except weekends) so I check my emails throughout the day. The rest of the day is spent listening to music, going to a gig if there is one and checking out new independent musicians who are emerging into the scene to educate myself about the ever-changing industry. I also organise SYS blog, TV and Radio so I work on these projects creating content and promoting them.


Question: Where have you travelled, this year?

Margaret Tra: This one is a tough one for me as I haven't kept count, however this year I went to at least 20 countries. It started in Turkey, then around Europe, afterwards I headed to Asia so countries such as Taiwan, Phillipines, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. I then popped back home to Australia for a month and continued the journey through Europe going to places such as Romania, Poland, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Portugal to name a few. With the distance and basing myself in Europe it's so cheap to head over to surrounding European countries, so I am taking advantage of that!


Question: Are you able to tell us about the women empowerment workshop you taught in Vietnam?

Margaret Tra: Being born in Australia with a Cambodian background I always felt a strong connection to my Asian roots. I was brought up in two worlds, one where I was brought up with Asian culture at home as well as being treated differently with the way that I looked. On the other hand, I was also accepted as an Australian where I was treated equally by my peers and friends in Australia. The Boss Lady Bootcamp workshop I held in Hanoi, Vietnam was created to empower Asian women and encourage them to run their businesses. The whole idea was to show Asian women that they to can run their own business and be equal to their male counterparts. As it stands, a lot of men are running businesses in Asia and more and more women are becoming independent and more business oriented, however sadly sometimes our families just don't understand and want us to take the traditional role of a woman which is prevalent in a lot of Asian countries. The event had 20 Vietnamese women attend, some with businesses already and others who just wanted to network and meet like-minded women. My main goal was to give these women confidence, I talked about my experiences on running a business, providing them with tools on how important networking is and how to pitch their businesses, even how to chase up invoices. I've been invited to throw another one for next year, so I am excited to do that and add some other countries on the list as well.


Question: How can Australian women begin to feel more empowered?

Margaret Tra: By believing in yourself and knowing your worth. I feel like sometimes as women we always doubt ourselves when our male counterparts never do. Over the years I became stronger and I increased my rates, I became more confident and my clients' saw that which made them trust me even more. Be yourself, but also demand to be listened to by others, you don't have to be a boss lady, but trusting in yourself and knowing what your role exudes confidence.


Question: What advice do you have for Australians who want to step away from the stereotype of having a 9-5 job and travel the world?

Margaret Tra: My advice would be to set yourself up slowly and once you have a small base of income just go out and do it. As the world is changing, the idea of remote working is becoming more and more popular. Many people are working full-time jobs with companies remotely, they are not just freelancers. If you're a freelancer, build your client list, network, build your reputation, do some free work if you have to in order to build your portfolio. Get used to pitching yourself, cold emails and use your contacts to gain clients. For me I am 100% referrals, once people see that you're a great asset they won't even care where you are located as long as you can get results. When your clients trust you enough, start travelling to small places for short periods of time making sure you have internet connection and see if you can work in these environments. This eases you in and also shows your clients that you are capable of doing your job even though you are not in the same country. It's also important to note that you could also have jobs in the countries that you travel to, whether its short-term roles or volunteering you'd be surprised on what you can do once you set your mind to it.


Question: What inspired the beginning of your music blog?

Margaret Tra: Back in 2011, hip hop and soul music didn't have much of a presence in the mainstream media in Australia. As a lover of hip hop I found myself meeting rappers that were touring around Australia and I figured out that if I can chat to them in real life, perhaps I can interview them online for my own publication. The idea was to represent independent artists' and make sure that they had a platform to get their music heard, that was really important for me. Especially giving a voice to people who would often be ignored, especially people in hip hop of colour. Hip hop now has only become a popular genre, so we are seeing so much more support for the genre. But back then, it was tough for artists', I saw that and that was what inspired me to start SYS. I was also working a 9-5 media job, so this was my vice/passion outside of work.


Question: What message do you hope www.stimulateyoursoul.com sends to women in the music industry?

Margaret Tra: As our blog is in the hip hop industry, the message I want to send to women is to know that even though the industry is saturated with men you too can break into the scene. I have had a lot of male musicians' hit on me, assume I am the assistant or girlfriend of an artist I was interviewing and even dismiss me, but all these things have built me up to take charge in the music industry. I want women to know that creating your own lane can make a difference, no matter how big or small the idea is, when it's out there you'll garner more support than you'd think. We are the D.I.Y generation and I want women to believe in themselves more and go out and do it.


Question: Can you share your 2019 goals, with us?

Margaret Tra: Next year I will be building SYS TV a lot more, I also plan on pushing my DJ career so I'll be DJing in a few more countries. I will continue to build and run my PR company Stimulated Media and run some more women empowerment workshops, the goal will be to run them mostly in Asia and Europe. More importantly my goal is to give more, to share my knowledge and this lifestyle to anyone who wants to live it especially to women and to women of colour. I know it's easy for me to say just go out and do it, but believe me I remember googling 3 or 4 years ago how to get online jobs, I accepted low paid blogging jobs but I pushed myself and built my empire to where it is today and I am more than happy to share that journey with others. I want to collaborate with more woman also so I am going to work on a few projects to push that. Travel wise I am definitely going to travel around Africa, it's the one place I haven't discovered yet and it's been a big dream of mine to see it.

Interview by Brooke Hunter