Alumni and Supporters

Associate Diploma of Performing Arts (Media Performance) (1985)

From WAAPA’s very first broadcasting cohort to working alongside some of the biggest names in Australian television news – through quiet tenacity, Sherene Strahan has carved out a highly successful media career.

But it wasn’t always the profession she planned.

“I had visions when I left high school of becoming an actor,” Sherene explains. “I’d done the rounds of auditions at 18 or 19, and both VCA and NIDA had said ‘you're a little bit young, but also your voice needs work, so go away and get some voice lessons’.

“My voice tutor noticed that WAAPA was advertising this new broadcasting course. Once I started broadcasting, I realised that was where not only my interest, but also my inclinations lay.”

Being the first time the now-renowned course was offered, Sherene is the first to admit there were teething problems, but remembers her time at WAAPA fondly, crediting it for getting her start in the news industry.

“It absolutely helped me. And the way that it helped me - which I think is the way that it helps people today - is I came out of there with a showreel,” Sherene says. “We had experience in reading to camera with an autocue, we had experience going out and doing stories in the field.

“The reason I got my first job was because I was able to show them what I looked like, what I sounded like, what I could do. And I understood things like, what's a piece to camera? Why do you need to shoot footage for a story?

“I got familiarity with the whole process of gathering news, and for its time, it was the best that was available.”

After graduating in 1985, Sherene headed for the bright lights of Sydney.

“I always knew that I wanted to be on the east coast. I moved over in about March or April, and I remember very clearly it took what felt like so long for me to actually get into the industry,” she says.

“I was doing the classic thing of working as a waitress and I would go across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and on the big billboards there'd be Channel Seven, Channel Nine presenters all lit up, and I’d think ‘oh one day I really, really, want to work for them’.”

And in a few short years, she was.

By May, Sherene landed her first journalism gig as a television reporter in Taree, on the mid-north coast of New South Wales.

“That was when I really realised this is the industry for me, I just loved it so much,” she says. “Country journalism in those days was amazing because we had not only a news program to file to, but we also had a weekly current affairs program. So I got to do news and current affairs, just got great experience.”

After two years Sherene was appointed the ABC’s first television news reporter to be stationed in Alice Springs.

“What I've realised is I just love journalism, because it just gives you so much transferable skill and experience. And you don't have to work in a newsroom to still be a journalist.”

“It was 1988, the Bicentennial year and the Red Centre was a great place to be. You get to do stories that you wouldn’t do if you're in a big city newsroom because you're the junior reporter. But because you're the boots on the ground, you get to do those big stories in a place like Alice.”

Armed with country experience, Sherene moved back to Sydney and got a foot in the door in the Channel Nine newsroom.

“If ever there was a lucky break in what I've done, it was working at Nine at that time. In those days, they were the best reporters, the best producers - they were the absolute cream of the crop.

“We worked under the most amazing news director in Ian Cook and I learned so much. He set such high standards, but he didn't just expect the best, he showed you how to be the best.”

Working her way up through various producing roles on programs such as Nightline and the Today Show, Sherene worked with legends of the industry including Ray Martin, Ian Ross, Liz Hayes, Peter Overton, Jim Waley and Tracy Grimshaw.

“I still have my pass from the day I started, and you can see the joy on my face,” Sherene laughs. “Very scary job, though, producing and putting news live to air. But it was such a tight team, we worked really hard, and it was the best experience of my life, working at Nine in Sydney.”

After relocating back to Perth, Sherene returned to WAAPA briefly to teach, before becoming the WA bureau producer for A Current Affair.

“I worked with a great reporter, great cameraman and great sound operator, got to do some really fun stuff, and felt really fortunate that I could still file for national programs from Perth.”

Stepping away from television to raise a family and complete degrees in education and sociology, Sherene then moved into marketing and communications. In 2021 she branched out on her own as a freelance journalist/writing consultant, content writing for corporate clients and taking on occasional field research and producing roles, including shark documentaries for US production company Red Rock Films.

“It continues to amaze me where my WAAPA training has taken me,” Sherene says. “What I've realised is I just love journalism, because it just gives you so much transferable skill and experience. And you don't have to work in a newsroom to still be a journalist.”

Her passion for the industry has led Sherene to give back through Women in Media, a not-for-profit, voluntary initiative devoted to the mentoring and professional development of women working in all forms of media, which is she is now the Co-Convenor of the WA branch.

“I'm really keen to let new entrants to the media know that there is a future. Just because it’s changing quickly, doesn’t mean you can’t incorporate a journalism approach.

“The media can be brilliant; you just have to make sure you get the support that you need. Get a tribe around you that believe in you and that will give you that support, make sure that you look out for good mentors who can help you on your way and then just enjoy - because it’s a fantastic profession.”