Known for pushing out sketches, music and more to her 1.8 million followers on TikTok, Canberra social media sensation and hip-hop artist Avneesha Martin is turning her hand to radio.

The TikTok star has recently joined newly formed Western Sydney hip-hop/R&B youth radio station CADA to present her own show, Keeping Up with Avneesha.

Avneesha told Canberra Daily there is close alignment with the station regarding her own personal interests in hip-hop, the online world, and culture.

“I’m a huge hip-hop and R&B fan, so to me that was so important, and I was just excited about what I could bring,” she said. “I do a lot of trends online and live on the internet, and they wanted me to bring that and my musical knowledge.”

With prior experience presenting at festivals and on the TikTok Trending podcast, Avneesha enjoys the opportunity it affords her to connect with both interview subjects and the audience.

“It’s the connection with people, I really enjoying having conversations … it’s very exciting and a lot of fun to be honest.

“I have so many questions, everyone’s journey is so different … I’m a fan of a lot of artists, I’m trying not to fangirl too hard,” she smiled.

Having relocated to Sydney from her hometown of Canberra just shy of a year ago, Avneesha regularly does the drive down the Hume to visit family and friends.

She’s grateful for the abundance of opportunities to do theatre and music throughout her childhood in Canberra.

“I was always a drama kid growing up, it makes sense with all the stuff I’m doing on the internet with sketches,” she said.

“I kept expanding my circle and trying new things, always writing music ever since I was little, I was in a girl group for five years, and it all happened while I was in Canberra.

“I feel very safe and happy when I’m there, that allowed me to spread my wings and try new things … it was just a really good start for me.”

Beginning on TikTok about three years ago, she discovered and fell in love with the social media platform right around the time she was looking to release her first official music single.

“I became obsessed, I fell in love with it,” she said. “People were doing such creative things, people acting, chefs showcasing food, incredible painters.”

Alongside posting music, Avneesha’s theatre and performing arts background drew her to writing and performing her own sketches, which complements and rounds out her content.

“I’d been acting for years doing a lot of that stuff and I couldn’t help myself.

“I’m so glad I moved past the fear and the barriers in my head, that’s a part of me I love, being silly and love being goofy … I like to think people are laughing with me not at me,” she smiled.

Now with over 800 videos to her name, Avneesha’s 1.8 million strong following built gradually with a few key videos going “massive”.

“One of my first videos pretty early on was this mum character based upon my culture; it was just me wanting to leave the house wanting to see my friends not happy about what I was wearing,” she said. “People loved the video, and I woke up the next morning with over 100,000 views on it.”

Having recently released her first song in Punjabi, Avneesha will be releasing “a lot of songs” this year and is hopeful she can hit the road and start performing again, too.

Keeping Up with Avneesha is on CADA 3-5pm weekdays; listen online via cada.com.au