Roots TV is a new, online media channel founded by former marketing executive Abdulrahim Elmi and its target audience is Perth's Muslim community.
“Roots TV was an idea we had to celebrate the unsung hero in the community, people who do an amazing job, but a lot of people weren’t aware of it,” Mr Elmi told SBS.
“We're using the media to dictate our own narrative... To control exactly what we broadcast and we're so proud of that as a community and we've met some amazing people along the way.”
The videos for Roots TV, which has the slogan “ordinary people doing extraordinary things”, are posted to YouTube.
“We're using the media to dictate our own narrative."
The volunteer hosts have interviewed guests ranging from the owner of a hijab store who teaches female cancer sufferers how to add some style to their headscarves, to young Muslims who are feeding the homeless on the streets of Perth.
The program doesn’t shy away from the hard topics like the lack of role models for some Muslim youth or the asylum seeker policies of the federal government.
“We have a lot of things in common,” said Mr Elmi.
“Whether you’re an atheist, whether you’re a Muslim, we have a lot of issues that we need to tackle, to address."
A recent guest on an episode yet to air was a former director of the Office of Multicultural Interests Maria Osman.
Ms Osman said Roots TV was an important voice to be heard, not just by the Muslim community, but the wider community
“I think that it’s critical that mainstream society look at Roots and see some of the great interviews, some of the dynamic people, the comedians, some of the political commentary that’s coming out of Roots TV," Ms Osman told SBS.
One of the hosts Aisha Novakovich says she's glad Roots TV has attracted a growing audience - including internationally - because she’s tired of Muslim people having to defend themselves in the mainstream media.
“It's very topical. It's like it's the Muslim Nightly News, and we want to provide a counter narrative to what the dominant media is providing,” Ms Novakovich said.
“Being Muslim is an integral part of my identity, but I’m a woman, I’m a mother, and often people can’t get past the hijab.”
Roots TV is ambitious in its scope, covering sport, technology, travel as well as a radio show and an online app.
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