Shows
#WorldChangers Podcast with AmickyCarol – Travel, Transformation & Global Good#8. Stories Seldom Told: Smita Tharoor on Cultural Identity, Unconscious Bias & Listening Without JudgmentSend us a textWhat happens when your cultural identity spans the breadth of an entire subcontinent? Smita Tharoor takes us on a journey from Mumbai to Kolkata, Rajasthan to Kerala—and into the heart of what it means to live, work, and connect across cultures.An expert on cultural behaviour and organisational change, Smita reframes unconscious bias as “making judgments without realising that you do.” She explains how these instinctive perceptions—while natural—can lead to both positive and negative outcomes, and why awareness is key to fairer decision-making.As the host of Stories...
2025-08-1930 min
IMA InsightsFY24 Q3 CHRO Dialogue with George Inasu, Smita Tharoor & Sriram SAt a recent, half-day India CHRO Forum meeting in Bangalore, IMA India had sessions on building a high-performance culture, and on identifying and managing unconscious bias - which can be a serious impediment in any business.Fidelity National Financial (FNF) India stands out within India’s fast-growing Global Capability Centre (GCC) space. It is one of the rare GCCs to have an independent P&L mandate – one that is supported by a high-performance culture that remains solidly employee-centric. This unique mix has allowed FNF to move steadily up the ranks on the Great Places to Work (GPTW) list...
2023-12-2112 min
Stories Seldom ToldKushanava ChoudhuryKushanava Choudhury is the writer of the The Epic City: The World on the Streets of Calcutta (2017).
He has worked as an academic and a journalist in India and in the US. Most recently he was the Ferris Professor of Journalism at Princeton University. He spent much of the last decade living in India and is currently working on a book about what he witnessed during the Covid-19 pandemic in New Delhi, and how it changed him.
"I went back to Calcutta once to visit I found a little magazine, where they had published an issue on...
2023-10-1553 minStories Seldom ToldAnnette SmithAnnette Smith (née Julien) was born in December 1927 on the small Caribbean Island of Grenada into a privileged family. She was educated in Trinidad and returned to Grenada where she completed a year of Nursing before embarking on her journey to England aged just 18. She travelled completely alone and this was her first trip abroad.
In 1946, post the 2nd world war, Annette became the only black nurse at the Guildford Royal Surrey Hospital. She married a Londoner and had three children before returning to her nursing profession as a community nurse. She has many interests including poetry, singing, t...
2023-09-3030 minStories Seldom ToldAkkai PadmashaliAkkai Padmashali is an Indian transgender social and political activist. She is the Founder of Ondede, an organization that works with LGBTQI+ minorities on the idea of convergence (also known as intersectionality). Akkai has written a memoir entitled, A Small Step in a Long Journey.
"From criminalisation to decriminalisation to re-criminalisation. How do you accept why your society is so rigid in deciding your identity? Lakhs of people have been killed, have been assassinated. Even in the United States of America or different parts of the world, people who are black, lesbian, gay, bisexual, intersex people are...
2023-09-2346 minStories Seldom ToldAnthony AnaxagorouAnthony Anaxagorou is a British-born Cypriot poet, writer, essayist, publisher and poetry educator. He is the winner of the 2023 Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize for his most recent poetry collection “Heritage Aesthetics” published by Granta.
The chair of judges, journalist Samira Ahmed, described Anthony’s poetry as “beautiful, but does not sugar coat. The arsenic of historical imperial arrogance permeates the Britain he explores in his writing. And the joy of this collection comes from his strength, knowledge, maturity, but also from deeply felt love.”
His poetry has been publi...
2023-05-2138 minStories Seldom ToldYasmin Alibhai-BrownYasmin is a journalist, broadcaster, author and part time professor of journalism. She writes for the i newspaper and Sunday Times magazine and has written for the Guardian, Observer, Sunday Times, Mail on Sunday, Daily Mail, New York Times, Time Magazine and other publications.
She has won several awards including the Orwell Prize for political writing and National Press Awards columnist of the year prize. She is a national and international public speaker, a consultant on diversity and inclusion and trustee of various arts organisations.
She is also the co-founder of the charity British Muslims...
2023-05-1340 minStories Seldom ToldCharmi ChhedaCharmi Chheda is a filmmaker, writer, and theatre director in Bhutan. Charmi moved to Bhutan ten years ago from India and now sees Bhutan as her home. Charmi has made two feature films, Ganganam Girl and Bulwa and is currently working with 'Samuh', Bhutan’s first streaming platform as a Creative Director.
"I feel somewhere, since everyone is constantly putting up a show. The world expects you to constantly put up a show. And now with social media platforms, I wouldn't be surprised that people are confused about the reel and the real, as time passes. This ju...
2023-05-0643 minStories Seldom ToldAnthony SwannAnthony Swann has been in education for 16 years as a classroom teacher and instructional coach. He has had the privilege of teaching every elementary grade except kindergarten.
In 2021, Anthony became the first sitting teacher ever to be appointed to the State Board of Education by the US Governor of Virginia.Anthony is currently the assistant principal of Monterey Elementary in Roanoke, Virginia.
In 2018, Anthony began a program entitled “Guys with Ties” to teach boys the importance of honesty, integrity, and character inside and outside of the classroom. In 2021, Anthony was elected by his peers to be t...
2023-04-2931 minStories Seldom ToldRemona AlyRemona Aly is a journalist and broadcaster in the UK with a passion for faith, lifestyle and identity. She writes for The Guardian, is a regular contributor to BBC Radio 2’s Pause for Thought and has been a presenter on BBC Radio 4’s Something Understood, a half hour programme which explores a theme across different faiths and traditions through music, prose and poetry. She is also a podcast host for various platforms.
Remona is Director of Communications for Exploring Islam Foundation which specialises in PR campaigns and creative resources to better understand Islam.
Remona is the...
2023-04-2243 minStories Seldom ToldAyisha MalikAyisha Malik is author of the Sofia Khan novels, This Green and Pleasant Land and The Movement. She was winner of the Diversity Book Awards 2020, and teaches creative writing for the academies, Faber and Curtis Brown. Ayisha lives in London.
"I just had a lot of questions about the culture of noise we live in. And I was also a bit fed up of people just constantly having opinions, which to me, that was something jarring about the way people were jumping up on bandwagons. And what you know and offer their opinion on absolutely everything and...
2023-04-1536 minStories Seldom ToldDr. Oshrit BirvadkerDr. Oshrit Birvadker is a foreign and defense policy expert, with expertise in the area of India and the Persian Gulf. Oshrit is a regular columnist in Haaretz, a writer of the “Miss India” Column in the leading business news website in Israel, The Marker.
Oshrit is the first Bene Israeli, Indian Jewish person who has appeared on Israeli news channels as a commentator for India’s affairs, written pioneering articles for top newspapers in Israel and continuing to break new ground with her social and cultural enterprises. She considers herself a bridge between the ancient civilisations, the Indian and th...
2023-04-0837 minStories Seldom ToldJodi Anderson Jr.Jodi Anderson Jr. is the CEO and Co-founder of Rézme, an EdTech platform that facilitates economic and social mobility through specialized recruiting, professional development, and personalized learning for justice-impacted citizens. After serving ten years in juvenile and adult prisons, Jodi earned his BA in Political Science and an MA in Education from Stanford University.
His non-profit PipeDreamers helps to coordinate diversion programming in the Bay Area while bringing coding and design courses to youth incarcerated in juvenile facilities across Northern California. As an alumnus of Cornell University’s Prison Education Program, he continues to be an adv...
2023-04-0142 min
Stories Seldom ToldPaul StevensonPaul Stevenson is a lived experience ambassador at Genius Within and a public speaker. Genius Within is a social enterprise established in the UK to help neurodivergent people unlock their talents, whilst acknowledging and celebrating that this diversity forms part of the rich tapestry of human experience.
They advise governments on policy and provide consultancy to businesses, driving systemic change that allows all employees to thrive. They provide in-work support in the form of coaching, training and assessments. They also support neurodiverse/neurodivergent thinkers who are not in the workplace, who might be studying, unemployed or in...
2023-03-1831 minStories Seldom ToldValson Thampu“So, when you get embedded in a network, what happens is your freedom to think wider than what the interests of the network represents is compromised. What happens is that your faithfulness to a tradition becomes unfortunately, unfaithfulness to your own personal integrity. Because there are very many questions with which you’re struggling in your life. And no system in the world, no religious institution or structure in the world can accommodate those questions, much less answer them.”
Professor Valson Thampu is a former teacher and academic administrator in higher education, as well as a theologian and fre...
2023-03-1242 min
Stories Seldom ToldSeema AnandSeema Anand is a mythologist, a storyteller with a focus on women’s narratives and a specialty in the erotic literature of ancient India.
Seema believes that the narrative of the Kama Sutra was deliberately silenced. It was a brave book that tried to change the position of women in society, and was the first text to give women a platform of equality.
Her seminal work ‘The Arts of Seduction’, is a commentary on the metaphors and lost narratives of the Kama Sutra is an effort to reclaim the book for its intended purpose.
"And...
2023-03-0432 minStories Seldom ToldBetween Us: Stories of Unconscious Bias - Seema Anand"And hence, I am giving you a compliment that in spite of your grey hair, you look amazing. That you must have looked so much better when you were younger. And that's another unconscious bias that we automatically assume that youth is prettier. And I have to agree that youth is beautiful anyway, but to think that you looked better then, is what I'm getting to."
Seema Anand is a mythologist, a storyteller with a focus on women’s narratives and a specialty in the erotic literature of ancient India.
Seema believes th...
2023-03-0232 minStories Seldom ToldOctoli TuccuOctoli Tuccu is a Learning & Development expert with over a decade of experience. Octoli is originally from Nagaland in the foothills of the Himalayan mountains, in the northeast of India. She has lived in five countries including the USA, Qatar, Thailand, China and India. Octoli has trained over a thousand professionals globally on various leadership development subjects.
"People would constantly ask me where I'm from, or like what my education background was. And for me, that was them asking me his questions to almost belittle me. Until that day that I met you, and you asked me...
2022-12-0834 minStories Seldom ToldJo UffJo Uff is a Confidence Coach based in England for women who want to lead a more fulfilling life, but feel that something is holding them back from being, doing, and having more of what they want.
Jo supports them to reignite their interest in life, move forward, and achieve the changes they want to make. She works with them to define their future with intention, overcome the personal blocks holding them back, and take actions towards achieving what they now want in their personal or professional life.
"It was small things, it was kind...
2022-12-0136 minStories Seldom ToldRichard ThomasRichard Thomas and his wife Susanna have led Hillside Church in Wimbledon for 27 years, where he is the pastor. Richard also serves as chaplain to The Priory Hospital, the Royal Marsden Hospital and Cancer Centre London. He is passionate about how we respond spiritually in our darkest hours.
"Historically, epilepsy was believed to be caused by demons. So that automatically put anybody who had a seizure, or a fit, as in the evil camp. Now we sort of know that it's caused by an electrical imbalance in the brain. But still, it's a disease that's stigmatised and...
2022-11-2331 minStories Seldom ToldChristos DemetriouChristos Demetriou is an entrepreneur, music producer, songwriter and pastor.
Chris’ commercial history embraces multiple areas of business activity, including a sports promotion and public relations company, a television broadcast network (with affiliates in 28 countries), an entertainment exchange portal, a media rights and brokerage business (still active after 32 years) and a registered charity (celebrating 32 years).
Chris is also the author of four books and hosted “It’s All Greek to Me,” a TV programme which is aired in 36 countries.
Chris is responsible for three top 5 chart hits and two number 1 songs. One of Chris’s c...
2022-11-1137 minStories Seldom ToldNicola HorlickNicola Horlick is a British investment fund manager nicknamed 'superwoman' in the media for balancing her high-flying finance career with bringing up six children. She graduated from Balliol College, Oxford with a degree in Jurisprudence, later joining SG Warburg as a graduate trainee in 1983.
She was initially placed in the asset management division of Mercury Asset Management, where she stayed for the following 8 years, becoming a director at the age of 28. In 1991, she moved to Morgan Grenfell Asset Management and in 1992 was made Managing Director of the UK investment division.
In 1997, Nicola was asked to set...
2022-11-0234 minStories Seldom ToldAshok FerreyAshok Ferrey is the author of five books, all of them nominated either for Sri Lanka's Gratiaen Prize or its State Literary Award. He read pure mathematics at Oxford and was a builder in London before becoming a writer. Ashok Ferrey's new book, The Unmarriageable Man just won the Gratiaen Prize - Sri Lanka's premier literary prize founded by Michael Ondaatje.
In a parallel world Ashok is an architect whose last building, The Cricket Club Cafe, was nominated for a Geoffrey Bawa Award for Excellence in Architecture. By day Ashok is also a personal trainer.
"A...
2022-10-2635 minStories Seldom ToldVanessa MariaVanessa Maria is a DJ, Broadcaster at Foundation FM, and a host at Resident Advisor.
Named as one of the most important young people in music, Vanessa has made her mark on radio stations across the country sharing her love for underground UK music. She’s been busy making appearances at Boiler room, Dazed Magazine, Warehouse Project and HÖR in Berlin.
Vanessa’s work in and around mental health has also not gone unnoticed.
As the key presenter at Resident Advisor, she currently hosts a music and mental health-related podcast and documentary series...
2022-10-1931 minStories Seldom ToldMónica Alcázar-DuarteMonica Alcazar-Duarte is a Mexican-British multi-disciplinary visual artist, whose work acknowledges her indigenous heritage while exploring current ideals of progress. Her work references Western society’s obsession with speed, expansion, and resource accumulation as an index of advancement, at a time in which ecological disaster looms. It considers other ways of seeing, knowing, and being in the world.
She embraces themes related to science and technology and their influence over society and the natural world. In her projects she mixes images and new technologies, such as Augmented Reality, to create multi-layered work, producing meaning through seemingly disconnected na...
2022-10-1243 minStories Seldom ToldCarlos Hidalgo Sr.Carlos Hidalgo has more than four decades of executive management expertise and development of strategic programs for Fortune 500, mid-market companies and non-profits.
With an extensive knowledge of Latin America, Carlos has developed programs for Logoi (publishing), the Government Tourist Office of Mexico, and for bus builders in Mexico and Brazil.
He also has widespread experience of the non-profit sector having served as the Chief Operating Officer of Word of Life, an international non-profit organization. In that capacity, he directed long range and day-to-day operations in 81 countries around the world.
Carlos was appointed Commissioner on th...
2022-10-0536 minStories Seldom ToldCarlos Hidalgo Jr.Carlos Hidalgo is a Life Design coach, a Corporate Culture Development Consultant, two-time author, TEDx speaker and international keynote speaker.
Over the span of the last 25 years, Carlos has held corporate roles, started his own entrepreneurial ventures, led his company to receive multiple Inc. 5000 awards and has served in non-profit organisations. Carlos is now dedicated to helping others design a life they love to live, through his Life Design coaching and Corporate Culture services.
Carlos’s last book, The UnAmerican Dream details his journey from a workaholic to a life that he loves.
You ca...
2022-09-2832 minStories Seldom ToldLaura Kavanagh"We all have an unconsious bias, where we're walking down the road, and I could see somebody and I will just presume their life, or wonder what they do, or how many kids they have. I will just be inquisitive like that, because it's in my nature, I think, as a barber."
Content warning: This episode deals with themes of sexual exploitation and death.
Laura is a competitive powerlifter, mother of four and grandmother of two. She lives in Dublin, Ireland. Laura Kavanagh is the co-host of the 'Talk of the Town' podcast that features "3...
2022-09-2043 min
Stories Seldom ToldPuneet Singh SinghalVisit www.audibletrial.com/tharoorassociates for a 30 day free Audible trial and one free book token! #Sponsored
“And then when my turn was there, I go to the stage, I realised that I couldn't utter a single word. I was completely, like, nervous, and I couldn't. I was stammering as you know, I was stammering , I was spitting. A lot of struggle was there. So the words were not coming out of my mouth. And everyone was simply - they were laughing. And when I saw some teachers, they were hiding their faces, but I could see them...
2022-05-2842 minStories Seldom ToldRobin Shohet pt. 2Visit www.audibletrial.com/tharoorassociates for a 30 day free Audible trial and one free book token! #Sponsored
“Forgiveness is quite different. First of all, we do it for ourselves. So, I had to get rid of the bias that I am doing it for somebody else. I am doing it for myself. I don’t want to be carrying around this anger inside me. It’s like a form of taking poison when we are angry with anybody. For a long time. I am not talking about just in the moment - for a long, long time. We kee...
2022-05-2135 minStories Seldom ToldEthan NadelmannVisit www.audibletrial.com/tharoorassociates for a 30 day free Audible trial and one free book token! #Sponsored
“There is a basic core principle of the work that I have done all these decades. It is the principle that nobody should be punished simply for what we put into our bodies. There is no legitimate basis in science, in medicine and ethics, the Bible, you name it, for distinguishing between or discriminating against people, based upon which substance they put in their body.”
Described by the American magazine Rolling Stone as "the point man" for drug poli...
2022-05-1438 minStories Seldom ToldLynn PaltrowTrigger warning to listeners. This episode deals with stories around abortion and racism that could be distressing to some listeners.
“Here's an unconscious bias and a cognitive phenomenon.The human brain likes simple causality.So if a case got in front of a jury, the experience from talking to lots of people, including on long flights from one part of the country to another is that, if it comes out of your vagina, it must be your fault. The ability to think in any complexity about pregnancy doesn’t really seem to exist.”
Lynn Paltrow is an...
2022-05-0741 minStories Seldom ToldKate KinoshitaThis week’s episode is sponsored by Audible, Visit www.audibletrial.com/tharoorassociates for a 30 day free Audible trial and one free book token!
“I don't have to become British, I don't have to become Japanese and I don't have to put on a front or a mask in order to just exist. This is the centre in my body that gives me the validation that I need. That it's fine to just be exactly who I am. And that changes day to day as well, there's a fluidity to it.”
Kate Kinoshita is a writer...
2022-04-3033 minStories Seldom ToldBetween: Us Stories of Unconscious Bias - Podcast TrailerBetween: Us Stories of Unconscious Bias is a society and culture-based podcast hosted by Smita Tharoor.
Between: Us Stories of Unconscious Bias connects with guests from all over the world, asking them to share their stories and to reflect on their life experiences with unconscious bias, with an end goal of bringing us all closer together.
Listen to Between: Us Stories of Unconscious Bias on the Tharoor Associates website or the streaming service of your choice.
- Tharoor Associates website: https://tharoorassociates.com/stories
- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/454nZE...
2022-04-2301 minStories Seldom ToldDamion TaylorThis week’s episode is sponsored by Audible, Visit www.audibletrial.com/tharoorassociates for a 30 day free Audible trial and one free book credit!
“Feeling a heightened sense of my family being in peril really made me realise that a lot of what people were doing and saying and reacting to was based on a couple of things. One, a lack of experience with the groups or the cohorts that they were rallying against. And the second, being their only exposure to those people or concepts was through media, which is common through so many people's lives. If yo...
2022-04-1639 minStories Seldom ToldSimone Sultana“And we have centuries worth of information at our hands and we really don't find time to do the sort of work we should, as individuals, to make this world a more thoughtfully choreographed place rather than one where we have existing inequalities and the powerful manage to control media and the way we think. I think we have it all in our power to actually be more informed.”
Simone, a Bangladeshi-Brit, is an economist and photographer and grew up in North London in the 1970s.
Aged 5, Simone along with her family escaped from persecution duri...
2022-04-0928 minStories Seldom ToldSonia Dandona Hirdaramani“When I first heard the term unconscious biases, it actually had a negative connotation to me, as the word bias often does. But after some thought, I realised that unconscious biases are actually very natural. What separates us as humans is our ability to learn from our experiences, both good and bad. Now, like emotions, we have positive ones and negative ones, the problematic ones are the bad ones, like for example, anger. How do we deal with that negative emotion, we have to acknowledge it, we have to manage it.”
Sonia Dandona Hirdaramani had a career in fi...
2022-04-0230 minStories Seldom ToldCyrus Broacha“So here's the question, the unconscious bias is not that, that you got a tendency to go for the, smaller dog in the fight. The question is whether you do it to glorify and validate yourself. In which case, you know, there’s no real pure energy involved in that. As some selfless Jesus like figure, who is willing to give his life to save humanity, because that's what he wants to do.”
Cyrus Broacha is an Indian TV anchor, theatre personality, comedian, political satirist, columnist, podcaster and author.
He is also a prankster, best known...
2022-03-2633 minStories Seldom ToldMarguerite Richards"I recently read how it's only .01 percent of our DNA that's responsible for the expression of our skin colour and our traits, all of which are our outward appearance that we define as race. But those things are the things that we use to define each other. We are biased when we look at a person, when we are talking specifically about race"
Marguerite is an American writer and editor with a background in literature, translation, and magazine publishing.
Marguerite currently has a book out titled The Ordinary Chaos of Being Human, which you can locate...
2022-03-1932 minStories Seldom ToldT.M. Krishna“So, I think the first thing we must realise that there is no end-game here. It’s not like 10 years, practice this and in 10 years you’re going to be relieved of all unconscious biases, thats never going to happen. First to understand that, that’s a perpetual operation within our, our mind, it’s going to always be there. So I think what it requires is, I mean, you know, kind of acute awareness of it, I mean, can we be aware of it?”
Thodur Madabusi Krishna or T.M. as he prefers to be known is an Indian ...
2022-03-1228 min
Melting PotSmita Tharoor Founder Tharoor AssociatesSmita Tharoor is the founder of Tharoor Associates, a training, coaching andorganisational development company that understands the importance of theunconscious bias. She is a thought leader on unconscious bias, a keynote speaker,trainer and coach who understands the importance of stories – both personal andcorporate- and its role in defining an organization's identity and practices.She is the recipient of the “Global Diversity Leadership” Award at the 2017 World HRDCongress. She is a consultant with the Disability Arts, Culture & Human Rights groupTogether!2012. Smita...
2021-12-2334 minStories Seldom ToldSyima AslamSyima Aslam is the founder and director of the Bradford Literature Festival (BLF), a 10-day literary and cultural celebration, which she established in 2014. The BLF welcomes more than 70,000 visitors to Bradford annually and is celebrated as the most socio-economically and ethnically diverse literary festival in the UK.
Under Syima’s directorship, the BLF has made a significant impact on the country’s literary landscape. It has been hailed as ‘one of the most innovative and inspirational festivals in the UK’, bringing together literature from all genres, promoting intercultural fluency, providing a platform for marginalised voices, and reflecting the changing face...
2021-12-1940 minStories Seldom ToldNick Pendry“For me, one of the many things that is most significant about being a person of colour, a brown person, having been brought up in the ‘70s, in an exclusively white English family, but in an almost exclusively white English context, is that the ideas and beliefs that I have gained and have been transmitted down through my parents, my grandparents, have influenced the way in which I think and behave. Not only towards people of colour, but to other people too.”
Nick Pendry identifies as a brown Indian man. He is married to a woman, and lives...
2021-12-0437 minStories Seldom ToldAnnette SmithAnnette Smith (née Julien) was born in December 1927 on the small Caribbean Island of Grenada into a privileged family. She was educated in Trinidad and returned to Grenada where she completed a year of nursing before embarking on a journey to England aged just 18. She travelled completely alone and this was her first trip abroad. In 1946, post-WWII, Annette became the only black nurse at the Guildford Royal Surrey Hospital. She married a Londoner and had three children before returning to her nursing profession as a community nurse. She has many interests including poetry, singing, the arts, sport and c...
2021-11-2129 minStories Seldom ToldSabriye TenberkenSabriye Tenberken, from Germany, knows what it is to be marginalised after becoming fully blind at the age of 12. She studied Tibetology/Central Asian Sciences at Bonn University and helped develop the Tibetan Braille Script. In 1997, Sabriye travelled on horseback through the Himalayas and in 1998, along with her partner Paul Kronenberg, started the first school for the blind in Tibet. This school formed the foundation of Braille Without Borders, an organisation that empowers blind people to take their lives into their own hands. In 2005, Sabriye and Paul founded Kanthari in Kerala, south India, a leadership institute for social change...
2021-11-0642 minStories Seldom ToldQQ, also known as Francesca Mudannayake, is a Sri Lankan based singer/songwriter who has been performing since she was 6. After honing her skills at the National Youth Jazz Orchestra in the UK and singing at the Barbican Theatre, Q released her debut EP Hysteria in April 2021. Blending alternative R&B with lyrics on female sexuality and independence, Rolling Stone India described it as “everything you want to hear in music of empowerment”. In addition to this she has modelled for fashion brands and has appeared in magazines like L’Officiel Italia and Cosmopolitan Sri Lanka. An actor too, she was most rece...
2021-10-2332 minStories Seldom ToldSafiya Yasmin BadzhvaSafiya Yasmin Badzhva (pronounced Bajwa) is a 22-year-old marketing student from Moscow. She was born and raised in Moscow to a Russian mother and a Pakistani father. Safiya sees herself as 100% Muscovite, but her appearance doesn’t fit into the stereotypical image of a local Russian. Safiya feels that Moscow is getting more diverse, so it's important to question the idea of xenophobia and racism in modern Russian society.
"I define myself as a local as a Muscovite and person with the Russian mentality. And my first language is Russian. But despite all this, people don't perceive me...
2021-10-0924 minStories Seldom ToldPriyanca RadhakrishnanPriyanca Radhakrishnan is a Member of Parliament in the New Zealand Labour Party and a Minister of the Crown. Her portfolios include Diversity, Inclusion and Ethnic Communities. She is the first person of Indian origin to become a Minister in New Zealand.
Born in India, Priyanca went to school in Singapore, and then moved to New Zealand to further her education. She has spent her work life advocating on behalf of people whose voices are often unheard, including survivors of domestic violence, and exploited migrant workers. She strongly believes that everyone has the right to live with...
2021-09-2536 minStories Seldom ToldPapa CJPapa CJ is an award-winning, international stand-up comedian. He has performed over 2000 shows in over 25 countries. Forbes Magazine called him ‘the global face of Indian stand-up’ and Harvard Business Review called him 'one of the most influential comedians around the world’. He has won awards for both Asia and India’s best stand-up comedian. He is also a motivational speaker and corporate training coach.
"Even in our [Indian] education system, when we grow up, we are told these are the answers. Suddenly, you go abroad and study, and your faculty member asks you, what do you think? And the...
2021-09-1238 minStories Seldom ToldMaria ArpaMaria Arpa is the founder of the Centre for Peaceful Solutions and the executive director at The Centre for Non-Violent Communication. She has dedicated the last 20 years of her life promoting non-violent communication as an alternative to mainstream systems of domination culture. Through her career, Maria has worked in some of the most violent areas of the UK and the USA, including with families, in schools and workplaces, within neighbourhoods and in prisons.
"I think it's true for everyone who was around in the 60s and 70s, and even into the 80s. That there were cultural jokes. T...
2021-08-2831 minStories Seldom ToldHosna JalilAt age 27, Hosna Jalil was the first woman appointed to a high Interior Ministry post in Afghanistan. She held the post of Deputy for Policy and Strategic Affairs and later Deputy for Women Affairs. Until the age of nine she lived under the Taliban regime, not being allowed to attend school. Despite this she went on to achieve a BA in Physics before completing a master’s degree in Business Management at the American University of Afghanistanan. Hosna is an independent, feminine, wandering soul.
"Women have not been allowed to move out of the house, or even have a professional ca...
2021-08-1438 minStories Seldom ToldMatt DavisMatt Davis lives in London with his wife, Eliza and two children, Isaac and Tabitha.
13-year-old Isaac is autistic and was diagnosed with autism at age 3.
Matt writes a blog about this journey and shares his thoughts and feelings at mysonisaac.net
Matt is a Trustee of Autistica and Parent Patron and business ambassador for Ambitious About Autism.
He is also a partner at Red Brick Road, an advertising agency in London.
"Even at that stage, I had no idea of autism. So I might go to the nursery, some...
2021-07-3141 minStories Seldom ToldHelena KennedyBaroness Helena Kennedy QC one of Britain's most distinguished lawyers. She has spent her professional life giving voice to those who have least power within the system, championing civil liberties and promoting human rights.
In an interview from a few years ago, Helena was asked about her best and worst days of works. Successes like the release of Paul Hill, one of The Guildford Four, is a given, but what was moving and powerful was to hear Helena talk of supporting and winning cases such as the battered women who killed their husbands after years of abuse...
2021-05-3042 minStories Seldom ToldHabeeb AkandeHabeeb Akande is a sex educator, author and historian. His work explores an ancient African sexual practice for women's satisfaction, which he believes can close the gender pleasure gap. His work also covers race relations and sexual intimacy in Brazil and Muslim cultures. Habeeb is the author of the Amazon bestselling book Kunyaza: The Secret to Female Pleasure, which was featured in the BBC documentary, The Orgasm Gap. Habeeb aims to present a positive representation of African cultures and sexually empower women with culturally-competent sex education.
"The fact that we have female body parts that are named af...
2021-05-2235 minStories Seldom ToldYan Wang PrestonDr Yan Wang Preston is a British-Chinese artist interested in the connections between landscape, ecology, identity and migration. She has specialised in conducting long-term projects that are demanding both physically and intellectually. For example, she photographed the entire 6,211km Yangtze River in China at precise 100km intervals for her Mother River project. Yan has published two photo books, 'Mother River' and ‘Forest’ with Hatje Cantz. She holds a PhD in Photography and lectures at the University of Huddersfield.
"When I came [to the UK], I realised in the last 16 years - it's a gradual realisation of my own...
2021-05-1543 min
Diverse: a SWE podcastEP 130: Smita Tharoor on Addressing Unconscious Bias in Our Professional and Personal LivesIn this SWE Diverse episode, Heather Doty, FY21 president of SWE, speaks with WE Local Europe keynote Smita Tharoor. As a motivational keynote speaker and thought leader on unconscious bias, Smita is passionate about helping others understand and rectify their own unconscious biases. Listen as Heather and Smita discuss bias and the importance of inclusion.
2021-05-1021 minStories Seldom ToldAndrew FeinsteinAndrew Feinstein is a former African National Congress (ANC) Member of Parliament who served in South Africa under Nelson Mandela. He resigned in protest in 2001 at the ruling party’s refusal to allow an unfettered investigation into a massively corrupt $10bn arms deal. He is an author of the critically-acclaimed The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade which reveals the corruption at the heart of the global arms business. He is also a film-maker and campaigner on the damage wrought by the global arms trade, and Executive Director of the London-based non-profit Shadow World Investigations. Andrew is the so...
2021-05-0836 minStories Seldom ToldEmeka OnwubikoEmeka Onwubiko was the first Nigerian-born footballer to play for the Republic of Ireland and wear the Irish jersey. Today, Emeka is a UEFA Certified Coach coaching inspiring young football players.
On the weekend of May 1st, 2021 a number of football organisations in England are going silent on social media to highlight increasing levels of racist abuse on social media platforms.
"When you play without shoes is basically like, not having a lot as a child. For example, you know, most successful people never really had a lot as kids, so that inspired and motivated...
2021-05-0131 minStories Seldom ToldIndira Kaur AhluwaliaIndira Kaur Ahluwalia is an activist and entrepreneur turned advisor, coach, and now an author. She’s worked in federal government contracting, particularly international development, to build equity, accountability, and sustainability.
As Indira fulfilled her life’s passions and professional obligations, she was diagnosed with stage IV advanced breast cancer with bone metastasis at age 38. Her fight, and the lessons she learned, led her to write Fast Forward to Hope: Choosing to Build the Power of Self — a memoir to enable others to face and walk beyond their own issues.
"But you know, whether it's the ca...
2021-04-2436 min
Seasoning the reasoningEpisode 9 Unconscious bias expert Smita TharoorSmita Tharoor is a motivational keynote speaker and thought leader on the Unconscious Bias and how it influences all of us. Smita has spoken at conferences all over the world from Philadelphia to Penang with Berlin and Bangalore in the middle. She talks about emotional resilience, change management, leading in times of uncertainty and other similar topics all embedded by our unconscious bias.
She is the founder of Tharoor Associates a Training, Coaching and Organisational development company and co-founder of Culturelytics a company that uses artificial intelligence to understand culture in an organisation. She is a TEDx...
2021-04-2039 minStories Seldom ToldJaishree MisraJaishree Misra is an author of Indian origin living in Britain. She has written eight novels published by Penguin and Harper Collins. She has also written a non-fiction account of building a writer’s studio on the beach in her home state of Kerala, India. She is a postgraduate in English Literature from Kerala University and has two diplomas from the University of London, one in Broadcast Journalism and the other in Special Education. She has worked in special education, journalism and as a film classifier at the British Board of Film Classification. She lives in London with her hu...
2021-04-1741 minStories Seldom ToldJonah BatambuzeJonah Batambuze is a Ugandan-American, multidisciplinary creative, and founder of a community for Black and South Asian people called the Blindian Project.
https://www.blindian-project.com/
"For me growing up, the culture, it was you were dating. People dated from when they were like thirteen. Like, my parents met some of my girlfriends, but there was never an expectation that Jonah is going to marry this girl. It was just a part of life, really. Now, I know that my wife, Swetha, didn't grow up like that. What I found is that in the South A...
2021-04-1033 minStories Seldom ToldRobin ShohetRobin Shohet started his therapeutic career in 1976 working in a residential therapeutic community with people who had come out of psychiatric hospitals. He left in 1979 to work freelance as a therapist, supervisor and trainer. He is the author and editor of several books, the latest co-written with his wife, Joan, called In Love with Supervision: Creating Transformative Conversations. He is a student of A Course in Miracles, a book that has had a profound influence on his life.
"As soon as I become Robin and you, Smita, we separate. The analogy I give is, if...
2021-04-0330 minStories Seldom ToldEliza GriswoldEliza Griswold is a journalist, poet and contributing writer for the New Yorker. She was awarded the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in nonfiction for her book, Amity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America. She’s a distinguished writer in residence at New York University and lives between New York and Philadelphia with her husband and son.
"Basically, what we did is look at how cultures welcomed and and insisted that adolescents include a period of going to the edge of the society. Like coming of age rituals, liminal experience. You know, you get your period, you ha...
2021-03-2735 min
Stories Seldom ToldAmish TripathiAmish Tripathi is a diplomat, author and columnist. He is currently the Director of The Nehru Centre in London, the cultural wing of the Indian High Commission.
Amish was been listed among the 50 most powerful Indians in 2019 by India Today magazine. Forbes India has regularly ranked Amish among the top 100 most influential celebrities in India. In 2014, Amish was also selected as an Eisenhower Fellow, a prestigious American programme for outstanding leaders from around the world.
Amish published his first book in 2010, and has written 9 books to date. His books have sold 5.5 million copies, and have...
2021-03-2038 minStories Seldom ToldTeremoana Rapley"I didn't write politically conscious songs or songs that talked about the skin colour of my first child. I didn't write those things, saying, I'm going to change the world and this is how I'm going to do it. I wrote those songs, because that's the way that I felt, like everything that I do with my music. There’s not a disconnection, and it's just a focus on 'how can I market and get my music out'. I write my music the way that I feel. And that's all it is. Because my music is an expression of ho...
2021-02-1337 minStories Seldom ToldHári Sewell"And I walked away, thinking, right, okay, so this kind of dominant view as a man, that if you have an encounter, that you have to kind of become this alpha male who's gonna kick butt. Even though I spend a lot of work on myself trying to, you know, remove the idea that violence is the way to solve problems and so forth. That, in that challenge, I couldn't just say to the guy, well, actually, given the choice, I'll always sidestep an opportunity to engage in violence as the kind of dominant way in which people settle...
2021-02-0626 minStories Seldom ToldAnna Harrington"And so, I was brought into this family, who already had two children. They were my parents' biological children, two boys, very white. So, it was very interesting, when we would go out as a family. I would be stood there with classically sort of Pakistani colouring, you know, I have jet black hair. I have amazingly dark eyes, with my brothers and my parents who are blond and blue eyes. And it was, you know, it was quite amusing, really, because I could see people looking at us as a family, and questions going through their heads and...
2021-01-3033 minStories Seldom ToldSeamus Beirne"There still is an aspect of always having to come out, basically, because the status quo is that you're straight. Therefore, in work and that kind of thing, there's always a bit of friction there when you meet someone new who doesn't know. You will end up telling them, you know, ‘at the weekend, what did you do?’. Oh, well, I was with my boyfriend or whatever. And there's always going to be that, well, what are they gonna think about that? I mean, it's not a problem, I suppose, in the context of, British people, or Irish people nowa...
2021-01-2326 minStories Seldom ToldJude Hughes"Let's say now, you're getting married. You've no relations to call on to come to your wedding. You're aware of that at the time. Then when your first kid is born, you've nobody to ring up and tell - aunts, uncles or anybody. Nobody to ring up. You have plenty of friends and that, which is great. But you could always feel the other person had all the wives, uncles, aunts to ring up, whereas I had none of that. Now, I thought about it, but I didn't let it get under my skin. Because if you allowed things l...
2021-01-1633 minStories Seldom ToldNaira Manzoor"You get respect when you are someone, when you're doing something. When you're no one, people forget you. They forget what you have done for them. They forget who you are, or they even forget what you have done in your past. So, at that time, I learned that if I will not accept myself for who I am, if I will not respect myself for who I am, no one is going to do that. Because the world is very cruel. You have to stand for yourself and you have to accept yourself for who you are."
2021-01-0926 minStories Seldom ToldKate NichollsThis is an extended two part episode. Part one is just under half an hour, followed by a brief segue into part two which is approximately twenty minutes. Please do listen to both!
“The other thing that was my unconscious bias, I'd always perceived myself as a strong woman. I am a strong woman and I've coped with some pretty significant adversity in my life with pragmatism and a degree of humanity. But this one stripped me not only of my humanity, it stripped me of my motherhood, it stripped me of me. And that was very, ve...
2021-01-0148 minStories Seldom ToldSP Rawal"We were told that everyone was butchered, was literally butchered on the way to India. Now supposing we were there, what would happen? I think it made me more resilient. Subconsciously, having escaped death at such close quarters and at such a young age. It allows me to be a little more cavalier in my approach to life. Not careless, but carefree."
SP Rawal was born in 1940 to a rich landowner in what is today, Punjab, Pakistan. At the age of seven, he was forced to go through the trauma of India's partition, travelling as part of a car...
2020-12-2633 minStories Seldom ToldKen McCue"These kids are so privileged...I knew that they were all going to third level education, they're going to be doctors and engineers... I realised that the class structure was so profound and it's developed at that level in education, right from the very get-go. Where those kids would have been in local creches or play schools, the Traveller (indigenous ethnic group) kids lived on the other side of the road."
Ken McCue is a graduate of the International School of Politics and Culture, Moscow. He holds a Master of Philosophy Diploma in Peace Studies from Trinity...
2020-12-1823 minStories Seldom ToldKatharine Birbalsingh"What I'm saying is, is that because they're not aware of their unconscious bias, they think they actually believe that what they're doing is right... There are a lot of people who disagree with me, not just the people on the left or the right, because many people on the right refuse to recognise how complex racism is.... People in the middle recognise that racism isn't just black and white, it's actually far more complex. And it reveals itself unconsciously, in all kinds of ways, both on the right and on the left. We tend to just think people on...
2020-12-1136 minStories Seldom ToldWilliam Dalrymple"We were exactly the class which filled the Imperial hierarchy...sufficiently well connected to get a place with the East India Company or in the Raj Civil Service, but desperate enough economically to need to send the younger sons out... It was a guy called Stair Dalrymple who ended up in the Black Hole of Calcutta in 1756. And so, generations have been there one after another and like almost all the Brits, probably all the Brits who I'd ever met, it was assumed that colonisation was an act of bringing civilisation to poor benighted natives."
William Dalrymple is...
2020-12-0627 minStories Seldom ToldIfrah Ahmed"Others conspire that if you're not cut, you are not clean, nobody will marry you. You are not going to be the same as other girls. You're going to school and you feel like you're different. Because you are not cut. That is why I am an activist and campaigner on female genital mutilation."
Ifrah Ahmed is an Irish-Somali activist, campaigner and Civil Society Organisation director working in the field of Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting abandonment. She has also set up the United Youth of Ireland in 2008, in response to youth immigrant integration issues in her adopted c...
2020-11-0734 minStories Seldom ToldSuvir Saran"In 2017/2018 I opened a restaurant called Tapestry in New York City that served food from 17 or 18 countries at one time on the menu. And people loved it. It was in the West Village. And we had the who's who of New York coming to eat with us. But there were certain food critics that were absent. And I then got an email from one food critic who said to me, don't you think you're being too daring that you're cooking something other than Indian? And I asked them, do you ask this question to all the American chefs born a...
2020-10-3034 minStories Seldom ToldReza Beyad"When I pray five times a day, it's interesting that the way I start my prayers, I refer to God, as the God of all creation. I don't say the God of Muslims, I say the God of all creation which includes everyone on Earth. So that's part of my faith. And that's why I feel that my faith underpins and underlines the way I behave, and I interact with people."
Reza Beyad is a multilingual entrepreneur, philanthropist and fundraiser. He's a practising Muslim who completed his schooling from a Jesuit school. One of his main interests...
2020-10-2330 minStories Seldom ToldRosemary Cronin"A lot of the young people that I work with, see themselves in a troubled state. But the minute they start engaging with something positive, they have an identity shift, they start to position themselves as an artist. And that takes them away from what they perceive themselves to be in the past. We can all create these identity shifts, but it's about just taking that one positive step and having a reinforced positive loop to keep going."
Rosemary Jane Cronin is an artist and university lecturer specialising in fine art, gender and psychoanalysis who has exhibited...
2020-10-1625 minStories Seldom ToldSeema AnandContent Warning: This episode deals with material of a sexual nature.
"The Kama Sutra was written in metaphors. And it talks about pleasure so delicately and with such elegance and refinement that it actually inspired about 2000 years of ancient Indian literature."
Seema Anand is a mythologist and a storyteller with a focus on women's narratives and a specialty in the erotic literature's of ancient India. Seema believes that the narrative of the Kama Sutra was deliberately silenced. This was the first text to give women a platform of equality.
Seema Anand is also t...
2020-10-0934 minStories Seldom ToldMatt Henderson"I guess I could see unconscious bias in other people's ideas of a Muslim. You could be White, Asian, Black, you could be from any type of background. It's a religion, like other religions where you choose to become a Muslim and fall in that religion. People make a lot of assumptions, on what a Muslim looks like. It could be anyone."
Matt Henderson is originally from Scotland and lives in Yorkshire. With over 20 years’ experience as a community worker, Matt is currently working as a project manager for Bradford for Everyone, a UK Government social integration pil...
2020-10-0232 minStories Seldom ToldAditya Atri"In September 2019, Aditya Atri was defined by what he did for a living, what car he drove, what his status was in society. Post September 2019, Aditya Atri is defined by the fact he has cancer."
Aditya Atri has over 30 years' experience as an advertising and marketing executive He has managed large consumer facing programmes and campaigns for both local and multinational brands across South Asia, Middle East and Australia. He has held leadership positions across financial services, retail and marketing communication companies.
2020-09-2530 minStories Seldom ToldBhasha Mukherjee"I remember going into the Miss England competition being told by my organisers, just go take part -the Asian girls never do well. And I basically got told you're not going to win because the Asian girls don't do well. And I remember being at the competition and confirming this bias. "
Dr Bhasha Mukherjee is the reigning Miss England and NHS front line worker in the battle against the Covid 19 pandemic.
2020-09-1931 minStories Seldom ToldDavid Knaus"I mean, I say to people in this country, you know, not everybody who voted for Trump is an idiot. There were a lot of smart people who voted for the guy, just look at the numbers. You look in London with Brexit, a lot of smart educated people voted for Boris Johnson. And I don't think you can dismiss that."
David Knaus is a collector and patron, focused on photography and contemporary arts - he works actively with photographers consulting on the placement of their archives so their work is both preserved and accessible.
2020-09-1120 minStories Seldom ToldGhida Ibrahim“If you're able to speak many languages, this means you're able to live many lives, or be immersed in many identities.”
“Be the best version of yourself and then the world will adjust to you eventually.”
Dr. Ghida Ibrahim is a global citizen with many hats; a technologist, a data scientist, a tech for good entrepreneur, a community builder, a lecturer, a speaker who has appeared on TEDx, a World Economic Forum appointed domain expert and an occasional standup comedian.
2020-09-0430 minStories Seldom ToldShashi Tharoor“You are different - your accent speaks of privilege. Foreign living and foreign exposure, and therefore you're not authentically one of us is what some people think. Accent can be used to separate people from the person noticing the accent.”
Shashi Tharoor, author of 20 books, former Under Secretary General of the United Nations, current Member of Parliament of Trivandrum, Kerala and my brother.
2020-08-2832 minStories Seldom ToldLemn Sissay"What happened to me is that because of unconscious bias, I was stolen from my mother, I was stolen from my family. I was brought up in institutions, with foster parents who I believe, had a lot of unconscious biases towards people of colour."
Google the name “Lemn Sissay” and all the returning hits will be about him, because there is only one Lemn Sissay in the world. Lemn Sissay is a BAFTA nominated award winning writer, international poet, performer playwright, artist and broadcaster and Chancellor of The University of Manchester. He was awarded an MBE for serv...
2020-07-2439 minStories Seldom ToldGiles Duley"I was injured in 2011 while working in Afghanistan. I stepped on a landmine and lost my legs and my arm. I was 39 years old when that happened. And I went from being a white, privileged, middle class English man who travelled the world who had a very privileged position( and I was aware of that) to somebody who's living with a very serious disability. And it was interesting because I suddenly saw how the world treated me differently."
Giles Duley is a documentary photographer and storyteller, whose work focuses on the long term impact of conflict. Giles...
2020-07-1733 minStories Seldom ToldNeena Bhandari"I was at an international conference and had a very interesting conversation with one of the speakers who had walked up to my table. But when I met him outside at the end of the conference, he was shocked with disbelief on his face when he saw me walking with a caliper because he had no idea that I had a disability."
Neena Bhandari has been a career journalist for over three decades. She has worked in India, the UK and Australia, writing on a range of issues from Health and Science to Environment and Development, gender a...
2020-07-0923 minStories Seldom ToldNandita Das"The minute I would do the role of an educated woman, an affluent person, I will immediately be told either by the director or the camera person or the makeup person that I know you don't like to lighten your skin. But just for this, could you, because this is an educated open character."
Nandita Das is an actor and director who has acted in more than 40 feature films in 10 different languages. Nandita has passionately supported the campaign against colour bias, ‘India’s Got Colour’. She was conferred the ‘Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters’ by the Fren...
2020-07-0341 minStories Seldom ToldAJ Juer"I accepted transgender people, but in my head, and this was something that I wouldn't say to anyone, I sort of thought, oh, isn't that weak to change your body like, shouldn't you accept your own body?"
AJ Juer is a transgender guy living in New Zealand. He's currently based in Christchurch, where he studied at the National Academy of singing and Dramatic Art. AJ has a degree in performing arts, and is now pursuing a career as an actor.
2020-06-2528 min
The Mic Drop ClubSmita Tharoor - Unconscious Bias, AI Intelligence & Stories That Matter #50Today’s episode will focus on possibly the most important topics facing humanity, Unconscious Bias, AI Intelligence as well as the power in sharing your own personal story.
This podcast was literally 10years in the making - tune in and engage to find out how and why?
Smita Tharoor is the director of Tharoor Associates, a company that advises organisations on culture and behavioural change with a focus on the unconscious bias and co-founder of Cuturelytics a company where we use the power of AI to help leaders understand culture more accurately and provide data-based insights to transform culture for business s...
2020-06-2545 minStories Seldom ToldCheryl Hernandez"And one thing about our culture that makes it a little challenging for us when we come abroad and places like the UK and the US, some of the biases and the discrimination goes straight over our heads, because we're not accustomed to it."
Cheryl Hernandez is an executive trainer, life coach, author and international speaker from Trinidad & Tobago who has spent over 40 years helping clients to improve their personal and professional relationships – from CEOs to teenagers. Formerly a music teacher and ordained minister, Cheryl is known for her ability to turn difficult students and employees around.
...
2020-06-1833 minStories Seldom ToldNitin Sawhney"The colour of my skin marked me out as it didn't matter whether I was an immigrant or from immigrant heritage, it was the colour of my skin that they saw and attacked, which is why I wrote an album called Beyond skin rather than beyond heritage or beyond anything else. "
"It was actually the fact that your skin colour will be the first thing that people encounter or will see."
Nitin Sawhney is a CBE, a composer, producer, and multifaceted polymath who engages with the arts in every conceivable way through the filter of...
2020-06-1131 minStories Seldom ToldBrendan Gilbert"We're all human beings you know, let's just get on. And I think that's where I kind of say brush it off, but able to keep going."
Brendan Gilbert is a born and bred Londoner of West Indian Heritage, who runs a security systems company based in South London.
www.bdgsecurity.co.uk
2020-06-0423 min
Stories Seldom ToldAnthony Loyd pt. 2 (Shamima Begum)In part two, Anthony Loyd speaks of his experience discovering Shamima Begum in a refugee camp in Syria. “The worst moment for me was of realising how much the focus of rage – for conscious and unconscious bias – that she became to this society.”
2020-05-2821 min