The Power Of: Recent Episodes
Tahmeed Ahmed
A podcast for young people, where we speak and discuss issues and topics happening every day in the real world. Listen to find out more!
In this episode my friends and I discuss the concept of positive change. My first guest Iram is a family friend I've know my whole life, she studied medicine at UCL and did an intercalated BSc in global health - she currently works as a junior doctor. At university she was a social welfare officer and vice president of the UCL MSF society. My second guest is Harshil who I've known all the way back from the start of secondary school. He studied aerospace engineering at Sheffield university and now works for Prismatic limited, a company that specialises in unmanned aerial vehicles, as an engineer and project manager. Together we discuss the impact positive change can have on others and on our own mental health, we explore the ways in which we can get involved and tackle long term change in environments such as university and the workplace. We recognise the goals, obstacles and intentions one must have when approaching this concept and the elements of accountability and "burn out" when one takes on these responsibilities. We hope we've helped inspire some positive change, thank you for listening to episode 8!
In this episode, my friends Afia, Branavy and I discuss the relevancy of and impact social media has upon on our lives and those around us. I met Branavy at my time at UCL, she is currently in her final year of medical school and did a BSc in psychology as part of her medical degree; she completed a dissertation on visual crowding. I have known Afia through my own family community, she studied International Relations at the University of East Anglia, won an election from Geneva to be the Elected Student Union Ethnic Minority Officer and she now currently has her own successful blog. She currently works for the government. We discuss in depth our own personal experiences with social media as it has now become a societal juggernaut in itself and how it can be used for the profound benefit for some and yet can be extremely detrimental for others i.e. for their mental health. We hope you enjoyed listening as much as we enjoyed recording, thanks for listening to episode 7!
In this episode, my friends and I discuss the power of a chosen family. I met Myra because of a friend of a friend, she studied English at Southampton University and works in events and marketing at The British Academy in London. I met HoJuen during our time together at UCL medical school; he was born and raised in Hong Kong and he currently works as a doctor in Watford, just outside of London. Together, we discuss what a "chosen family" means to the each of us and how our own personal circumstances and experiences in life have allowed us to meet other individuals who we can consider to be as close as family. We try to understand the importance of having a sense of belonging in young adult life, the freedom we have had to be able to meet others in this way and how our own experiences and insight can be provided as advice to other young people who are in the positions we have already been in.
In this episode, my friends and I discuss the power of colour and colourism. Nimalesh is a British Tamil Sri Lankan and is someone I have studied at school and at UCL with and now works as a doctor in Watford. I met Chris through a close school friend, he studied politics, sociology and international policy change at Warwick University, he spent his early years in Nigeria and his formative years in the UK. I met Jessica through my best friend, she grew up in London, studied pharmacy at UCL and is now working as one; she also has her own very successful make-up artist instagram page. Together we explore our own deeply personal experiences of colourism and what we have learnt about it from maturing in the environments that have been forced upon us. We share and explain our ideas regarding how we as individuals and as a greater society can do better with this theme and how important it may be for us to set a better precedent for our children and future generations. Thank you for listening to episode 5.
Change is an inevitable part of adult life and often that can be in the form of going to a new place to start a new job or a new educational opportunity. For many, this can be a daunting prospect and it can be a large deal to adjust to. My guests on this episode have all had experiences of travelling abroad for a new life opportunity. Anisha has studied in Prague, from travelling from the UK for the last 6 years. Dhruv took a year of his undergraduate year to work in Germany and Yu Hsuen has studied in the UK for the last 7 years, after leaving his home in Singapore. We explore some of the difficulties they faced when starting afresh in a new place and how they overcame those difficulties. We also explore the benefits and positive experiences they had in these new places and what advice they can give to others who will be in their shoes in a few months or a few years time. Thanks to everyone listening to episode 4!
Music has been a key part of my life and the lives of the guests of this episode. I went to school with Ali and Mital, and Mital went on to study Music at the University of Bristol; he now works for the charity, London Music Masters. I first met Aarib at a concert in 2017 and we have continued to enjoy live music together since, he works currently as an ACA qualified consultant at EY and Ali and I will be soon beginning work as doctors. My friendship with my guests is not based solely on music but our shared love for the subject has allowed continued and engaging discussions regarding the matter and a sense of bonding between us. In this episode we discuss the ways in which music has impacted us in our lives and what it means to us. Mital speaks about his experiences at university studying the subject at a level of higher education and his role as being part of an organisation which focuses on getting inner city primary school children engaged with music. We explore how we consume music in our everyday lives and where we see the place for this important facet of our lives as we continue to grow older. Thank you to everyone for listening!
In this episode, my friends Farah, Paul, Yonny, and I attempt to discuss what race means to us and what experiences we have faced because of it - the positives and the negatives. I've grown up and studied in London my entire life, as has Farah. Yonny grew up and now works in London, and studied at Warwick University and Paul grew up in Kent and has studied for the last 6 years with Farah and I in London. Through the experiences and stories that we share, we explain how they moulded us and what we took away from them. We also shed some light on how we believe we would handle these experiences differently if they were to present to us again in the future. We hope that whoever listens may gain some insight into what it is like to grow up and study in London whilst coming from a different background and for those of you who may be in the shoes that we were in recently, we hope you take something beneficial away from the episode. We also recognise the current political and social uprising related to the recent and unjust murder of George Floyd, amongst many others black individuals in America and share our thoughts on this matter. If you would like to find out more about the Black Lives Matter movement and ways you can help, you can find my main instagram page @hurricanetna and follow the link in the bio. Thank you for listening to episode 2!
Anjelli and Taehyun, two of my friends I have known since I was 18 attempt to discuss "The Power of Your Voice". Anjelli and I are both medics and Taeyhun is a lawyer; together we talk about how we matured in the latter end of our degrees and how that allowed us to build upon our confidence when speaking to others in a professional setting. By extension of this we discuss the importance of using silence to our benefit and the potential stigma associated with that. We also reveal how these experiences in our degrees and in the professional setting have affected us in our personal lives. This podcast is a safe place for my friends and I to discuss a topic or theme we believe would be pertinent for young adults in the present day to listen to. We hope that anyone listening takes some form of wisdom or insight away from these episodes!