The Realist Optimist World: Recent Episodes
Ummairah Abdul Aziz, Aqilah Norazman
Hey! We're Mairah and Aqilah and we're two completely opposite women (Aqilah is a self-confessed optimist and wouldn't live her life any other way, while Mairah is a practical realist). Together, we own two (and a half) businesses together and we hope to inspire more women to take that first step, bust their fears and work towards their goals and dreams in life.
Our opposing characters are what makes our businesses full of personality as Aqilah shares her zealous optimistic life, while Mairah brings it down to earth by keeping it real.
According to The MIWE Index, women in Singapore makes up 44% of the nation's workforce however only 26.3% of women are business owners. We want to change that by sharing all the ups and downs of life and running a small business - the quirks, the erraticism, the rainbows and the not-so-fun times of it all - in this real, down to earth and inspiring show.
In this episode, Mairah and Aqilah go head on and talk about how they go about planning for vacations including managing unexpected hiccups and events that didn’t go to plan. Oh, and you will be surprised to see who is more chill when travelling!
In this episode, Mairah and Aqilah go head on and tackle their life stories on part time study and full time work! Mairah is just about to finish her software development course and Aqilah is finishing up her Masters, all while working and managing a business.
Of course, the usual banters and disagreements happens here (at 23:46 especially!) but here are our advice:
Mairah "The Realist" Advice - Be very prepared and manage your expectations and learn how to manage your time and take breaks in between!
Aqilah "The Optimist" Advice - Relax, don’t stress out. Your energy is gonna go more into work instead of school so don’t pressure yourself so much. It’s just part-time.
Who's advice would YOU take? The realist or the optimist? Once you've listened to this episode, be sure to head on to our Instagram and vote for who's advice you'd take. Happens every Friday 12pm (GMT+8)! Let's do this!
In this episode we go raw and real with:
- Why we have been away and what has happened in the last 365 days
- What the future is for Realist vs Optimist
- How we need your support - because we're just having fun!
Thank you for your support!!
With the gym being closed for 6-weeks due to COVID-19, and the only certain thing is uncertainty. Times have undoubtedly been tough for Mairah and Aqilah. Have they given up?
Tune in to this episode as they share where they're at with all that they are going through.
In this episode, Mairah and Aqilah talk about what gets them up and out of bed on days that doing so may not be the easiest. Tune in to find out the unique ways both Mairah and Aqilah use to get themselves motivated for the most mundane tasks. Who knows, maybe you'll gain some tips that you can use in your lives too!
Apparently the listeners love it when Aqilah and Mairah take jabs at each other. So here's a full episode of them just going head to head. They share 3 things they like and hate about each other. Tune in to this episode for periodic high-pitched point proving and some level of self-reflection!
In this episode we had the opportunity to sit with Karishma! She is a quarter life coach and owner of MyKali. MyKali helps individuals to find liberation through dropping the limiting beliefs of themselves in order to reach their fullest potential.
Tune in to hear about Aqilah's and Mairah's experience with Karishma!
To learn more about MyKali, visit their website at https://mykali.io/qlb and their Instagram (@mykali.io)
In Singapore, the importance placed on having paper qualifications is undeniably strong. We always hear about the importance of getting a degree to be able to land a "good job". But is it really that important? What about hands-on experience?
Listen in to know how Mairah and Aqilah view the importance of paper qualifications!
In this episode, we get up close & personal with The ROW on what their thoughts are of being a realist and an optimist. Is Mairah's pragmatic approach or is Aqilah's rose-coloured glasses outlook to life makes her wiser? Listen in as they share how each of them tackles the same issues differently.
How does the month of Ramadan affect a business with majority Muslim clients? Aqilah and Mairah shed light on what they, as business owners, face going into Ramadan. How different are things? Is it all bad?
Get the inside scoop on this episode!
It's the time of the year where most of us Muslims congregate to perform the mandatory one month fast. We at The ROW shares our experience during this holy month of Ramadan and what it means to us. Which of us feel emotional during this month and which one of us has problem keeping up with it? Tune it to find out!
Bringing you Halloween feels in this gloomy but mostly sunny month of March. We know, but just thought of sharing something totally off from what we normally talk about and we hope that you will like it! The ROW will be sharing their own personal horror encounters this Thursaday. Not the best ghost storytellers, this episode will put a whole new level of horror with an injection of humour - hurror is our genre.
Happy International Women's Day!
In this episode, we look back on all our different experiences as women, in different facets of our lives. And of course, we share what it's like being business women!
So does Mairah or Aqilah have miniature golf setups in their office to kill time since they are both bosses?
In this episode, Mairah and Aqilah share their perspectives on what work actually goes into being bosses of their own company. Tune in to find out if work-life balance is even a thing in their lives!
Ending the month with a conversation with Healing and Transformational Coach, Nur Adam, as we dive into topics on mental health. We discussed why some people deal with anxiety better than others, childhood trauma, how to help a loved one suffering with mental health issues, how to prevent burnout and so much more. It almost feels like there's so much more to talk about but so little time. Enjoy this episode, it definitely got us thinking. And yes, mental health is very important and we hope to be able to talk more about this in future episodes.
"Quiz time! The ROW is back with another episode where they do a quiz to understand themselves better and show the differences or similarities with one another. This time, keeping to the theme of mental health, Mairah & Aqilah took a simple-non-serious anxiety test. Who do you think will score the high points for being the anxious one? Take this test and let us know what's your results like!
https://www.playbuzz.com/popbuzz/how-anxious-are-you-really"
Keeping to our February theme with importance of mental well-being, The ROW is going to touch briefly on dealing with anxiety, more particularly - social anxiety. Mairah shares about how it makes her nauseas if put in a spot even if it's to ask for some condiments for her fries. What do you know about social anxiety and what does it seems like for you? Share with us if this is one of your struggles and we want you to know that you're not alone!
Chinese New Year is here and we're going to share a little insight on how life is like growing up predominatly with chinese friends vs having malay friends for one of us. Do you think it matters with the race you surround yourself with in shaping you as a person? Let us know! Apart from that, we would like to wish all celebrants a Happy Oxpicious Lunar New Year! Huat Ah!
The ROW is back after a week hiatus from taking a mental week off. See, not everyone is always in good shape, we too have our ups and downs and need to take breaks. So it's okay guys to feel really low and disappear for abit, as long as you get back into the cycle of life and show up. That's what matters.
In this episode, we will be sharing on our hiatus and how mental health is important to be cared for. Our advice : don't ignore signs but embrace it and know that you're not alone in dealing with this. You got this!
In this episode, Aqilah shares about some challenges she faced when she decided to transition the company to a private limited, from a sole proprietorship. Some interesting perspective in this, tune in to find out!
To close off the month of January, The ROW will be touching on the topic of stepping out of the your comfort zone that could also be the one thing that is bringing you down. How Mairah took a leap of faith to leave her employment with no other source of income and dive head first into running a business with Aqilah. What made her do it? Listen in to find out more!
Switching things up for a fun and lighthearted banter, The ROW is back to uncover if they are more logical or emotional people. Aqilah is very much convinced that Mairah is ruled by her heart and she is dead set to prove that right. Did she guessed it correctly? Stay tune to find out! Also, here is the link for you listeners to try and take part in this super short yet fun quiz: https://www.mirror.co.uk/interactives/you-logical-emotional-take-psychology-13015419
Do share with us your results as we wanna know too!
Aqilah goes head on and tell the entire story of what happened to the company in 2019, after the split between her and her ex-business partner.
Back to business talk with The Row, Aqilah shares some tips and tricks on how to get the ball rolling with starting your business without having much funds and her experience in laying the ground work before having people to work for and with her. Tune in this informative yet inspiring episode now!
We are back with another themed episode with Keeping it Real. Aqilah and Mairah spoke about what their previous job experiences are and what they do in their past time. They're not just all work and no play. Who has the past time of a 17 year old and who has more of a relaxed down time? Listen in to find out more!
In this themed episode, we share about how it's not really a big deal if you fail in certain aspects of your life - whether it is school, a job or your business. Diving a little deeper on one of Mairah's failures where she felt alone and lost and what she had to go through to be where she is today could be relatable to some. The bottomline is - what matters the most is you get back up on your two feet and keep trying and not let one failure stop you from being the best version of yourself. Tune in!
Welcome back to another episode of The Realist Optimist World! And today we're gonna talk a little bit about how we found each other and all the other failed ventures and why it failed. Aqilah will be sharing her struggles in working alone and with having a business partner. While Mairah will be talking about why she decided to be Aqilah's.
Have you ever read Simon Sinek's book , Start with Why and wondered how it can guide you? In today's episode, Aqilah will be sharing a gist of her Golden Circle - what it means to know the reason behind starting a business or anything in general and how she applies it to her businesses.
In this episode, we will be talking about owning expensive items and what really is the real reason behind them? Is it a form of showing to the society where your status lies or is it just because you love the brand? What does Mairah thinks about it - being born and bred in this society as compared to Aqilah who comes from a place where kangaroos are in abundance?
In the third episode of The Realist Optimist World, Aqilah shares with the world what is it like to live in 5 countries throughout her entire life and one word - perspective.
Coming from a family background that constantly travels, she is blessed to be able to experience different cultures throughout her growing up years.
Like when she was in high school, she was extremely shocked that there’s no such thing as CCA or remedial classes after school. Everything was kept within the school time. Even detention!
This light hearted and inspiring episode is a must listen, especially if you’ve always wanted to move elsewhere, bring your kids overseas or migrate.
In this episode, we dive into what it’s like to start a business! Challenging? Pfft… that’s an understatement. Imagine walking into fire every single day and then trying to put it off. Nah we’re kidding.
It’s amazing. No really, running a business is so much fun and we are so blessed everyday to do this.
Check out this episode if you’ve always wanted to start your own thing. We promise to keep it as real as possible so check it out now!
Welcome to our very first episode on The Realist Optimist World! In this episode, Mairah and Aqilah introduces themselves to the world, their 2 and a half businesses and their intentions to why they started this podcast.