Let's Talk with Tammy: Recent Episodes
Tamilarasi B Tamil Selvam
As an extension of the Women of Essence Series by Bkay Nair Resources, “Let’s Talk” will feature interesting personalities from various backgrounds, sharing their views about a particular topic every fortnight. At this point there is no specific theme, but you’ll be sure to gain some valuable insight by the end of each session. Each episode is about 45 minutes long and will end with a Q&A segment, questions are selected from your comments so keep those Qs coming! If you missed the live sessions on Youtube and Facebook you can always listen to the recorded session here!
The fact of the matter is, we were not brought up to be financially savvy. And while there are many sources of information online, if your investment strategy is simply winging it after Googling a couple of hours it might not really bring you the outcome you want. In addition to that, while personal finance is important it’s not really something everyone would be interested in. So what if you can hire someone to manage it for you? Would that take up less time with higher returns? Considering the current bear market, are you feeling anxious every time you check your investment portfolio? Should we hold or sell? We discussed all these and more with Chong Zee Mee, financial integrator.
You may have heard of the Great Resignation, but is it really just the Great Job Switch? In a survey conducted by Monster Jobs through their I Made the Switch Campaign, 87% Malaysians would consider an entirely new career path. While changing career paths can be daunting, it could also end up pretty rewarding in the long run. This week, I’ll be having Suresh Dhawan, career coach to give us the low-down on things we should consider before making the big move.
I don’t know about you guys, but going on a solo trip has been on my bucket list for the longest time. But as someone who has just started travelling a few years back (plus with the pandemic in between), I have so many questions before I can confidently embark on my first solo adventure. I can’t think of anyone better than my dear friend Ray, adventurer and my fav photographer to answer my questions.
Hello everyone! We're back with Season 3 (I know, I can't believe it either) and an interesting line-up of topics. For our first episode of this season, we're going to talk about divorce.
The pandemic really exposed the harsh realities of the institution of marriage and how we view relationships. While our culture considers marriages sacred, the divorce rate has been on the rise. Almost 80,000 divorce cases were filed at courts across the country between March 2020 and August 2021. This week, I spoke with Ms Piya Balakrishan, family and matrimonial law practitioner, about the increasing rate of divorce in recent times and why sometimes, it's not necessarily a bad thing.
Many of us struggle with anxiety. And while occasional anxiety is normal, anxiety disorder can affect your quality of life. Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S. affecting around 40 million adults (that's almost 1 in 5 people) and this was in 2018. Since then, especially since the advent of the pandemic, the numbers has only increased. This week, I had Dr Joel Low, Clinical Psychologist and Director at The Mind Psychological Services & Training to help us decode anxiety.
Hello all, after a short break Let's Talk with Tammy is back with another pertinent issue, this time specifically for millennial women looking to have children of their own. Most women pushing their thirties would have probably received condescending reminders on their ticking biological clocks, and despite all that more women are becoming mothers later in life for myriad of reasons. Unfortunately, late pregnancies do come with their own set of issues. Let's face it, late pregnancies are pretty much inevitable in the current times and there needs to be an open discussion on how to minimize the risks and destigmatize it. This week, I had Dr Mathi Arasu Muthusamy with me, fertility specialist and Medical Director of Ever Link fertility centre to enlighten us on ways women can equip themselves for their pregnancies.
Hello everyone, for my MBA final year project, we decided to raise awareness on the importance of urban farming by kick-starting a pilot project at AEON A2, Setiawangsa. We're also crowdfunding for TrEES, short for Treat Every Environment Special, an environmental NGO that was established in 1995 to raise awareness and empower Malaysians to conserve and protect Malaysia’s natural environment. To learn more about TrEES and urban farming, join me as I speak with its Senior Program Officer, Siti Fatimah Jafar.
This episode is wayyy overdue. Introducing my Instagram boyfriend but also a sister from another mother. Join us this week as Raymond candidly speaks about his experiences as a gay person in Malaysia. He will also explore common misconceptions, and answer some of the baffling questions posed online towards the gay community. In Ray’s words, “Being gay is okay; shantay, we all stay”.
This week, we talked about sex. We live in a society where it is always spoken in a hushed manner and open conversations are frowned upon. It is no wonder that many don’t know their bodies and unaware of healthy boundaries one can keep in navigating sexual relationships. And what perfect timing, considering how Libresse had to take down their “Know Your V” campaign recently. I had Andrea Koh, sexologist and trainee counsellor for a no holds barred session.
When I tentatively asked Yang and Jayne if it would seem self-absorbed to have a birthday special episode, Jayne enthusiastically said she wanted to be in (which made me sigh in relief). And Yang being Yang, replied, “What’s self-absorbed? It doesn’t exist in my dictionary.” And so here it is guys, come chill with us as we talk about our friendship, trips we’ve made and probably going down some obscure rabbit hole and random deep conversations. No drafted questions, no plans, just some spontaneous banter.
With the current political instability we're in, have you ever wondered if you could be doing a better job than those in power? For most of us however, the thought ends there. What's stopping you, or any of us for that matter, to pursue a career in politics? I had Anetha Pillai, Parlimen Wanita Muda Rep. and Chief of Srikandi Keadilan, Wilayah Persekutuan KL to share with us her personal journey venturing to politics.
As the country is slowly working towards reaching herd-immunity, one huge hurdle remains: Vaccine Hesitancy. A lot of this stems from severe misinformation and the sorry state of scientific literacy among the general population. How can we effectively communicate scientific information and facts in ways more digestible and palatable to the public? And more importantly, how do we differentiate science from pseudoscience? This is a topic very close to my heart and I'm absolutely stoked and honoured to have Dr Mahaletchumy Arujanan, Executive Director of Malaysian Biotechnology Information Centre (MABIC), Editor-in-Chief of The Petri Dish – the first science newspaper in Malaysia and a huge proponent of science communication in this country, to speak with us.
Curly-haired people would relate, from lack of representation to not deemed to be an ideal in the standards of beauty (I’m looking at you Princess Diaries), many times we would have considered or actually attempted straightening our hair. However, what was really lacking is the awareness and knowledge of caring for them curls. Because as we have slowly begun to realize, with the right amount of TLC, curly hair is a league of its own. It really helps with a community to inspire us as well. This week, I had the pleasure of having Karishma Menon, founder of CURLrinting, the first curl-community page in Malaysia to share with us trips and tricks to ease the journey of embracing one’s natural locks.
Let’s Talk with Tammy is baaaaaackkk!!!
For our first episode of this season, we’re going to talk about purchasing your first property. It’s a huge investment, probably the biggest financial investment one would make in their lifetime. Naturally, this can seem daunting or even overwhelming especially when you have no idea where to start. With the number of developments available, how do you know you’re making the right choice? This week, I’ll be talking to Natasha Gideon or more famously known as @mariejualkondo on social media platforms, to guide us through this process.
In the season finale of Let’s Talk with Tammy, I’m excited to have Shia Lynn Victor of The Artsy Craftsy on the show! Shia Lynn is a passionate creative who also co-founded Craft Affair Malaysia, a curated artisanal handmade event.It’s one thing to make art as a hobby, or as a side hustle, but how is it like doing it full time? We’re explored what does it mean to be a creative, and the challenging/fulfilling moments that comes along the journey.
Did you know that millennials are an exceptionally well-behaved generation? Was it due to our parents’ exceptional parenting? How are we faring as parents relatively? On this week’s episode we’re going to dissect the common traits of millennial parenting. Are we doing it better than our parents or are we overdoing it? How has the role of parents evolve over the years? So many questions, so I was absolutely delighted to have Ms Hajar Shah-Mohen, entrepreneur, writer, and mother of three to share her insights into what it’s like to be a parent in this age.
The phrase ‘settling down’ unsettles the millennials. The topic makes for uncomfortable dinner conversations and it's probably one of the main reasons they hesitate to attend family functions or visit extended family members. This is because the question of ‘settling down’ is often a polite way of asking ‘when are you getting married’. And the pressure mounts as you approach your late-twenties or your early thirties. Join me as I speak to Ruby Mohamed, corporate person turned entrepreneur on why the right age to settle down doesn't exist.
Yang Safia runs a podcast called Yang People where she ponders about Malaysian millennial interests, aspirations and struggles. She is currently writing a thesis on the heroine's journey in videogames whilst managing a calorie deficit lifestyle. All is somewhat well .Catch her this episode as I have a candid conversation and debunk the hijabi stereotype.
When Australian tycoon Tim Gurner made international headlines back in 2017 alleging the reason millennials can’t afford a home is because they’re spending way too much on avocado toasts, it started a flurry of debates. But is it true? Are millennials really bad at managing their finances? It’s not just the older generations who think millennials are bad with money. Millennials tend to believe the negative stereotype about themselves as well. I discussed on what we’re doing right (and wrong) and more with Mr Linkeshwar, entrepreneur and personal finance coach.
“What? During a time like this? Isn’t it safer to have a stable job and income?” Those questions and more tend to arise when someone takes the leap from a socially acceptable and stable employment into entrepreneurship or self-employment during a pandemic. Jayne talks about her thought process before and after making what is considered a risky move from lecturing in a private institution into a niche business environment.
She’s smart, she’s articulate, and she is stunning! Back in 2014, when she was just 21 years old, she emerged as the winner of Miss MalaysiaIndian Global, breaking the stereotype that you’d have to be of a certain shade to be beauty queen material. A lawyer and an ambassador for the Dark is Divine movement, Ms Mogana shared her pageant journey and the relevance of beauty pageants today.
How many of us are actually bold enough to stand up to who we are? Transgender people face discrimination in every way, every waking of moment of their lives simply because they decided to be true to themselves. It's particularly hard when all they get is ostracism, being called deviants, and abused, sadly even from the authorities. I spoke to Ms Sharan, a transgender advocate to provide a little bit of insight on the struggles transgenders in Malaysia go through on a daily basis and how we can be better allies.
In the last 50 years, the lives of women have improved, thanks to education and various policies set in place. Women have expanded their career aspirations and are no longer confined to traditional female roles. However, this does not necessarily imply complete acceptance and equality achieved, nor does it mean that the stress created by work-family conflict has been resolved. "Dual burden" and "mom's guilt" are some of the issues working women face while trying to balance their professional and personal lives. How do we achieve an ideal joint-conjugal role within the household? I spoke to Dr Sally Anne Param, lecturer and social geographer to share with us her experience studying the urban identity of working women in the Klang Valley.
We live a face-paced, distracted life. Thanks to our mobile devices, it's getting harder to be alone with our thoughts, and even if we do, most of that time is spent on dwelling on the past or worrying about the future. One great way to emotionally balance ourselves would be to practice mindfulness and meditation. Despite the well-known benefits, it is hard to develop a consistent routine. What are the practical ways to go about it and for those of us who have tried and failed many times, how do we start afresh? I spoke to Dr Tarak Vachharajani, Clinical Hypnotherapist and Peak Performance Coach to provide guidance and share a couple of pointers on this topic.
Emotional abuse is insidious because it's so hard to recognize. While many are probably aware of the obvious signs, it gets fuzzy when you're in the midst of it. What are the tell-tale signs of both covert and overt abuse, and how to break free from perpetuating a vicious cycle? We spoke to Ms Puveshini Rao, clinical psychologist and trainer to further discuss on this issue.
With the array of leadership related articles online, courses offered and trainings provided at the workplace, how does one actually put these knowledge gained into use? How can we apply leadership skills in every aspect of our lives? How do we cultivate the leader's mindset?