BONY Podcast

Season 4 - Episode 15: So we know that it is not possible to reach 100% of the students and provide 100. So, therefore, we are essentially trying to reach out to as many students as possible. From the very recent data extracted last week, I know that 3,200 students among 4,000 are within our reach. So what we are doing is taking the software email in their mobile app and installing it into their m...

Season 4 - Episode 14: Begum Rafique is an owner of Ummah Fashion and Ummah Outfitter, family-owned businesses. She was selling Bangladeshi and Islamic clothing for 17 years out of her home before opening her storefront. Begum opened Ummah Fashion in 2018 in Hamtramck, Michigan. Begum says she is honored to serve unique designs to her community, many of which are custom-designed by her, and shippe...

Season 4 - Episode 13: Shamsun Nehar began her business Cakes by Lucky in 2014 after baking for her friends and family. She took up cake decorating as a creative outlet from her day job as a senior software engineer for the engineering company Continental Automotive. Now she's baked and decorated over 500 cakes for weddings, birthdays, and other special occasions for metro Detroit's Bangla...

Season 4 - Episode 12: Introducing Fariha Ahmed, owner of Farihennart  Fariha Ahmed began experimenting with henna since middle school. Over the years she felt drawn to creating. During high school she began pursuing her hobby as a professional henna service. She launched her business Farihennart in 2016 via Instagram. Fariha is one of metro Detroit’s Bangladeshi Women Entrepreneurs.  Listen to th...

Season 4 - Episode 11: Introducing Nargis Hakim Rahman, who will be hosting a series of Bangladeshi Women Entrepreneurs in the Greater Detroit area. Project: Bangladeshi Women Entrepreneurs series. In collaboration with the South Asian American Digital Archive (saada.org)  Description: Documenting Detroit's Bangladeshi Women Entrepreneurs who have found creative ways to own businesses while up...

Season 4 - Episode 10: Before the war on terror, America used to support the radicalization of Islam because it used to be seen as "communism taking away your religion." America supported these madrassas, and the Mujahideen because they were seen as anti-communist. Same as what they did in Afghanistan. So for a long time, that was the alignment between the US and Pakistan. So they were f...

Season 4 - Episode 9: Our mission for Jore Magazine not only revolves around amplifying and uniting the voices of the South Asian diaspora, but it’s also to be an all-encompassing platform. We make sure to shine the spotlight on everything, from culture and tradition to fashion and language. The purpose of this is to expand and create as much content that can speak to all types of people; that way...

Season 4 - Episode 8: A lot of us, when we were kids didn't struggle the same way. But a lot of us have dealt with isolation one way or the other. At one point in our life, we've all dealt with that isolation. I think this film is a homage to that isolation. I made sure that the characters in the film really felt authentic. I made sure it was really the heart of the movie. I love this acti...

Season 4 - Episode 7: "It was unfortunately after George Floyd's brutal murder in June of 2020, me and three of my friends who were all part of the South Asian organization, based in the US, got together and realized that our community was completely quiet to all of the racial injustices that were going on in US. We wanted to make sure that we were part of an active and ongoing discussion...

Season 4 - Episode 6: When an individual suffers from depression, waves of anxiety, or any other mental condition, and even emotions that are difficult to manage, we have a sad tendency as a society to dismiss them. That is one of the primary reasons I went into psychology and am working to become a psychologist because I believe everybody deserves to feel heard and have a welcoming space to discu...

Season 4 - Episode 5: Kotha is a feminist organization based in Bangladesh, and we are working with root causes of gender based violence. We're fighting root causes of gender based violence through primary intervention, so we're taking a more preventative approach to the culture of gender based violence that exists in this country. One of our main flagship program is "Kotha at school,...

Season 4 - Episode 4: I sincerely believe that we need far more South Asian representation across the world in each arena of media, whether it be journalism or news production. In particular, I feel that representation needs to be significantly increased in the United States. I think, sometimes, too many of our news organizations feel as though they have one or two individuals that look like, and...

Season 4 - Episode 3: "I think this is the year where people are going to have to lean into activities that they do on their own, which can still bring them some level of fulfillment. Or if you're sort of building skill and just trying to really hone in on it and get better at it, this is the year to do that. I think you can absolutely talk about that. It doesn't have to just only be...

Season 4 - Episode 2: "While working on the startup, this is where I started with the finance. Basically I started learning about other startups because you're within the founder community, and that's what I learned about Wealthfront, which is a robo-advisor that does investing for you. So I was really intrigued and I started learning about it. No one really taught me anything about c...

Season 4 - Episode 1: Being in the music industry is not as easy as many of these artists showcase it as being. In reality, for a great handful of people getting started, it truly requires a lot of hard work and dedication. It is not just about the talent, but instead, one has to be able to uphold the work ethic and mindset to even have their craft begin to be appreciated by others. In my experien...

Season 3 - Episode 25: I started learning piano when I was 4 years old. I then I went through different instruments. Some of them were self-taught, some of them I went and learned from other people. Ultimately, it all culminated when I was in college. I was a part of a competitive dance team and acapella team (both of which were South Asian fusion). This really allowed me to see what creating musi...

Season 3 - Episode 24: I found I work with a very specific type of health insurance policy, which is a medically underwritten policy, which is typically not what's offered to you guys through employers or on the marketplace. So it is harder to get access to. So I work with a very limited population. But I've learned to marry my clinical background to this type of a plan, and because being...

Season 3 - Episode 23: "I've been back in Bangladesh full-time since 2014 I've worked in different elements. I worked in social entrepreneurship. I worked in running an accelerator for social entrepreneurs, grassroots entrepreneurs around the country. I think one of the realizations I had is that there's a significant talent in the country. And if we're going to change the eco...

Season 3 - Episode 22: "But you didn't get a bachelor's though"-Mom If you're emotionally invested in something, make sure you have passion for it, make sure that you have a continuous drive to keep going. As long as that passion remains in whatever form you're taking on and the effort is there behind it, I think you'll be successful. I'm not talking about like do...

Season 3 - Episode 21: I always make the point that local politics matters even more because the number one thing that city council people do is manage a budget. We’ve forgotten to reinvest in community centers, education or transportation.  Transportation is not accessible. Housing is expensive and unaffordable, and affordable housing basically doesn't exist. Education is a huge problem, righ...

Season 3 - Episode 20: The name of our app is Shuni Bangla, your book library. So when we started it, the focus was (and still is the main focus), is that we want to build a digital library. It just started because couple of years ago I got injured in a car accident and I got disabled and one of the disabilities is that I cannot read very well. So, I used to read a lot of books. I like books and e...

Season 3 - Episode 19: I remember one of the very first books that my mother bought me. It was a Bengali kid's book written in a diary entry format from the perspective of an incredibly curious six-year-old kid. The little boy would ask his mom and dad a number of questions, and one that stood out to me the most was, “What are planets?” My five-year-old self read this for the first time and be...

Season 3 - Episode 18: TBD

Season 3 - Episode 17: I take students to Bangladesh to learn about development, and we see all the NGOs, we go to the rural areas, and I'm always itching to do something. I mean, you do read about these things in textbooks, you do a lot of research, but there's something to be said about actually getting your hands dirty and getting things done. And the real world is, may sound like a cli...

Season 3 - Episode 16: Bangladesh is a growing country and we're going towards a trillion dollar economy. We're a vibrant economy. We're an entrepreneurial society. We need the brains to come back. This is the time if we're going to build for the next 10 years. This is the time if you look at India, and how the NRIs (Non-Resident Indians) went back that made significant impact. Now...