Modern Minorities

"The idea that a person can't relate to something because it's not directly about them is a misunderstanding of who's been reading books this whole time." Mariko Tamaki is an award-winning Canadian comics creator and writer — known for works like Skim and This One Summer (with her cousin Jillian Tamaki). Her latest novel is Cold , a haunting YA novel about four students who knew too much and said...

“The normalization of things being taken away. You see all the things going on in Tehran in 1979 — you see them here as well, which makes it a sad, scary, and timeless tale.” PERSEPOLIS, by Marjane Satrapi is an award winning, now banned graphic autobiography from the early 2000s about a young girl growing up in Iran, and becoming a woman overseas, returning home, and dealing with everything in be...

“What happens after we've survived? What's our responsibility to somebody suffering more than I am? For kids it’s like, ‘Let's just go over and help them — like, why wouldn't we?’ “ Veera Hiranandani is an award-winning author of several books for young people - one of the most recent of which is THE NIGHT DIARY - a must read. While the novel is a historical fiction geared for adolescents and youn...

“Make the time to scratch beneath the surface in each state. Spending time with the people - in the cities, in the towns, at the restaurants - you're always going to uncover something.” Summer marches on, and we’re making plans to get out and about. Hear part TWO of Raman’s USA Travel series (from his other pod LEARNINGS FROM LEADERS) - covering the second half of stories and learnings from Raman...

“It's so easy to go onto the next thing - but take that moment to stop and celebrate small and big wins.” Summer is here, which probably means many of us are thinking about our next trip. As we continue our pod sabbatical / vacation, Raman’s other podcast LEARNINGS FROM LEADERS continues a series on one of his favorite pastimes: TRAVEL — turning our focus to the strange and foreign land known as t...

”I'm grateful she doesn't have that crazy addiction - they are getting a new relationship with technology. Smartphones and social media have basically caused a great rewiring of childhood.” As parents today, Blippi & Taylor Swift aren’t all we have to worry about. When it comes to our (young kids), it’s near impossible to avoid TV, tablets, and video games - we’re increasingly anxious about th...

”Being a writer is just bloody hard work and passion. It is a kind of madness, which compels you every day to go to say, ‘OK, let's do it again today’ “ Manreet Sodhi Someshwar’s the author of nine novels - including the Long Walk Home, Radiance of a Thousand Suns, and most recently the Partition Trilogy - a historical fiction novel series which Raman is a BIG fan of. Manreet’s  articles and essay...

"It truly is a matter of exploring, discovery, knowing your boundaries - to gradually get there. The key is to keep your eye on the North Star - what is it that makes you come alive?” In this personal conversation from Raman’s other podcast “Learnings from Leaders” - Raman chats with Bernice Ang, an Executive Coach who helps senior leaders design a purpose-centered personal brand, enabling them to...

"How do you express what you want in a way that activates you, is unignorable, and automatically aligns your beliefs, your values, and how you show up in the world?” Bonnie Wan knows what it feels like to struggle with burnout and uncertainty about where to go next. As a celebrated advertising strategist she spent years helping brands like Pepsi and BMW get clarity on their values and purpose, but...

"Some have to carry more weight than others - everybody's got to do their part to try to lighten their load." Linda Clement-Holmes served as P&G’s Chief Diversity Officer AND P&G’s Chief Information Officer - significantly elevating early efforts in corporate Diversity & Inclusion. Starting as a systems analyst in 1983, Linda has led a global career as an “executive of firsts” - the fi...

“Making improvements is challenging. But we can't give up and we've got to learn how to do it better.” “Speak, engage, help, be helped. Be part of society. Be an optimist towards the fact that people can change, that people can learn.”  John Pepper and Ursula Burns sit down for a candid conversation on race, understanding and the state of our society’s devolving discourse. Ursula Burns was one of...

“Don’t take the straight ladder, go up and across to build your toolkit.” Najoh Tita-Reid is a Black leader of marketing reinvention who’s maintained feet on both sides of the world - literally. Najoh spent many years as a Black American living in Europe with her husband and two kids. Najoh’s worked across in multinational roles across leading brands like Mars, Logitech, Hero, Bayer, and Merck, af...

"People are willing to risk a lot to show their support for our freedoms." Ed Rigaud was the first President & CEO of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, which pays tribute to all efforts to abolish human enslavement and secure freedom for all people. This conversation’s actually from June of 2020, when we were in the midst of a long overdue conversation about race in America. It...

“I used to have this dream where I would be laying down, looking up, about to die - I used to make all my decisions -  how I dress, how I presented myself to be opposite of that because I didn't want that to happen for me.” Kris Stith is a DC native who has won awards in photography, painting, and podcasting. He is now freelancing as an Art Director / Creative Director in Los Angeles. Previously,...

“The book was originally a memoir about coming to America - my history and how it connects to what's happening right now. Trump sounds just like the things Castro said — this is pretty dangerous.” Edel Rodriguez is a Cuban American artist, activist and author who’s created more than 200 magazine covers for the likes of Time, The New Yorker, Newsweek and Der Spiegel - which are singular and strikin...

“We don't understand people we disagree with, and being challenged by the news is something people find refreshing. I figured I couldn't be the only person out there who wanted that — and it turns out I'm not.” So it’s a new year, and it’s going to be an interesting one, so what better way to start 2024 by an introduction to a different perspective? Longtime FrieMMd of the Pod Rajiv Satyal - beyon...

As 2023 comes to a close, we revisited some of our favorite moments from all this past year’s Modern Minorities conversations this past year. Minority voices for ALL of our majority ears. Heard someone you liked? Be sure to go back and check out any of our past episodes, leave us a 5-star review on Apple/Spotify, and send us a note about your favorite MMoment — it keeps up going: himom@modmypod.co...

“People are interconnected in India, there's an interdependence that doesn't exist here — a connectedness, togetherness.” To continue our chat on India ahead of Raman’s return trip, we connected with his other “Learning from Leaders” podcast co-hosts Sharad Lal and Rajiv Satyal. Sharad is speaker and coach based in Singapore who Raman worked with in Asia a lifetime ago, and Rajiv is a longtime Fri...

“India just, it's so drastic, the gap between those who have and those who don't. But they also have a lot of joy. There's billions who live in fundamentally different ways from how we live and you can't get a sense of that until you're around it.” Ahead of Raman’s return to India - his first time back in nearly two decades - he wanted to reconnect with some childhood friends - Barun Singh and Son...

“Seek things that challenge you to think differently, in a new and better way. Seek to understand and empower the people closest to the real knowledge source, the people that do the work every day. Instead of being right, do right.” David Taylor & A.G. Lafley are two of P&G's Emeritus CEOs, who joined Raman on-stage at the recent recent P&G Alumni Global Conference in Washington DC for...

“Playing Jasmine, and meeting mixed kids and parents saying, ‘my kid has never had someone to look up to,’ — we're creating space for people to see themselves." Join us as we take on the wonders — over, sideways and under on a magic carpet ride — with the cast of Aladdin on Broadway! In a candid conversation Sonya Balsara and Don Darryl Rivera star in Disney’s hit musical Aladdin on Broadway, whic...

“It sucks that a lot of times when POC want to break into the industry, we have to publish a memoir first. But I personally had to — I've been needing to do this for a very long time.” Deb JJ Lee, is an award-winning graphic novelist and artist. Their young adult IN LIMBO tells Deb’s Korean American coming of age story - covered by Quarantined Comics. When we shared that episode, they got in touch...

Thanksgiving’s always been special because it combines two universally loved things, being around friends and family, and food — some of the very topics we talk about the most on this show. So we decided to revisit of our favorite questions with some of our favorite FrieMMds of the Pod over the years:  Raman Sehgal (UK edition), Jieun Kirtley, Justin Richmond, Tyanne Benallie, Andres Barragan, Par...

“That's the thing about fiction — you can hear the same story at different points in your life and you bring something different to it every time you hear the story.” Justin Rueff is an artist, designer, educator and creator. Justin paints murals and signs, he draws comics and illustrates books. Justin’s the co-creator and artist for LESS DESOLATE, a new comics haiku project he brought to life wit...

“Even to this day, the cool thing about Diwali is that I can't wait to add to the traditions I learned from my parents.” Diwali - the Festival of Lights - is celebrated by more than a BILLION people worldwide. And like so many of our traditions with roots in religion, Diwali is ALSO similar because it’s a cultural celebration where stories of family, friends, fun and yes, food, play a big part. So...