Rice Pudding Project

Kidnapping, Losing Her Family, Cancer at 31 & Taking Accountability for Her Life - Luiza Salem | The Rice Pudding ProjectLuiza Salem has been through things most people never face. When her dad was kidnapped, he found out they wanted to kidnap her too. The case was never resolved. She never saw her brother again, and she does not know if he has passed. She grieves him anyway. She has lived thr...

Growing Up Without a Dad, the Voice in Your Head & Why Your Wardrobe Is Still Junior - Shaun Gordon | The Rice Pudding ProjectShaun Gordon is a personal menswear stylist who helps affluent men present themselves in a way that matches their personality, their leadership and their authority. But the conversation starts long before the clothes. Shaun grew up as an only child, living with his aunt...

Sam Minhas didn't set out to build a company — she set out to fix a silence. As the founder of She Knows Best, she's created an anonymous space where women can talk to each other about the things they're carrying alone, without judgment and without fear. In this episode, we talk about what it really means to feel isolated, why anonymity can be the thing that finally lets someone tell t...

Nicole Drinkwater does not tell the polished version. She used to work at Waitrose in the morning, then Hollister, then go home, pick up her snakes and take them to nightclubs, where people paid to have their photo taken with them. She mentions it casually, as if it were nothing. She has also asked an AI to describe her ideal man while she was sad and lonely, and then walked into a room months lat...

Luca — The Two Ring Rule, Quitting Without a Job & Who Are You When the Title Is Gone | The Rice Pudding Project**When Luca was CEO everyone answered on two rings. Then he left. Four rings. Five rings. Sometimes nothing at all. Luca has spent years thinking about what happens to people when the position disappears and the calls stop coming. The identity that was built around a title. The silen...

Depression Behind the Laughter, The Voice That Started at 8 & Learning to Grieve Out Loud | The Rice Pudding ProjectEllie Iskander is one of the most naturally upbeat people in any room. He has also been depressed for years. That contradiction is exactly what makes this conversation worth an hour of your time. Ellie is a comedian, voice artist, and performer who built a career on making people...

Wolfi — The Fire That Took Everything, Building a Cycling Community in the UAE & Why Hard Times Make Hard Men | The Rice Pudding Project**The warehouse burned to the ground. The only thing left standing was a yellow Tour de France jersey that fell from a frame and somehow survived the fire. Within 48 hours Wolfi had replaced every customer's bike, found a new location, and made a decision...

Deji — 71 Million Views, The Brother Who Almost Didn't Show Up & What Nobody Tells You About Going Viral | The Rice Pudding ProjectThe person who was supposed to show up for the shoot didn't. His older brother was just sitting in the room. One question. One yes. 71 million views on TikTok. Deji has been making content since he was 15. He predicted to his brother at a party that people...

Competing With a Slipped Disc, First Iranian World Champion & Never Forgetting Where You Come From | The Rice Pudding ProjectPouya walked into a world championship with a slipped disc in his neck. The doctors said two weeks out minimum. He competed anyway. And he won. That is the kind of person this conversation is about. Not someone who had an easy path and took it. Someone who looked at the...

Building World Champions, The Mirror Moment & Using Words That Were Meant to Break You | The Rice Pudding ProjectJavier Mendez does not do motivational speeches. He does not use big words. He does not have a twelve-step framework. He does not tell his fighters they are great when they are not. He points them at a mirror and asks one question: who are you going to blame? One of the most respect...

Scott Breckinridge is not like most people. He caught venomous snakes for pocket money as a child in Australia. He has been bitten. He has spent two hours removing an animal that had latched onto him. He has jumped into crocodile enclosures. And he has dedicated his life to breeding critically endangered species in captivity and releasing them back into the wild, giving animals a second chance in...

Chosen by Quincy Jones: Dante Kennedy on Legacy, Drumming, and Building Q's Bar & Lounge DubaiWhen Quincy Jones handpicks you to bring his vision to life, you don't just show up — you carry a legacy. Dante Kennedy is the Entertainment and Music Director behind Q's Bar & Lounge in Dubai, the first venue of its kind bearing Quincy Jones' name, and in this episode he takes us through what it...

"Rudy Bouchebel: Surviving the Beirut Explosion and Life Behind the Lens"Rudy Bouchebel joins us to talk about growing up in Beirut, living through the 2020 Beirut explosion, and how that moment shaped the rest of his life and career. Rudy shares how photography became his way of processing the world around him — leading him to work as a set photographer on Oscar and Cannes-nominated fil...

"Boxing to MMA to Jiu Jitsu: What Franco Mamba Learned Along the Way"Franco Mamba joins us to talk about growing up in Philadelphia, starting out in boxing, and eventually transitioning into MMA and Jiu Jitsu. Franco shares what it was like coming up in the Philly boxing scene, why he made the switch to mixed martial arts, and the lessons combat sports have taught him over the years — di...

"Tylan Williams: Life After a Spinal Cord Injury and the Mission to Walk Again"Tylan Williams joins us to share the story of the motorbike accident that left him with a T6–T7 spinal cord injury and paralyzed from the chest down — and everything that's come after. Tylan opens up about life immediately following the accident, the long road of rehabilitation, and his ongoing mission to...

This week we sit down with Hady Amer — former professional football player turned pharma exec turned founder of Forus and Blindspot Health. Hady walks us through the moment he walked away from pro sports, why he later walked away from a stable pharma career to build his own companies, and the mindset that's let him handle setbacks, breakups, and career pivots without losing his footing. We dig...

Robby Collins: Every Comedian Bombs — Here's Why That's OkaySouth African comedian Robby Collins joins us to talk about finding his purpose through comedy, touring with Trevor Noah, and opening for Dave Chappelle. Robby opens up about how some of his best material came out of his most depressed periods, what it's really like on the road with two of the biggest names in comedy, and why...

Dave Catudal opens up about his own battle with testicular cancer in his early twenties, growing up watching his younger brother fight leukemia, and losing his father to stage 3 adenocarcinoma within a year of diagnosis. In this episode of Rice & Riffing, Dave shares what it really felt like to be diagnosed himself after already seeing cancer devastate his family, how he processed grief while...

"From $200 and a Dream to an Award-Winning Restaurant: Chef Gabriela Chamorro's Story"Chef Gabriela Chamorro joins us to talk about the women who shaped her, arriving in Dubai from Nicaragua with just $200, and the winding path that took her from flying the world as Emirates cabin crew to building one of the UAE's most talked-about restaurants. Gabriela shares how her love of str...

"Doctor by Degree, Director by Choice: Tarek Al Ariss on Chasing His Real Dream"Dr. Tarek Al Ariss joins us to talk about mimicking Chris Tucker as a kid, becoming a doctor, stumbling into theatre acting, and eventually walking away from medicine to become a creative director. Now working on original Arabic-language film and TV content, Tarek shares the winding path from childhood impres...

"Omar Al-Duri on Surviving a Pulmonary Embolism and Staying Positive Through It All" Omar Al-Duri — former footballer player, founder of Platform 3, UAE Football Association coach, and author of an Amazon best-selling book on physical and mental health — joins us to talk about writing his book, surviving a serious car accident, and the pulmonary embolism that followed. Omar shares what i...

"He Studied Law, Worked at PwC, Then Became a Coach: Wes DePass's Story"Wes DePass joins us to talk about studying law, moving into the corporate world as an accountant at PwC, building a career in Dubai — and then walking away from all of it to become a health and fitness coach. In this episode of Rice & Riffing, Wes shares what it was like leaving the security of a corporate ca...

Laughter, Failure & Growth | The Obaid Ali Story What does it take to keep stepping onto a stage when there's no guarantee of success? In this episode of  The Rice Pudding Project , Amin Soltani sits down with comedian  Obaid Ali  for an honest conversation about comedy, resilience, personal growth, and the lessons learned through failure. From navigating the ups and downs of stand-up comedy t...

What does it really mean to raise a child with Down syndrome? In this heartfelt episode of The Rice Pudding Project, Amin Soltani sits down with Johanna Said to discuss motherhood, homeschooling, raising two children with very different needs, and the lessons she's learned along the way. Johanna shares her experiences as a mother to a child with Down syndrome, challenging misconceptions and re...

Finding Your Voice Between Cultures | The Sophia Delavari Story What happens when you grow up between different cultures, identities, and expectations? In this episode of the Rice Pudding Project, Amin Soltani sits down with Sophia Delavari for an honest conversation about belonging, identity, resilience, and the journey to finding your own voice. Sophia shares her experiences navigating life betw...