Stories of Men: Beneath the Surface

The new season of Our Voices is out tomorrow! This season we'll be Celebrating Women in the UK. Check out our website for the latest from Our Voices We're also on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram A Fascinate Production

We hear a story of isolation and betrayal. We also learn how Stewart has taken motivation from his most hurtful experiences to try to create a better world for his children. Stewart is a black, Bafta-nominated director, who recently directed the film “Black and Scottish”. The film is very personal to his own experiences as he moved to Scotland at the age of two after being born in Kenya. &nbs...

We hear the story of a devastating racist attack. We also learn how Dr Zainab Khan is using the trauma she has suffered to help others. Zainab has a PhD as a trained barrister and she is also Pro-Vice Chancellor at London Metropolitan University. But her journey to becoming a high-achiever has been made especially challenging by the discrimination and racial violence that she has suffered. *******...

Natasha is the Welsh Senedd’s first woman of colour and has become one of the few representatives of ethnic minorities in Welsh politics. Yet it took five elections and a long battle against discrimination for her to achieve her goal. She also had to rethink her initial career ambitions. Her career path changed due to a particularly uncomfortable interview at the BBC and some words of wisdom from...

Mark, a serial entrepreneur and social activist, talks about how he has found a way to remain positive amidst the discrimination he has faced as a black man with a disability. He was born to Nigerian parents in Leicester in the 1960s. And, at the tender age of 5, he was given a 10% chance of survival after contracting polio. Since then, Mark has not only survived, he has thrived. *****************...

Graham is a veteran campaigner and activist, he is also Glasgow Council’s first ever Afro-Caribbean councillor. He was born in London to a Jamaican father and a Granadian mother and he is Rastafarian. Graham grew up with a sense of confidence in his multiple identities but he has found himself a victim of racist abuse on numerous occasions. Shockingly, his most recent experience is among the worst...

Andy is a police officer of both Malaysian and Northern Irish heritage. He is also a father of three children and president of the National Black Police Association, an organisation which represents police officers of ethnic minorities across the UK. In many ways, it is Andy’s experiences while growing up which have influenced his desire to stand up to racism as part of his profession. ***********...

Aisha is a Muslim and has been the victim of a form of discrimination which has caused particular strife in Britain; namely, Islamophobia. She was born and raised in the Middle East but she came to London initially to study. She talks about being made to feel different to others and how she has used her passion for skateboarding as a way to challenge preconceptions of Muslim women. ***************...

This week we hear the story of Dina. She is an Iranian refugee who has had contrasting experiences of living abroad. She discusses the way in which she has been both brutalised and embraced in her adopted countries and her experience of racism in the UK. Life in Iran Dina grew up in Iran during the mid ‘80s. It was a time of revolution and, as a result, she had “a tumultuous childhood”. There were...

The new season of Our Voices is out tomorrow! Check out our website for the latest from Our Voices We're also on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram A Fascinate Production

In our sixth and last Christmas throwback: The first episode of “Our Voices” centres around one-time “nurse of the year” Joan, an intensive care nurse who was born in Barcelona and travelled to work in the UK after experiencing a lack of job opportunities in Spain. He tells a story of how caring for a patient after a motorcycle accident taught him that human connection is the most important and po...

In our fifth Christmas throwback: Carlos is a single father of a 10-year-old daughter and a fifteen-year-old son. We hear about the struggles Carlos has faced trying to support his son in the midst of his son’s antisocial and violent behaviour. After threatening his mother with violence and being arrested by the police, it looked as if the situation had become completely untenable. Then lockdown i...

In our fourth Christmas throwback: Here we get the rare opportunity of hearing the voices of children who have been impacted by lockdown. Andrea has spoken previously on the podcast but this time she is accompanied by her eldest daughter, 9-year-old Ella, and her son, 7-year-old Luke. Listening to their reflections we are able to hear how these children have been impacted by lockdown restrict...

In our third Christmas throwback: Katie is a Kid’s Doctor who describes the challenges that working in the NHS can pose. To address this, she became involved in establishing a forum called “NHS Million”. As well as creating a marketing campaign for the NHS choir to beat Justin Beiber to the Christmas number 1 spot, this forum provides NHS workers with a space in which they can talk about the psych...

In our second Christmas throwback: This episode looks at the heartbreaking struggle of Ross: a son, father and fiancé, who took his own life in the midst of lockdown at the age of 31. We hear from Ross’s father, Mike, who reflects on the challenges his son faced and how, as a society, we could do more to help those who are battling serious mental health challenges. If you've been affected by...

In our first Christmas throwback: Rema’s story introduces us to an incredible experience of conflict, suffering and survival. While working as a doctor in Libya, she recounts operating in the midst of a civil war. The starkness of this reality is made even more vivid by her description of colleagues dying in front of her and the threat of violence and death facing her while she was trying to...

Today Producer Sam joins Alex to have a Christmas catchup and review the year. Listen out for Alex's announcement for what we'll be covering on in the upcoming season in the new year. Check out our website for the latest from Our Voices We're also on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram A Fascinate Production

Chris left school at the age of 16 but, very quickly, he found a stimulating project to get his teeth into. He began travelling to Africa and the Middle East to help them improve their farming methods. From there, he set up Sports Aid to help combat famine in Africa. Through a project called Earth Dive, he is now working on saving the entire planet. Check out our website for the latest from Our Vo...

Lee, who now dedicates his life to education and innovation regarding Climate Change, talks about his sense of mission first developing at an early age during conversations with his grandmother. He describes how she “spoke to me like an adult, not a child”. Interactions with his grandmother got Lee thinking: “how can I do something different that will help people and change the world.” Check out o...

Louise works for Stop Ecocide International, an organisation which is attempting to criminalise “mass destruction to ecosystems” at the International Criminal Court. Her love for nature came at an early age when she spent time rock-climbing and kayaking with her father. Her father also instilled in her a sense of global awareness. He insisted that she always ate her food because “every 5 seconds a...

Steven is a professor and award-winning journalist who has developed a unique and enriching perspective of nature. From early childhood, he reports having a fascination with nature due to witnessing the extreme weather events taking place around him. He describes seeing tornadoes ripping up surrounding trees, some of which almost fell on his house. He also relates spending time with his...

Tara, a climate change influencer, content creator and young farmer has a particular affection for animals. Her interest in Climate Change came about when she came across a video of a turtle in a cup. This video highlighted the plight that animals such as turtles face due to the way in which human beings have changed the planet. “These innocent animals were being impacted by what we were doing as...

Physics and sci-fi enthusiast, Simon Clark, has embraced modern communications in order to educate his audience on protecting the earth’s atmosphere. Simon describes himself as someone who was always extremely curious, even as a child. His curiosity extended to science. As a teenager, when deciding on his future studies, he noted “all the cool stuff is in physics… from that point on, I knew I want...

Rollie Williams made the unlikely transition from young comedian to Climate Change activist. Originally from Colorado, Rollie moved to New York with the aim of becoming a successful comedian. He was beginning to make an impression and, pretty soon after arriving, he was asked to perform a show at Brooklyn Theatre. Not sure exactly what to do, Rollie decided he would experiment with a comedy routin...

Dave began his journey of climate consciousness when he began building a cabin outside of his house for use as an office. As he was doing so, he attempted to install solar panels to reduce his carbon footprint and he made use of YouTube for advice on how to do this. However, his YouTube investigations soon went much further as he began to learn about Climate Change and its serious dangers. Check o...