Your Mind Matters Too!

This episode starts with something simple, but not small. A question we often rehearse and think we know how to answer: who are you? With conviction and flair, Ferdinand Kamuzora answers it directly: he is human first. From there, we talk about identity. What happens when you begin removing the things you’ve used to define yourself. The titles, the expectations, the versions of you that make sense...

This year has been something, hasn't it? Whew! As 2025 comes to an end, here's a few truths we're sitting with that many of us didn’t have language for before. In this year-end Zoom with Mari conversation, my friend Hellen and I unpack what overachieving looks like during the holidays, how productivity can quietly replace presence, and why so many high-functioning people struggle to st...

Two years ago on March 2023 I shared a conversation that I had with my good friend Marc Ngotonie. In it, we talked about what mental health means for him, and what he was doing to create spaces for it. Marc shared a deeply insightful take on society's expectations on men and how this affects their mental health. About a month ago - about two years later - Marc and I reconnect. He shares how respon...

I used to think detachment was this cold thing people did to avoid feeling. I saw it as aloof, impenetrable… even unkind. A way to escape accountability or vulnerability. But here’s the truth: I was doing it too. Not to hurt anyone, but to survive. In this episode of Your Mind Matters Too, I open up about how detachment became my survival mechanism. It was the armor I didn’t know I’d built; the wa...

Healing is a personal journey, but are you truly holding yourself accountable? In this episode, I delve into the concept of practising radical accountability —exploring what that may look like, what it doesn’t, and why it’s so transformative. In this episode I’ll unpack: The role of self-accountability in healing. Why external support matters, but the real work begins within. Real-life examples of...

Episode Summary : In this episode, I take a compassionate and unfiltered look at addiction—not just as a habit but as a deeply rooted response to unhealed emotional pain. This isn’t about defining addiction or exploring its surface-level symptoms. Instead, I am asking a much harder, often ignored question: Why does addiction happen? By diving into the complex human experience behind addiction, I h...

Hi there mental health lovers! I am back again for a new season and I could not be more thrilled! Inspired by the critically acclaimed movie adaptation of Colleen Hoover's "It Ends With Us," I find myself asking this question:  Should love hurt?  I mean seriously, I am a little torn about it... In this episode, I cover what it means to be fully human; to feel and to love, even when i...

About 2 months ago I was the 7th speaker on a roaster of incredibly, passionate, driven individuals selected to speak at a TEDx Conference organized by Dar es Salaam International Academy. If you don't know what TEDx is, just imagine a room full of people, and strangers on stage talking about things they like or are driven by or "ideas" about life and a great many other topics! I chose to talk abo...

Hi there, and welcome to my podcast! I'm Mariam Simbeye, and if you're looking for a safe space to explore conversations around mental health, you're in the right place. Join me as I openly share my own personal journey through some of my toughest struggles, with the hope that my story resonates with you and encourages you to talk about your own challenges and seek the help you deserve...

What does it mean to be happy? This week I'm exploring the complexities of being a happy human being that's also completely falling apart. I learned that being happy doesn't last long, and that falling apart directly correlates with feelings of joy and happiness. This means that joy, happiness, pain and sadness exist together. So this episode is about embracing being both happy and falling apart.

As children we are never taught how to love ourselves. We spend most of our adult life living in a state of perpetual longing to be accepted. Seeking this external validation has proven to have detrimental effects on our mental health. Since May is Mental Health Awareness Month, I'd love to raise awareness on 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐒𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐀𝐜𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞

In this compelling episode of "Zoom with Mari," we had the privilege of sitting down with Leone, a 21-year-old rapper whose music transcends genres, fusing classical instrumentals with deeply introspective lyrics centered around mental health. Leone's wisdom and insight belie his age, as he shares his unique perspective on life, connection, and the power of manifesting one's drea...

In this episode of Your Mind Matters Too , we're diving headfirst into the world of fear and how it's more familiar to us than we might think. Episode Highlights: - Getting Real : Join me as I open up about my journey through life's quirks and challenges. From seeking validation through screens to dealing with my own mouthy mental chatter, we're in for a candid chat. - Embracing th...

On this episode of Zoom with Mari, I had the pleasure of speaking with Marc Ngotonie, talented self-taught events and portrait photographer based in Tanzania. With a career spanning back to 2015, Marc initially focused on capturing the magic of weddings and corporate events. However, his artistic journey took an exciting turn as he delved into photographing live music performances, including the r...

Trigger Warning: This episode discusses heavy and sensitive topics related to mental health and ongoing violence and hatred in the world that may be triggering or difficult for some listeners. If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health issues, I encourage you to seek support or skip this episode if you feel it may be harmful to your mental health. In this episode, I spoke candidly...

The word "comfort" is fascinating to me because it is an English word that can mean many things, such as a feeling, an act of giving, a state of being, or adding something where something was missing. I used to believe it was one of the most positive words in the English language because it balances the negativity in the world. However, after listening to TED Talks and podcasts about people d...

This is the second part of a two-part episode about The Power of Naming Your Emotions.  In this episode, I talk about how I’d been conditioned as a child not to express my emotions or process them in a healthy manner. Coming from a big family, this survival mode worked to get me through tough times because I could always high-function my way out of difficult situations but in time, I’ve reali...

Masuma Somji is a kickass mental health activist, feminist, and teacher!  Amongst other things, she vocally advocates for mental health awareness  and uses her platform to speak against gender-based violence and  patriarchy. Her story is one forged from violence and pain; having grown  up in an oppressive and increasingly patriarchal community, having been  married at 19 t...

Masuma Somji is a kickass mental health activist, feminist, and teacher! Amongst other things, she vocally advocates for mental health awareness and uses her platform to speak against gender-based violence and patriarchy. Her story is one forged from violence and pain; having grown up in an oppressive and increasingly patriarchal community, having been married at 19 to a man who physically and ver...

Emotions come in different ranges for us all. How we feel influences how we move through the world and feel about ourselves. We quickly learn to connect through language as children but when we get older, we feel disconnected from ourselves and from those around us because our universes are limited by the language of our emotions.  I got a little nerdy in this episode because I referred to my...

“Fake It Till You Make It” is the lie we get told because someone thought it would be fun to tell other people that the only way they will get through life is if they faked everything that was going wrong and pretended it wasn’t. This is a mindset left over from generations taught to ignore adversity; thrive in it and wait for salvation.  Might be controversial - but I don’t think it worked t...

What does it mean when we are asked to “ SHOW UP? ” It can mean physically showing your presence when someone needs you or it can mean some more covert things like giving your time listening to a friend whose heart is breaking. Showing up is our human way of saying we care for one another and it looks different for everyone.  There is no “one right way” of showing up and perhaps that’s the be...

I recognize that I’m good at many things and I also know I struggle with many other things. In this week’s episode, I talk about how I struggle with being vulnerable and how that has affected how I deal with my mental health. This episode is about working through the uncomfortable feelings and doing hard things - however that looks like for you. Perhaps your hard thing is quitting a bad habit, or...

This episode is all about how shame is at the root of all our struggles with mental health. We have been so conditioned to avoid the shame that the very thing we end up feeling in the midst of struggle is shame. Learning from Dr. Brènè Brown's research and her famous TEDx Talk on Shame and Vulnerability, as well as her book The Gifts of Imperfections, I unpack some of the instances where I have fe...

"Mental health is not real."  "You're seeking attention."  "Depression is a choice."  These are some of the things that people say because they don't understand the toll it takes on a survivor that battles mental illness. This episode is about setting the record straight: that none of these things are true. The misinformation on mental health hurts both the survivor and everyone els...