Interesting People (of Earth)

This week on Interesting People of Earth, I’m joined by Madison Brandt, host of The Deep Talk Podcast, a show dedicated to exploring the relationship we have with ourselves and the world around us through honest, meaningful conversation.Our conversation is a true deep talk: real, reflective, and grounded in lived experience. We explore why vulnerability is essential to healing, how connection supports personal growth, and what it means to feel safer within ourselves through shared understanding.

Modern adulthood feels like a bait and switch.We followed the rules we were given, school, career, stability, only to enter a world defined by uncertainty, rising costs, institutional failure, and constant change. In this solo episode of Interesting People of Earth, host Onyi breaks down why adulthood feels harder, more unstable, and more improvisational than what previous generations experienced, and why that feeling isn’t a personal failure.This episode offers a grounded, big-picture analysis of how economic, cultural, technological, and geopolitical shifts have quietly rewritten the social contract of adulthood. From globalization and automation to housing crises, education inflation, climate anxiety, and declining trust in institutions, we explore how the old “adulting” script collapsed, and what’s emerging in its place.You’ll hear:• Why the traditional adulthood model worked for some, and excluded many• How global instability and rapid change reshaped work, identity, and belonging• The emotional toll modern adulthood takes on young adults worldwide• Why anxiety, burnout, and restlessness are adaptive responses, not weakness• How change is a feature of human history, not a modern glitch• Why this moment, despite the chaos, may be an opportunity to redefine adulthood on our own termsThis conversation draws on global research from the WHO, OECD, IMF, UNESCO, Pew Research Center, and more, while grounding the analysis in lived experience. If you’ve felt behind, disoriented, or like the rules changed without warning, this episode is for you.Adulthood isn’t broken. The script is.And that means we get to write a new one.Sources: Utrecht University — Youth in a Digital World: Complexity & Social Polarization (2023)ScienceDirect — Technological Change, Automation & Labour Market Impacts on YouthWHO — Global Mental Health Update (2022–2023)World Happiness Report 2023 — Youth Well-Being TrendsThe Atlantic — Young Adult Mental Health in AmericaUNESCO — Global Education Monitoring ReportOECD — Housing Affordability & Wage Stagnation DataIMF — Global Employment Outlook & Youth Labour Market ChallengesAfrican Youth Survey — Youth Mental Health & Economic Conditions in SSAPew Research Center — Global Trust & Political Participation Among Young PeopleEdelman Trust Barometer (2023) — Trust in Government & InstitutionsNCBI — Jeffrey Arnett: Emerging Adulthood TheoryDavid Graeber — The Utopia of Rules

Today’s episode explores the intersections of identity, migration, cultural adaptation, Eurocentrism, and reclamation through the lived experience of Rana: a Lebanese, Egyptian, born in the Congo, now navigating life in the Netherlands.We examine belonging not as assimilation but as a process of decolonization, of peeling back the imposed layers and returning to the body as a site of memory, truth, and self-definition.In our conversation, we discuss:• The psychological and emotional impact of growing up between cultures• The “switching” mechanisms children of diaspora develop to survive• The expectations of Dutch tolerance vs. the reality of social exclusion• How disappointment can become a catalyst for deeper self-inquiry• Decolonization as an embodied experience, not an intellectual one• Dance, food, and clothing as forms of cultural continuity and resistance• The concept of “de-shaming” inherited identity• How to build community when your identity doesn’t fit neatly anywhereWe end the episode by reframing belonging itself: not as fitting in, not as blending, but as freedom, and a self-rootedness that cannot be taken away.If you are navigating intercultural identity, diaspora living, or the complexity of selfhood in globalized spaces, this conversation offers insight, language, and grounding.

What does it mean to be human in a world that moves faster than our ability to feel? In this very first episode, your host, Onyinye Ijeh (me!) introduces Interesting People (of Earth), a digital campfire for meaningful dialogue about life, purpose, culture, and the messy, beautiful layers of being alive right now. This episode is part reflection, part origin story. I share how the podcast came to life, from my early YouTube influences and years working in International Development, to rediscovering the art of listening in a world obsessed with reacting. Themes explored include: The meaning of authenticity in a filtered world Identity, belonging, and creativity Emotional intelligence as a baseline, not a bonus Humor, humility, and the absurdity of existence * The power of nuance in modern discourse If you’ve ever wanted to slow down, think deeply, and reconnect with what makes us human, welcome home. Produced by O.R.I. Media🎧 New episodes every week Follow @wontonamera and @interestingpplofearth for more conversations that make you think.