Hear Me Roar with Ashveen Kohli

This is the Hear Me Roar Podcast, with me your host Ashveen Kohli.  And these are the most powerful minority voices you should hear! We discuss building businesses, money, mindset, mental health, experiences and most importantly, the unique superpowers of each of our guests!  If you love the Diary of a CEO by Steven Bartlett or the High Performance Podcasts, you’re in the right place and I promise you’re going to love this!  Every person who joins us on this podcast is a minority or South Asian with a Brilliant story. These are impressive bodies who you may not know are working in the back but amplifies the input and impression from the South Asian and minority community!  Theres so much to learn out here but we may not be in reach to talk to all of these giants, so I’m here compile it all for you!  I’m your host Ashveen Kohli, I am an ex-investment banker in Canary Wharf and now im the Head of Digital Solutions in the marketing industry. I also run a charity with my family whose core focus is around community cohesion and bringing our minority communities out into large impactful events!  Our upcoming event is called United Colours and we will be joined by Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games!! Yes its going to be massive and we’re expecting around 40,000 of you guys to attend! Theres going to be live musical performances, historical exhibitions, art galleries, one of the largest & best South Asian Fusion food markets in the UK and a number of ted style talks! The event is completely free so make sure you go to unitedcolours.org and get your tickets right now! Its on the 28th and 29th May 2022 so there’s not long to get your tickets!  Thank you for listening and please make sure you hit the Follow or Subscribe for me! 

Okay not that kind of 'Oral'! Minds out of the gutters please!  This episode is joined by Dr Sorabh Patel, a close friend and serious high-achiever. He's built an incredible life at the age of 29 and currently runs two dental practises in Central London. We sit down and talk about the business hats that he wears, how he came to manage 2 dental establishments and the toughest lessons he's learnt!  We’re talking the holy trinity: Money, Business and Mental Health. As Dentists have the 2nd highest suicide rate in the UK, and is discussed in this episode so please note there is a *Trigger Warning for Suicide and Mental Health*   

Jaye Parson has a story that will sound so familiar to many, and yet is so unique that only he could have walked that path. Jaye Parson started out as a regular kid in South London, who then went down a path resulting in him being stabbed at 17 years old. Fast forward to now, he has become one of the names to watch out for! As a music artist, High Celebrity Fashion designer and an upcoming motion picture artist, he is one of the uber talented!    Jaye Parson is one of the few that has designed clothes for Floyd Mayweather, Ashanti, Erykah Badu, Omarion, and so many more! We ask him about his favourite Celebrities to work with and his least favourite. We talk about how the zero sized model mentality has righteously died and why we need to be dressing for everyone and anyone.    We’re also talking about the South London scene, what the real influences are and how to make it big.    He is a real life Role Model for so many and so much to learn from! 

Media across the globe is filled with exhausting levels of opinions about dating. From this weeks Love Island episode to this months new dating app! If it isn’t a review of Hinge or Tinder, its another meme on instagram portraying how sad being single is.. and trust me I’ve emulated almost very single one of those memes in real life. So this episode is dedicated to all the folks out there who can tick all of the above on that sheet. We are joined by newly published author Angele Sandha!! Also known from her instagram handle @ask.angeele. We’re going to be talking about Dating in Colour, which is also the name of her book, which btw you should immediately download to your kindle right now! One question I have is about women having a so-called ‘shelf life’  and why we go out there looking for super masculine or feminine energy partners. And I’m not just talking about the tough exteriors to dating that we all know so well, Angele and I talk about experiences, history and how sociology or human behaviours can feed into our choices! 

Today we're sitting down with Sugarae, who is an old friend and a BBC introducing musician artist!! We sit down to talk about his influences, upbringing, family, and his art. We also discuss his experiences in putting his mental health first and going to therapy. The stigma around therapy as a POC and what he thinks its important to take it seriously, even if the community is still a few steps behind. 

Recently we’ve been in this whirlwind of people investing all their money into Crypto’s learning about NFT’s, trying to figure out what Elon Musk is trying to do with Tesla and most importantly, we’re all here trying to figure out how we can make some money from all this! So today i have Sohail Khan so is the reigning World’s Top Joint Venture expert. He’s gone from building a multi million pound business, to loosing it and being flat broke in 2009 and then built his way back up to being a joint venture millionaire again in 2021.   We’re discussing his experience, what skills it takes, how to learn where the best business options are and specifically what it was that made him a millionaire. He believes that everyone can achieve this and I agree with him.

focusbirmingham.org.uk Facebook: @FocusBirmingham Twitter: @FocusBirmingham This week we are talking about losing one of your senses. Specifically, I mean your eye-sight. We’re talking to someone who has a visual impairment and we discuss her unique mindset on life and her mindfulness practises. We’re talking about why its not appropriate to be using the word Blind, and we’re also going to be talking to Pav from Focus Birmingham. Focus are a charity set up to support anyone with a visual impairment and their work is currently concentrated around the knowledge and support gaps in the South Asian Community! Before we kick off, if you want to help support Focus Birmingham Charity, I will link their details in the info so you can out their amazing work and maybe even get involved! I know they’re always looking for volunteers, and support from the local community, so check them out!

We're sitting down with Marissa McCallam who has been running her Life coaching business for years now. Life Coaching is something we here more and more now. Loads of celebrities swear that everyone needs one, so we wanted to understand why. I wanted to know how we can benefit from a life coach and how it honestly works! We're talking through some human behavioural research, some her well known tactics and i call out the imposters on Imposter Syndrome. 

How to a start a tech company with zero experience? For everyone that has that idea they're thinking about and want to hear from real experiences, then listen to our episode with Tom Walker! He is the Co-Founder of Veenpool Media and Veenpool Studios. They started out in 2019 and now have a growing team, global clients and a shit tonne of stories on what they recommend to anyone else wanting to start up their business! Tom Walker's Tech business is built on minority owned brands and clients. He talks about the industry and how they started with just an idea and his advice to new entrepreneurs trying to scale up!

http://ucalgary.ca/giving/sikh-studies This question is one that I've been wanting to sit down and talk about from the beginning of this podcast! And who better, than Professor Harjeet Grewal who heads the Sikh Studies program at the University of Calgary (Canada). He is currently on a mission to create a permanent Sikh Studies curriculum at the University of Calgary, so continuous research and learnings can be established. It also creates a space for the community to pursue this in further education!  As a Sikh myself, I have been asked by people 'Ash, what is a Sikh??' So today we're going to pick just a few words and actions from the Guru's to go into and how this is applicable to our generations today!   

This Podcast introduces Jay Singh Sohal. He is the 2021 candidate for the West Midlands (UK) Police and Crime Commissioner! Elections are being held on the 6th May 2021! We wanted to sit down with Jay to get his opinion of what the big problems around Crime are! There has been lots of press about Police brutality, bias against Minorities, and tokenism of minority faces in politics. We wanted to ask Jay all these questions... honest and unfiltered! We talk about why Crime exists and what Police forces part is in this. Boris Johnson has promised 20,000 new Police officers in 2021 which is the biggest recruitment drive for Policemen EVER in the UK! What does this actually mean? And does that mean theres going to actually be more support against one of the biggest issue, internet fraud and crime! Join us to hear Jay's take on all this and let us know what you agree and disagree with! Sponsored by Veenpool Media! (Thank you to these legends for lending me the studio and all their editing and sound work!) https://veenpool.media/

Today I’m joined by Mervyn, who is the owner and creator of You at Yours. He is a body confidence photographer and the time i spent with him taught me a lot about the way you might be approaching your confidence wrongly.  We’re going to talk about what he does and more importantly the purpose behind why he does it. How we helps people across the UK build confidence with his process and why its so successful in giving you confidence that can lasts for years.    Check out his website: https://www.youatyours.com/ And reach out to him on his Instagram handle @youatyours

Reach out to Nanki at hello@dreamytripsbali.com or @letmehearyousingh !  Nanki Singh is Bestfriend to South Asian women looking to travel independently. She has significant influence on her social media handle @letmehearyousingh, and is the owner of Dreamy Trips Bali. Nanki uses her experience of moving across the world from LA to India to Bali, and as the owner of Dreamy Trips Bali she helps support a number of new entrepreneurs in her mentoring workshops. Listen now to lessons and advice to people who want to try travelling somewhere new in 2021 and living a regret free lifestyle!

Ever been in a toxic relationship? Felt the added culture pressures to go through with your engagement because of emotional blackmail? Well Dr Sonal Patel has too! We have an open chat about her break up with her Fiancé, the impact its had on her mental health, and how that lead her to create the @HighStreetDoctor Instagram!   

We’re talking with Aysha Qamar, who is an incredible Editor for Brown Girl Mag, a writer for the Daily Kos, and board member for Thaakat. She's worked on the front lines of gender-based violence cases for many years. and has endless experiences dealing  with domestic abuse, specifically circling the south asian community.    So this is where i have to apply a trigger warning as we are about to talk about some sensitive topics around gender-based violence. If this isn’t for you, then please do check out another episode of Hear Me Roar    We are both well aware that this isn’t something most of us openly talk about, but these are situations that can happen to anyone, and so we should all know how and where to get help.    We’re going to talk about some of her survivors and on top of all this i ask Aysha her advice for you guys, on how to get paid to write! How she did it, her tips and extending her support to anyone who wants to get into writing as a career!

Today we are joined by the team from House of Cinn, whose mission is to support rough sleepers across the UK, and in return we get to appreciate their amazing Cinnamon Buns!    Their mission is to turn their baked goods into “acts of goodwill, by offering love, community and financial empowerment to those most in need.” I speak to them about what this process actually means, and the people that have inspired and impacted them throughout their work!   So essentially For every box of cinnamon buns that we buy, money is raised to help break the cycle of homelessness and get rough sleepers back on their feet. This is done with  a buddy and back-to-work system in place as well as baking jobs in the House of Cinn kitchens!

Kiranee Music is a co-founder of the Break the Noise Records with Rishi Rich! She has been in the industry for more than a decade and works closely on music with Jay Sean (Nakhre 2020), Rishi Rich, Netflix. Theres so much to say with this episode, as we sit down and talk honestly about her journey through the music industry. How she moved from the Brit Asia scene to moving to Mumbai and working at Universal Music. And how she ended up running a record label with the legend Rishi Rich. Kiranee is a legend all by her own standards too! She has one of the fastest records to reach Number 1 on the iTunes World Chart for any British Asian Female Artist for “Tere Bina Nahin Jeena”. She gives amazing advice and insight to aspiring artists and people around the control on our actions and how we can't let fear get in front seat.

Purpose, direction, work and support are all things we look for in life. Sam from @SamsOutlook is here to share how he got these and how he figured out his passions. Sam has a clear gift of style and fashion, and is also one of the very few South Asian LGBTQ representations out in the media. He works to advocate for more representation and has spoken on panels with BBC and Channel 4. He talks about how his derailed plans of studying medicine, led him to be a leading Scientist at the London Sperm Bank, and to his Influencer marketing career. He's also spent the last 10 years of knowing me giving me great advice, so today I'm lending out my bestie to share his golden nuggets of knowledge to you all!   

The reigning Miss India 2019 joins us today to share her experiences of the pagenting world. She talks about how her 5 years of losing the title built her to be the person she is today. What things she's learnt along the way and the things she changed to get her to the crown!  She's such a great example of a person who has worked hard for what she has and without any serious privilege.  Tanvi spills all about the training and process of getting to where she is today, and how it really has so little to do with vanity.  On top of all this, I ask about her opinions on colourism and the affects of bleaching across India and how she believes we will overcome this conversation to a point where colour isn't even a talking topic. 

It's rare to get a Doctor to talk at length about what its really like inside the hospitals. The biggest insight we got was from Adam Kay's book 'This is going to hurt'. But lets add another layer onto that, and ask "what is it like to be a brown Doctor in the NHS?" We've been clapping and championing our healthcare services across the globe this year. And they do so much in trying to protect us all from the inside. They really are as close as we get to superheroes!  Thank you to Dr Simrah Farooqui, the woman behind this episode!