Month: July 2023

The 8th World Zoroastrian Youth Congress took place in London this week, from July 21st – 26th 2023. It was last held in London 27 years ago.

There were numerous panels, sessions, key-note speeches and socials about young Zoroastrians and their future.

Young Zoroastrians from all over the globe flew in from over 15 different countries.

The congress across six days hosted panels, seminars, thought sessions about the future of the community, interfaith marriage, mental health, anti-normative career choices.

Zoroastrian facts of interest:

• Zoroastrianism is the world’s oldest monotheistic faith.
• The most famous Zoroastrian is Freddie mercury (Freddie Balsara), and even though the world knows his name they know nothing about his community / culture.
• Zoroastrians are mistakenly known as ‘’fire-worshippers as we have an eternal fire that burns in our places of worship.
• The 3 wise men in the Christmas story were Zoroastrians.
• We famously also used the cycle of life theory to bury our dead in the past. (sky burials). In the past, when we died, vultures would eat the body (returned to nature),after the religious ceremony and we thought this was a healthy positive human/animal/earth cycle of life. This has now died out, as there are no vultures.
• We occupied Iran when it was called Persia. When the Muslims took over, Zoroastrians fled across the world as refugees. Our ancestors were refugees in India and the generosity of King Rana helped us to succeed.
• Zoroastrianism is older than Islam and Christianity and numerous other cultures have been influence by Zoroastrian inventions, education, symbolism and more. (Especially our very own British royal family and the freemasons)
• Like the Jewish community, we must be born into the religion, but unlike the Jewish rule which dictates birth by Jewish mother, Zoroastrians can only be accepted in a mixed faith marriage if the father is Zoroastrian.
• As you can’t convert into the religion, one day it will totally die out. We are the smallest underrepresented community in the world.
• Famous British Zoroastrians include …Freddie Mercury, Celebrity chef Cyrus Todiwala, actress Nina Wadia, Lord Bilimoria, BBC News ‘ Matthew Amroliwala.

I was asked to be on two panels. One about Zoroastrians working in the media, and another more informal, interactive Ask Me Anything session.

In attendance were young Zoroastrians from over 15 various countries, with so many of them already achieving brilliant accolades across various industries.

What a great couple of panels at the World Zoroastrian Youth Congress I was honoured to take part in.

So many young Zoroastrians from over 15 countries and all so smart, funny, dynamic and hot! There were around 500 people in the room, even after partying until 5am! Impressive

It was so good to see young people from my community globally achieving so much.

Who knew we were this talented?

There were some great speakers and questions.

Below are just a handful of interesting attendees I heard about who would make brilliant stories.

1. Ruzbeh Hodiwala – from India/ studying in the UK
Ruzbeh Hodiwala is a Zoroastrian scholar at SOAS who has conducted extensive research and delivered numerous speeches on Neo Zoroastrians (Converts) and the future of the religion.

Angle: Focus on the dwindling population and reduced acceptance of converts. 

2. Natalie & Nicole Kanga – are from the USA
Natalie and Nicole Kanga are sisters from an interfaith marriage. Both have played instrumental roles in their local Zoroastrian communities, organizing events and delivering speeches. Natalie spoke on the headliner panel about ‘Relationships’ and the future of the community. Natalie works at a mental health startup, while Nicole is in project management. Both are fantastic advocates for the community, speak very well, and continuously work to promote acceptance and inclusivity within the faith.

Angle: Focus on relationships, inter-faith marriage and the identity of youth who have grown up in inter-faith households. Promote acceptance and how coming together can even be our superpower. This is also a theme that may resonate with other South Asian communities.  

3. Shreas Pardiwala – is from India
Shreas Pardiwala is a Bollywood actor and psychologist from Bombay and clearly extremely popular with an infectious, addictive personality – the audience adored him!. This was his first time at the congress, and he spoke on multiple topics, including Zoroastrians in the media, and mental health. He is very comfortable in front of the camera and obviously a star.

Angle: Focus on Zoroastrians breaking out of ‘normative’ careers and into creative pursuits.

4. Parshan Koshravi – from both the USA & Iran
Parshan Koshravi is a young democrat from California and the 7th World Zoroastrian Youth Congress Chair. He gave a talk on Zoroastrians in public life. His unique and interesting journey is worth following, especially as there were a few panels focused on the role of Zoroastrians and human rights, which connects back to our heritage with the Cyrus cylinder.

Angle: Focus on his political career and his pursuit to embody values of good thoughts, words and deeds to develop communities of good. Much of his political work surrounds human rights. 

5. Ayesha Billimoria -is from India
Ayesha Billimoria is an athlete who was once the fastest woman in India. She is considered one of India’s most successful athletes. Ayesha gave a talk at the Congress and also runs a social enterprise where she promotes young South Asian girls’ involvement in sports.

Angle: Similar to Shreas, Ayesha is breaking out of that ‘normative’ career, really embodying the value that Zoroastrian girls can live for themselves and empowering those around her. 

The whole congress was organised and led by the young Zoroastrians in the UK

The Zoroastrian faith, which has endured for over 3500 years, carries a profound message of Good Thoughts, Good Words, and Good Deeds. In a world increasingly divided, with a current population of only around 200,000, it is crucial to gather the next generation to ensure the survival and development of this ancient religion. The 8WZYC aims to host a variety of speaker sessions, workshops and social events to foster diversity and inclusion within the Zoroastrian community.

The congress reignited connections by inspiring young Zoroastrians to address the challenges of dwindling numbers and leverage their diverse population. Over 70 distinguished speakers shared insights on various topics, including inter-faith marriage, LGBTQ+ relationships, conversion, and the achievements of young Zoroastrians in media, arts, and sports.

In addition to the enriching sessions, evening events provided a platform for the youth to network, engage, and explore different aspects of their identity. Attendees had the opportunity to experience Persian dancing and instrumental performances, fostering connections that transcend borders and amplify the global voice of Zoroastrianism.

Key Themes at the congress were:

1. Religious Education & Identity – This theme will provide delegates with insights into the rich history of Zoroastrianism and how it relates to their current values, behaviour, and overall identity.

2. Social Responsibility – This theme will address a range of issues, from sustainability to human rights, and explore the role that young Zoroastrians can play in tackling these challenges.

3. Networking and Opportunities – This theme will highlight career pathways in media, entrepreneurship, design and more, as well as opportunities to network and create lasting connections with others.

Hashtag: #ZoroYouthCongress

Thank you to the young London based team who coordinated an incredible lineup of speakers. Stay connected!

UNCERTAINTY

From gang leaders to social entrepreneurs to Corporate CEO’s.

Everyone, at some point, will be hit by uncertainty that will bring you to your knees.

This month, I learned how to Identify the feeling of fear, fog and stasis in your body.

Because the more you can identify fear – the better you can cope with it.

Here’s how my journey started.

In the UK, it feels like we’ve had a decade of stress.

Starting with the Brexit vote, then a world of Trump and Johnson kick-started culture wars, culminating in the covid pandemic which was the pinnacle of uncertainty in our lives.

Since then, we’ve had the cost-of-living crisis, and nothing in this country seems to work anymore, our industries are on their knees and the quitting culture is dominant.

There seems to be no let-up in the weight piling onto our shoulders and minds.

Never in my life have things felt so uncertain and unpredictable.

In fact, that word UNCERTAIN has cropped up in every area of people’s lives.

In our careers, the threat of A.I, relationships, the work- life balance, health, home, security, stability…..

Everywhere I look, people are being paralysed by self-doubt and a lack of direction.

People are yearning for trusted leadership, to be empowered, to gain confidence and direction. To live their best lives, to thrive, not simply survive.

UNCERTAINTY EXPERTS

A few months ago, an old friend Sam Conniff – a former colleague and someone I’d worked with in my MTV days – reached out to me explaining that he had set up a program around uncertainty. Many corporate businesses have been sending teams to try it out – including Netflix, Apple, Nike and Nestle, and Sam invited me to try it out.

It’s a set of online sessions both live and pre-recorded for five hours in total.

(Truth be told, I love self-reflecting workshops that help us understand who we are and why we behave the way we do. In my next lifetime I may retain as a psychologist!)

Also, I knew that anything Sam had put his hand to would be progressive, provocative, pirate and risky. I’d worked with him in my MTV days on the ground-breaking Dubplate Drama which was the world’s first interactive digital and on-air drama.

Sam is a rule-breaker who challenges the status quo, and with his partner –  Lead Scientist Katherine Templar-Lewis – they’d developed another ground-breaking way at looking at life’s uncertainties and making our world better.

So whilst I’d been hearing about the UNCERTAINTY EXPERTS PROGRAMME for months and was dying to try it, I just hadn’t been able to get the time to partake.

Then suddenly various stable areas in my life became unstable.  

For the first time in my life, things were totally out of my control and my day-to-day activity depended on other people and the universe. I was living every day minute by minute with no stability or certainty.

I needed assurance that I was able to power through this chapter with resilience and I knew the time had come for me to find the time and accept Sam’s invitation.

I reached out to Sam explaining my current ‘wading through treacle’ chapter, and he replied with the most gracious, warm, welcoming email inviting me to join the next cohort of UNCERTAIN people.

The UNCERTAINTY EXPERTS programme’s purpose was to transform our uncertainty from a negative to a positive.

To understand the science and story of turning uncertainty into opportunity.

‘’The Uncertainty Experts programme brings together psychology, neuroscience, CBT, empathy design and emerging technologies to create a show like no other, an evidence-based intervention into Uncertainty’’. 

Uncertainty Experts is a unique and transformative personal development experience bringing together neuroscientists from UCL to create the world’s first interactive documentary scientifically proven to increase Uncertainty Tolerance.

The live sessions are led by the two Uncertainty Experts Sam and Katherine. The pre-recorded sessions include a set of incredible people who have overcome adversity.

The episodes are exciting, well shot, dynamic, futuristic, engaging and gripping. (Not surprising then to learn that they are created by Netflix producers).

To make the positive change we would take a journey of two self-assessments and watch three masterclass episodes with complimentary extra episodes. That’s it.

UNCERTAINTY EXPERTS IN ACTION

So here we were on the programmes launch night, where I met 20 of my other uncertainty colleagues – my squad – my uncertainty crew- and we were talked through the different chapters of uncertainty, why people want to be certain and how this program would help us deal with areas like fear, fog, and stasis.

Once the launch was over, we’d unlocked our online pre-assessment.

Feeling excited and slightly nervous, yet curious and excited about what this pre-assessment would be like, I dived in.

It involved some multiple-choice questions about how we felt about different areas of our lives.

It also included a fun jeopardy-style game blowing up balloons via your laptop keyboard  – but tap that space bar too many times and the balloons could explode and you lose all your accumulated points! (I’m hard wired to be competitive and win so this was a moment of jeopardy!)

The aim was to gain the highest score, but as there was no logical gameplay involved it truly was down to a ‘’whatever’’ attitude. All so uncertain and anxiety inducing!

How did it make us feel? On self-reflection, it was silly to get worried about something that was totally out of our control. The lesson was learned. Sometimes you just have to let life lead you, take some risks, shrug it off if they don’t succeed and keep it moving.

After the pre-assessment we had unlocked the first episodes about FEAR, FOG & STASIS that we could watch, and the first episode was about fear. In this section of the programme, various uncertainty experts talk to us through their experiences of Fear. their journey and overcoming it.

During the episode titled fear we learnt about how to make our fight or flight response step down, and step more into our resting and digesting energy, we also learned how to be grateful.

This masterclass was full of all the F Words. Fight, flight, fear, fawn, freeze, fold, f*&*!

The session broke down the science of why we crave certainty, and what happens to our brains when we lose it. I learned how to flow like water and pivot to meet uncertainty, rather than fight it. It was clear that this would lead to less anxiety, and more joy and contentment. If I can only learn to acknowledge and embrace it moving forward!

We were asked to find an object that we were grateful for. It’s not the most sentimental object, but I am grateful for my phone. It allows me to live an empowered life via communication, safety, knowledge, memories and more.

We were asked to silently talk to it for 30 seconds and tell it about all the things I was grateful for it for. The experts showed us how emotions like gratitude create a dopamine hit in our brains. So as a group we all had a unified dopamine hit together. ‘’Group drugs’’ defined differently. LOL

INTEROCEPTION

The pre-recorded uncertainty experts’ stories were fascinating and humbling. A group of people who truly embraced the uncertainty in their circumstances to push through to ultimate success and breakthrough. These people included:

MORGAN GODVIN – A young woman who went to prison accused of her best friend’s death and managed to stay positive during her imprisonment leaning into the gratitude and empathy she had for her daily blessings

MARK DEMPSTER –  a former Glaswegian smuggler who is now a trauma specialist and works in Harley Street with politicians around anxiety and addiction

KARL LOKKO – A former gang member one of the most notorious Gang members in London who is now runs a black business incubator and is an entrepreneur

(See the full set at Uncertainty Experts website)

We learnt about Safety behaviour, which are the negative things that we do when we are anxious scared or angry. We might be aggressive, swear, shout, overeat, drink too much, take drugs…..

As soon as you recognise ‘’safety behaviour’’, we can stop it. (Mine are working out, keeping busy, eating, and …enlightening moment….having a slight ‘’saviour complex’’. I realised I try and help others save themselves, so I don’t have to save myself!

IMPOSTER SYNDROME IS A MINOR UNCERTAINTY

I loved the exercise where we were asked to make a list of things that we do within our comfort zone, and then other activities in our ‘’stretch zone’’. We made small steps to get fully into our stretch zone, so that in a few months, when we look back in retrospect, all the things in our stretch zone, would be in our comfort zone, making room for more new things in my stretch zone! Make sense? I found this exercise incredibly exciting!

What else could I do to stretch myself?

I learned that there’s something about uncertainty that boosts your productiveness and your consciousness.

We were shown that research from Harvard University shows that uncertainty and anxiety put the brain in a top state for learning and growth.

UNCERTAINTY EXPERTS’ SUMMARY

I like to think that I have a high resilience and tolerance for challenges. This programme helped me understand the tools and emotional mental ride we experience when things are not in our control.

It highlighted why a welcoming embrace of uncertainty is critical.

One lesson leapt out at me:

A high tolerance level enables you to live your best life, meet new people and have a socially active happy life.

Low uncertainty levels lead to us being more susceptible to populism and conspiracy theories.

The course enabled me to recognise my own accomplishments. (Even writing that last sentence made me cringe). I recognised that I HAVE MOVED THE DIAL! I HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO PEOPLE’S SUCCESS. (Still cringing!)

So next time you have a fear around uncertainty or fear of something happening, think about the missed opportunity… what opportunity will you miss that you may come to regret?

Grip the fear with both hands and leap forward through the journey.

It reminded me of a quote I have on my fridge magnet. ‘’ Fate whispers to the warrior “You cannot withstand the storm” and the warrior whispers back “I am the storm”.

At the final assessment and graduation ceremony, we learned that as a group we scored high on bravery and resilience, but low on decisiveness.

It made us realise that Connection is the way out. Connection to people, places, and conversations will always make us more resilient.

The programme was a journey I appreciate for many reasons. The sessions and timings made it easy to take part even if you’re mega busy as there are various time and date options. There are numerous reading materials and videos all collated and shared. They make it easy to recognise positive and negative habit forming.

Everything about the way society works makes us demand control and certainty, so this course made me realise it’s ok to simply lean in and embrace uncertainty. I thought I was already resilient and i think this course made me shrug and say ‘’ok so I don’t know what’s next and i can’t control it- but whatever happens, happens and I’ll be the best I can with what I have’’.

I encourage you to check out the UncertaintyExperts.com site and try out their quick free resilience tests. Go on! Be curious….

We can all thrive in uncertain times……if we can learn to consistently explore the benefits of uncertainty.

It’s been a busy month for hosting panels in the media industry.

This fortnight I curated an RTS Futures session with people across the UK titled NEW VOICES AND STORIES IN DOCUMENTARIES. (Watch video at the bottom of this page).

In 2023, TV commissioners and viewers are more attracted to stories from real people across the UK, in their authentic voices- than ever!
 
I am lucky enough to know and brought together some brilliant names who have been bringing award-winning insightful, provocative content to diverse British TV audiences this past year.
 
We heard how they persuade new voices to reveal, share and preserve their unique- very personal – stories with the world.
We were able to step into the shoes of the commissioners and producers who give us access to other people’s most life changing moments and heard how they source the subjects and stories, make the approaches, gain trust and access, and of course understood why it was important to tell those stories.
 
We heard from the teams behind THE RTS award- winning documentary THE EVOLUTION OF BLACK BRITISH MUSIC (BET UK), and the team behind Channel 4’s Youth News Strand UNTOLD – which has produced some dynamic shows about Incels, YouTubers, and reality show stars.

It takes dynamic, forward-thinkig people who are unafraid to push boundaries to make great content that shines a light on under-represented communities.

Thank you for joining me and trusting me with your stories:
Debbie Ramsay
Cicelia Deane
Charlie Mole
Femi Oyeniran
Nicky ‘Slimting’ Walker

To watch the whole session free on YouTube visit:

There were so many great panels and speakers at the #BeYouFestival at @OuternetGlobal on July 13.

I really enjoyed chairing the ASK ME ANYTHING session with TV industry stars Fatima Salaria, Melvin Odoom and Mobeen Azhar – three incredibly talented people who have made it in their respective lanes by using sheer grit, tenacity, resilience and of course TALENT!

It was an opportunity for anyone, from industry veterans to new and rising talent to hear our industry experts share their personal career stories, and then ask the panel for advice on navigating the industry, overcoming obstacles and making it.

We covered areas that the panel found difficult at the start of their career, the one thing that progressed their career from mid to senior levels, to what they owed their success, the gaps they see which new entrants to our TV world should master, best TV hacks, best TV personalities for various genres, and an example of a time that they failed and what they learned from that experience.

We crammed in LOADS of insight with great questions from the audience!

Thanks to all who attended, the rest of the Advisory Committee, many of you who have said such kind things about enjoying the sessions, and the founders of SOHO MEDIA FESTIVAL Jaisica Lapsiwala and Tomasz Witkowski for curating a busy, fun, interactive day full of a very diverse audience.

#inclusionanddiversity

#equity

#tvproduction

#TVjobs