Fern Chua is the award-winning founder of FERN, a Malaysian sustainable and high-end fashion label rediscovering the elegance of the ancient Asian fabric art form, Batik. Fern and I chatted earlier this year on the unexpected path that led her to Batik, the challenges building and growing her team of artisans from the ground up, and pushing the bou…

Tina Zaman is a comedian, writer, teacher and founder of Tight5Comedy a unique platform in Sydney’s comedy scene. Tight5’s comedians of colour and allies have entertained thousands of fans, handpicked for their originality and social impact. Acts are empowered to explore both their comedic and cultural identities in careful curated venues from thea…

Matthew Chapman is an entrepreneur and investor who has mastered the art of relationship building. His company ChapmanCG finds HR leaders for the world’s leading companies. He's an investor in Bawah Reserve, a luxurious and sustainable tropical island retreat that's a Condé Nast Traveler Top 10 resort of Asia. And he's a co-founder of the 300km Sno…

T.P. Tovenaar is a writer from London, born to Sri Lankan parents. For the last decade, she’s called Colombo home. Her book, 'Mum’s the Word', is a collection of hilarious and heartwarming stories about the relationship between a Sri Lankan mother and her British-born daughter, both trying to live within a complex mix of cultures, customs and envir…

Ivy Singh-Lim founded Bollywood Veggies Organic Farm with her husband in Kranji, a northwestern suburb about 22 kilometres from the towering skyline of Singapore, showing an alternative, greener side to the country. Visitors can explore the village-like tropical farm, eat a mouth-watering, farm-to-table Nasi Lemak served on a banana leaf, and learn…

Vinod Nair used the last of his life savings to set up a website and hire an intern. Today, that website, MoneySmart.sg, is Southeast Asia’s leading personal finance portal, helping people compare loans, insurance, and credit cards. There’s been a lot of press coverage in Singapore about the big wins of his career, but show hosts Vanessa Fernandez …

Rosalyn Lee, or Rozz, is a Singaporean radio DJ and TV host with an incredibly adventurous career. She has featured in Elle and Esquire magazines, hosted Singapore’s hottest radio shows, and interviewed everyone from Lana del Ray to Gene Simmons. She has not one but two travel shows. The first is Rozz Recommends, where she explores the world on her…

Andrew Ing creates culture for a living, whose career is based on combining the cool with the commercial. In the early 90s he promoted concerts in Hong Kong for artists likes Diana Ross, Simply Red and Public Enemy. He then moved to Singapore to turn the nightclub Zouk into one of the top 10 clubs in the world and bringing electronic music culture …

Thomas Wee is a Singaporean fashion designer who has worked in the industry for over 4 decades. He is known for his masterful workmanship, cutting edge 3D forms and perfectly tailored suits. After building several high-end fashion labels serving South-East Asia’s elite, the “King of the Jacket” took to teaching fashion design and pattern drafting f…

Theresa Goh is the first female Singaporean swimmer to qualify for the Paralympics. Vanessa and Udhara met the world-record breaker to talk about her childhood, how athletes compete over milliseconds to win races, being an openly gay public figure, and why accessibility should be a given in any space. Theresa Goh is an ambassador for Singapore's LG…

Nicolas Foo has had a successful career with the Singapore Tourism Board, is a photographer whose experiences living in India inspired an exhibition, ‘For Your Approval, Please’, and has also been the head of business development for South-East Asia’s largest tech startup and ride-hailing platform, Grab. Vanessa and Udhara met Nic at The Analog Vau…

Adrian Sim is a volunteer with Singapore’s Workers’ Party, the only opposition party to have elected members in parliament in a political system led since 1959 by the People’s Action Party. Vanessa and Udhara sat down with Adrian at an ‘HDB’ apartment complex in Lorong Ah Soo, a Workers’ Party constituency, who shared: His story growing up in a low…

Ben and Saranta Gattie built The Working Capitol, a co-working space set up in a renovated former biscuit factory on Keong Saik Road. Since opening in 2015, it has become one of Asia’s leading co-working spaces. Hosts Vanessa & Udhara spoke to them at The Working Capitol about: Growing up as third culture kids Real estate in Singapore How they deve…

Dr. Vanessa Von Auer is one of Asia’s leading child experts and founded Singapore’s one-of-a-kind Integrated International School, where students get the complete opposite of a “one-size-fits-all” education. Dr. Von Auer invited Udhara and Vanessa to her school to talk about psychology and parenting in Asia, the challenges of building your own busi…

Jonathan Bonsey and John Palmer have called Singapore home for the last 3 decades. Jonathan Bonsey runs Bonsey Design, a design agency which has built iconic Asian brands in entertainment, media, retail, and much more. John Palmer is a serial entrepreneur who’s built e-commerce, social media and aviation companies. Hosts Vanessa and Udhara had a ch…

Tan Kheng Hua is an award-winning actress and producer who has worked on projects in theatre, TV and film since the early 90s. She was the Empress Dowager on Netflix’s Marco Polo, has produced a critically acclaimed cabaret act, The Dim Sum Dollies, and most recently, played the role of Kerry Chu in the record-breaking, much loved Hollywood film, C…

Show creator Udhara de Silva chats with co-host Vanessa Fernandez, who's been plugged into Singapore’s culture for the past 20 years. In this episode Vanessa gives us an overview on Singapore, enlightens us on its music history, talks about her career in radio, and gives us a sneak peak of our guests this season! Vanessa’s performed at music festiv…

Outspoken. Irreverent. No bullshit. These are rare qualities in Sri Lankan society, and even rarer for Sri Lankan influencers who run their own companies. Indi Samarajiva started YAMU, the digital guide to Colombo and Sri Lanka 5 years ago, and the way the company operates says a lot about its founder. Tanya & Udhara talked to him about moving back…

Colombo is a city with many personalities – you have personalities and then you have Personalities with a capital P. The first lot are people that everybody knows because Sri Lanka is a small island, and Colombo is somewhat of a tiny bubble within the small island. These people are related to this person or that, who know so-and-so, and who live in…

This episode’s guest has a life deeply rooted in music. His grandfather was a pioneering Sri Lankan pop music entrepreneur. And today, at just 25 years old, our guest is turning the Sri Lankan music industry on its head through the creative haven he founded, The Sooriya Village. The Sooriya Village gives musicians and creatives a space to compose, …

Have you ever been in a conversation with someone who seems to say things just to provoke a reaction? No matter what the topic is about? Often we just go with the flow and keep our cool. But sometimes, no matter how hard we try, we react, in varying degrees of emotion. And sometimes, those provocations make us stop and think. Hosts Tanya & Udhara t…

Travel opens our eyes to so many different ways of living, different perspectives, different cultures, and of course, different kinds of cuisine. You could fall so deeply in love with a country, that you dream of one day living there and adopting it as your second home. Well that’s exactly what Alice Luker did. The British photographer and blogger,…

Hosts Tanya & Udhara talk to author of ‘Serendipity’, Ashok Ferrey, about his colourful life across many continents. He’s one of Sri Lanka’s best-selling authors in English and his latest book is ‘The Ceaseless Chatter of Demons’. This episode will show you how an interest in many different things, having several callings, can be an incredible asse…

Hosts Tanya & Udhara talk to Reza Akram, a Sri Lankan photographer who’s worked with the British Council, Al Jazeera, and the UN. He proves that everyone has a real chance to pursue their wildest dreams. And not just one chance, but many, many chances. But wildest dreams don’t come true overnight. It takes stamina, long-term thinking, and sacrifice…

Every country has its taboos, and Sri Lanka is no different. 'Sex', 'drugs', and 'HIV' are all words that are uttered in hushed tones. To find out more, hosts Tanya & Udhara talked to Hans Billimoria from the Grassrooted Trust. He works with people living with HIV, people who use drugs, who sell sex, and people who have been marginalised due to the…