For the final episode of season 2, we brought back Return the Jewels' very first guest: Sameer Naseem - talented comedian, marketing guru, and man of many other talents. Sameer always brings a unique perspective to our show, and we talk about podcasting, humility vs. confidence, the line where self-deprecating humor goes from funny to a little too much, contrarianism as a marketing strategy, and more.   

We're taking a short break after this episode to come back with some new content for you. In the meantime, subscribe and check out any episodes you may have missed.  

P.S. Now's a great time to pick up a Return the Jewels t-shirt - you can even choose the color! https://return-the-jewels.myteespring.co/

🎬  TIMESTAMPS 

00:00 Intro 

04:16 Podcasting 

15:20 Genuflecting 

21:22 Fun & Enjoyment vs. ROI 

23:55 Self-deprecating humor - the thin line 

25:57 A Bizarre community of broken individuals 

30:54 Contrarianism for Views 

36:19 Passion of the Contrarian 

37:54 The Race Card 

44:45 The Truman Show Podcast 

46:24 The Royal Family 

52:27 Sameer a Bagel  

53:10 Outro/Plugs  

🌎 SAMEER'S LINKS 

🐦 Sameer on Twitter https://twitter.com/Sameermon

📸 Funhouse Comedy Zoom Show: https://www.instagram.com/funhousecomedy/

 #podcasting #contrarianism #theracecard #trumanshow #royalfamily #comedy

This week's episode is kinda weird. We get a little bit introspective about the direction of our personal brands and why. Danish Maqbool, who you may remember from Episode 11, have probably seen on the show Ramy, or maybe you remember him from MLG back in the day joined us to discuss these very weird thoughts. We got into branding, purpose, narrative crafting, the impulse to share, how and why we forge opinions, and so much more. Please like and share this video with everyone you know. We appreciate you helping us grow.   Find Danish on all social media @DMaq1

We brought back Sonal Aggarwal for another great episode where we touched on a lot of different topics. Sonal is one of the most interesting people we know, and on this episode we talked about: growing up in the Midwest, moving to India for classical music training, some funny stories from Goa & Italy, the billion dollar yoga industry in which brown people are severely underrepresented, and a lot more.  

🎬 TIMESTAMPS: 

00:00:00 Intro 

00:09:01 Indian Classical Music Training 

00:11:47 Pandemic Zoom Comedy 

00:15:00 Tokenized or Fetishized 

00:35:55 The Michaels - Jackson/Jordan 

00:40:31 Queer-baiting Articles 

00:43:40 Yamaha Scooter vs. Enfield Bullet 

00:49:23 WHERE'S THE KOHINOOR?!?  

00:50:01 The Yoga Industrial Complex  

00:57:08 Dahler Mehndi, the original meme 

01:05:23 White Yoga Instructors vs. Black Yoga Instructors 

01:08:39 Sonal's Plugs  

SONAL'S LINKS: 

📺 Code-Switched the Series https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJzr4xnSVQxvLEhzjOVGgxw

📸 Sonal's IG https://www.instagram.com/sonalmedia/

📸 Zoom Comedy Show https://www.instagram.com/gimmethelightcomedyshow/ 

SUPPORT US:  🛒 Check out our merch: https://return-the-jewels.myteespring.co/   

STAY IN TOUCH:  📸 Return the Jewels IG: https://www.instagram.com/returnthejewels/

 #codeswitched #comedy #michaeljackson #goa #italy #chicago #indiana #michaeljackson #michaeljordan #queerbaiting #enfieldbullet #kohinoordiamond #yoga #dahlermehndi

Super fun episode today with Lily Chun! This episode consisted of a couple of martinis as well as a great conversation about the concept of the model minority, the whitewashing of school curriculums, pandemic life in New York, antifa, socialism, capitalism, fascism, Alexa, and so much more.

🎬 TIMESTAMPS: 

00:00:00 Intro 

00:01:45 Confidence comes from keeping promises to yourself 

00:04:18 Introducing Lily 

00:06:51 Growing Up as the other 

00:09:14 Model Minority 

00:15:44 Tiger Mom 

00:26:41 Racism is a part of capitalism 

00:31:12 What can we do about these problems? 

00:36:03 Unlearning Whitewashed Curriculum 

00:42:45 The ANTIFA Bogeyman / Journalism being pushed to the right 

00:50:30 What is Capitalism? 

00:55:15 People would rather have fascism than socialism 

01:07:16 Tokenized or Fetishized? 

01:15:23 NY [Pandemic] State of Mind 

01:39:36 What advice would you give to 20-year old Lily? 

 LILY'S COMICS & ANIMATIONS: 

📸 https://www.instagram.com/lillionairebunclub/ 

SUPPORT US: 

 🛒 Check out our merch: https://return-the-jewels.myteespring.co/   

STAY IN TOUCH: 

 📸 Return the Jewels IG: https://www.instagram.com/returnthejewels/

 #modelminority #capitalism #pandemiclife #whitewashing #1619project #racism #socialism #fascism #tigermom #karlmarx #jeffbezos #newyork #antifa #alexa

This was a great conversation between me and comedian Bassam Shawl, host of the Wokemenistan Podcast. We got into corporate lobbying, the Kruger Dunning Effect, perspective crafting, Kashmiri politics, finding love, and so much more! This is a long one but the conversation is very engaging! 

Bassam: 

🎧 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wokemanistan/id1549579649

📸 https://www.instagram.com/wokemanistan/ 

SUPPORT US:  

🛒 Check out our merch: https://return-the-jewels.myteespring.co/  

 STAY IN TOUCH:  

📸 Return the Jewels IG: https://www.instagram.com/returnthejewels/

Today's show is a particularly fun one - our guest is my first* college roommate, Madhav Saxena. Madhav creates websites for a digital marketing agency, so we talk about the battle for internet privacy going on between Apple and Facebook, but we also go on to discuss the farmers protest, code switching, logical chains, and strategic framing. Oh, we also get into Gully Rap as well as the new Netflix film, White Tiger.

🎬 TIMESTAMPS: 

00:00:00 Intro 

00:02:54 Meena Harris 

00:04:55 The Name 

00:10:15 College - 4 Little Indians 

00:12:15 COVID - Essential Worker PTSD 

00:14:52 Coming to America 

00:17:49 What Do You Do? 

00:20:10 Apple vs. Facebook - Privacy Battles 

00:28:30 Toxic Masculinity 

00:34:16 Naked Mole Rats are Racist 

00:36:12 Code-Switching 

00:51:45 Our New Boiled Potato Food Truck 

00:55:00 Cultural Authenticity 

00:58:26 Bollywood Baba 

01:02:42 Appropriation or Appreciation - Gully Rap 

01:08:50 Hip-hop and Civil Disobedience - the Farmers Protests 

01:14:30 White Tiger 

01:19:54 Farmers Protests 

01:29:25 Logical Fallacies & Misinformation 

01:42:47 Trump's Participation Trophy 

01:48:20 How Do You Reframe the Narrative? 

01:52:30 Outro

SUPPORT US: 🛒 Check out our merch: https://return-the-jewels.myteespring.co/  

STAY IN TOUCH: 📸  Return the Jewels IG: https://www.instagram.com/returnthejewels/

Further Reading/Viewing

 📖 Where did Hyderabad get its name? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Hyderabad#Founding_of_Hyderabad

 📖 Apple vs. Facebook: https://thehustle.co/%F0%9F%A5%8A-apple-vs-facebook/ 

📖 https://scroll.in/latest/985789/after-rihanna-climate-activist-greta-thunberg-extends-support-to-farmer-protests 

📺 Bollywood Baba (Saint Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Ji Insan): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scuWiXG5bh8

We're welcoming February with a great episode featuring our friend, Hass. Hass is a huge sneakerhead and digital media professional in NY, and is the creator/host of a new podcast called "My First Kicks". We get into everything: his background, health insurance, appropriation-appreciation, grinding to get what you want, and of course, kicks!

MY FIRST KICKS PODCAST 

🎧 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/my-first-kicks/id1539283255

📸  https://www.instagram.com/myfirstkickspod/

SUPPORT US: 

🛒 Check out our merch: https://return-the-jewels.myteespring.co/

📸  Return the Jewels IG: https://www.instagram.com/returnthejewels/

Our 18th episode is here and we're super excited to welcome Lekha Sunkara Deere, MD. Lekha is an old friend from college, and we get into a lot of really interesting topics like her experiences as a pulmonary medicine fellow on the front lines in New Orleans during the peak of the pandemic in the area, becoming a mother during her fellowship, getting respect from both patients and other medical professionals, moving to Mississippi at 9, and of course, THE VACCINE. Timestamps and links below!

🎬 TIMESTAMPS: 

00:00:00 Intro 

00:05:15 Diversity in Mississippi 

00:09:36 Moving to Mississippi at 9 

00:13:20 Diversity in Higher Education 

00:16:38 The Brain Drain 

00:18:26 Race in Medicine 

00:25:10 Power Mom - the Work Life Balance 

00:30:32 Tokenized or Fetishized 

00:37:15 The Pragmatic Indian 

00:40:55 Pandemic Trauma on Medical Workers 

00:45:29 Facing Your Own Mortality 

00:47:00 Does Trauma Affect Children? 

00:54:08 Women's Authority is Constantly Questioned 

00:57:51 Should I Get Vaccinated? 

01:05:55 Do Patients Lie? 

01:08:14 How to Combat Stigma of Bad Doctors 

01:19:32 The Vaccine Experience 

01:22:49 Garbage PPE 

01:24:56 GET VACCINATED

FURTHER READING: 

📖 The Garbage Bags - https://www.marketwatch.com/story/nurse-at-brooklyn-hospital-on-coronavirus-protective-clothing-its-a-garbage-bag-its-like-something-out-of-the-twlight-zone-2020-04-07

📖 The Early Pandemic in New Orleans - https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/26/us/coronavirus-louisiana-new-orleans.html 

SUPPORT US: 

🛒 Check out our merch: https://return-the-jewels.myteespring.co/ 

STAY IN TOUCH: 

📸  Return the Jewels IG: https://www.instagram.com/returnthejewels/