BONY Podcast

Season 5 - Episode 5: I have never been in real estate. My background is in engineering, and I had managed very large multinationals industrial companies. A lot of my time was spent on building materials. However, very interestingly, through a friend, I was introduced to our founder-CEO, whose name is Aaron Levy. He lives in Austin, Texas, and he's an architect-designer. He's always had this idea of coming up with something for what's known as a middle market. It's basically people who are renting today, but not ready to buy a house. However, they want some independent living, such as a little bit of a yard and patio, and do not want to be attached to somebody else top or bottom. This is considered a middle housing concept and he's always been interested in it. I think during COVID we saw the level of depression and loneliness going up because a lot of people living in buildings had no community connections. And that's what kind of drove us.

Listen to the entire conversation with Zain Mahmood on the BoNY Podcast.

Available on all Podcast platforms and on BengalisofNewyork.com/bony-podcast. Subscribe and share. Link in bio. Also, Amazon Alexa/Echo knows us! Just say, “Alexa, play BoNY Podcast."

Season 5 - Episode 4: Raad on startups, life, and philosophy. I think there's a common theme in my life where I just don't like being told what to do. And, I'm kind of a little bit of like a free thinker. Maybe that's sort of seeded the plants of like, not really ever being able to hold a steady job. I just, wasn't very good at showing up at one place at a specific time and doing the same thing over and over again. I'm just not a very big morning person. So whenever I had to sort of just forcefully wake up, that would just dampen my mood right then. I'm just like a curious person. So if I'm like told to do something and I don't really understand the why behind it, I'm just not going to be naturally into it.

Season 5 - Episode 3: Aysha Allow is an attorney who specializes in business law. She was inspired to open her own practice during the pandemic when she saw small businesses struggling, and also saw an uptick in new businesses opening. After some reflection she wanted to be of service to the people. She launched her business in January 2021, after practicing law for a few years in various sectors. She is one of metro Detroit’s Bangladeshi Women Entrepreneurs.

Season 5 - Episode 2: Muntaha Qureshi is an event decorator in metro Detroit. She opened her business Bridal Insignia in 2014, first in Virginia and then later moving it to Michigan. Muntaha studied fashion design, and later worked in corporate offices in supply chain. Now her business combines both aspects of her professional experiences to serve couples who are looking for decoration services for their special occasions. Bridal Insignia has decorated 3-4 events a year when it first started. In 2019 they decorated about 120 events. She is one of metro Detroit’s Bangladeshi Women Entrepreneurs.

Season 5 - Episode 1: Introducing Sisters Humayra Bobby owner of Boubí Skin, Jahura Hobby owner of JHobby Makeup Studio, Tahura Holly owner of Festive Essentials, and Shakira Khanam

Humayra Bobby, Jahura Hobby, and Tahura Holly are sisters who created their own businesses: skincare, professional makeup services and jewelry to provide community-based needs. Their sister Shakira Khanam helps all the businesses. Their father Rezaul Karim is an entrepreneur who opened his own stores in the early 2000s. Humayra, Jahura, Tahura and Shakira say they were inspired by their own needs, and the chance to give back to a community they grew up in. They are metro Detroit's Bangladeshi Women Entrepreneurs. Humayra Bobby launched Boubí Skin in 2019, Jahura Hobby is the owner of JHobby Makeup Studio who started freelancing makeup services a decade ago, and Tahura Holly is the owner of Festive Essentials. Holly opened her business in 2018, handpicking jewelry from India where she lives, and selling it in Hamtramck, and other cities across the U.S.

Listen to the entire conversation with Sisters Humayra Bobby, Jahura Hobby, Tahura Holly, and Shakira Khanam on the BoNY Podcast.

Available on all Podcast platforms and on BengalisofNewyork.com/bony-podcast. Subscribe and share. Link in bio. Also, Amazon Alexa/Echo knows us! Just say, “Alexa, play BoNY Podcast.

Season 4 - Episode 25: "When I started this service, it was actually the beginning of the pandemic. By the time I actually started work on my startup was around September. That's when I officially launched the app. The reason I started this form of service is that I originally really want to deliver halal groceries to people's houses, especially in our South Asian community. This halal-based delivery was basically inspired by what I hear from a lot of Bengali moms and uncles. They're like, 'oh, I wish there was a grocery delivery service, so I could get some halal meat, some fish, like, etc.' I thought, 'wow, that's some opportunity out there. Let me try it out.'

Listen to the entire conversation with Tawfique Reja on the BoNY Podcast.

Available on all Podcast platforms and on BengalisofNewyork.com/bony-podcast. Subscribe and share. Link in bio. Also, Amazon Alexa/Echo knows us! Just say, “Alexa, play BoNY Podcast."

Season 4 - Episode 24: "It was an unexpected part of my life. At the time, I was working as a freelance journalist, and I was doing a lot of reporting for Vice. I happened to be in Bangladesh just for a couple of months, and I was living with my parents in Dhaka for Eid. Suddenly, the crisis just happened all of a sudden in August 2017. I started to see a lot of news stories about the crisis, and my dad just said, 'why don't you go down to Cox's Bazar and see what's going on? You should probably go report on it since you're right here in Bangladesh.' So that's what I did, and I had never done any conflict reporting before. I had only been reporting on refugees in the US. It's a very different context reporting on refugees, the settlements, problems that they face, and integrating into American society than refugees in Bangladesh. Nothing would have prepared me for what I saw in Cox's Bazar.

Listen to the entire conversation with Shahirah Majumdar on the BoNY Podcast.

Available on all Podcast platforms and on BengalisofNewyork.com/bony-podcast. Subscribe and share. Link in bio. Also, Amazon Alexa/Echo knows us! Just say, “Alexa, play BoNY Podcast."

Season 4 - Episode 23: Samia Rahman co-founded the business Pantried, an online platform to shop from local businesses in metro Detroit in 2017 with a group of friends. The business features many immigrant-owned mom-and-pop shops, creating equitable access to shopping local. Samia says many local businesses cater to specific items and foods which are inaccessible, or more readily available in stores. Pantried brings those items to the customers via an online platform similar to Instacart, having groceries shopped by a personal shopper preparing for curbside pickup or delivery services. Now the rebranded company will begin with a beta launch of 5-6 stores in 2021. Samia says she hopes to give back to the community she grew up in. She is one of metro Detroit’s Bangladeshi Women Entrepreneurs.

Listen to the entire conversation with Samia Rahman on the BoNY Podcast.

Available on all Podcast platforms and on BengalisofNewyork.com/bony-podcast. Subscribe and share. Link in bio. Also, Amazon Alexa/Echo knows us! Just say, “Alexa, play BoNY Podcast."

Season 4 - Episode 22: I got into barbering during the summer of 2018. I was just stressed out at work, and when I came home, I didn't want to do anything. Nothing. I didn't want to commit to anything or go out at all. So I would just be on Instagram or on YouTube often. On Instagram, I'd see these barbers doing these amazing hair cuts and it was very therapeutic for me. A barber I watched often would post on Instagram but he would also post more of his work on his YouTube page. As a result, I then went on YouTube more often and started watching barbering tutorials. After watching all these tutorials, eventually, I thought to myself, "I think I can do this." That's how it all started.

Listen to the entire conversation with Rashel Ali on the BoNY Podcast.

Available on all Podcast platforms and on BengalisofNewyork.com/bony-podcast. Subscribe and share. Link in bio. Also, Amazon Alexa/Echo knows us! Just say, “Alexa, play BoNY Podcast."

Season 4 - Episode 21: So back in 2014, when we wanted to start the brand, it started as a poster company. So me and my friend Rafeh, started a poster company where we sold posters online, and we wanted to have a unique name. We were trying to figure something out and then Rafeh suggested "Gorur Ghash", which was his Instagram handle at the time. It doesn't make any sense and he just came up with it. So Ali Sakhi, Fahim Islam and I figured might as well name our company "Gorur Ghash". The main reason behind keeping that name is it intrigues people all the time. It makes people ask questions and they continue to remember the name. People just never seemed to forget the name "Gorur Ghash" as a brand since then. 

Listen to the entire conversation with Nahiyan Naser on the BoNY Podcast.

Available on all Podcast platforms and on BengalisofNewyork.com/bony-podcast. Subscribe and share. Link in bio. Also, Amazon Alexa/Echo knows us! Just say, “Alexa, play BoNY Podcast."