IndieCo

AI can write the essay, plan the schedule, and answer the question. But who decides what to do next, and who follows through?

In this episode, OneUp CEO Kristina Han explains why self-management is becoming the most important skill for personal and academic success.

These skills work like muscles: they can be trained and conditioned, so you can be accountable to yourself instead of blindly following AI or other external prompts.

A Harvard-educated Olympic swimmer turned lawyer turned entrepreneur, Kristina knows firsthand what it takes to train, focus, and perform at the highest level.

She shares how that mindset applies to students, young professionals, and anyone trying to thrive in a world full of smart tools.

About the guest: Kristina Han is the CEO of OneUp. Harvard-educated, an Olympic swimmer, and a lawyer turned entrepreneur, she is focused on helping people build the internal skills to perform at their best.

Connect with Kristina:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristina-han-900a52/
• OneUp: https://www.getoneup.co/

Enjoyed this episode? Follow IndieCo, share it with a friend who could use a mental workout, and leave us a rating or review.

From local radio in Belgrade to protest lines in Munich, Berlin, and Luxembourg. 
Saša Dobrijević has reported Europe's biggest stories, and now he's building a global network to protect press freedom and support independent journalists.

From national radio in Belgrade at 19 to protest lines in Munich, Berlin, and Luxembourg, Saša Dobrijević has reported Europe's biggest stories. Now the founder of ICJ Global Media Group, he's building a worldwide network for press freedom and independent reporting. We talk field reporting, borders, and where journalism goes next.

Know more about ICJ: https://www.icjournalists.com/

“We need more ‘Type B’ people in the world.”

— Eric Pachman, Founder & Executive Director of Data4 the People

But… what exactly is a *Type B” person?

In this episode, Eric unpacks why he thinks the world might actually be better off with more Type B people—and what that says about the way we work, think, lead, and live. 

Why would Eric choose a smartphone loaded with the most powerful version of Claude as his one luxury item in a zombie apocalypse? 

Listen to find out what *Type B* really means, why Eric believes we need more of them, and what an AI-powered survival strategy says about him. You might just discover you’re Type B, too.

Know more about Data4 the People: https://www.data4thepeople.com/

Vivian Wang has directed over $50 million in marketing spend, built ventures of her own, and studied how people think, communicate, and make decisions across Beijing, Copenhagen, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Canada.

Along the way, she stepped beyond business and into the performing arts, working in theatre while also exploring short film and voice performance.

It was not a departure from her work. It was another way of investigating the same questions: What holds an audience’s attention? What makes a story believable?

Today, Vivian is a third-time founder building Growth Partner AI. She works with startups facing difficult questions: Who is most likely to buy?

What problem will customers actually pay to solve? Why are promising sales conversations going nowhere? Should the next investment go into a new feature, a new market, or a better way to sell what already exists?

Growth Partner AI helps founders investigate these questions before they spend months and money committing to the wrong direction.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wangjingnan/

Website: https://www.growthpartnerai.net/

Vivian Wang has directed over $50 million in marketing spend, built ventures of her own, and studied how people think, communicate, and make decisions across Beijing, Copenhagen, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Canada.Along the way, she stepped beyond business and into the performing arts, working in theatre while also exploring short film and voice performance. It was not a departure from her work.

It was another way of investigating the same questions: What holds an audience’s attention? What makes a story believable? And what moves someone to feel, decide, or act?

Today, Vivian is a third-time founder building Growth Partner AI. She works with startups facing difficult questions: Who is most likely to buy? What problem will customers actually pay to solve? Why are promising sales conversations going nowhere?

Should the next investment go into a new feature, a new market, or a better way to sell what already exists? Growth Partner AI helps founders investigate these questions before they spend months and money committing to the wrong direction.

This episode is about what happens when you stop treating your career like a straight line and start treating it like material.

This episode goes behind the algorithm and into the real work of getting a founder's story seen — through YC application season, the doubts nobody posts about, and the community that actually moves the needle.

Rafia Zainab breaks down what separates a forgettable application from one that lands, and why the answer isn't a growth hack, it's a real story told well, to the right people.

It's a conversation about turning founder chaos into content that connects, and community into currency that compounds.

Partner Promo — Kazza: House of Becoming

This episode is brought to you in partnership with Kazza: House of Becoming.

Follow them here:
~ Facebook
~ Instagram

Guest Credit

Rafia Zainab — Content Lead, Razorpay Rize

What if the leadership skill that actually drives performance is the one most executives dismiss as soft?

In this episode, Rajesh Ramakrishnan, co-author of The Nurturing Quotient (Penguin) and former MD of Perfetti Van Melle India, joins Leah Cioco to unpack NQ: the third quotient redefining what great leadership looks like in a world burning its people out.

From the MILE framework to the four dimensions of nurturing self, this is a conversation about leading with both commercial rigor and genuine human care. If you're a founder or senior leader asking what kind of leader you actually want to become — this one is for you.

About Rajesh Ramakrishnan Rajesh is a transformative leader with over 30 years of experience across Reckitt, PepsiCo, and Perfetti, driving business and people growth across Asia. He served as Managing Director of Perfetti Van Melle India from 2018–2023, was awarded the ET Inspiring CEO (2022) and ET Ascent CEO of the Year (2023), and is currently a leadership coach, advisory consultant, and co-author of The Nurturing Quotient (Penguin, June 2025). Beyond the boardroom, he is an award-winning photographer who has held multiple exhibitions, an avid trekker who has reached Everest Base Camp, Annapurna Base Camp, and Mt. Kilimanjaro, and the co-founder of My Daughter Is Precious — a nonprofit that has supported the graduation education of over 100 girls across India.

📖 Grab the book: https://www.amazon.in/Nurturing-Quotient-Yourself-Leadership-Practical/dp/0143474871 

🌐 Rajesh's work: www.powerfulife.in 

🧘 Vipassana silent meditation: https://www.dhamma.org/en

Raluca-Adelina Luca was a nurse before she was a founder. She watched stress escalate in patients — saw the exact window where intervention could have changed the outcome — and couldn't do anything about it. So she built something that could.

ALMA is a closed-loop wearable that detects physiological stress signals before conscious awareness and responds through haptic feedback. No screen. No app. No noise.

In this episode, we sit down with author Christine Munroe, a multilingual storyteller whose life across Europe and North America has deeply shaped her voice and perspective.

From her early career as a translator to building a life in Germany’s Black Forest, she shares how language, travel, and culture inform her work across genres.

Christine opens up about writing under multiple pen names and navigating different audiences—from children’s literature to more complex adult themes.

We also explore her transition from a lifelong passion for writing into a full-time profession, and what that shift demanded creatively and personally.

At its core, this conversation is about reinvention, creative courage, and building a life that allows your passions to fully take the lead.