In this episode of Innotainment, Aga Gajownik sits down with Hazel Hua, a recent graduate, community builder and multi hyphenate young professional to explore what the job market actually looks like from the candidate's side.

Following the inclusive hiring conversation with Cara Norkett, Aga wanted to hear from someone living the experience right now. Hazel brings a sharp, honest perspective on what it takes to break into the workforce in 2025: the internship wars, the AI shaped landscape, the five round interview gauntlets and the deeper questions that ambitious young professionals are asking themselves before they even apply.

Together, they unpack the gap between what organisations think motivates young talent and what actually keeps them engaged, why the prefrontal cortex matters more than most managers realise, and what both sides of the hiring table can do to make early careers less of a survival sport and more of a genuine starting point.

Topics include:

This episode is especially relevant for:

🔗 Links mentioned in this episode

In this episode of Innotainment, Aga Gajownik gets personal about what it means to be autistic in a world that didn't expect it, and what that reveals about how we work with, support and design for neurodivergent colleagues.

Drawing on over a decade of working with neurodivergent brains, her own late-identified autism, and emerging research that challenges how we understand neurodivergence altogether, Aga unpacks why labels are not strategies, why masking comes at a real cost, and why curiosity is the most underrated leadership skill in any brain-friendly workplace.

This conversation goes beyond awareness and offers a practical starting point for anyone who wants to move from knowing that neurodivergent colleagues exist in their team to actually doing something useful about it  without defaulting to assumptions, checklists or one-size-fits-all approaches.

Topics include:

This episode is especially relevant for:

🔗 Links mentioned in this episode

In this episode of Innotainment, Aga Gajownik sits down with Andy Skipper, founder of CTO Craft, to explore one of the most common and least discussed transitions in tech: what happens when your best engineer becomes a leader and nobody prepares them for it.

Andy brings a grounded, practitioner perspective built from his own experience as a first-time CTO and years of coaching senior technology leaders around the world. Together, they unpack why the skills that make someone brilliant at building things are often the very skills that trip them up when they step into leadership, how ego and identity shape the transition, and why leading in isolation is one of the fastest paths to burnout.

From rethinking what it means to manage highly intelligent, autonomous people to finding the right balance between technical depth and commercial awareness, this episode challenges the default assumption that great engineers make great leaders and asks a bigger question: what does it actually take to grow well?

Discover: 

💡 Why the move from individual contributor to CTO is one of the most under-supported transitions in tech 

🧠 The identity and ego shifts that come with seniority — and how to navigate them without burning out 

🤝 Stakeholder management, commercial awareness and translation skills that no one teaches you 

👥 How to lead highly autonomous, highly intelligent people without micromanaging or losing yourself 

⚡ The difference between leading and managing — and why you can do one without the other 

🌍 Why isolation accelerates burnout and what finding your tribe actually looks like

Whether you're a CTO, a founder building a tech team, or a leader who got promoted without a roadmap and is figuring it out as they go, this episode offers honest, experience-led insight into growing as a leader without losing yourself in the process.

🔗 Links mentioned in this episode

In this episode of Innotainment, Aga Gajownik sits down with Cara Norkett, Talent Acquisition, Diversity & Inclusion Lead at Charles Taylor, to explore what inclusive hiring really looks like in today’s AI-influenced recruitment landscape.

Cara brings a grounded, practitioner perspective from inside medium-sized global organisations navigating talent shortages, generational shifts and rising expectations around flexibility and inclusion. Together, they unpack where bias still hides in recruitment processes, why “culture fit” may be holding teams back, and how small, practical adjustments can create hiring experiences that are more brain-friendly and more human.

From adapting interview formats to rethinking how we assess energy, enthusiasm and “fit,” this episode challenges traditional recruitment norms and asks a bigger question: if we say we value diversity, does our hiring process reflect it?

Discover:

💬 How structured, skills-based assessment reduces bias without losing the human element

Whether you’re a hiring manager, HR leader, founder or building your first team, this episode offers practical, real-world insight into designing recruitment processes that are fair, sustainable and aligned with the inclusive culture you claim to represent.

Follow Innotainment Podcast and Aga Gajownik on Instagram ⁠@innotainment_podcast,⁠  ⁠@myquirkyadhdbrain

In this episode of Innotainment, Aga Gajownik is joined by Pei Ying Chua – Head Economist @ LinkedIn APAC to explore what really happens cognitively, emotionally, and logistically when mothers return to work.

Together, they unpack what is often left unnamed in professional settings: brain fog during breastfeeding, dopamine suppression, shifting identity, cognitive overload, and the invisible emotional labour of balancing caregiving with performance.

This conversation goes beyond productivity. It looks at the neurobiology of postpartum changes, the cognitive cost of constant micro-decisions, and what brain-friendly organisations can do to support sustainable performance for working parents.

• The neurological impact of breastfeeding on dopamine and focus

In this episode of Innotainment, ⁠Aga Gajownik⁠ is joined by ⁠Dr Samantha Hiew⁠ - scientist, storyteller, and founder of ADHD Girls - to explore ADHD and Autism in women through the lenses of neuroscience, hormones, trauma, and workplace systems.

Together, they unpack what is often misunderstood or left unnamed: the cost of long-term masking, performance variability, nervous system overload, and why so many high-performing neurodivergent women burn out despite appearing “fine” on the surface.

This conversation goes beyond awareness. It looks at what is actually happening cognitively, neurologically, and psychologically in neurodivergent women, and what leaders can do to design genuinely brain-friendly organisations that support sustainable performance.

Topics include:

Why masking and self-regulation are so energetically expensive

Executive functioning, performance variability, and hormonal cycles

Trauma, nervous system responses, and their impact on work and relationships

Psychological safety, micromanagement, and cognitive load

Energy-based productivity and regenerative leadership

Practical, low-cost changes leaders can implement immediately

This episode is especially relevant for:

AuDHD and neurodivergent women navigating work and leadership

Managers and HR leaders who want inclusion to actually work

Anyone interested in brain-friendly organisations and sustainable performance

Note: This episode includes reflective discussion of abusive relationships and trauma, explored in a professional and educational context.

⁠Dr Samantha Hiew ⁠– Tip of the iceberg, Autism and ADHD in Women: DSM-5 Criteria via Scientific & Intersectional Lens

⁠ADHD Girls⁠ – Social impact organisation supporting neurodivergent women in healthcare, education, and workplaces

⁠Innotainment podcast⁠ – ⁠Q&A / Office Hours Submission Form⁠ : Submit questions for future episodes

Follow Innotainment Podcast and Aga Gajownik on Instagram ⁠@innotainment_podcast,⁠  ⁠@myquirkyadhdbrain

ADHD at work is still one of the most misunderstood neurodivergent experiences—especially in Singapore. We don’t talk about it enough.

So this week on Innotainment, Aga Gajownik is joined by Moonlake Lee, founder of Unlocking ADHD, to unpack what ADHD really looks like in the workplace beyond stereotypes, labels, and “special treatment” myths.

In this episode, they explore:

Why ADHD is often invisible, undiagnosed, and undisclosed at work

How executive function challenges (time, overwhelm, emotional regulation) show up in real teams

Neurodivergent burnout, masking, and the hidden cost to organisations

Why “ADHD-friendly” workplaces are actually just better-designed workplaces

What leaders can start, stop, and redesign today—without lowering standards or overloading managers

How to support ADHD employees without singling them out or creating reverse exclusion

This conversation moves beyond awareness into practical, brain-friendly design. From communication and check-ins to psychological safety, body doubling, and strength-based work, this episode offers actionable insights for leaders, managers, and neurodivergent professionals alike.

Follow Innotainment Podcast and Aga Gajownik on Instagram @innotainment_podcast, @myquirkyadhdbrain

In this solo episode of Innotainment, Aga Gajownik reflects on the first half of Season 2 and brings together the most important lessons from conversations with neuroscientists, HR leaders and organisational practitioners while sharing what’s ahead for 2026.

In this episode of Innotainment, Aga sits down with Feng Ling Li, a seasoned HR leader helping organisations across Singapore and the region develop true learning cultures that drive performance, resilience and innovation.

Whether you're an HR leader, founder or people manager, this episode shows you how to build a workplace where learning feels safe, continuous and human-centred and where your teams can adapt at the speed of change.

In this episode, Aga Gajownik sits down with veteran benefits leader and founder Andrea Toh to explore what modern employee benefits really mean in today’s workplace.

Beyond insurance plans and surface level perks, Andrea reveals how meaningful benefits are built through culture, communication, and human connection, not just budgets. With 20 years of experience shaping benefits systems across Singapore, she unpacks how organisations can create workplaces where employees feel valued, supported, and motivated to stay.

Together, they dive into:

✨ Why “traditional benefits” no longer meet the needs of Gen Z and millennial workers

Whether you’re a founder, people manager, or HR professional, this episode reveals how benefits can become a daily experience, not a PDF policy, and how leaders can design teams that thrive without burning people out.