He was born in The Democratic Republic of the Congo, has travelled a lot for business, studies and fun, he’s a lawyer by profession, a policy-designer, entrepreneur and he currently lives in Kampala, the capital city of Uganda.

This Paris Talks Podcast episode features Bernard Muhindo.

Bernard was on Christmas holidays in France with his family when he first heard of the Coronavirus but, just like many of the guests we’ve featured on this podcast, he thought this was just another one of those diseases that come and go.

A few weeks after returning home, Bernard found himself locked down in Kampala, homeschooling and doing basically everything at home until his wife managed to catch the next available flight from Kinshasa, where she was on a business trip.

In this episode, Bernard raises tough questions related to our crisis management policies and communication crisis management.

If we were to start a New Normal, what and how should it be?

That’s the question we’re asking Bernard today.

For Bernard, the New Normal is “the deliberate mindset shift or a collective consciousness...It’s simply the acceptance that life is dynamic and we need to adapt to our new lifestyle”.

Welcome to the Paris Talks Podcast.

The season two of the Paris Talks Podcast is trying to understand the post-COVID-19’s New Normal through inspiring stories and testimonies from innovators, community influencers and policy-designers.

Paris Talks is produced by Michael Bahati

Our theme song is Nipe Story by Charmant Mushaga

For more information about this episode podcast and our other projects, please visit www.paris-talks.com

Born in Italy to an Italian Catholic mother and a Senegalese/Gambian father, this African, European, Italian, Gambian, Senegalese, blue collar, bourgeois, Muslim-Catholic, afro-italian guy is, well “technically”, all and none of these adjectives at the same time”. It’s important to mention here that that’s a self-description of Adama Sanneh, today’s Paris Talks Podcast guest. Adama is the Co-Founder and CEO of the Moleskine Foundation, a Milan-based non-profit organization that pursues a mission of ‘Creativity for Social Change’ with a special purpose of inspiring, encouraging and connecting young people to transform themselves and their communities through creativity.

Like many of the Paris Talks Podcast guests and listeners, Adama was brought up in a globalized world, he has lived in four different countries between Africa and Europe and his growth and learning experiences have been immersed in a cosmopolitan context.

If we were to start a New Normal, what and how should it be?

That’s the question we’re asking Adama today and, you know what?, he thinks that there’s never ever been such a thing as a “Normal”. It’s all been fictional.

He’s challenging us to start living our lives and designing our policies in a straight-forward intentional manner.

Welcome to the Paris Talks Podcast.

The season two of the Paris Talks Podcast is trying to understand the post-COVID-19’s New Normal through inspiring stories and testimonies from innovators, community influencers and policy-designers.

Paris Talks is produced by Michael Bahati

Our theme song is Nipe Story (pronounced “kneepay story”) by Charmant Mushaga

Additional music is provided by pixabay.com and Sumana Music

For more information about this episode podcast and our other projects, please visit www.paris-talks.com

The Covid-19 Pandemic has brought the entertaining and arts world to a standstill.

When this episode of the Paris Talks Podcast was recorded, the City of Paris was under total lockdown and just like many other artists and musicians in particular, our today’s guest was massively impacted. All of her concerts and gigs were cancelled. One of the ways she innovated was through Social Media by discovering that she actually has a massive fan-base in India.

Sumana Arun Kumar is a Paris-based independent Indian singer and songwriter.

Her musical journey began right from her childhood as she enthusiastically embraced the stage and actively engaged in singing events. Through her youth in Bangalore, she was part of many acappella groups and choirs. After her Bachelor's degree, Sumana moved to Paris to pursue an MBA from HEC Paris. As fate would have it, a chance encounter with musician Vanupié in the Parisian metros would change her life forever.

This defining moment led her to learning the guitar, writing songs and exploring music passionately.

In 2016, Sumana was selected to perform in the Paris metros. She has been a regular metro singer ever since, sharing her songs with the thousands of people traveling in the subway.

Right before the Covid-19 Pandemic and after more than 12 years in the financial sector, Sumana decided to take a break from her full time corporate job and dedicate her time, love and energy to music.

If we were to start a New Normal, what and how should it be?

That’s the question we’re asking Sumana in this episode.

Welcome to yet another episode of the Paris Talks Podcast.

This season two of the Paris Talks Podcast is trying to understand the post-COVID-19’s New Normal through inspiring stories and testimonies from innovators, community influencers and policy-designers.

Paris Talks is produced by Michael Bahati

Our theme song is Nipe Story (pronounced “kneepay story”) by Charmant Mushaga

Additional music is provided by pixabay.com and Sumana Music

For more information about this episode podcast and our other projects, please visit www.paris-talks.com

Sumana’s contacts and news are found on instagram at sumanamusic

This special episode of the Paris Talks Podcast is featuring a former corporate-turned entrepreneur.

Christopher Kramme is the co-founder and CEO of Outcome, a Paris-based startup leveraging collective intelligence and technology to change the way firms work together.

Prior to launching Outcome, Chris spent two decades with BNP Paribas in Europe and the United States in roles ranging from corporate finance to client coverage.

Christopher was in Paris during the earlier days of the COVID-19 pandemic...well, that’s before it was called COVID-19….that’s also when it was still considered “a Chinese affair”.

Things went so fast that, a month later, Christopher found himself in his country house with the family adapting to remote working, homeschooling, meditating and other quickly-developed habits to keep his mental and physical sanity intact.

If we were to start a New Normal, what and how should it be?

That’s the question we’re asking Christopher today  and, while he is a huge fan of technological advancements, he believes there’s no way we should put aside and undermine human interactions if we were to design a “New Normal”.

Welcome to yet another episode of the Paris Talks Podcast.

The season two of the Paris Talks Podcast is trying to understand the post-COVID-19’s New Normal through inspiring stories and testimonies from innovators, community influencers and policy-designers.

This episode of the Paris Talks podcast is produced by Michael Bahati

Our theme song is Nipe Story (pronounced “kneepay story”) by Charmant Mushaga

Additional music is provided via the pixabay.com.

For more information about this episode podcast and our other projects, please reach out via Twitter.

On February 26, the coronavirus landed in Latin America when Brazil confirmed a case in São Paulo.

Since then, governments across the region have taken an array of actions to protect their citizens and contain the spread of the devastating respiratory disease called by the World Health Organization COVID-19. But, per July 2020, Latin America had become the region with the highest number of confirmed cases globally, accounting for more than a quarter of cases in the world.

Aside from the health risks, this disease has produced a huge economic impact as well.

The World Bank forecasted in June 2020 that Latin America and the Caribbean as a whole would see a GDP contraction of 7.2 percent this year. 

By the time this episode was recorded, these figures had changed to show an even worrisome economic impact.

Beyond governmental aid to the underprivileged, it’s clear that, Latin America has been hardly-hit, by deep humanitarian, economic, and political consequences.

That’s what today’s Paris Talks guest wants to talk about.

Esther Kuisch Laroche is an educator and the current UNESCO Representative for Costa Rica, El-Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama.

In this episode, Esther is addressing the question the Season two of the Paris Talks Podcast has been asking.

If we were to start a New Normal, what and how should it be?

Welcome to the Paris Talks Podcast.

We’re trying to understand the post-COVID-19’s New Normal through inspiring stories and testimonies from innovators, community influencers and policy-designers.

Paris Talks is produced by Michael Bahati

Our theme song is Nipe Story (pronounced “kneepay story”) by Charmant Mushaga

Additional music is provided by Sumana Music and pixabay

For more information about this podcast and our other projects, please reach out via Twitter ( @ParisTalks) or send us an email to [email protected]

If we were to start a new normal, what and how should it be?

The NEW NORMAL is the title we've given to the second season of the Paris Talks Podcast.

It's made of six episodes that have been been built upon the above-asked question.

Subscribe and listen to the 1st episode coming in on December 17, 2020.

In his lecture-like talk on the Paris Talks stage at UNESCO, the  Writer, Environmental and Energy Transition Innovator Pierre-Etienne FRANC methodically argues on the benefits of Hydrogen, adding that “it’s possible to demonstrate zero emission mobility in a city using Hydrogen fuel-cell” 

In his talk on the 2019 Paris Talks Conference stage at UNESCO, the Writer & ICAN France spokesperson & Arctic research, expert on issues of Defence and International Security, Jean-Marie Collin freaks participants out on future possibilities of an imminent nuclear war. Telling a story of The Hawaii Emergency Management Agency’s false alert about an incoming ballistic missile, Jean-Marie argues that atomic weapons could be used one day or another against us, our environment, cities, civilians and countries. 

In this talk, Jean-Marie tries to answer the question of our preparedness for a potential nuclear war and whether we’re ready to face the consequences of a nuclear war. Why hasn’t there been another nuclear war recently? “Luck”, argues Jean-marie.

“We all have a choice; to accept living in a fear of a nuclear detonation or to act right now”, he says.

In her talk on the 2019 Paris Talks Conference stage at UNESCO, the humanitarian, former Pakistani parliamentarian and cabinet member, Marvi Memon, talked about a disturbing observations of conflicts - mismanaged by corrupt institutions and global leadership - that nurture chronic poverty for some and great economic opportunities for others. To have safer and equal economic opportunities for all, Marvi argues that conflicts have to be solved through social programs, social insurance for all, territorial dispute resolutions’ programs and a labour-market program (aka economic dependency) among states. 

For more information about Paris Talks, please visit us on Twitter at @ParisTalks

In his comedy show on the Paris Talks stage at UNESCO in March 2019, the British comedian and English language master, Luke Thompson, jokes about Brexit, the English language-American VS BBC news accent and the existential nature of the French language.