Rice Pudding Project

Wolfi — The Fire That Took Everything, Building a Cycling Community in the UAE & Why Hard Times Make Hard Men | The Rice Pudding Project**The warehouse burned to the ground.The only thing left standing was a yellow Tour de France jersey that fell from a frame and somehow survived the fire.Within 48 hours Wolfi had replaced every customer's bike, found a new location, and made a decision that defined everything about who he is: this is our problem, not yours.Wolfi is the man behind one of the UAE's most beloved cycling communities. But before any of that, he was a 10 year old running a tennis centre while his mother did her chores — reading maps in a delivery van, working in a restaurant kitchen, cleaning offices. Every hard thing that happened to him, he says, molded him into the person who could build what he built.In this conversation Wolfi and Amin get into what resilience actually looks like when it is tested, not as a concept, but as a lived experience. The fire. The rebuild. The yellow jersey. And why Wolfi almost wishes more people could experience losing everything, because he believes that is the only thing that truly creates strength.What you will hear in this episode:— The warehouse fire that destroyed everything and how Wolfi rebuilt in 48 hours— Why he replaced every single customer's bike without being asked— The Tour de France jersey that survived when nothing else did— Growing up doing every job imaginable alongside his mother — and why he is grateful for all of it— Work-life harmony versus balance — and why the distinction matters— Hard times make hard men — and why modern society is protecting people from the experiences that would make them stronger— You were given one human to look after at the start of your life. That human is you.The Rice Pudding Project is an independent podcast hosted by Amin Soltani — comedian, director, and host, featuring athletes, creatives, and entrepreneurs sharing the stories behind the people they have become.🎙 Follow us on Instagram: @thericepuddingproject📲 Follow Amin: @itsaminsoltani▶️ Subscribe for new episodes every week#RicePuddingProject #Wolfi #Podcast #Dubai #Cycling #Resilience #Entrepreneurship #UAE

Deji — 71 Million Views, The Brother Who Almost Didn't Show Up & What Nobody Tells You About Going Viral | The Rice Pudding ProjectThe person who was supposed to show up for the shoot didn't. His older brother was just sitting in the room. One question. One yes. 71 million views on TikTok.Deji has been making content since he was 15. He predicted to his brother at a party that people would know his name by the end of 2021. His brother laughed. By December he had 100,000 followers on TikTok. What followed was a masterclass in understanding that overnight success is never overnight — it is years of grafting, trial and error, and showing up even when nobody is watching.In this conversation Deji and Amin get into all of it. The algorithm myths. The fear of becoming irrelevant. Why posting everywhere beats optimising for one platform. What it actually takes to keep momentum after a viral video. And the moment a building caught fire next to his house while the internet accused him of being paid off to say everything was fine.This is a conversation about building something real in public and what it costs you when you do.What you will hear in this episode:— The shoot that fell apart and the 71 million view video that came from it— Why Deji posts the same content everywhere and makes money from platforms he barely thinks about— The overnight success myth — Anand's four years of daily puns, Sandeep's ten years of comedy before anyone called them viral— The fear of irrelevance that never fully goes away even with millions of followers— Why going viral is the easy part — keeping the momentum is where most people fall apart— The Lagos situation — proving he was fine while a building burned next doorThe Rice Pudding Project is an independent podcast hosted by Amin Soltani — comedian, director, and host — featuring athletes, creatives, and entrepreneurs sharing the stories behind the people they have become.🎙 Follow us on Instagram: @thericepuddingproject📲 Follow Amin: @itsaminsoltani▶️ Subscribe for new episodes every week

Competing With a Slipped Disc, First Iranian World Champion & Never Forgetting Where You Come From | The Rice Pudding ProjectPouya walked into a world championship with a slipped disc in his neck.The doctors said two weeks out minimum.He competed anyway. And he won.That is the kind of person this conversation is about. Not someone who had an easy path and took it. Someone who looked at the obstacle, decided it was not a reason to stop, and showed up anyway, at reduced capacity, in pain, with everything on the line.Pouya is the first Iranian to achieve what he has achieved in professional fighting and jiu jitsu. Not the first to try. The first to get there. And everything that got him there, the wrestling coach who saw something in a kid who kept getting into fights at school, the father who said yes, the mother who could not watch but never stopped supporting, the teammates he would do anything for, is in this conversation.This is not a story about talent. It is a story about a person who decided that pain was not a reason to stop. And neither was anyone else's doubt.What you will hear in this episode: — Competing at a world championship with a slipped disc — and winning — The school fight that became a wrestling career — how one coach changed everything — Being the first Iranian to achieve what he has achieved in professional fighting and BJJ — Cutting 11 kilograms in a sauna to make weight for his team because the team came first — His mother who cannot watch his fights but has never stopped believing in him — Why he feels nerves before every fight and shows up anyway — Everything he tells his athletes he first does himself, coaching from the inside out — Never forgetting who was there from the beginningThe Rice Pudding Project is an independent podcast hosted by Amin Soltani — comedian, director, and host — featuring athletes, creatives, and entrepreneurs sharing the stories behind the people they have become.

Building World Champions, The Mirror Moment & Using Words That Were Meant to Break You | The Rice Pudding ProjectJavier Mendez does not do motivational speeches.He does not use big words. He does not have a twelve-step framework. He does not tell his fighters they are great when they are not.He points them at a mirror and asks one question: who are you going to blame?One of the most respected coaches in combat sports, the man behind some of the greatest fighters in the world, sits down with Amin for a conversation that goes far beyond the gym. Into what accountability actually looks like when it is done with love. Into the village gym his father built by selling the family livestock. Into the words someone said to him that he turned into fuel. Into what it means to build a champion, not just physically, but as a person.This is a conversation about what it actually takes to build greatness in someone else and what it costs you personally along the way.What you will hear in this episode: — The mirror moment: why when a fighter loses, the first place Javier points is at them — Why he built his confidence on his losses, not his wins — The village gym his father built by selling the family livestock and why everyone thought he was crazy — The words someone said to him that he used to become a champion — What the father and son dynamic looks like between a coach and a world champion — Why simple advice works and complicated advice doesn't — The moment a fighter finally stopped arguing and listenedThe Rice Pudding Project is an independent podcast hosted by Amin Soltani — comedian, director, and host — featuring athletes, creatives, and entrepreneurs sharing the stories behind the people they have become.🎙 Follow us on Instagram: @thericepuddingproject 📲 Follow Amin: @itsaminsoltani ▶️ Subscribe for new episodes every week#RicePuddingProject #JavierMendez #MMA #BJJ #Podcast #Dubai #CombatSports #Coaching

Scott Breckinridge is not like most people.He caught venomous snakes for pocket money as a child in Australia. He has been bitten. He has spent two hours removing an animal that had latched onto him. He has jumped into crocodile enclosures.And he has dedicated his life to breeding critically endangered species in captivity and releasing them back into the wild, giving animals a second chance in environments they had disappeared from entirely.In this conversation, Scott and Amin go deep on what it actually takes to save species on the brink of extinction, why the most endangered animals almost always live in the world's poorest countries, and what a global conservation movement needs to look like if it is going to work.But this episode is also about something bigger than animals.It is about a man who lives every single day like it is his last. No rewind button. No repeat. Just full presence, full commitment, and the belief that if you are going to be here — you may as well be happy about it.What you will hear in this episode:— Why the most critically endangered species are almost always found in third world countries— How carbon offset programmes can fund global conservation— What it feels like to walk through a jungle and see an animal you helped bring back from extinction— The 8 foot python that ended up in his father's bed— Why every day being the last day is not a mindset — it is a way of lifeThe Rice Pudding Project is an independent podcast hosted by Amin Soltani — comedian, director, and host, featuring athletes, creatives, and entrepreneurs sharing the stories behind the people they have become.🎙 Follow us on Instagram: @thericepuddingproject📲 Follow Amin: @itsaminsoltani📲 Follow Scott: @scottbreckenridge▶️ Subscribe for new episodes every week#RicePuddingProject #ScottBreckinridge #AnimalConservation #Wildlife #Podcast #Dubai #EndangeredSpecies

Chosen by Quincy Jones: Dante Kennedy on Legacy, Drumming, and Building Q's Bar & Lounge DubaiWhen Quincy Jones handpicks you to bring his vision to life, you don't just show up — you carry a legacy. Dante Kennedy is the Entertainment and Music Director behind Q's Bar & Lounge in Dubai, the first venue of its kind bearing Quincy Jones' name, and in this episode he takes us through what it actually took to earn that trust and run with it. We get into his roots as a drummer, the artists and mentors who shaped him before anyone knew his name, and the responsibility of continuing a legacy as massive as Quincy's while still making it his own. This one's about craft, lineage, and what it means to be chosen.#RicePuddingProject #QsBarLounge #QuincyJones #DanteKennedy #EntertainmentDirector #MusicDirector #Drummer #Legacy #DubaiNightlife #PodcastEpisode

"Rudy Bouchebel: Surviving the Beirut Explosion and Life Behind the Lens"Rudy Bouchebel joins us to talk about growing up in Beirut, living through the 2020 Beirut explosion, and how that moment shaped the rest of his life and career. Rudy shares how photography became his way of processing the world around him — leading him to work as a set photographer on Oscar and Cannes-nominated films, document Syrian refugees on their journey from Lebanon to Germany, and shoot in some of the most difficult and unpredictable locations around the world.This is a conversation about resilience, storytelling, and finding meaning through a lens, even in the hardest moments.🎧 Topics covered:Growing up in BeirutLiving through the Beirut explosion and its lasting impactBecoming a photographer and finding his voice behind the cameraWorking on award-nominated filmsDocumenting the journey of Syrian refugeesShooting in difficult and unpredictable locations around the worldSubscribe for more real conversations on Rice Pudding Project.#RudyBouchebel #BeirutExplosion #Photography #Documentary #Storytelling #Resilience #Lebanon #PhotojournalismStory #RicePuddingProject #PodcastClips"Rudy Bouchebel: Surviving the Beirut Explosion and Life Behind the Lens"Rudy Bouchebel joins us to talk about growing up in Beirut, living through the 2020 Beirut explosion, and how that moment shaped the rest of his life and career. Rudy shares how photography became his way of processing the world around him — leading him to work as a set photographer on Oscar and Cannes-nominated films, document Syrian refugees on their journey from Lebanon to Germany, and shoot in some of the most difficult and unpredictable locations around the world.This is a conversation about resilience, storytelling, and finding meaning through a lens, even in the hardest moments.🎧 Topics covered:Growing up in BeirutLiving through the Beirut explosion and its lasting impactBecoming a photographer and finding his voice behind the cameraWorking on award-nominated filmsDocumenting the journey of Syrian refugeesShooting in difficult and unpredictable locations around the worldSubscribe for more real conversations on Rice Pudding Project.#RudyBouchebel #BeirutExplosion #Photography #Documentary #Storytelling #Resilience #Lebanon #PhotojournalismStory #RicePuddingProject #PodcastClips

"Boxing to MMA to Jiu Jitsu: What Franco Mamba Learned Along the Way"Franco Mamba joins us to talk about growing up in Philadelphia, starting out in boxing, and eventually transitioning into MMA and Jiu Jitsu. Franco shares what it was like coming up in the Philly boxing scene, why he made the switch to mixed martial arts, and the lessons combat sports have taught him over the years — discipline, resilience, and everything in between.This is a conversation about grit, growth, and what it takes to keep evolving in combat sports.🎧 Topics covered:Growing up in PhiladelphiaGetting started in boxingThe transition from boxing to MMAPicking up Jiu JitsuLessons learned through years in combat sportsSubscribe for more real conversations on Rice Pudding Project.#FrancoMamba #MMA #Boxing #JiuJitsu #Philadelphia #CombatSports #FighterMindset #MartialArts #RicePuddingProject #PodcastClips

"Tylan Williams: Life After a Spinal Cord Injury and the Mission to Walk Again"Tylan Williams joins us to share the story of the motorbike accident that left him with a T6–T7 spinal cord injury and paralyzed from the chest down — and everything that's come after. Tylan opens up about life immediately following the accident, the long road of rehabilitation, and his ongoing mission to walk again. Now co-founder of Dead Man's Clique and a coach at Stronghold by DMC, Tylan shares how he's rebuilt his life, his mindset, and his purpose since the accident that changed everything.This is a raw, honest conversation about resilience, adaptation, and refusing to let one moment define the rest of your life.🎧 Topics covered:The motorbike accident and the spinal cord injury that followedLife immediately after becoming paralyzedThe rehabilitation journey and rebuilding independenceHis mission to walk againBuilding Dead Man's Clique and coaching through Stronghold by DMCMindset, resilience, and redefining purpose after traumaSubscribe for more real conversations on Rice Pudding Project.#TylanWilliams #SpinalCordInjury #Paralysis #Resilience #MissionToWalkAgain #DeadMansClique #OvercomingAdversity #Rehabilitation #Mindset #RicePuddingProject #PodcastClips #InspirationalStory

This week we sit down with Hady Amer — former professional football player turned pharma exec turned founder of Forus and Blindspot Health. Hady walks us through the moment he walked away from pro sports, why he later walked away from a stable pharma career to build his own companies, and the mindset that's let him handle setbacks, breakups, and career pivots without losing his footing. We dig into what competitive sports teaches you about resilience that business school never will, the leap from corporate pharma to founder life, and how he's approached building Forus and Blindspot Health from scratch. Equal parts mindset talk and founder story — with the usual Rice & Riffing chaos mixed in.#RiceAndRiffing #HadyAmer #Forus #BlindspotHealth #FounderStory #PharmaToFounder #AthleteMindset #Entrepreneurship #StartupJourney #FromAthleteToFounder #Resilience #PodcastClips #FounderMindset #CareerPivot #HealthTech