Trigger warning: This episode contains discussions of sexual assault that some listeners may find distressing. You can skip from 20:51 to 26:56 if you wish to avoid this part.

In this powerful episode of The Brown Box, we sit down with activist, author, and entrepreneur Liyana Dhamirah. Through her extraordinary journey, she shares how life’s challenges can be a catalyst for healing and advocacy.

We explore:

• Childhood memories shaped by poverty, an absent father, and a home that didn’t look like the ones on TV

• How dance felt like freedom - but also brought unwanted attention and led to abuse

• Early pregnancy, being forced into marriage, an unfaithful husband

• Her experience living in a tent on Sembawang Beach while pregnant

• The stigma surrounding single mothers and homelessness in Singapore

• Her healing journey through inner healing and entrepreneurship

• What inspired her to write Homeless, run for political office, and co-found a financial literacy initiative

Liyana's story is one of hope and her message will stay with you long after the episode ends. Listen now for an unforgettable story of loss, motherly love, and the strength to choose joy - even in the darkest moments.

🎧 Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this heartfelt episode of The Brown Box, we sit down with Nuryanee Anisah, founder of Commenhers, a Singapore-based social enterprise that transforms discarded textiles into meaningful products.

Inspired by her father’s entrepreneurial drive and her mother’s compassion, Yanee shares how Commenhers supports marginalised women while championing sustainability.

We talk about:

• Her love for secondhand objects and the stories they carry

• Why slowing down is part of sustainability

• The emotional cost of being misunderstood as a dyslexic child

• How her father’s music carried Malay poetry all the way to the White House

• What Rana Plaza taught her about fast fashion and responsibility

• And why care must be central to how we build, work, and live

If you care about sustainability, social impact, or simply finding beauty in what’s been overlooked, this one’s for you.

Tune in wherever you get your podcasts. Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and more.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Anita Kapoor - TV host, writer, and activist - joins The Brown Box Podcast for an honest, moving conversation about growing up, growing older, and growing into yourself. From her childhood arrival in 1970s Singapore to her groundbreaking career on English-language television, Anita reflects on what it means to be seen and to be free.

We talk about:

• What it means to age with vulnerability and wisdom

• Colourism, privilege & media representation in Singapore

• Growing up Indian and female in a multi-ethnic society

• Caregiving, loss, and healing generational wounds

• Embracing joy, grief, and the quiet power of Shakti

In this episode, we unpack her journey through beauty and body image, privilege and visibility, grief and healing. Anita opens up about caregiving for her mother, navigating race and representation in media, and what her Shakti - feminine strength - means today.

If you’ve ever struggled with identity, aging, or belonging as a brown woman in a world that wants you to shrink, this episode is your reminder that your story, your body, your voice matters.

Tune in wherever you get your podcasts. Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and more.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Actor, dramaturg, and writer Sindhu Kalidas has worn many hats, but in this episode, she wears her heart on her sleeve.

From her earliest days as a child actor on Hip-o & Friends to calling out brownface in a beloved local film, Sindhu opens up about what it means to grow up brown, outspoken, and tender in Singapore.

In this episode we discuss:

• impact of parental love on how we love others
• the power of verbatim theater as a tool for cultural truth-telling
• the tug-of-war between following your passion and fulfilling your duty
• how personal values can guide us through life’s hardest decisions.

She also unpacks "Psychobitch" and "Happy Indian Women" — two fearless plays, one grappling with the stigma of emotionalism, the other searching for brown joy

And through it all Sindhura reminds us that kindness is its own kind of power - and that sometimes, speaking up is how we take up space in a world that tries to shrink us.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Amrita Chandradas doesn’t just take pictures — she captures life in all its raw, beautiful complexity. In this podcast, she shares how her father’s love for photography guided her journey, and opens up about how over- protective parents and the stress of exams shaped her early years. She talks about leaving Singapore to learn, and then coming back to tell the stories of her home. Through it all, it’s her deep love for community, her roots, and her identity as a Singaporean-Tamilian that lights up her work and her lens.

Listen as she shares the stories behind her photos and the powerful moments that have shaped her work.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From a child arguing on the void decks of Singapore, to a woman leading one of its most recognised advocacy organisations, the SPCA —Aarthi Sankar has never been afraid to speak her mind.

In this episode of The Brown Box, she opens up about finding her voice through books, dance, and relentless advocacy.

Aarthi challenges stereotypes, confronts exclusion, and reclaims the label of “angry brown woman” with pride.

In this conversation, we talk about:

• Growing up as the youngest with two older sisters
• Life with a cleft lip and the confidence it shaped
• Childhood reading habits and bookish quirks
• The power of dance in shaping identity
• Colourism, exclusion, and early experiences of bias
• What it means to be Singaporean-Tamilian today
• Stereotypes of the “angry brown woman”

• Her decade in public service and burnout
• Why she joined the SPCA without being an “animal person”
• Speciesism, advocacy fatigue, and what still needs to change
• Redefining success, softness, and strength

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, I sit down with Yagnya—a theater maker and a woman shaped by a lifetime of stories.

We talk about the power of stories—the ones that shape us, and the ones that are thrust upon us. We speak about schoolyard bullies, about being Indian, about caste, and about the search for spaces where we can truly be ourselves.

This is a conversation for anyone who’s ever wondered about the stories we carry—and the ones we choose to tell.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

✨ In this episode of The Brown Box, we sit down with Nilanjana Sengupta.

📖 Author. 🏛️ Historian. 💛 Fully Bong. 🌧️ A monsoon lover. 🕰️ A collector of nostalgia.

Our conversation takes us on a journey from the chaotic streets of Kolkata 🇮🇳 to writing herself into Singapore’s history 🇸🇬. We talk about motherly love 🤱, the wonder that is Durga Puja 🏵️, and the beating heart of Singapore. But most of all, we delve into the stories of women—their struggles, their resilience—their voices, captured in her latest book Chickpeas to Cook and Other Stories 📚.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, we speak with Anbarasi Boopal (Anbu), Co-CEO of ACRES, Singapore’s beloved wildlife rescue center. Anbu shares an inspiring journey that led a quiet village girl from Tamilnadu to become one of the loudest voices for animal rights in Singapore.

Her’s is a story of personal transformation, sisterly solidarity, and the enduring connection to her Tamil roots through the beauty of language, food, temples and saris.

This conversation reminds us that sometimes the softest voices carry the strongest messages.

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this intimate reflection, we follow Ruby Jayaseelan's path from classical Bharatanatyam dancer to boundary-breaking movement artist. Through dance, she navigates profound loss—the death of her mother, her relationship with her father—and discovers how movement can unlock grief held deep in the body.

Her story speaks to anyone who has felt constrained by tradition, touched by loss, or drawn to forge their own path.

With raw honesty, Ruby reveals how embracing imperfection and allowing herself to fall became the very things that helped her soar.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.