How does it feel to meet someone who connects you to a darker chapter of your family history? Datshiane Navanayagam is joined by two women whose experience of this has led them to delve deeper into their own family’s ties to both slavery and enslavement.

Diana McCaulay is a Jamaican novelist. She discovered that she’s related to both enslaved people and enslavers when an ancestry-tracking TV programme contacted her out of the blue. Diana's latest book, A House for Miss Pauline takes inspiration from what she discovered and the questions that are left unanswered.

In 2007 Betty Kilby Baldwin was contacted by a white woman in Virginia who suspected that she’s the descendant of the family once enslaved Betty’s. After meeting in person, the two women began a shared process of truth and reconciliation; co-writing a memoir and working with organisation called Coming to the Table which brings together people wanting to learn the history of their connection to slavery and its legacies.

Produced by Hannah Dean and Jane Thurlow

(Image: (L) Diana McCaulay credit Jeremy Francis. (R) Betty Kilby Baldwin courtesy Betty Kilby Baldwin.)

A Muslim woman from South Africa and Christian from Kenya talk to Ella Al-Shamahi about how their faith influences their thoughts on addressing climate change, inequality and restoring nature.

Dr Najma Mohamed grew up in South Africa and made a link between her faith and nature early in life. She writes often about the ecological message of Islam, supporting faith-based climate and environment action. Najma is a trustee of the Islamic environmental charity IFEES (Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Science) and head of Nature-Based Solutions at the UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre at Cambridge in the UK.

Meryne Warah is the global director of Organizing at GreenFaith, a multi-faith climate and environmental movement. She also serves as the GreenFaith Africa director, working with faith and spiritual communities across nine countries to seek justice for those affected by oil and gas extraction and conflict. Based in Kenya, Meryne is a Seventh Day Adventist Christian and a passionate advocate for faith-driven environmental action. GreenFaith, founded in 1992 in the USA, is a multi-faith grassroots organization dedicated to a sacred duty of protecting the planet. It has staff across Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and North America.

Produced by Jane Thurlow

(Image: (L) Meryne Warah courtesy Meryne Warah. (R) Dr Najma Mohamed courtesy Dr Najma Mohamed.)

A Mongolian and a South African palaeontologist speak to Ella Al-Shamahi about dinosaurs and education, as well as the fight to preserve their prehistoric legacy and stop illegal fossil trade.

Dr Bolortsetseg Minjin from Mongolia is the director of the Institute for the Study of Mongolian Dinosaurs. She is renowned for her discovery of 67 dinosaur fossils in the Gobi Desert within just one week. Bolorsetseg founded Mongolia’s first moveable dinosaur museum, bringing fossils and hands-on education to remote communities. She is a leading advocate against the illegal fossil trade and has played a key role in repatriating around 70 stolen Mongolian dinosaur fossils.

Dr Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan is a South African vertebrate palaeontologist best known for her pioneering work in the study of fossil bone and tooth microstructure. Despite the challenges of pursuing higher education as an Indian South African during apartheid, Anusuya became a leading figure in her field and a role model for women in science.

Produced by Emily Naylor

(Image: (L) Bolortsetseg Minjin courtesy Bolortsetseg Minjin. (R) Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan courtesy Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan.)

An academic from India and writer from Denmark talk to Ella Al-Shamahi about how the way economies are measured influences policy and undervalues both unpaid and paid care work, and affects the lives of women on every level.

Emma Holten is a Danish feminist commentator whose book, Deficit: how feminist economics can change our world, became a best seller in her home country. It highlights how economics have shaped a world in which there is no value attached to care, happiness or quality of living. Emma says that by including only things that can be measured economics ignores many of the most important things in life.

Jayati Ghosh is professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, in the US. In 2021 the United Nations named her to be on the High-level Advisory Board on Economic and Social Affairs. She presented a series of lectures on feminist economics for the International Association of Feminist Economics. She's written many books with a focus on informal workers in the Global South and has advised governments in India and other countries.

Produced by Jane Thurlow

(Image: (L) Emma Holten credit Claudia Vega. (R) Jayati Ghosh courtesy Jayati Ghosh/Aleph Book Company.)

Datshiane Navanayagam is joined by two women from the UK and Australia whose personal experience of menopause and perimenopause has led them to advocate for better support at work.

Madhu Kapoor is a writer and menopause awareness campaigner. She experienced a range of physical and psychological symptoms during perimenopause in her early 40s which led to her resigning from her senior position in a British government department. Now she uses her two decades spent in HR and recruitment to shape workplace standards through her company M for Menopause and advices women on navigating the challenges she also faced.

Grace Molloy is a registered nurse and CEO of Menopause Friendly Australia – an organisation that provides support and accreditation to companies looking to create workplaces that are responsive to the needs of menopausal women. Its members include Commonwealth Bank, global professional services firm Accenture, BHP, the Parliament of WA and St John WA. Molloy has been honoured as Western Australia's Telstra Best of Business Award winner in the Accelerating Women category, helped 250,000 people make the workplace more menopause-friendly and gave evidence at last year’s landmark Australian Senate inquiry into issues relating to perimenopause and menopause.

Produced by Hannah Dean and Emily Naylor

(Image: (L) Madhu Kapoor courtesy Madhu Kapoor. (R) Grace Molloy credit Ross Swanborough.)

Datshiane Navanayagam talks to controllers from the UAE and Sweden about guiding aeroplane take-offs and landings and dealing with the extreme stress of the job.

Helena Sjöström Falk is the first woman president of the International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers' Associations. She's from Sweden and recently retired from Stockholm Air Traffic Control Center. During her career she had many high pressure air traffic control positions, including aerodrome, approach, and area control.

Jouhayna AlMheiri is a senior air traffic controller, examiner and instructor in the United Arab Emirates, handling the flights of millions of passengers each year. She was the youngest and the second Emirati woman to qualify at UAE Area Control Centre. She's also a public speaker and podcast host.

Produced by Jane Thurlow

(Image: (L) Helena Sjöström Falk courtesy Helena Sjöström Falk. (R) Jouhayna AlMheiri credit Mustafa Singer.)

From breaking bones to trudging through snow – it is a Foley artist's role to reproduce the everyday sound effects that are added to film, TV and games. By using a variety of unconventional props and their own bodies, the goal is to create an authentic soundscape that will enhance our auditory experience. If the Foley goes unnoticed then they’ve done their job well! Datshiane Navanayagam speaks to two award winning Foley artists and asks what it’s like to spend so much time, quite literally stepping into someone else’s shoes.

Marita Sbeih is a Lebanese Foley artist and one of only a handful working in the Middle East. Since 2018, she has been the dedicated Foley Artist at DB Studios in Beirut, which provides audio post-production for films, documentaries, and art productions from around the globe. Pursuing a career as a Foley artist in a country with many unique challenges has been far from easy, but Marita has built an impressive list of credits for Foley and footsteps in some of the Arab world’s more distinguished art-house and indie productions, as well as international projects. Most recently, she worked on Hot Milk, a UK film directed by Rebecca Lenkiewicz, which was selected for the official competition at the 75th Berlinale (2025).

Produced by Hannah Dean

(Image: (L) Caoimhe Doyle courtesy Caoimhe Doyle. (R) Marita Sbeih credit Lama Sawaya.)

Datshiane Navanayagam talks to two women from Brazil and the UK who have online businesses buying and selling second hand clothes.

Ana Luiza McLaren is a co-founder of Enjoei, the biggest second hand selling site in Brazil. She started selling her own clothes through a blog she wrote over fifteen years ago and it wasn’t long before friends were asking her to sell their clothes too. The blog became so popular she and her partner decided to give up their jobs and set up an online business. Ana chose the name Enjoei because it means 'I got sick of it' in Brazilian.

Produced by Jane Thurlow

(Image: (L) Ana McLaren credit Brenno da Matta. (R) Sarah Dean credit Mik Connor.)

Millions of children globally are separated from their birth families. For many, foster care is the best option. Foster carers from Moldova and the US speak to Ella Al-Shamahi about the realities of caring for vulnerable children and why they’re pushing for change in the system.

Alina Druță is the president of Moldova Without Orphans, the Christian Alliance for Orphans Moldova and the national coordinator for child welfare at Open Gate International Moldova. She has been instrumental in introducing trust-based relational intervention to Moldova, an evidence-based approach that helps caregivers create safe and nurturing environments for children who have experienced trauma. Alina has worked with more than 70 young people over the past 12 years and is currently caring for six girls alongside her two biological children.

Produced by Emily Naylor and Hannah Dean

(Image: (L) Whitney Jackson courtesy Whitney Jackson. (R) Alina Druță courtesy Alina Druță.)

Ella Al-Shamahi talks to women from Egypt and the US about their work detecting fraud, bribery and corruption for multi-national corporations and law enforcement.

Yousr Khalil is from Egypt, after 20 years working in the United States she now heads the Paris Office of Forensic Risk Alliance, a company specialising in in complex, cross-border forensic investigations, regulatory compliance matters and disputes. She was part of the team investigating the aerospace giant Airbus after it admitted paying bribes via middlemen.

US lawyer Judy Krieg has worked both in government and for private businesses. She was a joint head of fraud, bribery, and corruption at the UK Serious Fraud Office. Judy has also been an enforcement lawyer at the UK Financial Services Authority (now the Financial Conduct Authority) handling criminal and regulatory matters. She’s worked at Rolls Royce and Microsoft is now at law firm, DLA Piper representing corporations and individuals in white collar matters, including government and internal investigations, financial crime, compliance, and cyber issues.

Produced by Jane Thurlow

(Image: (L) Yousr Khalil credit Bénédicte Verley. (R) Judy Krieg credit DLA Piper.)