The RM Show

Raykhon sits down with her old friend Larisa Pak, a marketing specialist and the creative force, one of Kazakhstan's most prolific cultural producers. What starts as a warm catch-up between two women who go way back quickly turns into a candid conversation about the joy and the cost of following your passion.Larisa shares the bittersweet story of her gourmet popcorn business, a labour of love she ultimately had to close. She has spent over a decade producing TEDx conferences in Almaty, and is now channelling her energy into two bold new projects: a podcast and documentary exploring Kazakhstan as an ethnographic melting pot, and a food show celebrating the over 100 ethnic groups that call the country home today.Rayhan also opens up about her own passion project, this very podcast — making this one of those rare episodes where host and guest are equally vulnerable. Funny and warm, this is a conversation about what it really means to build something that matters.

In recent years, Kazakhstan has been experiencing a linguistic awakening. A country as vast as the whole of Western Europe. A country I love — and where I began my career as a foreign correspondent.

In this episode I speak to Suinbike Suleymenova, a visual artist and filmmaker from Almaty. She spent three decades not speaking her own language. Then she made a film about it.

МАМБЕТ: Тіл мәселесі — or Language Matter — is Kazakhstan's answer to Kneecap. A raw, hybrid documentary that follows Suinbike as she films a generation of young Kazakhs reclaiming their linguistic heritage. The film takes its title from a Kazakh word that became a slur — mambet, meaning redneck, villager, uncultured. By reclaiming the word, Suinbike reclaims the right to her own language.

Sevara Nazarkhan is the Uzbek diva - her music is adored by millions of fans in her native Uzbekistan and around the world. She is the national treasure of Uzbekistan. She started in a girl’s band in the late 1990s and then went solo earning international recognition after teaming up with singer songwriter Peter Gabriel. In this episode of The RM Show we talk about the turning points in Sevara’s career, her ambition to return to the international stage and how her music has the power to heal. Please subscribe to the RM Show wherever you are watching or listening.

Genia Mineeva is a fashion entrepreneur who started out as a journalist before having a change of heart. Genia's exciting career path took her from empowering social entrepreneurs to confronting climate change with her award winning brand BEEN London. We discuss the circular economy, how to make beauty from waste, and how Genia pursued her passion despite the challenges of family and career.

This week my guest is Nana Dikhaminjia - she is a maths guru and tech entrepreneur who runs cyber camps for girls. We talk about how globally there are still not enough women in tech. Nana's mission is to educate a generation of girls to change the status quo. We discuss how Nana survived the Georgian-Abkhaz war in the 1990s, the importance of maths in early education and how tech solutions can combat lies. Please subscribe to the RM show, wherever you’re watching or listening.

Pavlina Pavlova is a cyber policy and diplomacy specialist whose research focuses on online threats to women and other vulnerable groups. Pavlina was a nominee for International Cyber Security Woman of the World Award, her passion is to translate cyber threats into policies that offer safer online spaces. We discuss gender disinformation and how advances of Artificial Intelligence are creating threats especially for women.

Baia Pataraia is a leading women’s rights activist in Georgia. Her organisation Sapari provides legal support to hundreds of women every year. It is the kind of NGO that is being targeted by Georgia’s “foreign agents” law protested by tens of thousands of people for weeks. We talk about Baia’s passion for theatre, how she found her voice as a feminist, and what role women can play in Georgia’s current struggle for democracy and European future.

My guest today is Liza Zhvania, she the organiser of arts and culture events, her father was a Georgian Prime Minister who famously coined the phrase "I am Georgian therefore I am European". Liza, has been among tens of thousands of Georgians protesting in the streets of Tbilisi angry and worried that their government is turning its back on Europe. We discuss the events in Georgia and Liza shares her thoughts about what is at the core of the current struggle.

My guest today is Isabella Emborg, a wonderful and wise 18 year old who has agreed to share her story about her life with cancer. Isabella has been through a lot of treatment both in Georgia and Denmark but ultimately decided that enough was enough. We talk about what Denmark and Georgia can learn from one another about how they provide cancer care for children. And how to bring light and love to the lives of others which Isabella does so beautifully.

My guest this week is Shobana Cooke, she is the holistic medicine practitioner whom I met during my recent trip to the magical island of Sri Lanka. We talk about the luxury of being able to follow our true calling, and how it depends on the support of other people in our lives. And how in our fast paced technology driven world biology, especially for women, dictates its own terms,