TPR Pod

Finally, we return! Back with our first episode of the new year, this one's a in-depth look at one of Pakistan's most well known charitable organizations, TCF! Shot LIVE in Karachi (s/o to Kazi for opening up his space for us), we sit down with Syed Hasan Ali who is Head of Global Partnerships at the organization. Hasan talks about how he found his way to TCF, how the organization came to be, the work they do, and the effort being put into the future. Great chat!

Things discussed in this episode:

00:00 Intro

04:00 How and why the episode came about

06:31 Hasan’s own education - Agha Khan College & LUMS

14:22 Hasan finds his way to TCF - jobs along the way & his current role

19:03 TCF origin story - the original idea and how it was first set up

26:30 Pakistan’s education emergency - What is TCF even trying to fix?

TCF’s operations

30:55 Flagship Model - Finding land to build schools, class setup, finding teachers

41:30 What is the donor relationship like and what forms of donations are there?

45:46 Quality Control at TCF - principal assessments, teacher re-training, KPIs

TCF’s future 

53:52 Strategy 2030 - Introducing new models, new targets, govt liaisons, schools for teens, publishing their own books

1:04:45 Alumni counselling, starting colleges

1:10:23 Mother-tongue based education - schools in local languages

1:17:33 Play-based education for young children, writing their own storybooks

1:20:47 TCF’s digital ops - raising $1M annually, digital marketing

1:23:23 How working in TCF has impacted Hasan personally, schools commodifying education

1:28:30 Why TCF is a “difficult product” for people to support vs other charities

1:36:52 Outro & closing thoughts

LINKS:

The TCF website: https://www.tcf.org.pk/

Support the podcast by becoming a monthly patron on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/tprpod) or send a one-off token on Ko-fi (https://ko-fi.com/tprpod)! 

Find all our previous episodes on SoundCloud, Spotify & Apple Podcasts and follow us all on Twitter! Links to everything below!

SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/tprpod

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6PvTahp...

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tprpod/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TPRPod

Ali: https://twitter.com/themaholupper

Rizwan: https://twitter.com/RizwanTakkhar

Sarkhail: https://twitter.com/Sarkhail7Khan

Our last episode of the year couldn't not be a Chalant Crew episode. This one is even more incredibly random than the others. No explanations will be provided just dive right in.   

Things discussed in this episode:  

00:00 Intro 

00:25 Rizwan’s haircut strategy and wedding photographer review 

06:20 Nadir celebrated Thanksgiving 

08:09 Foo Fighters in dubai 

23:09 Rizwan can’t sleepover 1 + a big accusation 

28:26 Arguing about chinese food 

33:52 Rizwan can’t sleepover 2 + money is made to be spent 

40:19 Rizwan is having an upgraded wedding 

46:35 Ali asks for Islamabad food recommendations 

49:01 Sarkhail’s T20 World Cup’21 experience with Change of Pace 

55:37 We love Manchester 

1:02:10 Sarkhail’s his kid’s nanny’s daddy?  

Support the podcast by becoming a monthly patron on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/tprpod) or send a one-off token on Ko-fi (https://ko-fi.com/tprpod)!   Find all our previous episodes on SoundCloud, Spotify & Apple Podcasts and follow us all on Twitter! Links to everything below!  SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/tprpodSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6PvTahp... Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tprpod/Twitter: https://twitter.com/TPRPod 

Ali: https://twitter.com/themaholupper

Rizwan: https://twitter.com/RizwanTakkhar

Sarkhail: https://twitter.com/Sarkhail7Khan

Aamir Bhagat is finally on the show. One of the people I have referred to as the "godfather" type character in Pakistan's, specifically Karachi's, creator scene; here we finally get all the answers. How he got interested in media and the creative scene, how the famed edit meetups started, how his current project-turning-into-life's-work iTeachStuff started and the plans for it and much more! Great chat, glad we finally had him on.   

Things discussed in this episode:  

00:00 Intro 

02:02 Why we had to get him on the show 

04:06 Why he doesn’t consider himself a “creative” person but how he got in the field 

12:23 The Edit Meetup time, how the idea came about and how they changed 

iTeachStuff 

20:48 How it came about - origins & pivoting during the pandemic 

28:47 Present status - physical space and plans for expansion 

34:05 Future goals - running it like a startup, subject expansions in the future 

41:04 His top three biggest hurdles so far 

47:45 The Space by iTeachStuff - why did he feel it was needed 

49:47 Is he concerned about Pakistan’s social media bans from a business perspective? 

Creator Community: 

52:40 What changes has he seen and what does he expect in future? 

58:45 How has the industry grown in his time  

1:01:18 His plans for starting TWO podcasts of his own! 

1:09:03 Jinn story! 

1:11:02 What is one of the most important lessons he’s learned in his time?  

LINKS: 

His Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aamirbhagat/

iTeachStuff website: https://www.iteachstuff.net/

iTeachStuff YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/ITeachStuff 

Support the podcast by becoming a monthly patron on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/tprpod) or send a one-off token on Ko-fi (https://ko-fi.com/tprpod)!   Find all our previous episodes on SoundCloud, Spotify & Apple Podcasts and follow us all on Twitter! Links to everything below!  SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/tprpodSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6PvTahp... Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tprpod/Twitter: https://twitter.com/TPRPod Ali: https://twitter.com/themaholupperRizwan: https://twitter.com/RizwanTakkharSarkhail: https://twitter.com/Sarkhail7Khan

This week the very funny Shaan Baig joins the show! Shaan's a comedian who's been active in the LA sketch scene for over 10 years! He is also a dentist and also desi. So you know his story has his parents involved. We talk about his lifelong interest in comedy, taking a gap year in MED SCHOOL to pursue it, moving to LA, getting into the UCB sketch team after FIVE YEARS, starting the first all-brown sketch group there, SNL dreams, Hasan Minhaj friendship, jinn stories, and ofc a whole bunch about representation. Great chat!

Things discussed in this episode:

00:00 Intro

02:12 COVID update for LA’s live comedy scene

07:04 Loving comedy as a child, giving it up for med-school

15:19 Taking a gap year to pursue comedy in Chicago, pivot to dentistry

20:55 Moving to LA, diving into comedy - sketch vs standup

23:55 His FIVE YEAR (!!) process of getting into the UCB Maude team

29:46 The Get Brown story - inception, audition, possible tv show(s)??

40:43 Getting onto TikTok, impression clips going viral, locking down characters

47:07 Submitting tapes for SNL - how the process works & his experience

53:09 10 years in, how do the parents feel about the whole situation?

57:54 Common ground in diaspora/immigrant experiences & The Bollywood Boys podcast

1:02:13 Talking brown representation - hypothetical ideal scenarios, unconscious biases

1:11:43 Is it weird being friends with Hasan Minhaj?

1:15:42 Jinn stories! Two!

1:20:53 Outro

LINKS:

Shaan's TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@shaan_baig

Shaan's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ilikeburdz/

Shaan's YouTube: https://twitter.com/notoriousBAIG

Support the podcast by becoming a monthly patron on Patreon (www.patreon.com/tprpod) or send a one-off token on Ko-fi (ko-fi.com/tprpod)!

Find all our previous episodes on SoundCloud, Spotify & Apple Podcasts and follow us all on Twitter! Links to everything below!

SoundCloud: @tprpod

Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/6PvTahp...

Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...

Instagram: www.instagram.com/tprpod/

Twitter: twitter.com/TPRPod

Ali: twitter.com/themaholupper

Rizwan: twitter.com/RizwanTakkhar

Sarkhail: twitter.com/Sarkhail7Khan

This week on the show we have Tausif Hussain, a tech-YouTuber based out of Canada, talking about his career and journey so far! From his starting a YouTube account while also being a super busy accountant in his day job, pivoting to doing content creation fulltime, staying true and vocal about his identity, to his plans for diversified business and more!   

Things discussed in this episode:  

00:00 Intro 

01:31 Why we had to get Tausif on the show 

04:11 Tausif basically summarizes his whole life - from accountant to YouTuber 

11:56 Choosing to become a tech YouTuber - why he did it, how it’s different, the early bump 

17:51 Having to choose between being a YouTuber part-time vs full-time 

21:18 The pressures a full-time entrepreneurship can put on your personal life 

25:26 Growing up in a desi/traditional society and convincing your parents YouTube is okay 

31:28 YouTube choices: follow the algorithm or do what you like? 

38:23 Where his creative streak comes from, pushing past inhibitions, future prospects 

43:31 Forming real friendships and associations with creators via YouTube 

47:05 His experience growing up as a desi & muslim person in corporate & YouTube life 

50:26 Does he feel the need to be a “perfect” muslim & the importance of representation 

54:35 Diversifying income streams, how to maximize gains even with a smaller audience 

58:31 Talking motorcycles! 

1:01:18 Intense JinnExorcism story! 

1:07:50 Tausif’s TPR Pod review, and outro  

LINKS: 

Tausif's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/TausifHussain/

Tausif's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hussaintausif/ 

Support the podcast by becoming a monthly patron on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/tprpod) or send a one-off token on Ko-fi (https://ko-fi.com/tprpod)!   Find all our previous episodes on SoundCloud, Spotify & Apple Podcasts and follow us all on Twitter! Links to everything below!  SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/tprpodSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6PvTahp... Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tprpod/Twitter: https://twitter.com/TPRPod Ali: https://twitter.com/themaholupperRizwan: https://twitter.com/RizwanTakkharSarkhail: https://twitter.com/Sarkhail7Khan

Our very own Nadir Shehzad Khan is this week's guest! Musician and creative person extraordinaire, Nadir talks about his complete music journey to date from the very start, through his years at the helm of one of Pakistan's most influential indie acts, all the way to his latest release "Atomy Event"!  

Things discussed in this episode:  

00:00 Intro 

02:19 Why are we doing this? 

04:23 Nadir’s introduction to music as a child 

09:53 His first band and how Sikandar ka Mandir formed 

The Indus Valley years: 

13:55 His mockumentary holding up a low quality mirror to society 

19:40 His conscious push to mess with all the teachers, and how they felt 

24:01 How the Lussun TV series came about 

28:11 The 2010s: Live music dying, YouTube ban, and the tours & festivals he organized 

35:46 36 - Sikandar Ka Mandir’s second album, new lineup and approach 

39:53 Developing a sincere following and why certain people resonated with their work 

43:06 The band drifts apart and Nadir decides to focus on solo work and upskilling himself Atomy Event: 

48:56 How the song came about, multiple versions, confusion 

53:50 How the video happened 1:01:00 How long the song and video took to put together 

1:04:26 Will he do things the same way again? 

1:05:47 Outro  

LINKS: 

Atomy Event: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOc1smX7BEU 

Support the podcast by becoming a monthly patron on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/tprpod) or send a one-off token on Ko-fi (https://ko-fi.com/tprpod)!  

Find all our previous episodes on SoundCloud, Spotify & Apple Podcasts and follow us all on Twitter! Links to everything below!  SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/tprpodSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6PvTahp... Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tprpod/Twitter: https://twitter.com/TPRPod Ali: https://twitter.com/themaholupperRizwan: https://twitter.com/RizwanTakkharSarkhail: https://twitter.com/Sarkhail7Khan

Asad aka Daktar Saab is back! Here to talk about seeking stability in his career(s), why he took a hiatus from his very popular YouTube channel, trying out new things in the content realm, taking the huge step of starting to practice medicine, how that opened his eyes to a health crisis, and how everything ties back to his goals! Great chat, dive in!  

Things discussed in this episode:   

00:00 Intro 

01:45 What’s been happening since we last spoke in summer’20? 

07:22 Realizing the Daktar Saab channel was heading in an unsatisfactory direction 

16:32 Forming real friendships in the 2021 Clubhouse in Pakistan period 

22:27 Starting practice again! Why wasn’t he doing it before/why did he start 

28:17 Patients who follow him on social media & sense of fulfilment in practicing in underserved areas 

33:58 The importance of effective communication with patients 

39:07 People’s lack of trust in the healthcare system and why South Asians are at a higher risk for diabetes 

45:31 How his learnings while practicing as a doctor will guide future Daktar Saab content 

49:09 What does he feel the future looks like for his career(s)?  

LINKS: 

Asad's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/daktarsaab_/

Asad's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/DaktarSaab 

Support the podcast by becoming a monthly patron on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/tprpod) or send a one-off token on Ko-fi (https://ko-fi.com/tprpod)!   Find all our previous episodes on SoundCloud, Spotify & Apple Podcasts and follow us all on Twitter! Links to everything below!  SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/tprpodSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6PvTahp... Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tprpod/Twitter: https://twitter.com/TPRPod Ali: https://twitter.com/themaholupperRizwan: https://twitter.com/RizwanTakkharSarkhail: https://twitter.com/Sarkhail7Khan

This week on the podcast we're joined by Khumais, a fantastic landscape photographer in Pakistan. We talk about his creative journey, how he managed to gain an international audience from the start, his business model (including some very interesting preset sales & NFT talk) and more!  

Things discussed in this episode:  

00:00 Intro

02:39 Where he’s from, what he’s doing right now 

05:09 Khumais summarizes his entire photography journey 

07:57 How he started taking pictures on his phone and his early influences 

13:35 Participating in international edit contests 

17:12 How he sold presets to raise money for his first camera 

22:50 Travelling for photography, finding unseen places & the advantages of being in Pakistan 

29:40 Challenges of landscape photography - extreme physical effort, research, costs 

38:03 Popularity of landscape photography in Pakistan, his current business model 

41:54 Talking NFTs - photography scene, his experience, platform recommendations 

50:40 Plans for the future - travel, business, studies, corporate jobs 

57:52 Jinn story! 

1:00:07 Outro  

LINKS: 

His Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/khumaix/ 

Support the podcast by becoming a monthly patron on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/tprpod) or send a one-off token on Ko-fi (https://ko-fi.com/tprpod)!   

Find all our previous episodes on SoundCloud, Spotify & Apple Podcasts and follow us all on Twitter! Links to everything below!  SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/tprpodSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6PvTahp... Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tprpod/Twitter: https://twitter.com/TPRPod Ali: https://twitter.com/themaholupperRizwan: https://twitter.com/RizwanTakkharSarkhail: https://twitter.com/Sarkhail7Khan

Shahzeb aka TheKidShazy is a standup comic and very popular Pakistani-American TikTok content creator! We got him on the show after coming across his videos on the app several months ago and he talks about a whole bunch of stuff. How he got into comedy, his TikTok journey, Pakistani Students Associations, Zakir Naik, his trip to Pakistan and more! 

Check out the episode and also his work at the links section below!  

Things discussed in this episode:  

00:00 Intro 

01:42 Background - moving to the US at young age, becoming an attorney! 

05:21 How he got into comedy and onto TikTok! 

10:37 The desi community's relationship with standup comedy 

15:05 Tiktok, managing expectations, learning the video making and about the audience 

18:06 How -serious- is he about wanting videos to do well? 

22:08 The PSA video series 

29:34 Zakir Naik videos - love & hate from the audience, US vs UK muslims online 

36:05 Managing audience requests  

42:44 His 2021 Lahore-during-lockdown experience 

48:51 He got COVID during his Pakistan trip?? Maybe. Nobody’s sure. 

53:48 Plans for the future! Tiktok, standup, YouTube(??) and more! 

58:40 Jinn story?? 

1:01:00 Outro  

LINKS: 

His Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thekidshazy

His Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thekidshazy/ 

Support the podcast by becoming a monthly patron on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/tprpod) or send a one-off token on Ko-fi (https://ko-fi.com/tprpod)!   

Find all our previous episodes on SoundCloud, Spotify & Apple Podcasts and follow us all on Twitter! Links to everything below!  

SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/tprpod

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6PvTahp... 

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tprpod/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TPRPod 

Ali: https://twitter.com/themaholupper

Rizwan: https://twitter.com/RizwanTakkhar

Sarkhail: https://twitter.com/Sarkhail7Khan

AR & Yasser of Cooking Chaos are on the show! The two mad lads behind the hilarious cooking channel where actual cooking seems to be not the top priority at all. We talk about how they got to know each other, how the channel started, how an episode comes together, the secrets behind their amazing episodes, analytics, retention and so much more! Dive in!

Things discussed in this episode:

00:00 Intro

02:10 How many TPR episodes have they seen

07:31 Ali’s ignorance, and the Cooking Chaos origin story

17:14 Their personalities on camera, how they decide episodes

25:31 Their edit process and how their video process has evolved over time

29:40 Considerations of “retention”, playing the long game, getting onto TV

36:43 Thinking about content-creation in business vs creative minded ways, how aware are branding people

40:49 How important is the “cooking” aspect to their content?

44:27 How “relatable” are they, their audience experience over time, why aren’t they more famous?

53:22 Talking collabs, Mosiki, what a potential TV appearance would be like Pushing for changes and growth consciously vs taking things easy and keeping it casual

1:00:57 Brands, young people more judgmental than old, aiming at international audiences

1:06:54 Hardest episode to make so far vs easiest, are there 

1:10:26 Totally real announcements 

1:12:16 Jinn stories!

1:19:12 Closing remarks for the youth of Pakistan

LINKS:

Their YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/CookingChaos

Their Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cookingchaospk/

Their Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cookingchaos

Support the podcast by becoming a monthly patron on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/tprpod) or send a one-off token on Ko-fi (https://ko-fi.com/tprpod)! 

Find all our previous episodes on SoundCloud, Spotify & Apple Podcasts and follow us all on Twitter! Links to everything below!

SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/tprpod

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6PvTahp...

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tprpod/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TPRPod

Ali: https://twitter.com/themaholupper

Rizwan: https://twitter.com/RizwanTakkhar

Sarkhail: https://twitter.com/Sarkhail7Khan