What Will I Be When I Grow Up?

“History is not just about facts, figures and people - it’s about learning where we came from,” says Queen Mary lecturer in Cold War History, Dr Rowena Abdul Razak. Dr Rowena posits that history gives you that edge and ability to see forward because you know what happened before. Tune in to learn more about why history so fascinated Dr Rowena from young and why corporate companies are now recruiting history graduates.

The climate crisis is real, and it is already affecting our future, including the jobs it is creating and will create. The key to looking for a successful, sustainable career is asking questions that are environmentally related - as Dr Phil Murphy elaborates fascinatingly in this episode.

If you’re an audiophile, you might have heard of Warwick Acoustics, which its director, Professor Duncan Billson claims to make the “world’s best headphones by a long way”. Duncan, a Professor at the University of Warwick, takes us through the highs and lows of his career, advising students to “always do something a little scary in life”.

Sacha Leong is no stranger to the global interior design scene, having designed global projects such as the Ace Hotel in London, Odette, a fine-dining restaurant housed in the National Gallery of Singapore, as well as Claudine, a fresh restaurant housed in an old chapel. But just how exactly does one get to this point? The answer, unsurprisingly, starts with a relentless curiosity and a sense of wonder from growing up in his  1980’s hometown Singapore that was so very different from what it is today.

“He’s abandoning his bright future to cook food for someone else,” Bo Li’s father said in dismay when Bo Li decided to drop out of his Master’s degree in Architecture at Deakin University. Discover how and why Bo Li embarked on a completely different career trajectory, even winning 2023’s best ramen in Victoria.

As young as nine years old, Laych experienced firsthand a lesson of humiliation and also kindness from an unpleasant classroom experience in Malaysia which she believed had shaped her view of empathy and compassion. From there, Laych went on to be a ‘rockstar’ journalist (in Devina’s words) for many years before retraining as a teacher in London while being owner and publisher of popular Malaysian parenting site Makchic. This is her story.

If you’ve watched Ili on screen, she’s always bursting with so much joy and laughter. The joy is real and permeates everything she does from her studies, to every career move, which includes serving at Will and Kate’s wedding (!). You don’t want to miss this episode!

Wole Talabi’s curiosity has taken him places. At nine, he read his parents’ entire collection of encyclopedias because he enjoyed the process of finding things. Later, as a chemical engineer, he went to Imperial College to pursue a Master’s degree in Reservoir Engineering because he was so frustrated at the uncertain numbers given to him to design facilities for the oil and gas company. When given negative feedback on his writing as a new writer, he took it as a challenge. He continued to write and studied how he could improve as a writer over many years before becoming an award-winning writer.