Con·ver·sa·tions is a podcast housed here at OUSA that I decided to host and produce as a part of my summer internship. This podcast series is all about highlighting the community ingenuity, excellence, and advocacy that comes from young people in our society.
Young people are responsible for spearheading so much change in our society, yet are always pushed to the fringe of important discourse. I believe Con·ver·sa·tions is one vehicle we can use to bring the stories and expertise of young people to the forefront. During each episode, I sit down virtually with guests to have thought-provoking and honest conversations about the work they are doing in and with their communities.
Check out the 5-episode podcast series below:
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Vaccinations, Social Media and the Power of Young People with Mansi Mehta
For our very first episode, host Ashyana sits down *virtually* with Mansi Mehta, a fourth-year student at Brock University and one of the founders of COVID-19 Vaccination page, Info Vaccine! We talk about how COVID affected our lives as students, her insights on why a group of young women started this page, why Instagram was a great tool to get out really critical information to community members, and the incredibly resilient, as well as innovative role young people have played throughout the pandemic that consistently gets overlooked.
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Black Excellence & Student Leadership with Angie Antonio
In this episode, host Ashyana sits down *virtually* with Angie Antonio, a fourth-year student at Western University and the outgoing President for the Black Student Association at Western. We talk about what Black excellence means to Angie, the role community plays in her life, and some of the struggles student leaders face as they push for change. Angie shares her insights with us and we have an incredibly candid conversation. You can also check out the blog post we interviewed Angie for here: From #BLM to #EDI: How Far Have We Really Come?
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Decolonizing Advocacy & The Power of Art with Emily DuBois Brooks
In this episode, host Ashyana sits down *virtually* with Emily DuBois Brooks, the Special Projects Intern at the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance this summer and a student at Laurier University. We talk about her work on the Indigenous Student Policy Paper at OUSA, her exciting personal project, and what decolonizing advocacy means to her. Emily shares with us her identity as an artist, and the role art has played in her life. You can also check out the blog post Emily wrote earlier this summer here: https://www.ousa.ca/blog_indigenizing_academia.
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Community Care & Expanding the Scope of Gender-Based Violence with Chenthoori Malankov
TW: mention of gender-based violence (including sexual violence), state-sanctioned violence and genocide. In this episode, host Ashyana sits down *virtually* with Chenthoori Malankov, a graduate student at York University and a daughter of the Tamil Diaspora. We talk about why and how she got involved in the gender-based violence advocacy space, her work with Courage 2 Act, and her identity as a Tamil woman. Chenthoori breaks down for us what community care means to her and we have a discussion on colonialism in the global context.
OCASI Graphic Novel: https://ocasi.org/sites/default/files/ocasi-vaw-graphic-novel-english_1.pdf
Courage 2 Act Report: https://www.couragetoact.ca/report
South Asian Therapist Resource: https://southasiantherapists.org
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Debriefing the Lockdown Generation & Election 44 with Anjum Sultana
In this episode, host Ashyana sits down *virtually* with Anjum Sultana, the National Director of Public Policy and Strategic Communications at YWCA Canada. We talk about the Preventing a Lockdown Generation Report, a joint report by the YWCA and YMCA Canada that Anjum co-authored with Jessica Lue, and what it means when we say #LockdownGeneration. We discuss the implications of the pandemic for young people, why we need to step up for young people now more than ever, and the upcoming election. Anjum shares her incredible insight and leaves us with ways that young people can continue to push for change.
To read the report and learn more visit: https://www.preventingalockdowngeneration.ca/
Written by Ashyana-Jasmine Kachra, OUSA intern for 2021 and the force behind OUSA podcast series, Con•ver•sa•tions.
Listen to all Con•ver•sa•tions episodes here: https://soundcloud.com/ousaconversations.