Lived Words with Yuvan Rasiah

Muqaddisa Mehreen Talks UNICEF, Mental Health, and Traveling the World | Lived Words Ep. 10

Yuvan Rasiah — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 01:00:00 GMT

Muqaddisa Mehreen has spent her life understanding environments: the worlds we grow up in, the places that shape us before we understand what we’re feeling, and the systems that influence our perceptions of support and collaboration. She has worked across countries, cultures, and complex humanitarian settings, and found joy and purpose in listening to people whose stories are overlooked.

More than that, she is someone who sees people. She listens closely, holds space, and brings care into conversations that are not always easy to have. More than most, she understands how the world around us shapes the ways we feel and grow.

In this conversation, Dr. Mehreen details the ways in which her work in gender rights and child protection has taken her into environments where mental health is closely tied to safety, opportunity, and everyday lived experience. What does happiness really mean, when every moment is defined by survival?

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Swayam Bagaria Talks Religion, Belief, and Modern Spirituality | Lived Words Ep. 9

Yuvan Rasiah — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 04:06:50 GMT

Swayam Bagaria is a thinker. An anthropologist by education and professor of religion by trade, he is a deep thinker and someone who approaches every aspect of the world with his trademark curiosity and openness to complex thought. Dr. Bagaria's work, on the other hand, delves deep into the mental health space and bridges concepts of spirituality, belief, religion, and culture.

Dr. Bagaria also explores culture and identity within himself. A deeply reflective person, Dr. Bagaria's focus on contemporary belief networks in India stems from his own heritage and background. Furthermore, he embraces a definition of spirituality that is personal and, in many ways, original; crafted by years of experience, research, and education.

Today, Dr. Bagaria shares his perspective on modern spirituality, the importance of belief to the development of today's generation (as well as society as a whole), and the answer to whether or not he even considers himself to be religious at all.

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Alicia Mckoy Talks Stress, Self-Care, and the Impact of Our Environment | Lived Words Ep. 8

Yuvan Rasiah — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 02:00:00 GMT

Alicia Mckoy is a social scientist, an author, a speaker and an entrepreneur. More than that, she is someone who fully believes in the importance of self-care when facing chronic stress. But when searching for a path to her own self-care, she realized something crucial: few things influence our mental state as much as our environment. Whether it's a classroom, workplace, or home, our environments shape the way we think, feel, and live.

Building Peak Mind became her solution. Essentially a set of tools designed for the chronically stressed, Ms. Mckoy leads Peak Mind to educate individuals on rewiring their response to stress, finding balance, and thriving in both life and work. Her goal is to Empower Employees to Thrive, giving everyone from firefighters to doctors to teachers and students the knowledge and understanding they need to become better, happier people.

In today's conversation, Ms. Mckoy dives into the hidden impact of stress on young people, the habits and mindsets that can help ground you when life feels overwhelming, and how we can build better environments in our communities that support mental health and wellbeing, not just bare-minimum survival.

Juliet Sarmiento Talks Neurodiversity, ADHD, and Living with Trauma | Lived Words Ep. 7

Yuvan Rasiah — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 06:58:01 GMT

Dr. Juliet Sarmiento has spent her entire life learning how to listen. From growing up in Mexico City, where the topic of mental health was shunned, to educating those around her about neurodiversity at Harvard University, her story spans the globe.

But this journey is also one of survival, of learning to live with the day-to-day reality of mental health conditions such as PTSD and ADHD. Her understanding is shaped not only by research, but by true lived experience and trauma-induced growth.

In today's conversation, Dr. Sarmiento recounts how she went from a PhD in animal communication to building her own company, NeuroDive AI, and dedicating her work to teaching effective communication and building neurodivergent-inclusive environments.

Marc Kielburger Talks Happiness, Fulfillment, and Love | Lived Words Ep. 2

Yuvan Rasiah — Thu, 15 Jan 2026 21:20:43 GMT

Today we welcome social entrepreneur and movement builder Marc Kielburger, the co-founder of Legacy+ and ME.org and author of the New York Times-bestselling ME to WE: Finding Meaning in a Material World. Marc has spent over 30 years helping various organizations and individuals bring purpose to their lives, helping brands like Microsoft create positive social movements and developing inspirational legacy projects with the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Sir Richard Branson, and Martin Luther King III.

But Marc's story is more than just his accomplishments; it is one of personal growth and individual understanding, one that drove him across the globe in search of health and fulfillment.

In this incredible conversation, Marc Kielburger explains exactly why fulfillment is built through personal growth, not external accomplishment, and how we can take his philosophy as a foundation for our own lives and choices.

Molikaa Rasiah Talks Sadness, Loneliness and Social Pressures | Lived Words Podcast Ep. 6

Yuvan Rasiah — Thu, 15 Jan 2026 02:37:33 GMT

On March 28th, 2025, then-5th grader Molikaa Rasiah published her book, Not What I Expected. The short children's book is a true story about the 10-year-old's life and experience growing up in today's modern world.

Molikaa's story is one of finding individuality and her place in the world, a truth that every 10-year-old has confronted in one way or another. Her learnings, though built over a single decade, speak to all of us. Her lack of literal life experience is offset by a strong grasp on the importance of small moments and little things.

Molikaa Rasiah may never have been 21, but every one of us listening has been 10.

Jonathan Rosenberg Talks Success, Social Media, and Human Behavior | Lived Words Ep. 5

Yuvan Rasiah — Thu, 15 Jan 2026 01:48:18 GMT

Jonathan Rosenberg will be remembered for this leadership and career success; from serving as a member of the Google leadership team since 2002 to co-authoring and publishing two bestselling books in How Google Works and Trillion Dollar Coach, he is a legend in the world of business.

But behind the accolades is a man who has spent his life learning to think, to analyze, and to dissect human behavior; it's what brought him success as a leader and team-builder in one of the world's largest and most productive organizations. From the effect of social media on modern thinking to what it means to go above and beyond, Mr. Rosenberg has taken the time and the energy to figure out what it really means to be a good, successful, and happy person in modern society.

In this fascinating conversation, Mr. Rosenberg brings decades of team-building experience to the table in order to explain the way he has learned to think about and analyze human beings.

Aanchal Sharma Talks Emotion, Growing Up, and COVID-19's Impact on Young People | Lived Words Ep. 4

Yuvan Rasiah — Thu, 15 Jan 2026 01:48:11 GMT

As a Developmental Behavioral Pediatrician, Dr. Aanchal Sharma has witnessed and confronted the highs and lows of youth mental health. She provides support and care for children, and finds absolute joy in working with and caring for her patients.

But Aanchal isn't just a doctor; she's a mother, too. Her kids provide an outlet from the high demand of her work environment, a safe place full of joy where she can detach from the perfectionism that has made her career successful. Balance is, has been, and will continue to be the key to her ability to feel fulfillment both at work and at home.

In this conversation, Aanchal shares the knowledge and understanding of human connection that she has gained, as both a Doctor and a mother.

David Baum Talks Connection Through Conversation and Finding Your Tribe | Lived Words Ep. 3

Yuvan Rasiah — Thu, 15 Jan 2026 01:48:03 GMT

Dr. David Baum is a man of many roles. From conflict mediation in Northern Ireland to designing walking board meetings in the Middle East to working in a circus, he's done it all. But truly, it is his dedication to understanding the completeness of human nature that is his greatest strength. He works as a coach and conversation architect, alongside the likes of Jane Goodall, Life is Good, and the Philadephia Flyers.

All of David's accomplishments come down to one thing; his why. David believes in creating connection without dots, in bringing people together and connecting through boundaries. He holds doctorates in both social psychology and divinity, finding the overlap between both horizontal and vertical connections.

In this conversation, David explains just why conversation is so crucial to human connection and what it really means to find your tribe.

Will Furness Talks OCD, AI Therapy, & Metabolic Health | Lived Words Ep. 1

Yuvan Rasiah — Thu, 15 Jan 2026 01:47:44 GMT

Yuvan Rasiah welcomes visionary entrepreneur and two-time CEO Will Furness for his first-ever podcast appearance—and his first-ever public dialogue on his own mental health journey. Will, who transformed the mental health organization ThriveWorks into a billion-dollar corporation, is now building a groundbreaking company that combines the worlds of metabolic health, AI, and mental health into one.

But behind the headlines and high-growth ventures is a human story—one of vulnerability, resilience, and incredible personal accomplishment.

In this powerful conversation, Will opens up about the complexities of his life with OCD, breaking the silence around something many leaders keep concealed. Mental health challenges are nothing new, even to the world's most succesful people, and Will stands as an incredible example of how we can overcome anything.

Success is something built first from within; Will Furness proves that.