Who Am I? Who are you? Dear Future me, Birthday Blues

The speaker is celebrating their 15th birthday and reflecting on their journey so far. They talk about their passion for hosting and how it all started when they were seven years old. They share a dream they had about being famous and attending their own birthday party. They then explain how they became a radio presenter at age seven and eventually got their own show. They also got into event hosting at a young age. The speaker is grateful for the support they have received and wants to address the emotions that come with birthdays. They want to reassure listeners that everything will be okay no matter what happens in the future. Hey everyone! Everything is fun in the golden yellow sun. Yes, indeed, and welcome to our second ever episode of the Triple RS Podcast. Wow, I can't believe that we're already on episode number two. It seems so unreal that I've actually started this thing, and I am so grateful for all of the support that I received, all the love and support from you guys on all the social media platforms. That really, really means the world to me, so thank you so much for that, and thank you for choosing to be a part of this community. Thank you for streaming in, because together we are changing the world one episode at a time. So today's episode is quite different from what I thought we'd we would do in the first place. I wasn't planning this for the 21st, but this came in the form of, let's just say, somewhat of an emotional breakdown. So today, as some of you know, is my birthday, my 15th birthday. I cannot believe it, 15 already. In five years, I'm going to be 20. Three years time, and I'll be heading off to university. That seems unreal. So that's how I came about this episode, because I just felt like it was on my chest, and I wanted to get it out there, and also because I asked quite a few of you guys if, you know, if you guys feel the same way too, if we all just get a surge of emotions near our birthday. I just want to know, like, am I the only crazy one here, or does everyone else feel it too? And whether it was teens, young adults, millennials, everyone had pretty similar answers. So I felt like since this is something that we kind of all go through, I feel like we should address it and see why it happens and how we can deal with it. But first up, let's just break down the title, because what is this whole Dr. Seuss thing going on? I'm very proud of myself. When I was writing the title, I didn't even think it would rhyme. I wasn't, you know, trying to make it rhyme. It just did. So maybe I should consider poetry as well, as a hidden talent. So who am I, who are you, dear future me, birthday blues. The who am I, who are you kind of has like a double meaning. The first part is a little bit of an introduction, because I feel like we haven't gotten that yet. I mean, the trailer was cool, but it didn't really talk about what I do, when it started, who I am, because I've been getting a lot of those questions recently, like a lot. And trying to reply to every single one of you is so energy draining. And I don't have time to balance that out with my homework. So I figured, let me just record it once, put it out there. And that way, all of you can kind of understand like, who am I and kind of like, why am I relevant to this podcast? And also, who am I, who are you? I feel like these are the two questions we obviously ask ourselves when we have deep thoughts. And we tend to have a lot of deep thoughts around our birthday. This kind of links to our second half of the thing, which is dear future me, birthday blues. So with every trip completed around the sun, we grow a little bit older, a little bit wiser. But one thing is for sure, we always tend to get just a tad bit emotional around this time, whether it's appreciating our past or being a little bit afraid of what the future holds. So today, I want to walk you all through how we can reassure ourselves that no matter what happens, we will be okay. So how are we going to do that? And also, like I said, who am I and how did my journey begin? That's all we're going to talk about today. But first up, true or false, I have never, ever cried on my birthday. True or false, like on my actual birthday date. Right? So lock your answers in. We're going to get back to that at the end, though. So make sure you have your answers. So without further ado, I'm going to dive straight into who am I and how I started. So I am a 14 year old. 15. I don't get used to saying that 15 year old today. I am a 15 year old TV presenter, radio presenter, event host, motivational speaker, and podcast host too. And it basically all started when I was seven years old. So my career started when I was seven, but the dream happened when I was six. So what is this dream? The dream is where it all began. And the dream, believe it or not, but the dream actually came from Diary of the Wimpy Kid. Old school. That book will always have a special place in my heart. So I had like one of those special edition books. And at the end of the book, there was like a page of stickers. And one of them said, I'll be famous one day. And I was six. I didn't think anything of it. Peeled the sticker off, placed it on my wall. And out of nowhere, I sit back on my bed. I close my eyes. And all of a sudden I'm dreaming. I'm dreaming that there is this gorgeous pink limousine. And out of it steps a gorgeous, stunning, elegant woman with flowing curly hair. And she's wearing a beautiful pink gown. Floral length, by the way. And she steps on this incredible pink carpet. So you can tell I love the color pink. And you've got paparazzi all around. And you've got tons of famous people coming in and entering this person's birthday party. It's a really famous person too. So whose birthday was it? It was mine. I was coming to my birthday party. I was the stunning woman in a floral length pink gown, stepping out on that pink carpet from that pink limousine. I was attending my very own party. And my dad walks in and he's like, oh, dinner's ready. We're waiting for you. And he asked, what are you doing? And so I said, well, I just had this dream. He's like, okay, talk me through it. So I told him kind of what happened. And he just said this one thing. He said, Ashna, anything is possible. You just have to believe. And so that's what I did. I just believed. And three months later, I was a radio presenter. So what exactly happened in those three months? So a while after the dream, my mom got the frequency of a kid's radio station. On the way to school, we needed something that was quite entertaining for us as kids. And so there's this kid's radio channel called Pearl FM. Before it used to be in English. Now it's only in Arabic. But before, when it was in English, there used to be this morning show called Breakfast Club with Saif. Now Saif is a very, very dear friend of mine. He is one of my mentors. And he was the host for the show. So basically what would happen is anyone could call in and they would just, Saif would ask questions and you would answer. And it was like this little engaging few minutes every single day. And so I called every day, persistently, even the days when I was not going to school, like, let's say I was sick, I was still calling like, Hey, Saif, good morning, yada, yada, yada. And it wasn't like, again, I didn't think anything of it. I didn't, I wasn't calling to like, Oh, I have to be a radio presenter. I was just calling for fun because Saif is a great host. And it was just fun. So once I called him up and I was like, Oh, it's my birthday. And they're like, Oh, when? And I was like, two days time. So they said, you know what, why don't you come in studio and celebrate with us? Since I was like one of the very loyal listeners. So I came, they celebrated, we cut the cake, and they gave me five minutes of airtime. And a week later, let me paint a picture for you, right? We're in the car on our way to school. And we get a call from this unknown number. My dad picks it up. And he's like, Hello, who's this? And the guy says, Hi, we're calling from Pearl FM. We want to have your daughter as a co host for the Breakfast Club with Saif. And my dad was like, Is this a prank call? Like what? Can you say that again, please? And so basically, the gist of the call is that they said that, you know, your daughter is really good English. She's incredible with the mic. And she's super duper confident. And so we want to have her as a co host for our show. And originally, they wanted me to come in every single day. But obviously, I was only seven years old, and I had to go to school and in the morning, that would get that would actually be a lot for me. So we cut it down for every day to doing like a weekly thing. And boom, there it was, I was hosting a weekly show on a national radio channel at age seven. So that's basically how it started. And Saif is such a great mentor. He taught me everything. He was like, I'm gonna teach you how everything at radio works. So that let's say if you ever have your own show, and I'm not there and to host with you, you can basically do it all by yourself. And so he taught me he taught me everything. He's like, this is how you link it. This is how you end the segment. This is how you end the show. This is your call to action. This is how you respond to the audience. And he was right. One day, they gave me my own show. They were like, Listen, we think you're amazing. And we want to bring in a few other kids. So you're gonna host this with them. And it's gonna be called kids club for kids by kids. And I had my first ever press conference when I was eight years old. And I wake up the next morning and I'm in like Khalid times Gulf News, what's on Dubai, basically all of the leading newspapers in the Middle East in Dubai. And I couldn't believe that I was like, Oh my god, is that me on a newspaper? Are those my words? Like it was insane. It was amazing. I got to wear such pretty dresses. I got to go to so many photo shoots, you know, pose like a model. It was really, really fun. And around the same time at eight, I also got introduced to event hosting. So being a master of ceremonies. And believe it or not, my first ever kind of experience with hosting events was with sun and sand sports, which is the biggest sports company in the Middle East. I was eight years old. And that was my first ever experience. But even if I say it out loud, it sounds so unreal, but it happened. And again, how it happened is a very interesting story. So my mom's friend, and a very, very close friend of mine as well. And another incredible mentor of mine, Rima Huni, her company ti 22 was hosting the shoot for sun and sand sports, because they were hosting this competition. And so they were like releasing an advertisement. And you know, my mom said, Do you want to tie along? There'll be a few famous people there. And I was like, Oh, my God, yes, yes, yes, I would love to see the behind the scenes of like a shoot. And so I go there and I'm just in awe and my mouth will not close because I'm there and looking at how the makeup is done, how the hair is done, you know, how they're practicing their lines, the lights, camera action bit, the camera setup. And obviously, so I was so excited. Like, I'm gonna sit front row, I'm gonna watch everything happen. And next to me, there was this lady, I didn't know who she was. But being the chatterbox that I was that I am, I started talking to her. I was like, Hi, my name is Ashna. I'm seven years old. And I go to this school. And my sister's name is Ahana. And my favorite color is pink. And this is this What about you? And so we just got into this conversation. And I would say I was a very enthusiastic, little bundle of joy. And I think that surprised her because she was like, What is the kid doing here and a kid like that to, to the point where she actually got it, which is like, whose child is this? And around a week later, my mom gets a call. And it was that lady. And she's like, Listen, I loved your daughter's enthusiasm. And she's so confident. And she speaks so well. We want to have her as a host for our first ever school got talent competition. And I was like, Yes, done. I'm there. And that was my first ever experience with event hosting. And I got to work with so many incredible and influential people being likes of mugs, so many sport icons, like professional football players, I got to work with influential fashion icons, one of them being for the other. She recently did a campaign with Steve Madden. So it was her collection with Steve Madden. And she was on like the billboards of Sheikh Zayed Road in Dubai. And so I got the chance to work with so many incredible and talented people. And it was just such great exposure for me. I think the experience that I have the fondest memories of, or when they would just throw me in their outlet and they'd be like, Okay, you need to buy these many sets of outfits. So shirt, pants, shoes, and accessories. For Nike, these many for Under Armour, these many from Adidas, and like all the different brands that they had over there. And so me and my mom and my dad, plus a personal stylist that was assigned to me, we would spend like two to three hours just picking out the outfits because the number was always so large. And you know, we'd like color coordinate the outfits, or we'd see like, which shirt goes best with which pant and how can we like, what are the themes on set that maybe we want to keep for each day. And it was just, it was incredible, because I got to keep those clothes forever. And they filled my wardrobe. Clearly, Sanatan Sports loved what I did, because they said to me, we want you back again next year. So I hosted for them for around two consecutive years, which basically means another full year free clothes. And, and from there, I went on to hosting many more shows, like a Shark Tank, but for kids in the UAE, where I got to work with, you know, the owner of Kareem, which is a food and transportation company, I got to work with the likes of Chris Fade, and so many other incredible people. And that taught me a lot about how to like, you know, ad lib, how to improv, how to engage the audience, like, let's say the performer doesn't show up on time, or they're getting stage fright, and we need to kind of bide the time and not make it look awkward. What do you do then? And so much of that came through just on the spot. Like I was surprised sometimes by the things I said, like it was just natural instinct. And from there, I went on to being a motivational speaker, I gave my first ever keynote speech at age nine, for the regional finals of Toastmasters Juniors, so called the Gabbled Club. And they invited me in to be a keynote speaker. And that's the first time I'd ever done anything like it. And over there, there's this one guy who spotted me, and he's like, Listen, you speak really well, and you have great potential. So I want you to be one of the keynote speakers at the biggest event for Toastmasters. So it was a district Toastmasters annual conference where people from all over the world in that Toastmasters club come together, and it's kind of like a competition, but also a celebration. And it is one of the biggest events of the year. And he wanted me, a nine year old, to be a keynote speaker over there. And the guy was Deepak Gulati. And he's like a God sent angel. He taught me so much. He gave me so many opportunities. More than that, it was the trust that he had in me. Like if you think about it, a nine year old kid, giving her first ever motivational speech, and you invite her at the biggest event of the year. Unfortunately, he is no longer with us anymore. May his soul rest in peace. But his angelic presence can be felt everywhere. He was so bubbly. And he basically taught me so much when it comes to how I can use my passion to fuel my purpose. Because I always knew I wanted to do something big in the world, make a difference, even if it is just in one person's life, as my mom says. I just didn't know how. I was good at speaking. I was great at being in front of the camera and talking to people. But the question was, how do I mix it and do something where I can truly make an impact? And thanks to him, I was able to explore a certain aspect of my career where I probably would not have been able to do had it not been for that one opportunity he gave me. So from there on, I started doing so many more keynote speeches, motivational speeches. And the great thing is, when COVID hit, because everything went online all of a sudden, I wasn't just limited to the geographical location. I could connect with people from all over the world. The messages that I wanted to spread, I could do so, and so easily. And so these different organizations started contacting me and like, we want you to be a keynote speaker at International Women's Day, International Speech Day. We want you to talk over here at the opening of our new organization, at the opening of this new platform. And so one by one by one, I created that niche for myself. And I absolutely loved it. And from there on, obviously, I started my own series on Instagram, which is called Wednesday Wisdom, where it was like small wisdom nuggets that is available to everyone. And if you trace back to where it began, it all started from the faith that he had in this enthusiastic, very talkative nine-year-old. And that also professionally helped me move on to the next aspect of my career, which is TV presenting. Now, the way that this happened was obviously through motivational speeches, I was like, how can I move on and reach a platform which is just huge, so the message that I want to spread can reach people. So my goal during the summer of 2021 was to be a speaker on TEDx. Now, that hasn't quite happened yet. But during the time I was obviously putting in all my efforts meditating and just putting in every single second of summer into making myself better as a keynote speaker and obviously improving my speeches and creating new speeches and working on the messages that I wanted to spread and contacting TEDx and all these different platforms and basically the whole thing. Now, while I was not able to reach TEDx yet, I was, however, able to attract an opportunity which is bigger than anything I could have ever imagined. And that is TV presenting for Dubai Media, for Dubai One, for the biggest event in the world. And that was Expo 2020. I am the youngest TV presenter in the UAE and I am the official kids presenter for Expo 2020. And that was just a whole thing on its own. Six months and I was coming in every single weekend because I had a weekend show and that was the only time I would get off of school, right? And so I would just be recording videos, going live. I experienced everything from being on the ground as a reporter to just presenting in studio, to being a guest in studio, to going around and interviewing other people live on TV, to recording videos to then be played later on. So that wasn't live. But one of the best experiences was, again, being sponsored by Alshaya, H&M, River Island for the entirety of six months. So they would just throw me into the shops and be like, okay, pick out whatever you want, anything and everything you like. And I just got to take that home. And I had to go so many times because obviously I did a weekly show, right? That I now have around, I think, 20 pairs of shoes in my shoe cabinet. And like all 20 of them, I earned them. I worked so hard for them. And that just makes wearing them an even better experience because they're not just shoes, they're memories. And I think that was the one of the best parts about this whole experience. And apart from that, of course, that just was such a diverse experience, not just professionally, but also the kind of lessons that taught me in life, which is obviously something that I will be sharing over the course of this podcast, because that's the reasons I started, right? The lessons that we learn in school can help us sometimes in the professional world, and vice versa. The lessons that we learn from the professional world, or from just working, or just observing things in the life around us, that can help us so much, not just in school, but also help us grow as a person. So it's those kinds of things that I also want to share. And EXPO was just the best experience of my life. And I was able to work with so many people, all of whom you can see on billboards throughout the city. More than that, they are incredible friends of mine. I was like the group's little baby, the group's little teenager. I remember when I turned 13, the first time I met them after that, they were like, oh my god, you've got a teenager now. Oh, so are you going to be all moody, like when we're shooting on set? And I was like, no, guys, that's not going to change. And you know, just kind of the banter that we had. And so I'm so grateful that I could work with such incredible people and learn so much at such a young age. But does it stop there? No, no, it doesn't. So we move on now. We're still in TV presenting. Recently, last year, I got interested into Formula One and motorsports. And I started watching and I turned into a full on like motorsport maniac, if you will. And I had the opportunity to go to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, where I also had the chance to record a video with Ayoka, which is Formula One's biggest experience provider and has been for the last 15 years. And come to think of it, I'd only been watching the sport for around maybe nine months. And out of nowhere, I get this incredible opportunity. And it was just again, it was incredible things I learned. And I thought it would be quite similar to XO, but it wasn't. And that was the whole beauty of it. There were so many things, so many different things that I had to kind of improvise on the spot because I was told, oh, you're going to be recording a video with Ayoka, just, you know, F1's biggest experience provider. And they also have a tie up with Alfa Romeo or stake Formula One team. And I was like, oh, what? And so like, yeah, you just have to say some stuff. And it's like, what stuff? What do I say? Because, you know, with XO, I usually had some sort of guidance as to I have like briefs, you know, okay, this is what you're gonna be covering. So create a speech or create a script on that. I had nothing over here. I didn't even know what they wanted me to talk about. So we improvised, we did something, we came up with something. And it was incredible. Because even the owner of Ayoka, you know, he came out reached to me and was like, you're doing a pretty good job. So just these kind of opportunities that I've landed as a TV presenter in the TV presenting kind of space of my career have also been just such incredible experiences. And then obviously, we move on to the next big chapter in my life, the Triple R's podcast. So that is who I am quite a storytelling episode we've got. But what we did here was not just kind of introduce me to you, but it's also a bit of self reflection from my side, which is the first step to overcome all of these birthday emotions. So that links it back to what we're going to talk about the surge of emotions that we usually get near our birthdays is for quite a few reasons. Sometimes it's positive, sometimes it's negative, sometimes it's a bit of both. It's positive, because you know, we look back and self reflect, which is what we did right now. And we think, Oh, my God, I can't believe I've done so much already. I'm so proud of myself. And the negativity comes in two aspects. Number one is future, which almost all of us go through is like, Oh, my God, that's great. The past is incredible. But what do I do next? I know for a fact that that is what I've been feeling lately, especially, you know, being so close to the age where I'm going to have to start thinking about my university applications and letter recommendations and just building out that portfolio and go out there in the real world, like the real real world. Because even this professional stuff, like I've been here with my family, my parents, all in close proximity, it's kind of my comfort zone. But what's coming soon, I'm not sure what the future holds for me in that sense. And that scares us a bit. And so that's where we go into the negative zone, which is obviously what we spoke about in our last episode as well. But it's also the fact that sometimes we look back at the past, and we haven't achieved certain things that we wanted to achieve. And that's where we feel like a little bit of a disappointment or a failure. But is that the case? Absolutely not. So how do we overcome these negative emotions? First step is do what we just did to do a bit of self reflection, but make sure that we do it in a positive sense. Because yeah, at times we have extremely high expectations of where we want to be in our life. And I know I'm an overachiever. I whether that is in school, whether that is outside of school, I am always really harsh on myself. But that isn't a great thing. Not all if we have a certain goal, but we don't always get there, at least not in the time frame that we set for it. That's not the end of the world. And in those situations, I like to go back to what my dad said and how we started the whole story. Always believe because anything is possible. So always believe that the universe has a plan. Your story will unfold in its own time. And just because it hasn't happened yet doesn't mean it's not going to happen at all. Slow down, you're doing fine. You can't be everything you want to be before your time. And no, that was not an original line as amazing as it was. That is Billy Joel from Vienna, which is one of my favorite songs. And it is because of this line. And it's so true. On birthdays, we almost always self reflect. But when we do, and we do it negatively, it leaves us feeling sad and ashamed about ourselves, which is the exact opposite of what birthdays stand for. So slow down, take a deep breath and appreciate the small moments in life. Allow yourself to just be happy and use this day to celebrate everything you've ever done. Use this day to celebrate your existence because I cannot imagine the world without you. The incredible, awesome and beautiful and intelligent person that you are. And use this day to celebrate hope, to celebrate new beginnings. Think of it, another trip around the sun means one more year of opportunities is your new year. You get to decide what happens in this year of your life. You get to choose your era and you get to choose what you want to work on. If there's something that you have not been able to achieve, don't sit there and feel bad and don't sit there and feel sorry for yourself. Instead, think about how you can move forward and how you can use this next year to work on it. So celebrate hope, celebrate new beginnings, celebrate new opportunities, celebrate yourself. And that being said, I agree that it is very easy to lose track of this positivity sometimes, especially when we're going through difficult phases in our life. So make it a ritual to write it down, whether that's online or through a proper diary. Write down how much you appreciate yourself, what you love about yourself the most and what and who you're grateful for, your mentors, your friends, your family, the impact that they've had on your life. And that way we can preserve this positivity. So anytime you feel like, you know, you're a little bit upset or you're just feeling down or you feel like there's no more hope anymore, you can always go back to this little journal that has captured this positive feeling, that has captured this feeling of hope. And that way, every time you revisit it, you go from sinking into a sad zone to feeling like you can achieve anything in this world, because that is the truth. Anything is possible if you just believe. And after you've finished expressing gratitude for yourself and your life, the next step is to address your fears in a positive tone. So instead of saying, I was unable to do this, I'm such a failure. Say, it might not have happened yet, but I will make it happen because I believe. And when you believe, anything is possible. Whenever you feel that huge surge of birthday emotions floating around your head, self-reflect, express gratitude, celebrate new beginnings and hope, and most importantly, allow yourself to feel good. Because this is a whole day just to celebrate you. So stop waiting for the whens and ifs in life. Allow yourself to be happy and enjoy in this moment. Just soak it up. And with that being said, that wraps up our episode for today. Speaking of true or false, I have never ever cried on my birthday day. True or false? That's actually false. I'm pretty sure I have. I'm pretty sure I cried last year. I can't remember why, but I think it was just this whole like surge of emotions thing going on, because back then I didn't know how exactly to deal with it. But now I do. So if you ever find yourself going through the surge of emotions, whether it be your birthday or whether it just be in general, you know exactly what you have to do. Just come back. Revisit this episode, because I'm here for you. We are all here for you. Thank you so much for all your birthday wishes. What better way to celebrate my 15th birthday than with you at RRRSPodcast. Thanks for tuning in. Thank you for being a part of this community, and I cannot wait to see you in our next episode. Until then, don't forget to follow, share this podcast, and don't forget to rate it as well. I would love to see what you think of the podcast so far, what you think of the episodes. And also remember, if there's ever anything that you're going through, anything that you are struggling with, remember, you can always send in your anonymous stories, DM them on Instagram, on TikTok, whatever platform you use, because together we're changing the world one episode at a time. This is Ashma Pektani, and you're listening to the RRRSPodcast.