Trying Very Hard: The Podcast

Dance Saved Me: On the TCK Experience, Being Closeted, and Code-Switching (with Nakul Malik)

Why does it take a dance floor to feel like yourself? In this episode of Trying Very Hard, we sit down with Nakul Malik — a third culture kid born in Mumbai, raised in Jakarta, educated in Vancouver, now in Singapore — to talk identity, code-switching, and the room where he stopped editing himself: Bollywood dance. Nakul walks us through small adaptations — softening his own name, giving easier answers about where he's from, minimizing his culture for other people's comfort. Then the space that never asked that of him: a competitive university dance team, and later a school dance room, where he can be "gay, big energy, whatever it is" without being defined by any of it. We get into third culture kid identity, international schools shaped by Western norms, and coming out inside a dance community before anywhere else. We also ask the harder question: what do you do when the thing that lets you be fully yourself doesn't pay the bills? Nakul's take — a passion doesn't have to become your career to be worth protecting — might be the sharpest reframe here. If you've adjusted yourself for other people's comfort, or found one space where you finally didn't have to, come sit with us. Follow us: Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/tryingveryhardpod/⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/tryingveryhardpod/] YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@TryingVeryHardPod⁠ [https://www.youtube.com/@TryingVeryHardPod] Spotify: ⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/4kQL0nJmPhv38D8io58eMX⁠ [https://open.spotify.com/show/4kQL0nJmPhv38D8io58eMX] Apple Podcasts: ⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/sg/podcast/trying-very-hard-the-podcast/id1878052269 [https://podcasts.apple.com/sg/podcast/trying-very-hard-the-podcast/id1878052269]⁠ Website: ⁠https://www.tryingveryhard.com/ [https://www.tryingveryhard.com/]

Boobs & Beauty Standards: On Body Image, Insecurity, and Learning to Live in Your Body

Body image isn't one thing. It's the comment someone made when you were nine. It's the era you grew up in. It's comparing yourself to a friend who isn't growing a human right now. In this episode of Trying Very Hard, Amanda and Monica talk honestly about their own body image journeys — the beauty standards they inherited, the insecurities they carried quietly for years, and the ongoing work of making peace with a body that keeps changing. They get into body image and self-esteem, growing up with Asian beauty standards, the skinny-era of the early 2000s and who shaped it, how pregnancy changes the way you see yourself, the Ozempic conversation and what actually changed their minds about it, and what a healthy body image looks like when you stop trying to achieve it. No wellness gospel here. Just two best friends being specific about the weird, ordinary, sometimes funny ways they've been at war with their own bodies, and the small ways they've stopped. If you've ever had a complicated relationship with the body you're in, this one might feel familiar. Follow us: Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/tryingveryhardpod/⁠ [⁠https://www.instagram.com/tryingveryhardpod/⁠] YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@TryingVeryHardPod⁠ [https://www.youtube.com/@TryingVeryHardPod⁠] Spotify: ⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/4kQL0nJmPhv38D8io58eMX⁠ [https://open.spotify.com/show/4kQL0nJmPhv38D8io58eMX⁠] Apple Podcasts: ⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/sg/podcast/trying-very-hard-the-podcast/id1878052269⁠ [https://podcasts.apple.com/sg/podcast/trying-very-hard-the-podcast/id1878052269⁠] Website: ⁠https://www.tryingveryhard.com/ [https://www.tryingveryhard.com/]

Building Your Own Modern Village: On Moving Countries, Burnout, & Belonging (with Alka Gupta)

Why is making friends as an adult so hard — especially when you've just moved somewhere new and don't know a single person? In this episode of Trying Very Hard, we talk to Alka Gupta, founder of Podium, about exactly that. And about the years of burnout, identity loss, and starting over that got her there. Alka shares the story of LinkedIn-messaging strangers for friendship, a Bumble BFF match that became her entire Jakarta circle, and what she calls building a "modern village" when the one you grew up with is gone. We also talk about the decision that changed everything — a 70% pay cut to join a startup she loved — and the founder burnout and layoffs that followed. Alka walks us through her practice of writing emails to her future self before big life decisions, and why "work-life balance" might be the wrong goal entirely — harmony, not balance, is what she's chasing now. If you've ever moved to a new city and had to build your social life from scratch, felt burnt out by something you used to love, or are quietly questioning whether "balance" is even real, come sit with us. Follow Alka: Podium Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/podium.women/ [https://www.instagram.com/podium.women/] https://podiumsociety.com/ [https://podiumsociety.com/] https://www.linkedin.com/in/alka-gupta-ag/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/alka-gupta-ag/] Follow us: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tryingveryhardpod/ [https://www.instagram.com/tryingveryhardpod/] YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TryingVeryHardPod [https://www.youtube.com/@TryingVeryHardPod] Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4kQL0nJmPhv38D8io58eMX [https://open.spotify.com/show/4kQL0nJmPhv38D8io58eMX] Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/sg/podcast/trying-very-hard-the-podcast/id1878052269 [https://podcasts.apple.com/sg/podcast/trying-very-hard-the-podcast/id1878052269] Website: https://www.tryingveryhard.com/ [https://www.tryingveryhard.com/]

Stop Diagnosing Your Ex: How Attachment Styles & Love Languages Became a Trap

You've taken the quiz. You know your attachment style. You've told a date your love language. So why does it feel like none of it is actually helping? In this Monanda episode of Trying Very Hard, Amanda and Monica talk honestly about the attachment style and love language frameworks everyone's obsessed with, and why they think both are being used in exactly the wrong way. From diagnosing exes to weaponizing "You're avoidant" in arguments, to the way love language labels quietly let you off the hook for showing up creatively — we go there. We also get personal. Monica on becoming anxious in a relationship where she was otherwise completely secure. Amanda on chasing someone mid-argument despite knowing he'd asked for space. Both of them on what it actually felt like to have these labels used against them. The real conversation: you are not your attachment style. It's situational, it's dynamic, and most importantly, you're not stuck in it. If you've ever felt put in a box mid-argument, or quietly used a label to excuse someone else's behavior, this one will feel very familiar. Come sit with us. Follow us: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tryingveryhardpod/ [https://www.instagram.com/tryingveryhardpod/] YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TryingVeryHardPod [https://www.youtube.com/@TryingVeryHardPod] Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4kQL0nJmPhv38D8io58eMX [https://open.spotify.com/show/4kQL0nJmPhv38D8io58eMX] Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/sg/podcast/trying-very-hard-the-podcast/id1878052269 [https://podcasts.apple.com/sg/podcast/trying-very-hard-the-podcast/id1878052269] Website: https://www.tryingveryhard.com/ [https://www.tryingveryhard.com/]

Inside the Life of a Football Agent: On Contracts, Resilience and the +1 / -1 Rule (with Matthew Moore)

Ever romanticized a career that looks glamorous from the outside? In this episode of Trying Very Hard, Monanda sit down with Matthew Moore — football agent, South African globetrotter, and Monica's one true college friend — to find out what the job actually looks like behind the scenes. Matthew has spent his career negotiating contracts, managing young players' mental states, designing Puma boot collections in Milan, and racking up enough Marriott nights to never pay full price again. We talk about how he got in (hint: fake Twitter accounts and a 16-year-old with hustle), what it takes to stay in (contacts, grit, and face-to-face everything), and the one framework he gives every player he signs: stay between +1 and -1. We also go somewhere more honest: what it means to grow a thicker skin without losing yourself, whether numbness is a coping mechanism or a cost, and the blurred line between a career you love and a life you're neglecting. Plus: why AI won't replace the football agent, what growing up across South Africa, Spain, and Boston teaches you about resilience, and the Japanese language goal he's blaming on business expansion (we believe him, mostly). If you've ever built — or wanted to build — something unconventional, or just wondered what it looks like to succeed in an industry nobody explains, come sit with us. Follow us: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tryingveryhardpod/ [https://www.instagram.com/tryingveryhardpod/] YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TryingVeryHardPod [https://www.youtube.com/@TryingVeryHardPod] Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4kQL0nJmPhv38D8io58eMX [https://open.spotify.com/show/4kQL0nJmPhv38D8io58eMX] Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/sg/podcast/trying-very-hard-the-podcast/id1878052269 [https://podcasts.apple.com/sg/podcast/trying-very-hard-the-podcast/id1878052269] Website: https://www.tryingveryhard.com/ [https://www.tryingveryhard.com/]