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The More Sibyl Podcast is hosted by Mo! Sibyl - a Nigerian-born, US-educated, Korean-speaking, Struggling Intellectual. The More Sibyl Podcast is a podcast about culture and culture nomads designed for Blacks and Asians and those who love them. On The More Sibyl Podcast, Mo! talks mostly with an invited guest, who she is inspired by, on a variety of issues, related to cultural experiences or other lived experiences related to third culture. If your concept of home is fluid, you feel like you are neither here nor there, or you consider yourself a cultural hybrid, then this podcast is for you. Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/mosibyl/support
Episodes
Thursday Nov 28, 2019
Thursday Nov 28, 2019
The More Sibyl Podcast Presents: The One with Dr. Ernie Kaninjing – On Black Men and Prostate Cancer
Dear, Mosiblings!
In this episode, you will see me get my nerdy on, like for real. I began conducting cancer research since 2012 and my focus was on Black men. This interest was borne from a personal loss of my father-figure who lost his battle to prostate cancer in 2006. My research focuses on the socio-behavioral aspects of cancer and measuring outcomes related to the cancer continuum from prevention to survivorship.
While cancer is very difficult to understand, there are several proactive tips we can take to reduce our likelihood of getting it and also with early detection, improving our chances of not dying from it. In this episode, I sat down with Dr. Ernest Kaninjing – another cancer scientist who hails from Cameroon – to talk about why Black men are at the most risk of prostate cancer than men of other ethnicities and what we can all do to begin to close that disparity gap.
Together, we unpacked our collective experience, spanning several publications and collaborations with other scientists all over Africa, Caribbean, and the US, to explore stigma, myths, risk factors, awareness, prevention, detection, survivorship, advocacy, and so much more related to cancer. In this period of thanksgiving, in addition to bickering about politics over the dinner table, I hope we can use this opportunity to have meaningful discussions with our loved ones about their health. I hope this episode serves as a reminder to those reading this to get their health check done. Wives, girlfriends, baby-mamas, nieces, and sisters, let’s get to work on improving the health of the men in our lives.
If you liked this episode, please let me know and don’t forget to share.
Summary Notes:
- Get a yearly checkup done; know your numbers!
- Know your family history (if you can).
- Exercise regularly and consume more food with beneficial nutrients.
We also made a video about this episode; you can watch the 1-hr long feature on YouTube: http://bit.ly/prostatecancerYT2019
Be well and Happy Thanksgiving,
Mo!
--- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/mosibyl/support
Thursday Nov 21, 2019
Thursday Nov 21, 2019
The More Sibyl Podcast Presents: The One with Two Nigerians - Renewing your Nigerian Passport in the US
Ha! My dearest Nigerians! It’s that time of the year again when the holidays are around the corner and a lot of you are considering flying back to Nigeria to celebrate with family (don’t do it)! But then you remember that your passport is expired and you are dreading to get it renewed.
Fret not, dear friends! This episode will help guide your passport renewal process, especially whether or not you have a US passport and if you need to apply for your underage child(ren). Knowing how scary the Nigerian embassy can be like, my guest – Dr. Temitope and I will be holding your hands all through with our detailed description and plentiful tips that abound in this episode. Whether you end up doing it in DC, Atlanta, or New York, know that a lot of these passport officials are still as scary and irksome as can be – so pop a Xanax or two beforehand (and don’t forget your Hail Marys and prayer beads too) because two angries don’t make a right.
If it’s of any consolation, the Nigerian passport renewal process is lots better than Zimbabwe’s (listen to find out how so). Also listen to our suggestions to the Nigerian Immigration Service on how the renewal process can be made better, especially leveraging already existing technology in the US.
All in all, I hope that we can enter the passport office one day and be greeted with smiles, top-notch customer service, and certainly no NTA playing on an analog TV caged to the window. Or even better still, scrap the mandatory, costly trips to the doggone embassies and do the whole process online! A girl can dream.
If you liked this episode, please let me know and don’t forget to share. God bless Nigeria!
--- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/mosibyl/support
Thursday Nov 14, 2019
Thursday Nov 14, 2019
The More Sibyl Podcast Presents: The One with Naga Subramanya: Strictly Podfessional – On Passion, Purpose, and Podcasting
Naga Subramanya, who is Indian and lives in Bangalore, is one of the guys trying to do great things in the world. You only have to hear his story to see his passion for living and purpose. And speaking of passion, he began a podcast with that same title - Passion People Podcast – while couch-surfing during a gap year he took three years ago. As a Nigerian, the concept of taking a gap year (except the JAMB-enforced kind) is as alien to me as adopting a vegan cat. And I think my fellow Indians might agree with me on this one. But hear from Naga, who did just that in 2016.
We also explored Naga’s childhood, the peculiarity and opportunities of dating in India, given the caste system and the increasing adoption of technology and dating apps. How he waited two years to ask his wife out and another nine years before he could finally get to marry her. So I made him leave, Krithika, his dear wife, a love note in his native tongue. Finally, Naga and I talked about his concept of self-love and body image.
Naga says: “Taking a gap-year is not a sign of weakness or failure. On the contrary, it is a sign of success and confidence!”
About Naga:
He is the host and curator of the Passion People Podcast. A podcast that focus on the stories of people who follow their dream to make their passions manifest in tangible ways. Naga is a Finance Professional and works on his podcast as he is passionate about meeting new people and sharing their stories with the world. Naga took a year off in 2016 and wrote all about it in 52 blog posts that he released every week before embarking on this podcast journey.
--- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/mosibyl/support
Thursday Nov 07, 2019
Thursday Nov 07, 2019
The More Sibyl Podcast Presents: The One with Loretta: The Life of a Creative and Other Stories
As a Nigerian who moved to the US in her 20’s, it was quite a challenge making long-lasting friends, especially due to cultural differences and well, inadequately managed expectations. All of which I talked about with my guest.
So meet Loretta Nwandu: who moved to the US at the age of 15 to begin college and later earned a Masters in Engineering Management. Listen to her story on how she acculturated, found community, and built friendship. Loretta and I both believe in multiculturalism and it's one of the many reasons we love the US! Today, Loretta lives in Atlanta where she does ministry work for Jesus and uses her skills as a creative to meet the needs of her clients.
In this episode, you also get to hear about the unique opportunity and challenges of being a creative person as well as the duality of being one while under the employment of someone else.
Loretta says: “The only person who can understand a visionary is another visionary.”--- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/mosibyl/support
Thursday Oct 31, 2019
Thursday Oct 31, 2019
The More Sibyl Podcast Presents:
The One with Cyrus: The Iranian-Mexican American & Football Coach – On Why We All Need to Fail
It’s my 33rd episode this year! How auspicious considering I am raising funds for my educational scholarship – The 33 Project. If you are yet to donate and will like to (really I accept all currencies and denominations), kindly click on the donate link below. The GoFundMe page is looking all lonesome without your contribution :-D. Also, we are now accepting applications for the scholarship beneficiaries (see link below).
For this week’s episode, I was honored to have Cyrus Mohseni on the show to talk about his life and passion who was born to an Iranian father and a Mexican mom (you need to listen to hear how they met – it’s a better love story than La La land (don’t @ me)) in Bellflower, California. Cyrus started playing football at the age of three in American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO), eventually moving to Europe at 18 and even got signed with Icelandic club Vestri. Now armed with the title of a former professional soccer player, Cyrus has been coaching for over six years and through his charity – Giving Football, he provides underprivileged youth the opportunity to play football. Cyrus is also the founding party of the Keystone Team – a family-owned real-estate business located in Southern California.
In this episode, we talked about his upbringing, what soccer meant (and still means to him), how he navigated a career switch, and why we all need to rethink our attitude towards failure.
Cyrus says: “I am a big believer that failure is a positive thing. I think that you HAVE to fail, in order to be successful at anything, you HAVE to fail!”
- Random fact: Iran’s and Mexico’s flags are similar in color. Now I made you Google it, bahaha.
You can read more about Cyrus and his work here: http://www.cyrusmohseni.net/
🄳🄾🄽🄰🅃🄴 🄷🄴🅁🄴:
Best,
Mo!
Friday Oct 25, 2019
Friday Oct 25, 2019
The More Sibyl Podcast Presents: The One with Mo! + CausePods – Why I Do What I Do
This week, I share an episode I did on Causepods; a passion project of The Podcast Consultant, Mathew Passy. Mathew’s platform is designed to interview folks who are using podcasts to raise awareness for a good cause.
During this time, we talked about why I started my podcast platform (hint, it began with my love of radio as a child of the 80s) and how I have been able to build community through my episodes. I also talked about my heritage as a Nigerian and my love for the Korean culture, as well as how I address tough issues for Black and Asian communities.
Finally, I shared my passion for education and how the gift of education has helped me become and what I am currently doing to give that gift to indigent children and families in Nigeria via my educational scholarship project – The 33 Project.
You can read more about Mathew here: https://www.thepodcastconsultant.com/about-me
🄳🄾🄽🄰🅃🄴 🄷🄴🅁🄴:
GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-33-project
Paystack: https://paystack.com/pay/the33project
GTB Account, 0014352121, Motolani Ogunsanya
Venmo: @Mo-Sibyl
Paypal: alabaster002@yahoo.co.uk
--- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/mosibyl/support
Thursday Oct 17, 2019
Thursday Oct 17, 2019
The More Sibyl Podcast Presents: The One with Claire Mukashyaka – From Rwanda with Love
Hear from Claire, on her life as a child growing up in post-genocidal Rwanda being born at the cusp of the Rwandan genocide. On how education paved the way for her as a young girl growing up in rural Rwanda, herding cows to now working in Boston as a PK/PD modeling (pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic modeling) scientist working on precision genetic medicine for patients with rare genetic-based diseases. Hear about the change agents and sacrifices that got her there.
Claire also shared about her recent grad experience on academic failure. The hope is to encourage anyone struggling with grad school, especially when to make crucial decisions for when to take a pause and explore other options.
About Claire: Born and raised in Rwanda in East Africa, she is the number five of seven children with three brothers and three sisters, five nieces and three nephews. She moved to the USA in 2012 for a college education at Oklahoma Christian University, where she graduated with BSc in Biochemistry in 2016. She then started graduate school at OUHSC in 2016, and just graduated with an MS in Pharmaceutical sciences in 2019.
Mo! says:
Academic failure as an African or Asian feels more than very personal. Because a part of you feels not only like you have failed yourself but the community of people and family (seen and unseen) that got you there. It is why failing academically feels like failing in life.
Still on education, the donation link is to open to help children like Claire get better opportunities in life via education.
Recommended Song: “Nimekupata Yesu” – Ambassadors of Christ (2017)
Murakoze Urakoze,
Mo!
--- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/mosibyl/support
Thursday Oct 10, 2019
Thursday Oct 10, 2019
The More Sibyl Podcast Presents: The One with Mo! – On Bad and Good News
The past year has been a rollercoaster of fun and not-so-much fun stuff. In this bare-all episode, which was taped at the cusp of turning 33, I shared some good and bad news about a recent medical diagnosis and the odyssey it took to get there.
Giving how overwhelming as you expect this to be, I brought my therapy dawg – T-Dawg – back on the show for moral support. I also reflected on what year 32 great which included having the courage to face some personal demons, practicing vulnerability, responsibility, faith, and creative expressions.
Perhaps, the one message I will leave here to encourage anyone reading this is to remember that suffering is an integral part of life. We all suffer; we all are just not equipped in talking about it. Also that in suffering we can find meaning and I have found just that in mine and that is using my story to set people free and that by lifting a load off of others, I find my own pain tolerable. It’s why I started that #33Project. If you know me, you know I am big on education. So I implore you all to consider donating towards this cause. No amount is too small (see links below).
I also hope this episode serves as a reminder that in addition to the greatness that you all see that abounds in me, you now get to hear about some of the sufferings as well, to understand that this is just the right margin God needs to show his supremacy. And that his grace is just enough balm to sooth this wild ride of a life I am blessed to have. And even if it is schadenfreude you take out of my message, that’s also very OK, haha.
That said, I am grateful for life. Yesterday, I spent the whole day with my favorite person in the world doing things as simple as getting on a cable car, eating at my favorite Korean restaurant, going on a late-night movie date, and walking hand-in-hand chatting like a couple of teenagers in love without a care in the world. Life’s good, indeed.
Thank you all for your messages and calls.
I remain your lantern,
Mo!
PS: Created a Spotify playlist of some of my most-played songs in the past year. Check it out and let me know which ones you like.
RECOMMENDED SONG:
“Lanterns” – Passenger (2017)
DONATE HERE:
- GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-33-project
- Paystack: https://paystack.com/pay/the33project
- GTB Account, 0014352121, Motolani Ogunsanya
- Venmo: @Mo-Sibyl
- Paypal: alabaster002@yahoo.co.uk
Thursday Oct 03, 2019
Thursday Oct 03, 2019
The More Sibyl Podcast Presents: The One with Dr. Elizabeth Unni - On Integrating Academia and Motherhood
Women rock! Especially in the workplace and more especially in academia. Despite an increasing number of women entering academia, research has shown that women (especially those with children) are less likely to achieve tenure than their counterparts without children. Whereas having children is actually a career boost for men.
As a woman who recently entered academia, I have always wondered if it is possible to have it all at once – family and thriving career and while I am yet to find the answer to this question, it has not stopped me to keep seeking answers. More than answers, I have more questions like “can we really have it all,” “have we been sold a lie about work-life balance?”
In today’s episode, I chatted with Dr. Elizabeth Unni on her decision to prioritize family over career and how she was able to forge a path in academia. We also talked about the perception of how the tenure track might be designed to force women to make a hard choice between career and family. She also talked a bit about her research which identifies patients' psychosocial factors – their beliefs or social factors that can influence medication-taking behavior. You also get to hear about tips for visiting India.
About Dr. Unni: She is an Associate Professor of Pharmacy who received her pharmacy degree from Manipal University in India, an MBA from the University of Louisiana at Monroe. Later, she received her PhD in Pharmaceutical Socioeconomics from the University of Iowa. Dr. Unni is a health services researcher and focuses on the psychosocial aspects of chronic disease management. She loves traveling with her family, reading books, and dancing. She is an active member of the International Society of Quality of Life, International Society of Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research, American Pharmacists Association, and American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy.
Show Notes:
- DONATE HERE:
GOFundme: https://GOFundme.com/f/the-33-project
Paystack: https://paystack.com/pay/the33project
Thursday Sep 26, 2019
Thursday Sep 26, 2019
The More Sibyl Podcast Presents: The One with Patricia Kio - Mom in America
Nigerian immigrants make up a lion share of Africans in the diaspora. Today, I bring you the story of one of them – Patricia Kio. She immigrated to the US two years ago with her two little kids to pursue a Ph.D. in architecture at Texas A&M in College Station (that UT Austin wanna-be school). Patricia is an avid Scrabble player and has traveled to over ten Nigerian states and Malaysia to compete in Scrabble tournaments. In this episode, we talked about the struggles of moving to the US, especially the financial and emotional adjustments. We also chatted about gender roles, the traits needed to succeed in graduate school, and my experience teaching in American classrooms. Finally, Patricia answered my question on the many ways architecture, as a field, is embracing technology.
Fun fact for you: Did you know that Scrabble was invented by an architect named Alfred Mosher Butts? He originally named it Lexiko.
PS: The education scholarship has been officially launched. Kindly go on to my GoFundMe page and see how you can be a part of this great initiative: https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-33-project
--- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/mosibyl/support