Mindful Mondays with Shudu

In this solo episode, Shudu gets personal about what three months of 'nothing' actually looked like — and what it cost her to finally stop.This is a raw, unfiltered conversation about burnout that went deeper than exhaustion, the identity crisis that followed graduation, and the uncomfortable process of rediscoveringwho she is without the schedule, the stress, and the achievements. From crying...

In this solo episode of Mindful Mondays with Shudu, recorded as part of the 2026 Be Hope Podcast Takeover, Shudu reflects on what it means to hold onto hope in a world saturated with despair.Drawing from her recent UN mission to Tarime, Tanzania — where she met young survivors of female genital mutilation and gender-based violence who still carried dreams of becoming lawyers, entrepreneurs, and...

In this episode of Mindful Mondays, Shudu sits down with Dr. Thomas Insel — psychiatrist, neuroscientist, and one of the world's leading voices in mental health innovation — for a conversation that began at a mental health retreat in Cascais, Portugal.Together they explore what AI can and cannot do for mental health, the difference between engagement and therapy, and why access to care is not the...

Shudu was graduating — and she had a lot to say about it.In this deeply personal solo episode, she reflects on what it took to get to the other side of sacrifice: the promises she made to herself as a child, the survival mode that followed her to New York, and the 20-minute conversation she had with herself in the kitchen that changed everything. She traces the journey from a PPE degree in South...

In this episode of Mindful Mondays, Shudu sits down with Sinead Bovell — strategic foresight advisor, founder of WAYE, and one of the clearest voices on making the future of technology accessible, ethical, and truly inclusive.Together they explore what it means to be an active participant in the future rather than a passive observer of it. From the hidden biases embedded in AI systems to the...

We're back! After three months away, Mindful Mondays returns with fresh energy, new perspective, and a deeper sense of purpose. In this special welcome back episode, Shudu shares why she stepped away, what the break revealed, and what's ahead for Season 2. Season 2 is expanding: mental health in the age of AI, identity in the Global South, the impact of tech on children, and the stories and...

A small note from my desk to yours.Over the past few months, we’ve had conversations about joy, purpose, leadership, identity, belonging, mental health, and what it means to build a life that feels aligned. But one thing I’ve learned is that those lessons only matter if we are willing to live them ourselves.As many of you know, I recently graduated, and after a season of pouring into coursework,...

In this episode of Mindful Mondays with Shudu, Shudu sits down with Jeni Britton Bauer — entrepreneur, bestselling author, and founder of Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams, and now the founder of her newest venture, Floura — for a conversation about what it actually means to build with intention.From a 2015 Listeria recall that stripped her company to its foundation, to a deeply personal 2020 reckoning...

Part Two of the listener reverse interview — and this batch of questions went somewhere deeper.In this solo episode, Shudu answers your questions on inner peace, groundedness, identity, purpose, and growth. From how she finds quiet in a world designed for noise, to the single childhood prayer that anchors every hat she wears, to what six-year-old Shudu was like before the world started shaping...

In this episode of Mindful Mondays with Shudu, Shudu sits down with Taryn Bird — a leader who has spent over a decade embedding social impact directly into the business model at Kate Spade New York, not as a philanthropic add-on, but as core infrastructure.Together they explore what it actually means to move beyond performative philanthropy into long-term, values-aligned systems that prioritize...