Shades of Love by Anthea Ong

Deep. Raw. Calling on love to talk about difficult topics and pressing issues with personal stories. “I think there is nothing more powerful than for us to bring ourselves into the change that we are advocating for.. our personal experience also informs the person(s) we are talking to that there is a human dimension that must be taken care of in the discussion - that this is not just another intellectual talkfest." - Anthea Based on her eponymous book 50 Shades of Love, former parliamentarian and social advocate Anthea brings her own lived experience from a chapter of the book to each episode and invites a guest to share their personal stories on pressing issues of our times. As a shameless treehugger, Anthea delights in pairing a tree to each chapter of her book and shares this with the listeners. This Shades of Love podcast is an invitation to those who dare to care and question 'why am I here?'. Let’s explore this journey of Love together. About the host: Anthea Ong is a self-proclaimed mad hatter because of the multiple hats she wears as a former parliamentarian, social advocate and entrepreneur, impact investor, author and former corporate leader. As a Nominated Member of Parliament for the 13th Parliament of Singapore between 2018–2020, she spoke at every parliamentary sitting delivering 36 speeches and raised 120 parliamentary questions on mental health, LGBTQ+, migrant workers, sex workers, youth activism, the digital divide and many less convenient issue. As a social entrepreneur, she founded and co-created communities and social enterprises such as SG Mental Health Matters, Welcome in My Backyard, Hush TeaBar, the WorkWell Leaders Workgroup, A Good Space, Playground of Joy, and Project Yoga-on-Wheels. She also served as President of the Women’s Initiative for Ageing Successfully (WINGS) from 2014 to 2017 which helps women embrace ageing with confidence, was the Founding Board Member of Daughters of Tomorrow, a registered charity that provides individualised coaching to vulnerable women and served on committees for National Council of Social Service, National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre, Social Service Institute and many more. An intrepid traveller across all seven continents including being part of a climate change expedition to Antarctica in 2018, Anthea still says she's just a full-time human, and part-time everything else. Follow us on @50solove on Instagram. www.antheaong.com www.50shadesoflove.org

ACCEPT with Yip Pin Xiu 10/22/2021

THRIVE with Stephane de Montlivault 10/15/2021

SEEK with Imran Taib 10/08/2021

SEEK with Imran Taib In this episode based on the book chapter called SEEK, I am joined by Imran Taib, a philosopher and an interfaith and multiculturalism expert to explore the realm of religion and spirituality with empathy and curiosity. “When I was thinking of who I would like to have a conversation with on this shade of love on religion, spirituality and humanity, I immediately thought of my learned friend whom I enjoy these conversations of spirituality and religion with - he’s none other than Mohamed Imran Mohamed Taib. Imran already had a sterling reputation as one of Singapore’s foremost interfaith and multiculturalism experts when I first reached out to him to meet after stepping down from Parliament. I was then increasingly concerned with some of the right wing and conservative ideas that I was hearing from certain religious groups and wanted to understand more from him. You know how you conjure up these images of religious scholars with long beards and robes? Imran completely disappoints when he showed up looking no different to my kawans from the neighbourhood. In fact, when I later moderated the Civil Society conversation after the general elections in 2020, I asked all the 9 panelists of which Imran was one of them to describe themselves in a 7-word biography - his first attempt was “Enjoys robust conversations over teh tarik” - how interesting is that? Imran is also the co-founder of Centre for Interfaith Understanding or CIFU which strives to strengthen the multi-religious fabric that weaves all of Singapore together by advocating for deeper discourse among various faiths through dialogue, training and curriculum development.” Join us as we explore the difference between spirituality, religion and culture, topped with our personal stories of our path to discover our versions of religion. Also, come find out why the Epiphyte is paired with this shade of love in the book! MY INVITATION TO YOU: What does religion and spirituality mean to you? Is there a difference? What beliefs help you move forward and what holds you back? RESOURCES: IRO or the Interreligious Organisation Youth-oriented groups such as Being Bridges, Roses of Peace Interfaith Youth Circle More than Just Minority Voices Beyond the Hijab /episode/index/show/shadesoflovesg/id/20751524

TURN with Zakir Hossain Khokan 10/01/2021

TURN with Zakir Hossain Khokan In this episode based on the book chapter called TURN, I am joined by Zakir Hossain Khokan, a poet and author, also a fellow migrant worker to explore the conversation of gratitude and renewal. "When I was thinking of who I would like to have a conversation with on this shade of love on loss and turnarounds, I immediately thought of my friend - Zakir Hussain Khokan. I first met Zakir a good number of years back when he attended one of the Hush Teabar community sessions. Zakir was a journalist in Dhaka Bangladesh before he left for Singapore to join the construction industry here in 2003, that’s 18 years ago! He won the first Migrant Workers’ Poetry Competition, and became a strong voice for the migrant community. He was featured in the media, at the Singapore Writers’ Festival, at TEDx Singapore, and on other platforms but he wanted to do more for the scene. Monir Ahmod and you edited Migrant Tales (2017), an anthology of poems by migrant Bengali poets in Singapore. He also started to establish a migrant writers community called ‘Migrant Writers of Singapore’ and started ‘Carnival of Poetry’, a monthly reading session with the support of Sing Lit Station which brings local and migrant poets together. He said poetry is like oxygen for him!" Join us as we discuss gratitude, resilience, loss and turnarounds, and how both of us experienced losing everything, to finding ourselves in the end. Also, come find out why the splendid Tapia shrub is paired with this shade of love in the book! MY INVITATION TO YOU: How different would your life be if you focus on what you have instead of what you don't have? What is your "have" list? RESOURCES Migrant Writers of Singapore, One Bag, One Book, Migrant Workers Photography Festival - 2nd edition in Sep https://www.giving.sg/singlit-station/onebagonebook Migrant Library Singapore https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Library/Migrant-Library-Singapore-151309755494905/ Dibashram https://dibashrammock.wordpress.com/ Welcome in My Backyard https://www.wimby.sg/ TWC2 https://twc2.org.sg/ HealthServe https://www.healthserve.org.sg/our-centres/ /episode/index/show/shadesoflovesg/id/20671127