PODCAST · education
RAW with Uma
by RAW with UMA
RAW with UMA is a podcast and living document of becoming unapologetically human. Hosted by leadership and reinvention strategist Uma Thana Balasingam, it features honest conversations with people redefining success, power, and self-trust in life’s messy middle. From Careerquakes™ to midlife transitions, this space explores the unspoken truths of identity, ambition, love, and meaning. This podcast doesn’t conclude, it holds space. Becoming yourself isn’t neat. It’s raw. And it’s real.
Episodes
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What Doctors are Finding about Microplastics in Pregnancy
Why are women still routinely giving birth on their backs when other positions may reduce trauma, pain and unnecessary interventions? In this episode of Raw With Uma, I speak with obstetrician-gynecologist Dr. Ondřej Šimetka about active birth, vertical birth positions, water birth and what women...
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The Brutal New Reality for Mid-Career Professionals.
What happens when AI does not eliminate your job overnight, but quietly starts taking over one task at a time? The real question for many professionals is, “What am I now if AI can do half my work?” In this episode of Raw With Uma, Uma speaks with technology leader and psychology researcher Radha...
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The Brutal Truth About Ageism, Relevance and Surviving The Modern Job Market
Everyone was taught the same corporate bargain: keep your head down, work hard, build experience, and eventually you will be rewarded. But what happens when decades of hard work no longer guarantee safety? In this episode, Uma sits down with executive career strategist and TEDx speaker Loren…
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Careerquake™: Reinventing at the Top | Prague Keynote & Workshop
What happens when the career and identity you spent decades building suddenly disappear? For Uma, leaving corporate life meant going from managing an 800-person team and receiving 300 emails a day to complete silence and realizing she no longer knew how to introduce herself without her title....
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Dear Corporate: Women Don’t Expire At 40.
Everyone expects the corporate world to be ruthless, but what if the secret to doubling a two-billion-dollar business is simply creating a space where people can be themselves? In this unique cross-generational episode, Uma flips the script and invites her 21-year-old nephew, Kyren, to interview...
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The Health Advice That Actually Helps You Live Longer
Uma’s death clock app tells her how long she has left to live. But surviving to 95 isn’t the goal—living with vitality, muscle, and a sharp mind is. Terrified that most common health advice is wrong and hoping to avoid the physical decline she witnessed in her parents, Uma brings her raw data and...
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How a Wrong Headline Destroyed Women's Health for 20 Years
If you've had a hormonal blood panel and been told everything is fine, you may have been asking your doctor for the one test that cannot actually diagnose perimenopause. Dr Foong explains why — and what the right diagnostic approach looks like. Uma Thana opens this episode by doing something most...
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Why "Psychological Safety" Is a Corporate Lie
Everyone expected her to be angry. What Tawana actually felt was harder, and she explains exactly why disappointment hits differently than rage when institutions betray you. Tawana is Meta's APAC lead, a senior Black American woman who came to Asia expecting the familiar challenges of race and...
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Why Menopause Could Be The Best Thing That Happens to You
Menopause may have been the best thing to happen to her. In this episode, senior banking executive Sunday joins hosts Uma and Jingjin for one of the most disarmingly honest conversations the show has aired. Sunday talks about how menopause removed the social constraints that had been slowing her...
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What Your Eyes Reveal About Your Health
As an ophthalmologist, Claudine kept noticing something that her patients' other doctors were missing. The retina doesn't lie - systemic disease shows up there first. She'd refer patients for follow-up and watch nothing happen. So she went and studied functional and anti-aging medicine herself…
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The Career Break That Changed Everything
She walked back into the workforce after five years at home, marched into Merrill Lynch without a client list, and proposed the following deal: If I'm successful, you pay me. If I'm not, you don't. They gave her the job. Evonne Tan is a wealth management professional who now advises some of…
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What 300 Days on the Road Did to Her Body
What if the pain you spent 30 years being told was in your head was silently taking over your body, and you kept outperforming everyone in the room anyway? In this raw, honest conversation, Uma Thana and Jingjin Liu sit down with Amy Kunrojpanya, a global executive who has led teams across more...
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Reinventing Myself at 46 (and Never Looking Back)
What happens when reinvention unlocks parts of yourself you forgot existed? In this intimate episode, I'm pulling back the curtain on the unexpected gifts that came from leaving corporate, the creative side I buried for decades, the writing that evolved into magazine columns and a book deal, and...
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We Spent $100,000 on a Business No One Wanted
What happens when you spend a year building the wrong business? In this raw episode, I'm pulling back the curtain on Year 1 of entrepreneurship, the part nobody posts about on LinkedIn. The pivots, the money lost, the arrogance that cost us everything, and the humbling moment when we realized our...
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10 Questions That Changed My Life After I Quit
How do you find clarity when you’re exhausted from pretending everything is okay? In this intimate episode, I walk you through the 10 questions that helped me navigate one of the most confusing seasons of my life, a Careerquake™ that didn’t come with a dramatic exit or obvious failure, but...
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I Got Everything I Wanted… Then I Fell Apart
What happens when the ground beneath your career suddenly shifts?In this intimate episode, I share the story of the moment everything I thought I wanted stopped making sense. After building a two-decade career in tech, working toward the title I believed would define me, and finally reaching the...
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The Day My Inbox Went Silent Changed Everything
What happens when the path you thought you were on suddenly disappears? In this deeply personal episode, I share the moment that shattered my corporate identity - when my inbox went from hundreds of emails to zero overnight. After navigating a major acquisition as a VP with a large team, I…
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TRAILER | Season 2: Welcome To My Careerquake™
What happens after everything you’ve built starts to crumble? Welcome To My Careerquake™ In this new chapter, Uma steps into the unpolished truth of reinvention, not the highlight reel, but the space between endings and beginnings. The part no one prepares you for. Two years ago, Uma walked away...
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Why Losing Your Job Could Mean Your Next Pivot
What do you do when your entire career crumbles—and you're left staring at the pieces? What does it mean to experience a Careerquake—and rebuild not just your work, but your identity?In this honest and soul-baring episode, Uma opens up about the Careerquake that changed everything: being made...
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The Girl Boss Mindset: Is it Fake Empowerment??
What if ambition no longer looked like climbing a ladder—but learning to breathe? How do you lead without performing? And is it possible to succeed without playing by outdated rules? In this powerful conversation, we unpack the emotional complexity behind the “girl boss” identity and why so many...
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How To Get UNSTUCK
Feeling trapped after multiple career rejections? How do you build resilience after rejection? Why is asking for help one of the most courageous things you can do? This episode uncovers practical approaches to rebuilding confidence, authentic networking techniques that honour cultural values, and...
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Introvert? How to Network Without Feeling Awkward or Fake
Networking doesn't have to feel transactional or inauthentic. In this episode, I'm joined by Audrey Tim, who brings thoughtful questions about building meaningful professional relationships, and later by Stephen Morse, a 27-year medical device veteran who shares his unique perspective on deep...
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How to Stop Getting Overlooked at Work in 2025
How do women find their voice and claim their space in male-dominated workplaces? Many of us grow up being taught to be quiet. So how do we overcome cultural conditioning that teaches women to stay quiet and docile? My guest Jenny shares her struggles with speaking up in meetings and having her...
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Building Your Brand as a Minority: What No One Tells You
How do you build an authentic brand identity while staying professional? How can you be vulnerable while discussing important but uncomfortable topics? My guest, Nicole, is an HR leader and DEI advocate from the Philippines. Nicole faced a decade-long battle with depression and took nine years...
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Chronic Illness at Work: How Much Should You Share?
Many of us don't realize the invisible disabilities that hold our colleagues or friends back. We see them every day at work, in meetings, or grabbing coffee, but beneath the surface, some are fighting battles we can't even imagine. My guest, Suvinder has been silently battling lupus for 25 years...
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The One Thing I’d Tell My 20-Year-Old Self About Life and Work
What would you tell your 20-year-old self about life and work ? From worrying about validation from others to self-confidence, Kit and I talk about the layers of self-perception, workplace dynamics, and the liberating power of authenticity. Later Reeta joins us to talk about evolving in…
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Want More Opportunities in 2025? You Need to Master This One Skill
How do you turn superficial conversations into meaningful connections? Networking can be tricky. Overcoming discomfort to put yourself out there, following up, cultivating introductions into deeper connections or even feeling worthy of asking for one’s time are all challenges women face when…
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Career Transitions at 50 in 2025: Where Do You Even Start?
You’re in your 50’s, your health is failing, and you can’t sustain your career… How do you pivot? In episode 3, I meet Mona for the first time to talk about navigating career transitions when you don’t know where to start and have no time to put yourself first. Duncan Hewett, Former CEO of VMware...
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Burnt Out and Stuck? How to Find Passion and Purpose in 2025
➡️ How do you discover and pursue your passions while managing energy levels? ➡️ Why shouldn't we wear "busyness" as a badge of honor? ➡️ How can introverts thrive in extroverted roles? ➡️ What role does play and self-care have in professional success? Here is What We Talk About: ➡️ Finding Your...
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Want Flexible Work? Here’s How to Ask Without Getting Rejected in 2025
Returning to work after an extended career break. Uma speaks with Shirani, a lawyer and content creator who brings questions about re-entering the workforce, and later with Jingjin, an experienced entrepreneur and founder who offers powerful insights on building confidence and creating systemic...
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How to Find the Right Mentor (and Avoid These Common Mistakes)
How do you thrive at work and not just survive? How do you build meaningful relationships while staying true to yourself? My guest Shan Wen is an award-winning leader from Australia who initiated a mentorship program across Asia Pacific at VMware. At work, she noticed many women feeling deflated...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
RAW with UMA is a podcast and living document of becoming unapologetically human. Hosted by leadership and reinvention strategist Uma Thana Balasingam, it features honest conversations with people redefining success, power, and self-trust in life’s messy middle. From Careerquakes™ to midlife transitions, this space explores the unspoken truths of identity, ambition, love, and meaning. This podcast doesn’t conclude, it holds space. Becoming yourself isn’t neat. It’s raw. And it’s real.
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RAW with UMA
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does RAW with Uma have?
RAW with Uma currently has 33 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is RAW with Uma about?
RAW with UMA is a podcast and living document of becoming unapologetically human. Hosted by leadership and reinvention strategist Uma Thana Balasingam, it features honest conversations with people redefining success, power, and self-trust in life’s messy middle. From Careerquakes™ to midlife...
How often does RAW with Uma release new episodes?
RAW with Uma has 33 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to RAW with Uma?
You can listen to RAW with Uma on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts RAW with Uma?
RAW with Uma is created and hosted by RAW with UMA.
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