Top tip Click on the play button to stay on the website

Lights, camera and action?

From celebrity endorsements, high impact social media statements and companies paying service to challenging perceptions, International Women’s Day is here. Much can be said about a world of virtue signalling or the economics of change, however one thing that remains is our perception of gender identity and perceived roles, both of which are heavily influenced by our “inner” society.

Today’s podcast starts with a global tour from some of our audience members on what womanhood means to them and an open voyage into the remarkable life of Pragna Hay. A human whose resilience can shift the way we treat each other within our community. She recounts her emotively raw story of how she entered an arranged marriage at the age of 18, the trauma, “expectations”, and the moment she decided to make a dramatic change. A lesson for all in the power of person over perception.

Show your love, support our growth, share this podcast.

About Pragna Hay

Pragna was born in Uganda East Africa and arrived in Newbury in 1972 when expelled from Uganda by Idi Amin. She has 4 children aged 36, 36, 33 and 26. Two amazing grandchildren aged 4 and 2. She grew up in Redditch, Worcestershire until the age of 18 when she moved to Toronto, Canada for 2 years.

She returned to the UK in 1986 and set up a private day nursery catering for pre-school children in Leicester. In 1992 she closed this business and relocated to Nottinghamshire and returned to education in 1993 taking ‘A’ Levels in Science. This then lead to a course for Mature students wishing to study medicine / science. She qualified in 1998 with BSc Biomedical Science (Hons) and trained as a Microbiologist with SmithKline Beecham, assisting with clinical trials.

In order to spend more time with her young children Pragna set up a recruitment agency specialising in the Audio visual industry and ran this successfully becoming one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Clients included HSBC, Barclays Banks, Royal society of Arts, Tag Mclaren.

10.5 years years later, having built a property portfolio she then closed the recruitment business to set up a company providing serviced apartments and short rentals. Four years later she is was one of the major suppliers of serviced apartments in Newbury and a member of the association of serviced apartment providers.

In her free time, Pragna enjoys traveling, cooking, reading, theatre, property investments

Voluntary positions held:

Community Responder for West Berkshire Ambulance service

Treasurer for Scouts

Committee member for Institute of Directors

Greenham Parish Councillor

Trustee of Thatcham Parochial Charity

Trustee of Relief in Need, Thatcham Charity

On the board of Directors for a number of management companies

Retired at the age of 52 but still works doing jobs that give her flexibility. She is a phlebotomist, DNA Sample collector, vaccinator, Supporting artist and lifestyle model.

About the Global Indian Series:

My name is Rajan Nazran Chief Explorer for the Global Indian Series, the official platform for people of Indian origin (PIO), because let’s face it, we are everywhere!

For almost 15 years we have travelled across the globe covering 58 countries to date whilst exploring the kaleidoscope of our remarkable 50 shades of brown community.

Voyaging to the edges of the Amazon, facing Ebola in West Africa, being held hostage in Eastern Europe, tapping rubber in Malaysia, drinking chai with Heads of State and sharing laughter with local fishermen – I have been there, looking for us!

Our purpose is simple, to build a living encyclopaedia of the human experience of the community and a safe mooring ground for open discussions, whether you are an NRI, Indian Diaspora, person of Indian origin (PIO) or a fan of South Asian anthropology, what we do is bring people and communities together.

We do this by plunging into the human experience of being a person of Indian origin (PIO), taking a second look at the countries we now call home and tackling the conversations we need to know more about.

Through our range of award-winning original content (print, podcasts, events and TV) and fascinating discussions, our impactful stories and platforms have spearheaded national and international conversations that have brought people together.  Our work is featured in global brands including The Indian Express through to the CNBC network.

How to get involved:

Interested in getting involved in building the world’s largest living encyclopaedia on the community? Whether you want to become a patron, buy us a chai in a new location or have your story shown, simply get in touch via our website, we would love to hear from you. www.globalindianseries.com

Social media:

You can reach Rajan via

Global Indian Series (@rajannazran) • Instagram photos and videos

(1) Rajan (Singh) Nazran | LinkedIn

Global Indian Series - YouTube

Special thank you to TAIZU for the music

Episode: 105

Presenter – Rajan Nazran

Producer –Global Indian Series/NazranRoth

Guests: in order of appearance

Himani – Partners in Upbringing – Singapore

Anissa Singh – USA

Elizabeth Ngorima – Botswana

Nialia Amin – USA

Kiran Sharma – Malaysia

Alex

Pragna Hay - UK

Other podcasts you may like:

If you liked this podcast, you may enjoy the following:

THE POWER OF SOCIAL SCIENCE WITH ADAM HABIB | MADE IN SOUTH AFRICA (globalindianseries.com)

HAPPINESS AND MY LIFE | KELLY DORJI | MADE IN BHUTAN (globalindianseries.com)

SOCIAL STEWARDSHIP WITH RASHID GATRAD | MADE IN MALAWI (globalindianseries.com)

Are you a Global Indian that wants to go global?  Visit our website to understand more about the leading countries to trust and ultimately the ones to avoid. From gritty discussions on citizenship by investment, through to how to find work abroad, top university guides and social issues for change. We are the official platform for People of Indian origin.

We produce content that inspires purpose, passion, and community. If you like what we do, please do share, like, subscribe and comment. It helps massively with online algorithms.

-------------------------------

Support change: A little favour to ask-We believe true freedom is to be able to act without fear or favour and that identity is not a “brand” to be abused, politicized, or reduced for personal gain. As Global Indians, the need to work together is greater now than ever before.  If we want to see real change, we need to create a better society for all, tackle injustice and plunge into the many aspects of what the human experience truly offers.The Global Indian Series has been built to be a platform of integrity, fairness and to remain fiercely independent of political influence. We are the first in the world to connect with every echelon of society with all human voices being treated equally.  We are the first to have travelled physically to locations far and wide, often putting our own lives on the line to bring forward stories that deserve to be told.  Whether it’s through our Podcast that delves into the human experience behind identity, our articles and features that cover key events we need to know, or live based events that tackle topical discussions, we have been there to support a better community and planet.Despite the high costs and time needed to maintain our work, we continue, because we know our work has helped more people understand what is happening within the communities across our planet, why it matters, and how, together, we can demand progress.  We challenge head-on, the silent divisions that have crept into our collective consciousness and how to tackle key issues that often go neglected in mainstream media.How you can help:Please share our work: By collaborating with others who share our values, our combined voices make change, with many more becoming inspired to take meaningful action.Subscribe to the platform:Many from across our community have decided to subscribe to our platform. It helps us grow which in turns attracts like-minded supporters. If you have not already, we would appreciate you subscribing to our newsletters and following our social media accounts. It is free and supports our journey.