Sit With Aqsa is a podcast about the people you walk past every day without knowing their story. I call them silent giants - ordinary people quietly building, growing and navigating life in their own way. Each episode is a conversation that reminds you how extraordinary the people around you actually are.

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&#34;My conversation will mostly be about Islam because nothing else really matters.&#34; That is what Farhan Hossain said before we even began.This is not a story of someone achieving so much. This is a story of how a creation fell in love with his Creator. From an eight year old boy dismantling toys to a man who sees 200 hands inside a single pen, who got rejected 11 times and still showed up, who left one of the most coveted jobs in tech because he understood that what Allah built inside a human hand no engineer could ever replicate.

The Man Who Found Allah in Everything He Built

Farhan Hossain has 50 plus patents, built a biometric device for Dubai Police, was a founding engineer of Apple Vision Pro and recently cofounded Blue, a device becoming hands for those who have lost the use of theirs. But when he first reached out he said his conversation would mostly be about Islam because nothing else really matters. This is that conversation.

A Builder's Blueprint Drawn from His Faith | Farhan Hossain | Ep. 9

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Tala Mousa is 17. Farah Mousa is 15. They are sisters from Gaza whose home was bombed five times. Tala carries everything she owns in one backpack because even now, living in a tent, she doesn&#39;t know what the next minute holds.And yet - they built something.Build Hope Palestine is their project: crushing war rubble, mixing it with clay and ash and straw, turning it into reusable construction blocks. Out of 6,095 teams across 169 countries, they won the Middle East regional title of The Earth Prize 2026. The first team ever from Gaza in the prize&#39;s five year history.In this episode I didn&#39;t want to talk about the prize. I wanted to sit with two teenage girls and understand who they actually are. What they dream about. What they think about. What it feels like to build something when everything around you has been destroyed.

On turning war rubble into building blocks and choosing hope when everything says not to

Tala Mousa is 17. Farah Mousa is 15. They are sisters from Gaza whose home was bombed five times. Tala carries everything she owns in one backpack because even now, living in a tent, she doesn&#39;t know what the next minute holds.

And yet - they built something.

Build Hope Palestine is their project: crushing war rubble, mixing it with clay and ash and straw, turning it into reusable construction blocks. Out of 6,095 teams across 169 countries, they won the Middle East regional title of The Earth Prize 2026. The first team ever from Gaza in the prize&#39;s five year history.

In this episode I didn&#39;t want to talk about the prize. I wanted to sit with two teenage girls and understand who they actually are. What they dream about. What they think about. What it feels like to build something when everything around you has been destroyed.

Two Sisters From Gaza Who Chose to See a Beginning | Tala and Farah Mousa | Ep. 14

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Amber Greene is an artist, a poet, and someone who sees the world in colours. Not as a metaphor but as her actual language, the one she reaches for when words feel too small for what she is carrying.She has been open about her DID, her seizures, her financial reality, and the rejection she carried from both her birth mother and her adopted mother. She ran from home during COVID with almost nothing, and the strangers she met along the way became her community and her proof that kindness is never wasted.She started Period Bliss for women going through debilitating period pain because she once went through it alone. She made a colouring book for survivors because that act pulled her through her darkest days and she wanted to hand that same thing to someone else.And after everything she has been through, the colour she gives herself is yellow. Bright and welcoming. That is not a small thing to claim after the life she has lived. That is someone who chose, on the other side of all of it, to come home to herself.This is Amber. A ray of sunshine healing out loud so that you do not have to feel alone in the dark.

An artist, a poet, and someone who sees the world in colours. This is Amber Greene healing out loud.

Amber Greene is an artist, a poet, and someone who sees the world in colours. She has been open about her DID, her seizures, rejection from both her birth and adopted mother, and running from home during COVID with almost nothing. And after all of it, the colour she gives herself is yellow. Bright and welcoming. This is what choosing to come home to yourself looks like.

A Perspective of Colours | Amber Greene | Ep. 8

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The healer on her way to healing - a title I gave to Vanessa before we even got connected.She is a clinical psychologist, a holistic coach, a consultant, an artist and a single mother. 16 years of holding space for other people. A private practice she built from the ground up. Years inside NYC foster care, Brooklyn schools, NYU Langone. Free mindfulness groups for mothers. Resources for parents learning how to talk to their children about divorce. Room after room, role after role, each one asking her to carry something heavy for someone else.And she does. Every single time.But to understand why that title fits her the way it does, you have to understand what she walked through to get here.Vanessa gave birth to her daughter and came out the other side with sepsis. And if that alone was not enough, everything that follows a birth that hard was waiting for her too. Postpartum. Her body changing in ways she had to learn to accept. Her identity shifting in ways nobody really prepares you for. The bad days outnumbering the good ones. Not once. Consistently. For three years.And after three years she made a decision that I think took more courage than most people will ever understand. She chose to leave. Not because she gave up. But because she finally saw clearly enough to know what staying was costing her.The early days after that were hard in their own way. Her daughter not there on certain holidays. Learning what co-parenting actually looks like when you are both still figuring it out. And now she shares this so proudly - we are better friends than we were ever spouses. That line I felt was the bravest thing Vanessa said.She was also honest about something very important that I think, a lot of women feel but rarely say out loud. The fact that she misses companionship. Not in a way that means she cannot handle things. Anyone who has spent five minutes with Vanessa knows she can handle anything. But she said something about walking into a car dealership alone and I understood exactly what she meant. There is a difference between being capable of doing everything yourself and not wanting to have to. And she said that without apology.But the moment I keep coming back to is something so beautiful her daughter said to her.They were driving somewhere and passed a woman sitting outside her home just reading. The perfect house, the trees, the greenery, the sky holding the whole scene together. And her daughter looked at it and said, I want that for you...A child raised between two households, navigating what divorce means at an age where she should not have to carry that. And she still had that much room in her heart to want peace for her mother. You do not raise a child like that by accident.I have always said with hardship comes ease. And I think Vanessa is living proof of that. Not because everything is easy now. But because everything she walked through shaped her into someone who could hold space for every woman sitting across from her going through the same thing. The divorce. The identity loss. The body that does not feel like yours anymore. The rebuilding.She chose healing. And somewhere in healing others, I could see it was quietly healing a little bit of her too.That is what this podcast is for. Not to show you someone who has arrived. But to sit with someone long enough that you can see the road they are walking and recognize your own. Vanessa is the healer on her way to healing.And honestly, aren’t we all.

A Clinical Psychologist Still on Her Own Journey

I knew Vanessa’s title before we even started recording. The healer on her way to healing. 16 years as a clinical psychologist, a private practice, a single mother, and a woman who has walked through sepsis, postpartum, divorce and rebuilding - all while holding space for everyone else. This is her story.

The Healer on Her Way to Healing | Vanessa Spelman |  Ep. 7

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Danish went full detective mode on me for going full detective mode on him. Of course I did. What kind of host do you think I am.He has more than a decade of experience and is a Senior Manager at Gul Ahmed. But not every manager is a leader. And he truly is one.His passion for supply chain has spread so far that his wife now sees the world through the same systems lens. Whenever he needs clarity he sits alone in a dark room and just thinks. No distractions. Just himself.He once shared a piece about leaving his childhood home in Islamabad. Written before AI and the social media rush. Raw, emotional and powerful without trying to be. In it he honored every woman who shaped him.Anyone learning under Danish wouldn’t just learn supply chain. They would learn responsibility, discipline and the quiet work of becoming better every day.

A leader who learned what leadership meant long before he had the title

Danish went full detective mode on me for going full detective mode on him. Of course I did. What kind of host do you think I am.

He has more than a decade of experience and is a Senior Manager at Gul Ahmed. But not every manager is a leader. And he truly is one.

His passion for supply chain has spread so far that his wife now sees the world through the same systems lens. Whenever he needs clarity he sits alone in a dark room and just thinks. No distractions. Just himself.

He once shared a piece about leaving his childhood home in Islamabad. Written before AI and the social media rush. Raw, emotional and powerful without trying to be. In it he honored every woman who shaped him.

Anyone learning under Danish wouldn’t just learn supply chain. They would learn responsibility, discipline and the quiet work of becoming better every day.

A Supply Chain Mind That Sees the World Differently | Danish Hasan | Ep. 6

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Adam’s story didn’t start with Podcasting Business School. It started with watching his parents earn an honest living and embedding that belief within himself. He has been working since he was 7 or 8 years old.Between 2015 and 2017 he had just $37 in his bank account. Responsibilities were real. Resources were limited. And he chose to hold onto his vision anyway.Today Podcasting Business School has crossed 1 million downloads. But what stayed with me wasn’t the number. It was the moment he mentioned working three days a week and never missing his son’s soccer matches.If you truly believe in yourself and set boundaries around what matters, you can disrupt the trends people have followed for years.

A man who refused to quit on himself and built everything from what was left

Adam’s story didn’t start with Podcasting Business School. It started with watching his parents earn an honest living and embedding that belief within himself. He has been working since he was 7 or 8 years old.

Between 2015 and 2017 he had just $37 in his bank account. Responsibilities were real. Resources were limited. And he chose to hold onto his vision anyway.

Today Podcasting Business School has crossed 1 million downloads. But what stayed with me wasn’t the number. It was the moment he mentioned working three days a week and never missing his son’s soccer matches.

If you truly believe in yourself and set boundaries around what matters, you can disrupt the trends people have followed for years.

From $37 to Seven Figures | The Example He Saw at Home | Adam Scheauble | Ep. 5

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When I first met Rohma I’ll be honest - I had the wrong impression. She seemed a little childish, a little annoying even. Sorry Rohma.But you know those moments when you suddenly realize how off your perception was? That’s exactly what this conversation was for me.She’s an architect who loves what she does but is very clear about what work should not take away from her. She grows vegetables, shows up for her family, says no without guilt and knows exactly when work ends and relationships begin. That clarity is rare.Her freedom doesn’t come from having no boundaries. It comes from knowing exactly where they are.

A free spirit who turned out to be the most grounded person in the room

When I first met Rohma I’ll be honest - I had the wrong impression. She seemed a little childish, a little annoying even. Sorry Rohma.

But you know those moments when you suddenly realize how off your perception was? That’s exactly what this conversation was for me.

She’s an architect who loves what she does but is very clear about what work should not take away from her. She grows vegetables, shows up for her family, says no without guilt and knows exactly when work ends and relationships begin. That clarity is rare.

Her freedom doesn’t come from having no boundaries. It comes from knowing exactly where they are.

Choosing What to Protect | Rohma Haq | Ep. 4

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Saad and I come from the same hometown, studied at the same university, grew up in similar environments. On paper nothing about this conversation should have surprised me.But what I once mistook for silence was depth. He spoke about writing, creativity and abstract thinking - parts of himself he still misses. About privilege and the responsibility that comes with it. About being the only male child in a desi household and quietly redefining what that means.Every role he has taken has been rooted in impact rather than optics. And today he is simply giving that identity a name.Some conversations don’t rush because they don’t need to.

A boy I thought I knew until he finally had the space to speak

Saad and I come from the same hometown, studied at the same university, grew up in similar environments. On paper nothing about this conversation should have surprised me.

But what I once mistook for silence was depth. He spoke about writing, creativity and abstract thinking - parts of himself he still misses. About privilege and the responsibility that comes with it. About being the only male child in a desi household and quietly redefining what that means.

Every role he has taken has been rooted in impact rather than optics. And today he is simply giving that identity a name.

Some conversations don’t rush because they don’t need to.

Becoming Steady in a World That Rewards Noise | Saad Qureshi | Ep. 3

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When I first met Yumna she came across as quiet, almost withdrawn. It would have been easy to underestimate how much depth was beneath that calm exterior.Her growth didn’t come from trying to be seen or heard more. It came from being intentional, taking responsibility, and knowing when she was learning and when she wasn’t.We talked about careers but we also talked about the things that rarely come up honestly - mental health, faith, and women navigating work and identity in Pakistan.Someone somewhere is walking a similar path and needs to hear that their way of growing is valid.

A quiet exterior that almost defies the depth she carries in herself

When I first met Yumna she came across as quiet, almost withdrawn. It would have been easy to underestimate how much depth was beneath that calm exterior.

Her growth didn’t come from trying to be seen or heard more. It came from being intentional, taking responsibility, and knowing when she was learning and when she wasn’t.

We talked about careers but we also talked about the things that rarely come up honestly - mental health, faith, and women navigating work and identity in Pakistan.

Someone somewhere is walking a similar path and needs to hear that their way of growing is valid.

Learning to Take Up Space in Work and Life | Yumna Haq | Ep. 2

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From the outside Nawal looks like someone who has it all figured out. But sit with her long enough and you realize how much work went into becoming that person. Every role, every toxic environment, every setback, she came out stronger without ever letting it define her worth. She was the youngest at home and at the hostel but somehow became the strongest one in the room. This is a conversation about what it actually looks like to rebuild yourself quietly. About going through the worst of it and realizing the earth didn’t rip open. Nothing collapsed. Life went on. And so did she.

She was the youngest at home and at the hostel but somehow became the strongest one in the room.

From the outside Nawal looks like someone who has it all figured out. But sit with her long enough and you realize how much work went into becoming that person. Every role, every toxic environment, every setback, she came out stronger without ever letting it define her worth. She was the youngest at home and at the hostel but somehow became the strongest one in the room. This is a conversation about what it actually looks like to rebuild yourself quietly. About going through the worst of it and realizing the earth didn’t rip open. Nothing collapsed. Life went on. And so did she.

From Karachi to Abu Dhabi | The Youngest Who Became the Strongest | Nawal Haq | Ep. 1

Highlighting ordinary people making extraordinary differences

Sit With Aqsa is a podcast about the people you walk past every day without knowing their story. I call them silent giants - ordinary people quietly building, growing and navigating life in their own way. Each episode is a conversation that reminds you how extraordinary the people around you actually are.