Unplug with Ani

Creative director, artist and entrepreneur Enitan Bereola II is redeeming culture and building scalable value at the intersections of storytelling, commerce and tech. A 3x best selling, 8x award-winning author, who wrote the books that Oprah and The Obama’s own, Enitan emerged from Internet anomaly to Male Author of the Year with an NAACP nomination for outstanding literary work. Notably, Enitan is cofounder of FLOURYSHTM — the largest community driven marketplace to discover and shop Black- owned brands. An alumni of Florida A&M University, Enitan sits on the Cultural Architect board of 7th Ave who raised $2.5M to provide Black communities with the tools to connect in a space that prioritizes cultural needs. He advised and partnered with NBCUniversal, 20th Century Fox, McDonald’s, Bergdorf Goodman, Jordan Brand and more. He's enjoyed collaborations with award-winning actor Meagan Good, Michelle Williams, Grammy award winning platinum producer Bryan-Michael Cox, Jidenna, Super Bowl champ Bobby Wagner, 5x NBA All-Star Chris Webber and others. Bereola produced the short film, "This Time" directed by Academy Award winning director Matthew A. Cherry. He produced sold out events at SXSW, ESSENCE Festival and internationally in London, Australia and Toronto. Bereola's sold- out Exhibit Gray tour was named one of the most progressive social experiments in the country. Enitan sustains culture by giving back with a track record spanning nearly two decades amplifying the voices of community. He built a vertically integrated 7-figure entertainment enterprise off book publishing, sales, touring and e-commerce. His first loves are his Emmy-nominated wife, Letisha, son Miles Berkeley and daughter Ava-Sky. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/anisa-ani/message

Julie grew up in a small town in Canada called Quebec City, she then moved to Los Angeles where she learned English and graduated from CSUN in journalism.   After a year in broadcasting, she realised something else was calling for her and jumped on the opportunity to move to London.  During her first year in the UK, Julie worked in commercials.  She had the chance to produce and direct commercials for Panasonic and Sony.   

Julie then transitioned to the film industry and by not knowing so much the field she ended up in VFx where she worked most of her career.  Having her last name on the latest Marvel, Disney, Warner Bro and Netflix, Julie figured out her creativity wasn't used to its fullest.  With her strong passion for short videos, short moving storytelling...she gained credibility in the world of social media.  

After a year in Paris, Julie relocated to Montreal where she focuses on the storytelling of branding in visual while focusing on an upcoming vegan project. Athlete, producer, creator and entrepreneur, Julie is known to move with intention and purpose.

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Shahid Iqbal Khan is an Offies-finalist and Olivier-nominated playwright published by Methuen Drama. He has been part of BBC Writersroom and Write To Play. His recent stage plays are Stardust (Belgrade Theatre) and 10 Nights (Bush Theatre). His radio work includes Bhavika, Night of the Living Flatpacks (both on community channels) and Brandlesholme (Sheltering) (BBC Radio 4). Shahid Iqbal Khan is on attachment and under co-commission to Graeae and Royal Court Theatre for the year of 2022. He has been commissioned to write a play. As part of his attachment, he is running discussions about disability and dramaturgy at the Royal Court, and mentoring writers at Graeae. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/anisa-ani/message

A little insight into what you can expect on the show, the takeaways and who it's for! Trust me, no matter what your interest, I can guarantee there is something for everyone! :) --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/anisa-ani/message

I speak to dynamic power couple Natalie and Hamza about their journeys from Acting to Writing/Directing, dismantling South Asian stereotypes and embracing the mess of who we are as people. Natalie Perera is British actor and writer. She trained in Classical Acting at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. Natalie has written four short films, two of which have been award-winning, Arts Council-funded and selected for a BAFTA-qualifying festival. She has also written a feature film and is currently co-writing a sitcom. As an actor, Natalie played a major supporting role in Swiss-German feature, Der Koch and featured as the lead in hit Caribbean musical, Bazodee. Natalie has gone on to study Clowning and has featured in online comedies from Jack & Dean and Hot Pepper. Natalie co-created Sketchy Ones with an aim to play a range of bold, messy South Asian female characters - something rarely seen on British TV. Hamza Jeetooa is British actor, writer and filmmaker who trained in Screen Acting at The Royal Central School of Speech & Drama. He has played leading and supporting roles in TV shows including Zomboat!, Luther and Doctor Who. Hamza was nominated for an EE ACTA award for Best Actor for his leading role in BBC iPlayer romcom, My Jihad. As a filmmaker, he has been a part of producing and directing award-winning, Arts Council-funded and BAFTA-longlisted short films. Hamza’s love of performing began in secondary school where he would watch Goodness Gracious Me and then tirelessly reenact characters for his friends the next day. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/anisa-ani/message

Naz Ahmed has a wealth of editorial experience in soap and continuing drama roles having worked across script and story on Doctors, Eastenders and Coronation Street as well as producing/directing BBC radio drama for a number of years. She also created and script edited several issue-led specials around the subjects of Homelessness and Mental Health Awareness for Doctors during her tenure on the show, as well as stepping up as Producer of the ‘Bollywood Marriage proposal’ that won ‘Scene of the Year’ at the British Soap Awards in 2018. Naz also fought off fierce competition to win the ‘Services to Media Award’ at the British Muslim Awards, in recognition of her vast work around diversity in storytelling and script editing for the BBC. We discuss the journey so far, the challenges she has faced as well as whether or not representation for artists has diversified over the years. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/anisa-ani/message

Afshan d’souza-lodhi was born in Dubai and bred in Manchester. She is a writer of scripts and poetry and was recently commissioned to write and direct a short film for Channel 4 (An Act of Terror) and a radio play for BBC Sounds (Chop Chop). Afshan is currently a Sky Writes writer-in-residence for Rotherham, a partnership between Sky Studios and New Writing North. She is also currently developing a TV series with Sky Studios. Afshan has edited many anthologies and has an essay featured in Picador's collection by Muslim women called Its Not About The Burqa. Her debut poetry collection ‘re:desire’ (Burning Eye Books) has been longlisted for the Jhalak Prize (2021).Her most recent play,Santi & Naz, described as “tender yet sharply political” by The Guardian, won the Vault Outstanding New Work Award in 2020. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/anisa-ani/message

Anthony Vander is an award winning Filmmaker and producer. In 2017 and 2018 Anthony was nominated by the Chairwoman of Media Com UK as a top ten creative trailblazer for Black History Month. Anthony's work was featured during We Are Parable and British Film Institute 'WHO WE ARE' season in July 2020 which shined a light at Black British filmmakers in the UK. Anthony is a BFI x BAFTA Crew 2021 filmmaker. His first short film ‘Hooligan’ screened at The Short Film Corner at Cannes Film Festival in 2012. In 2014, Anthony’s directorial debut feature film, 'Sweetboy' had its North American première at the American Black Film Festival and in 2017 aired on London Live television multiple times. His second short film 'Spar' screened at festivals including S.O.U.L Connect and The Miami Independent Film Festival. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/anisa-ani/message

Gurmit launched Impress in 2009, a video production company producing and directing adverts for online companies. Through BGP Ltd Gurmit produced & directed his first short film ‘7 Reasons Why’ which was selected for Cannes Film Festival ‘Short film corner’ in 2013. In early 2017 Gurmit released a documentary ‘Attract Any Woman Anywhere’ released for Amazon Prime. It also secured distribution in Poland, Berlin, Finland and Sky Italy. Gurmit has relentlessly bought his visions to life on a number of projects. Planning is key where all aspects of the production are drafted by him providing a solid foundation for collaborations with all creatives involved. ‘The team have to believe in you first, and then in your vision in order for it to come to life.' --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/anisa-ani/message

Gurmit launched Impress in 2009, a video production company producing and directing adverts for online companies. Through BGP Ltd Gurmit produced & directed his first short film ‘7 Reasons Why’ which was selected for Cannes Film Festival ‘Short film corner’ in 2013. In early 2017 Gurmit released a documentary ‘Attract Any Woman Anywhere’ released for Amazon Prime. It also secured distribution in Poland, Berlin, Finland and Sky Italy. Gurmit has relentlessly bought his visions to life on a number of projects. Planning is key where all aspects of the production are drafted by him providing a solid foundation for collaborations with all creatives involved. ‘The team have to believe in you first, and then in your vision in order for it to come to life.' --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/anisa-ani/message