Malavika Varadan

Writer, TEDx speaker, Entrepreneur, RJ, MD of The Hive

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Hosted by

Shirin Zemmo

Co-Host

Hilmarie Hutchison

About Malavika Varadan

Writer, TEDx speaker, Entrepreneur, RJ, MD of The Hive

Malavika Varadan first discovered her love for theatre when she was 13, with the Artists Repertory Theatre in Bangalore. She went on to act in several productions in the city with various theatre groups before she moved to Dubai to pursue her career in radio. She continued to act and be on stage both through her job and outside of it. She was featured as one of Masala’s 100 most influential people in the UAE. She took over The Hive in January 2019.

Her TED talk on ‘7 ways to make conversation with anyone’ is one the most-watched TEDx talks in the world – with about 20 million views.

About this Episode

We talk to Malavika about her intriguing and long career as a radio host on City 1016 and her journey and transition from that familiar bubble into her new exciting venture, The Hive.

We talk a little bit about some of Malavika’s many accomplishments, some of which include her TEDx talk, her win of the Khaleej Times Woman of Substance award, her love for drama, her hike in the Himalayas and so much more.

Tune in for a really great episode, filled with little nuggets for your daily inspiration!.

“I think of Instagram as a billboard, right? It is the billboard that I want, so I’m gonna put on it what defines me like I wanna create stuff I put on it to represent what I want my brand to be…. If you have a negative comment, put it in on your own billboard”
Malavika Varadan

“I never even in my wildest dreams thought that I could be an entrepreneur, that I could have the guts to buy a business …. and decided you know what, I’m just gonna jump into this because if I don’t do it now, when am I gonna do it, how long am I going to keep doing the same radio show, it’s so comfortable, it would be easy to do this my whole life but I think, I have to choose the more difficult part.”

– Malavika Varadan

Show highlights

It’s important for us to encourage people to make conversation and make human connections. That’s gonna be the way the world changes. - Malavika Varadan Click To Tweet

“I think this ability to establish human connections is really a defining quality, its skills, that transcends cultures and age groups and I feel like as we get more and more connected digitally, we’re losing the ability to do that in person.”

Malavika Varadan

“As I spent more and more time in the industry, I think it was also about finding ways to be better and learn more, even if it wasn’t being demanded of you upfront.”
Malavika Varadan

“With radio, you are free to be a lot more you and I think that can everyday speak that being able to echo the words on the street, I think that really helps build your personality and helps you discover a lot about yourself which is useful in so many ways.”
Malavika Varadan

People will forget what you say and people will forget what you do but they will never forget how you made them feel. - Malavika Varadan Click To Tweet

“I think as a young brown girl growing up in a city where so many of us are from the Asian subcontinent constantly see not just children but young people, adults aspiring to be someone they are not and not be authentic and I think, that bothers me, that really bothers me because I think to be authentic, you have to be proud of where you come from and being proud of where you come from and being proud of your story.”

Malavika Varadan