The Conversation

What's it like to work closely with animals? Two women in charge of the day-to-day care of penguins and primates reveal the true nature of the job. They tell Kim Chakanetsa why it's best to avoid a penguin's beak, how chimps might respond to a leather jacket, and whether they think wild animals should be kept in captivity at all.Shanet Rutgers has the delightful job title 'Head of Penguins' at the Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town, South Africa. Shanet first visited the aquarium as a child, and decided straightaway that she wanted to work there. She fondly describes the penguins as 'ridiculous animals' - and says feeding them has made her more considerate about her own diet. Shanet is passionate about the role of zoos and aquariums in educating the public about the natural world.Laura Hanley is Senior Keeper of Primates at Monarto Zoo in South Australia - one of the largest open-range zoos in the world. The animals are kept in large enclosures, and visitors are driven around the complex in vehicles. Laura is in charge of a troop of eight chimpanzees, each with its own distinct personality. Despite working closely with the chimps, Laura says its important to maintain your distance and keep a respect for the animals. She hopes they can play a role in raising awareness about the plight of chimps in the wild.(L) Image: Shanet Rutgers, Head of Penguins. Credit: n/a (R) Image: Laura Hanley, Senior Keepers of Primates. Credit: Nicky Tomkinson

Two women lawyers in Alabama who are making history in the courtroom in their own ways. Kim Chakanetsa meets them inside the famous federal courthouse in Montgomery, where historic civil rights rulings were made in the 1950's and 60's.At 28, Briana Westry-Robinson is Alabama's youngest ever female African-American judge. Graduating from high school at 16, and university at 19, Judge Westry-Robinson now presides over a district court in one of the poorest counties in Alabama. She says her age is an advantage in this job, because she can still identify with the juveniles who appear before her, and her aim where possible is to give them a second chance, rather than to punish. Danielle Ward Mason is an award-winning trial lawyer, who specialises in fighting cases where medical devices and drugs may be harmful to women. She is considered to be one of the top personal injury lawyers in the state, and has won some of the largest pay-outs for her clients in the country. Danielle had a baby at 19, and put her legal dreams on hold for a decade, but then decided to go for it, and now her advice for aspiring young women is 'don't ever say what you can't do'.Image: Danielle Ward Mason, presenter Kim Chakanetsa and Briana Westry-Robinson. Credit: United States Court for The Middle District of Alabama, USA

Two women who emigrated to the US from Asia and both became writers talk to guest presenter Lauren Schiller in San Francisco about their 'messy' relationship with language, their rejection of the American Dream, and how they're trying to break free from labels.Barbara Jane Reyes is a poet, whose work explores language, culture and identity. She was born in Manila in the Philippines, and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. She started writing seriously as a student - when there were very few writers who were voicing her own immigrant experience. She now teaches Philippine Studies at the University of San Francisco and is the author of four books of poetry. She is due to publish her fifth collection, Invocation to Daughters, later this year. Yiyun Li is an award-winning writer. She grew up in Beijing, and moved to the US when she was in her early 20s to study immunology. It was after she had arrived in Iowa and adopted English as her own language that she decided to make the leap from science to creative writing. She has published four works of fiction, and numerous essays. Her latest book is called 'Dear Friend, from My Life I Write to You in Your Life' and it was written while she grappled with depression and was finding solace in other writers. Yiyun teaches creative writing at UC Davis.Image: Barbara Jane Reyes (left) (credit: Oscar Bermeo) and Yiyun Li (right) (credit: Roger Turesson)

LGBT women from different generations in San Francisco talk to guest presenter Lauren Schiller about their sexuality, the city and the changes they've seen in society over the years.Kate Kendell has been described as America's 'Head Lesbian'. She is Director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, which fights for the legal rights of LGBT people. She grew up in a Mormon family in Utah, and says that when she moved to San Francisco in 1994 her life went 'from monochrome to Kodachrome.' Kate was heavily involved for the fight for equal marriage in California, and married her own long-time partner Sandy in 2008. They have three children.Robyn Exton founded a dating app for lesbian, bisexual and queer women in London in 2013, but two years ago she relocated to San Francisco to be closer to her investors. She also relaunched the app under the name Her - and it's now available in 55 countries. For Robyn, San Francisco has much to offer as a tech hub, but less in terms of the nightlife and parties she enjoys. She says the city is no longer the gay mecca it once was - and she is sad about the demise of the lesbian bar.Image: (L) Robyn Exton. Credit: Helena Price. Image: (R) Kate Kendell. Credit: NCLR.

Two mothers who lost their sons to gun violence meet up with Kim Chakanetsa in New York. This is the first of a month-long series of Conversations with women in the United States, from Alabama to San Francisco. Nicole Hockley's son Dylan was six when an armed man burst into Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012, killing 26 children and adults. It remains the deadliest school shooting in US history. Nicole says the fabric of the universe was torn apart that day and she has been trying to repair it ever since. Her organisation Sandy Hook Promise is now spreading school violence prevention programmes nationwide. She says these are "not about the gun" - they are about trying to stop the violence before guns are ever involved. Just a few weeks before the tragedy at Sandy Hook, Lucy McBath's 17-year-old son Jordan Davis was shot dead at a gas station in Jacksonville, Florida. Jordan was African American and the shooter was a middle-aged white man. Lucy believes race and America's gun laws both played their part in her child's murder, and she now speaks out in his memory. She is faith and outreach leader for Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, and Every Town for Gun Safety.Image: (L) Lucy McBath and (R) Nicole Hockley Credit: n/a

Two women trying to get into the mind of the serial killer talk to Kim Chakanetsa about the craft of crime fiction. We hear what they're most afraid of, how writing about grim subjects has altered their outlook on life and whether women are particularly good at this genre. Patricia Cornwell is probably the best known female crime writer in the world. Credited with creating the 'forensic thriller', Patricia has sold over 100 million books across the globe and recently published the 24th book in her hugely popular Kay Scarpetta series. Patricia has also long been fascinated by Jack the Ripper, the infamous Victorian serial killer, and has written her own account of his possible identity.Angela Makholwa is a former South African journalist who first got into crime writing after interviewing the real-life serial killer, Moses Sithole, in prison. Her debut novel Red Ink was loosely based on those experiences. She says the role of the writer is to confront the things we all want to run away from. She has since written two more novels and says she enjoys reading crime fiction from Scandinavia, given that she writes about such a radically different part of the world. Angela lives and works in Johannesburg.(L) Image: Patricia Cornwell. Credit: Patrick Ecclesine. (R) Image and credit: Angela Makholwa.

Models challenging perceptions of female beauty talk to Kim Chakanetsa about how the industry is becoming more diverse, why they decided to take up modelling in the first place, and how to maintain that all-important inner confidence. Alex Bruni, originally from Italy, did not start modelling until she was in her late 40s. It was when people began to compliment her on her long, grey hair that she first decided to give it a go. Now nearly 60, she has a successful career as an older model and is keen to put a positive spin on ageing. She tells us to 'embrace the grey'.Mahalia Handley describes herself as a plus-size or curvy model. As a mixed-race, 'chubby' child in small-town Australia, Mahalia rarely saw images of women who resembled her. But she was determined to become a model. Now, aged 24, she has worked for the likes of Vogue, Selfridges and Cosmopolitan. She hopes to be the role model that she never had.Image: (L) Alex Bruni. Credit: Wendy Carrig. Image: (R) Mahalia Handley. Credit: Pepo Fernandez.

Two of the strongest women in the world join Kim Chakanetsa to explain what it's like to be able to out-lift most men.Kristin Rhodes has muscled her way to America's Strongest Woman status seven times. A mother and child-care provider from San Diego, for the last decade she has reigned supreme nationally, and has set three women's world records for strength. When she started out, she was competing in parking lots and winning just a handshake - now she performs in big venues to huge crowds. Kristin is proud to have been instrumental in getting the women's game the recognition she believes it deserves, and to have inspired other women to become stronger themselves.Andrea Thompson is a relative newcomer to strength competitions, having only started weight-lifting two years ago when a coach spotted her in the gym in Suffolk. She's already been declared Britain's Strongest Woman and is hoping to add more medals this year. Andrea says she has always been big, and initially began exercising to lose weight after having her children, but now she has so much muscle she weighs more than she did before. However, finding out the feats her body is capable of has amazed her, and she now loves her larger build.(L) Image: Kristin Rhodes. Credit: Strongman Corporation. (R) Image: Andrea Thompson. Credit: Strongman Corporation.

Two leading female make-up artists speak to Kim Chakanetsa on the power of powder to create looks, moods and characters.Alex Box is a British internationally-renowned fashion make-up artist. Her work is artistic, colourful and unique. Alex's background is in fine art, and she uses that as an inspiration to constantly push the boundaries of her work.Charu Khurana is the first official female make-up artist in Bollywood. She spent years fighting against an informal ban on women working in the film industry across India. Charu is now one of the few professionals in her field to be trained in handling prosthetics.Image: (L) Charu Khurana (credit: N/A) and (R) Alex Box (credit: Elizabeth Hoff)

Talented women cricketers from the West Indies and New Zealand chat to Kim Chakanetsa about how they've gone from playing cricket with the boys as kids to record-breaking achievements with their teams.Merissa Aguilleira is from Trinidad and plays for the West Indies women's side. As well as a six year stint as team captain, Merissa contributed to their success in becoming Twenty20 World Champions in 2016. Her achievements seem all the more impressive when you realise that she only started playing 'real' cricket at 16, and initially her instinct was to run away from the hard ball! She talks about the importance of breaking down stereotypes by being unafraid to boast about women's achievements.Sophie Devine is Vice Captain of the White Ferns, New Zealand's women's team. She also plays in the Australian Women's Big Bash League, and says the popularity of women's cricket there is going through the roof. As a Type 1 diabetic, Sophie says her condition has never been a barrier to sporting success, and she truly believes in the power of sport to change lives.(L) Sophie Devine (credit: Stefan Gosatti/Getty Images) and (R) Merissa Aguilleira (WICB Media/Randy Brooks of Brooks Latouche Photography)

Women who make wine in Argentina and Italy talk to Kim Chakanetsa about the labour and love that goes into a great glass of wine.Susana Balbo has been making a name for herself in the wine world for over 30 years. She was the first woman in Argentina to graduate with a degree in winemaking, and in 1999 she launched her own label in her hometown, Mendoza. She was also the first woman president of Wines of Argentina, an organisation that promotes the country's wine industry to a global market. Today she produces 3.5 million bottles per year - almost all of which are destined for the export market. She explains how she produces high-quality wines at high altitude, and in a challenging desert climate.Julia Walch is part of a matriarchy of winemakers in the South Tyrol in Northern Italy. Julia grew up on the family estate, but never thought she would enter the wine world herself - that is until she went away to study, and felt the pull of the vineyard. Aged just 26, she took over the Elena Walch company together with her younger sister. Each year they make about 550,000 bottles of wine. Julia says her mother is still on hand for advice, though she's grateful that she's been given free reign to pursue her own ideas.Image: (L) Susana Balbo (no credit) and (R) Julia Walch (credit: Florian Jaenicke)

Female stars of YouTube in India and the US swap tips for success with Kim Chakanetsa.Shruti Arjun Anand was a 'computer geek' who developed a passion for make-up and beauty, and decided to vlog about it for an Indian audience. She is now a top online video star in her country, and one of her most popular videos is how to make a pimple disappear overnight. Shruti's personal life features too - she kept a pregnancy vlog and also discusses topics like how to deal with the pressure on Indian women to have a baby in the first place.Evelyn Ngugi is Kenyan-American and vlogs from Texas under the alias 'Evelyn from the Internets'. She started out talking about natural hair and has expanded into funny monologues and interviews about race, gender and culture. 2016 was a very special year because when she posted an enthusiastic review of the album Lemonade, Beyonce spotted it and Evelyn found herself projected onto a big screen during the singer's worldwide tour.Image and credit: (L) Shruti Arjun Ananda. Image and credit:(R) Evelyn Ngugi.

What does it take to run a glossy magazine? Two editors speak to Kim Chakanetsa about celebrities, gossip and the power of true life stories.Betty Irabor launched her magazine, Genevieve, in Lagos 13 years ago, with the aim of inspiring other women to believe in themselves. Her publication is described as Nigeria's leading inspirational and lifestyle magazine. She's even got her daughter involved, first as a teen columnist, now as Assistant Editor. She says that in recent years the website has become more important than the printed edition. But it's still the Lagos elite that set the trends in her fashion pages.Mamen Sanchez Perez is editor of Hola Mexico and deputy editor of Hola Spain, both part of the Hello Magazine family. She shares her memories of her grandparents, who first launched Hola Magazine in Barcelona in the 1940s, with the aim of bringing more respect and integrity to the gossip pages. That family ethos carries through to the present day - and Mamen's grandmother still plays an active role in the business.Image: (L) Betty Irabor and (R) Mamen Sanchez Perez Credit: (L) Genevieve Magazine and (R) no credit

Two women who've escaped forced marriage and now fight for the rights of other victims talk to Maryam Maruf about how they've coped after being ostracised by their families.Most people look forward to their wedding day: not Jasvinder Sanghera. She grew up in a large Sikh family in Derby, UK and was set to marry a much older man. Instead, aged just 16, she ran away from her home. Her family disowned her - and refused her attempts at reconciliation. As a response, Jasvinder went on to found Karma Nirvana, a charity which supports victims of forced marriage and honour-based violence.Fraidy Reiss didn't even have her own bank account when she left an abusive marriage at the age of 32. She'd been brought up in an insular Orthodox Jewish community in New York, and did not feel she had any real choice in who she married. When she left her husband she had to turn her back on her whole life. She set up a new home with her daughters, and decided to help other women from all different religious and cultural backgrounds to escape forced marriage. Her organisation is called Unchained at Last.(L) Image: Fraidy Reiss. Credit: Julie N Samuels. (R) Image: Jasvinder Sanghera. Credit: Karma Nirvana.

Women who have opened up new horizons for tourists, in the sunny western cape of South Africa and the high mountain trails of Nepal. Laura Ndukwana runs popular tours of two townships in Cape Town. She grew up and still lives in Gugulethu township, and believes that tourists should see both sides of this beautiful city, which contains very rich and very poor areas. Her tours involve walking and meeting local people, cooking for school children and attending a traditional gospel service on a Sunday. Laura says she guards against so-called 'poverty tourism' by keeping the groups small, and briefing them carefully to ensure there is respect for local residents. She also says there is a black middle-class in the townships that tourists are often surprised to see.Lucky Chhetri and her two sisters started the first women-only trekking guide business in Pokhara, Nepal. Initially they ran all the treks themselves but have now gone on to train over 1,000 local women to be guides. They have faced many challenges as outdoor work is not traditionally seen as suitable for women - and male competitors would have gladly seen them go out of business. However they have gone from strength to strength and Lucky still enjoys leading treks herself. She says a good guide understands their client and how to make a trip fun and memorable for them. Kim Chakanetsa asks Lucky and Laura how they started out, what they have learned and what they enjoy most about their work.(Photo: Tour guides Lucky Chhetri (L) and Laura Ndukwana (R) courtesy of Lucky and Laura)

Two women fighting to educate girls in Afghanistan and Kenya talk to Emily Webb about the ingenious ideas they've come up with to deal with opposition from men in the community.Imagine searching classrooms for bombs before the start of every school day: that's the reality for Razia Jan who decided to open a school for girls in a village in rural Afghanistan. Razia had lived a comfortable life in the US for over 30 years, but after the fall of the Taliban, she decided to return to her home country, and was shocked by what she saw. Despite strong local opposition, she is now educating hundreds of girls who were previously denied any schooling.Kakenya Ntaiya dreamt of becoming a teacher, but she had to make an unimaginable deal with her father to stay in education. She went onto gain a PhD in education, and having graduated, she returned to her own Maasai village in Kenya to set up a primary boarding school for girls. She hopes that her students will be the leaders and decision-makers of the future.(L) Image: Kakenya Ntaiya. Credit; Kakenya's Center for Excellence. (R) Image: Razia Jan. Credit: Razia's Ray of Hope.

Two world-renowned pianists from Venezuela and Georgia talk to Kim Chakanetsa about their personal and musical journeys.Gabriela Montero grew up in Venezuela and could pick out a tune on a toy piano before she could speak. She made her concert debut aged eight and has gone on to become an award-winning and best-selling performer, who played at the inauguration of President Obama in 2009. Gabriela now lives in Spain but in recent years has begun to compose her own music, and is using her artistic voice to highlight the terrible problems facing her native Venezuela.Georgian pianist Khatia Buniatishvili began her musical studies at the age of three. Hailed as a child prodigy she began touring internationally aged 10, and hasn't stopped since. However she says she was never pressured to have a career in music - it's simply what she loves to do. As well as gaining a reputation for a dramatic playing style, Khatia's revealing outfits have also attracted attention. She says she will continue to wear what she wants on stage, and that these comments are attempts to belittle her intellect and musical talent by focusing on her image.(Photo: (L) Khatia Buniatishvili. Credit Gavin Evans, and (R) Gabriela Montero. Credit Shelley Mosman)

Steering a small boat across oceans by yourself - why do it? Kim Chakanetsa meets two women who have been alone at sea for months - and they chat about encountering sharks, avoiding pirates and having to call their mums. Roz Savage is the first woman to have rowed solo across three oceans - the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian. She had no background as an adventurer and in fact was a UK management consultant for years, but in her 30s she decided to do something completely different with her life. Roz says rowing the Atlantic was a huge struggle physically and mentally, but afterwards she wanted to put herself in even more challenging situations to see if she could do it, and to raise awareness about sustainability. Australian Jessica Watson sailed around the world when she was just 16, battling storms and isolation, but also fierce criticism from those who thought she was too young. On her return after 210 days she was greeted by the Prime Minister and tens of thousands of people, and was later named Young Australian of the Year. Jessica says she did it partly to prove that young people, and young girls, can be serious and achieve incredible things, and they should not be dismissed.(Photo: (L) Roz Savage sat in her row boat. Credit: Phil Uhl and (R) Jessica Watson stood on her yacht. Credit: Sam Rosewarne)

Treading the boards with two musical theatre directors from Nigeria and Pakistan. Kim Chakanetsa discusses the hunt for local talent, the emotional journey of opening night and running a tight ship in rehearsals.Nigerian theatre director and producer Bolanle Austen Peters has re-ignited Nigeria's passion for their culture through her highly successful musicals focused on local stories using local stars. She says "The talent is latent, people have it but they just need the right platform to bring it out and the individual who's going to push them". And Bolanle has done just that through her production company Terra Kulture. Nida Butt is a theatre director, producer and choreographer from Pakistan and is responsible for revolutionising the Pakistani musical theatre scene by introducing live music and orchestras to the stage. She is the owner of Made for Stage theatre productions which has put on performances from Grease! to Nida's own original production of Karachi the Musical. Nida says "We were teaching ourselves, learning ourselves, and doing it ourselves".Image: (L) Nida Butt and (R) Bolanle Austen Peters, Credit: Nida Butt (n/a) and Bolanle Austen Peters (Reze Bonna)

Sorting out the messy business of divorce, in France and India.Veronique Chauveau is a divorce lawyer based in Paris, where she's been practising for more than 30 years. The bulk of her work is with the rich and famous, but she also finds time for a 'reality check' through taking on international child abduction cases. And she is an undisputed expert in jam making!Vandana Shah is a divorce lawyer in Mumbai. She learnt about divorce the hard way, when she was thrown out of the family home, and spent the next 10 years battling to get a divorce. During that time she got herself a law degree, and she is now one of the foremost lawyers at the family court in Mumbai. She regularly writes for The Huffington Post, and her memoirs are called The Ex-Files. She also started 360 Degrees Back to Life, India's first support group for people going through a divorce.(L-Image & credit: Vandana Shah. R-Image & credit: Veronique Chauveau.)

Space Scientists from the UAE and the UK discuss the missions they're involved in and what they mean to them.Sarah Amiri is the lead scientist for the UAE's Mars Mission. Their plan is to send an unmanned spacecraft, the 'Hope', to reach Mars in 2021, where it will provide unprecedented data on the Martian climate, and also send a message to the youth of the region that there are paths available to them in science, rather than radicalism. Sarah says the people working on the Hope mission are all under 35, and 34% of them are women.Monica Grady is a prominent British space scientist, known for her work on Beagle 2 and the international Rosetta mission, which aimed to find out where life on Earth came from. In 2014, when the robot probe Philae successfully landed on a comet, a video of Monica's hugely excited reaction went viral on the internet. She says it's no wonder she was so happy - this mission had been part of her life for 30 years.Image: (LHS) Sarah Amiri and (RHS) Monica Grady Credit: n/a

Feminism is not known for being funny but we're hoping to change that on The Conversation this week as two feminist stand up comedians go head to head to explore the funny in feminism. They are Aditi Mittal, one of India's top stand-up comedians today and Zahra Noorbakhsh, one half of the internationally acclaimed podcast #GoodMuslimBadMuslim. Also starring a live studio audience of young and alarmingly intelligent people. This programme was part of the BBC's 100 Women Season.(L) Image: Zahra Noorbakhsh, Credit: Harsh Mall. (R) Image and credit: Aditi Mittal.

Two women who get inside Presidents' heads, tell Kim Chakanetsa how they turn their bosses' thoughts and ideas into powerful oratory.Sarada Peri is Special Assistant and Senior Speechwriter to President Obama. She says a good speech writer is like a ghost, and that her job is really to inhabit the President's mind on any given topic. For her, the goal isn't to emulate what he sounds like, it's to understand how he thinks. This is then represented on the page or teleprompter; with Sarada ever conscious that a single line from any one of his speeches could be lifted out of context and tweeted around the world in seconds.When the first female President of the Republic of Kosovo came into office in 2011, it was Garentina Kraja who she turned to for her speech writing prowess, as well as her policy expertise. Together Garentina and President Jahjaga wrote a speech about the women who were raped in Kosovo during the war, and who felt they'd been ignored and forgotten since. It helped to change the whole national conversation on the subject. Garentina passionately believes in the power of words and story-telling to persuade hearts and minds.Image: (LHS) Sarada Peri speechwriter to President Obama and (RHS) Garentina Kraja speechwriter to the former President of the Republic of Kosovo Credit: N/A

In 2002, the French Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt became perhaps one of the best-known hostages in the world when she was kidnapped and held for over six years, deep in the Colombian jungle, by the Farc or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. Watching Ingrid's emotional release on TV in 2008, was a young Canadian journalist called Amanda Lindhout. A month later she herself was taken hostage at gun-point, on a work trip to Somalia. For the 460 days of Amanda's captivity, she thought about Ingrid nearly every day, inspired by the thought that she too could one day end her ordeal. This is the first time they have spoken to each other.(Photo: Amanda Lindhout (L). Credit: Steve Carty. (R) Ingrid Betancourt. Credit: Barker Evans)

Azeri journalist Khadija Ismayilova became the subject of an international release campaign last year when she was arrested and detained by her government, and her cause was taken up by human rights lawyer Amal Clooney. Khadija had been delving into the President's family businesses, and published allegations of extensive embezzlement of oil funds. She spent 18 months in prison before being given early release in May 2016, but says she is determined to continue her investigations.Sacha Pfeiffer is an American newspaper journalist and was a member of the now world-renowned 'Spotlight' team on the Boston Globe. She and her colleagues spent years building up evidence and personal testimony of sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic priests, and the systematic cover-up of this by the Church. The resulting story caused shock-waves when it was published and the investigation was dramatised in the film Spotlight, which won the Best Film Oscar in 2016. Sacha was played by Rachel McAdams.(L) Photo: Khadija Ismayilova. Credit: Aziz Karimov. (R) Photo and credit: Sacha Pfeiffer.

Get your dancing shoes on because this week Kim Chakanetsa brings together two supremely talented ballroom dancers who between them have a pile of trophies. We talk about the glamour, romance, athleticism and also the rivalries, injuries and tears that go on behind the scenes.South African dancer Oti Mabuse has been Latin American dance champion in South Africa eight times and she is currently gracing UK screens as a professional dancer on the popular reality TV show Strictly Come Dancing. When she started ballroom dancing was a very divided activity, "We were the only black family doing Latin and ballroom, I was young, I was four and cute, but for my sisters it was extremely difficult." More recently, things have changed, she says "It's not about where you come from or what you look like, it's about what you do and what you deliver."Alex Hixson is from the UK and has been a World Champion bronze medallist and an International Professional Rising Star Champion. Her favourite dance is the foxtrot. Alex started dancing aged 6, "before 'Strictly', so before ballroom dancing was cool. I saw a poster and told my mum that I want to do ballroom and Latin dancing and she said why? That's what old people do."Image: Alex Hixson (Credit: John Sinclair) and Oti Mabuse (Credit: BBC)

Can you beat the so-called 'curse' of the child performer? Maryam Maruf brings together two women who grew up on camera - the American star of the films Matilda and Mrs Doubtfire, and a South African youth TV presenter.At six years old Mara Wilson was playing Robin Williams's daughter in Mrs Doubtfire, then she bagged the leading role in the film version of Roald Dahl's Matilda. For a few years she was the cutest little girl in Hollywood. Then as she hit puberty and did not become classically 'pretty', she discovered that the parts simply dried up. Mara chose not to re-enter the limelight as an adult, and is a writer and storyteller in New York. She's written a memoir called 'Where Am I Now?'Mandisa Nakana Taylor shot to fame in South Africa aged 10, as one of a multi-racial cast of young presenters on the kids' show YOTV. For six years children raced home after school and watched her grow up on their televisions. Mandisa says it was great fun, and there were a lot of first kisses on set, but they were also expected to maintain an adult work ethic. Now a mother and student in the UK, she still appears on screen, this time on her own YouTube channel. (Photo: (L) Mandisa Nakana Taylor. Credit: Vanity Studios. (R) Mara Wilson. Credit: Ari Scott)

How do you feel about graffiti and street art? Is it a democratic form of creative expression, or an eyesore, a public nuisance, that gets your blood boiling? These are questions that Kim Chakanetsa puts to her two guests today.Olga Alexopoulou lives in Turkey but is originally from Greece. She has a master's degree in Fine Art from Oxford University but she likes to paint on walls, big walls. She is responsible for the biggest mural in Greece, all 350 square metres of it. Street art has been very visible during the recent crises in both Turkey and Greece and while Olga's work promotes peace she has also had to face down her critics. Lady Pink has been described as "the first lady of graffiti". She was born in Ecuador but made a name for herself across New York by literally spray painting her name on the city's subway trains. She was one of very few women on the scene in the late '70s. She used to dress as a boy to avoid unwanted attention. Three decades on, she is now one of the leading figures in the street art scene.(Photo: Olga Alexopoulou (L). Credit: Yannis Bournias. (R) Lady Pink. Credit: Lauren Thomas)

When you are involved in the race to shed light on some of our biggest scientific questions, does your gender matter? Kim Chakanetsa brings together two successful female life scientists at the new world-leading Crick Institute in London. They are both leading ground-breaking research in their respective fields, and are joined by young women from Camden School for Girls who are considering a career in science. Dr Vivian Li grew up in Hong Kong and completed her PhD there, and says it was only when she went on to conduct research in Europe that she noticed any gender divide in science. She found that male colleagues did not take her expertise seriously as a young woman, and so she had to work twice as hard to prove herself. Vivian now leads a molecular biotechnology research team, and is pioneering a technique to create human intestines in the lab, to then transplant back into patients. She says she used to work seven days a week, but since having a family she has learnt to prioritise her work differently and get her weekends back.British virologist Dr Kate Bishop's research focuses on HIV and other retro-viruses, and she hopes her work could contribute to stopping HIV in its tracks at an earlier stage. Kate was the first in her family to go to university, and says she was always encouraged by her parents, who never put boundaries on her ambition. Leading a research group means she is less likely to be sitting at the bench conducting an experiment herself, but she now gets the satisfaction of passing her knowledge on to the next generation of scientists.(Photo: The Conversation team and guests at The Crick Institute, London)

Kim Chakanetsa is in candid and intimate conversation with two women who have made the life altering decision to enter a religious order. Mother Hildegarde is a nun in a silent, cloistered Catholic convent that overlooks London's Hyde Park. Originally from Australia, she entered religious life at 35, giving up her family, friends and name. She says she wanted to wear a habit, but found obeying the monastic 'rule' very hard to begin with, and as a self-confessed chatterbox she also really struggled with not talking! Fifteen years on she is comfortable leading a life spent in prayer and contemplation, and says although this life involves sacrifice, it is worth it.Sister Tracy Kemme is 30 and took 'first vows' with the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati in the US last year. Tracy made the heart-wrenching decision to break up with the love of her life to pursue her vocation, because even though he was everything she wanted, she realised that still was not enough for her. She says that society portrays religious life as giving up a lot of things. "I think people have unease with the fact that we don't have sex. We take a vow of celibacy, we take a vow of poverty and a vow of obedience and that's pretty counter cultural. But who would do that if that's what it's really all about?".(Photo: Mother Hildegarde (L) and (R) Sister Tracy Kemme)

Siphokazi Mdlankomo comes from South Africa and Marissa Begonia from the Philippines but they have plenty in common. They have both dedicated a great deal of their lives to taking care of other people's households and children. They are Kim Chakanetsa's guests on this programme and they are discussing life as a domestic worker.Marissa Begonia left her three young children to work overseas. It was a tough decision for her but she couldn't bear to see them going hungry at home in the Philippines. She found work initially in Hong Kong and then Singapore and finally London. Her choice has worked out for her, after years of providing for her children back home, she was finally able to bring them to join her in London. But the separation has taken its toll on all of them, and so has the work. Melissa has seen and heard of so much mistreatment among domestic workers that she decided to set up an organisation to protect the rights and welfare of others in her profession. The organisation is called Justice for Domestic Workers.Until very recently Siphokazi Mdlankomo was working for a family in Johannesburg, South Africa but she's had to leave her job to focus full time on her new role on television and writing cookery books. She came to fame when she was runner-up in the South African reality TV show Master Chef. Her cooking has come a long way since she started her working life. She looks back fondly at the young Siphokazi, just starting out in her career, back then, she didn't know what garlic was, or fresh herbs or how to make a piece of toast.Siphokazi and Marissa share their intimate, moving and sometimes funny stories of running someone else's household.(Photo: Marissa Begonia (L) and (R) Siphokazi Mdlankomo)

Growing up in Santiago Melissa Aldana learnt to play the tenor saxophone or 'horn' at her father's knee, though he took some convincing that she would stick with it. She did, and went on to become the first ever female instrumentalist to win the prestigious Thelonious Monk Jazz Award in 2013. Melissa is now the leader of a successful jazz trio based in New York, and loves her work, but is concerned that a musician's life on the road will be hard to square with starting a family when the time comes.South African musician Nomfundo Xaluva is winning awards for putting a new twist on her country's very strong jazz tradition. As well as singing and composing, Nomfundo says she is one of very few female black pianists in South Africa, and so feels responsible for being a role model to young girls. Being Xhosa, from the Eastern Cape, music forms a huge part of her culture, and she tries to incorporate this into her work, often singing in her mother tongue. Nomfundo reckons jazz is slowly becoming hip again, and she is excited to be a part of that.L-Photo: Melissa Aldana. R-Photo: Nomfundo Xaluva.

Kim Chakanetsa meets two women who are taking on the challenge of combating bullying in Pakistan and the US. Zainab Chughtai says the bullying she endured as a young girl inspired her to go into schools to try and stop other school children experiencing what she did. The emotional impact was so severe on Zainab, she says it's affected her personal relationships as an adult. Her campaign, Bully Proof, travels across Pakistan providing workshops to school children which create a safe space for them to open up about bullying - whether they are the victim, or the perpetrator.Lauren Paul was the target of bullying by a group of girls at school in California. It was so traumatic it led to depression, an eating disorder and even an attempt to take her own life. She says every single woman can recall a moment when their relationship with other girls had a negative effect on them. This is why she co-founded 'Kind Campaign', an organisation which goes into schools across the US working with girls of all ages in the hopes of spreading a positive message, and stamping out girl-against-girl bullying.(Photo: Left to right, Zainab Chughtai. Credit: Hamza Bajwa. Lauren Paul. Credit: Brandon Kidd)

Sapna Bhavnani is one of India's most celebrated hair stylists and is known for her own cropped hair and tattoos. Her Mumbai based salon, Mad-O-Wat, is the go-to place for Bollywood's A-list when their hair needs some attention. Clients include actors, politicians and sports stars like Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Sapna says her hair appointments can often turn into therapy sessions as her clients want to get their problems off their chest when they're sitting in her chair. Charlotte Mensah developed a passion for hair styling while she looked after her little sister's hair after their mother died. Charlotte, who has twice been named British Afro Hairdresser of the Year, (by the British Hairdressing Awards) grew up in Ghana and moved to London when she was 11 years old. She goes back and forth to Accra and says it gives her a lot of inspiration for the styles she creates in the Hair Lounge, her Portobello Road salon, which specialises in afro hair. Charlotte promotes natural hair and says women are embracing this look.Photo: (L)-Sapna Bhavnani. Credit: Sheetal Sherekar. (R) Charlotte Mensah. Credit: John Rawson.

Two women whose aim is to make sex work safer in Uganda and New Zealand join Kim Chakanetsa to exchange experiences.Daisy Nakato is the founder of WONETHA, a sex workers' rights and support organisation in Kampala, Uganda. She says she chose to go into sex work at 17, but did face many challenges including violence from clients and running from the police. She is now building a better relationship with the police, which she hopes will lead to a reduction in violence against sex workers, but for her decriminalisation is the ultimate goal. Daisy is also HIV positive, and her project encourages sex workers to get tested and then supports them in controlling the spread of the disease. New Zealander Catherine Healy went from teaching in a school to sex work in a massage parlour in her thirties. She says this was an empowering choice for her, but she was appalled at the lack of any protections for her profession, which was then illegal. So she formed the New Zealand Prostitutes Collective and led a long campaign to decriminalise all forms of sex work. This law was passed in 2003 and gives full employment rights to sex workers, and Catherine says the police are now partners in keeping sex workers safe.

Kim Chakanetsa gets into the driving seat with two female truckers from Sweden and Australia.Elin Engstrom test drives heavy haulage trucks for Swedish transport company Scania. The 26 -year-old has been in the business for six years and started out operating forklift vehicles, which had to be loaded manually. When she saw that the big trucks had rollers she realised that was the job for her. Elin has driven oil tankers and double trailers and describes driving as an art form. Despite the snow storms, and high winds in winter, she says you get a sense of freedom when you are sitting in your cabin high above the other cars on the road. Heather Jones is from western Australia and runs Pilbara Heavy Haulage Girls, which trains women to handle big trucks. She has worked in this industry for 25 years and got into it because as a single parent she needed a job where she could take her two little girls along with her. She describes the trucking industry in Australia like a big family, but even though it is welcoming, Heather says women have to work 200% to prove themselves. She can drive up to 17 hours per day, in trucks that are up to 60 metres. In summer it can reach 55 degrees and Heather says melting tarmac can be tough to deal with.(Photo: Elin Engstrom (L) and Heather Jones)

Kim Chakanetsa finds out what it's like to run a ship in South Africa and the Philippines. Zimasa Mabela is the first African woman to command a navy vessel. Commander Mabela is in charge of a de-mining ship based in Cape Town, South Africa. She grew up two hours from the sea, but only saw it for the first time aged 18. A few years later she felt compelled to join the navy so she could see the world. Zimasa was recruited as a radio operator and has travelled around the world to countries like India, Canada and Uruguay. She says she's very happy to have shown that a woman can not only join the navy, but that she can end up in charge.Jasmin Labarda is the first woman, and Filipino, to become the Chief Mate and a senior Dynamic Positioning officer of an offshore ship. She is currently navigating Technip's flagship vessel, the Deep Blue, which lays pipe along the ocean floor. Having first served on a tanker vessel at the age of 17, Jasmin worked her way up the ranks and in 2010 passed the Master Mariner's exam, which means that she is a licensed ship's captain. Jasmin is looking forward to the time when she finally can take up that sought-after Captain's position. Image Left: Zimasa Mabela (Credit: South African Navy) Right: Jasmin Labarda (Credit: Alecs Ongcal/Rappler taken in IMOSTI)

Kim Chakanetsa brings together two women from the US and UK, who have been at either end of the adoption process, to reflect on their choices.Judith Fleming is an actor and writer based in the UK who decided to adopt a child, on her own, at the age of 40. We are using a different name to protect Judith's and her son's privacy. Judith looked through many profiles, but says when she saw a picture of her son she knew he was the one and she had to be his mum. Judith's open with her little boy about his identity and he knows that she didn't "grow him in her tummy". Amy Seek is an architect from America and got pregnant at the age of 22. She made the difficult choice to give her child up in an "open adoption" and went through a painstaking process of trying to find the right family for him. Sixteen years on and Amy still lives with the pain of her decision, but she does have a relationship with her son. She reveals that they haven't had an in-depth talk about the circumstances of his adoption and hopes one day he will understand how hard it was for her to make that choice.Photo: Judith Fleming and Amy Seek with Kim Chakanetsa in the studio, Credit: BBC

Kim Chakanetsa brings together two athletes from the UK and Egypt who know what it's like to stand on the start line and have the whole world watching you.Dame Kelly Holmes became the first British female athlete to win a double gold at a Games when she won the 800m and 1500m in Athens, in 2004. Her talent was spotted by a PE teacher at school and her Olympic fire was sparked at the age of 14 watching Team GB win in Moscow. Kelly's fought the physical and mental strains of injury to become the best in the world at her sport and since retirement has tried to support other athletes achieve their dream. Modern pentathlete Aya Medany made her Olympic debut in the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, aged 15. She was the youngest on the Egyptian team and youngest to ever compete in her event, which is made up of fencing, running, swimming, shooting and horse riding. Aya also took part in the Beijing 2008 Games and London 2012. She's now retired but has travelled to Rio with the Egyptian team to stand in the IOC Athletes Commission election and mentor some of the young sports stars who are competing at their first Olympics. Image: left Gold medallist Kelly Holmes of Great Britain (credit: Scott Barbour/Getty Images) right Aya Medany of Egypt riding Udea at the 2012 London Olympics (credit: Alex Livesey/Getty Images)

Ekaterina Dobrokhotova was born in Moscow, and moved to Quebec when she was eight. She learnt magic as a teenager via the internet, practised every day for hours, and soon began to perform in public. Ekaterina is now the most watched female magician on YouTube. She specialises in the art of card manipulation, and believes the true secret of magic is not how good you are, but about how you make people feel.Adeline Ng is the only practising female magician in Singapore. She incorporates elements of her Chinese culture into her illusion stage show, which she has performed across Asia and Australia. When she started out, she struggled to get respect from the male theatre technicians, so took courses in sound and lighting and now feels more confident to say what she wants. (Photo: Ekaterina Dobrokhotova (L), with permission from E. Dobrokhotova. (R) Adeline Ng. Credit: Arron Teo)

Presenter Gemma Cairney gets behind the decks with two female DJs who get dance floors pumping in America and South Africa. DJ Lady Lea got hooked on house music and the Cape Town dance scene as a teenager in the early 1990s. She started taking her record box to clubs and playing early morning sets. Now rated as one of South Africa's top female DJs, Lea plays electro, funky, deep, tech, minimal and progressive house. She started an all-women DJ agency called Divas on Decks, which promotes up and coming talent and dishes out essential advice for being a success in this industry. DJ Tatiana Alvarez was obsessed with making mix tapes and cutting tracks growing up near Los Angeles. But her DJ career got off to a rocky start when her agent said he could not promote her to the serious underground clubs she wanted to play in, because she is a woman. So with the help of a make-up artist friend, some shoulder pads and breast tape Tatiana decided to pose as a man for a year to see if she could get bookings. The promoters loved her music.(Photo: DJs Lea Barrett (left) and Tatiana Alvarez (right). Credit Robert John Kley)

A celebrity nanny from Australia and a Brazilian nanny who works in the US tell Kim Chakanetsa what it's like to look after other people's kids 24/7.Australian nanny to the stars Philippa Christian has worked for actors, singers and Middle Eastern royalty. Even though she won't name names the 'Nanny Confidential' author reveals what it's like to work for Hollywood employers. Philippa loves the challenge of helping 'difficult' children, and there are definite perks, including the pay, but the downsides include rarely getting a day off, being routinely spied on, and having to avoid being 'papped' holding the baby on family outings. Tatiane Dias de Oliveira who is from Brazil chose nannying over teaching, because she says it is far more satisfying to watch one child grow with her full attention, than try to divide herself between a class full of kids. Thaty has now been a nanny for the past 17 years. Currently based in Boston, she is passionate about training and advising other nannies, who she says can often be in vulnerable situations with their employers, and lack the confidence to negotiate good terms and conditions.Image: Tatiane Dias de Oliveira (l) and Philippa Christian (r)

Clothes designers from Trinidad and Greece get together with Kim Chakanetsa, to talk about the killer combination of creativity and business sense you need to make it in the competitive world of fashion.Anya Ayoung Chee is from the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago. Always interested in fashion, but too scared to study it at college, she started making her own outfits when competing to represent her country at Miss Universe. Anya later entered the US reality TV show Project Runway, and came out the surprise winner, having only learnt how to sew weeks before! She's had her own labels, but is currently leading a collective of 30 local designers with the aim of putting the Caribbean region firmly on the global fashion map. Christina Economou is a rising star of the European fashion scene. She studied in Paris and won the 2011 International Award at London Graduate Fashion Week, then returned to her home city of Athens to fulfil her dream of launching her own luxury label. Christina has a love of bright colours and bold prints, and sources much of her production and fabric locally, for example in the historic Greek silk town of Soufli. She says fashion school did not prepare her for how to combine her design skills with running a business, so she's had to learn the hard way.Image: Anya Ayoung Chee (l) and Christina Economou (r) Credit: Joey Rosado (l) and Yiorgos Kaplanidis (r)

Kim Chakanetsa brings together top female football referees to discuss their passion for the game, the demands of rigorous fitness training and how they handle aggressive players.Melissa Borjas Pastrana was inspired to follow in her uncle's footsteps to become a referee. Melissa, who lives in the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa, referees men's games in Honduras and women's games at Fifa level. Melissa reveals how you have to be good at psychology to succeed as a referee, because you are managing 22 players on the pitch as well as the support staff and the fans in the stadium. Sandra Serafini grew up in a football obsessed household in Canada and from a young age was a keen player. When she discovered that her talents lay more with officiating rather than playing she began to referee at men's and women's games at an amateur level, until eventually she turned professional and joined Fifa in 2006. For much of her career she has combined refereeing football matches with neurosurgery, her work as a neuroscientist helps her to understand why things can go wrong in a game and how to try and fix them. She now works with the Professional Referee Organisation where she coaches the next generation of female referees.(Photo: Melissa Borjas Pastrana (L) Credit Omar Martinez. Sandra Serafini (R) Credit Dominic Chan)

Women make better city traders than men according to research, but most trading floors are dominated by men. Kim Chakanetsa explores why this might be and meets two traders from Russia and the Philippines who are helping to redress the balance.Currency trading is Louise Dispo's area of the market. Originally from the Philippines, Louise work's in London now. She says she's used to being one of the only females on the trading floor and thinks it's the high pressure, risk and unpredictable hours that put other women off choosing this as a career. Chocolate, coffee and nuts get Louise through the day and she says the office is filled with high screens, people shouting and phones ringing.Lucy Shitova has traded base metals, such as aluminium and steel, for 10 years. She began her career in Russia and also works in London now. Lucy says she was drawn to this profession because of the buzz, the "pay-off" and the fact it's like getting paid to gamble in a casino with someone else's cash. Lucy admits that it hits hard when you lose money, but you've got to be confident in your decisions and move on.Image: City Traders Louise Dispo (L) and Lucy Shitova (R) Credit: Louise Dispo & Lucy Shitova

Kim Chakanetsa brings together leading women vets from Uganda and Sri Lanka to talk about their careers and their trickiest challenges.As a new vet graduate, Dr Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka was made chief veterinary officer of the Ugandan Wildlife Service. She set about restocking her country's national parks with giraffes and lions following years of civil war, but it was the endangered mountain gorillas that really captured Gladys' heart. She now leads her own charity Conservation Through Public Health, which looks after both the health of the gorillas and the people who live near them, who are crucial to their survival. Sri Lankan vet Dr Nalinika Obeyesekere prefers to treat smaller creatures such as cats and dogs. Nalinika grew up looking after her parents' adopted animals, everything from fish to a leopard cub! But she soon decided that working with wildlife was not for her, and instead started up her country's first multi-doctor veterinary practice. Nalinika is passionate about improving training and education around animal care, and she uses a portion of her profits to provide free treatment for Colombo's huge stray dog population. (Photo: (L) Dr Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka. (R) Dr Nalinika Obeyesekere)

Patrice Banks says she was an 'auto airhead' before she fell in love with fixing vehicles. She was an engineer for a big chemicals company, but despite her passion for problem solving she avoided her own car maintenance and preferred to pay a man to do it. The Philadelphia born mechanic discovered that many other women felt the same way and decided to do something about it. Patrice started work in a garage, went back to school and set up Girls Auto Clinic to help women feel more connected with their cars. Nigerian Sandra Aguebor got her first job in a car repair shop aged 13 and has never looked back. Sandra did not let the jokes and jeers about being a girl doing this job get to her. Now Sandra is famous for being Nigeria's first female mechanic and has run her own garage, Sandex Car Care, for 20 years. She also leads the Lady Mechanic Initiative, which trains women to work with cars. (Photo: (L) Patrice Banks. Credit: Girls Auto Clinic. (R) Sandra Aquebor. Credit: Lady Mechanic Initiative)

Kim Chakanetsa travels to the Global Philanthropy Forum conference in California to speak to two philanthropists and finds out why they give so much money away.Amy Rao grew her Silicon Valley tech company, Integrated Systems Archive, during the dotcom bubble of the 1990s and says she started giving large amounts of money to causes close to her heart as soon as she launched the business. Amy grew up in a household where helping others and entrepreneurship were a priority, even when they were broke her parents still helped those less fortunate in the community. Today, Amy's philanthropy is focussed on human rights and the environment and she is the chair of the Human Rights Watch Voices for Justice events in San Francisco and Silicon Valley, and is on the board of the Schmidt Family Foundation, as well as being the president of the 11th Hour Project.It took determination and defiance for Tsitsi Masiyiwa and her husband Strive Masiyiwa to build their telecoms empire following a lengthy legal battle with the Zimbabwean government who had a monopoly. Tsitsi also grew up in a community where helping others was important. She says as soon as she realised they might make money with their company, Econet, she committed to giving some of it away because "you can only sleep in one bed, drive one car and have one home". Today Tsitsi is the co-founder and co-chair of the Higherlife Foundation, which has sent tens of thousands of children to school and university in southern Africa. (Photo: From left, Amy Rao, Kim Chakanetsa and Tsitsi Masiyiwa. Credit: Noah Stout of Stout Film)

Kim Chakanetsa quizzes two heavy metal bass guitarists about their roles in their bands, how they learnt to head-bang, and juggling the music with their day jobs.Doris Yeh tours all over the world with best-selling Taiwanese metal band Chthonic. She says she only got into heavy metal by accident, but now loves it. Being the only woman in the band can have its down-sides - at performances her male colleagues used to expect her to get changed in the toilet while they occupied the one dressing room! However, Doris learnt to assert herself, and says when she gets on stage and starts playing, she is just excited to be able to treasure that moment with the audience. Slovenian Sasha Zagorc formed the heavy metal/hard rock band Hellcats with her sister ten years ago. She's always been a metal-head so just wears her own black leather clothes in their videos and on stage. Initially the band had to deal with quite a lot of criticism as the first all-female band on the Slovenian metal scene, but they just kept going and now have fans all over the world. For Sasha having a band provides much needed relaxation, and she loves going on tour with her best friends.(L) Photo: Sasha Zagorc. Credit: Simon Podgorsek. (R) Photo: Doris Yeh. Credit: CHTHONIC.

When Australian mechanical engineer Marita Cheng got to university, she was shocked to discover that only five out of 50 students on her course were female. She responded by starting Robogals - an organisation that goes into schools and teaches robotics to girls as a way of encouraging them into choosing engineering as a career. Having won multiple awards and starting her own robotics company, Marita is now an inspiring role model herself, and has developed a robot arm that can aid people with mobility issues.Lebanese civil engineer Nisrine Chartouny oversees miles of tunnelling on London's ambitious Crossrail project. Her work requires precision, skill and very long hours. Nisrine joined her company Bechtel 10 years ago, and says she and her husband put off having babies for five years because she was enjoying her job so much. Now a mum of one, she was able to go back to work four days a week and wants the rest of the industry she is so passionate about to embrace flexible working, so that it can hold on to women like her.(Photo: Marita Cheng (L). Credit: University of Melbourne, Australia. Nisrine Chartouny (R). Credit: Bechtel)