The Conversation

Promoting women's writing around the world - Kim Chakanetsa brings together the heads of pioneering feminist publishing houses in Australia and India, and asks how they stay relevant in an age of self-publishing and e-books?Susan Hawthorne runs Spinifex Press in Queensland. She and her partner Renate Klein set it up in 1991 as a response to what they saw as a dearth of diversity in Australian publishing. She says that despite the proliferation of online platforms for writers to publish their work in recent years, they still find they need a real publisher to select, edit and promote them. Susan finds her books in a variety of ways, but is frustrated by the mainstream publishing sector's focus on 'star authors'. Susan is also a writer and her new novel Dark Matters is about a lesbian who is tortured.Urvashi Butalia co-founded India's first exclusively feminist publishing house in 1984, and now runs Zubaan books based in New Delhi. Her aim is to reflect the experiences of marginalised women and she says she is also seeing a resurgence of interest from young women - and young men - in the history of the women's movement in India. Urvashi is an award-winning author herself, whose best known book is The Other Side of Silence: Voices from the Partition of India.Image and credit: (L) Urvashi Butalia. Image: (R) Susan Hawthorne. Credit: Naomi McKescher

Two women re-define what it means to be a bread-maker. While women and baking have always been closely associated with each other, the billion dollar industry is actually dominated by men. This week, two young women speak to Kim Chakanetsa about becoming the face of bread-making, taking on the family business, and the sacrifices it takes to make the perfect loaf. Apollonia Poîlane's grandfather opened Poîlane bakery in Paris in 1932, and his son Lionel took over the business in 1970. Lionel turned it into one of France's most famous bakeries. However in 2002 he and his wife were killed in a helicopter crash, and his 18 year old daughter, Apollonia, took over the family business. She has turned Poilâne into a multi-million dollar international brand and says her father's friends and baking team helped her become the CEO she is today.Maya Rohr is a young American baker currently doing an apprenticeship with a Swedish chocolatier. 25 years ago Maya's mother opened a bakery in their hometown of Homer, Alaska, just a few days after Maya was born. Maya is in the process of deciding whether she wants to carry on the family business, Two Sisters Bakery, or pursue her own path. The bakery is more than just a company for Maya - she says it's a vital part of her small community.Image: (L) Apollonia Poilâne (Credit: Helene Saglio) and (R) Maya Rohr (Credit: Brianna Lee)

Professional female gamers excelling in a male-dominated environment. Emily Webb unites one of the UK's most successful live streamers, and a champion e-sports player from Canada to discuss their gaming highs, lows and strategies for dealing with trolls. Leahviathan has amassed almost 150,000 followers on the gaming website Twitch, streaming footage of herself playing video games such as Destiny 2 and Overwatch. Leah plays for six hours at a time, and makes her living from people subscribing to her channel and giving her tips. She says despite having a lot of support online, there are also people trying to bring you down just for being a woman, but she finds ignoring them is usually the best strategy.Stephanie Harvey - or missharvey as she's known in the gaming world - plays the game CounterStrike in front of thousands of fans at huge arena events, and has played in female teams that have won major international e-sports competitions six times. Stephanie also co-founded the website misscliks.com in reaction to what she saw as a lack of support and promotion for women in gaming. She says the situation has improved a lot in the last five years, and she now takes a different approach to trolls, persuading them to be better people, which actually works.Image and credit: (L) Stephanie Harvey Image and credit: (R) Leahviathan

Women who are acting as religious leaders in two Muslim communities in Europe. As women doing this is highly unusual, and is not accepted by most Muslim scholars and believers, Kim Chakanetsa asks them how they have been received and why it's so important to them.Sherin Khankan set up the feminist Mariam Mosque in Copenhagen in 2016. She calls herself a 'female imam' and she hopes to revolutionise thinking about the role of women in Islam, and offer an alternative to the traditional patriarchal structures within the religion. Though her mosque is controversial and not recognised by many within mainstream Islam, she says she has only received threats from the Danish far-right and not from fellow Muslims. Halima Krausen became Germany's first 'female imam' in 2013. She took over the running of the Hamburg Islamic Centre having stood in for a male imam on an informal basis for many years. She is currently focussing on her academic career at the Academy of World Religions at the University of Hamburg. She says more than anything else the role of imam is about being a counsellor.Left: Halima Krausen (credit: Jenny Schaefer) Right: Sherin Khankan (credit: Manyar Parwani)

Fighting fires and stereotypes at the same time - Kim Chakanetsa speaks to two senior fire women in India and the UK. Dany Cotton joined the London Fire Brigade at 18, just a few years after it opened up to women. She has worked her way up to be the force's first ever female Commissioner, and is now spearheading a campaign for the general public to stop using the term 'fireman' because it's sexist. Dany still regularly attends fires with her force, including at Grenfell Tower, where more than 70 people died in June 2017. She says it's the worst incident she has ever experienced in 30 years of firefighting, and she has never felt such an overwhelming sense of responsibility.Meenakshi Vijayakumar is the Deputy Director of North Western Region at the Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Service. She was one of the first ever female divisional fire officers in India, joining in 2003. Meenakshi has been called out to over 300 fires in her career, as well as frequent floods and the devastating 2006 tsunami in the coastal city of Chennai. All the way she has battled a widely held belief among her own colleagues that women should not be firefighters, and says she has had to work twice as hard as a man. In 2013 she was awarded the President's Fire Service Medal for Gallantry for rescuing two people from underneath a collapsed building.(L) Meenakshi Vijayakumar. Credit: Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Service (R) Dany Cotton. Credit: London Fire Brigade

At the 2018 Women of the World Festival in London, Kim Chakanetsa brings together two extraordinary women who have been instrumental in the fight against racism and police brutality.In 2013, three women came together to form an active response to systemic racism in the US. They'd just learned that the man who shot dead an unarmed black teenager called Trayvon Martin had been acquitted for the killing. They said simply: Black Lives Matter. One of them was Patrisse Khan-Cullors. Patrisse grew up in Los Angeles and became an activist at an early age, having witnessed how her own family members had been treated at the hands of police. In January 2018, she published her memoir, When They Call You a Terrorist.Baroness Doreen Lawrence has campaigned for police reform ever since the murder of her son Stephen in London in 1993. He was stabbed to death at a bus stop in an unprovoked racist attack. Doreen's tireless fight for justice finally resulted in two of his killers being convicted, and in a public inquiry. This resulted in the landmark Macpherson Report, which identified institutional racism in the police service, and led to widespread police reform. Doreen Lawrence has become an important public figure in the UK and was made a life peer in the House of Lords in 2013. Image: Doreen Lawrence and Patrisse Khan-Cullors at the WOW Festival in London Credit: BBC

Marching with fellow women for a cause - Krupa Padhy meets two women who have tackled violence against women head-on, by organising eye-catching and sometimes controversial street protests.Finn Mackay is one of the UK's most influential feminist activists. She founded the London Feminist Network in 2004, the same year that she revived the Reclaim the Night marches, after seeing shocking statistics on violence against women. The marches are women-only, something Finn believes is important, but she says men are welcome to make the tea and take a back-room role. She is currently a Senior Lecturer at the University of the West of England, Bristol.Angie Ng is a Chinese-Canadian feminist activist who founded SlutWalk Hong Kong to protest against sexual violence and victim blaming. She recognises that many view the term 'slut' as degrading, but she wants to problematise the word, rather than reclaim it. Angie says that in Hong Kong there was a pervasive view that sexual violence and street harassment was largely a western, 'foreign' problem, but she wanted to show that it happened in their culture too. Angie is currently writing a book based on her research into women and the sex trade.(L) Image: Finn Mackay. Credit: Reclaim the Night (R) Image and credit: Angie Ng

Is there a secret formula for finding love and marriage? Two modern-day matchmakers working within the Jewish community and the Hindu community share their unique insights into dating and relationships.Aleeza Ben Shalom is a Jewish-American matchmaker based in Philadelphia, USA, who describes herself as a love coach for marriage-minded singles. Her approach is not necessarily to find someone a match herself, but to give them the tools they might need to find a potential partner, mainly through a series of coaching sessions. She works within the Jewish community, and enjoys matching older singles through her business Marriage Minded Mentor.Geeta Khanna is an Indian matchmaker based in Delhi who tries to bridge the divide between the expectations of traditional parents and the modern desires of her clients. While many Indians are now using dating apps like Tinder and Shaadi, Geeta thinks there is still room for her personal services. Her agency Cocktail Matches serves an affluent Hindu community. She says she works with people of all ages, but in India it can be hard to find a match if you've been divorced.(L) Aleeza Ben Shalom (credit: Yehudis Goldfarb) (R) Geeta Khanna (credit: Vijay Kumar Gupta)

Two women who shape the look of a film, from sets to props to locations - and have huge influence on our screens. But despite their success, this is still a field dominated by men.Hannah Beachler has translated the African fantasy world of Wakanda onto the big screen in the much-anticipated new superhero movie, Black Panther. She is also the creative force behind the look of the Oscar-winning film Moonlight, and she has won awards for her work on Beyonce's visual album Lemonade. Hannah says sexism on set was so rife when she started out that she de-feminised her appearance, to avoid unwanted attention. Now she's in charge of her department however, she simply doesn't stand for any bad behaviour from anyone.Sarah Greenwood has been nominated for two Academy Awards in 2018 for her work on the box office smash hits The Darkest Hour and Beauty and the Beast. Sarah is considered one of the UK's top production designers and she specialises in films set in the past, including Pride and Prejudice and Atonement. Having been Oscar nominated six times in her career, she says she now has the luxury of being able to make choices, and only work with people she admires.Image: (L) Sarah Greenwood. Credit: Greg Doherty/Getty Images Image: (R) Hannah Beachler. Credit: Chris Britt

Two swimming stars look back on their extraordinary careers and talk frankly about sexism in the sport, how they overcame major challenges to keep competing and how they dealt with their period ahead of a race.Natalie Coughlin is among the greatest female swimmers in history, with 12 Olympic medals to her name. However when she was a teenager, and already a rising star in the pool, she suffered a severe shoulder injury which put her off competitive swimming altogether. It was only at university when she met her first female coach, Teri McKeever, that she once again felt inspired to go for gold. Natalie went onto become the only US woman to earn six medals at one Olympics. And at 35 years old she still hasn't officially retired.Natalie du Toit is a Paralympic champion from South Africa who refused to be defined by the scooter accident that left her an amputee at the age of 17. Before the accident she had been dreaming of competing in the Olympics and was tipped for success. Three months after she lost her left leg at the knee, she was back in the pool, determined to see what she could achieve. Not only has she now won 13 Paralympic golds but she also competed at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. She retired from the sport in 2012.(L) Natalie Coughlin (credit: Aaron Okayama) (R) Natalie du Toit (credit: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

Can women stop their intimate photos being published online without their consent? Kim Chakanetsa brings together two women fighting back against so-called 'revenge' porn Nyika Allen is President and CEO of the New Mexico Technology Council. In 2015, Nyika's ex-boyfriend began posting compromising photographs of her on Twitter. As they were viewed by complete strangers she was overwhelmed by shock and humiliation, but decided that she would not let him win. As well as getting the images taken down, and taking her ex to court, she successfully lobbied her state's politicians. With her help, New Mexico is now one of a growing number of US states to pass a law against revenge - or non-consensual - pornography. Talent Jumo supports survivors of revenge porn in Zimbabwe, through her organisation Katswe Sistahood. She says the trauma of the experience is often made worse by the reaction of family who can reject their daughters for bringing shame on them. She believes society stigmatises women for this whereas men are celebrated for their virility. And bullying by ex-partners is grounded in the assumption that they won't speak out. She is helping women do just that, as well as helping to draft much-needed laws that can punish this new crime.Image: (L) Talent Jumo. Credit: DCNGO. Courtesy of The Global Fund Image: (R) Nyika Allen. Credit: Joel Bond

Cutting off men's ties, throwing sequined stilettos and storming City Hall - carnival may at first appear to be a frivolous occasion, but Joanna Impey speaks to two women who say that feminist and even revolutionary ideas are at the root of carnival traditions, and are still highly relevant today.Staci Rosenberg is the founder of one of the few all-female Mardi Gras parades in New Orleans. When she moved to the city as a student, she discovered that the social clubs which organise the parades were mostly male, moneyed and invitation-only. So she set up the 'Krewe of Muses' - which now has over 1,000 members and has had to close its waiting list due to high demand.Monika Hoerig is the spokeswoman for the City of Bonn in Germany. But once a year, she joins a group of women to 'overthrow' her boss, the Mayor, and take control of City Hall. This symbolic takeover can be traced back to the 1820s, when a group of washerwomen got together to ditch their work and complain about their menfolk. The event marks the start of the carnival season in the area.Image: (L) Washer Princess. ©: Andreas Rentz/Getty Images Image: (R) Muses shoe. ©: Ryan Hodgson-Rigsbee

Are women treated unfairly on social media, and is the situation worse for women of colour? Krupa Padhy meets two social activists who unexpectedly found themselves at the centre of a digital storm, and asks what happened next. Munroe Bergdorf is a British model, DJ and social activist who came to public attention in 2017 when she was employed as the first transgender model in a L'Oreal cosmetics campaign. She was dropped by the company after a social media post in which she said all white people were guilty of racial violence, prompting a swift backlash. She says her words were taken out of context but she stands by them. Munroe received rape and death threats for weeks, but she fought back, has secured a new beauty contract and is now a public speaker on race issues. Yassmin Abdel-Magied is a Sudanese-Australian engineer, writer and activist who was named Queensland Young Australian of the Year 2015. However just two years later she found herself facing a barrage of criticism after posting a seven word status online that was seen by many as disrespectful to fallen soldiers on Anzac Day. Although she apologised immediately, she says that didn't stop her becoming the most publicly hated Muslim in Australia, and the months of abuse only calmed down when she left the country for good.(L) Munroe Bergdorf. Credit: Elvind Hansen (R) Yassmin Abdel-Magied. Credit: Lucy Alcorn

Two women who are spellbound by the power of storms talk to Kim Chakanetsa about why they are drawn to danger, what it feels like to be trapped inside a Category Four hurricane and the thrill of the chase.Karen Kosiba is a scientist based at the Center for Severe Weather Research in Boulder, Colorado. She chases extreme weather events to study the wind structure inside tornadoes and to measure the winds in hurricanes. She is mostly focussed on the data she collects from the relative safety of a radar truck, but sometimes she gets a chance to look out of the window and marvel at the sheer force of nature.Sarah Alsayegh is a photographer from Kuwait who started out taking photos of Kuwait City, seeking out the most dramatic sunsets, looming skies and dust storms as backdrops to her images. She also became the first Arab woman to travel to the area known as tornado alley in the US. She says people are often taken aback to see a woman chasing storms, but she loves the way they make her feel - like a tiny human being amidst the vastness of the natural world.Image (L) Karen Kosiba (credit: Gino De Grandis) Image and credit: (R) Sarah Alsayegh

Do women wield any real power in the boardroom? Kim Chakanetsa gets together top female executives from India and Ireland to discuss. Named one of India's most powerful women by Fortune India, Roopa Kudva has extensive experience of sitting on the board, both as a CEO and as an independent director. She currently leads the philanthropic investment firm, Omidyar Network, in India and also sits on the boards of Infosys and Tata AIA Life Insurance as an independent director. Roopa says companies should have more women on their boards for two simple reasons: 50% of their customers are women, and companies with diverse boards have been proven to perform better. Adaire Fox-Martin joined the executive board of the global software solutions company SAP in 2017, where she is one of two women. The board area she is jointly responsible for is Global Customer Operations, and she oversees the whole of Europe as well as China. Adaire describes this board area as the 'Crown Jewels of the company'. While she is not necessarily a fan of quotas per se, she says she can see that regulation and legislation can begin to effect change further down the line, and lead to an increase in the numbers of women in senior management. This in turn means that more women are now breaking through to board level.Image: (L) Adaire Fox-Martin. Credit: SAP Image and credit: (R) Roopa Kudva. Credit: Omidyar Network

Two award-winning photographers on the importance of having women behind the lens. They tell Kim Chakanetsa what drives them, the challenges they face in the field and how they justify the amount of travel they do in the name of reversing climate change.Cristina Mittermeier is a Mexican photographer who grew up alongside indigenous Mexican tribes, and witnessed their struggle to maintain their way of life. As a teenager, she began to worry about the impact that overpopulation was having on the environment. She started out her career as a marine biologist, before deciding that her photos rather than her scientific journals could have more impact on the world. Ami Vitale is an American photojournalist who won a World Press Photo 2017 award for her series about Chinese panda breeding programmes. As a National Geographic photographer she has travelled to more than 90 countries around the world, and her work focusses on the conflict that often arises between humans and their environment. She is based in Montana, USA.Image (L) Cristina Mittermeierand (R) Ami Vitale Credit: (L) Paul Nicklen and (R) Ami Vitale

Braving rough seas to make a living - it's not easy being a fisherwoman, but for our two guests it's about much more than the catch. They talk to Kim Chakanetsa about working in the open air, forming unique bonds with their crew and about their hopes for a sustainable future of fishing.Claire Neaton is one half of Salmon Sisters, a commercial fishing and nautical clothing company, based in Alaska. She and her sister Emma grew up in the remote Aleutian Islands in Alaska, and learnt to fish at their father's side. She says their unusual upbringing taught them to be self-sufficient and to value their family ties - and that protecting and maintaining the pristine conditions around Alaska's waters is her top priority for the future.Steinunn Einarsdottir is a fisherwoman based in the remote north-west of Iceland. Her parents were both at sea when she was a child, and she had to fend for herself when they were away. For many years, she has fished year-round, which is rare for women in Iceland, but now she's had her second child she's working in fish farming. She hopes to get back to life on the waves when her children are a little older, despite the fact that it always makes her seasick!(L) Claire Neaton (credit: Camrin Dengel) (R) Steinunn Einarsdottir (credit: Steinunn Einarsdottir)

A surrogate mother and a mother who used a surrogate - Kim Chakanetsa explores the ethics and emotions of carrying a child for someone else, with two women from the United States and the Democratic Republic of Congo.Krystal Wallace is from Texas and already had two children of her own when she saw a TV programme about surrogacy and thought it could be for her. After a rocky start, she has now been a gestational surrogate for three different childless couples. She hates the term 'womb for rent', preferring to call it 'extreme babysitting'. Krystal says seeing the parents' faces when they meet their child is the most amazing feeling for her, and she doesn't feel any sense of loss when they take the baby home. Jeanne Kapongo is from DRC and now lives in South Africa. She and her husband dreamed of having a big family but it took them ten years to fall pregnant with their first child. She says that she would not have felt complete without a second child, but after four more miscarriages they decided to opt for surrogacy. Jeanne says she was lucky to find a surrogate mother she connected with straight away, although it was a nerve-wracking process, as in South Africa the surrogate has the right to terminate the pregnancy for any reason.Image: (L) Krystal Wallace and (R) Jeanne Kapongo Credit: Krystal Wallace and Marie Claire

Finding out your father is a serial killer, and living with the consequences. Kim Chakanetsa brings together two women from the US and Australia who share this unusual experience, and asks why they both decided to speak publicly about it. Jenn Carson is a teacher in California and the daughter of Michael 'Bear' Carson, who committed three murders in the US between 1981 and 1983, alongside his second wife Suzan. Jenn was told about her father's crimes when she was nine years old, and says the discovery led to long-term nightmares and depression. She has only seen her father once since then, and recently campaigned - alongside his victims' families - for his parole to be refused. Elisha Rose is an Australian lawyer who discovered by watching the news when she was 13 that her father Lindsey had murdered five people. Elisha used to visit her father in prison until she realised that he was never going to take real responsibility for his crimes. She says that while she will never obtain closure from him, having this experience has been a driver to make her own life meaningful and purposeful, and to do good in the world.(L) Image: Elisha Rose. Credit: Australian Story. (R) Image and credit: Jenn Carson

Two librarians running vastly different libraries in South Africa and the United States share their passion for books and their secrets for inspiring children to read.Carla Hayden runs the biggest library in the world, the Library of Congress. As the first woman and first African American to take on the role she made history when she was nominated by former President Barack Obama. Carla now oversees the library's extensive collection of books, manuscripts and historical artefacts, which include an original Gutenberg bible and the first ever map of America. One of the library's main functions is to assist US Congress in the research it needs in order to pass bills. Prior to her appointment she spent most of her career working in public libraries, most recently in Baltimore, Maryland.Edith Fezeka Khuzwayo is the managing librarian at the Murray Park Library in the city of Johannesburg, South Africa. It's a tiny library, no bigger than a kitchen, and it serves a deprived community, where 90% of women cannot read. That has a huge impact on the local children, so Edith has come up with innovative ideas to encourage both kids and parents to use the library. Edith knows all too well what it means to be illiterate: she herself grew up in a rural area on the Eastern Cape, in a household without books, but her sheer love of reading her school notes meant she was always top of the class.(Photo: Edith Khuzwayo (L) and Carla Hayden (R). Credit: Shawn Miller.

What exactly is the role of the first lady? It's an unofficial position, that comes with enormous expectations, and some obvious pitfalls. Kim Chakanetsa speaks to the First Lady of Namibia, Monica Geingos, and the former First Lady of Iceland, Jonina Leosdottir.Monica Geingos is a lawyer and businesswoman who married Hage Geingob in 2015, shortly before he became President of Namibia. Monica has continued with many of her previous responsibilities, but she seeks to complement her husband's work by supporting socioeconomic projects in the country. She looks forward to the day when there are more female heads of state and spouses are no longer judged on what they wear or who they're married to.Jonina Leosdottir is an Icelandic novelist and playwright, whose long-time partner, Johanna Sigurdardottir, became Prime Minister of Iceland in 2009. Jonina therefore became the world's first gay First Lady, and she had to make many personal sacrifices as her partner steered the country through economic crisis. Jonina carried on with her writing career, but says she hardly saw Johanna for five years. Now, however, she's (mostly) happy to have her back.(L) Monica Geingos (credit: Paul Morigi/Getty Images) (R) Jonina Leosdottir (credit: Elsa Bjorg Magnusdottir)

What happens when women try to hammer out a peace deal? How does it differ from the way men do it? According to the United Nations, fewer than 3% of signatories to peace agreements are women. We meet two women who hope to change that. They made history in Northern Ireland and in Colombia by bringing the gender issue to the forefront of the peace process.Monica McWilliams is a Northern Irish peace negotiator who played a key role in the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, which brought an end to the Troubles. Monica co-founded the Northern Ireland Women's Coalition in order to get female representatives at the negotiating table. She was subsequently involved in the implementation of the agreement as head of the country's Human Rights Commission. She now advises women around the world on how to negotiate peace deals in countries such as Syria and Myanmar.Hilde Salvesen was part of Norwegian team which facilitated the recent peace negotiations in Colombia between the government and Farc rebels - the first of its kind to include a gender subcommittee to address the needs of women in the peace process. Hilde developed her strong understanding of Latin America when she travelled there as a student, and witnessed conflict first-hand in Guatemala and El Salvador. She currently works at the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights, part of the University of Oslo.(L) Image and credit: Monica McWilliams (R) Image: Hilde Salvesen. Credit: uio

Opening a bank account and praying in peace - just two things blind women cannot take for granted in Ethiopia and India. Kim Chakanetsa has a revealing conversation with two women who are taking on these challenges and more.Yetnebersh Nigussie recently won the Right Livelihood Prize - widely referred to as the 'Alternative Nobel Prize' - for her work promoting disabled people's rights in her country. Yetnebersh is a lawyer born and raised in rural Ethiopia who lost her eye sight at the age of five. She says growing up blind had its challenges but in the end it was a kind of liberation - she was not considered suitable for early marriage due to her disability, and her mother insisted that she was educated instead. Poonam Vaidya lives in Bangalore and lost her sight seven years ago when she was 21. After the initial shock, she says she tried not to ask, 'why me?' and slowly took hold of her independence again. She went on to further studies, and is now a content writer and blogger. She loves to travel, and is particularly interested in making transport more accessible for blind people. Poonam recently spent a year at the Colorado Center for the Blind in the US where she completed various challenges including travelling to four cities in one day. (l) Yetnebersh Nigussie (credit: Studio Casagrande) (r) Poonam Vaidya (credit: Raj Lalwani)

A Syrian architect who watched her city destroyed around her talks to an Irish architect who helped create community spaces in a migrant camp. They emphasize the importance of authenticity, simplicity and boundaries when it comes to designing buildings and public spaces.Marwa al-Sabouni runs an architectural practice together with her husband in the Syrian city of Homs. She has watched her city be torn apart by war, and believes communities are directly shaped by the environment they inhabit. She has now turned her mind to the question of how architecture might play a role in reversing the damage and rebuilding her country. She has written a memoir about her experiences called 'The Battle for Home'.Grainne Hassett is a senior lecturer at the School of Architecture, University of Limerick. She also runs her own architecture practice. In August 2015 she travelled to the migrant camp in Calais, known as 'The Jungle', where she ended up building several temporary community buildings with the help of volunteers. Although the buildings were demolished, she has taken the lessons she learnt from the camp into her wider work.Image: Marwa al-Sabouni and Grainne Hassett (R) with Kim Chakanetsa (L) Credit: BBC

The joy of coming together through song - Kim Chakanetsa talks to two women who have created choirs that go beyond simply making music. Mika Danny started the Rana Choir in 2008, with a clear mission to unite Arab and Jewish women in song. Mika lives in Jaffa in Israel and says that while women from Christian, Jewish and Muslim communities find it almost impossible to discuss what they call 'the situation' there, they have been able to come together 'as a family' through singing a repertoire that reflects all their different cultural backgrounds. Esmeralda Conde Ruiz says her life is "Music, music all day long". Originally from Spain via Germany, she now leads many different amateur and professional choirs in London, and says she always wants to push people to do things they didn't know they were capable of - whether they are a small community choir from Borough Market or a 500-strong amateur group of singers performing at the Tate Modern art gallery.Photo: (L) Mika Danny (credit: Noa Ben Shalom) and (R) Esmeralda Conde Ruiz (credit: MIO)

Pushing the limits in the name of science: Two women who have lived and worked in some of the most extreme conditions on earth talk to Kim Chakanetsa about the challenges of cold and dry conditions, the bonds they form on base, and what draws them back to these remote places.Carolyn Graves is a Canadian meteorologist currently working for the British Antarctic Survey. In 2016 she travelled to the Halley Research Station in Antarctica. She was planning to spend a whole year there, carrying out meteorological observations and monitoring all the technical equipment. But after just six months the entire team were forced to abandon base, over fears of a growing crack in the ice shelf.Violette Impellizzeri is an Italian astronomer who currently works at the ALMA observatory in Chile's Atacama Desert. She travels to base camp, which is 3,000m above sea level, about once every six weeks. The conditions are extreme - dry and remote - but the clear skies are ideal for the telescope, which provides unique research opportunities for scientists around the world.L-Image and credit: Violette Impellizeri at the ALMA observatory, Atacama Desert, Chile. Credit: Cristian Pontoni. R-Image: Carolyn Graves launching a balloon at the Halley Research Station in Antarctica. Credit: Kevin Hallam.

Top female casting directors in the UK and India chat to Kim Chakanetsa about fighting for the actors they want in a film, their proudest casting moments, and the painful job of telling someone they didn't get the part.Nina Gold is the woman behind the casting of the HBO series Game of Thrones and the new Star Wars films. She has also cast Oscar-winning movies such as The King's Speech and The Theory of Everything as well as countless TV drama series in the UK and US. She says she loves to unearth and push forward new young talent. Her work has been recognised by BAFTA with a special award in 2016. Nandini Shrikent is one of India's top casting directors. Based at the heart of Bollywood in Mumbai, she cast the lead actor for the multi-award winning film Life of Pi, as well as numerous home-grown movies including Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. She says casting the smaller parts is actually the real test of skill - finding the perfect actor for a walk-on role can be tougher than casting a big romantic lead.(L) Nina Gold (credit: Teri Pengilley) and (R) Nandini Shrikent (credit: Nandini Shrikent)

Women who ink and get inked talk to Faranak Amidi about why they were drawn to the world of tattooing, how they developed their signature styles, and why getting a tattoo of your partner's name is a big no-no!Claudia de Sabe is an Italian tattoo artist, who works at Seven Doors Tattoo in London. She got into the culture as a teenager when she was listening to punk music and hardcore bands. Her first tattoos were on her ankles and she says she still likes being able to hide them away discreetly. She's gained a big Instagram following with her detailed and eye-catching designs that combine both western and oriental styles.Wendy Pham is an Australian tattoo artist, who runs her own tattoo studio in Berlin called Taiko Gallery. She is heavily influenced by the Japanese cartoons she watched as a child - you can expect to see animals wearing kimonos and eating bowls of noodles in her colourful, fun designs. In fact, on social media she's known as 'wen ramen.' She got her first tattoo at the age of 18, but she says she hated it, and so she always makes sure her clients are certain about what they want before she puts ink to skin.Image and credit: (L) Wendy Pham Image and credit: (R) Claudia de Sabe

Leftover food, animal dung and an invasive water weed - Faranak Amidi talks to two female entrepreneurs in Nigeria and the US who have found profitable uses for stuff that no-one else wants.Pashon Murray is the founder of Detroit Dirt, a company that collects food waste from businesses and animal dung from the zoo and mixes them together into rich compost, or 'black gold'. Inspired by her grandfather's connection to the land, and determined to reduce landfill and promote sustainability, Pashon wants to re-connect communities with the soil. However she says she is not running a charity, and it is a business model that others could learn from.Returning to Nigeria after an absence, Achenyo Idachaba saw that the waterways were choked with an invasive weed called water hyacinth; and she had a hunch that maybe this problem plant could be turned into something useful. A few years on and her company MitiMeth is paying local fishermen and artisans to harvest the weed, training them to make high-end handicrafts from it and selling them. Achenyo says it is a win-win for the environment and the economy of her country.(L) Pashon Murray (credit: Anastasia McKendrick) and (R) Achenyo Idachaba (credit: Christian Morales)

Two former politicians reveal the realities of life in public office. They talk to Kim Chakanetsa about why they went into politics, what impact they had and why a thick skin is absolutely critical.Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is a Nigerian economist who served two terms as finance minister of Nigeria from 2003 to 2006 and from 2011 to 2015, having previously been a managing director at the World Bank. But holding political office was never part of her plan. Instead she was appointed to the role by the then president. She became the first female finance minister in Nigeria. She says her father had always impressed upon her the importance of doing one's duty for one's country, but now she's left politics she enjoys the freedom of having more control over her life. She currently chairs the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI). Lindiwe Mazibuko is a South African politician and former parliamentary leader of the Democratic Alliance. Lindiwe was elected to parliament aged 29, and was seen as a rising star of the party, but faced misogynistic attacks as her profile grew. She resigned her position in 2014, saying she wanted to pursue postgraduate studies at Harvard University in the US. She's now writing a book about young people and public office, but hopes to return to front-line politics in a few years' time.Image: Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. Credit: Shaun Curry/AFP/GETTY IMAGES Image: Lindiwe Mazibuko. Credit: Rodger Bosch/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

The ancient art of falconry holds a magical appeal for our guests this week. They talk to Kim Chakanetsa about why they were drawn to this ancient tradition, the unique relationship they form with their birds, and the concerns of those who consider it cruel.Helen Macdonald from the UK is the bestselling author of H is for Hawk, a moving account of the year she spent training Mabel the goshawk after her father's death. As a child Helen was obsessed by birds of prey and was determined to become a falconer - later she used her writing to bring the powerful relationship between humans, falcons and nature to a wider public. She's not currently working with a bird, but she dreams of flying merlin falcons.Lauren McGough from Oklahoma in the US has become a world authority on the golden eagle - though growing up she didn't know falconry existed. She discovered the sport at the age of 14 and has been hooked ever since, travelling to Mongolia to learn more about eagle falconry from nomadic eagle hunters. She's currently based in South Africa, where she's working with a male crowned eagle called Dart. Image: (L) Lauren McGough (credit Jennifer Campbell Smith) and (R) Helen Macdonald (credit: Mike Birkhead)

Legendary gymnasts Simone Biles and Nadia Comaneci get together with Kim Chakanetsa for a frank discussion of the highs and lows of their sport. At the Montreal Olympics in 1976, aged just 14, Nadia Comaneci became the first gymnast in history to be awarded a perfect 10 for her routine on the uneven bars. Nadia went on to win 25 medals during her gymnastic career, including five Olympic gold medals. Originally from Romania, Nadia defected to the US in 1989 and now runs a gymnastics school in Oklahoma. Simone Biles burst onto the Olympic gymnastics scene at the 2016 Rio Games, with her jaw-dropping trademark move The Biles, and took home four gold medals. Not bad for a 19 year old, who only got into the sport by accident when a coach at a local gym spotted her perfectly copying the older girls' moves, aged six. Simone is now the most decorated American gymnast of all time, holding 19 Olympic and World Championship medals.(Photo: (L) Nadia Comaneci. Credit: Dennis Grombkowski/Getty Images. (R) Simone Biles. Credit: Alex Livesey/Getty Images)

Running an international charity in today's changing world is the task taken on by our two guests, who talk to Kim Chakanetsa about how their organisations are adjusting to the changing demands of those in need.Winnie Byanyima is Executive Director of Oxfam International, which works to alleviate global poverty. Born in Uganda, Winnie has been a trailblazer and an activist from the beginning - as a student protester she was forced to flee the country at the age of 17. Later, she became a parliamentarian under Yoweri Museveni, and went on to hold high-level roles at the African Union and the UN. She joined Oxfam in 2013 and she's currently overseeing the ambitious relocation of its international headquarters from the UK to Kenya. Brita Fernandez Schmidt is Executive Director of Women for Women International UK, a charity which supports women in eight countries affected by war and conflict. They offer a year-long course to marginalised women, with the aim of giving them access to life-changing support and skills. Brita herself was born in Germany but grew up in Venezuela, where she witnessed poverty at first hand, and remembers being particularly struck by how poverty disproportionately affected women. She says she always had a burning sense of justice - and that when she sees something that's not right, she can't leave it be.Image: (l)Winnie Byanyima and (r) Brita Fernandez Schmidt Credit: (l) Oxfam and (r) Monia Antonioli

Being in charge of Huffpost and The Guardian - Kim Chakanetsa brings together two women who are re-shaping their international news publications.Lydia Polgreen is Global Editor in Chief of HuffPost. She took over from founder Ariana Huffington in 2016, after spending 15 years at the New York Times, where she had postings across Africa and Asia. The child of an Ethiopian mother and an American father, Lydia was raised in neither country, growing up mainly in Kenya and Ghana. She says moving around so much means she is now a self-made insider - precisely because she is an outsider everywhere. Katharine Viner is Editor in Chief of Guardian News and Media, and is the first woman in the paper's almost 200-year history to hold this role. Katharine had her first article published in The Guardian newspaper when she was still at school, however she says the penny didn't drop that she was meant to be a journalist until several years later. She took charge of daily news operations across print and digital media in 2015.Image (L): Katharine Viner. Credit: The Guardian Image (R): Lydia Polgreen. Credit: HuffPost

Two women who run museums that document the lives and legacies of iconic figures of twentieth century history: Anne Frank and Nelson Mandela.Garance Reus-Deelder is Managing Director of the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, which welcomes 1.3 million visitors every year and faces numerous challenges due to the cramped nature of the space. Garance herself was born in the Netherlands but grew up in Zambia, where she remembers visiting memorials rather than museums. She first went into business before joining the museum in 2012. She describes the power of objects to tell stories, and how to handle the legacy of a young girl.Wayde Davy is Director of Mandela House in Soweto, and Deputy Director of the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg. She herself had little exposure to museums as a child under apartheid - but she later became fascinated with how they work, and believes that museums have the power to educate people about the past and provide a forum for everyone to air their views in what is still a divided society.Image: (l) Garance Reus-Deelder and (r) Wayde Davy Credit: (l) Anne Frank House/Cris Toala Olivares and (r) n/a

Spectacular volcanic eruptions on earth and in space - Kim Chakanetsa unites two women who share a deep love of volcanoes. Janine Krippner is from New Zealand, and as a child visited Ngauruhoe - the volcano made famous as Mount Doom in the Lord of the Rings films - and had an intense feeling that this is where she belonged. Years later she found herself inside the crater collecting research data. Janine is now based at the University of Pittsburgh and studies remote volcanoes in Russia and the US and looks for clues as to how super-fast flows of hot gas and rocks called pyroclastic flows travel after eruptions. Rosaly Lopes is a Senior Research Scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and she is also Manager of the Planetary Science Section. Born and raised in Brazil, Rosaly has visited over 60 active volcanoes on every continent, but as exciting as she finds these trips, volcanoes on other planets are her real focus. She has personally discovered 71 active volcanoes on Jupiter's moon Io, which has earned her a place in the record books.Image and credit (L): Janine Krippner in front of Osorno volcano, Los Lagos Region, southern Chile Image and credit (R): Rosaly Lopes on Mount Yasur volcano, Tanna Island, Vanuatu

Two doctors at the epicentre of the AIDS crisis - Glenda Gray and Wafaa El-Sadr - have worked tirelessly to care for those affected by the virus, to combat its spread, and to get the drugs to those who need it.Glenda Gray is a South African paediatrician and world-renowned scientist who currently directs the HIV Vaccine Trials study, which is the largest of its kind ever conducted in South Africa. Thanks in part to her work on mother-to-child transmission, the number of babies born with HIV has dropped dramatically from 600,000 a year to 150,000. Glenda herself grew up under Apartheid in a family of activists, and carried on her fight for social justice into medical school and beyond. Wafaa El-Sadr is director of ICAP based at Columbia University in New York. Born in Egypt to a family of physicians, Wafaa was working as a young doctor in Harlem, when the first AIDS cases began to appear in the 1980s. She didn't know she was witnessing the start of an epidemic that was to sweep across the globe. Wafaa helped develop a treatment programme that is now used as a model around the world.Image: (L) Glenda Gray (credit: JP Crouch Photography) and (R) Wafaa El-Sadr (credit: Michael Dames)

Cities that come alive at night, with two women who know where to go and what to do. Kim Chakanetsa speaks to a DJ from Lebanon and a singer-songwriter from China who take her on a virtual tour of their favourite nightlife scenes.Nicole Moudaber is a Nigerian-born Lebanese DJ and music producer. Nicole began exploring Beirut's nightlife as a promoter, hosting successful club nights for years before turning her hands to the decks. She has since been described as one of the best techno DJs on the scene, sharing her distinct beats with the nightlife scenes in New York, Ibiza and beyond.ChaCha Yehaiyahan is regarded as the queen of the underground music scene in Shanghai, a city that is a far cry from the rural mountainous village she grew up in in southwest China. She left home at 16 with her sights firmly set on the bright lights of Beijing, and wound up in Shanghai, which she says has a nightlife scene unparalleled in China.Image: (L) ChaCha Yehaiyahan. Credit: AJ Schokora Image: (R) Nicole Moudaber. Credit: Woolhouse Studios

Two archaeologists take us on an underwater adventure to uncover secrets about our past. Between them they've explored wooden vessels dating back hundreds of years, discovered Roman statues in the Mediterranean and Chinese ceramics in the Gulf of Thailand, and even stumbled upon what may be an Aboriginal rubbish dump.Pornnatcha 'Jo' Sankhaprasit is Thailand's first ever female underwater archaeologist. She grew up in the Thai mountains and didn't even see the sea until she was nine years old. She's always had a passion for history and adventure, and she was drawn to marine archaeology because sites are often far better preserved underwater than on land. However the water, and deep dives in particular, still scare her - and the breathing apparatus weighs more than she does! But it's all worth it when she gets to work on ancient wrecks like the well-preserved Chinese ship that sank in the Gulf of Thailand more than 500 years ago.Sarah Ward is a renowned maritime archaeologist from Australia, who has a vast and varied experience in her field. She has worked on underwater archaeological sites from a Roman wreck off the coast of Turkey, to the Tudor flagship, the Mary Rose, and a warship that sank off the coast of Argentina in 1790. These days she works mainly on commercial maritime projects, carrying out detailed surveys and excavations of harbours, ports and other coastal sites.(L) Image: Sarah Ward. Credit:Surface Supplied Diver Training (R) Image: Pornnatcha Sankhaprasit. Credit: Ian McCann

Anoushka Shankar on sitar and Kasiva Mutua on drums...two celebrated female musicians talk to Kim Chakanetsa about their paths to mastering instruments more traditionally played by men.Anoushka Shankar's father, the legendary Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar taught her to play the instrument from the age of 9. She first performed in public with her father at 13 and got a recording contract as soon as she finished school. She says growing up surrounded by music actually meant she had a complicated relationship with it, involving both love and fear. Despite that she decided to embrace the sitar on her own terms and is now heralded as probably the best female player in the world, making nine solo albums and receiving six Grammy nominations for her work. Anoushka says she's now experimenting with her music in ways she wished she had done 20 years ago.Kasiva Mutua is a Kenyan percussionist who discovered her love for drums at a young age, finding rhythms in her grandmother's stories and in the everyday sounds around her. She pursued drumming in secret throughout her teenage years before deciding to make a career of it - much to the dismay of her family and the wider community; female drumming in Kenya is considered taboo. Determined to follow her passion Kasiva is now an internationally touring drummer and part of the African music initiative The Nile Project. She says she had to fight to play - but it's all been worth it.(L) Image: Kasiva Mutua on drums at the Miami Dade NP Concert in 2015 US Tour. Credit: Jim Virga (R) Image: Anoushka Shankar with sitar. Credit: Jamie-James Medina / Deutsche Grammophon

Forget the wicked witch or the pretty princess - a new generation of women in animation are doing away with cartoon cliches. Kim Chakanetsa talks to two women doing their bit to ensure that female characters are accurately drawn from life, rather than stereotypes.Niki Yang grew up in South Korea visiting comic book rooms and watching Japanese anime on TV - which helped her realise her passion for drawing and storytelling. Niki established her own career in animation when she moved to Los Angeles more than a decade ago. She's since worked on a number of well-known cartoons including Family Guy and Adventure Time. She says the birth of her son has introduced a new humour to her life and work.Aliki Theofilopoulos is a Greek-American television writer and animator, who's currently working at DreamWorks. As a child she loved watching slapstick cartoons like Bugs Bunny and Looney Tunes, but it was Disney's Dumbo that truly inspired her to work in animation. In a career spanning more than 20 years, Aliki has worked on household hits like Mulan and Hercules. She's also worked on popular TV series Phineas and Ferb which sees two step-brothers invent wonderful and wacky machines. Image: Niki Yang (l) and Aliki Theofilopoulos (r) Credit: Niki Yang (l) & Epic Imagery (r)

Calculator tricks and baking cakes - how two female mathematicians help people have fun with maths. Eugenia Cheng's aim is to rid the world of 'math phobia' and she uses baking to explain complex mathematical ideas to the general public, via her books and YouTube channel. For instance, she makes puff pastry to reveal how exponential growth works. Eugenia has taught Pure Mathematics at universities in the UK, France and US and is currently Scientist in Residence at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her most recent book is called Beyond Infinity: An Expedition to the Outer Limits of the Mathematical Universe. Sara Santos engages the unsuspecting public in maths through a kind of street performance. Originally from Portugal, Sara now runs a company called Maths Busking in the UK, and tours festivals, schools and corporate events wearing a yellow top hat and doing maths for people's amusement. Her 'tricks' include tying people up with ropes and guessing their birthdays. Sara says the idea that only very clever people are good at maths is rubbish; anyone can do it. (L) Image and credit: Eugenia Cheng (R) Image: Sara Santos. Credit: Paul Clarke

Growing up with a name that has resonance around the world - and a father with a towering reputation. That's been the experience of Samia Nkrumah and Noo Saro-Wiwa. We'll hear about the pride and burdens they carry with them, and how their fathers' untimely deaths have shaped their lives.Samia Nkrumah is the daughter of Ghana's first president, Kwame Nkrumah - the man who led his country to independence in 1957, and became an international symbol of freedom as the leader of the first African country to shake off the chains of colonial rule. Samia was just 11 at the time of her father's death, and hadn't seen him for six years, after the family were separated following his overthrow. Still, Samia decided to follow her father into politics and currently chairs the Convention People's Party, a political party in Ghana founded by her father.Noo Saro-Wiwa is the daughter of Ken Saro-Wiwa, the Nigerian writer and environmental activist who was killed in 1995 after leading peaceful protests against the oil industry in his home region of Ogoniland. Noo was a 19-year-old student at the time of his death. She went on to become a journalist and author based in the UK - she has written an account of her own journey around Nigeria called 'Looking for Transwonderland'.Image: Samia Nkrumah (credit: Samia Nkrumah) (l) and NooSaro-Wiwa (credit: Michael Wharley) (r)

What draws women to motorbikes, whether it's weaving them through traffic or seeing the world from one? Kim Chakanetsa asks two women from Poland and Kenya who spend their lives in the saddle. Aleksandra 'Ola' Trzaskowska's love of motorbikes is not about the machine itself - it's about the thrill of seeing new places from the best vantage point. She used to be a lawyer in Warsaw but gave it up to do what she loves. Ola now runs tours on two wheels to Asia, North Africa and both American continents. On her own trips she always aims to steer off the beaten track - preferring to explore countries like Afghanistan alone. Even breaking her leg in a road accident in Cuba hasn't put her off - as soon as it's mended she'll be straight back on her bike. Naomi Irungu took up bikes two years ago when she met her motorcycle-mad husband. She had always wanted to try but was warned off by her family after her uncle died in a motorbike accident. Naomi says it can be exhilarating and scary riding through rush-hour traffic in Nairobi, dodging the matatus and the taxi-bikes that jostle for road space. She loves to get out of the city on longer rides and for her recent wedding she was picked up by a 15 strong motorcade of biker friends.L-Image and credit: Ola Trzaskowska R-Image and credit: Naomi Irungu

The power of art to change lives. Two women talk to Kim Chakanetsa about how they use art to enable refugees, asylum seekers and young women to find their creative voice.Isha Fofana is a Gambian artist who set up an art centre in her country to encourage young women to pursue their artistic talents. Although she showed an interest in art at a young age, she was not fully able to explore it until she was much older. Her canvasses are often large and extremely colourful, capturing the joy and power she sees in the women around her. Zeina Iaali is a Lebanese-Australian artist who volunteers at the Refugee Art Project in Sydney, which supports refugees and asylum seekers to tell their stories through art. Her own artwork revolves around her experiences as a Muslim woman in Australia. She says art has the power to bring people together, and that's where magic happens.Photo: (L) Zeina Iaali. Credit: Refugee Art Project. (R) Isha Fofana. Credit: Mama Africa)

Prayers and preparation for the apocalypse - two women share with Kim Chakanetsa their experiences of life in strict religious communities they would call cults.Natacha Tormey was born into an international evangelical group and led a highly regimented life in communes in Thailand, Indonesia and France. She says physical discipline and sexual abuse were common, and as children they were separated from their parents. As a teenager she began to question the ideas of the leaders, and at 18 she left the cult and her family behind. Natacha has now settled in the UK and is the author of 'Cults - A Bloodstained History'. Claire Ashman grew up in a strict religious community in Australia. She left at 18 to get married, but a few years later her husband joined them up to what she now calls a doomsday cult. Claire and her eight children spent their life behind barbed wire fences and there was limited contact with the outside world. Much time was spent preparing for an impending apocalypse. A decade ago, Claire and her family left. She now calls herself an anti-cult activist.Photo and credit: (L) Claire Ashman Photo and credit: (R) Natacha Tormey

What's life like when women are in charge? Kim Chakanetsa talks to two women who've formed close ties with matriarchal communities in China and India, and who've gone onto document their experiences.Choo Waihong is a former high-flying lawyer from Singapore who quit her job to move to a remote part of China to live with the Mosuo tribe. This is one of the last matrilineal and matriarchal societies on earth. That means that the family descends from the female bloodline, and that women also hold the ultimate power in the community. Waihong ended up building a house among the Mosuo, and has written a book about her experiences called 'Kingdom of Women.'Karolin Klüppel is a German photographer who travelled to the remote north-east of India to get to know the Khasi people, who live in families where women inherit property, and children take the mother's name. Karolin was struck by the self-confidence of the young girls, and she set about making portraits of the children, which form part of her photo series, 'Mädchenland' or 'Kingdom of Girls.'Image and credit Choo Waihong (l) and Karolin Klueppel (r)

'I will ride cancer; cancer will not ride me'. An Indian dancer and a Jamaican athlete who were diagnosed with breast cancer at the peak of their physical condition tell Kim Chakanetsa how they got through their treatment by focussing on their passions. Novlene Williams-Mills is an exceptional Jamaican sprinter who has competed - and won medals - in four Olympic Games. In 2012, just before the London Olympics, she found out she had breast cancer. Despite the diagnosis, she decided to compete, and helped Jamaica bring home a bronze medal in the 400 metre relay. Four surgeries later, she is cancer-free. Throughout her treatment Novlene continued to run because when she's on the track, she says all her problems disappear.Ananda Shankar Jayant is an award-winning Indian dancer and choreographer, known for her talent in two classical dance forms Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi. She says as soon as she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008, she made a decision that she would not succumb to the 'bogeyman' of cancer, and would keep dancing, even through chemotherapy. By focussing on her what she loves to do, she says she was able to stay positive. Now also all-clear, Ananda continues to teach and perform dance, and recently launched a dance app called Natyarambha.L-Image: Novlene Williams-Mills. Credit: Matthew Lewis/Getty Images R-Image: Ananda Shankar Jayant. Credit: G Muralidhar

Female interpreters discuss being voices for vulnerable people. Kim Chakanetsa brings together two women, one who interprets for medical patients, and one who helps refugees apply for asylum. They talk about the pressures and the joys of what they say is an under-valued job.Teodora Manea Hauskeller is a Romanian who works as a medical interpreter in the UK, easing understanding between doctors and patients who don't speak English. She is present in the room when potentially scary diagnoses are being given, and says the responsibility and emotion of this kind of work can be quite tough, but it can also be very rewarding. Mariam Massarat is an Iranian-American interpreter, who specialises in translating for Farsi-speaking asylum seekers and refugees in the US. She gets to know her clients and puts them at their ease before they go into the asylum interview, and then she acts as their voice for up to six hours. If the interview is successful, and they are granted asylum, she loves to hear what they go on to do in their new lives. Image: Mariam Massarat (L) and Teodora Manea Hauskeller (R)

How do you capture and bottle a scent? Two perfume makers from France and Malaysia talk to Kim Chakanetsa about how they've trained their noses to smell over 1,000 different raw ingredients. They explain why a scent made for the European market wouldn't sell so well in Japan, and which smells they simply cannot stand.Shyamala Maisondieu is a fine fragrance perfumer originally from Malaysia, who now works for Givaudan in Paris, one of the world's largest perfume manufacturers. Shyamala says her childhood in south-east Asia influenced the scents she is drawn to, from frangipani blossoms to jasmine and ginger. She has dreamed up fragrances for brands such as Tom Ford and Comme des Garçons.Caroline Gaillardot is a perfumer who specialises in creating scents for beauty care products, including shampoos, shower gels and deodorants. She was born in Grasse, France, which has long been the centre of the perfume world, although she says she wanted to become a perfumer simply because she always loved to smell. She now works for Mane in southern France, which is one of the global leaders in the industry.L-Image and credit: Shyamala Maisondieu R-Image and credit: Caroline Gaillardot