Amy Daroukakis on Valuing Humanness

Gina Miller is a campaigner, entrepreneur and founder of MoneyShe, an organisation working to close the gender wealth gap. She is perhaps best known for twice taking the UK government to Supreme court, and has spent decades challenging powerful institutions across politics and financial services.But behind the public image of the formidable campaigner is a much more personal story about where we find our voice - and what we choose to do with it.In this conversation, Gina tells me about growing up in Guyana with an activist lawyer father and eco-warrior mother - and how those early experiences shaped her relationship with justice, independence and money.We talk about why women’s financial inequality isn’t simply a “confidence problem”; why Gina believes complexity and jargon in financial services can serve to keep people from questioning the system; and why financial independence is ultimately about something much bigger than accumulating wealth: freedom and choice.We also venture beyond money into courage, anger, parenting, power and voice.Gina talks about learning to direct rather than suppress her anger, the importance of questioning the things we’re taught to accept, and why acts of courage don’t have to be grand or heroic.She also challenges one of our most persistent ideas about bravery:“I do not act out of fearlessness. I act and speak up because I’m fearful.”Topics covered include: • Why girls can be socialised out of questioning what feels unfair• Money as freedom — and why women need to talk about it with each other• Why “women need more confidence” may be the wrong diagnosis• Financial jargon, opacity and who benefits when we don’t understand• What Gina wants young women to understand about having money in their own name• Raising financially literate daughters• The difference between feeling anger and knowing how to direct it• What courage actually feels like from the inside• Staying soft while refusing to stay silentA conversation about money, power, courage, voice — and remaining yourself while challenging the world around you.Learn more at https://www.crewandriot.com/Follow me on https://www.linkedin.com/in/chin-ru-foo-crewandriot/

Connor Rankin is founder and director of Studio ACV, a slow journalism practice and creative studio situated at the edges of world-making.Since 2019, the ACV team have worked alongside pioneering people and practices — through storytelling, relational design, and creative projects — to help emergent shared futures take root.They work slowly and relationally, prioritising trust, context, and lived experience over speed or scale. ACV's projects grow through conversation, collaboration, and care — allowing ideas to evolve, stories to deepen, and futures to take shape together.In this conversation, we explore all this and more - including wisdom like 'Publishing at the Speed of Trust' and the importance of spotlighting changemakers who are making a difference in local grassroots  communities.  You can find out more about them here: https://www.acvmag.com/Learn more at https://www.crewandriot.com/Follow me on https://www.linkedin.com/in/chin-ru-foo-crewandriot/

Rahim Hirji is the author of SuperSkills: The Seven Human Skills for the Age of AI (Kogan Page, 2026) and founder of The SuperSkills Intelligence Company. A London-based keynote speaker and advisor, he helps organisations build the human capability to thrive alongside AI. He believes the future belongs to people who can think clearly when machines think faster.  That the skills that matter most in the next decade are not technical. They are curiosity, judgement, adaptability, and the willingness to hold a position when the algorithm suggests otherwise.He also writes Box of Amazing, a weekly newsletter on AI and human capability read by over 25,000 leaders.  https://boxofamazing.substack.com/In this conversation, we talk about all this and more.  Find out more here: https://www.thesuperskills.com/Learn more at https://www.crewandriot.com/Follow me on https://www.linkedin.com/in/chin-ru-foo-crewandriot/

Masuma Ahuja is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, strategist and author.She works with founders, funders, and institutions on designing solutions to sticky, systemic problems.Her upcoming book, The Infrastructure of Belonging, is out October 2026 and is the subject of this podcast conversation.She talks about the power of scaling down the world to a dinner table - which is where our worlds collide and how this conversation begins. You can read her essays on Substack: https://substack.com/@masuma/postsAnd find out more here: https://masuma.net/Learn more at https://www.crewandriot.com/Follow me on https://www.linkedin.com/in/chin-ru-foo-crewandriot/

Dr Anna Sulan Masing is a Writer, Poet and Academic.In her book "Chinese and Any Other Asian: Exploring East and South East Asian Identity in Britain", she explores the vast history of othering and belonging for East and Southeast Asians in the UK, and what it means to be East and Southeast Asian in Britain today.She says this: "I sometimes say I am half white or half Iban Malaysian, but I feel much messier than a half. I feel like my identity spills out of everything and doesn't easily stay within boundaries. I've grown up in multiple cultural spaces, moved through and lived in many locations, and feel both at home and an outsider in all of these places. I want to take control of my identity and not be caught between two places and halves, to have agency and the ability to hold multiple locations and identities in one hand."Her work sits right at the intersection of identity, place, and belonging.  She asks:"I am an Asian person from the South East part of the Asian continent. I am not South East Asian. It allows for the question: what part of South East or East Asia is your heritage from?"We discuss this and more in this podcast chat.Find out more about her here: https://www.annasulanmasing.com/Learn more at https://www.crewandriot.com/Follow me on https://www.linkedin.com/in/chin-ru-foo-crewandriot/

In this episode of Let’s Crew & Riot, I speak with Nicholas Thompson - CEO of The Atlantic and author of The Running Ground.We begin with a line from his book that I couldn't stop thinking about: "A parent has one obligation… unending love. There's no blueprint and there's only one rule.  The kids get to decide if the parent meets the standard."From there, we explore the complexity of loving someone who is both formative and, at times, damaging - and what it means to hold contradiction with clarity.Nicholas reflects on his father’s life - one that began with promise and trajectory, and later became far more complicated - and how that experience has shaped how he thinks about parenting, relationships, and leadership today.We also explore how these deeply personal questions show up in his role as a leader, including how he thinks about generosity of spirit and decision-making at The Atlantic.This is a conversation about love, complexity, and what we inherit — and choose to carry forward.This is Let’s Crew & Riot - exploring who we are, and how we show up with and for each other.Learn more at https://www.crewandriot.com/Follow me on https://www.linkedin.com/in/chin-ru-foo-crewandriot/

A departure from regular programming to share a conversation with my 16 year old daughter on Mother's Day, sitting on her bed in our pyjamas, speaking into a phone.I asked questions like :When do you feel most like yourself?What do you think adults forget about being young?What does power mean to you? When do you feel powerful and when do you feel powerless? What do you think mothers worry about too much?I parked my mummy brain, I got curious, I took feedback, I got a peek into her honest beautiful mind and emerged richer and wiser.As I said at the end, "I am learning everyday how to be a mother, so thank you for teaching me." Learn more at https://www.crewandriot.com/Follow me on https://www.linkedin.com/in/chin-ru-foo-crewandriot/

Amy Daroukakis is Founder of Culture Concierge, providing global businesses, agencies and innovative start-ups with strategic insights (culture, category, citizen, company) and emergent trends.Amy is 'curious agnostic' and enjoys getting 'lost on purpose.' In this conversation, we get lost on purpose with a 'brain dance' in that  liminal  space of being messy, inquiring, and inherently human. Find out more here: https://cultureconcierge.co/Learn more at https://www.crewandriot.com/Follow me on https://www.linkedin.com/in/chin-ru-foo-crewandriot/

Haris & Chloe are a a husband and wife duo who photograph and film multicultural weddings.Haris is of Italian-Pakistani descent from London, and Chloe is a Chinese-Malaysian who grew up constantly on the move due to her father’s profession.In this conversation, we explore everything from the need to  hold space for cultural nuance and unspoken dynamics in weddings to breaking free from pre-determined 'wedding formulas' in order to capture the complexity of multicultural unions.  We discuss the importance of cultivating emotional safety, empathy and curiosity when tasked with witnessing the celebration of love and community that transcends religion, borders, ethnicities.Find out more about them here:   https://www.haychweddings.com/  https://www.instagram.com/haychweddings/Learn more at https://www.crewandriot.com/Follow me on https://www.linkedin.com/in/chin-ru-foo-crewandriot/

Rajeev Balasubramanyam is a British writer. His first novel, IN BEAUTIFUL DISGUISES won a Betty Trask Prize and was nominated for the Guardian First Fiction Prize. In 2004 he was awarded the Clarissa Luard Prize for the best British writer under the age of 35. His latest novel is PROFESSOR CHANDRA FOLLOWS HIS BLISS which is translated into six languages and was the Bookseller’s book of the month in June 2019.Rajeev holds a PhD in English, and degrees from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. He has lived in  London, Manchester, a remote Suffolk beach, Berlin, Kathmandu, and Hong Kong, where he was a Research Scholar in the Society of Scholars at Hong Kong University. He was a fellow of the Hemera Foundation from 2014-16, for writers with a meditation practice, and has been writer in residence at Crestone Zen Mountain Center and the Zen Center of New York City.But it is through his Instagram account (@Rajeevwriter)  exploring the fusion of politics and spirituality that I discover Rajeev's work.Rajeev's journey is a fascinating one.  We meet in St James Park under my favourite trees - two strangers, recording a conversation about how to engage with the world from a place of love, compassion and non-avoidance.  Find out more here: http://www.rajeevbalasubramanyam.com/Learn more at https://www.crewandriot.com/Follow me on https://www.linkedin.com/in/chin-ru-foo-crewandriot/