Young Change Makers: Why and How Annissa Murad of ‘Signs of the Times’ Is Helping To Change Our World
Learn to assess strategies quickly, in particular whether problems are worth solving/dwelling on or if a change of approach is required instead.
As part of my series about young people who are making an important social impact”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Annissa Murad of “Signs of the Times”.
It is the podcast the world has been craving: fresh, sharp and exceptionally intriguing. “Signs of The Times’ ‘ has only just debuted its first episode “What price do we pay for the digital age?” but is already making waves, sparking the attention of our editors at medium. The podcast aims to explore our zeitgeist through modern literature, philosophy, film, music and psychology, the young women driving this project, masterfully morphing academia and complex theoretical knowledge into cutting edge ideas. By the end you are left immersed into their world, sat alongside an eruption of new found questions and an insatiable hunger for more: more knowledge, more contemplation, more “Signs of the Times”. Yet, what baffles us most is the team are all just teenage girls, demonstrating to us the sheer fortitude of female empowerment, establishing themselves to listeners across the world as the next generation of leading thinkers, innovators and change makers. Spotlighting the next generation of talent we are thrilled to announce Annissa Murad, the podcast’s 16 year old co-director, as one of medium’s Young Changemakers of 2024 and sat down with her to hear her take on the birth of this exciting new project!
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit. Can you tell us a bit about you and your team?
Firstly thank you so much for covering “Signs of the Times” on medium, we are so grateful! Our team is made up of two co-directors, me and Ella Baskind, our philosophy researchers Amber Yap and Sania Chind, our film researchers Nadia Soufraki and Bailey Willis and our psychology researchers Rhiya Kumaran and Pritthika Navaneethan. We all go to the same girls school and it has been really eye opening to come together and combine our different passions to strike up an interesting conversation. The team is a melting pot of aspiring artists, lawyers and even medics and I think the way in which we interconnect subjects gives our podcast a unique edge allowing us to gain a more holistic understanding of the world. Another really important member of the team is our teacher Dr Macdonald who came up with the concept.
Is there a particular reason you chose to explore the question “What price do we pay for the digital age?”
We chose to explore this because AI and technology seems to be the next revolution and it’s a movement we cannot escape and already find ourselves immersed in. Therefore we thought it would be fascinating as well as beneficial to gain a greater understanding of it so we can strive to reap its benefits and be as equipped as possible to harness it to our advantage. Additionally, everybody sees social media (in particular) with a different lens and we thought it would be intriguing to discuss philosophers, novels, films and psychological theories in relation to this inorder to enrich our perspectives.
Is there a particular reason you chose to explore the book “Klara and the Sun” Can you explain why it resonated with you so much?
When we were exploring contemporary novels to investigate, our teacher Dr Macdonald recommended “Klara and the Sun” to us by Kazuo Ishiguro. After watching many of his interviews where he discussed “Klara and the Sun”, the novel seemed like a great fit and I personally really fell in love with Ishiguro’s approach to his work (I was so influenced I even bought his book “Never Let Me Go” during a school trip in Ireland). One thing in particular which I was drawn to is how he measures the success of his novels. He doesn’t purely measure the quality of the plot or the quantity it sells, instead he says the best novels are the ones which leave you thinking for the longest even after having finished reading them, essentially, the novels which leave the greatest imprint on you. I think this is a really interesting angle to take and I would really like to mirror this in “Signs of the Times” and aim to leave our listeners thinking long after having heard the podcast.
How do you define “Making A Difference”?
In relation to “Signs of the Times”, I think “Making A Difference” would be widening the perspective of our listeners (someday as we develop), and I do think our podcast has a great chance of being able to achieve this given the broad variety of subjects we discuss.
Ok super. Let’s now jump to the main part of our interview. You are currently leading a podcast that aims to discuss and raise questions about our zeitgeist. Can you tell us a bit about what you and your podcast are trying to achieve with this?
One of the things we would love to achieve (perhaps even more as the podcast progresses and develops) is to capture the spirit of our times through the analysis of art and application of our academic knowledge. So often in school we are studying the past (which is great and vital to building up our knowledge of today), however I think it is refreshing to also use our skills to explore the time we are currently living in. Additionally, we think modern creatives are often overlooked, even though their art is most likely to draw inspiration from our modern world and so is arguably most relevant for building our understanding of today. Also, I think it is really cool that the people we examine are actually living as there is always that minute possibility of engaging with them.
Can you tell us the backstory about what inspired you to originally feel passionate about this project?
When Dr Macdonald first introduced the word “Zeitgeist” to us (which means the spirit of the times) I think it unlocked an excitement within us all because it was a fresh and brand new avenue of thought and an opportunity to discover new artists, augment the appreciation of our pre-existing passions and unravel new knowledge… so we definitely have her to thank for igniting the spark in our passion. Also, I think the universal reach of the podcast helped as every person somewhat appreciates art, whether it is music, literature, TV, film or dance, there is undoubtedly something so relatable in the portrayal of human emotions through these powerful vessels of communication that everyone can somehow resonate with which also contributed to the passion.
Many of us have ideas, dreams, and passions, but never manifest them. We don’t always get up and just do it. But you did. Was there an “Aha Moment” that made you decide that you were actually going to step up and do it? What was that final trigger?
Well to be honest we had no idea how to get where we wanted to go when we first started, but because it’s impossible to plan every step in advance, we didn’t want to delay starting the project just because we didn’t have everything figured out so we just began and when we encountered obstacles, we didn’t pause the flow of things and then somehow not losing that momentum allowed us to encounter solutions to problems naturally.
Many young people don’t know the steps to take to start a podcast. But you did. What are some of the things or steps you took to create such an engaging podcast?
Again, we also did not have any clue about how to start a podcast and still have lots to learn but our best advice would be to not put off starting a project just because you don’t have all the answers. Just start small and scale up each time analysing the feedback you have been given (and deciphering whether taking it on board is beneficial, as not all feedback will be helpful or true as at the end of the day it’s just someone’s opinion.)
Can you share the most interesting thing that you discovered when recording this episode?
Personally, I think the psychological theory of an echo chamber is fascinating as you would never know you are in an echo chamber if you are in an echo chamber because that is the whole point of an echo chamber. It’s also funny because “Signs of the Times” is essentially the antithesis to this.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you have made? Can you tell us what lesson or take away you learned from that?
It would have to be when I let Rhiya (one of our psychology researchers) deliver a spontaneous and lengthy monologue of the most fascinating ideas only to realise I didn’t record a single bit… even after double-checking and reminding myself not to make the classic recording mistake.
None of us can be successful without some help along the way. Did you have mentors or cheerleaders who helped you to succeed? Can you tell us a story about their influence?
Well the person who influenced us most definitely has to be Dr Macdonald as she was the one who founded “Signs of the Times”, yet at the same time, allowed us to have full control of the vision and was so open minded, letting us experiment with practically everything from format, editing, research, leadership and much more. I think she also has such a nuanced outlook on things and doesn’t try to make us mirror her ideas, instead, she is amazing at planting seeds of thought and allowing us to creatively develop them on our own and give us the confidence to do so, which I really love and think will be such an important part of growing “Signs of the Times” into a successful podcast.
Without saying specific names, can you tell us a story about a particular individual who was impacted by your podcast?
It’s so funny you ask this question because exactly a day ago I got a DM on Instagram from this person who had found out about the podcast and was curious to hear it who has a full blown poetry account and said that the episode had inspired their next piece of work. I’m really curious to read it now…
Fantastic. Here is the main question of the interview. What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why? (Please share a story or example for each).
Every problem can be solved, but sometimes it will require you to think outside the box.
- Clear communication of your vision is imperative to minimise misinterpretation and assumptions as much as possible.
- Don’t be afraid to voice your opinion even if it can sometimes be awkward.
- Learn to assess strategies quickly, in particular whether problems are worth solving/dwelling on or if a change of approach is required instead.
- Never stay stagnant, you can always do better and there will always be mistakes to learn from for next time.
If you could tell other young people one thing about why they should consider making a positive impact on our society, like you, what would you tell them?
Not in an individualistic way, but whatever good you do returns back to you in wonderful ways, whether you inspire, inform or help someone less fortunate than you. This is cliche but so true that if everyone does something small it will eventually accumulate to a larger impact that would be difficult to otherwise achieve by ourselves.
Is there a person in the world, or in the UK with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂
For me it would be Sam Altman because he is one of the pioneers of the new technological revolution which I think is exciting and at the start of his career interviewed many successful individuals so he would have absorbed a lot of valuable information we could use.
How can our readers listen to your podcast?
On spotify, here is the link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5GLxOmg2YNgSw1AkY5xLud?si=5ycGNhHNTpKtQi2K7TsSoA
You can follow Annissa here: https://www.instagram.com/annissamuradmusic/
This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success on your great work!
Young Change Makers: Why and How Annissa Murad of ‘Signs of the Times’ Is Helping To Change Our… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.