<![CDATA[Reset the Algorithm]]>
mojmahdara.substack.com]]>https://mojmahdara.substack.com/podcastSubstackSun, 14 Jun 2026 09:05:12 GMThttps://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/2997834.rssMoj MahdaraIf you’re building with purpose, you’re in the right place. Here, you’ll get sharp insights, honest strategy, and big-picture thinking on business, identity, culture, and growth.episodicMoj Mahdaramojmahdara@substack.comNo<![CDATA[Resetting Faith and Failure: Kate Bowler on Love, Survival, and Belonging in Uncertain Times]]>Hungry for More?


In this episode, Moj sits down with writer, historian, and thought leader Kate Bowler to explore what it means to live through crisis and still choose joy, ambition, and connection. From a stage 4 cancer diagnosis and unexpected survivorship to diasporic loneliness and cultural upheaval, Kate brings radical honesty to a conversation about faith, resilience, and rebuilding.


This isn’t just another episode. It’s an invitation to question the stories we’ve been told about faith, failure, and what it means to keep going when the world—and your life—falls apart.


You’ll hear:

  • Why “everything happens for a reason” can do more harm than good
  • How surviving can make you hungrier for life
  • The failures—and the potential—of faith communities today
  • What it means to create love and care in an individualistic world

 

Moj and Kate reset the algorithm on power, vulnerability, and what it means to belong to each other.


This episode is for anyone navigating grief, seeking meaning, or trying to live courageously—even in the face of fear.


🎧 Hit play and step into Episode 3 of Reset the Algorithm.



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TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Exploring New Beginnings and Growth

06:28 Cancer Fueled My Ambition

13:02 Overcoming Fear to Embrace Ambition

19:39 "Christian America and Cultural Division"

24:32 Mennonites: Community Through Interdependence

26:18 "19th Century: Faith, Charity, and Contradiction"

29:50 The Dangers of Answering Unanswerables

35:32 "Embrace Service, Reject Isolation"

37:05 "Self Care vs. Community Care"

40:36 Global Gender Apartheid Crisis

42:48 Women's Rights and Legal Challenges



***************

RESOURCES

Don’t miss the resources shared by Kate Bowler in this episode:

  • Current favorite book: Cherished Belonging by Gregory Boyle
  • Social Account recommendation: @mariaevbowler reflections on creativity and slowing down.
  • Support RIP Medical Debt — an organization working to eliminate crushing medical debt for individuals and families across the US

 


***************

STAY IN TOUCH

✦ Today’s Guest: Kate Bowler ✦

Visit Kate’s Website

Listen Kate's Podcast "Everything Happens"

Follow Kate on Instagram | YouTube | TikTok | LinkedIn

 

For more episodes and resources, click here

Missed Episode 2? Go catch up before diving into this one. Click here

 

✦ Connect with Moj✦

 

🎧 Don’t just scroll—catch up before the next one drops.



Get full access to Moj Mahdara at mojmahdara.substack.com/subscribe]]>https://mojmahdara.substack.com/p/resetting-faith-and-failure-kate-bd0d49cc396-47ea-46ce-994e-0d09d746cc14Tue, 22 Jul 2025 18:00:00 GMTMoj MahdaraNo2854<![CDATA[Pinky Cole on Failure, Legacy & Leading Through Fire]]>Pinky Cole doesn’t do play-it-safe. And in this episode of Reset the Algorithm, she sits down with Moj Mahdara to break down the truth behind her empire - from her car!


From restaurant fires and personal collapse to raising five kids and managing a media empire, Pinky opens up about the reality behind the headlines—and how she’s learning to lead without burning out.



This episode is about failure, softness, and redefining what winning looks like when you’ve spent your whole life grinding.


You’ll hear:

  • How losing everything led to building Slutty Vegan
  • Why first-gen hustle culture is both a blessing and a burden
  • What Pinky’s learning about love, legacy, and letting go
  • How to scale a business while staying rooted in purpose


This one’s real, raw, and for anyone who's ever had to start over. Listen now. Share it with someone who needs a reset.


*************

TIMESTAMPS

06:46 Full Circle: Healing Through TV Show

10:05 Organic Entrepreneurial Growth

10:50 Innovative Vegan Lifestyle Movement

14:41 Recognizing Personal Superpower

18:03 "Embracing Failure's Other Side"

22:43 Assess Partner Beyond Financial Aspects

25:51 Intentional Missteps in Small Business Strategy

27:47 Unsuccessful Startups' Hidden Stories

34:07 "Creating Opportunity Through Legacy"

41:22 Historic Shift: Women in Power

47:39 Empower Women Facing Conflict Globally


*************

STAY IN TOUCH

✦ Today’s Guest: Pinky Cole ✦

Visit Pinky’s Website

Follow Pinky on Instagram | Facebook | TikTok | LinkedIn |  


For more episodes and resources, click here

Missed Episode 1? Go catch up before diving into this one.  [Season 2 - Episode 1]


✦ Connect with Moj✦

Get raw insights, behind-the-scenes moments & exclusive clips on Substack: Moj Mahdara

Watch full episodes on YouTube

Follow Moj on Instagram | Tiktok | LinkedIn | Twitter/X

Follow Reset the Algorithm on Instagram | TikTok

 




Get full access to Moj Mahdara at mojmahdara.substack.com/subscribe]]>https://mojmahdara.substack.com/p/pinky-cole-on-failure-legacy-and-18c87cab254-868c-45da-8124-047a00ff0360Tue, 15 Jul 2025 17:00:00 GMTMoj MahdaraNo3107<![CDATA[Beyond the Binary: ALOK on Power, Compassion, and Cultural Disobedience]]>We’re back!

Season 2 of Reset the Algorithm opens with a bold and unflinching conversation between host Moj Mahdara and ALOK Vaid-Menon—a globally recognized writer, performer, and cultural theorist pushing the edges of identity, grief, and liberation. 

This isn’t just an episode. It’s a call to disrupt the algorithm inside all of us.


Together, Moj and ALOK challenge binaries—gender, power, politics—and offer a new way of seeing the world. They talk about the emotional toll of performance, the myth of neutrality, and why compassion might be the most strategic act of our time.


You’ll hear:

  • Why trans liberation benefits everyone
  • How colonialism and binary thinking go hand in hand
  • What it means to create culture instead of conform to it
  • The role of joy in resistance—and the grief that comes with it.


This is a powerful return, and we’re starting as we mean to go on: unfiltered, unapologetic, and ready to rewire how we think about power, identity, and presence.


Hit play, share widely, and join us in Season 2 of rewriting the rules. We are Resetting Algorithms all over again!


TIMESTAMPS

[00:00:00] Alok on self-determination and authenticity

[00:04:08] First meeting and the importance of visibility in non-normative spaces

[00:08:05] Gender euphoria, joy, and self-actualization

[00:16:08] Global perspectives on patriarchy, gender apartheid, and intersectionality

[00:22:28] Toxic masculinity and healing models of gender

[00:28:24] Breaking out of all binaries—beyond just gender

[00:29:42] Compassion, transformation, and the possibility of love as a radical act

[00:36:32] Power, safety, and authenticity for marginalized communities

[00:42:52] The “we/us” pronoun—building solidarity and abolishing loneliness

[00:46:40] Alok’s advice for resetting your own algorithm

[00:48:07] Book and community recommendations

 

 STAY IN TOUCH

✦ Today’s Guest: Alok Menon ✦

Visit Alok’s Website

Follow Alok on Instagram | YouTube | TikTok | LinkedIn


For more episodes and resources, click here

Missed season 1? Go catch up—we dropped truths that still hit.


✦ Connect with Moj✦

Get raw insights, behind-the-scenes moments & exclusive clips on Substack: Moj Mahdara

Watch full episodes on YouTube

Follow Moj on Instagram | Tiktok | LinkedIn | Twitter/X

Follow Reset the Algorithm on Instagram | TikTok

🎧 Don’t just scroll—catch up before the next one drops.



Get full access to Moj Mahdara at mojmahdara.substack.com/subscribe]]>https://mojmahdara.substack.com/p/beyond-the-binary-alok-on-power-compassion-ff057ff0ac8-256e-4ac4-820c-fdd333d8fc60Tue, 08 Jul 2025 16:00:00 GMTMoj MahdaraNo3052<![CDATA[Anonymous: Part 2]]>Our Anon episodes are a direct result of the number of DMs our podcast channel and Moj’s personal channel receive about our content. Hearing your thoughts is vital to us and we read everything you submit via the Anon form as well as in our DMs. 


We thought now would be a good time to do another one of these episodes since we are seeing the discomfort of our audience in real-time to the types of content we are putting out. What you can always depend on with us, the purpose of this show - is to break us all out of our digital echo-chambers. With that comes being stretched, being exposed to new ideas and at times hearing things you disagree with or that make you uncomfortable. It is hard - but we can all handle it. In this episode we talk through the difficulties of being on socials rn and what you can do to cope, the discomfort you all expressed in response to one of our recent releases and some Iranian Diaspora ☕ amongst other things. 



If you want to share your thoughts with us, you can always submit to our anon form and we hope to read your feedback soon!



Get full access to Moj Mahdara at mojmahdara.substack.com/subscribe]]>https://mojmahdara.substack.com/p/anonymous-part-2-25c0ee74f55-c5ae-4242-8900-d5ae3159a8c2Tue, 21 May 2024 15:50:00 GMTMoj MahdaraNo2484<![CDATA[A2A: Shahrzad Changalvaee]]>In this episode of Artist 2 Artist, Patrisse Cullors sits down with Iranian artist Shahrzad Changalvaee, to explore the role of art in the act of resistance under oppressive powers. Shahrzad shares her background and the experience of realizing one is an artist under the limiting and oppressive demands of the Iranian government during her childhood. In her early years as an artist, she was taught that "limitations beget creativity", and while there is value in those words for many of us who forsake our everyday freedom of expression, Patrisse and Shahrzad discuss the fortitude one must cultivate in order to question the sources that offer the words we internalize as artists, as an important step to individuation and independent expression, especially when art inevitably finds its way to becoming itself an act of resistance. Explore the use of language, in art and beyond, Patrisse and Shahrzad emphasize the power of the artist to build coalition, change, abolitionist practices and challenge the regimes that seek to silence or appropriate the artistic voice. Being an artist from Iran, under a restrictive government, may have been Shahrzad's beginnings, but in her work, she revolutionized her self expression and found the power of her voice and ability to create for not only herself, but the culture she wants to celebrate. In this episode, Patrisse and Shahrzad discuss how background and cultural identity play, effect, and cultivate an artist's identity, and the deeply personal journey of finding mediums and language to ensure that the perception of the art, matches its intent; "The artist is like a shapeshifter. The artist is the through line." Using collage, metal sculpture, photography and beyond, Shahrzad offers her art and story to us as itself an act of resistance, and reminds us that while limitations may present opportunity, the language we use both within ourselves and how we choose to express our unique perspective to others, is truly the choice that translates the most healing and revolutionary power, right from the source.



Get full access to Moj Mahdara at mojmahdara.substack.com/subscribe]]>https://mojmahdara.substack.com/p/a2a-shahrzad-changalvaee-fferesetthealgorithm.podbean.com/586a321b-8251-366e-8629-9db188782c4dTue, 14 May 2024 16:00:00 GMTMoj MahdaraNo2937<![CDATA[RTA: Omar Barghouti]]>This week on Reset the Algorithm, we talk with Omar Barghouti, the Co-founder of BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) a Palestinian-led movement for freedom, justice and equality. The clarity and focus with which Omar expresses the goals of Palestinian Liberation is incredibly admirable. With this organization, they aim to utilize peaceful tactics to place pressure on repressive institutions in an effort to end complacency and free the Palestinian people from occupation. From his time at Columbia University in 1985, where he participated in anti-Apartheid protests and encampments to his thoughts on the encampments of college campuses today, Omar and Moj discuss what it means to resist and how we can truly bring about change through nonviolent strategies. It is not lost on us that conversations like this are challenging for some to hear and that those with different lived experiences might find the topics covered to be very difficult to process. Exposure does that. Our goal with this program and the entire mission of our organization is to be in conversation with EVERYONE, to talk through the lived experiences of MANY, and to break out of our algorithmic echo-chambers. This process is inherently uncomfortable and painful. We know, because it is for us too. But now more than ever, we must listen, we must learn and we must show grace, so that we can move forward in building a world that is safe and fair and healthy for ALL OF US. We know it isn’t easy, but we trust that it is incredibly worth it, and we hope you join us in the journey.



Get full access to Moj Mahdara at mojmahdara.substack.com/subscribe]]>https://mojmahdara.substack.com/p/rta-omar-barghouti-f0de3fd95cb-6e67-4dd2-b6f4-1209e52539a6Tue, 07 May 2024 15:55:00 GMTMoj MahdaraNo4372<![CDATA[The Economy of Empathy]]>In this bonus episode of Reset the Algorithm curated in partnership with Mother Tongue Magazine, Moj Mahdara sits down for an emotional and heart-felt conversation with Rabbi Sharon Brous and Patrisse Cullors. 


As we see our world more and more divided everyday, the economy of empathy feels in recession. Creating coalition and holding space for one another’s pain feels like the only way forward. In this exchange Rabbi Brous shares how she is choosing to direct the conversation in her community, while Moj shares their homes and dreams for the people of the Middle East, and Patrisse shares her experience building coalitions and creating intersectional communities. 


From crying together to laughing together, this powerful conversation shows us what it means to truly see one another’s humanity and reminds us how much we need each other.



Get full access to Moj Mahdara at mojmahdara.substack.com/subscribe]]>https://mojmahdara.substack.com/p/the-economy-of-empathy-7c1resetthealgorithm.podbean.com/23574c19-a883-3845-bf51-9c9f8a3b72c4Thu, 25 Apr 2024 16:00:00 GMTMoj MahdaraNo4951<![CDATA[RTA: Sara Wahedi]]>This week Moj sits down with Sara Wahedi, Tech-founder and CEO of Afghanistan’s first civic-tech start-up; Ehtesab. In her goal to democratize access to life saving information across the globe regardless of where they live or what they do. Her incredible work with Ehtesab has lent Sara platforms to speak on the injustices faced by Women in Afghanistan and across the Middle East at the hands of extremist governments. Her work on the mission to ‘End Gender Apartheid’ is what brought her and Moj together initially. 


From working as a full-time CEO and student to speaking on gender-based violence on the global stage, Sara is a true futurist who has taken matters into her own hands. From the explosion that led to the concept of Ehtesab to the business side of creating a start-up in Kabul, Sara takes us into her world and reminds us how important it is to lean on community to achieve massive goals. 



Get full access to Moj Mahdara at mojmahdara.substack.com/subscribe]]>https://mojmahdara.substack.com/p/rta-sara-wahedi-510af3db8c6-ee5e-4fc2-bd1e-bce12ce33958Tue, 23 Apr 2024 15:30:00 GMTMoj MahdaraNo4999<![CDATA[RTA: Alex Edelman]]>In this conversation with the very funny Alex Edelman, we talked about how comedy can be healing and a way for us to see through our differences. In his latest show, now available on HBO, Alex describes his experience attending a white nationalist meeting in NYC…as a Orthodox Jewish man. The stories that follows shows the brilliance of Alex’s humor. Aside from being hilarious, he is excellent at building bridges and showing us all how much more similar we are than different. 


In a moment of immense divide, conversations like this one with Alex are a reminder to me of how important it is to build bridges and, of course, belly laugh together.



Get full access to Moj Mahdara at mojmahdara.substack.com/subscribe]]>https://mojmahdara.substack.com/p/rta-alex-edelman-6b98c1d9406-3e5f-4d04-924b-93f1c932efa3Tue, 09 Apr 2024 16:00:00 GMTMoj MahdaraNo3274<![CDATA[RTA: Sophia Amoruso]]>This week we visited the world of entrepreneurship and venture capital with my friend Sophia Amoruso. Sophia has always done things her way and her curiosity and desire to learn are the keys to her success. This makes her latest transition into venture capital an easy one. Supporting founders with advice acquired through lived experiences is priceless. 


In this conversation we touch on how success and failure shape us and the importance of having freedom to explore and change as you grow and learn. We also talk about poker, taking prozac on social media, and the importance of supporting women in a time where DEI initiatives are under attack. There is no shortage of topics or belly laughs when me and Sophia get together.



Get full access to Moj Mahdara at mojmahdara.substack.com/subscribe]]>https://mojmahdara.substack.com/p/rta-sophia-amoruso-efbresetthealgorithm.podbean.com/4b38855c-cfa2-37f9-a0eb-d4846017aae8Tue, 26 Mar 2024 16:00:00 GMTMoj MahdaraNo3859<![CDATA[RTA: Gissou Nia]]>Gissou Nia is a human rights lawyer who has dedicated her life to the protection and justice of civilians affected by war and conflict. In a lot of ways, the work she does is as close to a real-life superhero as we get and her work spans across continents around the globe. 


In this conversation, we speak about her work as a lawyer as well as her work as an activist, a distinction that might be hard for us all to make, but for Gissou it is very clear. All people deserve justice and human rights, but this belief hits even harder for us when we talk about the people of Iran. Gissou’s family is from Iran, and much like many Iranian children raised in the diaspora, Gissou was exposed to the injustice of corrupt governments very early on. This is one of the reasons she says human rights law spoke to her, the need to right the wrongs you see being done to those around you, in your family or in your community. 


Examining nuance, championing human rights and spreading fact-based knowledge has been Gissou’s world; let’s step into it together at a time when justice, safety and truth have never been more important.



Get full access to Moj Mahdara at mojmahdara.substack.com/subscribe]]>https://mojmahdara.substack.com/p/rta-gissou-nia-68ed1c49940-d4cb-498a-8e77-80731d845003Tue, 12 Mar 2024 16:00:00 GMTMoj MahdaraNo4093<![CDATA[RTA: Elica Le Bon]]>This conversation with Elica Le Bon, an Iranian Activist from the UK, was one that was heavily requested by our listeners! As a vocal political commentator on her platforms, Elica has developed a following for her takes on political issues, particularly in the Middle East. In this exchange we speak candidly about traumas as Middle Easterners, what it is like living in the diaspora, what solutions we hope to see, and how the politics of the region has shaped us and our differing perspectives.



Get full access to Moj Mahdara at mojmahdara.substack.com/subscribe]]>https://mojmahdara.substack.com/p/rta-elica-le-bon-ce2resetthealgorithm.podbean.com/323eda7e-a195-3946-a01f-e0df01a7483fTue, 27 Feb 2024 19:59:01 GMTMoj MahdaraNo5055<![CDATA[RTA: Jessica Malaty Rivera]]>This conversation with Jessica Malaty Rivera is incredibly expansive. We go on a learning journey together that emphasizes the need to hold space for different opinions and grow our understandings of other perspectives; all in an effort to build bridges. Although this episode is a censored version of what we really wanted to share, as it stands, it is still a conversation that is so desperately needed right now.



Get full access to Moj Mahdara at mojmahdara.substack.com/subscribe]]>https://mojmahdara.substack.com/p/rta-jessica-malaty-rivera-2f6resetthealgorithm.podbean.com/c98d0f1a-5e88-3740-b1e6-b75ccf417020Tue, 20 Feb 2024 20:14:32 GMTMoj MahdaraNo3992<![CDATA[Anonymous: Part 1]]>This first anonymous episode came about because of the immense reaction our audience had to our offer for a digital safe space. Never did we dream of so many form submissions from so many unique backgrounds. This episode is an exact representation of how our audience shapes our work. Reading through your experiences, what has you frustrated, what you are enjoying, what you hated...all of it plays a role in how we produce each episode in real time! Your take is vital; and we are listening.



Get full access to Moj Mahdara at mojmahdara.substack.com/subscribe]]>https://mojmahdara.substack.com/p/anonymous-part-1-96bc48fc8c0-37be-4a80-aa91-cba546eebebdWed, 14 Feb 2024 17:00:00 GMTMoj MahdaraNo1894<![CDATA[RTA: Patrisse Cullors]]>In this conversation with Patrisse Cullors, an author, an artist, an activist and the co-founder of Black Lives Matter, we explore the role and at times power of trauma in activism; and the dire need for courageous conversations. Speaking through the conflicts plaguing our world today, we delve into the importance of sitting with others and making space for shifting collective shapes to create a new way forward. We also open up about our own challenges as we move through this current moment.



Get full access to Moj Mahdara at mojmahdara.substack.com/subscribe]]>https://mojmahdara.substack.com/p/rta-patrisse-cullors-777resetthealgorithm.podbean.com/4729a021-17d2-3acd-acd6-9f88d1377413Tue, 06 Feb 2024 16:18:33 GMTMoj MahdaraNo4010<![CDATA[RTA: Alon-lee Green]]>Join Alon-Lee Green, Co-Director of Standing Together, an organization fighting for Palestinian / Israeli peace, as he delves into the heart of the current conflict. From dissecting challenges of Israeli democracy to confronting discrimination, this episode uncovers the layers of complexity often overlooked. Explore the rise of extremism, the urgent call for peace, and the daunting hurdles Israel faces in the Middle East. Alon-lee's vision inspires hope that we can catalyze political change.



Get full access to Moj Mahdara at mojmahdara.substack.com/subscribe]]>https://mojmahdara.substack.com/p/rta-alon-lee-green-40eresetthealgorithm.podbean.com/69afcc84-baa1-330d-a50e-ff5628bd7d6eThu, 25 Jan 2024 17:16:00 GMTMoj MahdaraNo3723<![CDATA[RTA: Moj Mahdara]]>In this debut episode, join Moj Mahdara as they provide context to why this podcast came to be. From their experiences as a first-generation Iranian American to navigating cultural and societal expectations as a non-binary individual, Moj reflects on being a disrupter by nature. From the challenges of navigating cultural expectations to confronting societal injustices, Moj's story transcends boarders and invites listeners into a raw and unfiltered exploration of the human experience.



Get full access to Moj Mahdara at mojmahdara.substack.com/subscribe]]>https://mojmahdara.substack.com/p/rta-moj-mahdara-bc3resetthealgorithm.podbean.com/69c3ff66-4a59-3881-a660-dad216fcd0dbThu, 25 Jan 2024 17:09:43 GMTMoj MahdaraNo905