Off Script is a podcast for the conversations we're often too quick to skip past.
Hosted by Naina Madan and Elizabeth Kuiper, each episode slows down to sit with the questions that matter — about identity, society, work, mental health, and the world we're all navigating together. With curiosity, care, and a genuine openness to different perspectives, Naina and Elizabeth create space for guests to speak honestly — beyond the headlines, the polished answers, and the expected narratives.
Because the most important conversations rarely happen on script.
A conversation about technology, Europe, and the people brave enough to build in it - Gabriel Goldberg
Gabriel Goldberg helped bring Google Ads to Belgium, scaled a company into a global acquisition, and now builds the next generation of Belgian founders through Hakacia and the Belgium Startup Awards.
In this episode we go deep on AI. We challenge Gabriel on regulation, on what the EU should do to lead rather than follow, and on whether Europe can build an open, interoperable AI ecosystem on its own values. Then we turn to the human side of building: what it costs, what he has learned across an acquisition and several ventures, and why, in his words, you have to be slightly crazy to be an entrepreneur.
Keep listening, keep questioning.
8 Oct 2026
You use the tools he helped build - Gabriel Goldberg
From Google, to a global exit, to building Belgium's next founders.
We asked him where AI takes us next, and challenged him on topics he equally pushed back on.
Coming soon to Off Script.
1 Oct 2026
From Albania to the Brussels Parliament.
Picture an eight-year-old girl landing in Brussels from Albania, not speaking the language, with no seat at any table in sight. Now picture that same girl walking into the Brussels Parliament as an elected official.
In this episode of Off Script, hosts Naina Madan and Elizabeth Kuiper sit down with Kristela Bytyçi, Brussels Regional Deputy elected in June 2024. From a childhood shaped by migration to nearly a decade inside the European Commission, her path to public life is anything but ordinary.
The conversation covers identity and belonging, what pushed her from the outside of politics to the inside, the backlash women in politics still face, AI and who it leaves behind, and how you stay genuinely good in a system that can wear you down.
Honest, warm, and free of the usual political spin.
27 Sept 2026
Kristela Bytyçi - the woman from Albania now in Brussels politics
Picture an eight-year-old girl landing in Brussels from Albania, not speaking the language, with no seat at any table in sight. Now picture that same girl walking into the Brussels Parliament as an elected official.
In this episode of Off Script, hosts Naina Madan and Elizabeth Kuiper sit down with Kristela Bytyçi, Brussels Regional Deputy elected in June 2024. From a childhood shaped by migration to nearly a decade inside the European Commission, her path to public life is anything but ordinary.
The conversation covers identity and belonging, what pushed her from the outside of politics to the inside, the backlash women in politics still face, AI and who it leaves behind, and how you stay genuinely good in a system that can wear you down.
Honest, warm, and free of the usual political spin.
10 Sept 2026
Climate Change: Facts, Fiction and Fair Share.
Almost everyone thinks they understand climate change. The science has not become less certain, but the conversation around it keeps shifting, and one new player is changing the maths fast: artificial intelligence.
In this episode of Off Script, Naina and Elizabeth are joined by Dr. Audrey-Flore Ngomsik, who holds a PhD in Physical and Analytical Chemistry from Sorbonne University and is the CEO and co-founder of Trianon Scientific Communication. She is President of the Belgian Entreprenoires, Vice-President of Brussels' Climate Experts Committee, and a board member of the European Policy Centre.
Together they get honest about the AI question most people skip. Every query you send draws on a data centre that burns power and drinks water to answer you, and a single request can use roughly ten times the energy of a typical Google search. Yet the same technology is accelerating progress on things like vaccines. Audrey argues that AI is here to stay, so the real work is learning to live with it wisely: choosing smaller, university built tools over the biggest players, funding sustainability instead of endless scale, and remembering that everyday habits like one meat free day a week still add up. She also shares the thinker who shaped her view, Vandana Shiva.
No tidy conclusions. Just better questions.
Listen to our podcast, and keep listening, keep questioning, and keep the conversation human.
4 Sept 2026
What if the awkward question is the only one worth asking?
That's exactly what we're doing in Season 2 of Off Script.
One thing kept coming back in every conversation we had last season. AI. So this season we stopped avoiding it. The first half, we go straight at big tech. No hype, no fear, just the honest conversation. The second half, we turn to the part nobody checks. What is all of this doing to our wellbeing?
We have five guests lined up to help us answer exactly that.
We're Naina and Elizabeth, and this is Off Script. Curious by nature, human by choice, comfortable with the uncomfortable.
New episodes are coming. Follow us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and wherever you listen, and come find us on Instagram for updates along the way.
Keep listening, keep questioning.
15 Jul 2026
Race, Diversity & Europe with Ophélie Omnès
Europe likes to believe race is an American problem. But close to 50 million people of an ethnic minority background live in the EU, nearly 40 percent report facing discrimination, and the institutions that collect data on everything else collect almost nothing on this.
This week we sit down with Ophélie Omnès, a lawyer and lobbyist working at the intersection of EU law and inclusion. Naina comes to this one conflicted, as a woman of colour who questions why race is still the frame we keep returning to, and the conversation goes somewhere honest from there. Why the discomfort. Who benefits from keeping it vague. And whether naming these categories keeps them alive.
Keep listening, keep questioning.
1 Jul 2026
More Than Ever: Why Europe Must Stand as One
Is Europe losing its voice? For decades it has been building digital markets, creative industries and entrepreneurial ecosystems, and yet in a world dominated by American tech giants and Chinese manufacturing power, a generation of European entrepreneurs is asking whether they need to leave for Silicon Valley or Shanghai to be taken seriously.
In this episode of Off Script, Elizabeth Kuiper and Naina Madan sit down with Alain Heureux, a serial entrepreneur, business angel and innovation leader who has been building companies and ecosystems across Europe since 1984. Alain led the IAB in both Belgium and Europe and today runs the Virtuology Academy, training leaders at companies like Saint Gobain, Etex and BNP Paribas.
Together they ask what European sovereignty really means in practice, whether Europe's diversity is its greatest strength or the thing holding it back, and what it actually takes to keep the continent innovative. Alain makes the case for big European brands reinvesting in their own cities, the way Philips reinvented Eindhoven into a thriving tech hub that now creates thousands of jobs, points to what universities like Munich's TUM are getting right, and argues that we should be teaching entrepreneurship to young people from the start. Underneath it all sits the bigger question: how do we stay human in the age of AI?
His reading recommendation for anyone thinking about where we go next is the work of Yuval Noah Harari, because before we talk about technology, we have to talk about people.
📚 Recommended: Yuval Noah Harari's books 🎙️ Listen and follow Off Script wherever you get your podcasts.
Keep listening, keep questioning.
17 Jun 2026
Who's really watching Brussels?
Fewer than a thousand journalists are meant to keep watch over decisions that shape the lives of 450 million Europeans. So what happens to democracy when trust collapses, disinformation outruns fact, and AI can manufacture a convincing lie in seconds?
In this episode of Off Script, Elizabeth Kuiper and Naina Madan sit down with Lise Witteman — investigative journalist, head of Follow the Money's EU desk, and author of Who's Watching Brussels? Lise has spent years following the money trails most people never see: suitcases of alleged cash, conveniently deleted messages, and the watchdogs who, at the crucial moments, could only watch from inside their cage.
Together they get into the questions that matter right now — why it was small investigative newsrooms, not big tech or legacy media, that held leaders like Orbán to account; how you tell what's true when trust has eroded; whether social media is journalism's greatest tool or its biggest enemy; what the rest of the world does better; and what Europe actually needs to build to own its information landscape, not just its infrastructure.
A sharp, honest conversation about truth, trust, and why independent journalism is the content that gives Europe's democracy its meaning.
📕 Who's Watching Brussels? by Lise Witteman
English → https://shop.ftm.eu/products/whos-watching-brussels-lise-witteman (https://shop.ftm.eu/products/whos-watching-brussels-lise-witteman)
Nederlands → https://winkel.ftm.nl/products/wie-let-er-op-brussel-lise-witteman (https://winkel.ftm.nl/products/wie-let-er-op-brussel-lise-witteman)
New episodes of Off Script regularly. Keep listening, keep questioning.
3 Jun 2026
Angry Young Men with Javier Carbonell
In this episode of Off Script, we sit down with Javier Carbonell, policy researcher at the European Policy Centre in Brussels, to explore one of the most urgent questions in European politics today: why are young men drifting toward the far right, and what can be done about it?
Javier unpacks the economic frustrations behind the anti-feminist backlash, the paradox of a generation that is less sexist yet more hostile to feminist politics than ever, and why the manosphere fills a void that mainstream politics has failed to address.
A conversation about masculinity, economic precarity, and what democracy needs to offer young men right now.
19 May 2026
What Is It Like to Be Gay Today? Identity, Freedom & Belonging With Alex Sossa
In this episode of Off Script, we sit down with Alex Sossa: dancer, coach, and community builder, to explore what it truly means to grow up gay in a traditional environment, and what freedom actually looks like today.
Born and raised in a humble Catholic family in Mexico, Alex always knew his ambitions stretched beyond his hometown. He eventually made the bold move to Europe, building a life rooted in movement, music, and human connection, and today teaches at Animo Studios while developing his own work in the mental health space.
But this conversation goes beyond one person's story. We talk about the tension between progress and persistent stigma, the pressure of cultural and religious expectations, and what it really means to belong, not just to be tolerated, but to be fully seen.
From growing up and first understanding his identity, to leaving home, finding freedom, and now helping others do the same, Alex brings honesty, warmth, and hard-won perspective to every answer.
Keep listening. Keep questioning. And above all, keep the conversation human.
6 May 2026
The Future of Education: Empowering Students in a Rapidly Changing World
The classroom has always been a mirror of society. Right now, that mirror is cracked, complex, and full of possibility.
In this episode of Off Script, hosts Elizabeth Kuiper and Naina Madan sit down with Wytze van der Gaast, a teacher at Meertalig Atheneum Woluwe in Brussels, for an unfiltered look at what education really looks like in 2026.
What we cover:
The lived reality of teaching today — the pressure, pace, and impossible expectations
How teachers keep up with students shaped by TikTok, gaming culture, and digital anxiety
Preparing students for jobs and challenges that don't yet exist
Teaching democracy and civic values in classrooms with 20+ nationalities
Social media's impact on mental health, learning, and classroom dynamics
AI in education: powerful tool, existential threat, or too early to judge?
What gives educators hope — even now
Why listen? Because whoever you are — parent, student, policy maker, or professional — the future of education affects you. And the people on the front lines of it deserve to be heard.
Off Script. Real conversations. No filter.
🔗 Follow us for new episodes every other wednesday
📩 Share this with an educator you know.
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