Sit With Aqsa is a podcast about the people you walk past every day without knowing their story. I call them silent giants - ordinary people quietly building, growing and navigating life in their own way. Each episode is a conversation that reminds you how extraordinary the people around you actually are.
Learning to Dream for Little Heidy | Heidy De La Cruz | SitWithAqsa | Episode 10
I sat down with Heidy De La Cruz, the voice behind The American Dream in the Eyes of Immigrants, the number one immigrant podcast on GoodPods, reaching 100+ countries. Heidy has been nourishing and supporting everyone around her since she started working at the age of 14, so I asked her about her own dream, and she told me, "little Heidy has been surviving and not dreaming."
In this conversation she talks about what immigrants carry that most of us never see, how she balances a full time job, motherhood, several podcasts and a weekly Substack while openly sharing her struggles, and why faith is the anchor of her life and the source of her worth, rather than the people she serves. We also talk about the post-it note her daughter left her, and how, through sharing the dreams of immigrants, Heidy is slowly healing little Heidy.
31 Jul 2026
A Builder's Blueprint Drawn from His Faith | Farhan Hossain | Ep. 9
Farhan Hossain has 50 plus patents, built a biometric device for Dubai Police, was a founding engineer of Apple Vision Pro and recently cofounded Blue, a device becoming hands for those who have lost the use of theirs. But when he first reached out he said his conversation would mostly be about Islam because nothing else really matters. This is that conversation.
3 Jul 2026
Two Sisters From Gaza Who Chose to See a Beginning | Tala and Farah Mousa | Ep. 14
Tala Mousa is 17. Farah Mousa is 15. They are sisters from Gaza whose home was bombed five times. Tala carries everything she owns in one backpack because even now, living in a tent, she doesn't know what the next minute holds.
And yet - they built something.
Build Hope Palestine is their project: crushing war rubble, mixing it with clay and ash and straw, turning it into reusable construction blocks. Out of 6,095 teams across 169 countries, they won the Middle East regional title of The Earth Prize 2026. The first team ever from Gaza in the prize's five year history.
In this episode I didn't want to talk about the prize. I wanted to sit with two teenage girls and understand who they actually are. What they dream about. What they think about. What it feels like to build something when everything around you has been destroyed.
16 Jun 2026
Healing Through Art and Colors | Amber Greene | Ep. 8
Amber Greene is an artist, a poet, and someone who sees the world in colours. She has been open about her DID, her seizures, rejection from both her birth and adopted mother, and running from home during COVID with almost nothing. And after all of it, the colour she gives herself is yellow. Bright and welcoming. This is what choosing to come home to yourself looks like.
30 Apr 2026
The Healer on Her Way to Healing | Vanessa Spelman | Ep. 7
I knew Vanessa’s title before we even started recording. The healer on her way to healing. 16 years as a clinical psychologist, a private practice, a single mother, and a woman who has walked through sepsis, postpartum, divorce and rebuilding - all while holding space for everyone else. This is her story.
30 Mar 2026
A Supply Chain Mind That Sees the World Differently | Danish Hasan | Ep. 6
Danish went full detective mode on me for going full detective mode on him. Of course I did. What kind of host do you think I am.
He has more than a decade of experience and is a Senior Manager at Gul Ahmed. But not every manager is a leader. And he truly is one.
His passion for supply chain has spread so far that his wife now sees the world through the same systems lens. Whenever he needs clarity he sits alone in a dark room and just thinks. No distractions. Just himself.
He once shared a piece about leaving his childhood home in Islamabad. Written before AI and the social media rush. Raw, emotional and powerful without trying to be. In it he honored every woman who shaped him.
Anyone learning under Danish wouldn’t just learn supply chain. They would learn responsibility, discipline and the quiet work of becoming better every day.
26 Feb 2026
From $37 to Seven Figures | The Example He Saw at Home | Adam Scheauble | Ep. 5
Adam’s story didn’t start with Podcasting Business School. It started with watching his parents earn an honest living and embedding that belief within himself. He has been working since he was 7 or 8 years old.
Between 2015 and 2017 he had just $37 in his bank account. Responsibilities were real. Resources were limited. And he chose to hold onto his vision anyway.
Today Podcasting Business School has crossed 1 million downloads. But what stayed with me wasn’t the number. It was the moment he mentioned working three days a week and never missing his son’s soccer matches.
If you truly believe in yourself and set boundaries around what matters, you can disrupt the trends people have followed for years.
5 Feb 2026
Choosing What to Protect | Rohma Haq | Ep. 4
When I first met Rohma I’ll be honest - I had the wrong impression. She seemed a little childish, a little annoying even. Sorry Rohma.
But you know those moments when you suddenly realize how off your perception was? That’s exactly what this conversation was for me.
She’s an architect who loves what she does but is very clear about what work should not take away from her. She grows vegetables, shows up for her family, says no without guilt and knows exactly when work ends and relationships begin. That clarity is rare.
Her freedom doesn’t come from having no boundaries. It comes from knowing exactly where they are.
8 Jan 2026
Becoming Steady in a World That Rewards Noise | Saad Qureshi | Ep. 3
Saad and I come from the same hometown, studied at the same university, grew up in similar environments. On paper nothing about this conversation should have surprised me.
But what I once mistook for silence was depth. He spoke about writing, creativity and abstract thinking - parts of himself he still misses. About privilege and the responsibility that comes with it. About being the only male child in a desi household and quietly redefining what that means.
Every role he has taken has been rooted in impact rather than optics. And today he is simply giving that identity a name.
Some conversations don’t rush because they don’t need to.
16 Dec 2025
Learning to Take Up Space in Work and Life | Yumna Haq | Ep. 2
When I first met Yumna she came across as quiet, almost withdrawn. It would have been easy to underestimate how much depth was beneath that calm exterior.
Her growth didn’t come from trying to be seen or heard more. It came from being intentional, taking responsibility, and knowing when she was learning and when she wasn’t.
We talked about careers but we also talked about the things that rarely come up honestly - mental health, faith, and women navigating work and identity in Pakistan.
Someone somewhere is walking a similar path and needs to hear that their way of growing is valid.
4 Nov 2025
From Karachi to Abu Dhabi | The Youngest Who Became the Strongest | Nawal Haq | Ep. 1
From the outside Nawal looks like someone who has it all figured out. But sit with her long enough and you realize how much work went into becoming that person. Every role, every toxic environment, every setback, she came out stronger without ever letting it define her worth. She was the youngest at home and at the hostel but somehow became the strongest one in the room. This is a conversation about what it actually looks like to rebuild yourself quietly. About going through the worst of it and realizing the earth didn’t rip open. Nothing collapsed. Life went on. And so did she.
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