Tired of one-sided narratives and staged conversations? Welcome to The ADDA, where genuine, cross-cultural dialogue sparks profound understanding and drives systemic change.
ADDA is the Hindi word for the place where messy, fun and explorative conversations happen. Usually over chai, sometimes over something stronger. In these episodes host Deepa Mirchandani talks to people who offer different perspectives on big issues from politics, culture, society and so much more.
Warning: Contains messy conversations, occasional profanity and zero jargon!
Phenomenal Women: Art & Entrepreneurship - Creating a Market, One Pot at a Time with Albana Meta | EP22
What does it take to build a market for something people don't yet know they need?
Albana Meta returned to Tirana after 12 years abroad and built Albania's first contemporary art café and pottery studio — not just a business, but a genuinely new idea about what people deserve access to.
In this episode, Deepa and Albana get into the real work of cultural entrepreneurship: convincing people to show up, creating a space that gives people permission to make something, and what it means to build something countercultural in a city remaking itself at speed. They also talk honestly about what it takes to carve out space as a female entrepreneur; not as a story of struggle, but as a lived reality worth examining.
This is a conversation about belief; in art, in people, and in the stubborn act of building something that didn't exist before you decided it should.
Topics covered: creative entrepreneurship, building new markets, art and community, female entrepreneurship in Albania, Tirana's cultural transformation, the power of making.
Do share it and better yet, start your own ADDA to talk about it!
This is the first in our Phenomenal Women Series.
For further information:
Muzart Café: https://www.instagram.com/muzatartcafe/ (https://www.instagram.com/muzatartcafe/)
Tirana Pottery Studio: https://www.instagram.com/tiranapotterystudio/ (https://www.instagram.com/tiranapotterystudio/)
The ADDA is brought to you by The Deep & Meaningful Consultancy.
Host: Deepa Mirchandani
Music: Unreasonable World by Bernard Schimpelsberger (http://www.bernhard.co.at/ (https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbndDZmxEaFZtN1o2blUycVVwLWtSMERRNXU1UXxBQ3Jtc0ttT3BEZFMwdnlYTG9qRGM1Z2ZLNlA5bThfZHRCTkdwdlZNOG9yZGRTbnlFZjUwRDM0bzJUb2R2TUI2eGJscTZSU0E5Vzh4ZlpyS1RLdGF0ZHAwdEpjUkJ1d1pSVWNSQlB4QzBhQmI2NDZCc0dSU3Uzcw&q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bernhard.co.at%2F&v=ZWy2ZRYwjrg))
To find out more about the Deep & Meaningful Consultancy, to sign up for our monthly newsletter and also check out our Group ADDA sessions, please have a look at: https://www.deepandmeaningful.co (https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbmR2ZHgzT3dNSEhPSWJGZ19nbHJpdFBsU1BRZ3xBQ3Jtc0tuZk1ITHVyZmR1V1VEak5oSVo1OFUxU3JHZkJLSWxUZEkyUTRtTi1ucjU2VzdLQ0NsRHAyUlU3SDZRTWZUQ1hya2RITlExbDVYZldtVnRveWRrM2dGeXhhQm1SdUtTclQzMEhnMF8xVWtBU0x5NlFhcw&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.deepandmeaningful.co%2F&v=ZWy2ZRYwjrg).
24 Feb 2026
Navigating Borders: Travel, Culture & Identity in a Complex World with Laura Payette | EP21
Boundaries - real or imagined?
What does it take to consciously cross borders, navigate different cultures, languages, and ways of living? What does it take to do that responsibly and respectfully?
In this episode, Deepa talks to Laura Payette about navigating nomadic life as a family. This conversation looks not just at the joys that travel brings but also speaks to some of the loneliness and isolation that you can encounter along the way, how our perceptions of home changes and we get into the responsibility and privilege of travel and how to navigate those when you’re a guest in someone else’s country. We also get into the personal transformation that happens along the way and how to hold, navigate and respond to the shifts in perspective that curiosity and wonder bring.
This is a special episode as it’s the first in-person recording that we’ve done as Deepa navigates the start of her own nomadic journey. This was recorded in Tirana, Albania.
Do share it and better yet, start your own ADDA to talk about it!
For further information:
Laura’s substack: https://laurapayette.substack.com/ (https://laurapayette.substack.com/)
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laura_joyce_coaching (https://www.instagram.com/laura_joyce_coaching)
The ADDA is brought to you by The Deep & Meaningful Consultancy.
Host: Deepa Mirchandani
Music: Unreasonable World by Bernard Schimpelsberger (http://www.bernhard.co.at/ (https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbndDZmxEaFZtN1o2blUycVVwLWtSMERRNXU1UXxBQ3Jtc0ttT3BEZFMwdnlYTG9qRGM1Z2ZLNlA5bThfZHRCTkdwdlZNOG9yZGRTbnlFZjUwRDM0bzJUb2R2TUI2eGJscTZSU0E5Vzh4ZlpyS1RLdGF0ZHAwdEpjUkJ1d1pSVWNSQlB4QzBhQmI2NDZCc0dSU3Uzcw&q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bernhard.co.at%2F&v=ZWy2ZRYwjrg))
To find out more about the Deep & Meaningful Consultancy, to sign up for our monthly newsletter and also check out our Group ADDA sessions, please have a look at: https://www.deepandmeaningful.co (https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbmR2ZHgzT3dNSEhPSWJGZ19nbHJpdFBsU1BRZ3xBQ3Jtc0tuZk1ITHVyZmR1V1VEak5oSVo1OFUxU3JHZkJLSWxUZEkyUTRtTi1ucjU2VzdLQ0NsRHAyUlU3SDZRTWZUQ1hya2RITlExbDVYZldtVnRveWRrM2dGeXhhQm1SdUtTclQzMEhnMF8xVWtBU0x5NlFhcw&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.deepandmeaningful.co%2F&v=ZWy2ZRYwjrg).
20 Jan 2026
SCIENCE & SPIRITUALITY: BRIDGING WORLDS FOR SYSTEMIC TRANSFORMATION WITH THOMAS LEGRAND | EP20
Can you transform institutions from the inside without them transforming you first?
What happens when consciousness work meets UN bureaucracy? And how do you harness inner transformation without killing what makes it transformative?
In this episode, Deepa talks to Thomas Legrand, author of Politics of Being and lead of the United Nations Development Programme's Conscious Food Systems Alliance. They explore how integrating science, spiritual wisdom and inner transformation creates more effective pathways to systems change - and what gets lost or found when these worlds collide.
Thomas brings shamanic training and ecological economics to institutional development work, asking hard questions about "consciousness washing," the paradoxes of mainstreaming spirituality, and what real maturity looks like in how we design systems and institutions. They dig into why understanding our inner conditions might be more radical than any policy change, and whether there's genuine hope for transformation from within the systems that created our crises.
This conversation is a rare bridge between worlds that don't usually talk - and Thomas offers practical insight into the uncomfortable work of creating change at institutional pace when the world is burning.
Do share it and better yet, start your own ADDA to talk about it!
For further information:
The Conscious Food Systems Alliance Summit: https://consciousfoodsystems.org/bhutan-summit-2026/ (https://consciousfoodsystems.org/bhutan-summit-2026/)
The Politics of Being (Thomas’ book): https://politicsofbeing.com/ (https://politicsofbeing.com/)
Details about the BookClub: https://politicsofbeing.com/book-club/ (https://politicsofbeing.com/book-club/)
The ADDA is brought to you by The Deep & Meaningful Consultancy.
Host: Deepa Mirchandani
Music: Unreasonable World by Bernard Schimpelsberger (http://www.bernhard.co.at/ (https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbndDZmxEaFZtN1o2blUycVVwLWtSMERRNXU1UXxBQ3Jtc0ttT3BEZFMwdnlYTG9qRGM1Z2ZLNlA5bThfZHRCTkdwdlZNOG9yZGRTbnlFZjUwRDM0bzJUb2R2TUI2eGJscTZSU0E5Vzh4ZlpyS1RLdGF0ZHAwdEpjUkJ1d1pSVWNSQlB4QzBhQmI2NDZCc0dSU3Uzcw&q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bernhard.co.at%2F&v=ZWy2ZRYwjrg))
To find out more about the Deep & Meaningful Consultancy, to sign up for our monthly newsletter and also check out our Group ADDA sessions, please have a look at: https://www.deepandmeaningful.co (https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbmR2ZHgzT3dNSEhPSWJGZ19nbHJpdFBsU1BRZ3xBQ3Jtc0tuZk1ITHVyZmR1V1VEak5oSVo1OFUxU3JHZkJLSWxUZEkyUTRtTi1ucjU2VzdLQ0NsRHAyUlU3SDZRTWZUQ1hya2RITlExbDVYZldtVnRveWRrM2dGeXhhQm1SdUtTclQzMEhnMF8xVWtBU0x5NlFhcw&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.deepandmeaningful.co%2F&v=ZWy2ZRYwjrg).
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Spotify
5.0 / 5
2 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 23 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
34
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
32
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Books guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Questions about The Adda
Who hosts The Adda?
Deepa Mirchandani host the show. Published by Deepa Mirchandani.
How often do new episodes come out?
The show publishes weekly, based on its RSS feed.
Does The Adda take guests?
Yes. Guests have been identified in episode analyses.
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