My Thick Accent

From Grandparents' Wisdom to Dreaming Bigger | Beneath The Accent with Akshay Maharaj

• Gurasis Singh • Season 2

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Join us as we dive into an inspiring journey of personal growth, resilience, and ambition in this episode of My Thick Accent. Our guest shares their experience from the simple joys of waking up with the sun to the art of crafting a flavourful pasta dish that reflects their passion for cooking. We explore cherished childhood memories with grandparents, the mental challenge of solving a Rubik's Cube, and the powerful life lesson from their brother: "You are no less than 100%." These stories highlight perseverance, self-belief, and the unwavering strength to navigate life's challenges.

As the conversation shifts to "Dreaming Bigger," we uncover the guest’s ambitious drive for success. With Akshay’s guidance as a catalyst, they embrace new opportunities, taking bold steps like cold-emailing influential connections. Their journey underscores the power of mentorship, gratitude, and relentless self-improvement. Whether you're seeking motivation to step outside your comfort zone or looking for strategies to take action toward your dreams, this episode offers invaluable insights into embracing growth, seizing opportunities, and making a meaningful impact.

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Gurasis:

Now we're in the final segment. Actually I call it Beneath the Accent because we are knowing each other beneath the accent and I'm going to have a couple of questions. You can answer them in one word or a sentence or however you feel like. The idea is just don't more about you. So the first question is are you an early bird or a night owl?

Akshay:

This is a tough one because I feel like I have such a structure on my mornings and evenings, but if I had to pick, I would say probably more early bird than the night owl, to be honest.

Gurasis:

Yeah, okay. A word that describes you best.

Akshay:

Optimist. I'm such an optimist I. I will always try to see the good in something. Even if it's the worst thing ever, I will try to see the good in it. And, uh, that has come back to harm me at times, but for the most part, um, I love being an optimist I. I think if you're a founder, you have to have a glass half full mentality, or else this process will be very, very challenging.

Gurasis:

Very, very relatable. I can say that, okay, what's your go-to comfort food apart from Roro?

Akshay:

So this has been something that, yeah, roro, yeah, this has been something that I've been loving to make lately. I love cooking in general. I love it. I love cooking in general. I love it. I love trying out new recipes, trying new foods. But it's a super, super, super simple dish that has five ingredients, four ingredients. It's pasta either fresh pasta or just regular pasta. You thinly slice garlic and with olive oil, you put garlic and chili and then that's it, and then you put all your pasta. You put the pasta in with the garlic and chili oil and then you top it off with a ton of parsley and lemon and it is so simple. But the flavors because it's so simple, it's only a few ingredients are so bright and it is such a amazing dish, especially before any big game or anything going on. I will have that because it just brings me like peace, it just like calms me down, it's like okay, this is like my comfort. I love it. I can eat that every day if I had to. Super simple, super easy.

Gurasis:

Love that I know what I have to cook tonight. Thank you for that.

Akshay:

Yeah, give it a try.

Gurasis:

Try, you will absolutely love it so what's your favorite childhood memory, favorite childhood?

Akshay:

memory, you know, I think I think it has to be some of the experiences I had with my like grandparents growing up, um, in particular, with our like events. Every Sunday we would be together, we would spend a lot of time together and just the commute to Brampton being with them, either playing pool in their house, or my grandfather taking me to hockey games, hockey tournaments, all around the US, those are experiences I will cherish for the rest of my life and those are parts of my life that I appreciate so much and, you know, makes me miss them all the time. Right Is that? You know those moments?

Gurasis:

Do you have any hidden talents?

Akshay:

I can solve the Rubik's Cube. That's one thing I picked up during the pandemic. I'm not very fast at it, but something fun that keeps my mind occupied when I'm just watching a show or something. I'll just start fiddling around with it.

Gurasis:

Okay, what's the best piece of advice someone ever gave you?

Akshay:

So this was something that my brother told me when I was in the mix of writing my IB exams and I was so hard on myself that I was just I couldn't even get myself to study because I was just I felt like so sick to my stomach thinking about how much work I had to do and how behind I felt, and I just felt like I wasn't good enough to do well on these exams. I just felt like I wasn't good enough to do well on these exams. For context, my brother is a smartest guy.

Akshay:

I know, he won every academic award. He's just a genius when it comes to that. He came into my room and he sat next to me. He said look, you are no less than 100%. You are no less than 100%. And I took a permanent marker which maybe I shouldn't have, but whatever and wrote it all over my room, on my mirror, on my desk not on any walls, like things you can still get rid of. But every morning when I wake up, I see that quote you are no less than 100%. And that has been on my mirror since 2016, 2017. And so every morning, I realize I can do 100 of anything I put my mind to. I can achieve 100 anything I put my mind to. There's no reason why I can't, and that fuels me every single day. You are no less than 100 love that.

Gurasis:

Okay, if you could be any creature in the world, what would it be?

Akshay:

it's a good one. I I feel like I would probably be a lion, uh, lion and this ties back to my last maharaj. Just, you know, the kink right and the lion is like the king of the jungle and and it has that has a ferociousness to it, but it also has that care for its family it takes care of its family.

Akshay:

It's there, it's there to provide, it's there to protect and it's there to lead has the ambition that main it represents so much. And to me, that's sometimes how I feel. Whenever I get into like a you know, a tough place, I think about okay well, like how the lion do it right, it wouldn't just back down and and leave it would. It would attack, it would figure it out, it would provide, and that's something that I, I know, I try to live by very, very interesting cam what.

Gurasis:

Who's your go-to person when you feel stuck?

Akshay:

you know it's it's, it's a. It's a good question because there's so many different go-to people based off of the struggle. I am in right if it's something in business that you know, I'll go to one of our lead mentors, advisors, and he always been able to help us a lot Ivan Yuen. He was one of the founders of Wattpad and he's such a great individual. But when it comes to like personal stuff, when it comes to just direction is lost, I go to my brother. I think he understands me best. Is lost, I go to my brother. I think he understands me best. He's someone I can go to If I don't know, if I just don't understand it. It's not like he even understands the whole business world either, but he'll provide rationale or just help me understand my thoughts towards it, and that's someone that sparingly, if I have these problems, I hit him up.

Gurasis:

So what's the most expensive thing you own?

Akshay:

The knowledge in my mind, that's the most expensive thing I own. Are you kidding me? No, I would say most expensive thing. I mean probably my car. I'll be honest, that's probably the biggest purchase I've made. Recently I bought an X3M, so BMW X3M 2024. So that's probably the biggest purchase, but I mean outside of that. You know, I think it's such a cop out answer, but I have to say, know the mentality I have, you know it's taken time to do that, it's taking resources, uh, and I feel like that is something that costs the most

Gurasis:

and what's the most expensive thing you would like to own.

Akshay:

I don't know if this is another cop-out answer, but you know, I think you cannot put a price on the pride and the ability to retire both of my parents comfortably and whatever that cost might be, that is the most expensive, even if it's $100,000, it doesn't matter to me because the happiness that that will bring me will not be content of anything else in this world that I can buy myself materialistically. So that is, that is, in whatever way possible, the most expensive thing I want to provide. I want to be able to provide.

Gurasis:

And the best answer award goes to

Akshay:

I think they know that too, which is why they support everything.

Gurasis:

I love that answer. All right. So what's that one Canadian tradition that you have adopted wholeheartedly and what's one from your home country that you have introduced to Canadians?

Akshay:

I think the one that I've adopted, as probably more than some Canadians, is my love for hockey. You know I've played hockey since I was four years old. Started skating when I was three years old. Played competitively all throughout my life, even sponsored a hockey team that. I play on On Monday. I played three times a week, four times a week, even in some weeks, and so that is something that I embody and I love, love, love, love the game of hockey just as much as.

Akshay:

I love MMA.

Akshay:

In terms of things that I have provided, and I'd say this is something that I've gotten my co-founder on, and Garnet grew up in more of a Caucasian household where wasn't necessarily really exposed to a lot of different cultures and foods, and so one thing that I've gotten him into is the love for, like vegetarian food. As a vegetarian growing up, you know, culturally, you know because there's no meat, a lot of different spices, a lot of different vegetables, the ways of eating vegetables that we never even thought, and cooking processes and everything around that. And something that I like to share with anyone I meet that has never really experienced the traditional Indian style food or Fijian style food or even ethnic food in general, is let's bond over a dish, let's bond over something when it comes to food. Let me show you that it's not this curry smelly thing, that this stereotype is around, no let me show you, let me let me show you how delicious this can be.

Akshay:

And, um, that's something that I love. Maybe that's a lot of my passion for cooking is to do that, taking different spins on canadian dishes and adding like an air flare to it, like an ethnic flair to it. But I would say that's something that I continuously love to give back to the Canadian culture. Is that love for food, love that?

Gurasis:

If you could have any superpower, actually, what would it be?

Akshay:

Read people's minds. I think for twofold. One is you know I'm an overthinker. I really am. I tend to overthink so much and unless it's clearly said to me, I will start thinking about a hundred different scenarios and ideas and whatever it might be. And if I can read someone's mind, I know exactly what they're thinking. I can make a decision on that. The second thing is I think it'd be really cool to understand the perspective and the mindset of some of the wealthiest people in the world. Understand the mindset of some of the biggest athletes in the world. How do they compete in their game? What's going through their mind the second they enter the octagon? What goes through their mind as they hop onto the ice, as they enter the basketball court? Whatever it might be, it would be so amazing Again, I'm so obsessed with that mindset to be able to read that mind.

Gurasis:

It'll be unbelievable and what's your favorite canadian slang or phrase?

Akshay:

a, a. I say a all the time. Uh, I. Maybe it's because I am surrounded by a bunch of hockey guys all the time I, I wouldn't. I would be interesting to see if, if I said it during this conversation, because I wouldn't be surprised if I if I hadn't. But uh, a is probably the the one phrase I have adopted, and it's can you use it in a sentence um?

Akshay:

so if someone says uh, someone says how's it going, I'm like hey, hey, it's, it's going all right. Or uh, uh, you know, I feel like it's sometimes just a filler word at the end of sentences. If you say something the end of the day, um, I think there's different ways to navigate it. But even at home I I catch myself sometimes even saying to my mom like hey, what are you gonna do?

Gurasis:

right, like it's just, it's become part of my vocabulary, funny enough okay, and finally, how would you describe canada in one word or a sentence opportunity opportunity and you know I am beyond grateful to have grown up in an environment here where opportunity is available.

Akshay:

And you know I've done a lot of travels to the US and there's opportunity there. But I feel like in Canada the opportunity for immigrants is here, especially recently. What I've been exposed to from a startup perspective the funding, the grants, opportunities for startup founders is phenomenal and I can with confidence say that I would not be in the same position I am today if it wasn't for the support of those around me and the community ecosystem that has helped me thrive to where I am today.

Gurasis:

And if you could leave me with one piece of advice, what would it be.

Akshay:

I think you're on such a phenomenal path when it comes to this podcast and everything you're doing outside of this podcast. One thing I say to you, one thing I say to anyone that's aspiring to do something and continue to do something, is dream bigger, dream bigger, dream bigger. That's it. That consistent mantra is always chanting in my head of dream bigger, believe bigger. What's the biggest dream guess you can potentially have? And how do we get that for you? Dream that big. And when we were starting this company in high school, the biggest customer Logan Paul dream bigger. Okay, who's next? That's one thing I'll say is I love the journey you're on right now and I'm so, so, so excited to see your name and headlines saying this podcast has interviewed the biggest people in the world and I cannot wait to see that, and so I am like excited about that. But I want you to continue to dream big, dream bigger.

Gurasis:

I, I love that. Thank you for saying that, and how would you describe your experience of being on this podcast today?

Akshay:

amazing. I've been on maybe four podcasts now and this has been one that I love because I've been able just so relatable talking to you about the heritage, the growing up as a South Asian. You know the transition I mean. A lot of the podcasts and I'm so grateful for the opportunities I've been on have been so focused on the business and the growing. The business has been a different spin to it, which has been really cool, and something that I really haven't talked about publicly at all ever is the upbringing and my family side and some of the beliefs and values in the mind, mind, my mindset, where it was really neat sharing this information and hopefully I've been able to help some of the viewers that 100 and uh, thank you.

Gurasis:

Thank you actually for all your kind words and I I think I'm going to definitely sleep on your advice of dreaming bigger. I think I'm gonna have some cold emails to send tonight. I'm gonna do that, but definitely it's. It's a. It was a pleasure having you. Akshay, absolutely love talking to you and I look forward to have you not only the next season, all my coming seasons. I would love to unfold more about your journey and the things that I've achieved. Thank you so much for being on the podcast and adding value to my listeners and to me.

Akshay:

Thank you thank you so much.

People on this episode

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Gurasis Singh

Host
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Akshay Maharaj

Guest