Middle Fingers Up
Welcome to Middle Fingers Up, the show where we keep our heads high and our middle fingers higher. We explore relationships, mental health and everything in between. Join me, Kiran Randhawa on the journey to learn, grow and find our voice.
Episodes
169 episodes
EP.165 - Patty-"Nobody Talks About The Joy"
In this episode, I sit down with psychologist and writer Patty for a powerful conversation about the inner worlds of children of immigrants and how childhood conditioning continues to shape adult identity, relationships, and wellbeing.
EP.164 - Mohini - "Are You Really 'Fine' Though?"
Wedding season is meant to be joyful, full of love, music, and celebration.However in this EP, we are naming what happens when you’re walking into those spaces carrying something else.A welcome back to guest to Mohini, who is here t...
EP.163 - Sarah Akinterinwa-"My Identity Will Never Be Straightforward - & That's Okay"
Featured in The New Yorker and The Guardian, Sarah is a Nigerian child of immigrants, raised in the UK and now based in Canada, whose work as a cartoonist captures the quiet, in-between moments we don’t always have the language for.If y...
EP.162 - Harleen Randhawa - "My Existence Is Resistance"
In this episode, I sit down with artist, mother, and fellow Randhawa, Harleen, to explore what happens when we stop performing the lives expected of us and start expressing our truth.Having immigrated to Canada as a baby, Harleen grew u...
EP.161 - Nikki Roy - "Teach Yourself How To Feel In Your Body"
A song comes on… and I’m not here anymore. I’m in a neural time machine and 15 again. And I don’t just remember it—I feel it.In this episode, I sit down with Nikki—a therapist with a Master’s in Arts and Counselling, and who I lik...
EP.160 - Ali - "You Can't Separate Pop Culture & Politics"
We say it all the time: “I’m just here for the music.”But… are we?In this episode, I sit down with Ali from @itsrealitywithali to unpack something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately — how pop culture stopped being “just ent...
EP.159 - It's Good To Gup Shup - "What Stories Is My Body Holding?"
This episode is about shifting the way we think about our bodies — even as our day-to-day bumps up against old rules, comparisons, and messages (or should we say misogynies) we’ve inherited. We are here to challenge the pressu...
EP.158 - It's Good To Gup Shup - "Safety Isn't Declared. It's Practiced"
Safe space. You’ve heard the term everywhere lately — but what does it actually mean? Who is responsible for the 'safety' part of the space?In this gup shup, we sit with a phrase that shows up everywhere lately: safe space.From s...
EP.157 - Rama Swami - "Silence & Stigma Have No Place In The Room"
In this episode of Middle Fingers Up, we sit down with Rama Swamy, a pelvic floor practitioner and physiotherapist who immigrated from India, for a necessary and overdue conversation about women’s health — the parts we were never taught to unde...
EP.156 - Farida D - "Stop Letting The Bar End For Men, The Exact Point it Begins For Women"
In this episode of Middle Fingers Up, I’m in conversation with Farida D, author of The Shit That Made Me a Feminist — a body of work that names the lived realities many women are taught to swallow quietly.Out of respect for her safet...
EP.155 - Kam Bassier - "It Is A Priveledge To Be A Cycle Breaker"
The one where we stop pretending everything’s fine just to keep the peace.In this episode, I sit down with Kam Bassier (from Episode 136: “You’re Not Lazy, You’re Burnt Out”) to talk about a tension so many BIPOC adults are carryi...
EP.154 - Moses Farrow - "The Human Trafficking Industry Uses Adoption As Propaganda"
Taken from South Korea as a baby, removed from his culture, and told it’s for a “better life” that he "wasn't wanted". This is the reality behind many international adoptions.In this episode, I speak with Moses, a therapist, advoca...
EP.153 - Shawn Ahmed - "If It Makes Me Laugh, That's Good Enough"
I came across Shawn Ahmed’s work the way so many of us do now — through a moment of laughter that quietly turned into curiosity. What followed was a conversation that went far deeper than comedy.Shawn is a South Asian Canadian actor wit...
EP.152 - Arunie Saldhi - "I'm Very Careful Now, To Not Breach My Own Boundaries"
We’ve all been in rooms where the energy doesn’t match the claim of being a safe space - overthinking, comparing, and surface-level talk are what tends to go down instead. I sat down with Arunie, Psychologist with PCHS Calgary and co-host...
EP.151 - Reshma Kearney - "It's In The Transitions That We're Able To Heal"
Reshma Kearney returns to Middle Fingers Up following Episode 128, where she first shared her experience of losing her husband to suicide and raising three children through grief. In this conversation, we go deeper — into what grief looks like ...
EP.150 - Rahell Seddek - "Whiteness Moves In A Funny Way"
In this episode of Middle Fingers Up, we sit down with Rahell, a 23-year-old mixed-race individual navigating identity, privilege, and growth.Rahell shares his experience as a “passing white kid” unpacking whiteness — what it meant to b...
EP.149 - Nisha Mody "Cultivate Your Safety (it's never too late to turn towards yourself"
In this episode of Middle Fingers Up, I sit down with Nisha Mody, the relational and trauma-informed coach known online as Healing Hype Girl. Nisha shares her raw journey from a childhood marked by strict expectations and silenced playful...
EP.148 - Kelly Kaur - "Be A Tiger"
Be A Tiger is an episode about what it really means to grow up as a South Asian girl who’s told to be strong… while also being told to stay quiet, stay small, and don’t make anyone uncomfortable.In this conversation with award-winning a...
EP.147 - Grief Coach Shri-"Getting Support Isn't a Weakness, It's Wisdom"
Before we get into this episode, I want to name something real: there’s a moment in life when grief meets growth. Our guest Shri lived that moment. And today, she’s helping us understand it.Grief has a way of interrupting your life—...
EP.146 - It's Good To Gup Shup - "My Body Is Changing. My Relationship With Myself Has To Change Too.”
In this gup shup, I want to talk about something we don’t talk about enough —rebuilding our relationship with ourselves during perimenopause.Not the charts.Not the protein grams.Not the supplements or the workouts.Those ...
EP.145 - Christian Ortiz - "We Are All Imprisoned By This Damn System"
In this episode of Middle Fingers Up, I sit down with Christian Ortiz — Afro-Indigenous social scientist, technologist, and creator of Justice AIGPT — and this conversation hit me on so many levels.Christian grew up ...
EP.144 - Shagun Sharma - "Gift Your Presence, Not Just Presents”
Ever feel guilty for not feeling festive?The holidays are sold as sparkle and joy — and honestly, it starts in August the moment the gingerbread hits store shelves. The holiday decor floods every aisle...But for many of us, what f...
EP.143 - Jeff D'Silva - "You Have Skin In The Game"
This one made me laugh, pause, and think.I get to sit down and really get to know Calgary comedian and Planet Jerf host Jeff D'Silva—the stories behind his humor, how he sees the world, and the experiences that shaped him. We talk a...
EP.142 - It's Good To Gup Shup - "“Assimilation, Love, and What I’m Unpacking Now”
Have you ever asked yourself why so many of us first-gens ended up dating or marrying white people? I have! I see now that our immigrant parents’ survival strategies — keeping your head down, working hard, staying small — shaped our...
EP.141 - It's Good To Gup Shup With Dr.Anne Recorded LIVE - "It's Not A Flaw, It's a Flow"
Hey everyone, quick question — when was the last time you really talked about periods? Not whispered, not joked about… I mean honest, open, real talk.If that made you pause, this one’s for you — and for the men in our lives too: dads, b...
