Rooted and Routed Podcast
Rooted & Routed is a podcast built on human stories and lived experience from lives shaped by global mobility.
Hosted by Sabiya Pathan Withoeck, the podcast explores identity, belonging, and the real human impact of living between cultures, countries, and systems.
Through thoughtful, unfiltered conversations, Rooted & Routed brings forward voices shaped by cross-border lives, including expats, returnees, diplomats, leaders, founders, educators, parents, and third-culture individuals.
This is not a podcast about relocation checklists or surface-level expat stories. It is a space for real conversations that help listeners make sense of what global lives demand — emotionally, structurally, and personally, and what they quietly produce in return: empathy, adaptability, judgment, and perspective.
Across episodes, the podcast examines lived experience alongside the systems and ecosystems that surround global mobility; from work, education, and leadership to policy, culture, and family life, without losing the human lens.
Rooted & Routed is for anyone navigating life between worlds, and for those building, leading, or supporting global mobility ecosystems who want a deeper understanding grounded in real lives, not abstractions.
🎙 New episodes available on YouTube and major podcast platforms.
Episodes
57 episodes
The Expat Feels Home. The Local Feels Foreign. | Dieter Withoeck | #Belgium #India
What happens when the local feels like the outsider, and the foreigner feels at home?In this episode of Rooted and Routed, Sabiya sits down with Dieter Withoeck, her husband, a Belgian who has lived in India for nearly two decades, and a...
Performed Authenticity, Brave Brands & Starting Over | KETAKI TANAJI GOLATKAR, GOOD DAY PR | Pt 2
Visibility without values is just noise.Ketaki Tanaji Golatkar returns for Part 2 of our conversation on Rooted and Routed — and this time, the lens turns from identity and belonging to the work itself. After 21 years across global comm...
Indo-German DIPLOMACY to Pro KABADDI to ICC: KETAKI TANAJI GOLATKAR on Building Her Own GOOD DAY PR
Ketaki Tanaji Golatkar is a global communications leader, a DEI advocate, and the founder of GoodDay PR and Strategic Communications. She has worked across agencies in Bombay and London, led a diplomatic project on Indo-German relations, and sp...
From Expat to Repat — What Nobody Tells You | Marie Truchassou | Rooted and Routed S3 E2 Part 2
Marie Truchassou is a global mobility HR consultant, founder of My Expat Compass and Forwards International HR, and one of only two people in France to hold both the GPHR and SPHRi certifications in international HR. In Part 2 of this conversat...
Inside the Human Side of Expat Assignments in India, with Marie Truchassou | Part 1
Marie Truchassou is a global mobility HR consultant who lived and worked as an expat in India — before becoming the person advising organisations on how to do it right.French, countryside-raised, she packed up her life and moved to Indi...
What 4 Countries Taught One Expat Spouse About Identity and Home: Rika Bouffe
For Rika Bouffe, Indonesian by birth, married to a French husband, and an expat spouse who has built a life across Indonesia, France, the United States, and India, home was never going to be a fixed address. It had to become something else e...
IT'S A WRAP | RECAP OF SEASON 2 | ROOTED AND ROUTED PODCAST
Season 2 of the Rooted and Routed Podcast is officially wrapped, and this is your recap. From authentic voices to deep-dive conversations, this season has been about growth, identity, and navigating change. Thank you to every subsc...
.png)
What Happens After the Service? Quiet Truths from a Diplomat’s Life.
In part 2 of our conversation, Carlos Ruano unpacks the quiet decisions and systemic gaps many never hear about — from pensions to policy reform, reinvention, and the emotional costs of service. What We Cover in This Segment:...
CARLOS RUANO : Working at WORLD BANK, UN, GLOBAL AFFAIRS CANADA & UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN | S2E10P1
As always, Rooted and Routed isn’t here to deliver headlines. We’re here to hold space for the stories that shape people, quietly and powerfully.In this part 1 episode, Sabiya sits down with Carlos Ruano — a diplomat, academic, and cultural...
What Strength Training Taught Me About Leadership – Bindi Basan’s Story
When you build a team across continents, how do you turn multiple worldviews into business results, not chaos?In this episode, Bindi Basan shares how she created multicultural teams that didn’t just show up, but stood out. We al...
Bindi Basan: The Leadership Advantage They Don’t Teach in Business School
What happens when your cultural heritage comes from one country, but your upbringing and worldview are shaped by another, and then you return to that ancestral culture as an expat?In this episode, Sabiya welcomes Bindi Basan, a Br...
.png)
How SARAH OLIVIERS Is Reinventing EQUESTRIAN CONSULTING From BELGIUM
#rootedandroutedpodcast #studententrepreneur ======CHAPTERS: SEASON 2 - EPISODE 8 - SARAH OLIVIER - PART 2======00:00 Coming Up00:43 Sarah Strides (www.sarah-strides.com) and Sarah's support system02:42 Living I...
From HORSEBACK in INDIA to Consulting in BELGIUM: SARAH’s Equestrian Path
What’s it really like growing up as an expat kid—and how does that shape your future?In this powerful episode, host Sabiya Pathan Withoeck sits down with Sarah Oliviers, a Belgian veterinary student, international show jumper, and...
Threads of Belonging: Joanna Dukkipati on Food, Language & Leadership | S2E7P2
In this heartfelt Part 2 episode, media founder, writer, and PhD researcher Joanna Dukkipati joins Sabiya Pathan Withoeck for a rich, reflective conversation that flows from food and migration to parenting and decolonising language, to clai...
.png)
JOANNA DUKKIPATI: The STORY Gatherer from MUMBAI to CORK | S2E7P1 | ROOTED AND ROUTED PODCAST
What does it take to create a platform that amplifies voices often left unheard—and keeps growing with intention?In this deeply personal and reflective episode, Joanna Dukkipati — writer, media founder, and PhD researcher — shares...
.png)
The GRIND Behind the GLORY | Christian Huber on WHAT YOUNG CHEFS Get WRONG | S2E6P2
#jwmarriott #marriottsuitespune In Part 2 of this immersive conversation with Chef Christian Huber of Sorriso, Pune, we explore the unfiltered realitybehind the world of international kitchens and authentic cuisine. From pee...
.png)
From Italy to India: Christian Huber on Culinary Identity and Adaptation
In this episode of Rooted and Routed, host Sabiya Pathan Withoeck dives into the emotional and cultural layers of expat life with Christian Huber—Executive Chef at Sorriso, Marriott Suites Pune.From growing up in Italy to buildi...
.png)
Summie Yeung’s Path to Empowering Immigrants and TCKs (Third Culture Kids) | Part 2
In this powerful part 2 conversation, Summie Yeung, a Life & Transition Coach, and former Hong Kong immigrant breaks down her coaching philosophy and insights on cultural integration, burnout, and parenting Third Culture Kids (TCKs). Listen...
.png)
Not Quite British, Not Quite Hong Konger: Redefining Identity with Summie Yeung
Part 1: Summie Yeung on Rooted and RoutedWhat does it really mean to grow up between cultures—and how do those experiences shape the way we live, work, and find our place in the world?In this powerful episode, we sit ...
.png)
One Year In: The Power of Storytelling Across Borders | 1st Year Completion
From a notebook of handwritten questions to a platform that shares global voices, Rooted and Routed turns ONE! What began as quiet conversations has grown into a space for honest stories on identity, belonging, and the layere...
.png)
Understanding DIPLOMATIC Spouses Through a BOURDIEUSIAN Lens: A Conversation with ANNA SKOROBOGATOWA
🎙️ Part 2 of our conversation with Anna SkorobogatowaWhat are the unspoken rules and emotional costs of life behind the diplomatic title?In this episode, Anna shares the lesser-heard realities of being a diplomatic spouse, from ...
.png)
Between Cultures and Continents: What It Means to Be a Diplomatic Spouse - Anna Skorobogatowa
What does it truly mean to build a life in constant motion, while raising children, adapting to new cultures, and supporting a partner who represents a country abroad?In this deeply personal conversation, Anna Skorobogatowa, a diplomatic...
.png)
Trust But Verify: Arnaud Luc on Parenting, Gen AI & Truth in Tech
What does it take to lead in tech, raise culturally grounded children, and embrace change across continents?In this episode, Arnaud Luc—tech leader at Cambridge Mobile Telematics—shares his journey from the French countryside to winning ...
.png)
From FRANCE to BOSTON : ARNAUD LUCAS on Identity, LEADERSHIP & Life in TECH
#rootedandroutedpodcast #technology In this heartfelt and insightful episode of Rooted and Routed, host Sabiya Pathan-Withoeck sits down with Arnaud Luc, a French-born tech leader who has built an inspiring life and career across c...
.png)
From Norway to India: An Expat Leader - Jan Thomas Lerstein's Journey of Belonging and Inclusion
In this episode, I sit down with Jan Thomas, Head of Emerging Technologies Banking and Payments at DNB, and an expat living in India on his first international assignment.From leading tech innovation to quietly transforming lives through...
