Where has this podcast been all our lives??
These days you see so many amazing startups and businesses that people are bringing forth to the community creating a very creative and innovative environment for the youth! So, Aly Mortada, founder and host of the podcast, Up Next, took it upon him to create a safe place on his podcast for people to tell their stories as well as inspiring other individuals who are looking to also build something from scratch!
So, we HAD to ask him to tell us allll about him & his podcast because hey this deserves way more recognition and appreciation so let’s give that to him! Oh and did we tell you he’s only 21?!
Can you introduce yourself & tell us a little about how you decided to start this podcast?
My name is Aly Mortada and I am the host and founder of the Podcast Up Next. I am a 21 year old based in Dubai and I am currently a senior in the American University of Sharjah majoring in economics.
In terms of the reason I would say it is a bit two fold. First things first I have always been passionate about public speaking, presenting and just having a platform in general and ever since I gave the farewell speech in my high school batch’s final assembly I knew that I belong on a stage and since then I started thinking of ways for me to build a platform for myself. And the second thing kind of came to me randomly one day in May of 2020 when it was right in the middle of the full lockdown and I was having my finals at the time and it was also Ramadan so it was a very stressful and weird time for me. Then one night at around 3am I was just in the toilet scrolling over my iG feed then I saw posts from my uni friends Haneen Asfour and Elnaz Tabei who have their own small businesses and I was very fond of what they were doing and wanted to support them by doing more than just a simple story or post on IG. Then the idea of a podcast where I interview people in the youth community that are doing cool things came to me instantly so I wrote it down in my notebook and I texted the group chat with my friends about it. I really liked the idea because I felt that it could achieve the 2 things I had in mind, help the people that I am fond of tell their full story and inspire others by doing so too and at the same time achieve my aim of having a platform that can help with my passion for public speaking, so it was sort a 2 birds 1 stone kinda thing. Then a couple of weeks pass by and I finish finals and get to work on building the podcast from scratch. Fast forward to around 2 months later and Up Next was born.
What is your podcast, Up Next, all about?
Up Next is a platform for the youth by the youth where I bring on young and upcoming artists, entrepreneurs, athletes, designers and others in many fields, and we have amazing and genuine conversations about the work that they do, how and why they started, the challenges they faced, mistakes that they made, and they share their advice with others from the youth community that are interested in pursuing a similar path. It is all about giving a platform for people from the youth community that are doing cool things where they can talk about their unfiltered story from A-Z and give back to the youth community at the same time by sharing some of their learnings and insights either directly through the advice segments for example or indirectly where they bring up something in the middle of the conversation about the story that could possibly benefit or add value to someone that is on a similar path and finds such information relevant.
This is also the whole idea behind the name, where the people that come on are “Up Next” in their respective fields.
What’s the one thing you enjoy the most about creating your podcasts & interviewing influential people?
I think what I enjoy the most is learning from the person that I am interviewing them. I am really convinced that everyone with all of the different things that they have faced in life and with their individual and unique challenges and stories can bring soooo much value to others and what might seem like something normal to them can be a huge lesson to others. So whenever I am asking someone about their journey, the things they did right, the things they could have done better and the lessons they learned so I am always taking notes mentally and trying to apply that not only to my credit but also in terms of self development by learning from how that person overcame what they did or how they kept fighting and working to get to their current position. I also definitely learn a lot from the future goals that people have set for themselves and get really inspired by them. This is one of the biggest reasons why I always ask my guests about their future goals at the end.
What is something interesting you’ve learnt during this whole process?
I don’t think they are interesting in the sense that they are new/never spoken about things but It would definitely be about their grit and the work that they put in. We always see these motivational posts about putting in the work and what not and it is really easy to see them as nothing but cliche saying but when you hear all of these stories about the people that applied them and to see where they got to and what they have achieved, it really reinforces the belief in your head that with being patient and working hard (and smart) you can achieve anything you to set out to achieve.
If there was a piece of advice or something you could tell the whole world, what would it be?
When it comes to giving advice I usually like to be careful because I think it is a very debatable thing (the idea of advising someone on just their life in general) so I usually try to keep the specific tips for people enquiring about my niche or areas that I am quite knowledgeable on or experienced in because I don’t think there is a one size fit all advice and what works for me as Aly Mortada won’t necessarily work for everyone.
However, if I was to share something with the world it would definitely be to try to the fullest extent to do what you are passionate about because man life is short and death is the only thing that is guaranteed in life so spend whatever time you have doing what you love. Another thing would be to add value, wherever you go, whoever you meet and in whatever you are doing BRING VALUE to the table. And this value could be anything as long as it contributes to the people around you, it can be putting a smile on their face or completely turning their lives upside down (to the better of course ahahaha). Because we are all in this together, no one has it easier than others, we all have our own mountains to climb and walls to move so whenever you can, add value to others, and remember that what goes around comes around so spread positivity and good things to get some back your way.
What can people find on your podcast?
To be honest there are a plethora of topics discussed on the podcast because they all vary based on the guest, their field, their passions, their character and sooo many other things, and it will be very hard for me to list them down because there are wayyyy too many. But the ones that are on the top of my head though would be related to entrepreneurship, turning an idea into a successful venture/business, turning something you are passionate about into your full time job, mental health, balancing your side hustles with studies/work/other commitments, the challenges that the guests have faced and the mistakes they made, why they started doing what they do and the inspiration behind their work.
And finally…where can we find the podcast?
EVERYWHERE, episodes drop every week on Wednesday at 6pm on all of the major podcasting platforms; apple podcasts, Spotify, google podcasts and stitcher!
That’s all folks! We hope that you were as blown away as we were when we first came across Aly Mortada’s amazing podcast! So make sure to tune into his podcasts and follow his Instagram because oh boy there is SO much you can learn and you can’t miss out an opportunity like this!! And if you feel like you want to tell your own story just DM him!
Gotta support your local talents!
READ MORE:
Movies Playing At Aljada Drive-in Cinema This Week: Oct 3-7
READ MORE:
We Found Your Next Asian Dream Store in Sharjah & It’s Got Us Wanting to Stay There All Day!
READ MORE:
It’s Time Cricket Fans! Tickets for T20 World Cup 2021 in UAE is Ready for Sale!
