What actually separates good from great when titles, resumes, and LinkedIn profiles disappear?

In this episode of Swurl Radio, Eric and Ayka sit down with Amit, a visionary educator who has shaped the careers of over 3,000 tech professionals, trained teams at Spotify, the United Nations, PwC, and built one of London’s most respected design schools from a side project into a global consultancy.

Together, they explore the intangibles that don’t show up on a resume: discipline, curiosity, presence, coachability, and the willingness to put in the reps when no one is watching. Drawing from sports, design, education, and Kobe Bryant’s Mamba Mentality, Amit breaks down why hard work consistently outpaces raw talent, how great coaches create growth environments, and why “learning by doing” is the only path to real mastery.

This conversation is for anyone navigating a career pivot, building a company, mentoring others, or trying to stand out in a crowded, AI-driven job market — without losing their humanity.

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Eric and Ayka sit down with multimedia artist, researcher, and storyteller Husna Abubakar to talk about what it really means to be Swahili in a world that keeps getting it wrong.

Husna shares her experience as a third culture Swahili woman from Mombasa, Kenya, growing up between the Swahili coast and the U.S., and how that tension pushed her to question Western ideas of success, identity, and “the right way” to live. She breaks down Occidental vs. Orientalist frameworks, talks honestly about being a woman of color at RISD in a deeply colonial city, and why she set out to decolonize her own design practice.

They get into her shift from graphic design into film, textiles, and installation, her powerful work around Swahili homes, motherhood, and matrifocal culture, and the responsibility she feels as the first in her family to earn a graduate degree. Husna closes with a message for creatives caught between cultures: your indigeneity isn’t a problem to fix—it’s your power.

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Swurl is building a new kind of networking platform focused on real connections, not self-promotion.

"Music by Vlvt. If you are working on a podcast, get your Swurl Radio discount code and save 20% on anything at Vlvt.fm"

Eric and Ayka sit down with Edmund Earle, a veteran 3D animator and motion designer whose work spans PBS, National Geographic, Hulu, and John Oliver. Edmund breaks down what it really takes to survive today’s animation industry — from pricing and client management to choosing between being a generalist or specialist. They also talk AI, short-form content, and the hard lessons new animators need to hear.

Support Swurl
Swurl is building a new kind of networking platform focused on real connections, not self-promotion.

"Music by Vlvt. If you are working on a podcast, get your Swurl Radio discount code and save 20% on anything at Vlvt.fm"