From The Brown Girl Who Can’t Swim, To A Swimmer, Performer and TedX Speaker- With Summaya Mughal

Today we are joined by Summaya Mughal, an award winning TV and radio presenter for the BBC, journalist, podcast host and a TEDx speaker. Recently Summaya undertook the challenge of learning to swim mentored by Olympians Rebecca Adlington and Alice Dearing during the five-part series in a bid to complete her challenge of swimming 500m in open water in 8 weeks, with her journey being documented on a BBC podcast winning the Sports Journalists Associations winner of podcast of the year this year.

In todays conversation Summaya discusses her experiences creating “Brown Girl Can’t Swim” and her journey leading up to it, sharing why she decided to not only learn to swim at the age of 28 but also to broadcast it to the whole world.

After explaining her motivations for Brown girl Can’t Swim, she dives into the details about the challenges that she faced whilst learning to swim and creating her podcast, highlighting key challenges that are particularly relevant to the South Asian Community in Britain. 

She also discusses the importance of identifying your natural talents and nurturing them, utilising her passion for performing as an example to illustrate how she has been a performer in several contexts including , plays, television, the radio and most recently a Ted Talk. 

Summaya also delves into her experiences of creating and delivering a ted talk and how sharing the idea of finding and using your gift has changed her outlook on life and her relationships. 

Some of the key themes and takeaways of todays conversation include:

• The journey to self acceptance and embracing who your are
• The importance of being your authentic self 
• How to challenge fears of shame and inadequacy
• The motivation behind starting Brown Girl Can’t Swim and the journey of learning to swim in 8 weeks
• Why there are barriers to learning swimming in the South Asian community were . 6.9% of British Asian women swam once in the last year compared to 80.6% of white British women 
• How to balance your faith, culture and the expectations of others whilst staying true to yourself 
• How to take care of your mental health as a public figure
• Why Summaya gave a ted talk on finding and celebrating your “gift” as an individual 

Tune in to learn more, and follow Summaya at @summaya.mughal on instagram, @summayamughal on twitter, and you can listen to Brown Girl Can’t Swim on BBC sounds.