Produced By - Insight #23 - Luha Ahmed: Introducing Hometown, Maldivian Capital Malé, Through Art

Episode Date: September 22, 2023

Luha Ahmed has just completed her Marketing Graduate internship at CNN International Commercial, under the esteemed umbrella of Warner Bros. Discovery. Originally from the Maldives, Luha spent a significant portion of her life in Malaysia before relocating to the UK to pursue higher education. After completing a foundation year in Media studies, she embarked on her undergraduate degree in BA Film, based in London. In 2020, when the global pandemic emerged, Luha returned to Malé, the capital city of the Maldives. During this time, she successfully completed her second and final year of university, along with her final year project—a captivating short documentary shedding light on Malé and its local life. Following the completion of her studies, Luha ventured back to London seeking employment opportunities and soon joined a real estate company, where she excelled in producing property tours and creating engaging social media content. Subsequently, in 2022, she commenced her internship at CNN, where she presently holds a position in the trade marketing department. Tune in to this episode to delve deeper into the wonders of the Maldives and its capital city, Malé. Gain inspiration from Luha's courageous journey of traversing continents, motivating yourself to embrace challenges and embarking on personal growth.    Connect with Luha: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/luhaahmed/⁠  ⁠https://www.instagram.com/luhafilms/⁠  ⁠https://luhaahmed.wixsite.com/portfolio⁠     Topics discussed: Introduction Background Maldives and Malé Final year project Maldives for tourists Growing up in Malaysia Moving to the UK Foundation year in Brighton Moving to London Studying in London Studying during the pandemic Transition to work First job Current job Future plans Follow Luha   Links from the episode: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/cnncreate/?hl=en⁠ ⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aA127bKs7yo&ab_channel=LuhaAhmed⁠   Quotes from the episode: “I remember when I first went to the campus, my parents dropped me off and it was the last day that they were in the UK. I did my goodbyes, I went back to my room and I was just sitting in my bed thinking, wow.” “So that's why I thought, you know what? To even get a shot at things I just need to take the risk and that’s what I did.” “I think that just getting your foot at the door is a huge blessing.” “That's where my head was at and I made the decision to direct something just to see if I could do it and push myself. You just need to go out of the box a little bit.” Connect with the podcaster: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://tomasloucky.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomasloucky/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/thisistommen/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠https://twitter.com/TomasLoucky⁠⁠ Follow the podcast: 🌐 Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://produced-by-podcast.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🔗 Links: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/produced_by⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠   💬 Contact: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://produced-by-podcast.com/contact⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 📷 Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://instagram.com/produced_by_podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  🎥 YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT5LHnM6YCaeVzIr0WatOsw⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  🎵 TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@producedbypodcast⁠⁠⁠  ✉️ Email: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[e-mail]⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Apple Podcasts: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/produced-by/id1684669642⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🤩 If you enjoy listening to the podcast, please, leave a review on your podcast app, subscribe or share it with your friends. You can also send us a message and share any feedback, advice and tips for guests. 📭 Subscribe at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://produced-by-podcast.com/subscribe⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ so that you don't miss out! Connect with Tomas:X: https://x.com/TomasLoucky⁠⁠⁠Stan: https://stan.store/TommenLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomasloucky/⁠⁠Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisistommen/⁠⁠Unproduced:Newsletter: https://unproduced.substack.comYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@unproducednotesSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033Ddo8ibDlLYoaP7FFLIWMore:Links: https://linktr.ee/produced_by⁠⁠⁠Newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://producednewsletter.substack.com/⁠The Podcast Club: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/25420030/Tools & gear that support the show:Metricool: https://f.mtr.cool/HRJBZKRiverside: https://riverside.sjv.io/vDnDodFavikon: https://www.favikon.com?fpr=tommenRa Optics: https://ra-optics.myshopify.com/discount/TOMMEN?rfsn=8803777.591d19JamX: https://jamx.ai/podcasters-offer?ref_id=e02d48af-ef66-4e76-b804-c2e8d282a8bfSome links are affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. If you find them useful, using these links helps keep the podcast running. Thank you!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

My name is Bumpah. I'm originally from the Maldives, but I eventually moved to Malaysia when I was about two years old and lived there for about 15 years before I moved to the UK. And that's where I guess my journey into this industry and everything sort of began. I studied media and film ever since I moved here. so I sort of stayed on the same wavelength in terms of what my interests are. And yeah. That's very interesting. I've never met anyone from Maldives or Malaysia. I've actually never met another Maldivian here in the UK. We're like family.

But there's definitely a lot of Malaysians for sure and Singaporeans. And for someone who maybe does know where Maldives are, can you tell us where dislocated? So it's a South Asian country. It's right by Sri Lanka and India and also quite close to Malaysia as well. It's about a four-hour flight. Hence why we moved to somewhere that was nearby when I was a kid. And it's a very, very small country. I couldn't give you the exact population now because it is growing, but I would say I'm from the capital, which is called Mal. And it's right in the center. And if you at it on the map it's basically a bunch of atolls they're called that are sort of like dispersed vertically and the capitals right in the center and you could walk around pretty quickly like it's

really not a big island but obviously i mean for most people that know the maldives they see it as like a holiday destination so it's like you know all the beaches and resorts and whenever i see i'm from the waldives it's always like wow Like, why do people here? Why did she stay there? That local life is very different. It definitely also depends on your family background. And if you are privileged enough to even have the opportunity to move and study abroad and things like that. So I actually worked on this short documentary about the Maldives and the capital and where he is from in my final year of uni when everything was online. So yeah, I'll share that with you, but that itself was also,

like, a massive challenge because obviously COVID was very unexpected and given film is a very practical course. I had like about a year and a half of it completely online. So I sort of had to make do and figure it all out. I started in 2018. No, COVID happened in my second year. But then at least the third year was normal or kind of normal, right? So it did get better. Like I know there were groups that were able to shoot in person. Obviously there were so many restrictions and you know how we have to get everything greenlit. It was a lot more restrictive in terms of what they were allowing us to film and do, of course.

So I remember I decided to go back to the Valdives right before. the lockdown happened because I just I didn't want to be stuck here alone and like you know be away from my family like no one really knew what was going on so I blew back finished the rest of my second year and then when third year began we were still online and everyone was in their respective countries or still in the UK and we basically had to make the decision on what we wanted to do for our final year films of course, which we kind of had already started working on, me and my team. We were very ambitious in terms of what we wanted to film, so it was a risk in itself to go ahead with the idea. And in the end, sort of like the further along we went and like preparing for it, just,

you know, like our DOP and producer and people in the team were, you know, so a little bit unsure of like how realistic this was in terms of carrying it out. Not everyone was also in the country, so we were going to be flying back in. And so we just made sort of like the collective decision to let go of that project that we'd been working on and do our old thing. So that's how I ended up working on the documentary that was set in the Maldidis, set in the capital, and basically I had a huge family, a lot of cousins so I got all of them to like help me be my little production team I like made them follow me around everywhere with equipment and I made it work it was fun I it was a very different experience I didn't have all the equipment that I wanted and I just kind of had to make do

yeah I just wanted to really explore the one question that everyone would ask me when they asked like oh, you know, like the Maldives and why did you move? And so I wanted to dive into sort of the lifestyles and the different backgrounds and the different classes that you see in the capital. And in conditions, some people are more fortunate where, you know, there are people that are definitely struggling to make a living in the capital. So it's very interesting. I got to interview quite a few different people. And I did the best one I could. and I managed to get something done out of it, but I still do have like a longer version that I have yet to finish, but life happened and I'm working full time. Are you still planning to finish it?

Yes, of course. I have to because there's like people that I interviewed that deserve to be heard. How long was the version that you submitted and how long will be the version that you planned to make? I think the one that I submitted might have been just under 10 minutes. And then once it's completed, I would say at least half an hour. Not super long, but just enough to, you know, it'd be like a short documentary. To me it sounds like really interesting topic for the documentary because, as I said, there aren't many people or I haven't met anyone from Maldives. So it's something that people just don't know about. So I would be curious to watch it and find out more.

Because I'm not going to lie, my question was if Maldives are like these beautiful tourist destination, where people just fly to the beaches, you know, for swimming in the sea. And as you said, I didn't probably realize it or didn't think about it that way that obviously they are different. Yeah, there's always two signs. Yeah. I mean, I would say, like, I'm very fortunate. to like when I go home, go to the beach and have that kind of nature around me. But for example, when I first started working on the project,

I had a lot of mixed opinions from like the older generation versus the younger generation in my family, because I would say with the Maldives, the tourism industry is like the reason why, you know, we generated the wealth and has been able to develop the country. in general, even though it's not exactly, you know, to a standard that some people would have hoped it to be. But there have been massive changes that have happened across the years because of tourism that's been generated. But at the same time, I think, like I said, there's this whole other side that no one knows about that's shown online or you don't see it in ads.

But I understand that because that generation, like my father's generation, their work, their whole lives to promote this sunny side of life. So yeah, I mean, there's pros and pawns to it with working on the documentary I was doing my best not to be sort of biased as well because I think especially given I didn't grow up there, I would visit every single year. but it's important that I'm able to have almost like no opinion in terms of like when I'm editing as well and just give the facts as it is. So that it's more objective rather than subjective, right? Exactly, exactly. So with the people that I interviewed as well, they were from different classes and different backgrounds, different walks of life.