Anoushka Hem is reminding people that it’s okay to not always be okay.
The fourth-year theater student is host of “the ash gracie podcast,” a show where she offers her perspective on aspects of wellness, mental health and self-care. After taking an extensive break from hosting, Hem said she restarted the podcast in February to foster a sense of comfort and support for herself and others who value the importance of wellness. She added that conversations about wellness are necessary to normalize discussions around mental health and remind people that it is okay that they may not have life completely figured out.
“Personal care and wellness and mental health is something that everyone in some capacity deals with,” Hem said. “It’s still so stigmatized, and I think that people are starting to talk about it more than they used to, but there can always be more voices, and I think it needs to be something that’s normalized and more understood. And I just really find the value in being able to talk about it.”
Hem said she created the podcast before the start of her sophomore year at UCLA. At a young age, she said she had been called wise by people around her and had to grow up faster to teach lessons she picked up to her younger siblings. She added that after freshman year, she experienced burnout and a decline in her mental health. The podcast, Hem said, was created then to serve as a digital journal for her to share the thoughts she could not easily convey. She used the medium because of how podcasts like “Finding Your Casual Magic” by UnJaded Jade and “The Psychology of your 20s” from Jemma Sbeg affirmed and helped her, she added.
Wellness was an aspect of life that Hem said was important to her, but she did not know how to properly handle it in her personal life. She said the podcast provided a sense of comfort as she navigated her mental health experiences and learned to better care for herself. With an endless number of self-help books and guides available, Hem added that it was necessary for her to hear lessons and reassurance from her own voice.
“I wanted to create something that I would have loved to have when I was younger,” Hem said. “There are so many wellness books and podcasts out there, but I think for me, it was more of a thing of I needed to hear myself say it, and I needed to hear myself remind me that I would be okay.”
Fourth-year music industry student Grace Nguyen, who was one of the few guests to appear on “the ash gracie podcast,” said Hem’s evolving perspective on wellness has allowed her to talk freely and take ownership of her mental health to be able to share with others. Nguyen said as a guest on the show, she bonded with Hem as they discussed their similar experiences with mental health stigmatization and felt empowered by the conversational and informal environment curated by Hem.
“She’s (Anoushka) so encouraging as a person and so supportive as a person that it just naturally flows into her podcasting and her conversations with the people on her podcast. And so, I think she really encourages me to open up. She really encourages me to be vulnerable,” Nguyen said. “Being able to talk about your experiences is powerful, and that it does mean something.”
Though she is focused on wellness, Hem said she still experiences bouts of burnout and challenges in conducting her podcast. Janelle Soriano, a fourth-year theater student, said Hem is challenged with determining how much personal experience to detail along with her general discussion on a wellness topic. While Hem does not want to censor herself, Soriano added that Hem must also consider her own safety and that of her listeners. Still, Soriano said Hem successfully balances such conflicts and her busy theater schedule to keep the podcast a relieving activity for her at the end of the week.
“She’s been pretty diligent about it (the podcast) and if anything, I think it’s something that she looks forward to and is a way to help her process the week, and it’s a very cathartic thing,” Soriano said. “She’s been doing a great job.”
With graduation approaching, Hem said she plans on continuing the podcast to reflect on her undergraduate experience and remain in contact with her friends continuing at UCLA. She said the podcast has helped her take advantage of opportunities as a student, connecting her with people who listen to her show and want to collaborate with her on creative projects.
Hem said she will take lessons from her podcast into her post-graduation life, such as taking things one at a time and allowing herself rest. Hem added that she often returns to her very first episode to remind her of the motivation she had to put her voice out in the world without knowing where her life would go. In continuing her podcast, she said she hopes listeners become patient with themselves as they learn from and support each other through the complexities of life.
“Everyone is human, and life is messy, and that is okay. There’s no need for perfection. We’re all on our own path. We’re all doing this for the first time,” Hem said. “The unknown is scary and it’s not fun. … But embracing that and knowing that it’s okay that you just know what you know right now, and you don’t know what you don’t know – because there are things that you have time to learn later – and that’s okay, and at the end of the day, we’re all in this together.”
