Episode Transcript
Hello, my name is Aziz and I'm the son of a divorced mother. She is really my superhero.
That's why it's important for me to support women to share their uniqueness, their personalities,
perspectives and emotions about this world. In these difficult times in human history,
we need to bring the people of the world together. And when we hear the voices of women, when
we listen to real lives of women from other countries, we connect our cultures without
differences or stereotypes and we get inspired by their stories to live a better life. That's
what this podcast is all about. My guest today is Maria Badanova. Masha is a Middle Eastern
Slavic girl living in Montenegro and studying at the tourist secondary school, but would
actually prefer to study literature. Masha also likes drawing, reading and singing. She
acted in theatre for six years and she is really passionate about it, although she doesn't
do it right now. Masha focuses on her personal growth and on developing and discovering her
values throughout all the years. Masha, how are you today? I'm okay. I'm a bit sick since
yesterday because it got a little too cold in here, but I'm fine genuinely. Yes, as a
Middle Eastern girl, I'm sure you struggle with the cold weather a lot. And so I'm privileged
and honored to have such an exotic girl here today. And I'm curious about you. So I'll
begin with this. If your friends could describe your personality, what would they say about
you? I think they would say that I'm very outgoing person. People also always tell me
that I'm clever and I'm like, I like it. They probably would say that I'm like kind of wise
or something like that, that I know how to communicate with people. I guess so. Thank
you. And I sense what you said when people say you're clever, you like that. Accepting
compliments is part of confidence. So I'll ask you, do you feel you're confident? Do
you feel that nowadays, girls your age are able to be confident or you think things like
social media may be comparing themselves to girls who on photos look perfect and have
a jet set perfect life destroys their self-esteem? Or how do you deal with this? What's your
opinion on all this? I think definitely that social media mostly and other things in nowadays
society affects confidence of mostly teenage girls. And I think teenage girls care more
about their looks right now than it was ever in history. But I definitely think that despite
of all that, everyone should build their own confidence. They should understand how you
shouldn't compare yourself to other people and how just being yourself is what you need
to do. And it's really important to learn to be comfortable in your own body. I agree
100%. And to explore who you are even more, what are some things that you do nowadays
in addition to studying that really express your personality? I think what mostly expresses
my personality is like how I talk with friends, I guess, because I don't do any like formal
additional activities right now. But we together, we have a really beautiful friendship. Something
that really expresses my personality, for example, is that we exchange like letters,
like written letters with some of my friends. And I really like to write stuff. And it's
just some really beautiful way of communication for me. Also like to analyze poems for fun.
Sometimes we make debates for fun. And it's so fun. I like it. That's really, really interesting.
You love to write, you communicate with them in letters. Do you feel somehow that you wish
you were born in some other time period in this world? Or is it just that you like to
be unusual and do things that are not mainstream? No, I don't feel that I would like to be born
in some other generation, maybe future generation, but I'm not sure the world will be better
than that. So because obviously, right now, I'm more safe as a person and as a woman in
our world than I was like 300 years ago. I'm just scared.
I understand. And tell me about theatre. What was the thing that made you so passionate
about it? Is it because you could live a thousand lives in every character that is not you where
you can experience new things? Or is it just a break from the monotony of life that gives
you new emotions? Or tell me more about this passion.
I think I'm a person who's very complex, who has very different sides. And in every character
that I play, I can find something from myself. And it's really cool how this character and
me as a person have some sort of relationship when we're playing. And I don't think I'm
changing and having different lives when I'm playing in the theatre, because everyone who
I play is part of me. I like that. So theatre to you could be a
way for self-discovery and expressing different sides and parts of yourself. And you spoke
about your ability to communicate with people that you know how to speak with them. One,
is this related to your skills in theatre and what you learned there? And secondly,
to some people who could be introverted and shy, what's your method or technique of making
new friends, beginning new conversations and getting along with good communication when
you're with new people? I think my communication skills are definitely
connected to theatre because I did a big work on my diction, for example, on how I talk.
And also I became more outgoing because I just wasn't afraid to do stuff in front of
the people. And on your second question, to the person
who's shy, it's like, don't be afraid of people. They're not going to do like anything. I think
the most important thing that you need to know is that if you go to the person and tell
like, oh, hey, like, how are you? What's up? No one's going to hit you or something like
that. And it's not going to be embarrassing or something. You just got to meet him and
know a new person. I agree. That's very, very good advice. And about
literature, you wish you would have chosen that, for example, instead of tourism to you.
Is literature connected to theatre? What does it give you? Is it something related to you
writing letters by hand and loving writing? Or how does that fit into your life and personality?
Well, I really like literature, first of all, because I really enjoy reading. It's like
my favorite thing. Since I was like five years old, I used to read every night before I go
to sleep. Now I'm a little worse with that, but I still read a lot. It's definitely connected
to theatre because there's dramas. I love to read them. I really like Shakespeare comedies.
And I definitely love literature because I feel like I have some, like I can do something
in it. When I read something, when I read a poem in my brain, there's like constant
analysis happens. I always make some sort of observations about literature. And this
is a process that I'm like really enjoying. Literature analysis is better than anything
else when you put hard work in it and then you actually understand everything. This is
the most beautiful feeling in my life. Thank you. To those who might not understand,
what is your brain analyzing whenever you read poetry or literature? Is it something
formal that you follow a process that is academic? Is it you relating it to your own life and
what you would have done instead? Are you extracting lessons and wisdom? Like you said,
some people say you're wise or what do you mean by literary analysis, especially that
you're not actively studying it, but yet your brain automatically does it. The literature
analysis, I think it has like every form and shape that you want it to be. Like obviously
I studied it in my last school. I was a literature major and I know a lot about it. So if there's
going to be some formal task to do it, I will do it in exact way that like some sort of
commission or teachers want me to do. But actually I think that analyzing literature
is more than that and it could be done in ways that you said, like comparing it to your
life and stuff. Usually it's just about finding some sort of parallels and in poetry also
it's really important, the rhythm, the rhyme and all this stuff. But like for example,
right now I've read a book recently and after third page, I was like, no third chapter,
I was like, oh shit, like I need to write an essay about this. And it's not like literature
analysis essay, but it's rather like more psychological analysis of the main character
because I like really like her. So I think like as a hobby to you, whatever you think
is a literature analysis is a literature analysis. But obviously when you have some formal stuff
and you need to give them to some people that gonna check them or you do a little research
work, it's something more than that.
Thank you. You spoke about the character that you like her. Is it a similar or how is this
process similar to you dealing with different characters in theater?
Okay. So I like this character because we're like almost exactly the same. We have similar
relationships with like some people. We have very similar relationship with our dads and
we always, she does some things and I was like, oh shit, I would do that. Like if I
was her, I would do exactly that. And I've never played a person who would be exactly
like me, except for one time when I was at school, it wasn't like professional theater.
I played myself, I guess. It's just a scene when I was a hero. So I think it's a little
different, but it has a lot in common.
Thank you. And to understand even more, what's your advice to other teenage girls who maybe
don't feel the courage or the strength to be themselves fully, to share their voices,
to communicate their truth. Maybe they say what they think will appease or please other
people. Do you have some words of wisdom since you're the wise one to them that can help
them gain that confidence and share their truth unapologetically?
I think like try always growing as a person and see your success in growing as a person,
not some like formal things or I don't know, maybe some material things that you've got
or some praise from other people. See like your success in your personal growth and that's
how you'll be at least comfortable with yourself.
Thank you so much, Masha. This was my privilege and my honor, honestly, to have you on this
project. I wish you to keep going. I wish you more success and to represent all your
Middle Eastern Slavic roots in every occasion. Thank you again.
Okay. Thank you so much.
