Episode Transcript
Hello, my name is Aziz and I'm the son of a divorce mother.
She's 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 Kira Buka.
Kira is part of the US team for pole dancing and holds a world title for ultra pole,
which is basically the biggest tricksters going against each other and throwing down the
craziest stuff until there is only one winner.
Kira is known in pole dancing for her dynamic tricks, she is becoming known as the
power spin queen and she runs a socially aware fashion, art and celebrity magazine called
Jujoon Magg, they only promote people who give back to the world.
Kira is also a fashion photographer for with her own photography, page on Instagram.
Kira, how are you today?
I'm great, thanks so much for having me.
I'm honored, I'm privileged, I'm lucky and looking forward to learn more about you.
So I'll begin with this nice first question, if your friends and the people who know
you most could describe your personality, what would they say about you?
I think they would describe me as a crazy trickster, they would say that I'm pretty much
down for anything and pretty much to go anywhere and excited to do that and I have non-stop energy.
And I just go go go.
I have so many questions about that because one of the things I feel is important
is that many women and girls who could feel shy or confined to their comfort zone can learn
from your craziness. So I want the mindset or the perspective behind all that.
What motivates you to go for the craziest tricks to be down for any adventures or crazy things?
Is it you think life is too short?
Is it you had times in the past where you felt limited and you're like breaking free with all
that energy? Is it because you have a perspective that every day is not like we don't know what
tomorrow will bring. So let's take this day to the maximum or what about you, your mindset,
your beliefs and the way you see the world creates this person who goes for the craziest tricks
and adventures.
So I think there's multiple levels to this question. One, I definitely grew up with a
father who loves to travel so I think that kind of already instilled a sense of adventure.
I studied abroad in Austria when I was like 1920 and I like it already kind of was like I was
independent all by myself and like I kind of started all that. But then as I started progressing
into things like I never really wanted anything to hold me back. I went to grad school for
neuroscience and then I was like but I love fashion photography more so I moved to New York City
completely by myself to pursue that and then hold that bend and it's just been like I don't let
things get me my way. And if there isn't a solution I create a solution solution like my magazine
I was like oh I really appreciate fashion. But I am a humanitarian and how fashion is not typically
known for being generous. So it was like how can I combine forces and I want to create images that
are really inspiring and socially aware but nobody wants to publish those. So I will create a
magazine that is all about getting a voice out to the voiceless and promoting nonprofits and this
and that. So there's that and then I think also COVID kind of like tipped that scale even further
because I live in New York City and when COVID hit I was in one of the most hit neighborhoods
in the city. We heard ambulances 24-7 for a month's solid and I didn't really leave my house
for almost two months. It was crazy. The best friend who had our transplant during a whole thing
in major heart failure who is a nice you the whole time. So I really felt trapped so the second
that like things were available. I just kind of went full extreme. I haven't stopped since. I
would basically travel almost every month and every other month other countries. So all over the
place and I started training during COVID with some of the best poll dancers in the world all
online. So COVID had it to plus us. I work with incredible people and I traveled to Turkey at
least once a year to train with one of the best poll dancers in the world to learn all the crazy
things. And I just like you know it the world has no limits and I haven't stopped. I love that. I
love that so much and I want to ask because there is an ingrained tendency within human beings
and the human brain for catastrophizing which is to always think that the worst thing will happen.
You spoke about going to Australia, travel in solo, doing projects, finding solutions.
Did you have that part of your mind that tells you oh no there could be danger or anxiety or whatever
it is? How did you overcome it? What do you say to yourself? Does it even happen to you? Tell me more
because someone who has that a mind that criticizes them and tells them no no no you could die if
you travel or whatever it is. What can they learn from you so that they can be more free and go out
of their shell with velocity and don't stop just like you? So I would say honestly like I traveled
with people and met people. I traveled for competitions and then I traveled solo and honestly some of
my best experiences were solo. I am an introvert so you know maybe for an extrovert it would be a little
bit more challenging but even when you're traveling like you'd be surprised how to like suddenly
people just start talking to you. Especially if you're like that weirdo who's clearly not from that
area. People just gravitate and they're curious you're something new and shiny. So in everywhere
I've been like told dancing in Egypt you know you go to Turkey and I go into like Muslim countries
where you think that like people would not be very receptive so like told dancing. People just
eat it up like I was in the plane right back from bottle loop bay just a couple days ago and my
I talked to people left and right and I'm educating them on you know how pole dancing is becoming
an Olympic sport and you know people just are hungry for something new and interesting so
people on average I think are good and maybe I'm just idealistic but I've been so far lucky.
Obviously I've had my problems I should certainly tell you about my first two years in New York
today they were nuts but you know we overcome and we really pushed to do what the best we can do
and fear is really only a limiting factor and I just just miss it most of the time.
It's all about my pole dancing I kind of know it's being fearless. I'm like who is this crazy
thinking how do I look there about a messy hocus. Like today I'm on a treasure. Like my
best my best bubble. See how it goes. I really love this and you mentioned that people are hungry
for something new you're educating people on how pole dancing is becoming an Olympic sport
and all that. Can you educate us or anyone listening? What do you feel are the exciting things
about pole dancing? What benefits your body and personality? What's cool about it and the people
who all over the world you have taught? Well maybe even for the first time what do they say?
How does their feedback? What points seem to be related to what interests them in trying this
and keeping at it? Pole dancing. I think a lot of people consider it therapy. It becomes an obsession.
It's like this magical community of crazy people who just a lot of people go and work out
because they want to be fit, they want to be healthy, yada yada. Most people who go into
pole dance are not the typical people who are going to hit the gym. They're certainly you know
across over for sure but there's a lot of people myself included people always like oh what else
you do in pole dance? I flex strain and that's only because I want to be more flexible for pole
like I really don't enjoy it. It's torture but I do it because I want to be beautiful on the pole.
Not beautiful but physically I don't care so much about that. I care about the pole
and that's how these people are and it's like a bunch of like crazy ninjas and like we just kind
of go and try new things and it's one of the most inclusive communities you'll ever contact
because we're on the fringe like we're oh weirdos we are very LGBTQ friendly we're in the circus
there's sex workers like there's so much crossover between so many communities and it's
across the globe and it's so exciting to meet another pole dancer because you kind of feel like you're
on the same wavelength in a lot of ways so it's a really magical place and even like with competing
like I have been blown away with how supportive people are across the globe. One of my favorite
stories is when I was a young baby pole dancer and I went to a competition I was stalking the people
who I was competing against and I am by far not a fan girl and like I literally shoot celebrities
and I'm like hey what's up I don't worry it's cool you know I have formal lives and conversations
and it's a big deal but I saw this one woman and she was fabulous she was doing everything I was
doing plus more and was doing it beautifully and I was so excited and terrified of competing against her
so when I met her backstage before the competition I like totally fans filled out and it's like totally
again that's something I do so it's like oh my god you're so amazing and she was like oh
and then like we both competed and during my competition piece I messed up a part of it which I was
fairly upset about when we say so I got off the stage and I was feeling kind of bombed and out
of nowhere this girl who I literally met like you know minutes before came running at me full force
through her arms around me and was like that was amazing you are amazing and I basically just
opened up it was like here's a girl I'm literally competing against and I had never met before
and she knew exactly what I needed at that moment and it was just amazing like the community is
so supportive like at this point oh my friends are pulled answers when I travel most of time I'm
literally just bouncing all over the world visiting pulled the answers like I literally just
got back on water movie visiting a girlfriend out there it's this beautiful beautiful place
with these beautiful people that sounds so inspiring I love that very much and for me I have to ask
there are or we live in a time like you said you are on the fringe the community is so open
and so supportive and everybody is inclusive and full of love needless there are people who are
not in such communities what would be your recommendation for for example to someone who feels
surrounded by people they don't understand and don't understand them who seem to be judgmental
so they cannot be themselves especially women in some parts of the world do you think they
should seek such communities like a pole dancer community or if not when speaking to people
even as an introvert what traits or like green flags do you notice in people that let you know
this is a kind of person that could be part of my tribe my kind of people that over time you can
create for example a group of friends that is as open inclusive supportive as the pole dancing
community I mean I think that's a tricky question depending on where you live I have a girlfriend who
is a pole dancer and she lives in Pakistan so like you can find these fringe people but I have
pole dancer friends in Russia mostly all my friends are pole dancers so it's a perfect list with it
yeah but anyhow so my friends in Russia I think I'm closer to so I'm going to use them as a talking
point obviously there's this war going on and my friend is very anti the war but he can't talk
about it because if he gets talks about it he could theoretically go to jail so even when I talk
to him even though I'm talking to him over the phone or something like this or video chat or
whatever we make our conversation cryptic so we won't say certain names certain words certain things
you have to be very careful and I feel for the women in Iran and all these countries I've
kind of seen that like are really in a tough place or it's hard to know who your allies are
and what could happen if you tell somebody the wrong thing and even honestly like I love the
pole community but I've had people try to sabotage me like I've had some very gnarly things happen
I always kind of think of like the whole story with the ice skater who had her knees bashed in
I'm like I can't come close to that so like there aren't good people in all communities you know like
you're always gonna find the positives and the negatives and you know I think with everybody like you
have to kind of find your niche and you know in this day and age it's hard to know who exactly
is trust I've just kind of built it up along the way and I get a good feeling off of people and
sometimes it's like the people who you don't imagine it's so funny like you meet somebody at an
event and you would think you know this is my competitor for example or this is a person who
I like have nothing in common with them before long you've become best friends like I have a
girlfriend I met at a pole camp and she sat down next to me she was like if you didn't care
Buka and I was like she was like I'm your competitor I was like great she looks scary and very strong
so as I go go I don't want to die and we spent the rest of the camp the pole camp together hanging
out training together in addition when I came to the competition which happened to be in her home
country she brought me cookies and treats from her home countries like the experience that I met
at mom like you never know but then like I've met other people who like you would think we
have so much in common maybe so perfect and I guess they just feel threatened by me and they
go the opposite direction and so you really had to be careful and try to you know find the
best people you can and yeah thank you and I want to speak about your magazine what was the story
or the idea to start it you said there is something related to the fashion world and how you want
to add more altruism and charity into it but also very importantly as someone who needs to train
a lot travel compete how do you find the time in order to create this project create your magazine
grow it help it become better while you're already having a full plate of things to do remember
when I said my friend think I'm crazy I do a lot of things I'm also working on fitness
up so I take on many projects I'm definitely a project person um yeah so basically my magazine
started in 2016 when as her individual became the US president up much to the dismay of
the majority of the people in the US and it was really scary I was a Bernie Sanders supporter
I went out hitting the streets trying to promote for him to get elected I was fine with Hillary
as an alternative and then when she didn't get elected I was utterly shocked I was like oh wow okay
I clearly am not doing the right things I'm not doing enough things so I kind of pivoted and I was
like you know what Trump is going to be making a lot of decisions and destroying opportunities
for a lot of people so I'm going to try and be a platform to be a voice or an opportunity to give
a voice for people who might be having that stripped away and it was scary so I just opened it up
and it honestly made and it has made the past x amount of years since so much better for me
um because I'm literally surrounded by and constantly reminded by all these incredible people
who just give back and care and are doing whatever they can for the world even you know they
could choose to just be a fancy celebrity and live their high life but instead some of these
people really do get their hands dirty and it's it's really beautiful um and it's been quite
a celebration and I love being an excuse for these people to have this opportunity to talk about
but instead of just talking about like oh yeah I'm not doing it so yeah I played a song or whatever
they can be like you know what yes I do this this is cool but let's talk about the homeless
population let's talk about what's going on in Iran like our next or our current cover model right
now this model uses like when everything is happening with anti abortion which is still happening
he's out traveling and checking or like going to abortion clinics and helping women and being
a presence to for women's rights which is amazing because he's a guy like you don't see a lot of
guys really stepping up like this it's really quite beautiful so and our next cover is an Iranian
woman who's you know been on the forefront of fighting against enforced his jobs like you know it's
really exciting to like see these people who are going above and beyond now obviously they're
talented in the arts and whatever else they're focused on absolutely arts and right because in but you
know really waking people up and what I love about it is like maybe you or a fan of a particular
thing like we promoted a woman on dancing moms which is not a show that I would typically watch
but she's gonna have a whole other following than what I would have and hopefully she will bring
that following to my magazine and they'll be like oh she did you know she was on dancing moms
and then they'll read and they'll say oh she's also really big about anti bullying and what else
is here and maybe they'll look further into the magazine and see what else is there and maybe they
would be on a completely different wavelength than their typical readers but maybe they'll start
seeing other things maybe they'll become more open to LGBTQ rights who knows like there is that
opportunity and it just sits there in a positive friendly way that I'm trying to make very
approachable and I went in a world that I feel is very divided these days thank you and I agree with
you 100% in this perspective and then the things you're aiming to change and I want to explore the
photographer in you because we didn't address that part of your personality when you're being
behind the lens or behind the camera in a way as the photographer what do you try to capture
how do you find your voice what is your photography voice and what is your goal or the thing you
feel is most important to express in any photo so that you put a bit of like sprinkles of your
soul into it and you feel satisfied with the work so I think this is a thing that's evolved a lot
over the years I think a lot of people look at photographers and they're like oh there's somebody
who captures lighting a really cool way I feel like as a fashion photographer on celebrity
photographer I'm more of a director than anything else yes I understand like yes I know how to like
make well exposed photograph but in reality it's really connecting with the person there's a real
like you have to kind of dive into a person I always tell people like I used to do a little bit of
like online dating consulting for people and especially like friends and stuffs and I can
I can tell you exactly a person's personality by looking at them because I look at photos so much
and I can just dive into a person just by a glance particularly through a photo because
people tell a lot it is you know like the Native Americans say like you know it's like capturing
a bit of your soul so I think there's like this connection that a photographer has to make
with a subject and they have to make that subject feel at home uncomfortable and you want to
bring that out and obviously if it's going to be more of a storytelling that you're trying to
bring out a particular mood and getting that person to vibe with that mood and you know I think
that's the most important thing these days is really trying to pull out that magic like
it's basically like producing a film except for all-in-one picture thank you so much
Kiara it was honestly my privilege and my honor to have you here to share your experiences
and perspective I wish you even more crazy adventures I wish you a bigger impact in the world
and thank you for participating thank you so much for having me I really appreciate it I can't wait
to listen further to more of you in a good place
