Honest yaps that call out & celebrate our inner tryhards.
Two best friends navigating adulthood, ambition, identity, and the messy beauty of caring deeply and trying hard — with microphones.
Hosted by Amanda & Monica
Latest Episodes
Come Sit With Us
The Luckiest Thing I Never Earned: On Privilege, Gratitude, and Not Taking It for Granted
"It's just a lottery." None of us chose the family, the country, or the circumstances we were born into, and some of us got a much softer landing than others.
Aug 4, 2026 · 42 min
From Trading Floor to Skincare Founder: On Risk, Alignment, and Building From Zero (with Audrey Wu)
From equity sales trader to skincare founder: Audrey Wu on leaving investment banking, building her eczema-born skincare brand Elements of Cho from scratch, and figuring out who you are without a job title doing the explaining for you.
Jul 21, 2026 · 52 min
The Postpartum Nobody Warned Me About: On Birth Plans, Mom Guilt, and Control
Amanda is officially six weeks into motherhood, and this episode is the unfiltered download.We get into the birth story: the unmedicated birth plan, the doula, the birthing classes, the epidural she swore she wouldn't need (and the moment she finally called for it). We talk about postpartum ...
Jul 14, 2026 · 55 min
Dance Saved Me: On the TCK Experience, Being Closeted, and Code-Switching (with Nakul Malik)
Why does it take a dance floor to feel like yourself?
Jul 6, 2026 · 39 min
Boobs & Beauty Standards: On Body Image, Insecurity, and Learning to Live in Your Body
Body image isn't one thing. It's the comment someone made when you were nine. It's the era you grew up in. It's comparing yourself to a friend who isn't growing a human right now.
Jun 23, 2026 · 41 min
Who We Are
The Tryhards Behind the Pod
We're Amanda and Monica — a therapist and a startup founder, two third culture kids in Singapore, and best friends who think too much, laugh too hard, and care too deeply. This podcast is our attempt to do it out loud.
Equal parts rigor, wit, and wildly contagious curiosity. Amanda is an integrative mind-body therapist and the founder of Somi Therapy, helping people who think too much, feel too much, and take on too much — then wonder why they're exhausted. She draws from psychology, neuroscience, trauma theory, coaching, and somatic practice, because surface-level has never been her thing. Before becoming a therapist, she spent years in strategy roles across education, microfinance, and consulting. She's the friend who makes you believe in yourself — and now you get to have her in your ears.
One of the coolest, sharpest, and strongest women you'll meet — and she'll hype you up, call out your bullshit, and ask the one question that cuts right to the truth. Monica is the co-founder of Nona Woman, a platform breaking period stigma and creating space for women in Indonesia to feel seen, heard, and educated. She holds an MBA from London Business School and has worked across EY-Parthenon, public health innovation, startups, and product marketing. She's generous, smart, hilarious, and made of what we suspect is 0% body fat and 100% discipline.
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