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Akansha, founder and CEO of yourdailyreset.com, shares her journey from political journalism to championing teacher well-being in the UAE, drawing inspiration from growing up with educator parents and experiencing burnout firsthand in her media career.
• Growing up with educator parents who encouraged critical thinking and supported her early interest in journalism • Pursuing journalism through education in Canada and the US before joining CNN and Vice News • Experiencing severe burnout after working on over 100 documentaries in three years • Founding Reset after recognising the high cost and limited accessibility of therapy in Dubai • Creating partnerships with UAE schools to provide science-based well-being workshops for teachers • Offering free teacher well-being assessments to help school leaders identify specific areas of concern • Signs of teacher burnout: decreased engagement, emails after hours, increased sick days, dipping morale • Practical strategies for teachers: communicate with supervisors, practice self-compassion, incorporate micro-habits • Aligning teacher well-being initiatives with the UAE National Well-Being Strategy 2031
Bio: Aakanksha Tangri is the founder of Re:Set which empowers educational institutions to attract and retain their best talent by reducing employee burnout, stress and disengagement. Re:Set works with schools to improve their teacher retention, productivity and happiness through our data-driven, science-backed and tailor-made solutions and programs. She has been named on the Forbes Middle East 30 Under 30 list for her work with Re:Set.
Aakanksha is a member of the Young Leaders Circle at The Milken Institute and a Visiting Fellow at Observer Research Foundation Middle East.
She is the host of 'Why This Now? By Re:Set,' an award-winning mental health podcast that has received accolades such as Best Produced and Best Interview at the India Audio Awards and consistently ranks among the top in various countries, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, and more.
Aakanksha has also been the Workplace Wellness Advisor to the Middle East Public Relations Association and a Mental Health Ambassador for VICE Media x Telus’ national well-being initiative in Canada. She has spoken on panels hosted by world governments including the UAE, India, Armenia and Rwanda.
A former VICE News and CNN journalist, Aakanksha has worked on notable stories including with former U.S. President Barack Obama, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the late celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain, and soccer star David Beckham.
Teach Middle East Magazine is the premier platform for educators and the entire education sector in the Middle East and beyond. Our vision is to equip educators with the materials and tools they need, to function optimally in and out of the classroom. We provide a space for educators to connect and find inspiration, resources, and forums to enhance their teaching techniques, methodologies, and personal development. We connect education suppliers and service providers to the people who make the buying decisions in schools.
You are listening to the Teach Middle East podcast connecting, developing and empowering educators.
Speaker 2:
Hey everyone, this is Lisa Grace, welcoming you back to another episode of the Teach Middle East podcast, to another episode of the Teach Middle East podcast. Today I am on air or in your air in your AirPods with Akansha, and she is the founder CEO of yourdailyresetcom, and for a young woman who has all the possibilities in the entire world at her feet, having grown up in Dubai, being educated in Dubai and overseas, she has chosen to solve for teacher well-being, and there's a reason for that because she grew up in a household of educators. Her dad, whose name I will not reveal to you unless she wants to, has been one of the more high-profile principals in Dubai for several decades, and so I think it's understandable why she would want to solve for a teacher well-being, and I think it's actually commendable and that's why I wanted to have her on the pod. So welcome to the podcast, akansha.
Speaker 3:
Thank you so much, lisa, for having me, and I think you're absolutely right. Out of all the things I could do, I chose to do teacher well-being because it's something I'm really passionate about, having seen it firsthand, growing up in a home, you know, with educators. Both my parents are educators, and I always like to joke. I used to be a journalist before this, before I became an entrepreneur, so I just love to say that I'm a sufferer for punishment, going from political journalism to starting something of my own and going through the high lows of that.
Speaker 2:
What was it like growing up with parents who were educators? How did that feel?
Speaker 3:
I think there was a lot of emphasis on education for us, but it also helped that both my parents were in the industry, on the administrative side, so they knew how to raise us in a home where we were given space to explore what we wanted to in our careers and it wasn't the typical. You know engineering, law, medicine, whatever it is. You can choose and pursue your passion. So since I was in grade one, I knew I wanted to be a journalist and in grade one I in fact convinced my dad to call up someone at the Kalish Times and, just, you know, speak to them and be like okay, my daughter wants to shadow you and learn everything. So, and she's only in grade one, but she's so persistent and is this something you can do? Into their credit, they did, you know they.
Speaker 3:
I spent, I think, two or three weeks just embedded in their newsroom to learn what it was and sort of have the space to make mistakes. They knew how to handle that. But also we were, you know, taught to like if it was like journalism, okay, great, then you have to show us that this is something you actually want to do. So it was an initiative I took on my own then that every summer I interned at a news publication or a magazine, time magazine, cnn, whatever it was to build my own career, so I'm really grateful for that.
Speaker 2:
That's interesting because you knew what you wanted to do from grade one, which is very unusual. I mean, people buy listen. When I was in grade one, I probably wanted to be a news reporter or a lawyer I had so many possibilities or an engineer or a doctor. Like every time I would watch something, I would decide that's what I want to be and that would change. So it's fascinating to know that you've stuck with it. Talk to me a little bit about your career in journalism. Where did it take you? How did that work?
Speaker 3:
So, in fact, one upside of having parents who are educators is that at the dining table they would always discuss the world news and encourage us to have opinions because they were so informed about what was going on. And I think one of my fondest memories growing up is watching BBC with my dad and you know him asking my opinion like what do you think about what's happening here? And then I would write my own news scripts and, you know, present it to my parents and be like, look, you know, I, based on what's happening in the world, I wrote something of my own. So I moved to Canada when I was in grade six the grade six to grade two undergrad. I was at the university, I was in Toronto and then I did my bachelor's in journalism from the University of Toronto and then moved to New York for my master's in international affairs and South Asian studies at Columbia. And when I was graduating I joined CNN, so part of Fareed Zakaria's team at CNN, which was a dream come true because it's something I really wanted to do. And then from there there was a company, a new age media company, vice that was launching a news division. So I was part of the launch team for Vice News, which was an incredible experience because I got to work across multimedia, whether it was on documentaries, in front of the camera, writing political stories. We had full journalistic freedom and editorial freedom to actually go out and report. And then from there I moved on to Vice's daily show, which I worked on, where we were producing three to four stories. So I worked over 100 documentaries during my three to four years at Vice and I ended up reaching burnout very quickly Because if you're a journalist, you're, you know.
Speaker 3:
We were constantly, especially, I think, in you know, 2014, 2016,. It was the peak of elections Canada was having a momentous election, india, the United States with President Trump. So we were constantly on the road, we were working around the clock. I had no time to actually look after myself. I was eating whatever I could find without even thinking about, you know, like my diet. I was eating at odd hours and that took a toll on my body and I reached burnout. I got sick. It had physical manifestations and that's when I, you know, I moved back to the why I quit bias. I moved back to the why not vice.
Speaker 3:
I moved back to Dubai, but I'm just going to take this time to just focus on my well-being, bring myself back to who I am and then decide what I want to do. So when I moved back, in fact, it was my dad who recognized I needed to go to therapy because I was so burnt out and I was not doing well. And when I went to therapy, here is when I realized a how expensive it is, you know, even though my parents were like we'll pay for it, don't worry, just go get the help you need. But then I started thinking like the average cost of therapy as of recently in the UAE. It's around 1,200 thermos, which is very expensive. You are, you know, culturally sensitive. Therapy is limited when you're looking at the cultural context as well, and therapy is often a last resort. So it's a reactive approach to well-being and that's how the idea of reset came to be. So that's how my journalism career brought me to where I am today.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, and why did you choose education and teachers in particular?
Speaker 3:
I think we were looking at industries where there is a lack of well-being support or at attrition is a critical concern in the industry and there's a lot of pressure that teachers are under a lot of stakeholder expectations and pressure. And for us at Reset, we're on a mission to help make the UAE the number one country in the world when it comes to citizen well-being and with that mandate, for us addressing teacher well-being is an important part of it Because if teachers don't have the well-being support, you're going to see the trickle-down effect across the school, across the students and in society.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I actually agree with you, but I wonder how such a big, audacious issue can be tackled by maybe a private entity. How do you hope to do that? What are you doing?
Speaker 3:
I think, for us, if one thing that being a journalist has taught me is persistence and never giving up, so for us, we, you know, in the time that we've been working on teacher well-being at Reset, we've developed incredible partnerships with educational institutions to focus on teacher well-being.
Speaker 3:
In fact, teacher Appreciation Week is coming up and we've partnered with just as of yesterday we've partnered with one school in Dubai I cannot name the school yet because it's a surprise for the teachers, so I don't want to reveal it yet but we've partnered for Teacher Appreciation Week to be able to have wellness, you know, days for teachers to take time out, to focus on their well-being, to de-stress, to work through any pent-up emotions.
Speaker 3:
But for us, you know, it's even if we start small and make an impact in one school. I think that's a success for us because that then has an effect across different stakeholders in society. We recently you know, I think three weeks ago completed two wonderful days at GEMS Modern Academy where we led, you know, teacher well-being warnings for their entire staff, and it was science-packed workshops and well-being experiences to allow them to equip themselves with the practical tools and micro-hab habits to look after their well-being. And the other thing that we've noticed when we work with schools is a lot of times well-being falls under the purview of pastoral care or it falls under the purview of the school counselor, and when we talk to those people, they tell us that we don't have the bandwidth, we don't have the capacity and that is where we step in at Reset to be able to support them in their mandate and to be able to provide teachers with well-being support across the school.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I got a quick question for you. So a lot of school leaders listen to the Teach Middle East podcast and they might be thinking how do I recognize that my staff might need a reset or might need reset? You know, playing on that word a little bit. What are they looking for? What are the signs? Burnout what do we mean by burnout?
Speaker 3:
So, with that, keep an eye out for how your staff is showing up in staff meetings. Do you see that they're not as engaged? Is their morale dipping? Are they sending emails after work hours? Have you seen an increase in sick days, in teacher absenteeism? Have you seen a drop in academic outcomes as well? Talk to your students.
Speaker 3:
One of the things that we've done at Reset is actually speak to students and understand whether it's something that they notice if their teachers are not doing okay.
Speaker 3:
And every single student, from grade one onwards till grade 12, has told us I know when my teacher is having a bad day, I know when my teacher is not doing okay, and we've also had, you know, kids say it makes me sad, it makes me anxious, it makes me stressed out. You know I walk on eggshells around my teacher and I think the easiest way that you can do this and because we're so passionate about teacher well-being at Reset, we've created a free teacher well-being assessment for schools. So it costs you nothing, it's anonymous. All you have to do is just send it out to your staff and you're going to get the data that'll allow you real-time data that'll allow you to gauge what the well-being assessment is in your school what the areas of concern are where actually they need support, like specific areas where they need support. So you don't have to do the guesswork. You can just focus on actually bridging that gap and providing full use.
Speaker 2:
So how much of it is the responsibility? Because there's such a balance and I'm thinking about I'm putting my former school leader hat on and I'm going how much of the teacher's well-being is my responsibility and how much of it is theirs? Because I can't, as a school leader, really within reason, be completely responsible for everyone's well-being all the time. So where's?
Speaker 3:
That's fair. That's absolutely fair. But school leader has to recognize that if they because as a leader, you have to take the initiative and step forward so if your teacher's well-being levels are dipping, it's going to have a direct impact on your school reputation, parent feedback, your you know even inspection ratings. At some point it, you know it's going to other teachers in the teacher community are going to talk. It's going to have whether you like it or not, whether you do something about it or not, it's going to have an impact on your school and your legacy as a leader. So I would recommend that you know, at some point leaders should take the initiative and step up.
Speaker 3:
But the other thing, what we also recognize, is that teachers, or anybody, needs to be an active stakeholder in their own well-being, which is why our programs are focused on being more proactive, so that, before a challenge snowballs into a crisis, teachers have the tools and the micro habits they need to focus on their well-being. And we're not coming into a school and saying we're taking away all stress. That's not possible and that's not realistic. What we're coming in and saying are that we are able to equip your teachers with psychological tools, with the, you know, we're able to set the foundations of psychological safety in your school, we're able to provide your teachers with science-led tools to look after their own well-being in moments of crisis, to embed it into their daily lives, and for you to be able to embed well-being into the fabric of your school culture, whether the teacher has been there for 30 years or whether you're onboarding new teachers.
Speaker 2:
I get it and I know that. I know it's a big responsibility to carry for for school leaders, so I want to go down a little bit more practical route. What are some of the things that you recommend that teachers do in order to ensure their well-being isn't compromised, that they don't head directly to burnout? What can they do? So pretend you're advising me and I'm on the brink of burnout. Potentially I am. I do a lot, so what would you tell me to help me stay on top of my well-being?
Speaker 3:
of my well-being. I would first of all commend you as a teacher for recognizing that you need additional support, because it's not easy to speak up and say that, hey, I'm not doing okay and this is something I know firsthand. I waited until things went really wrong to be able to get support and I don't want anyone to be in that position. So I think the first thing is recognizing and also accepting that it's going to be a bit of a longer journey for you to reset and feel okay, but that it is possible and you can start small. I think one thing that people you know get about well-being wrong is that it's overwhelming. But even the you know small steps can make a difference and have a domino effect on your well-being. Have a chat with your either school principal or your supervisor head of department whoever that you have that relationship with and let them know that you're feeling that way. I think it's important to be able to communicate to someone that you report to so that even they can come up with a plan on, maybe, how to manage your workload or to if you're in charge of extracurricular activities. You can get additional support there or that can be taken off your plate Anything to be able to manage your workload. That is, I think, a key step to begin with. The other thing is to be kind to yourself. Maybe there will be some days you won't be able to meet all deadlines or get everything off your plate, and that's okay.
Speaker 3:
One of my favorite sayings is that if you have 40 to give today and you've given 40, you've given 100, and I think that's something that teachers need to recognize. Is that not all days you will be able to show up fully and that that's okay. That's okay. You're doing a lot.
Speaker 3:
The other aspect I would say is look for resources, free resources, or, if your school has any resources, feel free to reach out to us. We have a lot of free resources as well that you can access to look after your well-being, whether it is learning box breathing to work through those anxious moments, or any other tools or, you know, any somatic movement experiences to release pent-up emotion and stress. Anything small that can help you just reset in the moment, I think, and that you can even do while driving to school or, you know, between lunch break or even before a class, getting box breathing. Anything else that will just take five minutes out of your day to get you through. I think the focus has try to go work out. I know that it's been said time and again, but try and just find at least a half hour. Maybe summer is coming up. Go walk in the mall, go to a yoga class, anything where you feel that you're reconnecting with yourself, anything where you feel that you're reconnecting with yourself, even if it's just grabbing a cup of coffee by yourself.
Speaker 2:
Any time you can take out for yourself will also help you reset and recalibrate and I think finally is to seek well-being support and, you know, actually get targeted intervention and help for burnout. And so, to bring the podcast to kind of wrap it all up, what are your hopes Like? Where do you see Daily Reset going and what are your hopes for teacher well-being nationwide and how do you even see that happening?
Speaker 3:
I think for us at Reset we're almost five months into the year and how do you even see that happening?
Speaker 3:
Lot of momentum in the education space when it comes to teacher well-being, when it comes to staff well-being, and we're really excited with what the year is going to bring, particularly because of the conversations we're having with school principals, who are recognizing the need for teacher well-being, support and programs.
Speaker 3:
You know, and I think for us at Reset it's something that we're so passionate about and it's something that you know it's not going to be easy, but we're doubling down on it because it's something we really believe in, it's a mission and passion that we really believe in, and we know that change is possible and change can be made. And for us, our aim is to be able to contribute to the vision of the leadership of the country, and well-being is a key pillar of that. The National Well-Being Strategy 2031 that's a key pillar and teacher well-being is a metric that will contribute to that as well. So we really hope that schools in the UAE emerge as a lighthouse in the country, to take the lead on wellbeing and to build it into the fabric, into the culture of their school.
Speaker 2:
That's a really lofty but worthwhile goal. Thank you so much, akansha, for being on the podcast with me today.
Speaker 3:
Thank you so much, Akansha, for being on the podcast with me today. Thank you so much, Lisa, for having me.
Speaker 1:
Thank you for listening to the Teach Middle East podcast. Visit our website teachmiddleeastcom and follow us on social media. The links are in the show notes.
