Filipino-Iranian journalist Jay Behrouzi-Sneade was recently selected as one of this year’s four creators to take part in the BBC’s flagship professional acceleration programme, BBC Sounds Audio Lab.
Based in Liverpool, Jay will join three other creators from under-represented backgrounds to turn their ideas into podcasts. Chosen from hundreds of applicants, the quartet will be immersed in a unique accelerator programme backed by a comprehensive package of practical and professional training while embedded with one of Audio Lab’s production partners located across the UK.
Jay will be working with production partner, BBC Audio North, and is hoping to reconnect with her heritage, by creating a positive, food-science documentary. Jay seeks to understand the chemistry of cooking.
Each episode will explore a different chemical principle, experimenting with Filipino recipes, talking to guests, and discussing the British-Filipino experience. With the help of food-chemists, Jay hopes to understand the science behind a ‘dash of this and a sprinkle of that’ and how it works together to create the food she loves.
Sharing her thoughts about the recent racist riots, Jay said in an interview that much of the UK media has failed to talk to immigrants enough about their experiences. “I’m from the Filipino-Iranian – nationals of these countries don’t often get platforms on Western media,” she told the Liverpool Echo.
“It really matters for me to get some kind of message or piece of content across that just helps humanise us more because I think that’s the problem – you don’t really hear about things from our perspective, which is why it’s probably really hard to humanise us because nobody knows what we’re thinking. Nobody knows how we’re feeling,” she said.
Jay has freelanced for BBC Sport and BBC Studios. Her debut contribution for BBC Sport was a feature on Hidilyn Diaz’s historic Olympic gold medal win at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The three other creators joining the Audio Lab program are Hugh Sheehan, Meg Elliot and Mia Thornton.
Starting this month, they are taking the next steps in their creative journey, supported by professionals at BBC Sounds and from the wider podcast industry. As a collaborative, paid programme, the aim is that both the creators and BBC Sounds together foster and develop incredible talent.
With advice and guidance from industry professionals, access to tailored resources, and tools and experiences to connect and collaborate, the BBC Sounds Audio Lab programme will help facilitate this cohort of emerging talent to take the next steps in their career.
