Dive in Wonder with Yasmin Suteja: On Power, Musehood & Finding Your Creative Voice

In this episode, I sit down with my best friend and creative idol, Yasmin Suteja—a force of nature whose lens, both literal and metaphorical, continues to shape how I see the world.

Rooted in her Balinese and Greek heritage, Yasmin brings a rich, cross-cultural sensitivity to everything she touches—whether she’s directing behind the camera, stepping in front of it, or nurturing emerging talent through her company, Culture Machine. Her work spans from high-impact digital series (Heartbreak High, Rosaline’s Untaming) to the deeply personal, including her upcoming documentary Dying to Succeed, developed through AIDC’s Fresh Cuts.

This conversation is a deep, curious, and at times hilariously honest exploration of what it means to move between being a muse and a director, the tension of being seen while claiming authorship, and how curiosity acts as a compass for crafting an artistic voice that’s truly your own.

We speak about the influence of the Madonna–whore complex in storytelling and how it continues to shape the way women are perceived in creative spaces. Yas explores how being an extrovert has taught her that connection is possible with anyone—as long as you know how to ask the right questions. We reflect on the contradictions of beauty, the emotional gymnastics of inhabiting multiple archetypes, and the unspoken tension between being the object of a gaze and the one directing it.

Yas reveals how discomfort often reveals truth, and how the themes she revisits in her work—family, power, cultural blends—are not just artistic obsessions, but intimate reflections of her lived experience.

This episode is a love letter: to the women who lead with questions, to the artists who blur the line between subject and author, and to those brave enough to make meaning out of contradiction while shaping culture unapologetically.