I am so excited to be welcoming these incredible women to "The Next Right Step" to help us root further into ourselves and make big impact in the world:
August 5th - Wellness Module: @minaa_b is helping others feel seen and heard in their lived experiences through her practice as an author, therapist and self-care and mental health educator. She’s a truth speaker and has immense knowledge about caring for oneself.
August 12th - Work Module: @deepica has created a powerful and inclusive beauty brand and community through her company @livetinted. Her commitment to impact-driven work, and showing the potential for South Asian female founders in raising capital and scaling business has been deeply inspiring. I am so excited to dive in further about her ethos around work and how to show up well and with impact in mind.
August 19th - Community Module: @luvvie is a professional troublemaker, author, podcaster, and one of the creators of the #ShareTheMicNow campaign. She has deeply inspired me over the years with her commitment to her craft and activism. I was lucky enough to witness Luvvie's now viral TED Talk live in New Orleans back in 2017. Her ethos on community and impact are so powerful with where we are right now.
August 26th - Impact and Identity Module: @valariekaur is a Civil Rights Lawyer, Mother, Sikh woman and warrior. She's an advocate for human rights, and also wrote the book "See No Stranger."
In the midst of all the excitement about sharing our guests for The Next Right Step, I interviewed some incredible humans for our #LessonsInResilience series.
One of those interviews was with Jagmeet Singh, the leader of the NDP Party of Canada and the first person of colour to be the leader of a federal party in our country.
Our conversation was powerful. I was so looking forward to interviewing Jagmeet as he is someone that is deeply rooted in his identity, and is deeply committed to activism, speaking truth to power, and creating a values-aligned community around him.
In this interview, we spoke about:
7:42 – Standing Up for What You Believe In:
The altercation that he was involved in at The House of Commons just a few weeks ago and how he found the courage to call out an act of racism and refuse to apologize in order to be allowed back into the House of Commons. Jagmeet speaks about:
- The power of rooting into his own identity in that moment, and what his intentions were.
- The power of standing in our integrity and standing up for our values
11:40 - Rooting In Identity:
Jagmeet speaks about his own roots, and the history of activism in his family such as:
- His great grandfather standing up against British colonial occupation & the monarchy during his lifetime, how he was a person of the people and how he has inspired Jagmeet’s activism
14:00 - His Early Life and Involvement with the Sikh Activist Network:
Jagmeet speaks about his early years, and his support of the Sikh Activist Network. I asked Jagmeet about:
- What the Sikh Activist Network was: a community of young, creative Sikh individuals that gathered to empower one another to express their creativity and embrace their identity.
- The power of collective energy: The belief that we are all one. If we’re all connected, we have to do something about it when others are being oppressed. The need for channelling connection and coming from a place of love when engaging in activism.
19:55 - The Power of Sharing Your Story:
Jagmeet and I talk about his early life and the adversities he faced in childhood such as experiencing childhood sexual abuse and growing up in a household with an alcoholic. Jagmeet shared:
- What inspired him to share his story so openly and how he was able to find healing through doing so
- How speaking about his experience allowed him to connect to others that had been through similar struggles, and how he was able to reconcile with many of those events in his life by bringing them into the light
24:00 - Self-Care and Adversity
I ask Jagmeet what practices and habits he adopts to care for himself while he carries on with his important, trailblazing work. Jagmeet shares many of the habits he has to care for himself and face negativity such as:
- Meditation
- Exercise
- Spending time connecting with family
- Finding joy in his everyday life
27: 23 – Hopes for the Future and Words of Encouragement from Jagmeet
I ask Jagmeet about his commitment to engaging with the younger generation, and his advice for young people wanting to become involved in politics
- Jagmeet speaks about his presence on TikTok, and how it’s allowed him to connect with his young audience and find community there during COVID
- Jagmeet speaks about the power of connecting to community, and how he does connect to communities by seeking out spaces where people are already interacting
- Jagmeet shares words of encouragement for young BIPOC people wanting to become involved in politics, and shares the many reasons why we need more BIPOC representation in Canadian politics.
I hope that this conversation inspires you to root into your own identity and seek out that community you have been craving to connect with.
Before signing off, I wanted to share that if you are feeling unrooted, overworked, unsupported, disconnected from yourself and are looking for a way to feel grounded and anchored in your life and work, then The Next Right Step program is for you. All that I have learned about self-management, wellness, impact, and so much more is in this program. I honestly wish I could take it as a student! But instead, I am ready to facilitate, host, and teach you. I hope to see you in class! Join here.
Love,