When Urmi Hossain steps into the room, you can't help but feel the shift in energy that comes with a true change-maker. Join us as we connect with this powerhouse, whose leadership and advocacy ring out a clarion call for women's empowerment and equity. In her role as social media lead for Women in Leadership in Victoria, Urmi brings us into the trenches of the fight for gender parity in corporate leadership, sharing her passion, her challenges, and the initiatives close to her heart that are paving the way for women to not just climb the ladder, but construct new rungs.
Have you ever wondered how the whisper of change becomes a roar? In our candid conversation, Urmi and I peel back the curtain on the financial world's gender dynamics—sharing our battle scars and triumphs. We talk about the pressing need for mentorship in finance, the daily grind of boundary-setting for better work-life balance, and the misconceptions that often cloud the perception of women in leadership. This episode isn't just a discussion; it's an invitation to question, to challenge, and to join a growing chorus advocating for a diverse and equitable workplace where every voice is heard.
As we wrap up, the conversation turns to the transformative joy of advocacy work—how it resonates with us personally and connects us with listeners like you. We reflect on the meaningful feedback that fuels our mission, tackle the pervasive imposter syndrome, and share stories of the silent battles we face in championing ourselves and others. This episode is an ode to the passion projects that may not fill wallets but instead fill souls, and a reminder that every act of support, every spoken desire for change, adds up to a movement. One person at a time, one story at a time, we're building a more empowering future—and we're doing it together.
Takeaways
Women need to support and uplift each other in the workplace
Advocating for oneself is crucial for career growth
Societal expectations and imposter syndrome can hold women back
Small actions can make a big difference in empowering women
When Urmi Hossain steps into the room, you can't help but feel the shift in energy that comes with a true change-maker. Join us as we connect with this powerhouse, whose leadership and advocacy ring out a clarion call for women's empowerment and equity. In her role as social media lead for Women in Leadership in Victoria, Urmi brings us into the trenches of the fight for gender parity in corporate leadership, sharing her passion, her challenges, and the initiatives close to her heart that are paving the way for women to not just climb the ladder, but construct new rungs.
Have you ever wondered how the whisper of change becomes a roar? In our candid conversation, Urmi and I peel back the curtain on the financial world's gender dynamics—sharing our battle scars and triumphs. We talk about the pressing need for mentorship in finance, the daily grind of boundary-setting for better work-life balance, and the misconceptions that often cloud the perception of women in leadership. This episode isn't just a discussion; it's an invitation to question, to challenge, and to join a growing chorus advocating for a diverse and equitable workplace where every voice is heard.
As we wrap up, the conversation turns to the transformative joy of advocacy work—how it resonates with us personally and connects us with listeners like you. We reflect on the meaningful feedback that fuels our mission, tackle the pervasive imposter syndrome, and share stories of the silent battles we face in championing ourselves and others. This episode is an ode to the passion projects that may not fill wallets but instead fill souls, and a reminder that every act of support, every spoken desire for change, adds up to a movement. One person at a time, one story at a time, we're building a more empowering future—and we're doing it together.
Takeaways
Women need to support and uplift each other in the workplace
Advocating for oneself is crucial for career growth
Societal expectations and imposter syndrome can hold women back
Small actions can make a big difference in empowering women
Hi everybody, welcome to another episode of Steel Roses podcast. This podcast was created for women, by women. Today, I have a really wonderful guest that I am very excited to introduce to you, ermi Hussain. Ermi is a plethora of things, so I'm just going to run through it because it's just so amazing to me how much you're already working on. So Ermi is a blogger, a YouTuber, you are an author, she's a speaker, a mentor, and she actually is the social media lead for an organization called Women in Leadership that is based in Victoria. So I mean, you are working on so many wonderful things. I would love for you to just give the audience a little bit more about yourself and the things that are lighting you up right now, like, what are you passionate about?
Speaker 2:
It would be my pleasure. So I work actually in the financial sector, so I do have a full time job, and then I have all these other passions on the side. So I have a YouTube channel, I have a blog, I'm a self-published author, I am part of the Toastmasters club as a member and VP of education and and I'm the social media lead for this organization called Women in Leadership. So we are actually based in seven cities in Canada and I volunteer for the one in, for Victoria, virtually, so I'm like I'm not physically located there, but I still volunteer for that organization and what we do is we basically promote events that the organization creates for women based on having more women in leadership positions. So we create webinars about public speaking, about how to use AI to look for a job.
Speaker 2:
So this is one of the big things that I've been working on right now and I'm very, very big, passionate about it. And we have also a big event coming up in May, which is the Women in Leadership Day, where basically each chapter organizes an in-person event and they gather like women and you have like presentation, networking events, and so it's a. It's a very cool organization and that's something that I've been part of. It's been a year actually that I'm being part of it and that's it's great it's great, I think that's so wonderful.
Speaker 1:
So I did look a little bit more into the women in leadership organization and you know it's.
Speaker 1:
It's so amazing to me that now we have these groups that are bringing women together in such a positive way and and and almost like and I'm going to say non-traditional because, like you know, before it was like, oh, the only places for women outside of the home you know and I'll be like I'll go way back Like the only you know ways that women were working were really like nurse or like teacher or, you know, nurse or administrative assistant. That's what I've been told, right, like my, like my family members have told me that one of my aunts told me that when she graduated from high school, my grandfather told her, like you have two options you can be a typist or you can be a teacher. And it was like, yeah, like it's, it's crazy. So it's amazing to me that this is where we are today and that resources are being provided, because there's so many women out there that have all these wonderful talents and they might just not know exactly where to go for support in developing those talents. So this is just a wonderful thing.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, and our platforms are pretty much open to all the women out there, from any sort of industry, and we also have a leadership program as well. Like people can actually sign up to this program. It's like an intensive program where you get to learn more about leadership. And we also have a mentorship program where the women get paired with a mentor and they get to learn more from their own experiences. So it's not just, you know, giving webinars, we have actual programs. So it's a good thing because we're providing tools to women and we also were trying to make some changes also in the workplaces. Like, if some women who work in a certain company they want to make a change, we help them to like make that change it's, um, it's very.
Speaker 1:
Sometimes it shocks me still, um, you know working, because I, you know, I also have, besides podcasting, I also have my my daytime job as well, so it, but it's still surprising when you've been working for so long in corporate or you're working so long, you know out, you know out in corporate America or in any industry, and you're still faced with these, these certain roadblocks that I had, I had had at one agency I work for agencies and there was one agency where I was working and I got to a certain level and it just seemed like no matter where what I did, it didn't matter how, where I was working and I got to a certain level and it just seemed like, no matter what I did, it didn't matter how successful I was with my role at that time, there was not going to be a place for me beyond a certain role. And it's such a shame and I've said to people because my career growth has been pretty aggressive, but it was literally because I had to leave every job in order to progress further on in my career. And it's interesting because I have my son-in-law and I chat sometimes and I give him some career advice here and there and it's interesting to give advice to a young man coming up in an industry and he'll tell me like, oh well, yeah, they promoted me, it's fine. And I'm like really, and I've told people, I'm like that, you know, it's the. I said to somebody once and it was like kind of shocking for them I only once was promoted.
Speaker 1:
I've never actually been promoted within an organization. It only happened one time and it was like really early in my career and after that every time I wanted to move up I had to leave and seek a role someplace else. And it just is very unfortunate because it seems like places are still not recognizing the talent that women have and helping that growth. So it's wonderful that you have a leadership and a mentorship program because beyond, you know the leaders in these organizations recognizing women outside of that, it's also us coming to the table and asking and being aggressive about it and not even being aggressive about it, just putting it out there and putting it on the table.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, and that's what the organization does, especially through leadership and mentoring. Like we tell the student, like what are some of the ways that you can advocate for yourself at work and how you can get a promotion? Because it's like you said, like if you want to get a promotion, sometimes it's really hard and you often find yourself bidding and looking for, like advancement, but we actually teach them how, um, you can do it and this is also something that I also talk about with some of my mentees like, really, just, you just have to put yourself out there, you have to bring it up, like if you don't say you're not going to get it, um, because I also went through the same thing where, like I wanted to get a promotion, I was not getting promoted. Then I have to like make a list and be like this is why I deserve this promotion.
Speaker 1:
You have to give it to me and I actually got it afterwards and I always had to like make a case about it yeah, and I think that's where I think that and I know for myself personally and I want to make sure that, like listeners hear this too because for me, for for many years I didn't advocate for myself and I think that's really a gap that a lot of women have is that we make the assumption that our work is going to speak for itself. Well, they'll see how hard I'm working, they're going to see that I'm putting in the extra time and they'll definitely just give me the promotion. But that's really not how it works and I've had to coach younger folks and younger women and tell them you can't lean on that. You cannot rest on the fact that, oh, they'll notice me, because that really is not normally how it happens.
Speaker 2:
It really does not work like that. It's like if you don't speak, you're not going to get noticed. So I also used to think the same way. I used to think that my work will speak for itself, but it really doesn't. I think you really have to speak up about it, and I think this is probably why some men do it better, because I think they are usually much more vocal and they're a bit more open about it, whereas women we tend to be a little bit more shy and we don't want to come across too aggressive, because then we get like comments and things like that, although that's not the word I want to use, it's being assertive, actually assertive.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, you know I. It's funny, you course corrected there, because earlier I said, oh, we have to be aggressive, and I'm like no, we don't have to be aggressive, we just need to show up. You know, we have to assert ourselves and advocate for ourselves.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, yeah, exactly. So this is what we teach them. The woman in our organization I basically managed the Instagram account and the Instagram account I usually share all the events that we have coming. We usually have like career coaches and each chapter organizing organizes the webinar. So we have like people from like different stages of their career. Like we have people that just enter the industry who share their, their perspective. We have people that have been working for a very long time in the industry so they talk about, like I don't know, career transitions and we talk about public speaking, so we talk about different things, and my job is really to like just promote all of this as much as we can so we can target like as many women as possible.
Speaker 1:
If somebody is looking to follow the account on Instagram, what is the handle?
Speaker 2:
It's called hold on, let me. Let me open it, because I don't know.
Speaker 1:
No, no worries, and and everyone listening I mean, this is really one of those times where I'm going to encourage you to follow, because this is the kind of information that we do really need to start seeing day in and day out on our feeds. You know, I know that there's a lot of fun stuff online and we all get really entertained with things, but having that messaging reinforced to us is really important. We should be keeping this top of mind.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, so it's called WIL W-I-L underscore Victoria chapter. Wil Central Women in Leadership. So that's the one from our chapter. But then we have the big main one is the actual foundation, which is women in leadership, canada, which is a big one that represents all of the chapters um and listeners.
Speaker 1:
I will have um the instagram accounts linked um in the description of this episode, so all you have to do is look down in your phone. You'll be able to follow it from there. Yeah, it is incredibly important, I think, for these resources and these events to happen, and it's so wonderful that I am seeing this more and more now, especially through podcasting.
Speaker 1:
I've been able to really connect with a lot of women that are really trying to help each other out, I think for forever, and we've been sort of pitted against each other and there was constantly, I know, when I first started working, like when I graduated from college and the first few years that I was working professionally, I had that whole persona of, like you know, resting B-I-T-C-H face and like you know, like and, and you know, thinking that you had to, like step on people to go above everyone else and you had to take someone down in order to to elevate yourself and it it honestly took me a really long time to to know like well, this really to start understanding like this isn't how we're supposed to be functioning together, Like we really should be supporting each other professionally, because there there shouldn't be a moment where like, oh, I have to take someone else out to get this position.
Speaker 1:
And if you are being put into a position like that, the organization you're working with isn't isn't a great one, then one, Because if you're being forced into something like that, then that means that your leadership, their values, are skewed, because there should not be a time where you have to do that and, in all honesty, I've noticed much more growth in my own personal career once I started elevating other people.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, exactly, exactly, exactly, and this is also why I support the cause Women's Empowerment. This is very important for me because I think, instead of just fighting against each other, we should just help each other and uplift each other. So that's why I joined this organization because it's big out there, but I am also part of like other organizations as well, like one of them is called 100 Women in Finance and it's based in Canada, and this one is mainly targeting sorry, it's not based in Canada, it's based in the States and this one is targeting mainly, basically, every single woman who works in the financial sector, and they have all these events that are offered to women who are working in finance, women who are working, I don't know, as asset managers, women working in investment banking. But it's also targeting young talents. We're actually providing a lot of presentation to young women, even men actually who want to study and work in finance.
Speaker 2:
So we have this panel discussions with other women in the industry and we basically tell this young talent like, okay, this is, um, these are some of the things you need to know when you're working in finance. This is how you can, you know, uh, work your way up, uh, through the corporate ladder, things like that. So we also try to educate the next generation, and this is what I like. I think we have to empower women, but we also have to empower the next generation so they, you know, they can keep going forward.
Speaker 1:
I really love that and, honestly, I actually was going to ask you because you mentioned early on that you worked in finance. I mean, the field that I'm in is marketing, so it's heavily female dominated up to a certain point. I'm very fortunate right now to be working with female CEOs and female VPs, which is wonderful, because it's very few and far between that. I get to work with someone at that level that's a woman, so that's been very awesome. But from the finance perspective of that industry, from the finance industry, I know that that's predominantly male, even at all levels. So I mean, how is that challenging? I mean on a daily basis? Do you see challenges on a regular basis or is it, you know, few and far between?
Speaker 2:
No it. You know few and far between no, so I saw the first challenge when I was in university.
Speaker 2:
But I never paid that attention to this. Like I was in a, I could go to my finance classes and I would just see like I don't know, 10, 10 girls and 50 boys. But for me it was like not a big deal. I was like, oh yeah, that's how, that's how it is, that's how it is, you know. Like I never thought about it. But then when I started to work, that's when I started to see that I was like why are all the managers men? Um, and then when I was like looking for jobs, it was the same thing, like I would I would think I would I Googled them before the interview, I checked the management team and it was just a lot of men, one woman and so yeah, even like bring it up to the interview.
Speaker 2:
I was like, oh, what do you do, you know, to have more diversity? And they would tell me that it wasn't because they were intentionally not choosing women, it was because women were not applying for these jobs.
Speaker 2:
That was the thing, um, and then I had always a lot of like. All my managers were mainly men. I always felt like I had very understanding like managers. Um, there was a time when I had a woman manager, but I don't I don't know if she was any better, to be honest, like you think sometimes they would be, because they're like woman to woman. But sometimes I was like, I don't know, I thought it was better, but it didn't feel better. So I was like, um, okay, um, and then again, now I have like men managers and for me it's like, yeah, I used to think this was a challenge, like sometimes I would not go for a job if I knew that it was just a lot of time working in that, in that company.
Speaker 2:
But I told myself, if I have to bring the change, I have to like keep going forward with these interviews, you know. So I would never let myself stop. Um, and I was very honest about this. I was like, okay, but what is the diversity? You know, like you don't have people of color, you don't even have women on your management team, like this is not working. You know, you're just giving a different image of yourself out to the world and I would bring it up and I think it's important to have this conversation because I think it also helps them to see where some of the issues are. And then I still went for these interviews, even though I did not take the job. It was just my own personal decision, but it wasn't because of any other reasoning. But I did have situations where some of the managers that I had they were not very considerate. Some of the managers that I had.
Speaker 2:
they were not very considerate. Like you know, there was this mentality of some managers working late and they think that you know you have nothing else to do in your life and they assume that it's the same thing for you, so they expect you to stay there until season seven. I had those situations and I had to change afterwards because of that. I was like I don't think this direction really understand. Just because the whole team does it doesn't mean I have to do it. I have a life after this. So and it was and you have to put the boundaries there. I think some people don't understand what boundaries are, so they just put new boundaries and there were times where this would happen with me and I had to really change. I just had to change because I was like I don't think I can do this on a long term I had well.
Speaker 1:
So I want to highlight a couple things. Number one I have to say congratulations to you and amazing for you and kudos that you even voiced what you did to interviewers and even internally, to say like, well, why aren't there more women in these roles? And to ask the question and to put honestly, to put people on the spot, because I think myself included I always just looked like, all right, well, I don't see any women here, but I'm going to try and get in here. So I wanted to give you kudos for that, because most of us don't even say anything, most of us are accept it like this is what it is. I'm gonna have to just do my best to like make it through this um for um female managers versus versus male managers.
Speaker 1:
I've had this discussion a couple of times and it is unfortunate. I think it is going to shift, though, because I have had some really poor experiences with female managers, but I've also had bad experiences with male managers as well, like not seeing my value and just not wanting to advance me. So I think it can go both ways. But I mean, you're right, there was a very long period of time. I've been in my industry for 17 years. There was a really long period where I was like I don't want to have another female manager, like it just was too painful and it was just not not worth it. But I think that that shift is going to happen because, generationally, the people that were part of this whole, like you, have to take each other out to get ahead. They are phasing up to, you know, senior get ahead. They are phasing up to senior roles but then also phasing out altogether as more generations come into play. I see it in my day to day. I mean the past I want to say five or six years there was like a massive shift around how people were being talked to at offices and how people were being treated and like that sort of thing.
Speaker 1:
Because, you know, I feel like my generation, our generation and younger we are not going to come to an office and expect, you know, someone to just be shouting tasks at us. Like we're here because, like we want a whole full experience and we also know that we're valued and we know that we're coming to the table with an expertise. So to me personally, I'm like treating somebody with respect and valuing people's opinions. Like if we're hiring you, that means you're a valuable member here, like, nobody should be treated less than that. And then I have this thing that I do because you had mentioned, like when you did ask about roles, like when you were interviewing, you're like, oh, there's not a lot of females, and you had inquired about that with the interviewers and their response was like, oh, women are just not applying to the jobs. But like, I actually read this book by Nita Malik called Reimagine Inclusion, and she talks about it in her book and a lot of interviews will say that, especially for bringing in minorities or having just other people, other walks of life, working in the industries, and the response, like the canned response, is always like, oh well, they're not applying to the jobs, and yes and no, because in some instances it could also be like, okay, well, we don't have enough women that have been able to get this education in order to get to this next level here. But then, on the flip side, I also know that for some organizations, especially the really large ones, there's like an algorithm that tracks through like resumes and it's, you know, right, like. So I think that there's also some issue there in terms of like, what, what is being looked at Now.
Speaker 1:
I know, and I had read, that women will not apply to a job unless they feel like they're 100% qualified. I think that's like a well known like. We're all aware of this at this point. I think I've mentioned it at least three or four times on other episodes, like in general. I think we have to stop doing that, because men will apply to a job if they're only like 50% or 60% you know qualified and they'll just assume like well, I'll get the rest of it while I'm on the job. I think a lot of us get in our own way and we could be reaching for more. But the nervousness of feeling like well, I'm not going to be able to perfectly execute this, like that's okay, you're going to learn it, you're smart enough to get to where you are and you have all this experience to where you're at, like you can get to that next level. You just need a little bit of training.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I um, I agree with you on um, on everything that you said. Going back to the first point about me pointing it out to the interviewers, so for that specific interview that I have done, I very much appreciated that I was not disqualified after bringing this up. I think they actually liked it that I did, because they did call me afterwards and they even asked me if I was interested in coming in. Of course I wasn't, because it wasn't what I wanted to do. But I also think here the issue is it's what you put out there, because now I go back to that company and I look up the management team and I see that there has been no changes. What I see is that still a lot of there's still a lot of men in the management team. There's not even a single picture of the woman. I think that you have to do something from that perspective and the marketing perspective, like, if you want to, you have to probably not put on perspective from the marketing perspective, if you want to attract more women.
Speaker 2:
You have to probably not put on the website who are the people working there, or at least put maybe two people or something. You have to change that, I think, because it's what you're portraying to the society and that's the first thing they see. It's the first impression that you make. And then, talking about the, about applying for a job I I do agree with that. I also heard the same thing, which is women. Often, when they see that they don't match 100% all the qualifications, they don't, they're not going to apply. But I think it's also in our nature because we are taught to be perfect, since a young age we are taught to be perfect.
Speaker 2:
Since a young age we are taught to be excellent at everything, and because of that we just transfer to other things, to other parts of our life. So yeah, I do think it's an issue that can be solved by both men and women. It's not just an issue of the women.
Speaker 1:
Agreed.
Speaker 2:
It's a thing where both genders need to help basically Agreed.
Speaker 1:
And you know, I do catch myself because I think it's going to start everywhere and it does need to be a whole everybody kind of making this shift too. Because even down to raising my son, my little guy, he's eight. And when I talk with my kids about, like when I have twin girls and I have a little boy and so they're very close in age, my son is eight, the girls are seven. Like it's so when everyone gets reprimanded or I'm teaching them something or whatever it is, like my husband and I communicate to them, like quite a bit, and I am always careful and mindful that, like the messaging that I'm giving, like I need to also teach my son you know, like the stuff that I'm teaching the girls about, like you can do anything that you put your mind to. And I'm trying to make sure that the girls have a really strong baseline of I'm okay and I don't have to be perfect and it's okay to make mistakes and there's all these things that I'm trying to teach them now and sometimes I forget and I over-index on my daughters and, while I need to also teach my son, women can do, do these things, you know. And cause he had said to me. You know he's little, so he kind of was just like, you know, oh, men are, men are stronger than women, boys are stronger than girls. And I was like, ah, sir, you know, and he made and it was cute because you know he's little and he just made the comment and I was like, okay, wait, hold on. And I do talk to him about it because I'm like I want the kids. And that's really when I think to myself, it's like my husband and I are really clear communicators with our kids, because they're going to grow up and they're going to go out there into the world and this is the base, this is the baseline education that they're going to go out there and we need to make sure that you treat people with respect and you honor people. Like you know, you don't try to tear people down.
Speaker 1:
There was another thought that I had while you were talking to is I? There was this other method that I started. Stuff was I would literally say to myself like, well, if I was a man, would I stop? Would I not do this? If I was a man, would I feel uncomfortable here? And I always picture that I'm like, no, I feel like a man would just go for it.
Speaker 1:
Like there was a young man that I had worked with many years ago and he wanted a promotion and I was going out on maternity leave and he used my maternity leave as his leverage to get a promotion. And he went in and said he went into to the manager and said I'm going to leave, and he knew I was going. So he knew that they were going to rely on him and he was like I'm looking elsewhere, I have an offer, but if you give me a promotion, I'll stay. And he basically forced them into a promotion for himself. Now I'm not saying that's a good way to go, but I was shocked at the audacity that this young man had to just go and do something like that, because I would never do something like that and stuff like that that I've observed. I'm like, wow, I'm like you really don't have any sense of like. Oh no, maybe I shouldn't, maybe it's too soon. There was no. That was really.
Speaker 1:
The thing that I took away was man. He didn't even question it, he just went for it and knew that they were going to do it. So I had started saying to myself you know, if, if I was a man, would I? Would I pause on this?
Speaker 1:
The one time I had to go in and and you know present to my boss why I felt like I was, I needed a promotion and why I deserved one, I was really nervous about it and that was in my head. I was like no, jenny, like you already know, you deserve this, go for it, ask. You have to advocate for yourself and if he says no, that's the worst that he's going to do is he's going to say no, but then you know that he doesn't value you. You can move on from here. So that's sort of how I approached.
Speaker 1:
It is like, just take that step. And I think that's a lot, and you had said it earlier. We're taught that we have to be perfect, we have to show up a certain way, and it puts a tremendous amount of pressure on all of us. It puts pressure on our daughters, our sisters, like all of us have this crazy amount of pressure to be perfect, and it's okay. I think you know we learn the most from our mistakes. So make some mistakes, because that's really what's going to further you much, much more.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, yeah. And if I could add further about what you just said, about how you're teaching your daughters, but you also have to think into consideration your son, but you also have to think into consideration your son. I do think that a solid foundation starts at home and it starts with what you teach your kids. That's, I think, super, super important. I think the fact that I've seen in the past that you know there's this ideology, right, that woman is supposed to be in the kitchen and men are not, and this I've seen it in the South Asian culture a lot, and it just keeps going on and I'm just like when are we changing this?
Speaker 2:
So I do think that change has to start from home. I think that's-.
Speaker 1:
Oh, absolutely.
Speaker 2:
And what you have said about the person who got the promotion. Um, I had a similar situation, but it wasn't with the promotion, it was the salary negotiation. Um, and luckily I basically he wasn't a mentor to me, he was just someone that I was having conversation because we have this coffee chat or you're randomly matched with someone and I spoke to him about how I wanted to have a solid increase. But I was very nervous about it and he was like but what would you tell to another girl who wants to have the same thing? And I said, well, I'll tell her to. You know, go ahead.
Speaker 2:
And whatever the outcome is, you know, like, even if it doesn't go well, they're not losing anything. That's why I told him. So I was like, why am I not able to apply this to myself? So sometimes, like I think we have great tips and advice for other people but we don't apply them to ourselves, although we have these amazing tips, you know, like best tips ever. So I try to apply those things to myself and think about what would it? What would I tell to my members, you know? So that's another perspective that I take you know.
Speaker 1:
It's interesting that you said use that as an example. I, I just had this exact scenario happen to me. Um, I'm in the process of producing a how to podcast guide and it's going to be launching in April and for listeners it'll be released online and on our website and everything. But I was struggling because I started getting myself overwhelmed and stressed out and I was like, oh well, this has to look perfect like this. And I was really like I mean, the guide itself is done. It's been done for like a good two weeks at this point and I keep rereading it and being like, oh, maybe I just need to. And last week I cut myself off and I was like, okay, that's enough. I'm like it's done, you're all done, you can stop obsessing, it's going to be fine. Whomever is meant to get this guide is going to get the guide.
Speaker 1:
Don't pick it apart any further, because what we do and what I was about to do to myself was you end up in like this endless cycle of, well, let me revisit it. Maybe I just need to edit this really quickly and it's with anything we do really as women, it's like well, let me try to scooch this a little bit. Let me make this a little bit more perfect. Oh, I can't invite anybody over this weekend for the house because I have to clean the house first. Oh, I can't bring anyone over here because I have to make sure this is perfect.
Speaker 1:
Things don't have to be perfect and we do need to use our own advice on ourselves, because there have been many times where in the podcast, I've had to really talk myself through it and be like Jenny, don't be nervous.
Speaker 1:
And I know that it sounds silly, and it might sound silly to the listeners, because we're closing on our first year it's over in April but I think we're at like 60 something episodes and I've been doing it for this whole time and it's just.
Speaker 1:
But I still have moments where I will start to doubt myself. And I will start to doubt, you know, is this worth it? Is anyone listening? Is anyone getting anything out of this? And then the interesting thing that will happen is somebody will kind of bubble up and come to me and say like, oh, you know, I listened, I really loved this episode, it really helped me, and that's that those little moments help to, you know, reinforce, like okay, this, this is okay Like I am, I'm doing this right, like this, is the right path, and I think that us listening to ourselves is really crucial, and there's so much noise out there that it's so hard for I mean all people but women to really hear yourself and listen to what your own self is saying, because we really I mean, who knows you better than you?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I agree with everything you said, and what just came to my mind is imposter syndrome. Yes, yeah, that came to my mind right now and I think in a way, I can relate to you, to some of the things that you mentioned, because I do create a lot of content as well, and sometimes I'm like I don't know if it's going to reach anyone. It's fine, I'm still going to go on. And then you get that comment saying oh my gosh, thank you so much for sharing. You. Have someone messaging you on LinkedIn.
Speaker 2:
They're like oh my gosh, thank you so much for your valuable insights. And I'm like okay, you know what? I think I made a difference in someone's life. So those little things, they make a huge difference in the work that you do because, like, for instance, at least for me, I like a lot of the things that I do are like I'm not getting paid by anyone. I just do them because I have passions for them. But they do really pay off when they when you see them coming back through messages, they're they're very it's, it's like very fulfilling. You're like okay, I think I'm I'm doing something right here.
Speaker 1:
Yeah I said to um, a fellow podcaster I have little, I have podcast colleagues now. And, um, I said to a fellow podcaster, if it's just one episode reaches one woman and helps one woman through, something like that, that's all I need. We an episode that aired recently was around anxiety and women and and dealing with anxiety and cause women. I forget what the statistics is, but what the statistics are but women have the highest level of anxiety and we, I mean it's. It's crazy, if you really look into it, the amount of anxiety we carry on our shoulders. And so we did this whole episode on it and the feedback was astounding and people were just coming out of the woodwork and this episode was really getting listened to all over the place and I was just like this is sorely needed, because this is what we're all going through and it all ties together too, because the anxiety is there for, like, home life, it's there for work life, if you're dating, if you're married. I mean there's so much. And it's interesting because, like Ermi, when I was looking through your profile and looking at everything that you do and I'm like wow, because even you, like you, have a regular job, but you do all of these things because you're passionate about it, you want to help other women and I mean, I hear you on that on such a deep personal level, because this was something that, like, I came to realize the year before the podcast launched.
Speaker 1:
I knew I started to have this, this sense that I was like I really want to help women. I don't want to. I always say it and I've always said I wanted to go into advocacy or politics or something where I'd be able to help women. And this podcast has been like one of those mediums that's been able to like really make an impact for people and just just like yourself, like it's just wonderful, like I love everything you're doing because you're really even if it just reaches one person on social and they see it and then they're like you know what? Maybe I do want to attend one of these events. Like that's such a big deal, it's huge, it could change the course of someone's life yeah, I um, I do agree can change someone's life, and I had the same experience.
Speaker 2:
when I did my first youtube video. I was like you know what, I'm just gonna talk normally on the screen, I don't care about how perfect it looks or anything. I didn't do any editing, I just uploaded. It got 10 000 views and I was like what? It's just me talking to a camera. Yeah, the first one. Whoa, it was crazy, it was crazy, it was crazy.
Speaker 1:
I was like, how that's amazing. Oh my gosh, that's amazing.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, about 10,000 views. And to go back to what you said, there was a quote from Mother Teresa, I think. She said you don't need to feed like 100 people. It was always you feed one person, or something like. It's something along those lines and I do think like you don't need to make like massive changes. I think it's this sort of like a domino effect. I think if you can help one person, then the person can help other people, then other people can help other people. I think that's how it's sort of like like a pay it forward.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, yeah, I do have to believe in that.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I a hundred percent, wholeheartedly agree. So I'm at listeners, I'm going to all of the resources that we discussed. I'm going to make sure that everything's linked in the description of the episodes. You can have access to everything, or me. Is there anything you want to leave listeners with before we close out the episode?
Speaker 2:
We talked a lot about women's empowerment and I think probably the best advice I can give to any woman is really don't be afraid to speak up for anything that you want, because honestly, I don't think there is anything bad that can come out of there. Like, if you don't speak, you don't get. That's how I like to see it, and also to be your best, best advocate, like there is like, if you know that you're good at it, just go and tell the world that you're good at this, you know. Like, don't be shy about it.
Speaker 1:
So yeah, yeah, that was perfect. Well, thank you so much for joining us today. Listeners, thank you for tuning in. Greatly appreciate you just joining us and following along, you know, over the lifetime of the podcast. I greatly appreciate all of you. If you love this episode, I do ask that you leave a review and, whatever platform you're listening to the podcast in, the reviews help to share the content actually with other listeners. So the more you review, the more that you like add stars and everything, the more it actually gets promoted to other people. So I greatly appreciate you guys helping me just raise awareness and all these things that affect all of us and, you know, really helping us band stronger together as women and just supporting each other. It's just, it's an amazing thing. So, thank you all for listening. Thank you so much for joining me today. It's really been a pleasure.