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Don’t Hate Yourself Later, Live your Life in Your Own Unique Way with Ryan Brady

August 16, 2022 by Niiamah Ashong Leave a Comment

Ryan Brady, a university student and startup team member who inspires his peers to be driven and unique, joins Niiamah Ashong on the Outlier's Edge Podcast. After sharing the wake-up call that set him on an unconventional path, Ryan is coached live on whether to finish his degree or go all in on the startup work he loves. What emerged is a shift from finding the right answer to getting great at choosing, and making the choice right through commitment.

Episode at a glance

Guest: Ryan Brady, University student and startup team member who inspires his peers to be driven, unique and live lives they can be happy with
Host: Niiamah Ashong, coach to outlier leaders
Show: Outlier’s Edge Podcast, released August 16, 2022
Format: conversation, 58 minutes
Topics: A wake-up call as a slingshot, Taking the road less traveled, A degree or the work he loves, Options versus decision-making, Opportunity cost thinking, Committing to a choice

What Ryan brought to the conversation

Ryan Brady attends an international university outside the US, chosen because he wanted to try something different, and he loves that people there bring different cultures and thought processes to the same end goal. He also works remotely for a startup that helps speakers, authors and coaches build mobile apps, which he calls his dream job at a dream company, with a pivotal role he says he wouldn't get in a typical corporate job. Alongside that, he talks with students and young adults who want to do something different but don't know how to start: he motivates them, inspires them and tells them exactly what he did. His drive comes from a wake-up call at 17 that he calls a slingshot, one that pulled him back and launched him onto a path he says he would never have imagined.

What emerged

Ryan Brady brought a live decision: whether to finish his degree or put his full energy into the startup work he loves. Niiamah Ashong made clear he was there as a coach, not a mentor, giving Ryan more data points rather than making the call, and he shared how he once left the actuarial profession a year or two short of finishing his credentials. The shift was from the question of school versus work to the skill underneath it: with so many options ahead of him, the skill that will serve Ryan well is getting great at choosing, through a real opportunity cost assessment and the commitment to make whatever he decides right.

Questions this episode answers

How can a young leader turn a hard moment into momentum?

Ryan Brady uses the image of a slingshot: it pulls far back, then lets go and shoots farther than where it started. His wake-up call at 17 showed him he could do something totally different and be okay, and it took away his fear of taking risks, starting with going to university outside the US in a non-English-speaking country.

How should a leader decide between finishing a degree and going all in on work they love?

Niiamah Ashong suggests weighing what is gained at the margin against what is lost, and doing a true opportunity cost assessment on paper with at least three scenarios. He invites Ryan Brady to think non-linearly about the relationships he'd make, where he might be 10 years down the line, and what would happen if either path didn't work out.

What's the difference between having options and making good decisions?

Ryan Brady names the shiny object syndrome that came with working three jobs during university, and the value of having a few options he likes rather than so many that they distract him. Niiamah Ashong separates the availability of options from focus and prioritization, and says that for someone with as many options as Ryan, the skill that will serve him well is getting great at choosing.

How do young people start doing something different when no one takes them seriously?

Ryan Brady talks with students who have the motivation to do something different but don't know what steps to take, and he tells them exactly what he did. He also found that as a student he could reach out to business professionals online and ask for help, and that they wanted to help because a young person was motivated enough to ask.

How do you make a big decision the right one?

Niiamah Ashong's view is that a choice becomes right not because it's right on paper, but because of the commitment behind it. Ryan Brady concludes that the decision has to come down to him and where he sees his future going, and he has set clear standards for himself to guide it.

In their words

I can do something totally different and I'll be okay.
Ryan Brady

At the end of the day the decision, it has to come down to me and where I see my future going.
Ryan Brady

Whatever I decide is right because I'm gonna make it right.
Niiamah Ashong

Key moments

07:39 – A wake-up call at 17

08:42 – Studying abroad and a startup role

10:12 – Inspiring students to choose differently

13:48 – The slingshot effect

19:27 – Choosing to be coached live

24:40 – The degree or the dream job

31:48 – Options versus decision-making

37:25 – Doing a real opportunity cost assessment

52:42 – Getting great at making choices

56:49 – Commit to make it right

About Niiamah Ashong

Niiamah Ashong is a coach to outlier leaders, host of the Outlier’s Edge Podcast, and founder of the Trailblazer Collective. He coaches leaders who are creating something only they can make: a company, a body of work or a movement. Make a difference with your difference.

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Shhh…Listen! Is someone calling you to dream again? Let’s Dream Again with Jordan Talley

August 9, 2022 by Niiamah Ashong Leave a Comment

Jordan Talley, a speaker and lifelong dreamer, joins Niiamah Ashong on the Outlier's Edge Podcast for a live coaching conversation about turning dreams into reality and helping others do the same in their own way. He shares how the dream of speaking came to him and what he wants to create next, from books to bigger stages. What emerged is a clear declaration of what he stands for: he's a dreamer who wants to empower people to dream again.

Episode at a glance

Guest: Jordan Talley, Speaker and lifelong dreamer inspiring people to dream again
Host: Niiamah Ashong, coach to outlier leaders
Show: Outlier’s Edge Podcast, released August 9, 2022
Format: conversation, 75 minutes
Topics: Staying a dreamer, Courage before confidence, Humility and big dreams, The brag zone, Finding like-hearted people, Creating more dreamers

What Jordan brought to the conversation

Jordan Talley grew up a dreamer and says he always will be, to the day he dies. His message is that you can achieve any dream you have and there's nothing in the world that stops you besides you. He grew up an artist and a writer, and the dream of being a speaker came to him at about 22 or 23, when he met successful people who empowered others through servant leadership on stage, gave back most of what they made and set their own schedules. He leads others from a place of love rather than dictatorship, has been a guest speaker and trainer in his company, and sees himself writing personal growth books, creating audio programs and speaking on stage.

What emerged

The coaching found Jordan Talley's missing link: not confidence, but the courage that creates it, and room for his humility and his dreams to live on the same level. Niiamah Ashong named what Jordan Talley is about, finding, celebrating and creating more dreamers, and asked him to just say it. When he declared that he's a dreamer who stands for dreams, his whole demeanor shifted, and he named his takeaways as alignment and lifting the fog.

Questions this episode answers

What comes first, confidence or courage?

When Jordan Talley named confidence as his missing link, Niiamah Ashong said that people looking for confidence or clarity are often really missing courage, because confidence comes from the experiences that courage creates. He then asked what Jordan Talley would do if he were courageous enough, and the first step he saw was reaching out to every single person he knows about what he's doing.

How can a leader move forward when only the next step is visible?

Niiamah Ashong compares it to driving on a foggy day: you may only see a few feet ahead, but that doesn't mean you can't get to your destination. When he invited Jordan Talley to imagine taking that one step day after day, Jordan Talley saw peers he once compared himself to shaking hands with him, doing business together and creating change.

How can a humble leader talk about big dreams?

Niiamah Ashong invited Jordan Talley into what he calls the brag zone, an even deeper humility in which letting people know your greatness is in service of their growth. From there, Jordan Talley named dreams like training sales organizations and corporate leadership teams, writing forewords for books, speaking to graduating classes and creating millionaires.

Why do dreamers need other dreamers around them?

Jordan Talley said he hadn't found many dreamers where he lives and wants ongoing, in-person relationships with like-minded people. Niiamah Ashong spoke to the importance of being around people who are different minded but like-hearted, values driven and mission driven.

How can a speaker help an audience connect with their own dreams?

Niiamah Ashong suggested Jordan Talley talk about his dreams and how he brought them to life, and then, when he's on stage, give people a chance to share one dream with the person next to them. He also suggested Jordan Talley let people know he can be a sounding board for dreams that aren't fully fleshed out yet.

In their words

We think confidence comes first but it's actually courage that comes first.
Niiamah Ashong

I'm a dreamer, I stand for dreams and I want to empower people to dream.
Jordan Talley

Our money shouldn't consume who we are, it should be a reflection of who we are and the difference that we can make in the world.
Jordan Talley

Key moments

02:33 – A good kind of scary

05:07 – Growing up a dreamer

07:12 – The dream of becoming a speaker

21:36 – Naming the missing link

27:42 – Courage comes before confidence

28:48 – Seeing through the fog

33:26 – Entering the brag zone

41:01 – Finding other dreamers

49:42 – Declaring what he stands for

69:03 – Alignment and lifting the fog

About Niiamah Ashong

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The A-Z of Guilt Free Self-alignment with Eve Lahijani

August 2, 2022 by Niiamah Ashong Leave a Comment

Eve Lahijani, a registered dietitian and the owner of Vitamineve Inc., joins Niiamah Ashong on the Outlier's Edge Podcast to talk about how people heal their relationship with food and, through it, with themselves. She explains why food is a metaphor for how people do life, and how being present with food carries into careers and relationships, which Niiamah Ashong translates into leadership. What emerged is the promise at the root of her work, and an invitation to every listener to name the promise they've made to themselves.

Episode at a glance

Guest: Eve Lahijani, Registered dietitian and owner of Vitamineve Inc., helping people heal their relationship with food
Host: Niiamah Ashong, coach to outlier leaders
Show: Outlier’s Edge Podcast, released August 2, 2022
Format: conversation, 48 minutes
Topics: Food as a metaphor for life, Being present with food, Creating one's own rules, Why food is the final frontier, Keeping a promise to oneself, Living from the inside out

What Eve brought to the conversation

Eve Lahijani is the owner of Vitamineve Inc., where she helps people from all over the world heal their relationship with food and, ultimately, with themselves. A registered dietitian with a master's in nutrition, she was previously the UCLA Campus Nutrition Health Educator, and her TEDx talk is titled Trust Your Hunger and Make Peace with food. Alongside the talk, she is very proud of the videos she makes from a vulnerable place, including ones where she eats a meal on camera and takes viewers step by step through being present, in real time, while she does it too. She healed her own eating and body image issues, and she speaks at companies and conferences even though speaking in front of people scares her, because she promised herself she would help if she could.

What emerged

Eve Lahijani sees food as a metaphor: how people do food is how they do life, so as people learn to eat in alignment with their bodies, they learn to live in alignment with themselves in their careers, relationships and homes. Niiamah Ashong translated the conversation into leadership: making different choices from everyone else in the room is leadership, and creating one's own rules around food mirrors creating one's own rules for what success looks like. Underneath it all is a promise, Eve's commitment to help others if she found her way through, which she keeps recommitting to, and which led Niiamah to ask every listener what promise they've made to themselves.

Questions this episode answers

How is a person's relationship with food connected to how they lead?

Eve Lahijani says how people do food is how they do life, so a person who has trouble with boundaries around eating often has that boundary issue in other areas too. As her clients practice alignment with food and appetite, they surprise themselves by saying no to things they don't want, and it shows up in their careers, relationships, the clutter in their house and how they parent. Niiamah Ashong adds that making different choices than everyone else around him is, to him, leadership.

Why do successful people find food so hard to change?

Eve Lahijani's clients often call food the final frontier. She explains that a person's first relationship is with food, which has long been associated with being held and comforted, so much of that relationship is unconscious, and food is often used to go unconscious when life feels hard.

How do you stay present with food when life gets busy?

Eve Lahijani says her clients usually master eating present-mindedly at home first, where it's easy and calm, then bring that skill into business meetings, travel, dates and life with a new baby. She described one client who stopped eating when she was full at a family holiday, even with relatives pressing more food on her, and was so proud of it.

What drives Eve Lahijani's work?

Before she had healed her own relationship with food, she promised herself that if she could figure it out, she would help other people do the same. She says she didn't think she'd ever have to fulfill it, and staying true to it now helps her move through uncomfortable things like speaking in front of people. She also says it began from a selfish place, needing to figure it out for herself, and Niiamah Ashong notes that the service came through the selfish element.

What does a peaceful relationship with food feel like?

Eve Lahijani compares it to another self-regulating biological function, going to the bathroom, which people never second-guess. With food there's a lot more baggage, but she says sanity, peace and ease with food is totally possible, and that learning to orient from the inside out with food raises the question of where else in life a person is living from the outside in.

In their words

Food is a metaphor: how we do food is often how we do life. Not often, always.
Eve Lahijani

What's the promise that you've made to yourself?
Niiamah Ashong

Sanity and peace and ease with food is totally possible.
Eve Lahijani

Key moments

06:40 – Videos made from a vulnerable place

10:44 – Staying present with food amid distraction

15:16 – Learning one's own rules about food

18:50 – Food as a metaphor for life

22:58 – Why food is the final frontier

30:05 – The promise that started her mission

32:06 – What promise have you made?

38:13 – Living from the inside out

39:45 – Plans for in-person gatherings

45:55 – Peace with food is possible

About Niiamah Ashong

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Be Unique, Be Wonderful! Celebrate your inner outlier with Bevin Niemann

July 26, 2022 by Niiamah Ashong Leave a Comment

Bevin Niemann, a mentor who helps empaths, light workers and mystics craft a lifestyle and career that nurtures their sensitivity, joins Niiamah Ashong on the Outlier's Edge Podcast. They explore questioning prevailing wisdom, a healthier relationship with money, and living life as an experiment after seven careers. What emerged is a celebration of the outlier, grounded in self-trust and in what Niiamah Ashong calls the reinventer's bonus.

Episode at a glance

Guest: Bevin Niemann, Mentor who helps empaths, light workers and mystics craft a lifestyle and career that nurtures their sensitivity
Host: Niiamah Ashong, coach to outlier leaders
Show: Outlier’s Edge Podcast, released July 26, 2022
Format: conversation, 55 minutes
Topics: Owning your outlier, Questioning prevailing wisdom, Abundance for everyone, The reinventer's bonus, Life as an intuitive laboratory, Radical self-trust

What Bevin brought to the conversation

Bevin Niemann helps empaths, light workers and mystics craft a lifestyle and a career that nurtures their sensitivity rather than works against it, and she sees advocating for people like herself as a chance to connect them with their power and their joy. She has had seven careers, across retail, food service, account management, landscape design, nonprofit organizations, coaching and writing, and she brings what she learned in each one into the next. After about 12 years at a nonprofit, where she was offered the position of vice president, she moved to a completely different state and started over as a landscape designer. She runs a global community priced at seven dollars so sensitive leaders around the world can join, and in the fall of 2021 she published her first book, which she describes as in some ways a memoir.

What emerged

The conversation became a celebration of the outlier. When Niiamah Ashong pressure tested whether a person can be themselves and still be financially abundant, Bevin Niemann named a third option beyond either-or: getting her needs met, being in service, and wanting abundance for everyone, not just for herself. Niiamah named what was embedded in her story, the reinventer's bonus: someone who has started over many times can experiment freely because they know they can reinvent again. Underneath it all is self-trust, which Bevin now sees as the source of the home and stability she once looked for outside herself.

Questions this episode answers

What does it mean to own being an outlier?

Bevin Niemann recalls a coach training exercise where she chose to stand way out from the entire circle of chairs and felt really comfortable at that edge. Niiamah Ashong calls this owning your outlier. Bevin says outliers may feel a little misunderstood, but she likes living out there and approaches life as an adventure and an experiment.

How can a leader question prevailing wisdom without being a rebel without a cause?

Bevin Niemann asks whether the way something has always been done is actually the way she wants to do it, and gives herself permission to ask even if she ends up choosing the traditional way. When she does rebel, it's for a reason, after thinking it through, researching it and sensing how it feels in her body. She is also willing to speak up publicly and ask whether beliefs carried as a collective are still serving people.

Can you be yourself and still be financially abundant?

Bevin Niemann says people aren't here to martyr themselves: she wants her needs met and a nice home, and she wants that for everyone, not just for herself. She doesn't see it as a zero-sum game and looks for a third option where she gets her needs met and is in service to other people at the same time.

What is the reinventer's bonus?

It's a name Niiamah Ashong coined in the conversation for the confidence that comes from reinventing oneself many times: a person can experiment now because they know they can reinvent or try something else later. Bevin Niemann connects it to the high sensation seeker, a personality trait wired to crave new and novel experiences, and to using her life as an intuitive laboratory.

Why does self-trust matter so much for outliers?

Bevin Niemann says she spent a lot of time seeking home, centeredness and stability outside herself, and found it limiting. She now looks to a radical level of trust in self: knowing that even if things don't turn out as she'd like, she'll bounce back, pivot and adapt. Niiamah Ashong adds that if the internal elements like self-trust aren't there, everything will be out of alignment.

In their words

There's a difference in the energy when you're saying I want this for me and I want this for everyone.
Bevin Niemann

I'm going to bounce back up, I'm going to try something new, I'm going to pivot, I'm going to adapt and I'm going to go on with a sense of optimism about this life.
Bevin Niemann

Fundamentally we should be listening to our inner voice first.
Bevin Niemann

Key moments

01:31 – Standing outside the circle

03:33 – Serving empaths after seven careers

09:44 – Speaking up as an outlier

12:48 – Rethinking the paradigm around money

19:57 – Wanting abundance for everyone

23:30 – The edge walker's third option

28:37 – Naming the reinventer's bonus

32:15 – Life as an intuitive laboratory

39:23 – Mastering self-trust

50:33 – Honor the wisdom you've gained

About Niiamah Ashong

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Yes! Be the Answer You Need, and Create Opportunities with Anna Felix

July 19, 2022 by Niiamah Ashong Leave a Comment

Anna Felix, a smart money strategist, joins Niiamah Ashong on the Outlier's Edge Podcast to talk about becoming the answer she was looking for and creating possibilities with money. She shares how she went from searching for an advisor who would answer her questions to becoming one who puts the client first and empowers people with information. What emerged is her gift as a possibility creator, someone who starts with people's dreams instead of the bottom line.

Episode at a glance

Guest: Anna Felix, Smart money strategist helping predominantly women figure out the money game
Host: Niiamah Ashong, coach to outlier leaders
Show: Outlier’s Edge Podcast, released July 19, 2022
Format: conversation, 54 minutes
Topics: Becoming the person you were looking for, Relationships through genuine curiosity, Putting the client first, Starting with dreams, not the bottom line, Possibility creation over problem solving, Amplifying a high-touch experience

What Anna brought to the conversation

Anna Felix is a smart money strategist who helps predominantly women, and men as well, figure out the money game as quickly as possible, including options most people never hear about. When she became the one making her family's financial decisions, she went looking for help and found advisors who said they had no time for her questions, and one told her she just needed to marry a rich guy. Walking back to her car, she wondered if she could become the person she was looking for, and about three years later she was in the industry. She now works with a company aligned with her core value of putting the client first, and one of her favorite questions for clients is what their dreams are.

What emerged

Niiamah Ashong names Anna Felix a possibility creator: where most people identify as problem solvers and go straight to the bottom line, she asks people what they want to create and then builds the plan to get them there. He invites leaders to see that what feels basic to them can be a completely new world to someone more successful, which is why people come to them. Looking ahead, she's doing a chapter in a book, the first time she has done anything like that, and figuring out systems to reach more people without losing the relational, high-touch feel of her work.

Questions this episode answers

How can a leader build relationships by reaching out to people they don't know?

Anna Felix reaches out to people whose profiles make her want to learn more, simply to learn about them and what they do. When people worry she's selling something, she promises it's a sales free zone, and Niiamah Ashong notes that creating a relationship can be as simple as legitimately wanting to get to know the person.

Why do some successful professionals know so little about their own finances?

Anna Felix finds that some of the most successful people know the least, such as a doctor or dentist with a thriving business who can't say how much money goes out every month. People are busy and put it off, so she starts with the basics, like the couple who believed they had a million dollars of life insurance coverage and found they had a hundred thousand.

Why should financial planning start with your dreams?

Anna Felix asks clients what their dreams are because knowing where a person is going changes what she does for them. After she asked one couple about retirement, they spent the following week working out what they really wanted to do and came to a mutual agreement on it.

What is the difference between creating possibilities and solving problems?

Niiamah Ashong says most people identify as problem solvers who go to the bottom line and treat money as a math problem, missing the possibility that could be created. Anna Felix adds that retirement conversations are usually about less, while she asks what more people can do with that time.

How can a leader create empowered clients instead of dependent ones?

Once a plan is in place, Anna Felix asks clients to explain to her why they did it, what the reasons were and what the results will be, so they feel they've got this. Niiamah Ashong connects this to a mentor's view that the role of a leader is to create more leaders, not followers.

In their words

I wonder if I could become the person I'm looking for.
Anna Felix

I want to just acknowledge you as a possibility creator.
Niiamah Ashong

Be open to new things, don't be fearful of them.
Anna Felix

Key moments

02:05 – Meeting through curious outreach

06:39 – Her work as smart money strategist

09:44 – Looking for answers about money

10:45 – Becoming the person she looked for

16:55 – A company aligned with her values

22:02 – What successful people often don't know

24:02 – Asking clients about their dreams

28:38 – A possibility creator, not problem solver

41:21 – A book chapter and new systems

52:09 – Be open to new things

About Niiamah Ashong

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Shaping the Next Generation with Lee Collver-Richards

July 12, 2022 by Niiamah Ashong Leave a Comment

Lee Collver-Richards, a self-described graduated kindergarten teacher who spent almost 30 years in public education and builds schools, joins Niiamah Ashong on the Outlier's Edge Podcast to talk about shaping the next generation through relationship and co-creation. She shares how one school was rebuilt around a fresh vision, and why the purpose of school is to uncover what's already inside each person. What emerged is a picture of values made real, and her call to have the courage to change.

Episode at a glance

Guest: Lee Collver-Richards, Self-described graduated kindergarten teacher with almost 30 years in public education who builds schools
Host: Niiamah Ashong, coach to outlier leaders
Show: Outlier’s Edge Podcast, released July 12, 2022
Format: conversation, 55 minutes
Topics: Building schools as communities, Safe and brave spaces, Rebuilding around a vision, The purpose of school, Mistakes as first attempts in learning, The courage to change

What Lee brought to the conversation

Lee Collver-Richards, who calls herself a graduated kindergarten teacher, worked in public education for almost 30 years and has built a couple of schools, with more in progress. To her, building a school means meeting everyone who is already there and building it with the children and families as a community school. At one public magnet school, the team started fresh with a clear mission, a framework of science, technology, relationships, engineering, art and mathematics, a set of non-negotiables and a five-year commitment. She is also helping build schools for communities where parents never had access to education themselves, hosts a show of conversations with the incredible people she meets, and recently published an anthology with other authors on raising happy, resilient children.

What emerged

The conversation centered on values made real. Lee Collver-Richards describes schools built on integrity, respect, curiosity, adventure, wonder and gratitude, where a mistake is a first attempt in learning and every person's gifts are honored, like a custodian who had been an engineer and builder earlier in his life and became the school's best teacher of engineering. Niiamah Ashong named the shift from optimistic to realistic: what many people dismiss as not how the world works becomes the norm when leaders take agency and create places where it is lived. Lee's closing insight was to have the courage to change, knocking down the walls of one's own mind first and then building for others and with others.

Questions this episode answers

What makes a space safe enough for people to learn?

Lee Collver-Richards says the classroom is about creating relationships with everyone so all feel safe enough to take the risk to learn something new, and she describes safety as an energy. Niiamah Ashong adds that he creates spaces that are both safe and brave, asking what more risks people can take once they feel safe.

How do you rebuild an organization around a new vision?

At one public school Lee Collver-Richards helped build, everyone from the custodian up was let go and invited to reapply for the new vision. The team began with its mission statement, a framework to build from, non-negotiables such as every child from third grade on having their own computer, and a five-year commitment. Niiamah Ashong names mission, framework, non-negotiables and commitment as the pillars, and Lee adds self-awareness.

What is the real purpose of school?

Lee Collver-Richards says the purpose of school is to uncover, recover, discover and revise what a person already has inside them. Her school drew on research showing that people have multiple intelligences, so students could explore together while their different natural gifts complement each other.

How should a leader respond to mistakes?

At Lee Collver-Richards's school, FAIL stands for first attempts in learning. She says the error isn't rejected: people are allowed to forgive themselves for having chosen it and helped to see the other choices available, giving everyone the chance to earn the respect they deserve.

How can a leader with a strong vision bring it to life without convincing others?

Lee Collver-Richards says it isn't necessary to proselytize, because what she creates is simply how she is choosing in this moment. Niiamah Ashong invites leaders to stop spending energy convincing people and instead create the experience for themselves and with others, so anyone who wants to can come in and experience it.

In their words

It's about creating relationships with everyone so we all feel safe enough to take the risk to learn something new.
Lee Collver-Richards

That's really the purpose of school: it's to uncover and recover and discover and revise what you've already got inside of you.
Lee Collver-Richards

Knock down all the walls of your own mind first and then start building for others and with others.
Lee Collver-Richards

Key moments

03:03 – A kindergarten teacher who builds schools

05:35 – Spaces that are safe and brave

10:48 – Starting fresh: everyone reapplies

12:49 – The purpose of school

14:21 – A five-year commitment

16:52 – Mission, framework, non-negotiables, commitment

20:28 – The custodian who taught engineering

26:37 – Honoring first attempts in learning

37:24 – Schools for the whole community

53:50 – Have the courage to change

About Niiamah Ashong

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Building Safe Spaces with Alejandra Castillo

July 5, 2022 by Niiamah Ashong Leave a Comment

Alejandra Castillo, project coordinator for a volunteer-led period education organization, joins Niiamah Ashong on the Outlier's Edge Podcast to talk about breaking the taboo around menstruation. She shares how her team uses workshops, research and conversations with lawmakers to make an invisible problem visible. What emerged is a model of a leader rooted in a mission much larger than herself, willing to knock on doors until the people who need to hear it do.

Episode at a glance

Guest: Alejandra Castillo, Project coordinator for a volunteer-led period education organization
Host: Niiamah Ashong, coach to outlier leaders
Show: Outlier’s Edge Podcast, released July 5, 2022
Format: conversation, 47 minutes
Topics: Breaking the taboo around periods, Making an invisible problem visible, Research as a case for change, From activism to policy, Knocking on doors for a mission, Partnerships that let ideas grow

What Alejandra brought to the conversation

Alejandra Castillo coordinates projects for a period education organization that gives workshops to communities, universities and schools, and she describes it as the first chapter of its movement in her region. Her team are volunteers, and alongside service, education and activism they added research, because they needed information to prove that what they are doing matters. They are moving beyond the city to communities without internet access or information in their schools, planning a menstrual festival with academic and cultural spaces, and they have brought a proposed law to the national congress.

What emerged

Niiamah Ashong names what sets this work apart: a cause that has volunteers knocking on doors, running workshops and doing the research, rooted in a mission much larger than themselves. He invites every leader listening to calibrate what at the core of their own work can no longer continue to exist as it is, and how far they're willing to go so the people who need to hear it hear it. The conversation itself became a model of the future Alejandra Castillo is creating, one where the taboos that held people in the past don't have to grip them now.

Questions this episode answers

Why is menstruation called an invisible problem?

Alejandra Castillo explains that because people don't see menstrual blood, they assume it isn't a problem and that girls and women have already figured out how to manage it. She says girls and women are often searching for a safe place to open up, and when men aren't well informed, that search can meet a closed door.

How can men and boys support girls around menstruation?

Alejandra Castillo says the first step is for men and boys to learn, research and get curious about what menstruation is. She recalls an online workshop where a participant wrote in the private chat that they now knew how to help their sister and how embarrassing it had been for her to open up.

How can research make an overlooked social issue visible?

Alejandra Castillo's organization found there was little data, such as how many people can access menstrual products, so it added investigation to its service, education and activism work. Through that work they learned, for example, that some people in prisons use newspaper or bread in place of a tampon, findings that helped them show the issue goes far beyond a taboo.

How can partnerships help a new idea succeed?

Alejandra Castillo's team partnered with an international digital innovation organization on a hackathon about menstruation, even after the organizer doubted people would want to participate. One team's app is now competing internationally for investment, and Niiamah Ashong points out that by partnering instead of building the app themselves, they created a pathway for an idea to flourish.

How far should a leader go for a mission?

Niiamah Ashong asks leaders whether they are so into their cause that they'll knock on doors, go into workshops and do the investigations, and be willing to be the only one in an entire region doing it. He invites them to find what at the core of their work can no longer continue to exist as it is.

In their words

We needed information to keep going and to prove people that what we are doing matters.
Alejandra Castillo

Are you so into your cause that you'll knock on doors?
Niiamah Ashong

As little as it is, you can make a footprint in the world and you can help somebody out there.
Alejandra Castillo

Key moments

02:04 – Modeling an open conversation

05:07 – Helping men and boys understand

06:09 – Periods as an invisible problem

14:55 – Adding research to the mission

21:37 – From social media to lawmakers

25:13 – Calibrating commitment to your mission

29:17 – Where her commitment began

41:03 – A hackathon idea goes international

46:08 – Her message to every listener

About Niiamah Ashong

Work with Niiamah: 1:1 with Niiamah | World of Difference

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Taking the Path to Visibility with Catie Harris

June 28, 2022 by Niiamah Ashong Leave a Comment

Catie Harris, a nurse practitioner who now helps nurses start their own businesses, joins Niiamah Ashong on the Outlier's Edge Podcast to talk about her path from the hospital to creating a business and a podcast for nurses. She shares how her first launch became a math problem to solve, and why permission and role models matter to the nurses she serves. What emerged is her view of business as a leadership role, and visibility as the decision to be seen.

Episode at a glance

Guest: Catie Harris, Nurse practitioner who helps nurses start their own businesses
Host: Niiamah Ashong, coach to outlier leaders
Show: Outlier’s Edge Podcast, released June 28, 2022
Format: conversation, 44 minutes
Topics: From the hospital to business, Role models and permission, Turning results into a math problem, Consistency builds trust, Visibility as a leader, Leaders are made, not born

What Catie brought to the conversation

Catie Harris worked as a nurse practitioner for about 20 years before a role recruiting nurse practitioners for clinics introduced her to nurses who had started their own businesses, and she was inspired. She started a podcast to find nurses in business and learn how they came up with their ideas, committed to a weekly show, and had done around 120 episodes by the time of this conversation. Drawing on an MBA and businesses she had started before, she created a program to help nurses start businesses, launched it in January 2017, and grew it into multiple programs and offerings. She's most excited about her impact program and the team she has built for it, designed as a high-touch experience where the team is in the trenches with every nurse.

What emerged

The conversation turned from the business to Catie Harris as a leader. She named something she didn't appreciate at first: coming into a business means coming into a leadership role, and after years of feeling invisible in the hospital, she had to decide that her voice mattered. Niiamah Ashong named visibility as more than reach: it's the willingness to be seen, which he saw in the small choices she makes to show up fully. Her closing insight is that leaders are made, and once a person decides to be the leader, the path becomes very clear.

Questions this episode answers

How can nurses turn their expertise into a business?

Catie Harris focuses first on getting the ideas out of a nurse's head, so they can see how their expertise can become a business model that can be monetized in the right package. Her students have started IV hydration clinics, concierge nursing businesses and clinical research work. She says it's the nurses articulating what they want to do, and her role is to give them the space and the permission to do it.

How should a leader read the results of a first launch?

Catie Harris's first course launch in January 2017 brought four buyers, and her coaches showed her mathematically that it was a huge win. She now teaches nurses that once they can sell something to three people, they have a math problem to work out, and the math can sustain and grow the business.

Why does consistency matter when building trust?

Catie Harris says it's hard to sell courses if nobody knows who the seller is and what they do, so building the brand, giving things away for free and releasing her podcast every week became a priority. She sees showing up every week as a trust factor that tells people hers is a real professional business.

Why is starting a business also stepping into leadership?

Catie Harris says coming into a business means coming into a leadership role, something she didn't appreciate at first after years of feeling invisible in the hospital. She believes leadership isn't assumed for nurses in the medical world, so as more nurses come into business, the priorities are being visible, stepping into leadership roles and being their best selves in those roles.

What does visibility really mean for a leader?

Niiamah Ashong describes a level of visibility beyond reaching more people: the vulnerability of being seen. He points to the small choices Catie Harris makes, like setting up her space so people can really see her, as signs of trust and commitment, and notes that every leader finds their own way to be visible, the way she chose podcasting.

In their words

You can sell something to three people, then we have a math problem.
Catie Harris

Why be the best when you can be the only?
Niiamah Ashong

Leaders are not born, they're made, and you make the decision that you're going to be the leader.
Catie Harris

Key moments

00:31 – Role models for nurses in business

02:04 – Seeing nurses beyond the hospital

05:08 – Committing to a weekly podcast

12:15 – The first course launch

17:30 – Turning results into a math problem

21:34 – Permission and role models

30:19 – Visibility as being seen

33:55 – Building leadership in nurses

40:34 – A high-touch program and team

43:36 – Leaders are made, not born

About Niiamah Ashong

Work with Niiamah: 1:1 with Niiamah | World of Difference

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