In this episode, Julia speaks with Anna Kalmer, a social entrepreneur who founded a yoga-based organisation supporting refugees, children in state care, mothers raising children with disabilities, and others facing adversity.

Anna shares how stepping into leading wasn’t a grand decision it happened when the organisation she created began to truly form, and people started looking to her for direction. Suddenly, she realised she wasn’t becoming the leader. She already was one, long before she felt ready for the title.

She talks about seeking coaching in the early years because she couldn’t even say out loud, “I am a social entrepreneur.” She thought she needed to adopt a louder, more traditionally “masculine” style of leading to be taken seriously. But as she describes beautifully, that didn’t fit. The journey wasn’t about changing herself rather it was about authorising herself. And about discovering an approach to leading that is both caring and fierce, collaborative and boundaried.

This episode is a reminder that great leading doesn’t come from reshaping yourself into someone else’s mould. It comes from being anchored in who you are and being brave enough to stand firm in it.

About the Guest:

Anna Kalmár is a social entrepreneur and mental health professional, the founder of the Budapest based mental health initiative, AdniJóga.

She holds a Master’s degree in Social Innovation from the University of Cambridge and currently serves on the board of the Hungarian Coalition of Social Enterprises.

She has been recognized as a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree in Hungary and named one of the Top 100 European Women in Social Enterprise in 2023. She is passionate about understanding how systemic change happens and how we can shape more just and equitable societies.

In this episode, Julia speaks with Maryam Pasha, Executive Director & Curator of TEDxLondon, about the power of owning your narrative and why clarity about who you are changes how you lead.

Maryam shares that narrative isn’t just about telling your story. It’s about deciding the foundation on which you stand. When you don’t define your narrative, she says, you end up living someone else’s. She talks about the moment she realised she had been shrinking herself; to be agreeable, to be easy, to take up less space and how everything changed when she chose to show up with certainty and self-respect.

She describes the shift from being shaped by the expectations of others to shaping her own direction: a shift that gave her confidence, presence, and the ability to speak and act with conviction. When you know what you’re trying to do in the world, she says, you stop asking for permission and start owning your place in the room.

This episode is a reminder that leading doesn’t begin when others believe in you. It begins when you do.

About the Guest:

Maryam Pasha is a Storytelling strategist, producer and curator. She is co-founder of XEQUALS Studio, a creative studio dedicated to telling stories that can create a just, sustainable and joyful future. Projects include TEDxLondon, the Climate Curious Podcast and THE HERDS London. As a storyteller and coach she has worked with hundreds of speakers, including philanthropists, Nobel-prize-winning academics, business leaders, technical experts, activists and students. She has helped organisations to raise over a $1.5 billion to fight climate change, worked on talks that have been viewed over 25 million times and supported activists who’ve successfully changed the law in England to protect girls from child marriage. Earlier this year she joined the Palestine Comedy Club as an Exec Producer, is on the board on Climate Spring and a visiting Fellow at Oxford University.

In this episode, Julia speaks with Varsha, a WE Explorer, about discovering that her Essence of motherness is a powerful anchor for how she leads. She was part of the Women Emerging expedition for women leading in India, in partnership with Buzz Women.

Varsha shares how she had never thought intentionally about leading until she realised the models she had been exposed to didn’t match who she was. Growing up in a matrilineal family, she saw a form of leading that was shared, facilitative, caring but also clear and confident. The Expedition helped her name this Essence and understand that motherness is not a limitation, it is leadership.

She talks about Energy; how leaders generate it by checking in on teammates, reminding teams of purpose, celebrating small and big wins, and at times stepping in with her own raw Energy when everyone else is depleted. And she is honest about the boundaries needed to protect that Energy, including saying no and switching off.

Varsha also speaks of India’s many feminine archetypes- nurturing, fierce, strategic - and how dismissing motherness at work dismisses the very source of strength and Energy that she brings. Her leadership, she’s learned, lingers in the people she supports, the belief she builds, and the care she normalises.

This episode reminds us that when women lead from who they truly are, they sustain not just themselves, but everyone around them.

About the Guest:

Dr Varsha Pillai leads Gender Diversity and Advocacy for Women in Manufacturing at Tata Electronics, working to strengthen workplace cultures and progression pathways for women. With over two decades in communications, her passion for exploring how media shapes gender and social change led to a PhD in Gender Advocacy in Digital Media from Symbiosis International University. Recognised with fellowships in India, the Netherlands, and Geneva, and named a Changemaker by Change.org India, Varsha brings both lived insight and analytical rigour to advancing equality in organisations and beyond.