In this episode, Julia speaks with Aisha about Energy — how it shapes the way we lead, and the responsibility we carry for the energy we create in a room.

Aisha reflects on leading intuitively. Before logic or structure, she reads emotion, atmosphere, and the unspoken dynamics between people. Working with young people affected by trauma, she explains why energy is often felt before it can be explained — and why creating safety begins long before the first question is asked.

The conversation explores what it means to be a “good mirror” — matching energy thoughtfully rather than overwhelming it, and guiding people toward safety rather than shutting them down. Aisha shares how culture, language, and context shape what feels safe, and why energy that works in one place may not translate in another.

Julia and Aisha also discuss the extremes: generating so much energy that others feel muted or unsafe, or shrinking so much that no energy is created at all. Both can destabilise a group. Leading, they conclude, is about balance — being aware of the force you bring, without overwhelming or disappearing.

This episode is a reminder that energy is not accidental. It is something we generate, adjust, and take responsibility for — especially when others are looking to us for safety and direction.

About the Guest:

Aisha Zannah Mustapha is a writer, speaker, and social entrepreneur exploring new models of leadership rooted in emotional intelligence, storytelling, and community. She is the author of The Girl Who Carried Fire and works across education, climate resilience, and women’s leadership. Her work focuses on reframing leadership for a new generation, creating spaces where people can lead authentically and build meaningful impact. She is committed to amplifying African voices in global leadership conversations.

In this episode, Julia speaks with Mona about how education — formal, informal, cultural, and familial — quietly shapes the way we lead, often without us realising it.

Together, they reflect on moments in their own leading where habits, preferences, and blind spots can be traced directly back to how they were educated — what was rewarded, what was discouraged, and what was never questioned. From structure and organisation to evidence, empowerment, and questioning authority, education sits deep in our Essence.

The conversation explores how early learning can both strengthen and limit us. Julia and Mona talk candidly about prejudice versus judgement, the impact of failure, and the importance of learning, unlearning, and relearning as we grow. They reflect on how questioning — something encouraged in some educations and punished in others — becomes central to trust, confidence, and psychological safety in teams.

Mona also shares how empathy and grace play a crucial role in leading across difference — recognising that people come with different capacities, experiences, and confidence, and that equality does not mean sameness.

This episode is a reminder that leading is shaped long before our first job title — and that the work of leading well often begins with understanding, and questioning, the education that formed us.

About the Guest:

Mona-Lisa Danieli Mungure is an Attorney in the High Courts of Botswana and the Regional Head of a division in one of Botswana’s government Ministries. Additionally, she plays a strategic role in Botswana’s human rights discourse where she has served and continues to serve as a national consultant and national legal team coordinator on different occasions. She has experience in various aspects of civil law and she has worked in pluralistic environments including private practice, the public sector and civil society organizations. She is the Executive Director of an award winning initiative called Molao Matters which sits on various regional and national networks to push for women's rights holistically. Molao Matters also provides pro bono services to marginalized women and advances feminist approaches in civic governance and development spaces. Mona-Lisa is also a certified Data Protection Officer and a firm advocate for just practices in data management ecosystems.

In this episode, Julia speaks with Nyuta about trust not as something soft or assumed, but as something tested, named, and earned.

Nyuta reflects on a question that has followed her throughout her life: why do people trust me? Growing up in a loving and open family, she learned not to hide parts of herself. For her, trust begins with alignment — saying what you mean, doing what you say, and leaving no gap between what you feel and what you show.

The conversation explores the foundations of her trust in others: professionalism, results, and chemistry. Trust, she explains, grows when someone proves they are reliable, when their standards match her own, and when there is a human connection that goes beyond culture or surface difference.

Nyuta also speaks candidly about doubt. Rather than offering blind trust, she prefers to name hesitation openly: “Help me to trust you.” For her, clarity shortens the distance between doubt and confidence. If something feels wrong, she would rather say it aloud and watch the response than let suspicion linger unspoken.

The episode moves between toughness and vulnerability. Nyuta shares how she tells her team when she does not know the right answer, while also taking full responsibility for mistakes. No mistake is theirs alone. People, she believes, need someone they can lean on — someone who will not lead them into danger for the sake of pride.

This episode is a reminder that trust is built through honesty, shared values, discernment, and courage — and that leading requires both warmth and firmness, often at the same time.

This episode is a reminder that trust is the greatest asset in a crisis — and that it can only be drawn on if it has been built, carefully and deliberately, long before the crisis begins.

About the Guest:

Anna Konstantinovna "Nyuta" Federmesser is a Russian humanitarian worker, founder of the Vera Foundation and the Lighthouse Children's Oncology Foundation, activist for the rights of oncology patients. She actively promotes awareness on the necessity of palliative care in Russia, suggesting legitimization of palliative help and establishment of proper education in this field.

In this episode, Julia speaks with Maria in the final conversation of the Trust series — turning attention to what happens to trust in a crisis, when plans fall away and decisions must be made quickly.

Maria reflects on trust not as something that can be trained or demanded, but as something that is created over time through communication, shared values, and relationships. A crisis, she explains, does not create trust — it reveals it. In moments of pressure, leaders rely instinctively on the systems, cultures, and people they have already built.

The conversation explores the nightmare scenario of crisis leadership: being trapped in a system you do not trust, surrounded by people you do not trust, guided by values you do not trust. Without psychological safety, transparency, and shared responsibility, stress rises, communication collapses, and people look for exits rather than solutions.

Maria and Julia discuss what sustains trust under pressure: presence, consistency, honesty, and the courage to listen. They talk about trust as a two-way practice — trusting others to speak up, and being trustworthy enough to genuinely hear what is said, especially when it is uncomfortable.

This episode is a reminder that trust is the greatest asset in a crisis — and that it can only be drawn on if it has been built, carefully and deliberately, long before the crisis begins.

About the Guest:

Maria is a Master Certified Coach (MCC), accredited by the International Coach Federation (ICF) with more than 4,000 coaching hours. She brings over 25 years of corporate and consulting experience, having held senior regional and global leadership roles in international organizations. Her career includes positions such as Managing

Partner at ecap;

Group Head of Organizational, Learning & Talent

Development at J&P; Global HR Director at Vision; and

EEMEA Training & Development Manager at Nielsen.

She has also led Talent Acquisition for NCR across the MEA region and served as an Executive Leadership Trainer and Mentor at PwC.

Maria holds a Bachelor’s degree in Statistics and Insurance Studies from the University of Piraeus, a Postgraduate Diploma in Management from MIM, and a Master’s degree in Human Resource Management from Middlesex University.

In this episode, Julia speaks with Ebisan about trust — and why it begins not with others, but with learning to trust ourselves.

Ebisan reflects on how she approaches relationships with openness, but also with hesitation — not as fear, but as discernment. She talks about trusting the signals we feel in our bodies, and how gut instinct often tells us when something feels right, or when something feels off, long before we can explain it.

The conversation explores how trust is built in layers, through consistency, accountability, and paying attention to behaviour over time. Ebisan shares how trust looks different across cultures, generations, and contexts — and why what feels trustworthy in one situation may not translate directly into another.

Ebisan and Julia also speak candidly about disappointment — what happens when trust is broken, why we often feel more disappointed in ourselves than in others, and how ignoring early signals can leave us feeling foolish rather than angry.

This episode is a reminder that trusting others starts with self-trust — listening carefully, questioning our instincts when needed, and learning to hold openness and hesitation in balance as we navigate relationships.

About the Guest:

Ebisan Akisanya, Chairman, WIMBIZ Board of Trustees, is a seasoned development professional with nearly 30 years of experience driving social impact across corporate and nonprofit sectors. Her passion for inclusive growth is reflected in her active service on several not-for-profit boards, where she contributes to initiatives that address systemic social inequities and uplift vulnerable populations.

She currently serves as coordinator, Corporate Responsibility and National Programs at Chevron Nigeria, where she leads initiatives that drive sustainable impact. Ebisan holds a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacology and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Lagos.

Beyond her corporate role, Ebisan is also an active member of the African Philanthropy Forum (APF), a dynamic network of social investors committed to advancing development across the continent.

In this episode, Julia speaks with Geetanjali Sampemane about trust — and what it really takes to build systems that people are willing to rely on, even when they do not fully understand how those systems work.

Geeta reflects on her early work helping connect institutions in India to the internet, and how mistrust of new technology gradually shifted through familiarity, experience, and positive outcomes. She shares how trust is rarely based on complete knowledge — it is a judgement call, shaped by risk, context, and past experience.

The conversation explores why trust is fragile and difficult to rebuild once broken, and how negative experiences undermine not only our trust in systems, but also our confidence in our own judgement.

Geeta also speaks about the role of those designing systems — the importance of clarity, reliability, predictability, and security — and why trust is strengthened when expectations are shared, behaviour is consistent, and mistakes are acknowledged rather than hidden.

This episode is a reminder that trust is not blind belief. It is built through constant attention, thoughtful design, and the quiet work of making systems worthy of the people who depend on them.

About the Guest:

Geetanjali Sampemane is a software engineer at Google London, where she focuses on designing systems for security, privacy and transparency. She started her career helping countries get connected to the Internet, first in India with the ERNet project, and then with the UNDP’s Sustainable Development Networking Programme. She got to see first-hand how people and organisations learn to trust new technology.

In this episode, Julia speaks with Swatee Deepak about trust — taking the conversation beyond how it is built to the factors that quietly break it. Swatee works at the intersection of philanthropy, gender equality, and community building, and is the founding partner of Shake The Table.

Swatee reflects on her experience convening groups of women philanthropists — many of whom arrive already cautious and guarded — and why trust cannot survive without clarity. When people feel unclear about purpose, expectations, or what the exchange really is, trust begins to erode.

She introduces the idea of friendship as method — an ethic grounded in mutuality, shared responsibility, and human connection. Trust, she explains, weakens when communities become centred on the convenor, when power is misused, or when transparency gives way to cleverness.

The conversation names the moments where trust fractures: when people feel used, manipulated, unrecognised, or unvalidated. When surprises replace honesty. When boundaries blur. When humility disappears.

This episode is a reminder that trust rarely breaks in one dramatic moment. More often, it breaks in small, avoidable ways — and it is the work of the leader to notice them before it is too late.

About the Guest:

Swatee Deepak works at the intersection of philanthropy, gender equality, academia, the arts and community building. She is the founding partner of Shake The Table and Closer Than You Think, Co-Chair of the Global Fund for Children and EMpower – The Emerging Markets Foundation, Advisory member of the L'Oreal Fund for Women and a Senior Visiting Fellow at the Marshall Institute at the London School of Economics. Across her work, from advising governments, corporations, foundations and families of wealth to co-founding initiatives that centre solidarity and shared power. Swatee brings a deep commitment to creating communities rooted in trust, mutuality, and integrity.

In this episode, Julia speaks with Sheila Gujrathi about trust: why it sits at the heart of running a business, and why it becomes even more critical as responsibility, complexity, and stakes increase.

Sheila reflects that trust is important for all working relationships: between founders and teams, executives and boards, leaders and investors, and why without it, progress stalls. But she is clear: trust does not begin with others. It begins with trusting yourself; your judgement, your instincts, and the signals you learn to listen to over time.

The conversation explores how experience, conditioning, and past trauma shape how we trust. Whether that shows up as self-doubt, over-trusting others, or good girl syndrome in the hope of gaining approval. Sheila shares how these patterns can feel useful early in a career but become limiting as responsibility grows.

She also speaks about learning to stop blanket trusting people, becoming more discerning, and intentionally building environments of trust by surrounding herself with peers who offer honesty, clarity, and reflection.

This episode is a reminder that trust is not blind optimism. It is a daily practice and quiet work that makes running a business possible.

About the Guest:

SHEILA GUJRATHI, MD, is a biotech entrepreneur, executive, champion for under-represented leaders, and author of the bestselling book The Mirror Effect: A Transformative Approach to Growth for The Next Generation of Female Leaders. Over the past 25 years, she’s had the privilege of developing life-changing medicines for patients with serious diseases while building and running private and public biotech companies—including some exciting exits. Today she’s a founder, chairwoman, board director, strategic advisor, and consultant to start-up companies and investment funds. She co-founded the Biotech CEO Sisterhood, a group of trailblazing female CEOs—because we’re all better when we support each other.