Journeys of Empowerment

Michiel Sujeet Reith
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Real-life stories: conversations with (aspiring) impact-driven female founders who turned inner shifts into meaningful change;Lessons from role models: grounded wisdom from people who chose clarity over pressure and aligned their work with who they are;Reclaim your clarity: a journey of self-discovery, agency and purposeful direction;Join the movement: a community that believes in growth through honest reflection, one story at a time!Empowerment begins with a single step, your choice to listen, reflect and reconnect with what’s true for you now.Oh and one more thing: by leaving a review and sharing an episode you’re already playing a part in someone’s next step 🙏🏾

  1. 3d ago

    #98 | Yeni Joseph | "Curiosity creates real connection!"

    In this episode, I connected with Yeni Joseph, strategic partnerships professional and chair of the board and license holder of TEDxAmsterdam, whose curiosity has taken her across countries, communities and professional worlds while shaping how she connects with people. Born in Jordan to Sri Lankan parents and adopted into a Dutch family, Yeni started questioning identity and belonging as a teenager. At fifteen, that curiosity took her to Sri Lanka to meet her biological family and search for answers about where she came from. What she discovered wasn't a simple answer about belonging. Meeting her family gave her answers, but also helped her realise that the Netherlands was home.  That same curiosity later took her to Ghana, where experiencing a culture very different from the one she grew up in taught her about community, belonging and being part of something bigger. Today that thread continues through her work:  ⇾ 𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱𝘀 𝘁𝗼𝗴𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿, 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗮𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.  Deep dive talking points:= 👉🏾 Curiosity creates real connection: why Yeni believes connection isn't about knowing everything about someone, but creating enough openness for passions, challenges and ambitions to be shared; 👉🏾 Identity and belonging: meeting her biological family in Sri Lanka and discovering that finding where you come from doesn't necessarily determine where you belong; 👉🏾 The power of community: how living in Ghana showed her the value of community and eventually helped her appreciate her ability to belong in different places without losing herself; 👉🏾 Creating your own growth path: why Yeni rejected the assumption that professional ambition automatically means becoming a people manager and instead pursued depth, expertise and connection; 👉🏾 Trusting curiosity and gut feeling: from unexpectedly saying yes to leading TEDxAmsterdam to learning that not every decision can be rationalised and that growth also means trusting others; Nuggets of empowerment: 🙌🏾 Belonging doesn't have to mean fitting into one place. It can mean learning to connect across different worlds without losing yourself. 🙌🏾 Curiosity doesn't require knowing where something will lead. Sometimes asking the question, entering the unfamiliar or saying yes is what reveals the next step. Yeni's empowering words: 🙌🏾 “I can feel that I belong in a lot of different places.” 🙌🏾  What becomes possible when we stop trying to fit into one place and become curious about where genuine connection can take us? Connect with Yeni:  Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yenijoseph/  Website: https://www.tedxamsterdam.nl  Curious to explore your Business Model YOU? Visit ✨Journeys of Empowerment✨ | Make space to see what connects and shape what comes next. Donation page Safe Space Club: https://www.thesafespaceclub.nl/doneren

    #98 | Yeni Joseph | "Curiosity creates real connection!"

  2. Oct 13

    #97 | Paula Torraco | "Reconnecting with inner authority!"

    In this episode, I connected with Paula Torraco, founder of To Be Honest, whose journey from performing perfection to trusting what she knows deep inside became a process of remembering who she is beneath achievement and expectation. Growing up in Argentina, Paula learned early to give the expected answer and excel at everything. In 2013, returning from Europe to find her apartment emptied by a robbery became a wake-up call.  Starting again in the Netherlands without her possessions, professional identity or familiar surroundings confronted her with a deeper question:  ⇾ 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗮𝗺 𝗜 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀?  Deep dive talking points: 👉🏾 Performing perfection: how achievement gradually disconnected Paula from herself; 👉🏾 Starting again: why losing almost everything shattered an identity built around accomplishment; 👉🏾 Reconnecting with inner authority: learning to listen to her body and act on what she knows; 👉🏾 Choosing the unknown: leaving corporate security without knowing what came next; 👉🏾 Possibility through curiosity: questioning what no longer fits! Nuggets of empowerment: 🙌🏾 Awareness creates the space to choose differently; 🙌🏾 We don't always need to know what's next but we do need to pay attention; Paula's empowering words:  🙌🏾 “My life changed when I started exploring and getting curious about what I didn't know.” 🙌🏾  What changes when we stop giving the expected answer and start listening to our own? Connect with Paula:  Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulatorraco/  Website: https://www.paulatorraco.com/tobehonest  Curious to explore your Business Model YOU? Visit ✨Journeys of Empowerment✨ | Make space to see what connects and shape what comes next. Donation page Safe Space Club: https://www.thesafespaceclub.nl/doneren

    #97 | Paula Torraco | "Reconnecting with inner authority!"

  3. Oct 6

    #96 | Paulina Rabell | "Reinventing through connection!"

    Paulina Rabell, managing director of ESDP, whose journey from Mexico to the US, France and now the Netherlands has been driven by curiosity and a desire to connect people and possibilities. Raised in a close-knit entrepreneurial family in Mexico, Paulina developed an early hunger to explore cultures and languages. Studying in the US became a defining test when the financial crisis forced her to choose between returning home or staying and supporting herself. She stayed!  France followed and eventually the Netherlands, with every chapter requiring reinvention while strengthening something already within her:  ⇾ 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿.  Deep dive talking points: 👉🏾 Progress over perfection: learning to give herself grace; 👉🏾 Choosing resilience: discovering she could take care of herself; 👉🏾 Reinventing through connection: following curiosity across cultures; 👉🏾 Building bridges: creating opportunities others can walk through; 👉🏾 Showing up: why relationships require patience; Nuggets of empowerment: 🙌🏾 Reinvention doesn't mean losing who you are; 🙌🏾 Connections can open possibilities we cannot predict; 🙌🏾 Progress begins when perfection stops holding us back; In Paulina's words: 🙌🏾 “I'm a connector of people, experiences and opportunities.” 🙌🏾 How about you:  𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝗳 𝗿𝗲𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗼 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻 𝘂𝘀? Ps 🥁ESDP, EGLCC - The European LGBTIQ Chamber of Commerce, and telos are joining forces to host the first-ever 𝙁𝙤𝙧𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙎𝙪𝙢𝙢𝙞𝙩 [5-6 𝙣𝙤𝙫'26], dedicated to inclusive sourcing, where underrepresented suppliers and corporate procurement leaders meet to build partnership [link in the comments] Connect with Paulina: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulinarv/  Website: https://esdp-org.eu  Forward Summit 5-6 nov: https://www.forwardsummit.eu  Curious to explore your Business Model YOU? Visit ✨Journeys of Empowerment✨ | Make space to see what connects and shape what comes next. Donation page Safe Space Club: https://www.thesafespaceclub.nl/doneren

    #96 | Paulina Rabell | "Reinventing through connection!"

  4. Sep 29

    #95 | Carolina Bongers | "Helping children become themselves!"

    In this episode, I connected with Carolina Bongers, founder of Jungle the Bungle, who turned her experience with global brands and her own bilingual upbringing into a mission to give young children more possibilities through language, play and education. Raised bilingually by her Spanish mother, Carolina describes speaking two languages as one of the greatest gifts she received. When she wanted to pass that gift on to her own children, she couldn't find a language-learning method that felt genuinely fun. That frustration eventually brought together her experience at brands like L'Oréal and Disney, her love of creating and a deeper drive for fairness.  What started with two multilingual books she wrote and published herself gradually became Jungle the Bungle, a gamified language-learning app built around joy, diversity and helping children develop the confidence to become themselves.  Deep dive talking points: 👉🏾 Helping children become themselves: why Carolina believes the essence of life is becoming who you are rather than living according to the dreams and expectations of others; 👉🏾 Creating opportunities through language: how her own bilingual upbringing inspired a mission to give more children access to languages and broaden their possibilities in life; 👉🏾 Turning frustration into action: from self-publishing two books to validating the concept, developing an app, crowdfunding and eventually leaving the security of interim work to focus fully on Jungle the Bungle; 👉🏾 Learning through joy instead of force: Why Carolina believes education should connect with children's interests and talents rather than forcing everyone through the same way of learning; Signs of empowerment: 🙌🏾 Becoming yourself starts with awareness. Carolina thought she was already living independently until therapy helped her recognize how much she was still adapting to other people's expectations. 🙌🏾 You don't need to have the entire journey figured out before you begin. Starting with what you can create today can reveal where the next step needs to be. 🙌🏾 What looks like a lack of ambition can sometimes be a lack of connection. Carolina wasn't motivated by school herself but entrepreneurship revealed just how driven she could become when something genuinely mattered to her. As Carolina firmly puts it: 🙌🏾 “There is always a way”🙌🏾  Her story goes beyond building an education company. Her own process of becoming more herself now sits underneath her ambition to give children that possibility much earlier in life. Not by telling them who to become but by creating more space to discover their interests, talents and possibilities. What might change if we stopped asking children to fit into the world we've already created and gave them more freedom to discover who they could become? Connect with Carolina: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolinabongers/  Website: https://www.junglethebungle.com/en  Curious to explore your Business Model YOU? Visit ✨Journeys of Empowerment✨ | Make space to see what connects and shape what comes next.

    #95 | Carolina Bongers | "Helping children become themselves!"

  5. Sep 22

    #94 | Carmita Junger | "Breaking the silence together!"

    A deep dive with Carmita Junger, whose decision to speak openly about being raped at seventeen has transformed a deeply personal journey of trauma, silence and healing into a call for more compassion around sexual violence. Carmita grew up in a loving family and describes her childhood as carefree. At seventeen, that changed within hours. Excited to visit the person she had fallen in love with for the first time, she returned home on the same train feeling completely broken after he raped her. She cried openly during that sixty minute journey, hoping someone would ask if she was okay. Nobody did. She arrived home to an empty house and eventually decided to carry what had happened alone. For years Carmita became incredibly good at wearing a mask. It wasn't until depression, PTSD, therapy and eventually speaking about her rape in front of strangers during group therapy that silence gradually started making way for something else:  ⇾ 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗹𝗮𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆! Deep dive talking points: 👉🏾 Breaking the silence together: why speaking up matters but why healing cannot become the responsibility of survivors alone; 👉🏾 Behind the mask of trauma: how Carmita continued university, friendships and everyday life while carrying an experience nobody around her could see 👉🏾 The loneliness of avoidance: how friends and family responded with empathy when Carmita finally opened up but rarely asked about it again because they were afraid of saying the wrong thing 👉🏾 Reclaiming control through speaking up: how writing publicly about sexual violence changed Carmita's relationship with her story from something controlled by the person who raped her into something that belongs to her! Nuggets of empowerment: 🙌🏾 Trauma doesn't have a correct appearance. Someone can laugh, study, work and continue living while carrying immense pain underneath what others can see; 🙌🏾 Healing doesn't follow somebody else's timeline. What Carmita couldn't speak about at seventeen became possible later and learning not to judge herself for that has become part of the healing itself! In Carmita's words: 🙌🏾 “It's not about him anymore. It's about me now”🙌🏾 There is something deeply important in Carmita's distinction between breaking the silence and breaking the silence together. Speaking up can return agency to someone whose control was taken away but what happens next also depends on how the rest of us choose to listen. Maybe the question isn't whether we know the right thing to say! What if it starts with having the courage to stay present and ask: what do you need from me? Connect with Carmita: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carmita-junger-4a9b69220/ Curious to explore your Business Model YOU? Visit ✨Journeys of Empowerment✨ | Make space to see what connects and shape what comes next.

    #94 | Carmita Junger | "Breaking the silence together!"

  6. Sep 15

    #93 | Anniek van Veldhuizen | "Belonging without shrinking!"

    In this episode, I connected with Anniek van Veldhuizen, engineer and co-founder of MyHives, whose journey from learning to fit into predefined boxes to building technology that helps people move with confidence is deeply rooted in one question: can we truly belong without shrinking ourselves? Growing up in the Dutch Bible belt, Anniek learned early how quickly being different could make you stand out. She loved princess dresses and glitter while playing football with the boys. Later, studying civil engineering at TU Delft meant entering another environment where adapting often felt easier than fully expressing herself. For years she built the life that seemed to make sense. A good job in impact investing, a relationship, a house, a dog and stability. Then a work trip to Uganda disrupted something inside her. She experienced a vibrancy and freedom that made returning to her settled life suddenly feel different.  What followed wasn't simply a career change. It became a process of questioning what she had accepted, leaving behind parts of a life that no longer fitted and rediscovering who she was underneath years of adaptation.  Deep dive talking points: 👉🏾 Belonging without shrinking: how seemingly small experiences of being different can slowly teach us to suppress parts of ourselves; 👉🏾 When comfort stops fitting: how Anniek's experience in Uganda awakened a feeling of aliveness she could no longer ignore; 👉🏾 Becoming unapologetically yourself: learning to stop making yourself smaller simply to make other people more comfortable; 👉🏾 Turning lived experience into purpose: how Anniek and her co-founder Nelson connected their very different experiences of safety, belonging and unheard voices to build My Hives; 👉🏾 Making invisible experiences visible: why incomplete data creates incomplete solutions and how listening to how people actually feel can reshape physical, social and psychological safety; Signs of empowerment:  🙌🏾 Belonging loses its meaning when the price of admission is suppressing part of who you are. Real belonging creates enough safety for difference to remain visible. 🙌🏾 Awareness doesn't immediately erase old habits. Anniek still catches herself toning things down. Empowerment starts in noticing that default and choosing differently anyway. As Anniek puts it:  🙌🏾 “I'd rather have an uncomfortable life with purpose than having this super comfortable stable life where I am constantly fitting in.” Anniek's story leaves me with a question that reaches far beyond entrepreneurship or technology:  ⇾ where are we still toning ourselves down because belonging feels safer than being fully seen? ⇾ and what could become possible if we stopped shrinking there? Connect with Anniek: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anniek-van-veldhuizen-27731514a/  Website: https://www.myhives.nl/en-GB  Curious to explore your Business Model YOU? Visit ✨Journeys of Empowerment✨ | Make space to see what connects and shape what comes next.

    #93 | Anniek van Veldhuizen | "Belonging without shrinking!"

  7. Sep 8

    #92 | Sophia Flores | "Learning to trust yourself!"

    A conversation with Sophia Flores, founder of SheEO, and entrepreneur whose journey from California to France and eventually the Netherlands became an exploration of identity, belonging and learning to trust herself without becoming smaller for the environments around her. Growing up as a Jehovah’s Witness, she learned early that questioning could come with consequences. At three or four years old, her father put her outside after she refused to pray before eating. She remembers banging on the door until eventually realizing he might not let her back in. Years later, she began questioning again, left the congregation and eventually left the United States altogether.  Through therapy, difficult workplaces, relationships and rebuilding her life across countries, she gradually started bringing together who she had always been with who she wanted to become.  We deep dive into: 👉🏾 Learning to trust yourself: from being taught not to question as a child to becoming a woman willing to follow her instincts and make bold choices; 👉🏾 The impact of isolation: how an early experience of exclusion shaped Sophia’s sensitivity to loneliness and her drive to create spaces where others feel supported; 👉🏾 Refusing to become smaller: how living in France led Sophia to consciously become quieter and less visible until friends and family confronted her with a painful question: what happened to you? 👉🏾 Choosing yourself over performance: why repeated experiences in workplaces where results mattered more than care eventually made Sophia realize she could keep performing but no longer wanted to; 👉🏾 Turning lived experience into care: how witnessing the isolation of mothers around her inspired Sophia to support women through postpartum transitions and help organizations rethink how parents are supported when returning to work; Signs of empowerment: 🙌🏾 Trusting yourself does not mean knowing exactly where every decision will lead. Sometimes it means recognizing when an environment asks you to become someone you are not and having the courage to move; 🙌🏾 Self-awareness can create space between what happens to us and how we respond. Sophia’s therapy journey taught her to stop treating difficult emotions as something to defeat and instead become curious about what they were telling her; 🙌🏾 Protecting the people we love also needs to include ourselves. For Sophia, empowerment became recognizing that she is someone worthy of her own care and protection; In Sophia's words: 🙌🏾 “Be bold, trust your instincts” Her journey shows how easily we can learn to make ourselves smaller to belong. Yet every moment of awareness gives us another opportunity to question what we have adapted to and choose differently. Where in your own life might trusting your instincts mean giving yourself permission to take up more space again? Connect with Sophia:  Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophia-flores-492709169/  Website: https://kindsugibox.nl  Curious to explore your Business Model YOU? Visit ✨Journeys of Empowerment✨ | Make space to see what connects and shape what comes next.

    #92 | Sophia Flores | "Learning to trust yourself!"

  8. Sep 1

    #91 | Pooja Lalwani | "Restoring personal agency!"

    A deep dive convo with Pooja Lalwani, founder of Slayrobe, leadership advisor and podcast host whose journey from India to Singapore and eventually the Netherlands became a deeply personal exploration of agency, ambition and what happens when external success no longer feels like your own. Pooja experienced agency long before she had a word for it. At fourteen she chose to leave India on a scholarship to study in Singapore. Years later, motherhood, corporate leadership and an intense drive to keep achieving brought her somewhere very different. She was succeeding externally while slowly losing connection with herself.  The turning point came when recognition as a woman in leadership put her image on a billboard while that same evening she found herself crying on the floor and realizing:  ⇾ 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗺𝗲! We deep dive into: 👉🏾 Restoring personal agency: why having a say in who we become and the choices we make is fundamental to living on our own terms; 👉🏾 The hidden cost of ambition: how continuously pushing through motherhood, work and increasing responsibility gradually disconnected Pooja from herself; 👉🏾 When the body says enough: from crying on the floor to feeling nauseous opening her laptop and finally listening when her body demanded a pause; 👉🏾 Redefining success: moving beyond titles, promotions and external validation to question whose definition of success she had actually been pursuing; 👉🏾 Turning lived experience into impact: how rebuilding her physical confidence and agency eventually inspired Pooja to create Slayrobe and build her leadership advisory work! Signs of empowerment: 🙌🏾 Agency starts with recognizing that even when circumstances constrain us, there can still be a choice in how we respond and who we choose to become; 🙌🏾 Sometimes achievement can look exactly like success from the outside while feeling completely disconnected from who we are on the inside; 🙌🏾 Pausing is not giving up. Sometimes it is the first conscious choice that allows us to hear ourselves again and decide what deserves to come next! In Pooja's words: 🙌🏾 “Nothing is worth losing yourself to”🙌🏾 There is something powerful in Pooja’s journey from having agency instinctively to losing touch with it and consciously reclaiming it. Awareness became the moment she could stop following the script she had inherited and begin choosing again. Perhaps the question is not only whether we are successful, but whether the success we are building still belongs to us? Connect with Pooja: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pooja-lalwani-/  Advisory: https://www.poojalalwani.com  Website: https://www.slayrobe.com  Curious to explore your Business Model YOU? Visit ✨Journeys of Empowerment✨ | Make space to see what connects and shape what comes next.

    #91 | Pooja Lalwani | "Restoring personal agency!"
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About

Real-life stories: conversations with (aspiring) impact-driven female founders who turned inner shifts into meaningful change;Lessons from role models: grounded wisdom from people who chose clarity over pressure and aligned their work with who they are;Reclaim your clarity: a journey of self-discovery, agency and purposeful direction;Join the movement: a community that believes in growth through honest reflection, one story at a time!Empowerment begins with a single step, your choice to listen, reflect and reconnect with what’s true for you now.Oh and one more thing: by leaving a review and sharing an episode you’re already playing a part in someone’s next step 🙏🏾

Information

  • Creator
    Michiel Sujeet Reith
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    98
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Journeys of Empowerment | Michiel Sujeet Reith
  • Show Website
    Journeys of Empowerment