What Grows?

Noella Moshi

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Culture et société
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What Grows? Is a podcast where we play with the connection between who we are and how we grow. I'm your host, Noella Moshi. Together with my guests, we explore how beliefs, values, and life experiences, shape the paths we take and the changes we make.

10 mai

Scaling Deep with Nadia Kist

Nadia Kist runs Blood:Water from Nairobi, partnering withcommunity-based organizations across Africa to end health disparities tied to HIV/AIDS and the water crisis. She's also Egyptian-American, a classically trained singer of German and Latin arias, and a photographer. So she pays close attention. We get into the part of the funder-doer conversation thatnobody quite says out loud: that the architecture of international development funding was never really built for community autonomy, and that our obsession with scale, replicability, and ROI is the language of mass production. "Why are we trying to do that with people?" she asks. We also talk about scaling deep instead of scaling wide, andwhy her longest-tenured supporters supported the shift toward locally-led work almost immediately. And then there's the rest of our conversation: Nadia received a cancer diagnosis in 2023, and she calls that season one of thegreatest gifts she's been given. Not because the experience was good, but because limitation became a kind of freedom: a daily liturgy of "I bring what I can, and I trust I'll be met with the rest." Her Fight Club support group still holds her to it. This is a conversation about what gets clarified when youstop trying to carry it all — as a person, as a leader, and as a sector.

47 min
15 janv.

Nervous System First Fundraising with Kim van Niekerk

After 15 years teaching fundraisers communication skills, she watched someone look up from a training session and say, "I wish you worked for us because you've got the words." That moment broke something open: She realized people weren't missing technique, they were missing access to their own capacity when fear took over. We talk about the donor who wouldn't give until one fundraiser asked him why he wanted to know about a fourth project, and about noticing your nervous system state with kindness instead of frustration. Kim reminds us that 95% of what we experience as "smallness" is just the volume of fear, and underneath it is the quiet capacity to meet people exactly as they are. Also: why your dad texting instead of calling your aunt might say something about all of us right now. Find Kim at: https://www.theviewlooksgood.com/

54 min
4 janv.

The Obstacle Is The Way with Ellen Donelly

The social impact sector is in the middle of a massive "What now?" moment. With USAID funding being gutted and long-standing international development structures shifting, many talented people I know are suddenly facing an identity crisis. You’ve spent decades building deep expertise, but as the institutional floor moves beneath you, you’re left wondering how to package that value on your own terms. The problem? Most experts are stuck in what business coach Ellen Donnelly calls the "Expert Trap." Because you live inside your expertise every day, it feels "obvious" to you. You focus on the gap between your current work and perfection, while the market is simply looking for someone to solve a problem. I sat down with Ellen for the latest episode of What Grows? to discuss how to turn that expertise into authority—especially when the world feels uncertain. We talked about why she abandoned a fully-equipped YouTube studio to go back to her "natural wiring," and why the first $100K you earn as a solopreneur is actually about a massive psychological shift, not just a business model. If you’ve been waiting to "feel confident" before you pitch that first independent project, this conversation is for you. Ellen's website: https://the-ask.uk/

52 min
26/11/2025

Before You Can Change the Game, You Have to Play the Game - with Ineza Mutimura

How are funding decisions actually made? Ineza shares what makes entrepreneurs fundraising-ready, why you need to study your audience as rigorously as your solution, and how your subconscious intelligence guides you toward the right moment to speak up. We also discuss her journey from working with African startups to building Funders of African Descent (FoAD), why she believes in working within systems before trying to change them, and the conviction that drives her: We're not going to save the world, but if we step up, we're going to do way more than we imagined. For more on Ineza's work, visit https://www.foadgroup.com/

51 min
13/10/2025

Following the Nudge with Karen Runde

Karen Runde received a vision of a water filter during meditation, and two months later, saw that design on a business plan that landed on her desk. After a decade supporting social entrepreneurs through the Miller Center for Global Impact, Karen followed the nudge to step into the arena herself, launching CoShun, a sustainable water initiative now serving students across two schools in Kenya. It's one thing to guide others through uncertainty. It's another to feel it in your bones: the self-doubt, the 5 a.m. calls across time zones, the weight of wondering if you're enough to do what you've been called to do. In this conversation, Karen shares how meditation unlocked parts of herself she didn't know existed, why she's studying Reiki alongside scaling a social enterprise, and what it means to let go of the death grip on the steering wheel. We talk about navigating power dynamics as an American woman working in Kenya, why finding your people saves you years of mistakes, and the difference between work-life balance and finding flow. Plus: crystals, Gen Z changemakers, and why doing something (even imperfectly) matters more than doing nothing at all.

56 min
04/10/2025

Change Happens in Relationship with Sophie Otiende

Sophie Otiende believes the most radical thing her parents did was raise children they chose to have, with intention and love. That foundation—being fully accepted at home—shaped everything: her approach to activism, her refusal to be married to ideas, her conviction that healing happens through community, not institutions. In this conversation, Sophie unpacks what it means to teach from lived experience, why she doesn't believe in scaling organizations, and how real change happens in relationship rather than through debates. We discuss the power of being believed without question, why flexibility matters more than confidence in your ideas, and what it looks like to design systems that trust people's capacity for good rather than assume their capacity for harm. From poetry to policy, from survivor leadership to gentle parenting, this is a conversation about reclaiming joy in the work and remembering that community. Sophie can be found at: https://www.sophieotiende.com/

56 min
14/09/2025

Faith Over Fear with Doreen Kessy

When Doreen Kessy sat in her living room during a season of intense prayer, she heard God clearly: "Help other women feel as rested as you do now." The entire concept of Eden Retreat downloaded to her brain in minutes: Retreats across Africa where burned-out professionals could find the kind of rest that actually refuels instead of just pausing the exhaustion. After nine years building Ubongo into a platform reaching 30 million families through educational cartoons and shows, she's learned that authenticity isn't negotiable. "If I have to feel like I'm cheating myself or giving you a version of myself that isn't honest, I don't want anything to do with that thing." We talk about the difference between taking a trip and actually refueling your soul, and how she navigates building something you love so much it doesn't feel like work. Plus, her perspective on operating from God's provision rather than human anxiety: "Whatever God orders, He pays for." Doreen can be found at: https://edenretreat.co/

48 min
08/09/2025

The Power You Give Away: Birth, Bodies, and Institutional Authority with Yasmin

Birth doula and lactation consultant Yasmin has supported families across the globe for over 18 years, and she's learned to see everything through the lens of birth. In this intimate conversation, Yasmin explains why it's necessary to simply trust your own body.Yasmin can be found at the Milk Doula Collective.

32 min

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What Grows? Is a podcast where we play with the connection between who we are and how we grow. I'm your host, Noella Moshi. Together with my guests, we explore how beliefs, values, and life experiences, shape the paths we take and the changes we make.

Création

Noella Moshi
Années d’activité

2025 - 2026
Épisodes

29
Classification

Tous publics
Copyright

© Noella Moshi
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What Grows?