BsquaredC Podcast: The Black Woman Corporate Career "Brownprint"

My episode 10 guest Omena shared very candidly about her experiences with mental health and this week I am reprising the topic with my own experiences with it! I also had to grow into an understanding of the importance of this topic, as I culturally did not connect to it and I grew up believing so much in the strong black woman narrative. I had to unlearn some behaviors and I love the woman I am b...

In lieu of our normal programming on the podcast, I bring you this bonus episode discussing the recent debacle of racism in England directed at three black players, Marcus Rashford, Jardon Sancho and Bukayo Saka, who missed penalties in the final game. This incident was something every black person saw coming from a mile away and it is exhausting once again to watch the shock wash over most white...

Have you ever met someone and their energy just swept you away? That is Omena Ukeleghe, our guest for this month. She is a walking testimony of all things black women that make me so proud to tell our stories on this podcast and platform. Resilient, passionate, courageous and loudly living her life and purpose. Omena has navigated herself from studying fashion and working in the fashion industry,...

My guest Soraya and I chopped it up about lots of things, including career pivoting. I was particularly enamored by Soraya’s bold moves in her career, that took her from Austria, to London and now to Amsterdam and the fact that she quit her big time job in the middle of a pandemic to join a startup. Soraya is adaptable and versatile and has pivoted her career as needed. In this episode, I share my...

Meet Soraya Hausl, a badass data scientist born in Austria and now living in Amsterdam. Soraya’s love for math and numbers as a kid led her into a career of being a data scientist who has been traversing industries applying herself in different ways, and her most current gig is about hair care for black women. Soraya is officially my first European native guest, so a black person born and raised i...

My Ep. 6 guest, Bongi Mataure and I discussed her experiences of defining belonging as a black foreign person and what integrating into the Netherlands has been like for her. We share a common belief that you have to find a balance when it comes to integration, embrace parts of your new environment but also keep some of your original self.  In this episode I reflect on my own experiences with inte...

Bongi Mataure moved to the Netherlands from Zimbabwe to pursue her education in aeronautical engineering and then decided to stay. In our conversation, Bongi and I explored what belonging means as a black person in foreign countries  through her many experiences, that included studying and living in the NL and working in France. She is actively shaping her life as a combination of cultures, betwee...

I am on a mission to create a space for black women in the corporate world to connect, inspire and support each other as we navigate our careers. I am strongly convinced of our presence in the corporate world to influence how companies reach our communities with their products and services. BsquaredC is more than just a podcast, and in order to allow myself time and space to extend the idea, I am...

Following my great conversation with Courtney Bradwell about moving to the NL as a black professional today, I am reflecting on one of the key things that helped my guest Courtney to position herself in her new job market, and that is investing in yourself. She spent a pretty penny on coaches who helped mer translate her skills from the American job market to the Dutch job market and more. Putting...

Meet this week’s badass black corporate woman, Courtney Bradwell. Having been raised in Ohio, she always dreamed of traveling the world,  but she didn’t have many examples of people that looked like her  making such bold moves. This perspective changed with  a trip to Europe in 2014 that opened her up to the possibility to call this continent her second home at one point. In this conversation we w...

Welcome to the first reflection of season 2! Following my riveting conversation with the insightful Kelly Morales, in this episode I am bringing back the topic of feeling invisible in predominantly white spaces as a person of color for more exploration. As Kelly pointed out on Ep 2, feeling like you are invisible is a common phenomenon amongst black women including Michelle Obama and Kamala Harris...

Welcome to the first interview episode of season 2 of BsquaredC podcast! Meet our opening badass, Kelly Morales an ambitious, entrepreneurial Colombian woman whose discipline and life philosophy is awe- inspiring to say the least. After moving from Colombia for her studies, Kelly found herself  liking the Netherlands a lot and 8 years later is still here and chasing her dreams in corporate NL. Her...

We are back baby! Welcome to season 2 of BsquaredC podcast! This season we are celebrating stories of women of color in corporate Netherlands, my new home. As you all may know I have since settled in the Netherlands two and a half years ago. I am excited to highlight the black women who have crossed my path and to experience new ones as I continue to build my network here and make my home. In this...

To close off BsquaredC podcast season one, I am bringing you the wisdom of four past guests, Stephanie, Ruva, Brittany and Ru. We came together in the “zoom where it happens”  to reflect on the stories they shared on their respective episodes, the aftermath of it and their view of their futures in the corporate world. We communed on stories of how they heard from people they had not heard from in...

Happy holidays everyone! We are almost at the end of BsquaredC podcast season 1 and I decided to share a reflection on what doing this podcast has meant to me as my Christmas gift to you all and to myself. First off doing everything about this podcast all on my own, from scripting, to producing to marketing really challenged my ability to commit to something and stick to it. It stretched my capabi...

My guest from last week Arlyne Simon is a multi passionate genius, out there inventing, writing, starting up companies and inspiring all of us! However even as talented as she is she still has moments of doubting herself experiencing impostor syndrome.  She shared her experiences about this stepping into corporate America for the first time and this is a phenomenon that is common to a lot of peopl...

Do you know what you want to be when you grow up? If your answer is no, according to my guest on the podcast today, Arlyne Simon, that's ok. She still doesn’t know what she wants to be when she grows up and she lives what she calls a multi-passionate life, as an inventor, biomedical engineer, an author, an entrepreneur and who knows what’s next? When she is not inventing or leading project teams d...

On the podcast this past week, amongst the many things we touched on, my guest Yinka and I talked about her experiences with diversity in the industries she has worked in, or lack thereof including consulting, banking and tech. We  discussed in particular the situation at Wells Fargo that went viral a few months ago. The CEO of Wells Fargo was caught up in a scandal about his comments citing the l...

My guest on the podcast this week, Yinka Taiwo-Peters had me furiously taking notes throughout this interview from the pearls of wisdom she was dropping from her story. Starting out her journey applying to American colleges from Nigeria with little guidance and going on to becoming the youngest person in her graduating class, Yinka has been pushing the envelope at every step of her career journey....

Last week you met Aniekeme who just floors me with her confidence and ability to take risks without giving mind to safety nets. It got me thinking about how these ideas of risk and choices have played out in my life. I am a recovering "play it safe" person. For a good part of my life, I used to strongly believe that  options and choices are not a privilege that someone like me is afforded. This ca...

Aniekeme Umoh has had an interesting 2020 like all of us. She finished her MBA but an opportunity she was going to kick start her career in fashion and technology was cancelled by COVID 19. Halfway through the pandemic, she picked up a job with a start up and found out the function was not for her so she quit it and is now finding her ground again. Aniekeme takes more risk than the average woman o...

My guest from last week Stephanie Joseph has an incredible story of tragedy, strength and resilience that includes surviving the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Despite these experiences, Stephanie still shows up with so much positivity in life and has made the circumstances she comes from, fuel for her life’s goals. Stephanie owns her story, and I identify with this so much because my life has unfolded si...

Stephanie Joseph is going to change people’s lives! She said it to her sister in the past, and after listening to her story I am sure you will agree that she is well on her way! Born and raised in Haiti, Stephanie has navigated her life and career with a sense of deep purpose forged by her personal experiences that include surviving the devastating 2010 Haiti earthquake and losing family along the...

I was all set to share with you all an incredible interview with one of my favorite Nigerian sisters but on reflection, I instead opted to park it, for a different conversation that I felt is important to have this week. It's about what showing up at work fully means for people of color. 2020 has been a traumatic year for people of color and we have been showing up to work with all of it. From cov...

I am passionate about the healthcare industry not just as a job but as a calling. My career journey has been about finding the most impactful way I can parlay my talent to contribute to it. I am a scientist by training who has navigated through engineering, policy and now working in corporate healthcare as I follow my impact in the ecosystem of how people access and experience healthcare. In this...