#312 Inside The Edmonton Chamber And The City Budget Reset

We sit down with Akanksha Bhatnagar from the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce to talk about what local businesses need and how city decisions shape everyday life. We also get real about representation, leadership pressure, and how to keep showing up when imposter syndrome gets loud. 

• How the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce connects business needs to government action 
• Why the four-year City of Edmonton budget renewal matters right now 
• What an alternate city budget could unlock for downtown and neighbourhood growth 
• Beautification, cleanliness, transit access, and the push for a stronger 24-7 economy 
• Why downtown tax base and downtown living affect taxes across the whole city 
• Navigating leadership as a South Asian woman and challenging biased labels like “emotional” 
• Practical leadership advice for young women: work harder and show up 
• Choosing a career path that brings joy even when it breaks expectations 
• Handling imposter syndrome with honesty, support, and self-trust 
• Using the Venn diagram method to rebalance work, friends, family, and personal goals 

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Transcript

Welcome And Meeting Akansha

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Welcome to another episode on Turn It Up. Today we sit down with the Executive Director of External Relations for the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce. Let's welcome Akansha Budnagger.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

It's the Universal Radio Network. It's Sapreed and welcome. We have Akansha Budnagger in the studio. Welcome, Akansha. How are you? Good. Thanks for having me. I'm so excited. Oh, I'm so excited that you're here. I know you guys can't see her yet. You'll be able to see this interview on socials, but she looks fabulous in her boss woman pink blazer.

SPEAKER_02 0:47

Thank you. Pink's my color, so I gotta wear my brand colors whenever I can.

SPEAKER_01 0:50

One thing I'll tell you is Akansha's like the Ellen of Edmonton because every time I see her, she's wearing the coolest blazer set. And she has like every color you can think of.

SPEAKER_02 0:59

Honestly, I love a good blazer. I was telling uh Ravia earlier, my like formula for an outfit is like a good pair of jeans, bodysuit, and a fun jacket. I love that. I love it.

SPEAKER_01 1:06

Well, Akansha is joining us for many reasons. First of all, you are a powerful South Asian woman from Edmonton, really representing all of us. And also just for Edmonton, like everything you've been doing with the chamber, you are the executive director of external relations. That's a heavy title.

SPEAKER_02 1:23

I know. It's kind of a law, but I'm so grateful for it. It's been such a fun experience being a part of the chamber and doing all this work. And I love this city. I don't know what it is about Edmonton, whether it's like the River Valley or my friends or my family, but like there's just something about the city that calls you home. I feel like you understand that because you also left for a bit, came back, and it's just Edmonton's home for us.

SPEAKER_01 1:41

I totally agree. Now let's

What The Chamber Actually Does

SPEAKER_01 1:43

talk about your role. Let's start from there. I know you have a very diverse background when it comes to like work experience. We have politics, we have policy. The chamber, within the chamber, you have also been promoted. I'm so excited. Congratulations. Thank you. So tell us more about your position and also what this entails and how you got to this position.

SPEAKER_02 1:59

Gosh, well, so the chamber is a membership-based organization. So anyone in the city can become a member of ours, and we just kind of work with them to get their needs communicated to government correctly. So the role I do is kind of that liaison role between the business needs of the Edmonton community and letting government officials know at the provincial level, the federal level, or the municipal level what it is that businesses need to have a thriving and excellent business condition. So what I specifically do is I lead our communications department, our government relations department, and our uh policy department. So really trying to understand what it is our businesses need and how to translate that into some fun political action. And I work with some incredible team members who get to support me as part of that process. And then we have the other side of our organization, which is our events and sponsorship team and our membership team that are just out in the community like every day fighting for what's good for business. And I love it.

SPEAKER_01 2:49

The Chamber of Commerce, I call it like the glue of the city, is obviously being part of the business, being a business owner, there's a lot that you don't realize until you get into the business. But the chamber is sort of like that resource as well, where like if you want to understand more of like how to operate in Edmonton, you can always rely and lean on the chambers. As you mentioned, you guys put on a lot of events. You can be a part of the chamber as a member, which is a huge support as well. But also you're out there advocating for those business owners, for those businesses with the government. So as we've seen a lot change since the pandemic, especially for like business owners, we've heard both positives and negatives of what it is to be a business owner in Edmonton. What would you say some of those leading challenges you're finding in Edmonton right now and something that you guys are working on behind the scenes that Edmontonians should know about?

Rethinking Edmonton’s City Budget

SPEAKER_02 3:35

Top of mind for us right now is that the city is actually renewing their budget in the fall. And so it's a four-year budget. So we have kind of one big opportunity to really give them all of our thoughts and all of our feedback about what we want the city to do. And, you know, obviously we we love working with the city, our city partners, with the elected officials and city bureaucrats, but it's our job to be super visionary and hopeful about what Edmonton can do and how we can grow our business, business uh community here. And so one thing we are working on is an alternate city budget. And I'm kind of excited about this because I think it's a moment for businesses to come together to think about, you know, if we could wave a magic wand and change something about the city right now, what would that be? Whether that's beautifying our streets, whether that's creating more transit corridors from the south to the north, whether that's increased LRT access, whether that's lower taxes in residential areas and maybe growing our businesses so that we can grow our business tax rate. There's just, there's so many options. And what's incredible is that Edmonton, Edmontonians have so many ideas and they're always fun ideas, and we love exploring them. And I think it's great to have leadership where we never really say no. We're like, okay, yes, and we love that you want to make sure that downtown is so beautiful. But how do we also look at Windermere? How do we also look at the north side? How do we look at the west side? And how do we bring people to all kind of pockets of our city and be able to show them what it's really like to be an Edmontonian? And I think there's festivals that we talk about all summer, but we're also a winter city. And it's how do we encourage that 24-7 economy? How do we encourage people to, you know, kind of go out of their comfort zone and be really a tourist in their own city? And I kind of love it. And I know that if Edmonton is an amazing city to live in and to work in and to play in, that business will automatically thrive here.

SPEAKER_01 5:16

And if we give that magic wand to a kancha, what would you say you would like to see in Edmonton that sort of is changing or is going towards that change?

SPEAKER_02 5:24

That's a great question. Honestly, I wish if if I could wave a wand, like wave a magic wand today, the number one thing I want to see is a beautiful city. And I know that's like such a generic answer, but I mean beautiful in like every sense of the world. Like I want flowers everywhere, I want buildings painted pink. I just want to look at our city and feel like, wow, it's so beautiful. And think we have pockets of that everywhere. I love Manchester Square, love like the little area on Windermere that they've created. And it's just so beautiful when you walk around Odin Park and you see how activated it is and the potential of what you see when you travel to like Japan or when you travel to like New York or when you travel to beautiful cities. Like I just want people to walk around and stop saying things like, Oh man, I'm into clean that up. Like, I just want I want a magic wand. I want to clean everything up. I want to throw the trash out, I want to fix the broken windows, I want to paint everything pink. Like, I love it.

SPEAKER_01 6:09

I love that. Yeah. Now you put in a really good point of like Windermere Northside. I think

Downtown Versus The Donut City

SPEAKER_01 6:14

Edmonton's a very unique city in the sense of like it's not just a core, it's almost like a donut where it's like the outsource and like the city areas that are outside the core are actually developing really, really strong. Now, Edmonton Chamber of Commerce, I know you guys are there sort of representing the entire city, but obviously the downtown core is a top priority. So, with that being said, how are you guys balancing that out where you're also keeping downtown in mind, but at the same time, as we're seeing a lot of the growth is going outwards. So, how are we balancing that for Edmonton?

SPEAKER_02 6:43

That's honestly such a good question. I think people often wonder why we're so fixated downtown. And I think that's because a long time ago our downtown tax base used to be closer to 10%, and right now it's sitting at about five. So if we can get the residential tax base to closer to 10%. So more people living downtown, more offices, people coming back to the offices, our taxes will eventually hopefully hit that 10% mark, which means taxes will be alleviated across the city. And then we can actually invest in all these other areas. So I think that it's important for the chamber to be focused on downtown. But the way that we kind of keep our other partners interested is that we're just in community. And I think that's something that is so amazing about Edmonton. And what I love about the city is that we show up for each other. And whether there's an event happening on the west side or we're at West Edmonton Mall for coffee with the Chamber, like, or whether we're in Sherwood Park at the ATS um building, like there's just we're trying to be active kind of everywhere and meet people where they are. And a lot of our businesses, of course, are focused downtown, but a lot of our businesses come from the south side. And I think there's just exposure there for us. And ultimately, I think it's wonderful that we just get to host these incredible events kind of all across the city because people are so welcoming and they want us to be there.

SPEAKER_01 7:52

And it's evident the coffee of chambers, I think that's such a signature event. I've been to Numerous. I want to say almost every single time. I know, I'm at a lot of fan. I love them. I love them. I love them. It's great networking. You meet some fantastic people, and a lot of people are there with that perspective of like, I'm here to meet people for my business, for my personal network. And it's great when you're in the room with like like-minded people. But what we're seeing is the locations you're doing, they are very much around the city. Um, we've seen everything from the south side, from the Francophone area. We've seen West Edmonton Mall. Um, Klandek K days is next. K Days is next Tuesday morning, which I'm excited about. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:27

Yeah. And then we're playing, apparently we're playing futsal. Oh. Yeah. So there's gang to sign up for. So if you sign up and you want to play a game with our CEO or our senior staff, like you can try to beat us. But someone on our team, Zach, is like a low-key professional soccer player, I think. So I don't know. He might be hard to beat, but I want someone to beat him. So consider this a challenge to anyone out there that loves footsall.

SPEAKER_01 8:47

To see Rabia like cheering in the production table there. Um, fun fact it's Rabia, Zach, Akantra, they all know each other from Ottawa. I know, like what a cool thing. And now you're all back in Edmonton, which also speaks so much to Edmonton. I feel like we should do like a whole like panel discussion of all of us that came back to Edmonton. It's true, and why? And why? Like, what brought us all back here? I mean, it's something to talk about, right? It's a lot that goes, I mean, makes you think, makes you wonder. I know, London and Paris, right? Oh, crazy. Crazy. But hey, I think you and I are like true Edmontonians. We love the spirit, we love the city.

Festivals And A 24-7 City

SPEAKER_01 9:21

It's festival season. I'm gonna say it's officially festival season. This week we're seeing Taste of Edmonton, K Days, Great Comedy Fest, which all three I'm meeting you at a sign this week, which is even better. So, what is your favorite Edmonton festival?

SPEAKER_02 9:34

I love the fringe. No questions asked, no doubt. And I love the fringe because it's so low barrier to access. Like you can show up, grab a delicious sugary lemonade, which I love, grab a green onion cake, which I also love, and just walk around and like watch the street performers. And if you're kind of more interested, you could also watch a show on the side. And a lot of my friends are putting on shows for this fringe, and I'm really excited to kind of see what they come up with. But it's like an all-access pass to anything. Like you can walk around, or you can go to a show, or you can enjoy some food, or you can just be outside. I love the fringe. I would like it's my favorite festival in the city. No questions asked.

SPEAKER_01 10:08

Yeah, it's a fantastic festival. I think, like he said, there's so much to do for everyone, it's so accessible, and obviously, it's a huge part of Edmonton history and culture as well. Yeah. But

South Asian Women In Leadership

SPEAKER_01 10:17

I want to take a bit of a little twist on this conversation. Now, a South Asian female in a leadership position in Edmonton, you are a rare find. You're a commodity, and I think we need to really go deeper into this conversation. Being in a leadership position, Akansha, let's talk about first the positives of paving the path. What has been really rewarding for you? Because, like I said, there's not many of you in these positions in our city. So, what's been the most rewarding part of this?

SPEAKER_02 10:44

I really honestly appreciate you saying that. And I think what's been most rewarding is I'm so proud to share my culture and my heritage with people. And I love that I get to be a part of that journey. Whether it's like telling them about my favorite foods, whether it's telling them about Holi and Diwali and Navratri and all the events that we get to do as Indians. It's just, it's amazing that I get to be a part of their education as to how amazing of a culture Indian culture can be.

SPEAKER_01 11:07

And what would you say some of the challenges have been?

SPEAKER_02 11:09

Mm-hmm. Challenges are such, there's so many of them.

SPEAKER_01 11:12

That's why I'm like, let's start with the positives, right?

SPEAKER_02 11:15

I don't want to be negative at all. And I just think it's, you know, the challenge is also that I have to be the first person to expose them to things. And I think that's kind of a double entendre where I'm so grateful that I get to show them the incredible sides of it. But sometimes it's disappointing to see just some of the narratives that are being spread about the South Asian community. And all I do is just like help hold my head high and say what I can say and protect our culture as much as we can. But it's been challenging sometimes to be seen as like the right fit for a role, right? And I don't want to make it about my race. I don't think that I've ever not gotten something because of that. But when I haven't gotten something in the past, I've thought about that. Like, is it because of my ethnic background? And it's because when I walk into rooms, I'm honestly only I'm the only Indian person 90% of the time. And I think at first that was so exciting for me. And, you know, going back to my original leadership experience, I was president at the students' union at the University of Alberta, and I was so lucky. But my first year, I was the only Indian woman. The second year I was very lucky. I had an Indian man on the team with me, and that was really lovely. But I was also the 10th female president ever. Wow. Which you think is so incredible, right? It's like, wow, that's amazing. But the history is 150 plus years old. So it's kind of sad actually that I was the 10th female president and we tried to celebrate that, and I just didn't want to celebrate that.

SPEAKER_01 12:28

I get that. Yeah. Now, being in this position, and you've been in multiple like leadership roles, policy, government, Ottawa. Have you been seeing since like you began your career till now, have you been seeing that change? Have you been seeing more South Asian females in the spaces? Have you been seeing a more welcoming environment? Like, what is going on that we can't see day to day that you are able to chime us in on?

SPEAKER_02 12:51

I honestly absolutely think so. And I think that we've been seeing a lot more women being involved in leadership roles, just generally speaking, because society's kind of, you know, realized that there's opportunity there. But I think I've I've been so lucky to have mentors that I look up to that are South Asian or who are of different ethnic backgrounds that I can kind of relate to with these experiences. And so I try to be that mentor to other people. And I think it's been amazing to see, you know, since I've left the SC or since I've left Ottawa or since I've like joined the chamber that, you know, hopefully people feel inspired and can see themselves in the job. And I think that's the hardest part is when you look at leadership roles, traditionally you don't see us, you know, and that's traditionally you don't even see women. So to even have someone like me in certain roles, I hope that there's someone out there that can think to themselves, like, oh, if she can do it, I can totally do it. Because I guarantee you I'm special, but so are you. And I think that there's a lot of that in a lot of people that they just don't see because they just don't see us in these roles. So I think there's a lot of work to be done, but I've been seeing a lot of changes across the city, and that's been amazing. And again, why I love Edmonton.

SPEAKER_01 13:53

And for these younger females that might be thinking or looking or listening to this conversation, thinking, hey, that could be me. Any tips, any guidance, anything you can share with all of them that you think would be whether it's a skill set or anything that you think that could really benefit them and get them on the right path towards leadership.

Work Hard Then Show Up

SPEAKER_02 14:11

I think if I could leave them with two things, it's like work really hard. And I know everyone's like, I do work hard and I work really like long hours and et cetera. It's like, no, work harder in the sense that like it's it already is tough as an Indian woman. And you already do have to work harder than normal. Like as an average white woman, you still have to work harder than white women. And I think that's okay to acknowledge, but that's okay. Just accept that you have to work a little tiny bit harder and push yourself. Cause I think that the opportunity on the other side is going to be so important to you. And so that leads me to my second piece of advice, which is just show up. Like half of the job of leadership is just being present, being there, and asking to be in some of these rooms. And I remember when I first started my career, you know, I was, can I come to that meeting to be a note taker? Can I come to that meeting to just listen? Can I come take notes for you in that meeting? Can I just serve coffees? And I know that's I knew deep down that's not what I wanted to do, but I knew I had to do it in order to get the roles I want to be in. Because when I'm in a room and I can see what they're talking about, then I can talk to my senior leadership about maybe advice I might have for them. So honestly, I would say work really hard. And I know it's tough that you have to work harder than average, and that's okay, but we have community together, so we can rant about that on the side. And then honestly, just showing up is half the job. Just show up, be present, try to take opportunities at where you can see them and just ask to be in those rooms. Just say, can I just be there? Can I just listen in?

SPEAKER_01 15:34

That's actually such a good takeaway because I think, and I'm gonna sort of put it on, I'm gonna talk about the younger generation because I know like you and I are closer to age, so it's a bit different. But what I've been finding so young. I know we're so young, right? We're Gen C. But speaking about the younger population, one thing I've realized and noticed, and this is also part of like my mentorship when people reach out to me. And I think social media might be one of the reasons as well. A lot of them, I think, don't realize that the work that takes to get to these positions is not always the glorified fun stuff that they see on social media. A lot of stuff that I've done behind the scenes is not stuff that I've wanted to do. And I'm sure there's been situations where you're like, I know my capabilities are more than sitting there and taking notes, but it's about where that's taking you. It's exposure you get, where that can lead up to. And I think those things are so important and powerful to recognize that not everything is just for like the glitter and the unicorns, right? There is a lot of stuff behind the scenes, and you do have to put that work in. One thing I will say is witnessing, like I think you and I met like two years ago, Akancha. And I remember the first year I met you, it was like head down, just focused. Like there was nothing you can do to like distract this girl. Like Akantra's locked in. But I saw that, I saw that grid, I saw that dedication, and now you're in this position where it's like, yes, you got a promotion, but even now you're still, if not more. I think like you're working even harder. And I remember when you're working so hard, you're like, I'm working towards something, and now you've achieved that. And now I'm like, she's working even more, right? So it's a constant way of like you just have to keep going and showing up, like you said, is so important. And I think that is like sometimes we don't realize the power of just having presence in these spaces.

SPEAKER_02 17:17

Yeah, I think because of that, like I think so many people might think of South Asian women as like too emotional, and just women in general. And I think I've been given that feedback by leaders in my life so much where it's like, oh, you're so emotional. Like, oh my gosh, don't be upset about that. And I actually like was talking to a coworker earlier. It's like, I really believe that the word emotional is like a misogynistic term now.

SPEAKER_01 17:40

Because I truly am like, don't you mean passionate? I was just gonna like that was literally my next question too. Like, how are they differentiating emotions and passion?

SPEAKER_02 17:48

Yeah, they're not, they're not, right? Women are emotional, but men are like passionate. Driven. An angry man is like a passionate man, an angry woman is an angry girl, right? So, how do we balance that? And I think that's been so challenging for me. But it's like you said, I really appreciate you saying it. Like, I've just been locked in and I'm like, I'm not gonna let this noise get to me because I need to make the city a better city to live in. I just like love Edmonton. I want my kids to grow up here, I want my family to enjoy living here, and I know I can make a difference if I just work really hard, but it's not been the easiest of paths, but it's not been bad because I have community like you.

SPEAKER_01 18:22

No, I think spend time with you. No, absolutely. I think like you and I, when we saw each other, met each other, we gravitated towards each other so fast because there weren't or there aren't many South Asian people in those spaces, women especially, right? Now, being the first in this kind of position, do you feel like a sense of responsibility? Like, I need to do this right.

SPEAKER_02 18:42

Honestly, I if you asked younger me, I would say I put a lot of pressure on myself to just be right and put on like a performative face of like leaders are supposed to be put together and they're supposed to be buttoned up. And now, like a couple years into this role at the chamber, I'm so lucky that I have senior leaders that are females. I have two vice presidents, Heather Thompson and Laura Kinghorn, incredible female leaders. And we have an incredible CEO, Doug, who believes in me. And I think it's been amazing that I get to just be me. And some days that means that I'm sad and I want to cry about how hard my day was. Some days that means I'm happy, other days that means that I had a horrible sleep and I'm just tired. And now I get to show up so authentically me, and I'm way better of a leader because I can show my team that it's okay to have bad days, and that doesn't make me weak. That doesn't make me bad at what I do. It just makes me human. And at the end of the day, we're all just humans trying to make it in this big world. And it's just been so incredible having colleagues who appreciate that. But it's it's a couple of years ago, I would have had a different answer where I thought leaders had to be like buttoned up. And I'm like, no, you don't have to be buttoned up. I actually want you to like be a little bit more unbuttoned. Show me what it's really like to be an executive at a company and like speak your truth and live your truth. And yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:55

And

Family Pressure And Choosing Your Path

SPEAKER_01 19:56

do you think any of this comes from growing up in a South Asian household?

SPEAKER_02 19:59

Oh my god, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 20:00

Being conditioned to the high performance life, or you have to be a certain way for people to take you seriously. Like, where do you think that stemmed from?

SPEAKER_02 20:06

It's absolutely, and I love my mom and dad, hi mom and dad. It's like, but the culture of like lokya kenge, right? It's like, what will people think of you if you don't work hard? And like a gangsha, you have to be a doctor, lawyer, and engineer. And I was like, okay, an engineer. I'm really good at math, let's just do that. So when I moved to politics, it was like a shock on they were like, Oh, so you mean law, you mean lawyer. I'm like, sure. How do I tell you it's not that? But I think now they understand what it's like, and I think the pressure from our parents as immigrants to be become something in this country because that's why they came here and they sacrificed so much. Like, I put so much pressure on myself to be, I have to be someone they they want to be proud of. And you know, they're proud of me right now, and I know that, but it's hard. I know a lot of South Asian people don't hear that from their family and they don't feel that growing up. And I think I really struggled with that is wanting to make them proud at the expense of my happiness. And I'm just so happy that I had a South Asian community for me, like my age, people that I could talk to. That's like, it's okay to disappoint your mom a little. And ultimately I didn't. And I'm so happy that, you know, I'm very lucky to have parents that support me in my career right now. But that's not the case for everyone.

SPEAKER_01 21:14

And at what point did you know it was okay to sort of take your own path? Like, how did you know that, like, you know what? If I take my own path, if I don't get my law degree, if I don't become an engineer doctor, it's okay.

SPEAKER_02 21:25

Crazy to say, but I felt joy. Like for the first time, I remember being um as part of the students' union president again. Like, I felt so much joy in my job, even though it was so difficult. I was so out of my depth. I had no idea what I was doing some days. I was working till 9 p.m. responding to emails from senior government officials I had no right responding to, but I was so happy and I was so joyful with the work I was doing. And I remember talking to students on campus who were like, thanks so much for like bringing mentor products to campus. Cause it made it really made a big difference for me when I like got my like cycle in class. Or thanks so much for focusing on mental health supports, specifically South Asian mental health supports. And when you start to realize like it's a thankless job, I think a lot of the times. And you're not always going to get that accolade. You're not always going to get the thank you. But deep down, I just felt so much joy and passion for what I was doing. And I knew I was making a difference, whether you can see it now or whether in 10 years from now you'll see that the like trees I'm planting are all growing. But I just, I really feel so passionate about creating a better world for the next generation and for my friends and family that it just motivates me. And I think when my parents were able to see the joy it brought me to do this work, even though it's hard and confusing and doesn't make sense to them, they were like, okay, she's happy. Like ultimately she's joyful. Not even just happy. I'm just joyous.

SPEAKER_01 22:44

Absolutely.

Handling Imposter Syndrome With Support

SPEAKER_01 22:45

And now I know, and like this is not just something that is particular to South Asian females, but statistics do say that females versus men, we feel more imposter syndrome. And there's some facts, some cases are also saying that South Asian females feel more than other diverse backgrounds. Being in this position, I know behind the scenes when we met at events, you and I've talked about this. We talked about it with other females as well, of like what that feels like. How do we overcome it? Today I'm not gonna even like get into like what imposter syndrome is, but what I want to understand from you is how did you overcome it and recognize it?

SPEAKER_02 23:18

Yeah, I think you and I talk about this so much. It's actually funny because we are so incredibly talented. And every woman I talk to that is incredibly talented and smart, they're always the ones that feel the most imposter syndrome. And I feel that all the time where I'm like, oh my God, if I made a mistake, I'm gonna get fired or it's not gonna work out. And I'm just I'm putting up a front and they're gonna find out that I'm actually not good at what I do, which is kind of untrue. And I think one thing I've been working a lot with my friends and my career coach and my like team is just like, it's okay not to be good at every single thing and just naming it. You know, it's like, oh, I'm out of my depth with that policy. I don't know what to do. Do you? And I think it actually encourages leadership and encourages growth on my team to be like, I actually do know what to do. I'm like, great, run with it. And I think every day I have to like remind myself of who I am and ultimately like again, is what I'm doing bringing me joy? Do I feel passionate about the work? Do I think it's making a difference? And just push past that like feeling of like, am I enough? And it's so hard and it takes so much work. And it's again, you need a support system. I think that cannot be over oversaid. Um, because it is such a normal feeling to feel that way. But it's like, gosh, just stop feeling. I wish it was easy. Just like stop feeling that way. Just stop feeling impossible in Jim. It's not that simple. But I sometimes just tell myself that it's like, okay, don't like you wouldn't have gotten the promotion, you wouldn't have a team that likes you. People would, if they don't like you, they will tell you to your face. And you just have to be true to you, you have to be like, know in your heart who you are and believe in who you are. And that's really hard work. But I think I've been putting in a lot of that work lately of just like I feel confident in the person I am now. And if you don't like it, I'm sorry. But unfortunately, that's who I am. So great.

SPEAKER_01 24:57

Yeah, authenticity. It speaks so much words, like beyond words, right? Being authentic, showing up as your authentic self, which you even said, like during as a leader, you do. If you are not having a good day, you're gonna express it. And I think authenticity is so important in so many different ways. Leadership is it's not easy, it comes with a lot of challenges, especially when you're one of the first doing it, right? And South Asian females, Edmonton, everything. When you add up everything, that's a lot of firsts that you're checking off. Is there any like resources, whether that's books or podcasts? You've mentioned career coach, what has been the most effective for you to sort of take this role on hands-on?

SPEAKER_02 25:35

So something

The Venn Diagram Balance Method

SPEAKER_02 25:36

my career coach taught me, and I love her for this, is that everything in my life is kind of like in these little Venn diagrams. So, like my work Venn diagram is like really big because work might be really busy. And then you have your friend Venn diagram, you have your family Venn diagram, you have your personal like fitness goal, Venn diagram, whatever your Venn diagrams or your passions might be, you have to view your life in these kind of circles. And when your work life is getting too big of a Venn diagram, it's taking up too much space, you gotta start leading into your other Venn diagrams. And so, like, my friends are incredible people, like they're just so amazing to be around. I can call you up, surprise whenever I want, and you're like, what's going on? I'm like, I'm having a bad day. And you're like, tell me everything. And you can be going through it too, but you just you won't even tell me because you you're giving me the space. I think a lot of my friends are the exact same way where we all kind of work in these high-caliber roles, and sometimes it feels a bit lonely, but then I'm just like, hey, let's just go on a walk. Let's just like hang out. And I start to realize more and more like my whole world does not have to be defined by this one thing, even though it's so important to me. And my work is so like so, so important to me. And I put a lot of myself and my self-worth into the job I do, but I do it because I want my friends to be happy. So I should spend time with them, or I want my family to be happy, so I should spend time with them and kind of grow that Venn diagram. So I know it sounds crazy when I say it out loud, but when she said that to me, it was like my life changed. I was like, you're so right. My Venn diagrams are out of whack, right? They're all focused on work. I gotta really invest in these other Venn diagrams. And I tell that to everyone I meet about how do you balance all of this? It's like try to create little pockets of space. And when you realize that one pocket is getting too big, you just gotta dial it, dial heavier into another pocket somehow.

SPEAKER_01 27:15

I love that. Thank you for sharing. That's actually really yeah, that's interesting. I'm gonna think about that more forward too. I'm gonna start drawing out my Venn diagrams mentally and sort of see where I'm at with that.

SPEAKER_02 27:24

Draw them physically. Yeah. Like every week. Just be like, okay, my work Venn diagram is huge. I can't invest in my friends, or my friends getting engaged, which is what happened last week. So my friend Venn diagram is huge. So work's gotta take a back burner a bit. And that's okay.

Final Thoughts And Where To Follow

SPEAKER_01 27:38

Okay. Well, I appreciate it, Kancha. Anything else you want to share with everyone that's tuned in?

SPEAKER_02 27:42

Gosh, just be yourselves, you guys. Like, I'm so so proud that I get to know people like Sapri, like Ravia. Like the people that work here are just incredible. And just, I don't know, be kind, listen to South Asian music, go to the fringe, enjoy the city. I love it here. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_00 28:04

Thank you everyone for tuning in. I hope you enjoyed today's episode. By the way, this was Sapreed, and you can find more content from us by following us across socials at the Universal Radio.