Your Voice Gets Powerful When You Use It - Guest Episode Urmi Hossain

Your voice isn’t missing. It’s been waiting for permission, practice, and a little proof. I sit down with Urmi, a Montreal-based finance professional, mentor, author, and the host of Stories Beyond Borders, to talk about what it really takes for women to speak up without shrinking, apologizing, or second-guessing every word.

We get honest about confidence and self-trust in women in leadership, including the small tools that make a big difference: writing positive affirmations before a stressful day, reframing negative self-talk, using breathing exercises, and even trying the “power pose” when nerves spike. Urmi also shares what she sees in mentorship across different ages and career stages, from work-life balance questions to career switches and the ever-present pull of imposter syndrome. One of my favorite takeaways is her reminder to document your wins, then revisit them when doubt tries to rewrite your story.

We also go deeper into identity and belonging. As a third culture kid born and raised in Italy to Bangladeshi parents, Urmi explains how culture can shape whether women feel allowed to speak at all, and why belonging starts by learning to belong to yourself first. If walking into a room alone makes your stomach flip, you’ll love her practical advice on building community through women-led events and leading with curiosity instead of fear.

If this conversation lights you up, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs a confidence boost, and leave a review so more women can find us. What’s one place you want to use your voice more?

Connect with Urmi here:

https://linktr.ee/urmihossain

Want to be a guest? Fill out this form: https://forms.gle/k4E2VLQAJwk2YaKq5

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Post-production editing by SoulFlow Studios -  https://soulflowstudios.com/

Transcript

Welcome To She Ignites

Meet Urmi And Her Global Path

SPEAKER_01 0:04

Welcome to She Ignites, the podcast where we burn the rule book, ditch the shoulds, and light up the lives we were meant to lead. I'm your host, Carrie Lowe, candlemaker, confidence dealer, and your favorite fire starter. Around here, we speak boldly, dream wildly, and show up messy and magical. If you're done playing small and ready to own your own spark, you're in the right damn place. Now let's get lit. Okay. So thank you so much for joining me. Welcome to the She Ignites podcast. And I am so excited for my listeners to hear your story and what you offer. And so I'm just gonna let you jump right in and tell your story, give a little information from you about what you do and what led you to do that.

SPEAKER_00 1:10

For sure. So my name is Urmi. I am based in Montreal, Canada. And uh I am a proud woman in finance. However, I also like to describe myself as a woman who wears many hats. I am a sub-published author, speaker, mentor, blogger, YouTuber, a follow podcaster, and I'm part of an organization called Women in Leadership, where I am the co-chair of the Montreal chapter. So this is what I do. I have a very long story. If I start talking, it's probably not gonna end. But originally I'm from Italy. I was born and raised in Italy, and my parents are from Bangladesh, and I am what people call a third culture kid. I have moved around quite a lot during my childhood and teenagehood to eventually land in Montreal. And uh yeah, I have a pretty global story.

SPEAKER_01 1:57

Oh, that's wonderful. So, how long have you been in Montreal?

SPEAKER_00 2:00

It's been 15 years.

SPEAKER_01 2:02

Okay. Okay, that's wonderful. You've seen a lot of the world, right?

SPEAKER_00 2:09

I did, and I I I did. I've lived in a couple of places. I lived uh here and there in Italy, I lived in the UK, I came back to Italy now, Montreal, and I visited other parts of the world, but you know what, the world is so big, it's not enough. I have to travel more. Right.

SPEAKER_01 2:26

I would agree with that. I need to do so as well. So um, you know, at She Ignites, we talk a lot about um lighting your fire within, and as a woman, stepping into your own voice. And, you know, we a lot of times are conditioned to believe that we are not worthy or we're not good enough, or we aren't um, you know, supposed to be in certain roles. And so I would love for you to tell me when you realize that your voice had power.

Finding Power In Your Voice

SPEAKER_00 3:00

I think my voice had power from the moment I started to use it. I always like to say our voice is our weapon, and I think with our voice we can make quite a lot of change, but it's up to us to use it. And I think for many years I just kept quiet because I wasn't sure where to start, if I should speak up, if I should say something. You know, there's always that voice that says, don't say it, it's not gonna be good. You know, you you are you refrain yourself for saying things. And I think that when it comes to using your voice, it can come in many forms. It's not just being verbal or vocal about something. I think it could come in a written form as well. It c it could come also from your body language, it could come in different forms. And I think um one thing that I did is really just to be aware of the things I wanted to stand for. And also like I I worked on like communication skills by joining like groups such as Soastmasters and listening into podcasts and being able to understand how you can better communicate the your like your message. And for me, really when it came to using my voice, it just came in different ways. And one of them like being in different podcasts, uh, where I usually like to share my story and like to tell the world how, you know, the audience, how you can also use your voice and how you can make an impact.

SPEAKER_01 4:30

I love that. And I I love that there are so many different ways that we all step into our voice. And um so I know that you focus a lot on helping women in leadership, correct?

SPEAKER_00 4:43

That's right. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:45

So how how do you help women use their voice in that role?

SPEAKER_00 4:52

So you're right. I do a lot of work with women in leadership and I do a lot of work with mentorship. I do a lot of mentoring work and I target um like female, female mentees. And one way that I help women to use their voice is really just being able to speak up in situations where they're uncomfortable, or maybe speaking up in situations where they want to make change, I think, especially in the in the workforce. You often feel like your your voice, you you often feel like you're shrinking and you feel like your voice has no value, but it really takes a lot of courage and and um it takes a lot of courage to be to be able to like say your opinion, but it's really about finding the self-trust that you can do that. So that's that's one way that I that I help them. And often I also like to share my own personal experience of how I've used my voice, and I think it's important to be vocal and to to take bold steps when it comes to you know implementing a change or you wanting to have a change and to be really firm about it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:59

Are there certain steps or practices that you suggest to help a woman have more self-trust?

SPEAKER_00 6:12

So one thing that really worked for me is the positive self-affirmation sentences. Like I typically have to write it somewhere. If let's say I'm about to let's say like what let's say do a presentation or uh have to do something that I'm like nervous about, I actually tend to write it a couple of times. And I and I usually do it in the morning and I do it like before I start my day, just to set that intention. Usually that helps. I think I'm like like I'm automatically calming my nerves because you know sometimes you're doing something and you're just feeling super nervous, but but for me, like really just writing things down has really, really helped me. And the self like positive affirmation really helped me, like reframing some of the sentences, those negative talks into you know, refraining reframing them into something positive. I think you're just rewiring you the way you think, and your brain is thinking positively. So though that has been helpful from my case.

SPEAKER_01 7:15

And then you you eventually learn to believe it, right?

SPEAKER_00 7:19

That's it.

SPEAKER_01 7:20

You're filling yourself with that. So when you do those um positive affirmations and you you set notes out for yourself, do you do those about the task that you are working towards that you might feel a little insecure about or about your actual inner being?

SPEAKER_00 7:38

So usually they're more general. Um I usually more and I do it more generally because I do different things and and I'm like, okay, I I want to keep it that way. So usually one my favorite sentence is where I say, I'm confident, I'm good at this. This is what I keep telling myself. And so it it just it just goes well with everything that I have to do during during the day. And when it comes to also like speaking or, you know, like using your voice, I tend to do a lot the power pose. I don't know if you're familiar with the power pose, the wonder woman pose, and a lot of breathing exercises that helps as well. But usually the power pose like typically helps. I know there are like studies behind it and research behind it. I think that really helps with your with your confidence level. Yeah. Right.

Culture And The Cost Of Silence

SPEAKER_01 8:34

And I know that I've heard that a lot before you you go into an interview for a job or a project or or something of that nature to strike that pose and it it helps with your confidence level. So I'm curious how um how did navigating multiple cultures shape your confidence and voice? Because of course, different cultures have different ideals behind confidence and women and um you know, women in power and that type of thing. So I'm I'm really anxious to hear that.

SPEAKER_00 9:06

Here's the thing we're talking about different cultures, and I think the way women are taught to use their voice differs. Uh I feel like in the South Asian culture, women are not allowed to speak. Your your your job is to stay silent. And that's how I was raised. I I thought that that was my job to stay silent and quiet, never, you know, speak up or never say your opinion, never be opinionated about things. You just conform to whatever you're being told to. And I feel like in the Western society it's a little bit more different, and I think it's even more different nowadays from when I was growing up. I feel like now women have a lot more, I would say, resources or tools to spread their message and their voice and to use it, whether it is social media, whether it is going to a podcast, whether it is by writing a book. And I feel like there is a quite a difference between the Western society and the other side of the world where you know women are not allowed to speak. And this is also why I try to be very vocal about some of the things. And I do often talk about cultures because in certain cultures, women are really like shrinking, like they're they they have no value, no one really, you know, invests in them, no one invests in their in their education, for instance. And it's something that I have seen, and unfortunately it's um it just sucks as part of the reality. But I think, you know, nowadays things are changing, women, you know, going forward, I think it's gonna be better. Yeah. I love that.

Belonging And Finding Your People

SPEAKER_01 10:42

I I know that um, you know, I I imagine that it's a a difficult transition, you know, from from one to the other to learn how to use your voice when you've been silenced. And I think when you grow up, so for me, I didn't have the culture piece saying that you don't use your voice. It was more, you know, parents and school and and those types of things that were like, you know, you're to be seen and not heard. Don't make waves, don't make anyone upset. And so it was, I'm sure that the ramifications of that are different based on where you are as far as the viewpoint of women using their voice. But at you know, it a lot of our conversation at She Ignites also talks about belonging, um, you know, and especially women as they age and they have uh, you know, children that are no longer in the home or they're old enough that they're not around so much, and uh, you know, you see your friendship pool starting to um, you know, diminish a little bit. So, what would you say to women who feel like they don't fully belong anywhere about how to get through it, but also how to find community?

SPEAKER_00 11:56

So, belonging is something I also love to talk about, and it took me a while to actually understand that. I used to think growing up that you always have to belong to something, but sometimes I felt I was a bit misplaced that I did not quite belong to that. And I think when it comes to belonging, it's about you creating that belonging, that sense of belonging. And I think that sense of belonging starts with you, with belonging to yourself. I feel like once you have that sense of belonging for yourself, then you are able to integrate better in other groups. And I think when it comes to finding belonging or communities, it's always about finding where you can easily click and where can you or or where you can easily connect with other people. Like I think that as women especially, like it's important to surround ourselves with people that are similar to us, who share the same values, the same interests, who are willing to like support us and encourage us, and who are very positive because they say you're the average people, you're the average of the five people you spend most of the time with. So you have to be quite wise about who you want to spend your time with, you know? Absolutely. Yeah, so it's uh you have to be really, really wise. And I typically participate to a lot of social events that are led by women for women, and there are a lot of networking events like vision boards for women, or now even for Galentine's Day, they have a bunch of like events for women where you do lip gloss and create stuff, or you know, maybe they have an an event where you're making cakes all together. Those are fun things to do if you love doing those things, and you'll be surprised how similar some of the women like participating to those places are. Like it's it's it's in those moments that you find the right people, the your right group. But I think it always has to start by you finding a sense of belonging for yourself.

SPEAKER_01 13:57

So when you are going to those type of events and you don't know anyone, and you are stepping into the room, uh hoping to network and find some like-minded people, um what advice would you give to a woman that has that nervous energy around walking into a room where they don't know anyone?

SPEAKER_00 14:17

Actually, that's that question is quite relatable to me as well, because last year I set that intention that every like month I would participate to an event where I do not know anyone. And why I told that to myself is because I want to do different things, but I feel like I'm always relying on someone to go to this event. But then this person, like, let's say they cancel me, and that's when I'm like, okay, but I really wanted to go, they cancel me. What am I gonna do? And so I told myself, you know what, I'm just gonna go alone. And so I started to go to a lot of these events alone, and you know what? It's um I don't know how to explain it to you, but I go with a sense of curiosity, meaning that I go to these events and I'm aware that I do not know anyone, but I go with a very open-minded uh type of mindset where I'm just like, you know what, I'm gonna go there and I'm gonna make an effort to speak to someone. And so that's how I do it. Yes, it's quite you are quite nervous, but you have to see this as a way to, you know, see that nervousness and see that fear as a friend who's like walking you towards something. That's how I see it. And so for me, it's like just like exploring different things. And honestly, I had really good, good experiences, and I'm glad that I went because I feel like I was able to learn a lot. I was able to get resources, like information from these people, resources that I could use myself, and just to go with like with your genuine intention, you know, like when you go to these events, it's not necessary because you want to make friends, you just go there, you know, to have an idea and just be genuine, I would say. You know, I don't think it's a transactional type of event.

SPEAKER_01 15:57

Right, right. And I I had around Christmas time, there was an event here at a local bookstore that I was going with a friend, and I had been looking forward to it, and I was so excited. And it was like a uh you wrapped up a book and it was a a game to exchange, and there was hot cocoa and just community around um, I think all of us were women that were at the event. And the friend that was going with me, her car broke down and she texted me on the way and she's like, I'm not gonna be able to make it. And I'm like, my heart like sunk a little bit, and I almost just went back home. And I said, No, I have been looking forward to this. I'm going to go. There has to be at least one person there I know because I live in a relatively small community. And so I went and I had an amazing time, and there were several people there that I knew, and I got an amazing book in the exchange. And when I was walking back to my car, I was just thinking to myself, I'm so glad that I did not talk myself out of going to this event. So I love the idea of doing something like that every month. And so I'm gonna challenge myself to that as well. That's fun.

SPEAKER_00 17:11

Yeah, yeah. Actually, I did something uh similar this uh the past weekend. I attended a TEDx conference and I went there not knowing anyone. And uh at some point, they basically I was sitting on it on like on the very far end of uh of the row, and I did not have anyone on my right, and I did not have anyone on my left. And what happened is they were like, Oh, like uh do I like speak to the person next to you for like two minutes, and I was like, Who am I gonna speak to? And then there was a girl in front of me, so I like tapped on her shoulder and I said, Oh, what is your name? And that's how we started the conversation, and I'm so glad that I did because I always want to give a TEDx, and apparently she gave one, and she was like, add me on Instagram and I can give you some tips on how to give one. I was like, I'm so glad that I went.

What Women Struggle With Most

SPEAKER_01 18:00

Yes, amazing, and that you stepped into leaning forward to connect with her uh when you could have just sat there quietly because you said having on the side you that's wonderful. So I know that you had mentioned that that you mentor women, and I'm wondering if you can share through that mentorship of women what it is that you see women struggling the most with in the world right now.

SPEAKER_00 18:26

I feel like a lot of the women are so are so they they have this, you know, desire to like work in themselves, but sometimes they don't have the time, or they just do not know where to start. Uh I mentor women from different like career paths and also from different stages of their lives. So there were there were few women where they wanted to do so many different things, but I feel like uh they didn't know where to start and they did not have the right resources available. Other women were struggling more about finding a work-life balance and taking care of this themselves and um doing something in relation to wellness. And then for the younger generation, I feel like they're struggling with other things, such as how can I look for a job and how can I navigate a certain industry, how can I, you know, sit switch career. And I can see that like that's pretty recurring for younger generation. And then when you speak with someone to someone who's a bit older, then you see like the struggle that they're going through a little bit uh little bit different. And there is, of course, imposter syndrome, which is always there, unfortunately. And and of course, I went to a conference um last year, and we were asked to talk about what are some of the things that we were not happy with when we did not speak up. It's just incredible to hear all the stories. Like every single woman had something to share, like about things that happened, unfair things that happen, but sometimes they just don't feel like they're they just don't feel like they should talk. And so it was it was interesting. We all go through the same same thing at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_01 20:08

So did you notice um, you know, with when you commented about imposter syndrome, um, I'm always curious how women move through that because I I feel like there's a mix of not trusting yourself, and I'm guilty of that. Um, you know, I why should someone trust me to be the expert on this topic? But at the same time, I think fear of judgment also plays into that, whereas we are worried about speaking or sharing our truth or teaching something for fear that someone on the outside is going to judge us. So, how do you suggest we move through imposter syndrome?

SPEAKER_00 20:54

So there are a few things, and there are things that I had to like learn myself as well through a lot of the conferences that I have attended. So, some of the experts share about documenting every single thing that you do and to go and revisit that as a way to, you know, make your points valid that you know you got there because you did all of those things, and sometimes we don't we're not aware of it. And honestly, I am also like a victim of that. Like I sometimes I tell myself, okay, I'm not good at any of this, but then when I go back and think about it, I'm like, no, I did all of these things. Why am I saying that? So that's one way. The second way is definitely um doing the reframing exercise. Uh, that's quite helpful. Like if you have a negative thought, like just reframe that sentence, make it like, you know, into something like I can do this, you know, if you if you're thinking that you're not good enough, uh, I'm willing to work on it, like just to switch a few words and to make that, you know, reframe that. And I think positive self talk is quite important, like using. uh strong words such as confidence, bold, powerful. I think powerful words, words are actually quite powerful. They do you you just put them in your brain and that's how you start rewiring your the way you think. And I think the fear of judgment is quite normal. But here's the thing like I I think I I don't know how many times I was just afraid of like saying things because I was afraid of being judged. And I told myself people will judge you no matter what. But then you will also have people supporting you for for the things that you do and for the work that you do. And so with time the more you do this the more you do of these uncomfortable things you just get comfortable with them and you let go of what people are thinking and you will see that those that resonate with you they will come and cheer for you. And so those those supporters will be your fuel and you will keep doing the work that you do. And it happened with me as well where there was so much fear about the things that I was doing. And I was like you know what I don't know why I was afraid of it. I don't know why I was afraid of it. And then I was thinking am I judging anyone for doing something I'm not and probably not other people are not doing that.

Speaking Up Without Apologizing

SPEAKER_01 23:08

Right, right. I know I was listening to um a midlife rising podcast um today on my way home from work and there was um I actually had done a podcast interview with one of the it's a set of twins that does this podcast together and they were talking about how um you know women some women struggle with weight and the fear of judgment and um one of them was talking about being at a party and eating a cookie and feeling like everyone was just like looking at her like oh my gosh you shouldn't be eating that and she said but then she had lost weight and she had eaten a cupcake in front of those same people however long later and she didn't feel that same thing. And she said I know that that wasn't them they didn't change I changed and you know I worked on myself and realized that probably the majority of people weren't thinking about us what we think they are. And so that helps you know her move through those processes. But I love the idea of documenting all we do because that can just drive home the skills that we have and you know the the proof that we are good at what we do and give us the the ability to read back over it anytime we have that um you know struggle with self-worth. So you had you have talked about um amplifying the use of your voice and again this is a lot of my listeners are at the beginning of that stepping into using their voice and you know amplifying it. So what does that mean to you? And I'm also curious as a follow-up to that what emotion do you find that women are in right before they learn to use their voice you know is it anger is it frustration excitement um because I love the conversations around that like I'm I'm 52 years old and so I got to the point where I'm just tired of living for other people and I'm tired of speaking as if I need to please them. So I am to the point where I don't care anymore and I'm going to defend myself and I'm going to defend those around me but people that aren't at that space yet um that are younger how do you how do you help them with that?

SPEAKER_00 25:34

I think uh so I'm gonna answer the second part first and I think one of the most common emotions is fear. It's just the fear of doing a mistake the fear again of being judged the fear that you know you're gonna say something that does not make sense the fear of no the fear like there's so many fears and and I feel the same way too uh it did happen to me like there were so many things I wanted to say and then I would just keep them in and then you know then I'll at some point you're just gonna explode and uh when it comes to this I think it's important to develop like a certain type of language and a certain way of speaking a certain way of communicating things and I think there are like a lot of resources out there to learn about how can you communicate assertively how can you communicate without being offensive and how can you let go also of that of that fear and I think that you can let go of that is the more you do it the more you understand how you know you can do things. And I also think that a lot of the things come with experience and time. I think when you're in your 20s it's a little bit different you just you don't want to make a mistake for sure especially if you're going for an interview if you you know if you want to do something you're just like oh my gosh my career will be over if I say something and I think when you get into your 30s I think it's just another phase of life because I am in my 30s and I think now I feel more apologetic when it comes to speaking up and I'm less afraid of speaking up and I heard that it just gets better when you get like older yes it does right it just gets better. So there are certain ways that you can learn on how to say things I just attended very recently a workshop about communication skills and they were saying sometimes like how women are always saying sorry. We're just so used to saying sorry we just say sorry for every single thing let's say you're sorry like sorry sorry I'm late and they they were saying like you can just say like oh thank you for your patience you know there are little things that makes makes a huge difference and I felt that was quite powerful you know and like even saying sorry all the time I'm like why are we always apologizing you know like what is it that we're apologizing about and it's also that I'm becoming aware like why am I always apologizing for everything is did I do something I didn't and so it and I think there are also places like Toastmasters which is um a nonprofit organization where you get to practice your communication skills and public speaking skills it's quite helpful also to develop those communication skills and it's even for me like I think it started from there where I had to face that fear of like speaking and I went there and I was very nervous very afraid and I was like you know what I'm just gonna do it it's okay if I do a mistake I learn to accept my mistakes I learn to accept that I learned to accept that I'm not perfect and it's okay to make a mistake it's part of the journey it's part of my growth so even accepting that is is it's a part of the growth and not worrying too much about what people will say like people will always have something to say at the end of the day.

Identity Work And Stories Beyond Borders

SPEAKER_01 28:44

Sure sure and I I think you know one thing that I have learned is that um a lot of women like when you make a mistake and you do it publicly because it makes them see you as human too and it might inspire them to do something that you're doing because they see that it doesn't have to be perfect. And I I think you know embracing those things in ourselves are are wonderful. So I want to hear about your book and your and your podcast. So what inspired you to write your book tell us a little bit about that and who you wrote it for and what you hope women take from it.

SPEAKER_00 29:25

So my book is called Discovering Your Identity A Rebirth from Intuition Struggle and I was inspired by another self-published author who basically wrote a book called Confessions of Brown Girl and honestly I was just so surprised how relatable her story was to mine and I reached out and I said how did you write it and she was like oh I was just writing down my notes and like my thoughts and then I self published it and I was like you know what I can do the same thing too and so I wrote my book in 2022 I self published it and I speak a little bit about my experience as um as a South Asian woman who's born and raised in Italy but I do talk about it from a perspective of a woman like a young woman like I talk about my childhood my teenagehood and also the expectations that come when you are a daughter in a in a like South Asian family you know women are treated in a certain way and I grew up thinking I could not do a lot of the things because I was just a girl and I wrote that book to bring a lot more awareness I wrote that book because I want people to understand that you cannot put us in a box especially when you come like if you have if you're exposed to many different cultures you cannot put us in a box. We are in between we have to create our own box that's the message I gave and and I just want people to relate to my story.

SPEAKER_01 30:51

That's also like another reason why I I wrote it and I realized that there are a lot more people similar to me I love that so your podcast Stories Beyond Borders tell me about that um and what conversations about identity and belonging are so important right now and and what you share with people as well as where they can find you yes so my podcast is called Stories Beyond Borders and it's it's a podcast about storytelling.

SPEAKER_00 31:23

In particular we talk a lot about immigration we talk about people moving from one country to another why they move we talk about people who are biracial we talk about people who have one parent uh coming from one country and maybe they're born in a different country we talk about um the definition of home like you moved in so many times what is your home we talk about this we talk about belonging we talk about languages we talk about history and um I very much enjoy stories beyond borders because I get to hear stories about people and these stories are just they're just incredible in the sense that there are things that you didn't think would happen in real life but they do happen. And there was this woman who basically had to leave her hunt country because of world reason political reasons and she couldn't stay there and she talks about her experience taking one thing with her which was her teddy bear and yeah it's um like I I thought these things just happen in a movie but clearly they don't clearly they don't and I I'm always fascinated to hear stories about you know people moving around and then going back to their home country or expats as well like why they go and work in a different country and I feel like nowadays like we cannot be defined to be one thing only I think we're all like a global citizen just because we have been exposed to so many cultures and I think also when it comes to the cultural identity it's up to us to decide what the identity we want to embody like we cannot have someone telling us oh you're Italian because you're born in Italy you know like I want to feel it myself like for instance I've been living in Canada and I do have the Canadian citizenship but I never go and tell people I'm Canadian because I don't I just don't feel it I just I just don't think it belongs to me.

Hype Songs Plus Where To Connect

SPEAKER_01 33:27

So I we talk about those things that's that's very interesting and I think it's very important for us to hear those stories. And me for example I mean I have traveled some but the culture in my community is not terribly diverse. And so I have to take it upon myself to listen to podcasts like yours or you know read stories and books about people from other cultures and the struggles that they have gone through as well as the you know the triumphs that they they have have you know been able to to build from their lives and if I think if we put ourselves you were talking about the box earlier if we put ourselves in that box then we're not opening ourselves up to kindness and understanding and acceptance uh and I think it's so important for women especially to do that because you know we're the hearts of the world right I believe that and um so I encourage everyone to go listen to your podcast so that they can hear those stories. So I want to ask you one more question. And this is a fun question that I asked my guests and um you know music is healing and it's um inspiring. And so I would would love for you to tell me what your inner hype song is or if you have like an anthem that you turn on when you're trying to channel your fiercest self because we have a uh she ignites playlist and I add all of these songs to that.

SPEAKER_00 35:04

Okay, let me tell you the story. If you asked me this question like last week the answer would have been different to what I'm about to say. Okay. So because we had the Super Bowl and I was watching the the halftime I'm like hooked by Bud Bunny. So all I'm doing is just listening to him and I keep playing him and I just start like dancing yeah like it just he just gives me that vibe. So I'm gonna just tell you like like Bud Bunny is is is my is my music right now I'm just listening to him.

SPEAKER_01 35:39

So what was you I watched that as well um and you know I don't I don't speak the language um you know I for somehow when like I when I was growing up the the class before me there was a requirement that you had to take a foreign language and then they canceled that the year that I was in that class and then the year after they brought it back. So I was never forced to take a foreign language in order to graduate and so I didn't because I don't I don't even really remember why I didn't but I guess probably because I thought it was too hard right and so I wanted an easier grade. But the energy that was you know around that performance as well as the message you know I think all of us if we watched it we received it whether we could understand the words of the song right but I would like to know what your song would have been last week too it would have been that um this girl is on fire by Alicia Keys. Alicia Keys, yes yes perfect and you know she ignites we talk about fire. I know right I know so I want you to tell us you know if you have any way for people to work with you where we can find you so people can follow you and listen and all of that good stuff.

SPEAKER_00 37:06

Yes for sure I do have a LinkedIn profile called Urmi Hosign. That's probably the best way people can use to connect with me I have a YouTube channel as well by the same name my podcast is called Stories Beyond Borders. It's available Apple Podcasts as well as Spotify I have an Instagram account with the same name and last but not least if people want to find out the work that I do with women in leadership they can just Google Women in Leadership Foundation Canada and look for the Montreal chapter to find out the everything that we're doing.

SPEAKER_01 37:36

Okay is your work more one-on-one or do you do group public speaking? How do you how do you work with women?

SPEAKER_00 37:44

So good question because with women in leadership there are different things that we do right now. It's a big organization and the organization on its own is meant to empower women however there are different chapters in different cities and each city or each chapter does its own thing mainly we do like webinars workshops the webinars everyone can attend them. We also have a mentorship program and you have to like enroll as a mentor I'm not a mentor for women in leadership I'm a mentor for another organization. And me myself with the Montreal chapter we organize in-person events so we have women coming in connecting with us connecting with other women and if people like for when it comes to like mentorship I do it with other organizations like some of them are called like dress for success uh I've I've done it with palette like they are always looking for people like based on the cohort or when they start the cohort so I do it with different people it's easier like if people want to find out about the mentorship work that we do they have to check the women in leadership website. Okay okay great well I is there anything else that you would like to add or share with uh the listeners I would say like to every woman out there to always take time to invest in themselves.

Final Advice And Closing Charge

SPEAKER_01 39:03

This is not like in terms of like putting money like investing in a financial way but if invest in yourself in in sense of like in your mental health in your well-being in your you know learning in that sense I think it's when it comes to investing in yourself it has to be more um it's more an from a holistic point of view so always take time to to learn absolutely that's wonderful great advice so I am very grateful for you joining me on the podcast and I can't wait to watch your TEDx talk when that happens so make sure when it does you let me know and I look forward to sharing this episode with the listeners. So thank you. Well that's it for today babe but your fire is just getting started if you're feeling lit up go ahead and hit subscribe leave a spicy little review and tag me at sheignites candle co so I can hype you up. Remember the world doesn't need a quieter version of you it needs the bold blazing fully expressed you until next time keep glowing keep going and never ever dim your damn light