Disrupt Your Career
Welcome to the Disrupt Your Career podcast series hosted by Claire Harbour and Antoine Tirard. We talk with those on the forefront of talent and career management — academics, HR professionals, coaches — to explore the most interesting and cutting edge ideas in the world of career transition and development. Join us as we reimagine careers https://disrupt-your-career.com/.
Disrupt Your Career
Neri Karra Sillaman: Turning Disruption Into Career Growth — Insights from Immigrant Entrepreneurs
In this episode, we speak with Neri Karra Sillaman about her journey from childhood refugee to entrepreneur and academic, and how education became her North Star. She shares how experiences of inequality shaped her values, her approach to risk and failure as redirection, and why being an outsider can be a strategic advantage. The conversation explores building businesses with limited resources, “frying in your own oil,” and redefining legacy as long-term impact on people, organizations, and society.
Neri Karra Sillaman is an immigrant entrepreneur, academic, and author. Born into a persecuted Turkish minority in communist Bulgaria, she moved to Istanbul as a child refugee, where her family later co-founded a company that has grown internationally. She holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge and is an entrepreneurship expert at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. Her work focuses on building sustainable businesses that combine purpose and long-term performance.
Links from the episode:
Neri’s book Pioneers
Neri’s personal website
Neri’s LinkedIn profile
Thanks for listening!
Visit our homepage at https://disrupt-your-career.com
If you like the podcast, please take a moment to rate it and leave a review in Apple Podcast