S2 E17 In conversation with Saba Hasanie: Finding beauty in identity

In Episode 17 of Season 2, Arthi and guest Dr Saba Hasanie explore the richness and beauty to be found in identity, even though it may be a difficult journey at times.

Saba lives in Singapore now but was born and grew up in Canada, into what she calls a confusing context because of being unclear on where she belonged. Born to a spiritual Pakistani mum and highly academic Indian father, in a Canada of 50 years ago where people of colour were few and far between, she had to quickly learn to try and find her identity between being of Indian heritage and of a more western context. There were boxes she couldn’t fit in to, not quite desi enough, not quite Canadian enough, with her peers (due to different language, food and background).

This confusion led to the creation of self-protective mechanisms to always take control of the context in her search for a sense of belonging and to be liked. It has been both a fulfilling and painful journey across transitions of identities. Saba’s key lessons are rooted in the idea of multiplicity and that we can and do identify across our multiple roles successfully by reminding ourselves we just need to be good enough and to be empathetic to ourselves as we navigate and transition across roles.

Some wise words from Saba:
 - "We do hold these multiple and often conflicting identities within us and that is also our beauty and charm that makes us what is uniquely us."

" We don't have to have answers, we just have to have the ability to be present with the whole spectrum of emotions that these transitions create.

"Identity is not steel, its not forged in fire, it does not have to be static, instead it is something that has movement to it."

Listen in to the full episode for so much more insights and ideas offered by my wonderful guest.

About Saba Hasanie:
Saba is the founder and Managing Director of OSC Leadership Performance. She is an executive coach, coach supervisor, practitioner-scholar and of course entrepreneur.  Her rich background of expertise  includes the areas of human resources, communications, management consulting. Saba's Doctorate in coaching psychology is centered around the biography of leadership, helping leaders take a more psychodynamic approach to development. 

Connect with Saba here:
Website
LinkedIn
Facebook

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Share too, your own insights from your journey based on themes from the episode - what has worked or hasn't for you. We can all learn from each other.

Connect with host Arthi here:

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·       Website
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·       YouTube
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Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction
• 0:28 About the Inspire Your Life Podcast
• 1:08 About Dr Saba Hasanie
• 2:07 Welcome Saba!
• 2:21 More about Saba
• 4:06 Self-awareness from Saba's background as an immigrant to find beauty in her identity
• 8:20 Navigating across multiple identities - Saba's lessons around multiplicity
• 11:33 Saba's transition into the identity of motherhood
• 14:30 Saba shares some strategies on coping with transitions
• 17:08 The outsider mentality - ways that this can benefit or hinder us
• 20:17 Developing the mindset to embrace the outsider mentality
• 23:12 Drawing on support to progress the journey towards finding beauty in identity
• 26:16 Where is Saba now in terms of embellishing the beauty in her identities
• 28:03 Have fun with your multiplicity!
• 29:03 Saba's key advice towards finding your beauty within and emerge
• 31:16 What is next for Saba?
• 32:53 Saba's inspiring quotes
• 33:55 Thank you Saba for joining the show!
• 34:14 Thank you listeners!