In this special episode of Brilliance Beyond Borders, we’re sharing an excerpt from the National Sawdust book launch event in New York City. In this episode, Chinwe is interviewed by Lynne Procope, the Ideas Zone Editor at National Sawdust. Lynne is a Trinidad-born American poet, Cave Canem fellow, National Poetry Slam champion, and co-author of the collaborative collection, Burning Down the House. Lynne and Chinwe discuss the inspiration and magic behind the Brilliance Beyond Borders book.

On this episode of the Brilliance Beyond Borders Podcast, Chinwe speaks with the brilliant Margaret Molloy. Margaret is the Global Chief Marketing Officer at Siegel+Gale, the global brand strategy, design and experience firm behind the “simple is smart" ethos. She hosts the "How CMOs Commit” podcast and is the founder of WearingIrish, a passion project to tell the untold story of Irish fashion design.

They discuss the importance of culture and heritage. Margaret shared how her Irish heritage helped shape her career. Listen to learn how to leverage your heritage to build a fulfilling career and contribute to the world. For more information about our guests, visit www.chinweesimai.com/podcast.

Chinwe speaks with social media icon and lifestyle influencer, CeCe Olisa. Named one of the “Top 10 New York Fashion Bloggers” by WhoWhatWear and a “person who proves you can be fit at any size” by MTV, CeCe Olisa is Founder/CEO of CoCoa by CeCe, the beauty and wellness company behind Doll Butter, and co-Founder of theCURVYcon. She currently lives in New York City. Her TEDx Talk "How to Build Self Confidence" is approaching 1 Million views and can be viewed at ceceolisa.com/tedx. To contact Chinwe or our guests, please visit www.chinweesimai.com.

Chinwe speaks with brilliant Holocaust survivor, Elizabeth Bellak, and her phenomenal daughter, Alexandra. Eliz­a­beth Bel­lak (born Ari­ana Spiegel) was born in 1930 into an upper-mid­dle class Jew­ish fam­i­ly in Staw­ki, Poland.

When war broke out, Elizabeth and her older sister Renia were visiting their grandparents in the town of Przemyśl. Renia was killed in Przemyśl in 1942, but Elizabeth survived and made her way back to Warsaw along with a friend’s father who was a member of the resistance, eventually moving to New York with her mother. Years later, Elizabeth was miraculously reunited with her sister Renia’s wartime diary, in which Renia had documented their family’s experiences and shared intimate personal reflections.

For decades, Eliz­a­beth kept Renia’s diary to her­self, locked away in a vault, per­haps nev­er to be dis­cov­ered. At the urg­ing of her daugh­ter Alexan­dra, she decid­ed to bring the sto­ry to light. St. Martin's Press published it in 2019 as Renia's Diary and the diary became an international bestseller.

In this episode, they stress the importance of learning from the past and finding unity in the values that connect us as Americans, in order to improve the world for generations to come.

To contact Chinwe or our guest, please visit www.chinweesimai.com.

Chinwe speaks to Esther Ayorinde, tech sales and go-to-market executive, who is known for her transformational leadership style, connected industry network, and business growth achievements. Esther leads Business Development globally for Cisco’s Managed Services organization, a company acquired by the Fortune 63 company in 2004. Recognized as part of the top 1% of sales at the tech giant. Her passion for tech and building high performing teams has contributed to driving continuous double or triple-digit growth in every business she’s led.

In this episode, they discuss the importance of leveraging data for optimal performance, investing in oneself to avoid burnout, and living a legacy,

To contact chinwe or our guest, please visit www.chinweesimai.com.

Chinwe speaks with Ekene Onu, Executive Coach and Feminine leadership expert who helps high performing women rise in their careers, increase revenue in their businesses & build thought leadership platforms by reclaiming their womanhood and leading with their feminine energy. They discuss striving for excellence in the workplace, femininity in marriage and relationships, and setting new standards of success and fulfillment.

To contact Chinwe or our guest, please visit chinweesimai.com.

Chinwe speaks with Dre Baldwin. In just 5 years, Dre Baldwin went from his high school team's bench to a 9-year professional basketball career. At the same time, Dre built a content publishing empire.

Blogging since 2005 and publishing videos to YouTube starting in 2006, Dre has published over 8,000 videos with his content being viewed over 73 million times. Dre's daily Work On Your Game Podcast has over 3 million listeners. Dre has given 4 TEDxTalks and authored 27 books.

They discuss: mindset strategies, the difference between professionals and amateurs, and how to work on your game in every area of life.

To contact Chinwe or our guests, visit www.chinweesimai.com

Chinwe speaks with Julia McNamara, founder of the Global Executive Network, a virtual accelerator for tech companies to help primarily immigrant entrepreneurs scale their companies. Julia's network has helped them find partners, funding, scale, and excel in multicultural leadership. She has launched products and built teams in 70 countries, and also was part of the senior team on a billion dollar exit in 2008.

Chinwe and Julia discuss executive presence (what it is and how to develop it), leading businesses across countries and continents, and the attributes of a winning business idea.

To contact Chinwe or our guest, please visit www.chinweesimai.com

Chinwe speaks with Sandee Parrado, partner at PriceWaterhouseCoopers, with over 18 years of experience in providing advisory services, focusing on fraud investigations and other forensic accounting matters. Sandee is an immigrant from the Philippines, and they discuss her immigrant journey and how women can lead with confidence.

To contact Chinwe or our guest, visit www.chinweesimai.com.

In this episode, Chinwe speaks to Naz Barouti, lawyer, author, entrepreneur, media commentator, and public speaker. Born in Iran, Naz and her family relocated to the United States during the Iran/Iraq war. Naz is known in the legal world as the estate planning “guru.” She can currently be heard on talk radio 790 AM KABC as the host of "Love, Death and Money," and is the author of "Love, Death, and Money: A Woman's Guide to Legally Protecting Yourself."

To contact Chinwe or our guests, please visit chinweesimai.com.