We took Culture REfit to the streets of Lisbon and had the most honest conversations about what it really means to belong at work.

In Jardim de Estrela, we sat down with Irene from Nigeria, Asha from the USA, Alex from Portugal, Naky from Togo, and Manuel from Spain. They shared their real stories about moving to a new city, navigating different workplaces, and what actually makes you feel welcome.

Here's what we learned: Belonging isn't about fitting in. It's about showing up as yourself without shrinking.

We talked about the little things that matter, greeting your neighbors, making friends across cultures, having a boss who treats you like an adult. We talked about what healthy workplace culture actually looks like from the inside. And we shared practical tips for navigating across cultures with curiosity instead of fear.

If you've ever felt like you had to become someone else to fit in at work. If you navigate multiple cultures or identities. If you've wondered what real people actually think about workplace culture and belonging, this episode is for you.

Real people. Real conversations. Real solutions.

🎙️ Culture REfit Podcast

Created and hosted by Carol Watson

Cohosts: Bruno Lisboa Diotallévy

Produced by Livre Para — Social Good Agency

Executive Producer: Bruno Lisboa Diotallévy

Production Director: João Kraeski

Copywriter: Shirley Van-Dúnem

Editor: Gabriel Diniz

Art Director: Gabriel Valentim

Producer & Stylist: Natália Castañola

Lisbon, Portugal & Brazil

livrepara.com | @livre_para

🌐 culturerefit.com

👉 Follow: @culturerefit

Also available on YouTube and Apple Podcasts

What does it mean to thrive when the system wasn't built for you?

In this episode, Annahid Dashtgard (CEO of Anima Leadership, bestselling author of Fire and Silence) deconstructs burnout, perfectionism, and systemic barriers. She reveals how strategic authenticity and radical joy become acts of resistance.

If you've felt pressured to work twice as hard to be seen as half as good, if you're exhausted from shrinking yourself... this conversation is for you.

Annahid breaks down: why joy is radical resistance, how to reclaim your power without permission, and the real cost of staying silent. A roadmap for anyone struggling to show up authentically at work.

Let's talk power, trauma, burnout, and how to actually thrive.

Find Annahid at annahiddashtgard.com | Fire and Silence available on all book platforms

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Culture REfit is for every worker and leader who has felt alone or frustrated by a workplace culture that wasn’t designed for them. We bring real insights, real solutions, and real stories from thought leaders, authors, and people like you living it every day, across borders, generations, and identities. Come for the conversation. Stay for the rebuild journey.

Subscribe so you don’t miss an episode!

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Culture REfit Podcast:

🎙️Created and hosted by Carol Watson

🎤 Cohosts: Bruno Lisboa & Shirley Van-Dúnem

🎬 Produced by Livre Para — Social Good Agency (Lisbon)

Executive Producer: Bruno Lisboa Diotallévy

Production Director: João Kraeski

Copywriter: Shirley Van-Dúnem

Editor: Gabriel Diniz

Art Director: Gabriel Valentim

Producer & Stylist: Natália Castañola

Lisbon, Portugal & Brazil

What does workplace culture really look like outside the office?

We took Culture REfit to the streets of Lisbon and asked real people the questions that usually stay unspoken. From a café in the heart of the city to its busiest corners, the conversations were honest, warm, and full of surprises.

In this episode you'll meet John and Valéria from Colombia, talking about cultural identity and what it feels like to navigate Lisbon's work culture as outsiders. Three young Portuguese women — Carolina, Sarah, and Sofia — share with Bruno what we need to leave behind, what a healthy workplace actually looks like, and who they'd want as a boss (spoiler: Carolina picks Selena Gomez 👀). And in a very Lisbon café, Carolina sits down with Makick from Gambia to explore the connections and contrasts between Portuguese and African work cultures, and what diaspora really means in a professional space.

Press play and join the conversation!

This is Culture REfit in the streets, in the city, in the real world.

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Culture REfit is for every worker and leader who has felt alone or frustrated by a workplace culture that wasn’t designed for them. We bring real insights, real solutions, and real stories from thought leaders, authors, and people like you living it every day, across borders, generations, and identities. Come for the conversation. Stay for the rebuild journey.

New episodes weekly!

Subscribe so you don’t miss an episode.

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Culture REfit Podcast🎙️

Created and hosted by Carol Watson

🎤 Cohosts: Bruno Lisboa & Shirley Van-Dúnem

🎬 Produced by Livre Para — Social Good Agency (Lisbon)

Executive Producer: Bruno Lisboa Diotallévy

Production Director: João Kraeski

Copywriter: Shirley Van-Dúnem

Editor: Gabriel Diniz

Art Director: Gabriel Valentim

Producer & Stylist: Natália Castañola

Portugal & Brazil

Our first guest Ingrid Hu Dahl brings a fresh mix of wisdom, humor, and gentle rebellion to the Culture REfit universe.

She’s lived many lives — corporate leader, coach, musician — and she’s here to help us rethink what belonging at work can look like. Ingrid Hu Dahl joins host and workplace culture expert Carol Watson with the exact Fire Horse energy we need: bold, curious, and delightfully unruly. You will learn through this real, inspiring and fun conversation that she’s an author, a proud daughter and former rockstar who knows how to deal with integrating identity into leadership and family.

This episode brings the kind of reflection that stays with you. Warm, sharp, and full of sparks. Press play and listen to know why!

Culture REfit is for every worker and leader who has felt alone or frustrated by a workplace culture that wasn’t designed for them. We bring real insights, real solutions, and real stories from thought leaders, authors, and people like you living it every day, across borders, generations, and identities.Come for the conversation. Stay for the rebuild journey.

New episodes weekly! Subscribe so you don’t miss an episode.

Created and hosted by Carol Watson

Cohosts: Bruno Lisboa & Shirley Van-Dúnem

Produced by Livre Para — Social Good Agency (Lisbon) 

Executive Producer: Bruno Lisboa Diotallévy

Production Director: João Kraeski

Copywriter: Shirley Van-Dúnem

Editor: Gabriel Diniz

Art Director: Gabriel Valentim

Producer & Stylist: Natália Castañola

Lisbon, Portugal & Brazil

www.culturerefit.com

Have you ever felt like you have a "work personality"? One that's really difficult to maintain?

You're not alone.

Welcome to the very first episode of Culture REfit, a podcast and global community for everyone who is tired of blending in when they're meant to stand out. We're not here to teach you how to fit into a broken mold. We're here to rethink, reimagine, and re-engineer the workplace so your cultural identity becomes your greatest professional asset.

In this episode, host Carol Watson is joined by cohosts Bruno Lisboa and Shirley Van-Dúnem for an energizing conversation about their personal stories of navigating between cultures, identities, and workplaces that weren't built for them. From growing up in "gray spaces" between cultures, to being a queer Black woman in Lisbon, to bringing Brazilian warmth to a Portuguese workplace, this is a raw, honest conversation about what it really means to belong.

It’s real, it’s fun, and it’s the start of a much bigger global movement! 

Culture REfit is for every worker and leader who has felt alone or frustrated by a workplace culture that wasn’t designed for them. We bring real insights, real solutions, and real stories from thought leaders, authors, and people like you living it every day, across borders, generations, and identities.Come for the conversation. Stay for the rebuild journey.

New episodes weekly.

Culture REfit

Created and hosted by Carol Watson

Cohosts: Bruno Lisboa Diotallévy & Shirley Van-Dúnem

Produced by Livre Para — Social Good Agency (Lisbon) 

Executive Producer: Bruno Lisboa Diotallévy

Production Director: João Kraeski

Copywriter: Shirley Van-Dúnem

Editor: Gabriel Diniz

Art Director: Gabriel Valentim

Producer & Stylist: Natália Castañola

www.culturerefit.com