The WanderWomen Podcast

A wellbeing researcher once emailed her co-author about their sleep study.

At 3am.

His reply has stayed with me:

“I can’t work on sleep with you if you don’t sleep.”

That story came from my conversation with Charmi Patel, professor, associate dean, researcher, executive education leader, and Thrive mentor.

But what I loved most about this conversation was not her titles.

It was the way she introduced herself.

Not by achievement.Not by role.Not by institution.

She said she is “unapologetically becoming.”

That phrase holds so much of the WanderWomen journey.

Because for high-skilled immigrant women, becoming is rarely simple.

You leave home.You enter rooms that were not built with someone like you in mind.You learn the rules while others seem to have inherited them.You build credibility before you are fully allowed ease.You overprepare.You outperform.You carry yourself with stamina because belonging is not offered cleanly.

Charmi left India at 19 with no map, no mentor, no sponsor, and a deep instinct that there was a larger world waiting for her.

What followed was not only ambition.

It was stamina.

She spoke about entering academia without understanding its hidden codes: publishing, journals, rankings, pedigree, institutional power, and all the invisible rules that decide who is seen as credible.

That part matters.

Because so much of what we call resilience in immigrant women is actually unrecognised labour.

The labour of decoding systems.The labour of proving legitimacy.The labour of preparing twice as much because your presence is still being assessed.The labour of making excellence look effortless.

And then, somewhere along the way, achievement starts to become noisy.

Titles. Promotions. Awards. Invitations. Compliments. LinkedIn requests. Public recognition.

From the outside, everything looks like success.

But inside, something quieter may be happening.

Charmi said:

“Achievement can feel very noisy from the outside and very quiet on the inside.”

That line stopped me.

Because I know so many women who will understand it immediately.

Women whose lives look impressive from the outside.Women who have built careers, reputations, families, businesses, networks, and new identities across borders.Women who are admired for their competence, but privately wonder:

Am I still becoming?Am I on the right path?Have I outgrown the version of success I worked so hard to reach?Why do I still feel unfinished?

This is not always imposter syndrome.

Sometimes it is the soul asking for a different kind of success.

Sometimes it is the body saying what the CV cannot.

Charmi said something else that stayed with me:

“The body knows when success is becoming too expensive.”

That is the part many ambitious women ignore for too long.

We can understand wellbeing intellectually before we practise it personally.We can research burnout while living it.We can speak about dignity while denying ourselves rest.We can teach leadership while quietly abandoning ourselves to remain credible.

And the body keeps the score anyway.

It knows when overpreparation has turned into self-erasure.It knows when networking has become depletion.It knows when ambition has stopped being life-giving.It knows when the next goalpost is no longer growth, but avoidance.

What I appreciated in Charmi’s honesty is that she did not reduce wellbeing to bubble baths or vague self-care.

She spoke about wellbeing as sustainability.

The ability to do meaningful work without abandoning yourself to do it.

That distinction feels essential.

Especially for women who were taught that gratitude means accepting less.That hard work should speak for itself.That visibility is somehow arrogance.That keeping your head down is the respectable path.

Charmi was very clear on that too.

The advice she now rejects?

“Keep your head down and let the work speak for itself.”

Because the work does not always speak in systems that are not designed to hear everyone equally.

You need voice.You need visibility.You need sponsors.You need strategy.You need the courage to name your contribution.

This is one of the central tensions of the high-achieving immigrant woman’s life.

You are told to be excellent, but not too visible.Grateful, but not too demanding.Adaptable, but not too different.Ambitious, but not too much.Successful, but still easy to contain.

And then comes the work of unlearning.

When I asked Charmi what she knows now about building a life on her own terms that she could not have known ten years ago, she said it is more about unlearning than planning.

Unlearning the need to plan every breakthrough.Unlearning endless pleasing.Unlearning the belief that gratitude means accepting less.Unlearning the idea that success must look impressive from the outside to be meaningful on the inside.

That is where becoming begins.

Not in the next achievement.

But in the courage to outgrow versions of ourselves we worked very hard to become.

This conversation also reminded me why I am so committed to creating spaces where accomplished women can pause together.

Not to network.Not to perform.Not to prove that they are competent.

But to be witnessed without armour.

Charmi said transformation needs interruption.

Not a holiday.Not escape.Not a collapse.

A real pause.

A different kind of learning environment where women can ask questions they may not ask in boardrooms, classrooms, leadership programmes, or at home.

What am I carrying that is no longer mine?What version of success am I ready to outgrow?Where have I confused stamina with sustainability?What am I becoming now?

That is the deeper invitation of this episode.

To stop measuring your life only by what it produces.

To listen to the quieter data.

The body.The longing.The exhaustion.The aliveness that returns in the right circle.The truth you already know, but have not yet given yourself permission to honour.

Because success can also mean letting go of the versions of yourself you worked so hard to become.

And sometimes, that is not failure.

It is freedom.

Listen to the full episode with Charmi Patel on the WanderWomen podcast.

Leadership often looks very different from the inside than it does from the outside.

From the outside, we see titles, roles, and influence.From the inside, leadership is usually shaped by uncertainty, difficult choices, and moments where we question our own direction.

In the latest episode of the WanderWomen Leadership Series, I spoke with Caroline Craven Fourier, Global Head of Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging at Roche.

Caroline has lived and worked across multiple countries including Germany, the UK, Belgium, Switzerland, and Singapore. Her career journey moved from procurement and operations leadership into people and culture leadership. Along the way she experienced firsthand how leadership evolves as both the world and we ourselves change.

What struck me most in this conversation was not simply Caroline’s career trajectory, but the clarity with which she reflected on how leadership itself is changing.

And what that means for high-skilled immigrant women navigating their careers today.

The biggest leadership shift of our time

For decades, leadership was associated with expertise.

The leader was the person who had the answers.

The one who knew more than everyone else.

But that model is disappearing.

As Caroline shared in our conversation, leadership today is less about expertise and more about creating the conditions for collective success.

Instead of being the smartest person in the room, leaders increasingly need to:

• create psychological safety• bring people along emotionally during change• connect different perspectives• help teams navigate uncertainty

This shift is happening quickly, especially with the rise of AI and constant organizational change.

The reality is that no one has all the answers anymore.

And that’s exactly why leadership now requires deeper human skills than ever before.

The lesson many leaders learn the hard way

One of the most powerful reflections Caroline shared was about a belief she had earlier in her career.

She believed that if she brought the right data and strong analytical arguments, change would naturally follow.

But experience taught her something different.

Change rarely happens because of data alone.

It happens because people believe in it.

As she explained, organizational change is fundamentally human, not analytical.

Many transformation initiatives fail not because the strategy is wrong, but because organizations underestimate the human side of change.

For leaders today, this insight is crucial.

The future of leadership is not about controlling information.

It is about building trust.

Advice for high-skilled immigrant women

During the conversation, we also talked about what this means for women navigating leadership roles across cultures.

Caroline shared several pieces of advice that resonate deeply for many high-skilled immigrant women:

1. Don’t wait until you feel ready

One of the most common patterns women fall into is waiting until they feel completely prepared before stepping forward.

Leadership opportunities rarely come with certainty.

Growth almost always begins in discomfort.

2. Stay curious

Curiosity is one of the most underrated leadership skills.

Asking questions builds understanding and trust.

It also creates allies in environments that may initially feel unfamiliar.

3. Be willing to reinvent yourself

The world of work is changing faster than ever.

Careers are no longer linear.

The most resilient leaders are those who remain open to reinventing themselves when circumstances shift.

A powerful leadership framework

Toward the end of our conversation, Caroline shared something beautifully simple that she uses to navigate major decisions.

In her phone, she keeps a small note that defines what success means for her.

Four principles guide her decisions:

• Be healthy• Parent with care• Be financially independent• Be satisfied with my career

Whenever she faces uncertainty or a major choice, she returns to these anchors.

The world around her may change.

But her definition of success stays constant.

For me, this was one of the most powerful reminders from our conversation.

In a world that constantly tries to redefine success for us, clarity about our own values becomes our greatest source of stability.

A question for you

If you had to write your own four lines defining success, what would they be?

Not the version shaped by social expectations.

But the one shaped by what truly matters to you.

Because leadership does not begin with a title.

It begins with knowing what you stand for.

Watch full conversation with Caroline Craven Fourier here:

About the WanderWomen Leadership Series

The WanderWomen Leadership Series features conversations with global women leaders who have navigated careers across borders, cultures, and industries. These conversations explore leadership, identity, resilience, and the real stories behind success.

About the host

Shivangi Walke is a leadership coach, TEDx speaker, and author of WanderWomen: How High-Skilled Immigrant Women Thrive. She is the founder of Thrive with Mentoring, a global mentoring movement supporting women across more than 40 countries.

For many high-skilled immigrant women, leadership doesn’t begin in a boardroom.It begins much earlier.

In quieter, lonelier moments.In the decisions we make long before anyone is watching.

This episode marks a shift.

What was once the WanderWomen Podcast is now the WanderWomen Leadership Series — a space for deeper conversations about identity, power, belonging, and the inner work that leadership actually demands.

To open this new chapter, I sat down with Dr. Pariya Kashfi — Iranian-born, Sweden-based, former tech founder turned life and career designer.

Her story is not one of overnight reinvention or loud rebellion.It’s about the slow, courageous act of saying no — and learning to live with what that unlocks.

When “being good” starts costing you yourself

Pariya grew up in Iran in a deeply religious, highly respected family.She was successful early: a strong academic career, social status, security.

And yet, in her early twenties, she realised something unsettling.

Saying yes — to expectations, to family norms, to prescribed ways of living — meant saying no to herself.

Not dramatically.Not all at once.But consistently.

That moment is familiar to many high-skilled immigrant women.We don’t leave because we’re unhappy in obvious ways.We leave because something inside us quietly stops fitting.

The first leadership decision Pariya ever made wasn’t about work.It was about freedom.

At 27, she moved to Sweden alone.No safety net.No guarantee.No certainty that the life she was walking away from could be rebuilt.

The guilt that follows courageous choices

One of the most honest parts of our conversation was about guilt.

The guilt of leaving ageing parents behind.The guilt of choosing yourself when women are taught to be caretakers first.The guilt of building a “better” life elsewhere while those you love remain in systems you escaped.

Pariya spoke about the moment she nearly cancelled her move — standing in her parents’ home, looking at her mother, wondering:

What if she needs me and I’m not there?

A friend said something that changed everything for her:

If you live a life that drains you, you will have less to give — not more.

This isn’t a slogan.It’s a hard truth many of us only learn after years of self-abandonment.

A leadership insight many HSWIs need to hear

One of the most valuable ideas Pariya shared was this:

Integration often asks us to dissolve.Leadership begins when we refuse to disappear.

Many high-skilled immigrant women are told — explicitly or subtly — that success comes from fitting in.Sound less emotional.Be less direct.Tone yourself down.Adapt faster.

Pariya tried that.

She learned the language.Built the network.Did everything “right”.

And still felt unfulfilled.

Her breakthrough came when she stopped treating integration as erasure and started treating her identity as an asset.

Not Iranian or Swedish.But a bridge between worlds.

That shift didn’t just change her personal life.It became her professional superpower.

Practical reflections for high-skilled immigrant women

If you’re navigating your own crossroads, here are a few grounded reflections inspired by this conversation:

1. Stop waiting to feel ready

Confidence rarely comes first.Action does.

Many HSWIs stay stuck waiting for clarity, permission, or certainty. Leadership often requires movement before reassurance.

2. Question who you’re trying to please

Ask yourself honestly:Whose approval still runs your life?And what is it costing you?

Unexamined expectations shape careers more than we realise.

3. Belonging does not require shrinking

If belonging demands you dim your values, your voice, or your energy, it isn’t belonging — it’s compliance.

4. Your difference is not a liability

The instincts you developed navigating cultures, languages, and systems are leadership skills.Stop treating them as baggage.

5. Self-trust is a muscle

You don’t need to see the full path.You need to trust that you’ll handle what comes next — because you always have.

Why this conversation matters now

So many high-skilled immigrant women are exhausted not because they lack ambition, but because they’ve been leading without alignment.

This episode isn’t about dramatic exits or radical reinvention.It’s about quieter leadership:The courage to say no.The decision to stop waiting.The refusal to disappear.

🎧 Listen to Episode 12 of the WanderWomen Leadership Series with Dr. Pariya Kashfi here:

And if you’re craving deeper connection beyond content, spaces where you don’t have to explain yourself, the WanderWomen Circles are exactly that.

→ https://thewanderwomen.org/circles

Small, intentional gatherings for women navigating identity, leadership, and belonging across borders.

You’re not alone.And you were never meant to do this quietly.

With clarity,Shivangi

There’s something powerful about beginnings, especially the ones that come after you’ve paused, reflected, and chosen to return with intention.

Today marks the beginning of Season 2 of the WanderWomen Podcast, and I couldn’t have asked for a better guest to start this new chapter with than Gitanjali Ponnappa, consultant, global leader, partner at Implement Consulting Group, and founder of NegotiateHer, an initiative supporting women and people of color in negotiating their careers with confidence.

We recorded this conversation just as I was turning 50. It felt symbolic, two women reflecting on reinvention, legacy, and the lightness that comes when you finally stop proving yourself and start defining success on your own terms.

Gitanjali’s story spans continents: from India to the US, Singapore, Australia, South Africa, and Switzerland. Her professional trajectory is impressive, but what moved me most was the honesty with which she spoke about unlearning, especially the weight of parental expectations, the addiction to achievement, and the freedom of “earning the right to be playful.”

She said something that lingered with me:

“It took a tremendous amount of mental weightlifting to rest from the expectations that my parents had of me. Till recently, it mattered whether my father recognized the brand I worked for.”

Many of us know that feeling all too well. The pressure to make our families proud, to represent our cultures well, to keep doing more, until one day, we realize we’re allowed to stop.

Gitanjali calls her next chapter “Quiet Power.” It’s also the title of her upcoming book, one that explores how women and people of color can negotiate from a place of strength even within systems that hold the power imbalance.

Our conversation touched on:

* How to redefine ambition without apology.

* The invisible weight of cultural conditioning.

* What it really means to reinvent yourself in midlife.

* The art of holding things lightly.

And we ended with the reminder that sits at the heart of WanderWomen:

“You are not alone. There’s someone who shares a version of your story. These experiences don’t have to isolate us, they can be the very things that bring us together.”

💚 This episode is the perfect doorway into Season 2, a season about expansion, belonging, and the quiet power that comes from knowing who you are.

If you’d like to experience the kind of connection we talked about, join me at the first WanderWomen Circle in Zurich, an intimate space where we gather not to network or fix, but simply to listen deeply and remember we’re not alone.

👉 Learn more at thewanderwomen.org/circles

Here’s to new seasons, quiet revolutions, and women who keep wandering toward their truth.

With love,Shivangi

“We're much more powerful than we think.”— Victoria Mensch

How do you know if you're on the right path—especially when you've done everything “right” and still feel... off?

This week on the WanderWomen Podcast, I sit down with Victoria Mensch, CEO of the Silicon Valley Executive Academy, a woman who’s lived many lives across many geographies. From Moscow to California to Spain to Bali, from psychologist to marketer to entrepreneur, Victoria’s story is a masterclass in bold pivots, reinvention, and internal alignment.

But this episode isn’t just about success.It’s about truth.

About the quiet discomfort that lingers even after you've checked all the boxes.About the inner critic that whispers, “You made a mistake,” even after following your passion.About the radical permission to pivot—again and again—until your life actually feels like your own.

🔁 Reinvention ≠ Failure

Victoria reminds us that reinvention isn’t always a product of clarity. Sometimes, it’s born from exhaustion. From hitting a wall. From realizing that doing what you love doesn’t always mean loving what you do.

Her story is a powerful reminder that failure is not a flaw in the system—it is the system. That freedom lives on the other side of fear, and that “faith over fear” is more than a mantra. It’s a decision we make every day.

🎒 Finding Home (Even in a Hotel Room)

There’s a moment in this conversation that stayed with me: Victoria shares that every time she traveled for work, she carried a small plush toy and placed it on her hotel pillow. That was her ritual. That was her anchor.

Because home, for many of us, is not a place.It’s a feeling.A familiarity we recreate over and over, wherever we land.

💼 Burnout ≠ Weakness

As someone who’s worked with high-stakes corporate teams, Victoria sees firsthand how burnout sneaks in—not because we’re not capable, but because we forget to center ourselves. In this episode, she shares a free toolkit from her Burnout to Harmony program (linked in the show notes) that gives tangible steps for reclaiming peace, perspective, and purpose.

🧭 Steering Through Uncertainty

What if you’re not lost? What if you’re just in transition?

Victoria ends with a truth that hits hard for many of us who’ve crossed borders—geographically or emotionally:

“You are always at the steering wheel. The question is: what can you do from here?”

It’s a gentle but firm reminder that power doesn’t lie in perfect plans—it lies in present choices.

Watch Full Episode

📕 Order the WanderWomen book – A love letter to women who dare to dream across borders: https://www.shivangiwalke.com/wanderwomen

With courage,Shivangi

This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

“I came with a suitcase and a few degrees. But none of those opened doors. What did? My confidence.”

What happens when everything you worked for—your titles, your degrees, your reputation—doesn’t travel with you?

That’s what Radhika Raizada discovered when she moved from India to Dubai to the UK, armed with a decade of professional experience… and a whole new identity to build from scratch.

Like many high-skilled immigrant women, she did “all the right things.”She earned the qualifications. Climbed the corporate ladder. Adapted.Only to find herself in a world where those achievements suddenly didn’t hold the same weight.

Sound familiar?

You walk into a room where your accent makes you second-guess your own fluency.You submit applications and wonder if your international MBA means less here.You sit quietly in meetings, afraid that being “too much” will cost you the chance to belong.

And eventually, you begin to wonder:Maybe I don’t count here.

That’s the quiet heartbreak so many high-skilled immigrant women carry.But Radhika did something radical:She stopped waiting for the world to validate her—and started validating herself.

🎧 In this episode, Radhika shares:

– How she rebuilt her confidence after realizing her qualifications alone wouldn’t open doors– The surprising strength that came from starting over, again and again– Her struggle with asking for help (and why that shifted everything)– The difference between adapting and belonging– How leadership became more authentic once she stopped chasing perfection

And this line stayed with me long after we hit stop on the recording:

“I’ve learned to show up with what I know and what I don’t know. That’s confidence too.”

💬 We don’t talk enough about this:

That for many immigrant women, reinvention isn’t a bold leap—it’s a quiet negotiation.Between what to keep and what to let go.Between what still serves you and what doesn’t.Between who you used to be and who you’re becoming.

It’s the confidence to be seen.Even when you feel invisible.Especially then.

💡 Toolkit:

Radhika’s 3 reminders for thriving through reinvention:

🪙 Confidence is your true currency.In systems where credentials may be dismissed, confidence is what gets remembered.

📣 Ask for help.Not because you’re weak—but because connection builds momentum.

🌱 Stop trying to fit.You’re not here to blend in. You’re here to belong. On your own terms.

📚 WanderWomen: How High-Skilled Immigrant Women ThriveRadhika’s story is one of many featured in the book—raw, wise, and wildly relatable.If you’ve ever felt like your qualifications vanished at the border, this book will remind you:You never lost your brilliance. The system just wasn’t built to see it.

👉 Pre-order here: shivangiwalke.com/wanderwomen

🎧 Watch the full episode now

And share this with someone who’s in the middle of starting over.You never know how much they need to hear:You’re not behind.You’re just beginning again…with more power than before.

With love and fire,Shivangi

“Whatever you have here”—she gestures to her heart, to her history—“It doesn’t disappear when you change countries. You bring your suitcase with you. Always.”

This episode of WanderWomen shook me.

Because Oksana Prokhorova doesn’t tell a polished story. She tells the real one.The one with a burnout so deep that brushing her teeth felt like a triumph.The one where a white-glove immigration experience still couldn’t cushion the cultural rupture.

The one where reinvention only began after everything safe and certain came undone.

We often romanticize immigration as a new beginning. But Oksana reminds us:

✨ You don’t arrive empty-handed.

You bring your fears, your family stories, your survival patterns—and sometimes, your pain.

In this episode, we talk about:

* 💬 Learning to speak the local language and finally choosing to use it

* 🔥 Leaving toxic work cultures (even when they’re prestigious)

* 🧠 Therapy, trauma, and the invisible “suitcase” many immigrants carry

* 💸 Why financial literacy is the quiet superpower every woman needs

One of my favorite moments?

When Oksana says: “You can’t out-therapy a toxic workplace. You just have to leave.”That level of clarity and courage can change lives.

Toolkit:

3 Anchors from Oksana’s Story

* Learn the local language even if it scares you. Belonging starts with choosing to belong.

* Financial independence is freedom. Learn to manage your money before life forces you to.

* Do the inner work. Therapy won’t solve everything, but it can stop you from bringing the same pain into every new chapter.

WanderWomen: How High-Skilled Immigrant Women Thrive is now available for order

If Oksana’s story moved you, the book is filled with dozens more like hers—raw, real, and revolutionary.

👉 Order here: shivangiwalke.com/wanderwomen

Watch the full episode

Let this be your reminder:Reinvention doesn’t start with readiness.It starts with refusal, refusal to keep carrying pain you didn’t choose.

With love,Shivangi

This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

“We think we need to feel confident before we act. But what if confidence is not a feeling—it’s the act itself?”

This week on WanderWomen: The Podcast, I’m joined by the wise and wonderful Mildred Fischli—a Filipina-born Swiss professional who speaks with a gentleness that masks the extraordinary depth of her courage.

Mildred doesn’t shout her story. She lives it.

In this episode, we talk about:

* 💡 Why “feeling ready” is often a myth—and what to do instead

* ✨ How gifted feedback helped her realize she was playing too small

* 🧳 What it takes to find belonging in a country where you weren’t born

* 📿 The image of reinvention as “a pearl necklace,” with each experience becoming a bead on the string

One of my favorite parts of this conversation is when Mildred gently dismantles the idea that confidence must come before you leap. For her, action is the leap. And each small, deliberate decision adds up to a life she never imagined possible when she first arrived in Switzerland.

Whether you're navigating a new chapter, shifting your career path, or still doubting whether you're “ready”—this episode is for you.

💡 Toolkit:

3 Reflections from Mildred’s Reinvention Journey

* Start before you're ready. You will never feel ready. Start anyway.

* Ask for feedback from people you trust. It may sting. And it may set you free.

* Take one step. Not ten. Not fifty. Just one. Then another. That's all you need to do.

📚 Pre-Order WanderWomen: How High-Skilled Immigrant Women Thrive

The book is now available! Stories like Mildred’s—and so many others—fill its pages. This is a book for every woman who’s ever felt out of place while daring to grow into who she’s meant to be.

📖 Order now

🎧 Listen to the full episode on all major podcast platforms.

Or Watch It Here:

With love,Shivangi

“No one else will pick you up—you have to do it yourself.”— Hülya Kurt, WanderWomen Podcast, Episode 6

What does it take to rebuild yourself when life hands you a redundancy slip instead of a roadmap?

This week’s guest on the WanderWomen Podcast, Hülya Kurt, knows that journey intimately. She’s moved countries multiple times, reinvented her identity, and built a career that spans from secretarial desks to the boardrooms of global corporations.

But her greatest reinvention came when the corporate world let her go—and she chose to create her own.

The Journey of Reinvention

Hülya’s story begins in Germany, where she was the Turkish kid who didn’t quite fit in on the playground—and the girl who found her voice through books.

She moved back to Turkey at 18 and felt like a foreigner in her own country. She built a life there, only to uproot again for a corporate job in Switzerland—another reinvention, another beginning.

When she was made redundant after decades in the corporate world, she didn’t let the loss define her. She decided to step into her full strength as a career coach, keynote speaker, and founder—helping other professionals discover their calling.

Her motto?

“Pick yourself up. No one else will do it for you.”

Themes We Explore:

* What home means when you carry multiple identities

* Why self-belief is a muscle that needs daily exercise

* The cultural practices (like Turkish cooking and TV shows) that anchor her in moments of change

* The micro-moments of inclusion—like making the effort to speak the local language—that build bridges faster than any corporate DEI training

* The resilience required to build again, and again, and again

This episode is for you if:

* You’ve been told to “stay in your lane”

* You’re navigating redundancy or forced reinvention

* You’re searching for a sense of belonging in a place that sometimes feels foreign

* You’ve ever doubted your worth in a system that doesn’t see all of you

Reflection Prompts:

* When was the last time you picked yourself up—not because you wanted to, but because you had to?

* How do you define home today? Is it a place, a feeling, or both?

* What small rituals remind you of who you are—no matter where you are?

* Whose permission have you been waiting for to reinvent your life?

Upcoming Event: Geneva

Live Conversation with Hülya Kurt📅 June 26, 2025 | 6:30–8:00 PM CET📍 Swiss School of Business and Management (SSBM Geneva)Geneva Business Center, Avenue des Morgines 12, 1213 GenèveIn collaboration with InKick

Join us for an inspiring evening of conversation, connection, and community as I sit down with Hülya Kurt to dive deeper into her journey of reinvention and resilience. We’ll explore what it means to pick yourself up, especially when no one else will, and how to build a life and career that honors every part of who you are.

Whether you’re navigating a career transition, finding your voice in a new culture, or redefining your path on your own terms, this event is for you.

Seats are limited, don’t miss this chance to connect with other WanderWomen in Geneva.

👉 RSVP: www.shivangiwalke.com/wanderwomen-tour

Watch the episode

Order the Book:

If this conversation resonates, WanderWomen: How High-Skilled Immigrant Women Thrive is for you.

It’s filled with stories like Hülya’s, stories of women who rose again and again, on their own terms.👉 Order now

Your strength is not in never falling.It’s in knowing how to rise, every time.

With love and fierce encouragement,Shivangi

You Are More Than Their LabelsMigration, Multitudes & Mental Health — with Tatiana Serikova

“Don’t let them frame you.”— advice Tatiana Serikova received from a mentor at McKinsey, and a line she’s carried ever since.

Most of us—especially as immigrant women—have been framed.

Framed by someone else’s perception.Framed by systems that want us to stay in our lane.Framed by cultures that see only one version of us at a time.

But what if your power lives in being too complex to reduce? Too whole to fragment?

This week on the WanderWomen Podcast, I sit down with Tatiana Serikova—executive coach, facilitator, and founder of Beehane—for a conversation that is both thoughtful and fiercely liberating.

Tatiana’s story spans from a closed Soviet town to a Dutch citizenship ceremony that brought her to tears. She’s lived in six countries, navigated career shifts across finance, consulting, and coaching, and now supports high-performing professionals as they navigate mental health at work.

But this isn’t a “pivot” story.

This is a story of how we carry multitudes.Of how identity is not a box—it’s a mosaic.Of how mental health and self-worth can be quietly eroded in high-performance cultures—and how we reclaim them.

🎧 In this episode, we explore:

* What it means to outgrow the labels others give you

* How to “unmute” your voice in cultures that reward silence

* Why being a third-culture woman is both disorienting and freeing

* The loneliness that can come with ambition—and how to ground yourself

* Why Tatiana believes self-trust is the most radical form of reinvention

One of my favorite moments is when she reflects on the power of rituals:

“Even the way I make tea can help me come home to myself.”

💭 This episode is for you if:

* You’ve ever questioned where you belong—especially after moving countries

* You’ve been praised for being adaptable, but feel like you’ve lost your center

* You’re ready to reclaim the full version of yourself—not just the palatable one

* You’re building something new but unsure how to anchor your identity in the process

🧭 Your Reflection Toolkit:

* What labels (from family, colleagues, society) have you outgrown—but still carry?

* When was the last time you felt wholly “yourself”—and what were you doing?

* What grounding rituals, objects, or practices help you come home to yourself?

* What version of you do people see at work? At home? What’s missing between them?

Watch the full episode

📚 Pre-order WanderWomen: How High-Skilled Immigrant Women Thrive

This isn’t just a podcast—it’s part of a movement.The WanderWomen book is a love letter to every high-skilled immigrant woman who crossed borders, remade herself, and now dares to define success on her own terms.

🎉 Launching July 2025.📦 Pre-order now: shivangiwalke.com/wanderwomen

You are more than their labels.You are not too much. You are not too different.You are a whole world.

With reverence,Shivangi