In this episode, Julia speaks with Maria in the final conversation of the Trust series — turning attention to what happens to trust in a crisis, when plans fall away and decisions must be made quickly.

Maria reflects on trust not as something that can be trained or demanded, but as something that is created over time through communication, shared values, and relationships. A crisis, she explains, does not create trust — it reveals it. In moments of pressure, leaders rely instinctively on the systems, cultures, and people they have already built.

The conversation explores the nightmare scenario of crisis leadership: being trapped in a system you do not trust, surrounded by people you do not trust, guided by values you do not trust. Without psychological safety, transparency, and shared responsibility, stress rises, communication collapses, and people look for exits rather than solutions.

Maria and Julia discuss what sustains trust under pressure: presence, consistency, honesty, and the courage to listen. They talk about trust as a two-way practice — trusting others to speak up, and being trustworthy enough to genuinely hear what is said, especially when it is uncomfortable.

This episode is a reminder that trust is the greatest asset in a crisis — and that it can only be drawn on if it has been built, carefully and deliberately, long before the crisis begins.

About the Guest:

Maria is a Master Certified Coach (MCC), accredited by the International Coach Federation (ICF) with more than 4,000 coaching hours. She brings over 25 years of corporate and consulting experience, having held senior regional and global leadership roles in international organizations. Her career includes positions such as Managing

Partner at ecap;

Group Head of Organizational, Learning & Talent

Development at J&P; Global HR Director at Vision; and

EEMEA Training & Development Manager at Nielsen.

She has also led Talent Acquisition for NCR across the MEA region and served as an Executive Leadership Trainer and Mentor at PwC.

Maria holds a Bachelor’s degree in Statistics and Insurance Studies from the University of Piraeus, a Postgraduate Diploma in Management from MIM, and a Master’s degree in Human Resource Management from Middlesex University.

In this episode, Julia speaks with Ebisan about trust — and why it begins not with others, but with learning to trust ourselves.

Ebisan reflects on how she approaches relationships with openness, but also with hesitation — not as fear, but as discernment. She talks about trusting the signals we feel in our bodies, and how gut instinct often tells us when something feels right, or when something feels off, long before we can explain it.

The conversation explores how trust is built in layers, through consistency, accountability, and paying attention to behaviour over time. Ebisan shares how trust looks different across cultures, generations, and contexts — and why what feels trustworthy in one situation may not translate directly into another.

Ebisan and Julia also speak candidly about disappointment — what happens when trust is broken, why we often feel more disappointed in ourselves than in others, and how ignoring early signals can leave us feeling foolish rather than angry.

This episode is a reminder that trusting others starts with self-trust — listening carefully, questioning our instincts when needed, and learning to hold openness and hesitation in balance as we navigate relationships.

About the Guest:

Ebisan Akisanya, Chairman, WIMBIZ Board of Trustees, is a seasoned development professional with nearly 30 years of experience driving social impact across corporate and nonprofit sectors. Her passion for inclusive growth is reflected in her active service on several not-for-profit boards, where she contributes to initiatives that address systemic social inequities and uplift vulnerable populations.

She currently serves as coordinator, Corporate Responsibility and National Programs at Chevron Nigeria, where she leads initiatives that drive sustainable impact. Ebisan holds a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacology and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Lagos.

Beyond her corporate role, Ebisan is also an active member of the African Philanthropy Forum (APF), a dynamic network of social investors committed to advancing development across the continent.

In this episode, Julia speaks with Geetanjali Sampemane about trust — and what it really takes to build systems that people are willing to rely on, even when they do not fully understand how those systems work.

Geeta reflects on her early work helping connect institutions in India to the internet, and how mistrust of new technology gradually shifted through familiarity, experience, and positive outcomes. She shares how trust is rarely based on complete knowledge — it is a judgement call, shaped by risk, context, and past experience.

The conversation explores why trust is fragile and difficult to rebuild once broken, and how negative experiences undermine not only our trust in systems, but also our confidence in our own judgement.

Geeta also speaks about the role of those designing systems — the importance of clarity, reliability, predictability, and security — and why trust is strengthened when expectations are shared, behaviour is consistent, and mistakes are acknowledged rather than hidden.

This episode is a reminder that trust is not blind belief. It is built through constant attention, thoughtful design, and the quiet work of making systems worthy of the people who depend on them.

About the Guest:

Geetanjali Sampemane is a software engineer at Google London, where she focuses on designing systems for security, privacy and transparency. She started her career helping countries get connected to the Internet, first in India with the ERNet project, and then with the UNDP’s Sustainable Development Networking Programme. She got to see first-hand how people and organisations learn to trust new technology.

In this episode, Julia speaks with Swatee Deepak about trust — taking the conversation beyond how it is built to the factors that quietly break it. Swatee works at the intersection of philanthropy, gender equality, and community building, and is the founding partner of Shake The Table.

Swatee reflects on her experience convening groups of women philanthropists — many of whom arrive already cautious and guarded — and why trust cannot survive without clarity. When people feel unclear about purpose, expectations, or what the exchange really is, trust begins to erode.

She introduces the idea of friendship as method — an ethic grounded in mutuality, shared responsibility, and human connection. Trust, she explains, weakens when communities become centred on the convenor, when power is misused, or when transparency gives way to cleverness.

The conversation names the moments where trust fractures: when people feel used, manipulated, unrecognised, or unvalidated. When surprises replace honesty. When boundaries blur. When humility disappears.

This episode is a reminder that trust rarely breaks in one dramatic moment. More often, it breaks in small, avoidable ways — and it is the work of the leader to notice them before it is too late.

About the Guest:

Swatee Deepak works at the intersection of philanthropy, gender equality, academia, the arts and community building. She is the founding partner of Shake The Table and Closer Than You Think, Co-Chair of the Global Fund for Children and EMpower – The Emerging Markets Foundation, Advisory member of the L'Oreal Fund for Women and a Senior Visiting Fellow at the Marshall Institute at the London School of Economics. Across her work, from advising governments, corporations, foundations and families of wealth to co-founding initiatives that centre solidarity and shared power. Swatee brings a deep commitment to creating communities rooted in trust, mutuality, and integrity.

In this episode, Julia speaks with Sheila Gujrathi about trust: why it sits at the heart of running a business, and why it becomes even more critical as responsibility, complexity, and stakes increase.

Sheila reflects that trust is important for all working relationships: between founders and teams, executives and boards, leaders and investors, and why without it, progress stalls. But she is clear: trust does not begin with others. It begins with trusting yourself; your judgement, your instincts, and the signals you learn to listen to over time.

The conversation explores how experience, conditioning, and past trauma shape how we trust. Whether that shows up as self-doubt, over-trusting others, or good girl syndrome in the hope of gaining approval. Sheila shares how these patterns can feel useful early in a career but become limiting as responsibility grows.

She also speaks about learning to stop blanket trusting people, becoming more discerning, and intentionally building environments of trust by surrounding herself with peers who offer honesty, clarity, and reflection.

This episode is a reminder that trust is not blind optimism. It is a daily practice and quiet work that makes running a business possible.

About the Guest:

SHEILA GUJRATHI, MD, is a biotech entrepreneur, executive, champion for under-represented leaders, and author of the bestselling book The Mirror Effect: A Transformative Approach to Growth for The Next Generation of Female Leaders. Over the past 25 years, she’s had the privilege of developing life-changing medicines for patients with serious diseases while building and running private and public biotech companies—including some exciting exits. Today she’s a founder, chairwoman, board director, strategic advisor, and consultant to start-up companies and investment funds. She co-founded the Biotech CEO Sisterhood, a group of trailblazing female CEOs—because we’re all better when we support each other.

In the first episode of our new series on Trust, Julia speaks with Samar Ali, a lifelong peacebuilder, about how leaders can build trust in environments where it feels most fragile.

Drawing on years of experience leading peacebuilding efforts, Samar explains why trust isn’t created once and for all, but built step by step through curiosity, careful listening, and naming what others may hesitate to say. She reflects how leaders can acknowledge their own struggles without losing credibility, and why this honesty helps teams do the same.

The conversation also explores what happens when trust is absent inside organisations. Samar outlines the practical consequences: fewer ideas, missed opportunities, reputational harm, high stress, lawsuits, and teams unable to withstand crises. She contrasts this with what becomes possible when leaders put trust at the centre more innovation, healthier workplaces, and stronger resilience in moments of crisis.

Listen to this episode to learn why building trust is not just a moral choice but a practical necessity and how peacebuilding lessons can reshape the way we lead.

About the Guest:

Samar S. Ali is a skilled mediator, a careful listener, and a compassionate teacher. Pulling up a chair to tables around the world, Ali engages in some of the most entrenched conflicts of our time, always with the intent of finding positive resolution through common ground. In this pursuit, Ali is a Research Professor of Political Science and Law at Vanderbilt University, the founding President and CEO of Millions of Conversations, and co-chair of the Vanderbilt Project on Unity & American Democracy. This work places Ali right at the intersection of national security, human rights and economic development.

In this episode, Julia brings together ten women from across the world who each share one word from their own language that sits at the heart of how they lead.

Each woman offers her word as a gift: a word that captures how she leads, shaped by where she comes from and what she has lived.

As each woman explains why she chose her word, we begin to see how language shapes leading and how it influences the way trust is built, care is expressed, decisions are made, and responsibility is carried.

Taken together, the words reveal a wide spectrum of how women lead: with love, joy, service, curiosity, humility, humanity, empathy, trust, integrity, and wisdom.

This episode is a reminder that leading is deeply personal and that sometimes, the words we lead with say more than any framework ever could.

About the Guests:

Maryam Pasha is a Storytelling strategist, producer and curator. She is co-founder of XEQUALS Studio, a creative studio dedicated to telling stories that can create a just, sustainable and joyful future. Projects include TEDxLondon, the Climate Curious Podcast and THE HERDS London.

Anna Kalmár is a social entrepreneur and mental health professional, the founder of the Budapest based mental health initiative, AdniJóga. She holds a Master’s degree in Social Innovation from the University of Cambridge and currently serves on the board of the Hungarian Coalition of Social Enterprises.

Isata Kabia is the Founding Director of Voice of Women Africa, an organization focused on empowering women in Sierra Leone.

Sheila Gujrathi, MD is a biotech entrepreneur and executive, healthcare investor, drug developer, and speaker with over 25 years of experience in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries.

Dr Mai Chen (LLB(Hons)(Otago), (LLM(Harvard),HonLLD(Otago), CMInstD), is a top barrister in NZ and President of NZ Asian Lawyers.

Chadia El Meouchi is the Managing Partner at Badri and Salim El Meouchi Law Firm

Sonia Adell Valen is a scientific communication and training specialist whose work sits at the intersection of medical education, evidence, and clear, human-centred communication.

Manuela Algañaraz works in commercial roles within social enterprises, focused on building partnerships and revenue models that support social impact at Bemtevi Negócios Sociais.

Unjela Kaleem is a communications and public affairs leader with over two decades of global experience helping organisations protect reputation, influence policy, and build trust across complex, high-stakes environments.

Saki Chen is an attorney licensed to practice in both New York and China, and a certified FAA private pilot with ratings for fixed wing land and sea, instrument flying, high performance, and complex aircraft. She serves as the China Governor for The Ninety-Nines, Inc., the international organisation of women pilots. In 2016, Saki flew around the world in a small single-engine aircraft, an extraordinary journey that combined precision, perseverance, and a pioneering spirit.

In this episode, Julia speaks with Anna Kalmer, a social entrepreneur who founded a yoga-based organisation supporting refugees, children in state care, mothers raising children with disabilities, and others facing adversity.

Anna shares how stepping into leading wasn’t a grand decision it happened when the organisation she created began to truly form, and people started looking to her for direction. Suddenly, she realised she wasn’t becoming the leader. She already was one, long before she felt ready for the title.

She talks about seeking coaching in the early years because she couldn’t even say out loud, “I am a social entrepreneur.” She thought she needed to adopt a louder, more traditionally “masculine” style of leading to be taken seriously. But as she describes beautifully, that didn’t fit. The journey wasn’t about changing herself rather it was about authorising herself. And about discovering an approach to leading that is both caring and fierce, collaborative and boundaried.

This episode is a reminder that great leading doesn’t come from reshaping yourself into someone else’s mould. It comes from being anchored in who you are and being brave enough to stand firm in it.

About the Guest:

Anna Kalmár is a social entrepreneur and mental health professional, the founder of the Budapest based mental health initiative, AdniJóga.

She holds a Master’s degree in Social Innovation from the University of Cambridge and currently serves on the board of the Hungarian Coalition of Social Enterprises.

She has been recognized as a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree in Hungary and named one of the Top 100 European Women in Social Enterprise in 2023. She is passionate about understanding how systemic change happens and how we can shape more just and equitable societies.

In this episode, Julia speaks with Maryam Pasha, Executive Director & Curator of TEDxLondon, about the power of owning your narrative and why clarity about who you are changes how you lead. 

Maryam shares that narrative isn’t just about telling your story. It’s about deciding the foundation on which you stand. When you don’t define your narrative, she says, you end up living someone else’s. She talks about the moment she realised she had been shrinking herself; to be agreeable, to be easy, to take up less space and how everything changed when she chose to show up with certainty and self-respect. 

She describes the shift from being shaped by the expectations of others to shaping her own direction: a shift that gave her confidence, presence, and the ability to speak and act with conviction. When you know what you’re trying to do in the world, she says, you stop asking for permission and start owning your place in the room. 

This episode is a reminder that leading doesn’t begin when others believe in you. It begins when you do. 

About the Guest:  

Maryam Pasha is a Storytelling strategist, producer and curator. She is co-founder of XEQUALS Studio, a creative studio dedicated to telling stories that can create a just, sustainable and joyful future. Projects include TEDxLondon, the Climate Curious Podcast and THE HERDS London. As a storyteller and coach she has worked with hundreds of speakers, including philanthropists, Nobel-prize-winning academics, business leaders, technical experts, activists and students. She has helped organisations to raise over a $1.5 billion to fight climate change, worked on talks that have been viewed over 25 million times and supported activists who’ve successfully changed the law in England to protect girls from child marriage. Earlier this year she joined the Palestine Comedy Club as an Exec Producer, is on the board on Climate Spring and a visiting Fellow at Oxford University. 

In this episode, Julia speaks with Varsha, a WE Explorer, about discovering that her Essence of motherness is a powerful anchor for how she leads. She was part of the Women Emerging expedition for women leading in India, in partnership with Buzz Women.   

Varsha shares how she had never thought intentionally about leading until she realised the models she had been exposed to didn’t match who she was. Growing up in a matrilineal family, she saw a form of leading that was shared, facilitative, caring but also clear and confident. The Expedition helped her name this Essence and understand that motherness is not a limitation, it is leadership.  

She talks about Energy; how leaders generate it by checking in on teammates, reminding teams of purpose, celebrating small and big wins, and at times stepping in with her own raw Energy when everyone else is depleted. And she is honest about the boundaries needed to protect that Energy, including saying no and switching off.  

Varsha also speaks of India’s many feminine archetypes- nurturing, fierce, strategic - and how dismissing motherness at work dismisses the very source of strength and Energy that she brings. Her leadership, she’s learned, lingers in the people she supports, the belief she builds, and the care she normalises.  

This episode reminds us that when women lead from who they truly are, they sustain not just themselves, but everyone around them. 

About the Guest:  

Dr Varsha Pillai leads Gender Diversity and Advocacy for Women in Manufacturing at Tata Electronics, working to strengthen workplace cultures and progression pathways for women. With over two decades in communications, her passion for exploring how media shapes gender and social change led to a PhD in Gender Advocacy in Digital Media from Symbiosis International University. Recognised with fellowships in India, the Netherlands, and Geneva, and named a Changemaker by Change.org India, Varsha brings both lived insight and analytical rigour to advancing equality in organisations and beyond.