In this episode, I connected with Yeni Joseph, strategic partnerships professional and chair of the board and license holder of TEDxAmsterdam, whose curiosity has taken her across countries, communities and professional worlds while shaping how she connects with people.

Born in Jordan to Sri Lankan parents and adopted into a Dutch family, Yeni started questioning identity and belonging as a teenager. At fifteen, that curiosity took her to Sri Lanka to meet her biological family and search for answers about where she came from. What she discovered wasn't a simple answer about belonging. Meeting her family gave her answers, but also helped her realise that the Netherlands was home. 

That same curiosity later took her to Ghana, where experiencing a culture very different from the one she grew up in taught her about community, belonging and being part of something bigger. Today that thread continues through her work: 

⇾ 𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱𝘀 𝘁𝗼𝗴𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿, 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗮𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. 

Deep dive talking points:=

👉🏾 Curiosity creates real connection: why Yeni believes connection isn't about knowing everything about someone, but creating enough openness for passions, challenges and ambitions to be shared;

👉🏾 Identity and belonging: meeting her biological family in Sri Lanka and discovering that finding where you come from doesn't necessarily determine where you belong;

👉🏾 The power of community: how living in Ghana showed her the value of community and eventually helped her appreciate her ability to belong in different places without losing herself;

👉🏾 Creating your own growth path: why Yeni rejected the assumption that professional ambition automatically means becoming a people manager and instead pursued depth, expertise and connection;

👉🏾 Trusting curiosity and gut feeling: from unexpectedly saying yes to leading TEDxAmsterdam to learning that not every decision can be rationalised and that growth also means trusting others;

Nuggets of empowerment:

🙌🏾 Belonging doesn't have to mean fitting into one place. It can mean learning to connect across different worlds without losing yourself.

🙌🏾 Curiosity doesn't require knowing where something will lead. Sometimes asking the question, entering the unfamiliar or saying yes is what reveals the next step.

Yeni's empowering words:

🙌🏾 “I can feel that I belong in a lot of different places.” 🙌🏾 

What becomes possible when we stop trying to fit into one place and become curious about where genuine connection can take us?

Connect with Yeni: 

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yenijoseph/ 

Website: https://www.tedxamsterdam.nl 

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