Season 4 Bonus (Part 1) - Get to Know Our Host

Episode Transcript

Claire  00:11

Hello dear listeners and welcome to a new episode of Narratives of Purpose. My name is Claire Murigande and I am your host on this show. This podcast has been created to...

Lucy  00:21

Erm, excuse me a little interruption here. So, Claire, you usually shine a light on who you're talking to, but today we are reversing, we're mixing it up and reversing the hot seat and I am here. I'm your host for today. I'm Lucy Antrobus.

Claire  00:35

So Lucy is joining me today on the podcast and basically she is the one who is going to be interviewing me so I will not have a guest as usual but she will be putting me in the hot seat, and for those of you who don't know Lucy, Lucy Antrobus was one of my guests in the first season of the podcast.

Lucy  00:52

Hello, dear listeners and welcome to the Narrative of Purpose Podcast. I'm your host today Lucy Antrobus and I will be taking you on a tour of excavating our lovely soulful radio poetic voice behind the podcast Narratives of Purpose about Claire, Claire Murigande's why? What is going on here, who she gets in the show, why she's got something to say? So as one woman has something to say to the other, I, by way of background, I'm a founder of an NGO in the impact sector also now profit with a purpose business on disruptive education for empowering an inclusive education for young people. But today, my role is going to be simply to be an explorer. Understanding what are the mechanics behind the motivational factors of a recently Award nominated podcast host? We are in London today at the studio after The International Podcast Women's Awards and off the back of that energy and that inspiration with those women, we're gonna see why Claire does what she does. 

Well, good afternoon Claire Murigande from Narratives of Purpose Podcast, how are you doing this afternoon?

Claire  02:08

I'm doing fantastic, Lucy, how are you?

Lucy  02:10

Great. Claire, where do we find ourselves this fine London afternoon?

Claire  02:15

We are here in Little Venice on a boat recording my first studio recording. So it took me almost two years since I started the podcast to be in a studio.

Lucy  02:25

And so Claire, tell us a little bit about this background behind Narratives of Purpose. You've never been in a studio. What inspired you to get going with the podcast?

Claire  02:35

I always get that question very often. So what inspired me… It was during the first lockdowns, the pandemic, so that was 2020, spring/summer. And I just found myself wondering, why is it that we only have bad news going on, everywhere, all the time? I just felt this general depression mindset, so to speak. And at the same time, I knew that so many people are doing so many great things, but we barely hear from them. So my first idea, in fact, was a blog. And then I thought, but "why a blog?" Because it would be only in my words, and actually, it would be better if the people that I know or the people I follow would tell their own stories in their words. And that's how it started.

Lucy  03:19

And was there a particular story, or person or news or soundbite that was the original trigger or catalyst of "hey, we need more stories like that out there?"

Claire  03:29

Absolutely. I launched in December 2020. And the third episode was from a lady called Teresa Goines, and she is the founder of Old Skool cafe in San Francisco. And I met this lady in 2009. And since the time I met her, her story was just incredible, because she had been working as a corrections officer for several years, and she noticed that she would see the same kids coming in over again in the system. And she realised basically the system the way it was, and what she was doing wasn't helping at all. So she decided to start her own thing, and basically offer professional skills to at-risk youth, just giving them options for the future. So they can build their own future and get out of this sort of vicious circle. And from the moment I heard that story, I thought I had to share it at some point sometime. So it took me 11 years but I did it! And she was one of the first people I was thinking about when I was starting this podcast.

Lucy  04:29

Amazing and do you know where Teresa is now?

Claire  04:32

I think it was last year in 2021, she was even listed among Time’s, I think the next 1000 or something like that 'people who are really working for a better future'. She even had a feature on CNN at some point she was nominated for an award and the good thing I like which connects to the question I always ask my guests at the end of the show which is music. She has I also had support from one of my favourite musician and DJs, who is Questlove the drummer of The Roots - So for those of you who know a bit of hip hop, old school hip hop, and he's been DJing for several fundraising events, so she's really made things work and she has lots of success stories. And it was really not easy. So for those of you who haven't listened to the podcast and her episode, go back to one of the very first episodes that I put out in December 2020. And you'll learn more about her.

Lucy  05:28

And so Claire, pivoting tangents slightly, you've talked about your podcast. And you've also just given us a glimmer of a bit of ‘Claire behind the scenes’, or some of your interests, as well as the development of your podcast with the type of music you listen to - hip hop. So tell us a little bit about your personal life. Do you like to listen to hip hop behind closed doors, or do you go out partying, do you have any killer dance moves that accompany those beats?

Claire  05:56

I used to go out. Yeah, when I was much younger as a teenager, but I still listen to hip hop by the way, not only behind closed doors even when I'm driving at home, when I put on Spotify. But I do listen to a lot of hip hop and lots of other music. There's jazz, it's quite eclectic, to be honest, whatever is groovy, I would say.

Lucy  06:21

Let's dive into a little bit about where you get your inspiration from. I mean you're an international woman of multi talents, you've delivered a TEDx talk on healthcare, and you have a background in healthcare?

Claire  06:38

So I did work in healthcare. But I am not a health care practitioner. But I did work with physicians and so on. So it's more on the research side. So for me, what is interesting, the reason I went all the way through my PhD during my studies and doing research is the fascination of trying to understand how the human body works and science in general life sciences, that was something I'm very curious about. By the way, just to come back to the TEDx talk, it was actually not about healthcare. When I was working in the pharmaceutical industry, whenever we had a new product coming on the market or something, I remember someone saying you only have one chance to launch. So I thought, if I'm going to make a pitch for a TEDx talk, why not pitch something that's probably completely different from what I've done. But that's important for me. And it was more about connecting to yourself. So it is really focusing your attention, inward, paying attention to your emotions, and things like that, because this is, most of the time, something we don't learn, as kids in the education system. And meditation actually had helped me at some point to find words to explain that to people so to speak. It had been in habit for me to say that the decisions I've taken most of the time is more about, is that in tune with me is that something I want to do or not, and, you know, getting away of a situation, or even just leaving a job because I don't think it fits me anymore. This is the way I kind of make my decisions for me. So that was the talk. So I thought, "okay, it's the first opportunity for a TEDx talk, then why not to talk about something that I think is important, and I believe might be helpful for others as well?" 

Lucy  08:22

A little bit of a leading question here, do you think you took that vein of ' finding something you've got - one moment to make a difference', and taking an opportunity of something you found helpful and highlighting that for the benefit of others? Is that something that in a similar vein you seek to do in your podcast?

Claire  08:41

Absolutely. Because I think that was my own perception if I look at myself, and when I think of individuals, I will say, in general, and the thing I find fascinating is that even the people I'm speaking with, they do make a difference, or at least they have an impact on other people but if you listen carefully to all their journeys, it all starts the same way, it starts with them. That's the angle I wanted to take. It was a bit of a gamble or a risk, because this is something I hadn't heard of per se before. But let's say that around me and what I was consuming as a listener, myself, this is something I hadn't seen before. And that's why I created this space.

Lucy  09:24

So Claire, just give us a bit of context, you've shared here that you dared to create something that you saw could add value to the world and didn't exist before and give us a flavour also in the other areas of your life. What are the ways that you are seeking to make a difference, make a positive contribution in the way either that you make decisions or the kinds of projects that you're involved in or how you use your time?

Claire  09:47

I think two things I combined so to speak is having worked in research healthcare... Obviously, this is not only confined to research and healthcare, but it's very general. It's about supporting women. Obviously, women do a lot of things, but they're not always in the spotlight or in the decision making levels, and so on and so forth. So I joined this association called the Healthcare Business Women Association, it's a global association, and I'm part of the board for the chapter in Zurich. So in Switzerland, they have three chapters, and I'm part of one of them. And that's a way for me to combine my personal experience, being from the field, and also contributing to things moving forward and changing and advancing for the benefit of everyone in the end, right? And so that's one thing I do. And the other thing is also supporting startups, and I'll say women entrepreneurs in general. On one hand, I do have a majority of women on the show, which have to say, full disclaimer here, it was not intentional in the beginning, but it just so happens that women are the ones who are making more change, at least from my lens. Again, this is really what I observed and I wanted to make sure that this is also represented on the show. And also on the side of that I also support other companies and startups. So I think combining that to say that there's just so much I can do, I can use this platform that I've created, wherever it brings me whatever it does, whatever benefits it brings to the guests as well who come on the show. But then it's also to recognise that other people are doing great things, and I can support them with my experience, or whatever I can bring to the table.

Lucy  11:27

I'd love to hear then, Claire, with what you're doing on the podcast and the ways that you are showing up in the world, if you have any advice for your listeners about how they might choose to show up with their assets and skill sets and their personal power to be their best selves or to make a difference in the world.

Claire  11:46

To be honest, I never imagine myself as someone giving advice to people, I can only encourage. Let's put it like this, I can encourage people to find the courage, as you were saying, to dare. And it doesn't have to be something extraordinary and say, "Oh, I don’t know, I'm going to change a policy for something" because obviously you can do it on your own. And that's where the power of collective and the power of community also comes in, it's basically to find whatever you can do. And I remember someone said, "Find what is important for you and try to find the balance on how you live your life with that," right? It can be supporting women, because you identify with that, or there's a personal story behind that, it can be something else, it can be like saving the whales, she was saying or saving the koalas. The most important thing is it has to fit with you, if it's in tune with how you want to live life. And it can be as simple as just even making someone smile every day, right? It's not that complicated in the sense that you have to turn the world around, because so many things are difficult, but so many other things are good. And you find those good things, then maybe focus on that, and see how you can make them even better for at least one person. And if it's one person, then it might encourage you to make it for two people, and so on and so forth. And the thing is you never know as well, who you might touch, but also who might come along the way because you will attract people depending on what you want to do. And that's the experience I had as well with the podcast, there's so many people that I've been speaking to that I had no idea they even existed. And I wouldn't have any idea if I hadn't started this platform. So that's the thing. If you think there's something interesting you can do, you never know how it's gonna turn out, it's just a matter of finding the courage to dare to do it and start and see where it leads.

Lucy  13:38

Awesome. So finding the courage to dare to do it. I'm also taking from what you're saying there is that perhaps it's great to have a plan - helps us feel organised and gets us prepared. But maybe the plan is not the 'be all and end all' because as you said things might show up on your path that you didn't expect. Or once you make that first step, things will appear to enable you to continue on to step two and step three, do you have anything to say to listeners about that journey?

Claire  14:04

I think having a plan, at least for me personally, right? You need to find out how you work. But for me having a specific detailed plan, it doesn't work because I don't like to be disappointed and have too many expectations. So if I know where I'm going, I know the final goal. I know the objective, that's the most important thing. And then how I get there. Well, I'm open to whatever is going to come. I'm going to listen, I'm going to observe, I'm going to catch a few things here and there. I might reach out to someone, ask someone a question and that's how it is for me it's building by connecting. I never have a specific plan to be honest. Well, it depends on what you want to achieve. Okay, there's two things, I think there's having your vision and where you want to go. And just making sure when things get really tough and difficult, just remember that. And then along the way, you might give yourself specific goals. And then you need to have a detailed plan on how to reach those goals. You see, those are two different things. I know the overall goal of my show is to speak with people. But I don't know exactly who, obviously I had a handful of people to start with, but at some point, I remember I had, I think we had scheduled the call or maybe not. Everything I did for the first year and a half was through zoom, obviously, because of the pandemic, which on one hand was amazing, because everybody was open to discuss. And even people I didn't know were like, "Oh, yeah, that sounds good." I have to say some people also never replied! It's not always that everything is perfect. But I mean, the majority did follow up. And at some point I didn't have anyone and a friend of mine just said, "yeah, yeah, sure, I can come" and he was not scheduled at all, so I would say - detailed plans for specific goals, and I see that as a short midterm thing. But if in the long term it's to create the largest platform for impact driven entrepreneurs, could be my, you know, overall goal for the podcast, then that's something that's not going to be achieved in one year or two years, it's probably going to take longer. And that's what I keep in mind when things get difficult.

Lucy  16:10

Taking a sharp contrast from exploring social entrepreneurs and impact, the world is going through a crazy time at the moment, people are sometimes doubling down reducing the size of their risks, we've still got kind of often speaking, a white male capitalist dominance in a lot of our economy. What would you say is your definition for success?

Claire  16:31

Well, being happy with what you do is a good definition, a simple one I think.

Lucy  16:36

I want to tune in a little bit to that piece of, you mentioned, connecting to your body understanding what your needs are. This phrase, you talk about 'daring to have the courage to take that first step' and you mentioned some different examples of maybe connecting to that ‘why’ for you personally. For each individual person who might be making somebody smile, or it could be interviewing social impact entrepreneurs on their podcast? Where would you suggest that women, say, can go to look for a concrete action they could take for where to start?

Claire  17:08

I think if you already think that way, and you want to take a step to make a change, whatever it is, right? Start with yourself. Because honestly, it's the easiest thing you can do and is the most important one you can do as well. I was giving a presentation at some point and speaking about leadership, inclusive leadership. When I was leading some teams, for me, it was always important to start with yourself. If you're not feeling well, you're not feeling fit, whatever is going on in your life, you won't be able to do your work properly. It's just a fact. It's not a judgement or anything. It's just a fact, because your mind is elsewhere. Or if you have a chronic condition, and then you have some acute phases, you need to take care of that before anything else. So I think whoever is already in that step of saying, "Okay, I want to do something, where can I start?" You've already started basically, because you're aware of it, that you want to do something and try with yourself. I was listening to a podcast earlier, before I came here and the host was speaking about our relationship with time and regaining or re-controlling time. And she was giving an example of saying, she knows she has to work out for 30 minutes, because that's beneficial. But then she's like, "I can only do 15 minutes". So instead of saying, "I will do 30 minutes when I have 30 minutes or more." She just did the 15 minutes and that's it. So that's the first step right? It's to say, "Okay, this is what I think so I'll try," It doesn't have to be every day or every hour. Maybe this week, you want to have one person smile, or just want to call someone you haven't talked to and to be there and listen to them. I think you start with yourself. You start experimenting with yourself. At least that's my perspective, perhaps that's the scientific part of me from being in a lab for so many years, which is just about experimenting, and trying and testing again. But it's only you because in the end, you can only see the results for yourself. When it's someone else it's difficult, right? I mean, human beings are so complex that it's difficult to say the impact I would have on you, for example. There's so many things to take into account. So just start with yourself and, coming back to the anecdote I wanted to mention by the way, is that when you're flying on a plane, you always have to put your oxygen mask on first before you help someone. So if you want to make a change, start and see what you can do for yourself because only when you're fit enough and well enough to do it, then your influence or your impact is even greater.

Lucy  19:44

Diving into that a little bit deeper, Claire, is there a particular moment or experience you had, which was particularly poignant, or particularly trying, where you had to really reconnect with yourself where you'd been driven by other external factors?

Claire  20:00

Yeah, there's probably one moment, it was probably 10/12 years ago. It was on the professional/my career side, I would say. So I was in a position where I could do the job. It was good. But I didn't feel that I was really thriving. So the most sensible decision to have made at that time was to stay there and continue and look at other opportunities. But at some point, I said, "No, this doesn't work. I don't feel like it's the right thing for me." So as you say, connecting to yourself is just to understand, "okay, is this working for me or not?" And I decided to leave a comfortable position. But it just so happens that within the week that I left, I found something even better. And I started a whole different career. Well, I had to move from where I was living but I didn’t mind for that. As long as I was happy doing what I was doing, or at least exploring and learning new things. That's what was missing for me in that position that I didn't feel that I was thriving and growing. And just the fact of taking that decision actually brought that other opportunity in no time. I have to say.

Lucy  21:05

The listeners are probably thinking, "God, I wish I could have it that easy". 

Claire  21:07

Well, I'm not telling people to quit their jobs. Let's be clear here. 

All right, dear listeners, that was part one of this special episode, marking the two year anniversary of Narratives of Purpose, with Lucy Antrobus turning the tables on me and putting me in the hot seat. We'll continue this conversation in the second part next week. Lucy will explore my personal background, some behind the scenes moments on recording the podcast, and she'll also ask me what shows I listen to. You don't want to miss that. As always, if you love what you hear and want to support our podcast, there is a lot you can do. One thing is to share this episode with your network and your friends. The other one is to give us a review on Apple podcasts, and leave us a five star rating on Spotify. I would also love to count you in our Narratives of Purpose Community of Amplifiers. So do connect with us through our social handles. You will find us on Instagram @narrativesofpurpose_podcast, as well as LinkedIn @narratives of purpose podcast. And you can also join our monthly newsletter through our website at narratives-of-purpose.podcastpage.io. You will find the link in the show notes. Until the next episode. Take care of yourselves, stay well and stay inspired.

 

This podcast was produced by Tom at rustic studios.