My comfort with strangers. Musings from my girlhood travels

I once took a 20+ hour journey from New Zealand to Malaysia at age 11 with minimal assistance aside from a sibling, the occasional airline chaperone, and then my Mum from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur. It felt very defining then as it feels today and brings me fodder on how and I why I grew so comfortable speaking with and being around strangers. I’m reading this week from an essay I enjoyed writing on Medium, inspired purely by the lovely men and women who’ve asked me to coach them on the delightful (but daunting) ebbs and flows of human conversation. Special thanks to Dotun Ayeni, my friend and producer, who always lifts me up as much as he does these episodes. This one might be a favorite for 2024, despite my slightly husky voice from a recovering cold. You can reach Dotun (and I do recommend him for your podcast production) via LinkedIn or on Twitter @dotmanly. Reach out to me, your show host on all things to do with storytelling, overcoming public speaking fear, active listening, and reinvention via my website, or find me also on Linkedin.