We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Vaishali Joshi. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Vaishali below.

Vaishali, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

Header: At 22, five years into living in Canada, I was ill-equipped to take this risk. But it paid forward in droves!

At just 17 years old, I boarded a plane alone from Kenya to Canada. My parents took a huge risk by sending me half-way around the world for a clearly defined – “better future”. All their hard work into my development as a student, dancer and daughter now rested on my somewhat little shoulders to carry forward and make good of. I was to become a doctor.

Light blue airmail envelopes – plastered in stamps became my lifeline and a constant reminder of why I could not fail.

Within just 5 short years in Canada, in the middle of a deep recession – 13 % prime rate type of recession – I was not just freezing and surviving – I was thriving – and still freezing. I had already not followed the doctor script – choosing to go into business school and not medical school. And then I had taken another unplanned left turn – not taking all the accounting courses to become at least a CA! Instead, I had, for once, leaned to the side of my own curiosity about all the other things business school offered and chosen Finance…which apparently left me, according to my family, in a precarious position to not earn a “good professional designation” with letters behind my name. So now, I had “dug my own grave” and “may need to settle for working as a bank teller”.

But I was NOT going to become a bank teller. I did not even apply for those jobs. It was not what I had manifested. Instead, I nabbed one of the six financial analyst intern positions posted in Canada by Westcoast Energy Inc. I got what I wanted – one of the highest paying entry level finance positions that others would kill for. Not only that – at 22 year old, I was flying in the company’s private jet and staying in fancy hotels (fancy to me at least) supporting our executives and lawyers as they flew to various Canadian cities to file energy rate cases with provincial energy boards. I was already manifesting my future self.

Eighteen months into the job – 6.30 am – I am at my desk plugging away at my computer – when a deep, quiet voice behind me says, “Good Morning Alisha. Why so early?”.

I glanced at the reflection on my screen – it was my boss’s boss, Steve. Everyone feared Steve for his smarts. I quickly swivelled my chair around with this “fake it till you make it” confidence.

Me: “Hi Steve! 2-year forecast submission today!”

Steve was already preoccupied with the blue envelope at the edge of my desk.

Steve: Wow! that’s a lot of stamps – is that from Kenya?

I happily replied, “Yes! – it’s from my grandfather!”

Steve picked up the blue envelope and peered at it in wonder.

And then more closely…And the interrogation began.

Steve: Who is Vaish…Vishlai…Vaishali…is that you?

At light speed, I was transported to the day of the campus interview where the recruiter had struggled to say my name. Doodling incessantly all over my resume, he kept calling me Michelle, Alisha, Shelly and even Joshi. And I – well – I stopped correcting him. As far as I was concerned – he could call me George! I really needed THIS job.

But then – it got weird. The offer letter came addressed to Alisha Joshi.
And I quietly signed it anyway!

So, then I had to own it. I became Alisha Joshi. My cubicle was labeled “ALISHA JOSHI”. When I got my Canadian citizenship, the office floor was filled with red and white banners that read “Alisha Joshi”.

So – here I sat before Steve. THIS light blue envelope staring back at me – my grandfather practically shouting at me to speak my truth.

Yet – beneath the noise was a familiar whisper—my father. The working-class man who had sacrificed SO MUCH to raise his five siblings and two kids since his 20s. His voice cut through it all: “Play it safe! Don’t lose this job!

But my conscience battled and overtook my fear. Somewhere, in this unplanned moment on this day – the universe had decided I was due for a big lesson about authenticity. For something far bigger than I fully grasped. Today, I was going to take THAT risk. I slowly met Steve’s blue eyes and fumbled.

Me: Yes… it’s me. I think it was a mistake—uhh – I got that name during my final interview…

Steve being Steve – he slashed through it: Are you saying you were never called Alisha until we interviewed you?

Now nauseous with my grandfather practically sitting in my lap grinning back at Steve- and I – instead of scrounging around for a parachute – I raced to protect Steve from jumping off his own cliff – “…Its ok Steve – it was a mistake. I’m sure he didn’t mean it!”

Steve, now visibly affected, put the envelope back on my desk. His face flushed red and his blue eyes wider than ever. He stepped back and looked squarely at me, “What do you prefer to be called?”.

Pregnant pause. My breath – nowhere to be found. With the aged palms of my entire lineage on my back, I dug deep into my throat – past all the chatter and choked in question: “Vaishali (?)”

Steve disappeared into his office.Later that day, my office nameplate was changed to “Vaishali Joshi”. An email from Steve introduced me to my colleagues a second time. THAT was weird!

And the office rumour mill was on fire for many weeks after selling everything from confusion to humour to anger.

And just like that – Alisha faded, And a bolder Vaishali was in the room.

At just 23 years old- I felt so ill-equipped to take that risk. Somewhere in a dim corner of my brain it had seemed sensible to bring Alisha to life than to simply correct someone about my name.

The reward I earned that day paid forward in droves.

As I went on to lead hundreds of people through organizational change, I made a concerted effort to acknowledge others’ identity and values with care. That -along with a commitment to people’s aspirations and wellbeing, made people feel safe with me. They were willing to take risks with me. They were willing to win and lose with me.

And together, we flexed over and over to drive positive change.

In a world where millions of us are having to re-skill, up-skill and reinvent ourselves for relevance, agility of mind is what allows us to stay anchored in our truth and fearlessly belong with others.

When we take the risk letting go of our past, our plight – and our need to be right, we reap the reward of being freed from limited, untrue storylines that lead us to do strange things – like not stop the show to get someone’s name right or allow others to change our own name :)

So, no its not George or Alisha after all – my name is Vaishali Rameshchandra Joshi

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My inspiration to start ORA Human came from my own journey through personal adversity and observing how human skill development such as self awareness and self regulation propelled me in my professional life as I led teams through organizational change. I’ve spent two decades climbing the corporate ladder and pursuing my study of mindfulness and mind mastery. It is what I call the “missing education” that today’s chaotic climate demands we pay attention to. How to be and not just do. How to have a life and not just make a living. How to develop all our multiple intelligences – not just our IQ and EQ. How to withdraw our senses to focus on what truly matters.

My start-up ORA Human empowers individuals and organizations to cultivate mental agility, inner alignment, and the courage to transform adversity into adventure. It is my contribution to the present-day global epidemics of stress, burnout and anxiety. My two service offerings, ORA Experience (SM) and ORA Teams (SM) help professionals, leaders and teams regain the currency of trust and build calmer, focused, and collaborative communities through proactive mental fitness practices. I advocate that organizations and schools integrate a stronger focus on human skills development and proactive mental wellbeing learning pathways as a way of doing business in an ethically-responsible and socially relevant manner.

ORA Experience clients are mainly in their late 20s to late 40s and are either seeking to overcome the negative impact that stress and reactivity is having or seeking to proactively build a mental fitness practice so they can continue to thrive in the face of the stress and burnout epidemic we are now experiencing. ORA Teams is designed for work teams of 10-15 people who are experiencing change fatigue and collective stress. Both programs are designed to get more people to feel and be more human, happy, healthy and impactful.

As a human connections public speaker, I speak in boardrooms and ballrooms about the importance of mental agility in keeping ourselves healthy and connected and the imperative that we give this “being” education to future generations. I tell witty stories about the power of our “full mind” through my many avatars as a parent, daughter, corporate professional, mother, step mother, youth advocate, mentor, entrepreneur, classical dancer, mountaineer and paddle-board yoga practitioner.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

In the first two years of my start-up, the following are the key elements of an effective strategy to growing clientele in my line of work:
1) Understanding who is the target market that will benefit and will pay for my services
2) Knowing where to find that target market (online and in person) and how to relate to them
3) Staying laser focussed and disciplined about designing the best service experience so they will become part of your community and refer others to you
4) Constantly finding new ways to inspire and engage prospects like speaking and creating new helpful content to establish your authority and credibility as a brand

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

As the human spirit continues to struggle in the face of unprecedented levels of change and unpredictability, our workplace and community teams are struggling more than ever with declining relatability, productivity and performance. This is largely due to having the highest levels of neurodiversity we have ever seen and epic levels of loneliness, burnout and stress.

My advice to leaders of teams is to learn how to make wellbeing and human skill development a key part of their leadership style. Learn to emulate behaviours and make decisions that show your team that you prioritize their wellbeing, growth and sustainability. This includes identifying and changing systems and policies in your organization that perpetuate more stress and mistrust. An example would be how change management plans are created – take into consideration how much change fatigue exists on the team and find ways to make new changes with that in mind. Or give your people access to proactive stress management and human skill development learning pathways that will empower them to contend with the challenges they face with greater confidence, calmness and agility. Make human development as important as career development.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://vaishali-joshi.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shinewithvaishali/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shinewithvaishali
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shinewithvaishali
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@VaishaliJoshiVideos

Image Credits

SpeakerSlam, By Jeneni, Sanjay Dhawan