S2: Episode 11: Abbiola Ballah, M..A, Founder & CEO, Phern Education Studios

Abbiola is an entrepreneur who was born and raised in Trinidad & Tobago. She assists entrepreneurs and business owners from all over the world to integrate Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) into their organizations and practices. Abbiola has the unique perspective of having lived in a variety of countries including the U. S, Belize and Japan. She’s now back home with all that understanding gained and being put into action for the benefit of businesses who are interested in ensuring that diversity, equity and inclusion is part of their every day lives. Find Abbiola on Instagram under Phern Education Studios.

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Thank you Jann Danyluk, Career Resilience.

Transcript

| 00:06 | Welcome to season two of Career Resilience, where we talk with people about their career path and their career journey, and maybe we can all learn from each other. My name is Jann Danyluk and I'm a human resources consultant in London, Ontario, Canada. I work with Ford Keast LLP, providing human resources, advice and counsel to my business clients. They also support people through individual one on one coaching in helping with career development.

 | 00:33 | I hope you will enjoy our series where we talk with ordinary, extraordinary people. We get to hear about interesting journeys. We get to talk with people about failures, successes, advice and counsel to us as we develop our own careers. I really appreciate the opportunity to talk with these people, and I hope you'll enjoy listening to it. And now for some logistics, please subscribe on YouTube. Or if you're a listener, please follow me wherever you get your podcasts.

 | 01:01 | And if you have a chance, I hope you'll visit my website carrier dash resilience. Dot com. Welcome. My guest today is Abbiola Ballah. Welcome to career resilience, we're so delighted to have an opportunity to chat with you today. So welcome. Thank you.

 | 01:31 | It's my pleasure to be here. And yes, that's probably this you'll hear in the. I like that name. And so today we're going to talk about you and your resilience, and we're going to talk about your work related to diversity, equity inclusion, which is also referred to as DCI, so that we'll shorten it probably to DTI as we chat. Abiola. Let's start with where you're located. Where are you?

 | 01:59 | I am currently located in the beautiful twin island, republic of Trinidad and Tobago, so I'm actually in on the island of Trinidad, so it's OK. And is this where you were born and raised? Yes, I grew up here. I was born and bred here. I left when I was 17 and I spent a lot of time outside of my home country. But it's always, it's always home.

 | 02:29 | So what's the culture like? Oh. Very unique, it's one word that comes to mind, you may think of our culture. We are very multi. Cultural society here at Trinidad, and we celebrate everything and everyone.

 | 02:55 | We just had a carnival over the last couple of days and that one of the most joyous times of the year where everyone just comes together just, you know. Mm-Hmm. Yeah, it's a little different right now, but it's still that time where you feel it in the air, you feel it in the vibrations of the country.

 | 03:21 | Music is a big part of our culture as well, and during this time, a lot of things, a lot of our local music. Calypso was born here, so that music was born here. And also the steel pan before some people say steel jam was born here in Trinidad. So, so you charge a little bit about the culture. What's an interesting fact about you as a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago?

 | 03:51 | That's a really interesting question, and I think it's always. It's always something difficult for me to answer, because, yes, I am a citizen of Trinidad. This is where I was born. It is my everyday passport country. But the majority of my adult life, I've lived outside of that, so I've lived in the US for a long time.

 | 04:20 | I've lived in Japan for over 10 years. I've lived in Belize, so all of those places are a part of me and make up who I am as a person. So I think that's the most interesting thing about me as a citizen because I'm not just a citizen. Technically, yes, I'm a citizen of Trinidad, but I'm a citizen of the world. That's right. You're an amalgam. Yeah.

 | 04:48 | So I have to ask you, what was it like to live in Japan for 10 years? It was interesting. It's definitely a big part of my life. Happened in Japan. Like, I grew up in Japan. Yes. I became like an independent adult in Japan.

 | 05:16 | I found my career in Japan. And I think Japan will always hold a special place in my heart because it's just so much of it. So, so many of the mannerisms, the language the culture has, you know, have become a part of who I am today. Yeah, yeah. I thought it was interesting. What made you decide to live in the states and live in Japan?

 | 05:47 | And I think you said Belize as well. What made you decide to make those moves? I mean, so I grew up in a family that has always traveled. We've been privileged, privileged enough to always travel. My grandparents are were living in the US and it's, you know, ever since I was five years old, we would every summer.

 | 06:18 | So I would always travel to New York and Baltimore to see my grandparents almost every summer before they passed away. And, you know, I decided at a young age that, you know, I wanted to go to college in New York. New York had become a second home for me. So I went to college in New York and then I, you know, I met so many different people while I lived there, being in college and exploring the city living in Brooklyn.

 | 06:46 | And I wanted to travel more. And then I heard about, you know, a program that will take me to Japan. And I was like, Why? And I did it. I got through. And yeah, then I ended up staying for 10 years, and throughout that time, I kind of came to realize that.

 | 07:11 | Who I am as a person is a person that wants to explore and learn and immerse herself into different places and find kind of that space where like not just one space in different spaces where I can belong because there's so many different parts of me, right? Yeah.

 | 07:33 | Well, I think with every move that I've made and I've actually I've been coming back here was my seventh country move like physical country moves. It has just kind of like opened my eyes to. A whole.

 | 07:59 | Way of thinking that I wouldn't have had had I just stayed here, I would be a different person. You'd be a different person for sure. Now what did you like the best about Japan? I mean, if you stay in a place for 10 years, you must have some affiliation with that. So what did you like the best about it? What works best for you in that country? It's Tokyo. Disney counts.

 | 08:27 | I love me some business, but no, I think I'm more serious now. I. I would have to say that. Japan became whole, like it's really hard to pinpoint that one thing, because after you step in somewhere for more than three, four, five years, it just becomes so normal to you, it becomes your home.

 | 09:00 | And because it became my home and also the people who were my friends became my family as well. So I think it really wasn't just one thing. I mean, yes, I love the food. I love the culture. I love the language. I love all these different things. But it's really I stayed that long because it became home and also because my career was going where I wanted it to go.

 | 09:29 | So that became a part of it, too. So let's switch over to education and career. Yeah, what? What education did you pursue? So a couple of things I did my bachelor's degree in communication arts, but so my broadcasting and I worked as a producer for I worked as an editor, video editor and as a television producer in Trinidad for about a year.

 | 09:57 | And then when I moved to Japan, I was teaching and I realized, Okay, I kind of want to pursue this. So I did my master's degree distance learning from the University of Leicester in the U.K. in Applied Linguistics and TESOL, which is teaching English to speakers of other languages.

 | 10:23 | After a while, I realized that, you know, I started doing more not just teaching, but also university counseling and working in back more international education fields, and I wanted to get a little more practical knowledge in that area. So I actually, when I did, when I left Japan, I left Japan for California and I went to Middlebury Institute of International Studies, where I studied.

 | 10:52 | I did a second master's degree in international education management. So that's kind of what my trajectory education was. Yeah. So at some point in your career, you transition to a specialty within diversity, equity and inclusion DTI. Or is this just like these? So. The eye has always been something that has run through everything I've done.

 | 11:26 | I just did not know what to call it until I was doing my master's in international education management, and I took that to class and I'll say, Oh, wait, this is what I've been basically doing and infusing into the curriculum that I've been developing for my, for my classes and for my program that I was running.

 | 11:53 | So it it's if it have been something that over the past 60 plus years has been a part of who I am. But it was it was also it was really great to actually put a name to it.
 | 12:10 | So you write when I, you know, got to Middlebury Institute and through that, I kind of continued along the lines of looking at it from the perspective of program design and assessment and also from not only looking at it through higher ED, but also from social impact organizations and social enterprises.

 | 12:38 | What was sort of the trigger point that drove your interest in de-ice that you decided to move more into specializing? So. I would say that. It really came from my experiences being a person living outside of her country, being always the other in a room, right?

 | 13:17 | The only one in a room, right in rooms and also feeling in some spaces that I. What is being included right or that I was? Or there was just a lot of, you know, unconscious bias against me or people would look at me and just see one thing and things like that, so a lot of it had to do with.

 | 13:50 | My experience and I think. I always as a teacher, as a teacher, and I'll talk about that kind of part of my career as a teacher, you know, I always wanted my knowing how I felt in some spaces. I always wanted my students and the participants in any programs.

 | 14:12 | I wanted to feel like they were a part of it, that they were welcome in this space and not just in the, you know. Like, like we all say, Oh, you're welcome here, but are you really kind of thing you've just filled that question mark about it? I didn't want it to be that. I wanted them to actually feel that they were welcome to the space.

 | 14:42 | So I put a lot of time into creating curriculum and designing programs that would ensure that they would have and it would be able to just show up at their home sites. Right. Every part of them was still out there and they were able to share as much and as little as they wanted in those spaces, right? Yeah.

 | 15:13 | So that's kind of it. It wasn't. I don't think for me, it was just one thing. I think it was more a combination of experiences and now as an entrepreneur with my business. I kind of came full circle back to diversity, equity and inclusion to be because it wasn't how I started my business.

 | 15:44 | It was something I kind of hid from in the beginning because, you know, is this what I should do? What did you initially impact? Initially, I worked with teachers helping them to especially new teachers, helping them to create lesson plans for their students, especially those who were ESL teachers, English, second language teachers.

 | 16:13 | And then I needed more into the curriculum and program design portion where I did more. I created curriculum for online business owners, and as much as I love creating curriculum and doing it, it wasn't. Something didn't feel right. Yeah, you know, there was still something missing. And even from the beginning, like I would always talk about belonging and making sure your curriculum was inclusive and things like that.

 | 16:46 | And then I'm like, I don't want to create curriculum. I want to help these business owners to create these inclusive programs. Yeah, yeah. On the whole, you know, I need to focus in on what I wanted to ask you. Abiola It doesn't occur to me as a white woman to think in terms of showing up as my whole self.

 | 17:13 | I think I think maybe I show up as my whole self, but I'm not even sure that I completely understand what you mean when you say that. So can you describe a little bit about what you mean about showing up as your whole self? Yeah. So showing up as your host cells, it comes back to thinking about the fact that you are not one identity. You are made up of unique identities.

 | 17:42 | Those are and they're all intersectional, meaning some of these identities are privileged and some may have been discriminated against. So if you think about yourself and I would use me as an example, I'm not just. A woman of color, right? Yes, I'm a cisgender woman of color, but I'm also plus size and also educated. I also speak three languages.

 | 18:13 | I also am able bodied. I'm also huge divergence and all of these things are part makeup who I am as a person. And when you enter into a space, whether workplace, whether it be a membership community, yoga group, anything right, you're all of these parts of yourself. We're coming into that space all the way.

 | 18:43 | Yeah, all the components of you are in there, right? So, so yeah, that's what I mean by showing up as your whole. So knowing and acknowledging that you're not just one thing, you're not just a race and not just a gender, you're not just your sexual orientation, right? There's so much more. And, you know, even to apps that you're learning, how you learn is also a part of it. Things like that. OK. I guess I just don't think in those terms.

 | 19:14 | But in the work that you do and the life that you've led, you've needed to think in those terms. Yeah. Hmm. Yeah. And I think, you know, as you said, most people don't think in those terms.

 | 19:29 | And that's one of the things that in my work, I hope the business owners and founders that I work with to start thinking in those terms and to start seeing how can we put practices in place that can actually let people show all of their unique identities or feel brave enough to do so right?

 | 19:59 | And how does that help the business in terms of, you know, it used to be not so much anymore, thank goodness it used to be a sort of left yourself at the door and then you came in and you did the job and you were very much encouraged just to leave yourself at the door. But what? I don't think that's the case anymore. But what can businesses do that sort of take advantage of the, you know, components all the many things that make up our wonderful selves?

 | 20:33 | So everything is specific to your business and your situation. One of the things that I always say first, when you know, expect of clients or any one company is that you need to remember that inclusion is not cookie cutter, right? I'm not going to be able to give you a checklist that you can be like, check, check, and check. And of course, you know, it's not gonna happen.

 | 21:03 | It's not going to happen like that. One of the themes about inclusion and working in this space is that it is an ongoing process that you have to be committed to, that it has to be a part of your values. Right? Is this what you really want you to be at the forefront of your business? Is this something that is a priority for you?

 | 21:28 | Because if it's not a priority, you're going to do the bare minimum and be like, OK, yay, we have gender neutral bathrooms. We have. We ask people to use pronouns on the zoom. We, you know, we say, Hey, we put out a statement, OK, we're done. But no, you're not. How?

 | 21:55 | Actually, those things are really just signals to say that, hey, we have some intrusive things in here, but what you're trying to do is are have practices and the practices come from the training processes, the policy that you're actively introducing and upholding.

 | 22:24 | They're taking action on these things in your grill, right? And this is the part that really kind of gets a lot of people. And sweat, a lot of especially, you know, entrepreneurs, right, your solopreneur, you're just you. And so these are the people I usually work with and it's like, how am I going to be able to do all these things right?

 | 22:51 | And I always it's not about being able to do everything. It's about being able to, I would say, progress over perfection, right? Able to take one step at a time and be able to break it down into small steps that you can keyword commit to doing. Yeah.

 | 23:16 | So one of the questions I was going to ask you was what is an inclusive signal versus an inclusive practice? And I think that's what you're talking about because that really jumped out to me. So an inclusive signal might be saying it's important to reflect the communities we serve. But then the much harder thing is the practice that that says were we're reflecting the communities we serve.

 | 23:48 | Exactly. Yeah, it's so challenging and it is and you know, I think that's why so many people get over because one of the things you know, I hear a lot is I want to do something, but I don't know if it's the right thing or I don't know if, if I should or am I person to speak on this?

 | 24:19 | Am I like who or what should I say something? You know? Yeah, a lot of people have questions and they are valid questions. And that's. What I worked to help you kind of own and break down, and we try to find. The way forward for those questions, what is the first small step you are going to take?

 | 24:49 | You know, one of the things that I said at one point was, he says, this is so embarrassing, actually, because if we could just all be kind to each other and just, you know, recognize each other's strengths and then and then we just all go forward together. And that evidently is extremely naive on my part, and I've mentioned it a couple of times because I find it embarrassing that that I'm not naive. Do you find that naive as well? I think Jan, I think I wouldn't say naive.

 | 25:20 | I think it's just we it kind of comes from, you know, the thing I can't everyone just get along. Exactly. It comes from that, that feeling right. And I think even right now where we are in the world, I see us all probably in our heads and we're like, Oh, the richest, just get one for like two seconds. You know, its human nature to think like that, right?

 | 25:48 | Just like its human nature to want to be left right. I think I think it's a part of that, but I think what it is knowing that's how you are thinking. And if you know that, OK, this is how I'm thinking, but this is how I'm thinking right now isn't helping. So what do I need to shift in order to be able to do something that will help? Yeah, yeah.

 | 26:19 | And I think that that would be a really interesting process to go through in thinking about what do we need to shift so that it goes from being a signal to a practice? Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Got it. OK. So I wanted to ask you in terms of your business, what is your business model? How you're a coach. And so just tell me a little bit about you as a so you're a solopreneur, right?

 | 26:50 | Yes. Yeah. So Preneur Phone Education Studio on me with the help of my sister sometimes. Yeah, but it's basically all me. So yeah, and I say title wise, I will consider myself an inclusion trainer. So what I do right now, what we do right now is we run workshops and trainings. Wow.

 | 27:18 | To help guide online business owners and founders through that process of building inclusive practices into their programs. So really? And also finding helping them to take action. So in terms of your business and helping companies and small businesses take from sick, not practice really like that because I can get my head around that because if they're signaling that shows an interest and if they talk to you, then they want to figure out how to do this as a practice.

 | 27:57 | Do you have clients from various countries? Yeah. So currently I have worked with clients from various countries. The majority are from the U.S., but I do. I have worked with clients from other countries too, and I'm hoping to work with more countries because I think it's, you know, for me, I come at this with the unique perspective of someone who has lived internationally for so long that.

 | 28:36 | I think I definitely bring a different viewpoint, whereas so many other it's very it can be very us centric or it can be very UK centric, right? But I my work is really steeped in that idea of intersectionality and in that idea of it being thinking about people in your programs who are international.

 | 29:04 | It's right. That's a big part of who someone is when they're coming into the program. So, yes. Yeah. And what are the unexpected challenges you found in being a solopreneur? Let's. A lot when I first started, I didn't realize. How important, and I would say this, a good therapist is what?

 | 29:34 | Yeah, yeah, it's very true. Yeah. Yeah. Because, you know, I think that when you're a solopreneur, you're everything and your every job. Yep, yep. And it's been a learning curve. I'm so I spent so many years studying to be good at what I do like. I'm good at designing programs that curriculum I can see, you know, I'm good at what I do.

 | 30:05 | And it was such a learning curve when I'm like, Oh, right now I have to think about the finances. I have to think about budgeting. I have and I've done that for organizations, but in a not in a in a way that it was all on me, you know? But now it's all on me. And also the decisions are all on me. I have three questions that I'd like to ask you. Yeah.

 | 30:33 | And the first has been what the best career advice you received was? Yeah. So I thought about this and I received like so much acceptance over the years, like through the different iterations, right? Yes. But thinking about like this season of my career as an entrepreneur, there are to be actually two pieces of advice that I've gotten that.

 | 31:04 | Have really helped me, so move forward, and one was from my business name is Brett Monahan, and she encourages you to break the rules of entrepreneurship. So she always said, you don't have to do things the way everyone else is doing. You can do it your way. You can break out of that. You know, entrepreneur, wow.

 | 31:30 | That you and you can experiment and there is no one right way to do things. And that always sticks with me because that's how I want to do things. I'm a rebel at heart rate. I want to break up box and do things my way. I realize trying to do things just like everyone else doesn't work for me. I need to do it my way. So that's one, and the other is actually a friend and colleague of mine.

 | 31:58 | She is a brilliant strategy consultant. And her name is Manisha JOJ. And she always said that. She said that in the order, I'm trying to get this right, the order that you do things in matter over the time it takes you to do that.

 | 32:21 | So basically, what she's saying is to stop trying to do everything all at once or skipping around, but taking it, take it one step at a time and slow it down if you need to. And that has really helped because in the beginning, I think I wanted to do all the things and I'm like, Oh, I need to do this this. This is just like, No. Let's take a step back.

 | 32:48 | There's an order to do these things right, and it doesn't matter the time it takes to win an order and you will see the progress. And I thought, Oh, that's nice. So I feel that in the first example, it's almost like you were given or while you're given the freedom to just be yourself. And it was kind of nice to hear that from a coach, that freedom to experiment.

 | 33:16 | It's a big deal, you know, and it's okay. It's OK. And I think that sort of brings us full circle to the whole self, you know, being accepted as the whole self and accepting ourselves to exactly know exactly and your second piece of advice. I like that because its accomplishments, you get wins along the way. And that's just so important.

 | 33:47 | Do you think it's really important to win when you play? Obviously, for all of us who only care about our work, but it's really important when you're sort of the everything. Yeah. You have someone that's going to say to you, that was a good job you did today, unless it's you saying that to you and we all have to get better at. But I know sometimes I forget to tell myself I did well today. That's just so wrong. We have to remember. Well, yeah, we do.

 | 34:16 | I agree. So the second question that I have for you is, is there a book that you've read that influenced you or your style or your thought processes or just any what comes to mind for that question? That's what I also thought about this in the book that I read. I read this book a couple of years ago and it's called the body. It's not an apology by Sonya Taylor. In her book, she talks about radical self-love, demanding that we see ourselves not as just one thing, but as complex.

 | 34:51 | We see the intersections in our cells and in others, and we create space for those intersections in ourselves and others. So it's also a big part of the work I do now. I didn't know it then would be, but it's also a big part of what the internet remember reading that book and just flight.

 | 35:15 | Every like five seconds, like posting on my stories and Instagram, telling people, you have to read this book because I really enjoyed it. Yeah, sounds excellent. Sounds like something we'd all benefit from, actually. Yeah, I will try. And third, and I'm really interested to hear what you have to say to this one. Abiola. What? What advice would you give your younger self?

 | 35:44 | So. I would actually tell my younger self something that I've actually mentioned before and that I tell my clients all the time. And that is progress with perfection. I'm saying that because. A lot of the times growing up, what I focused on was getting that accolade, getting that degree, getting, you know, perfect 4.0, making the honor roll, making, you know, graduating with distinction.

 | 36:23 | And I did all those things. But what? I missed out on. Was that messy middle that got me there? How I progressed through that, but I forgot about the things that I overcame. What made me stronger in order to get those things, and I think I just wanted to be able to show that finished products, right?

 | 36:52 | These are things I've done. Don't worry about how I did it. And it's not. But now I know that there is actually beauty in that messy middle and in in the progress that you make for you that that that you go through. You know that as you kind of get those different milestones in your life.

 | 37:22 | And if you are not really focused on that, but only perfect or you miss half of it. So when here we are talking to your younger self or talking to Abiola and you're saying to her, You know what? I'm just so proud of you for what you accomplished in terms of certainly education and the bravery it took to, you know, wander the globe and live in different places.

 | 37:56 | So that's why I'm so proud of you part. And the other part is maybe embrace a little bit of that messiness. Embrace it. Yes, it was hard, but also don't hide it. Don't hide from it. And also don't hide it from others. Yeah, because I think younger Abbie did a lot of that. And now, you know, this whole entrepreneurship thing is, you know, saying here.

 | 38:25 | Yeah, yeah. Middles are coming back. Let's deal with them now. And that's OK. Because. I think that's a good thing, because now and I'm not I feel like I am becoming more present in the day to day in the experiences that I'm having, as you know, are you still a perfectionist?

 | 38:58 | Oh yeah. I mean, in some ways, yes. I mean, I'm a work in progress and work in progress. All right. But in some, in some ways I can be. But I think I'm not a perfectionist to the point where I break down. That's not true. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. The advantage of living and evolving.

 | 39:28 | Yes. I think it's happened before, but I think I'm growing. Yeah, that's great. I'm glad those are all the questions that I wanted to ask you. Is there anything that you wanted to add before we wrap up and say goodbye? Um, just that. This was such an amazing shot to have with you. Thank you so much.

 | 39:56 | If you want to talk to me more, you can find me on Instagram. There is no clarification. Studios on the right. What's the name of your business again? It's from education studios. OK, and find you. It would be on Instagram. That's where you're housed. OK, I'll have them to our viewers and listeners. I hope you enjoyed this conversation between Abby and I.

 | 40:22 | It has been so interesting, and I love how talking to someone like Abby expands my mind. And that's what it's all about for all of us. So I hope you've enjoyed this conversation. Please find me on YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcasts or take a look at my website. Career Dash Resilience dot com. And until we meet again, thank you so much. Thank.