Episode 7: My Motivation

Jacqueline James 

Welcome to Season Eight, episode seven of the Centennial College Leadership Vibes podcast. For this episode, we have Nadia Dua joining us. Nadia was born and raised in Quezon City, a thriving metropolis in the heart of Manila, Philippines. She was the student council president in her high school, and also the society president of her college club. Nadia finished her bachelor's degree in legal management from the University of Santo Tomas. Nadia worked as an executive assistant in one of the top ranked consulting firms in the world. In fact, it was the mentorship and influence of her peers that inspired her to pursue further studies in Canada. Before she left the firm, Nadia held a regional leadership position in AsiaGlam, the company's LGBTQ plus community. Nadia is currently the sergeant at arms for Centennial Toastmasters public speaking, and Leadership Club.

Mebrat Bekele 

Nadia, thank you for giving us your time out of your busy schedule and be willing to discuss your leadership journey and your experiences for the Leadership Vibes podcast. How are you?

Nadia Dua 

Hi, Mebrat, thanks so much for giving me this opportunity. I'm always up for any opportunity where I get to share my little story. Hopefully people will find it both amusing and inspiring. You asked how am I? Well, as I said earlier, I feel that the day has been very adventurous and it's only 2:20 in the afternoon.

Mebrat Bekele 

That's good. We hope you can tell us more about your adventure during our podcast. Tell us a little bit about yourself and what student leadership means to you.

Nadia Dua 

Sure. So I'm currently in my third semester of Office Administration - Executive. I maintain two jobs. One is on campus, where I am a member of the CCSAI street team. And the other one is an off campus job where I work as an administrative assistant in a international health insurance company. So student leadership. This is when an individual steps up from their expected responsibility of just coming to class, doing homework, getting passing work, it means that a student is aware that they have a higher purpose to fulfill. This role involves immersing themselves in various groups with the intention of making a positive impact.

Mebrat Bekele 

Well said, I agree with your point of view. How would getting involved in Student Leadership benefit us as students?

Nadia Dua 

That's a great question. Well, in my experience, I can share at least three benefits of how getting involved in student leadership will be helpful. So first, you will gain a sense of purpose. This helps in providing you with a clearer view of what to prioritize, it will essentially help in filtering what will be a value add to your personal and professional development. Next is you will learn how to manage your time, because you know what each item would be worthy of. For example, when you have an overview of what you set out to do for the day, you know what you can say yes to, you know what you can graciously decline, and you know what you can push back until maybe the following week, or until when you're relaxed and settled. Lastly, you will form fellowship and friendship with people from all walks of life. I think those are three awesome benefits. What do you think, Mebrat?

Mebrat Bekele 

Definitely. They're essential benefits to have. But tell us about your role within the Centennial Toastmasters and other community activities you are involved in?

Nadia Dua 

Sure. So to start off, Toastmasters is an international nonprofit organization that teaches public speaking and leadership skills through a network of clubs. Actually, they've been around since 1924. In Centennial Toastmasters, I started in, well, I officially became a member June 2022. I suppose the officers noticed how passionate I was based on my attendance since 2021, and my dedication to the role of Table Topics master during club meetings. After receiving meaningful feedback for the role, I was offered to consider a position in the executive team. It actually didn't take me too long to consider I wanted to be part of the team. So I was made official, the sergeant at arms. So essentially, my role is to be responsible for meeting logistics. This extends to remote meetings where I would welcome guests or newcomers and engage with them. So essentially, when we have our meetings, I would be the one who would say Hi, welcome to Toastmasters. Thank you very much for joining us tonight. And then I would ask them, what their name is, what program they're in, and what campus they go to. And we meet every Thursdays at 7pm.

Mebrat Bekele 

I would definitely would want to join that club, you have a very welcoming personality. Make it easier to join. Yeah.

Jacqueline James 

Yeah. Toastmasters sounds like a great club to join. How can students join Toastmasters?

Nadia Dua 

So we encourage them to go look on their MS teams, and then they will see their Toastmasters. And after joining four times, it doesn't have to be four consecutive times. But on their fourth attendance in a club meeting, they will be given a form to fill out and they could be part of Centennial, they do not have to worry about any fees because the school covers the fees.

Mebrat Bekele 

Well, that's a very nice addition not to have to pay for anything more like as a student. Our expenses are already high. And it's great that the school covers stuff for us, definitely.

Nadia Dua 

And think about spending at least one hour and 30 minutes of your evening to be around people that you could learn from, people who could mentor you on how to do public speaking, especially the Table Topics part where it's the impromptu part of the meeting, where you will find out what the topic is on the night itself. And then you'll be given maybe a minute to think about how to organize your thoughts, and then deliver your two minute speech.

Mebrat Bekele 

That's amazing. Public speaking is definitely part of the skills that you need to have as a leader. And it's a great opportunity to get to exercise that skill. Tell us about a moment or door that closed but ended up shaping your educational journey, something you really wanted to get, but it ended up not working for you but somehow made a great impact on your journey.

Nadia Dua 

That's a great question. So any doors? Yeah, there were lots of doors that close. But as I look back, and as cliche as it sounds, every opportunity that seemed like a no was actually here, take this path. Instead, I strongly believe that I am where I am now, because of the decisions I made and the doors that were closed. Sure, there were some that I need to pound on to get in until I opened and then made it my own. But most of the opportunities that came my way were because I reached out to the right people. I asked the right questions, and helped me make informed decisions.

Mebrat Bekele 

That's amazing. You view it as in when the door is closed on you, and instead of an answer of no, it's telling you maybe you should take a different path. That's like a positive view of looking at it. Yeah, I think that's great. Yeah.

Jacqueline James 

And do you have a leadership mentor or role model that you look up to?

Nadia Dua 

I do I do, I have, I would say three. So two would be from my previous company, whom I still keep in touch with, we actually have a monthly one hour catch up, where I tell them the highlights for my months. And we will also then talk about any, any pressing issue about my professional or personal career that we could either problem solve, or just talk and get some insights on. My other mentor is actually Madonna. So she is the president of Centennial Toastmasters. And I find her to be a great mentor. Because she also does some, it's not scheduled coaching sessions. But for some reason, every time I do an informal catch up with her the call ends with me feeling so inspired, and just really motivated to finish whatever task I have for the week, and then just feel really centered. I think that's huge.

Jacqueline James 

That's awesome. It's great to have someone like that in your life that you can look up to, someone who motivates you.

Nadia Dua 

Definitely. Thanks, Jackie.

Mebrat Bekele 

From your experience, what shills do student leaders display that makes them, lik,e great leaders and why you think that way?

Nadia Dua 

I would say there are three, top three, so top thing. So first would be communication skills. If a student leader is effective in articulating the bigger picture to their members, they are influential in taking the team from point A to point B. In fact, if this skill is further honed, it will be the reason why student leaders will be more adept at building their community. The next skill would be interpersonal skills. Student leaders will make it all about its members. It's never about themselves. Because of how affable they are, you will want to put 100% of your trust in them, because they will set you at ease and make it all about you. Lastly, and I think this is something that I am also relearning, if we can use that word, the skill of being resilient, the ability to bounce back from any challenge, any setback. Sometimes there are days when it takes me, I don't know, two, three days to recover from a five minute embarrassing moment, if we could, if we could quantify things. So five minutes, I felt embarrassed, two days for me to bounce back. Either way, it's still being resilient, it's still being able to bounce back, and then tackle the same challenge. We can't say give up. We can't give up on the first time. Yeah, keep staying motivated and to be willing to achieve your goals, right?  Yes, yes.

Mebrat Bekele 

Right. Is there something you would want to change on your journey to leadership? And what kind of assistance did you wish you had on your journey to leadership?

Nadia Dua 

That's a great question. I think it would be bordering personal and professional way of answering this question personal would be, I wish I was able to keep my mother alive for longer. I mean, I don't have the power to cure cancer. But it would be awesome if she knew that I made it here in Canada, I reached my goal of being accepted in Centennial College. And during this podcast right now, that's a huge thing. I bet she'd be proud, I bet she'd be happy. The other thing that I would change would probably be maybe if I knew that having a mentor when I was working my first job, maybe that could help me further. As it may seem, I think I am doing okay.

Mebrat Bekele 

I think you are doing amazing. Your mom will be proud of you. And I'm definitely motivated by you from your stories.

Nadia Dua 

Thank you, Mebrat.

Mebrat Bekele 

Tell us about some of your plans for the future and how you manage and set your goals.

Nadia Dua 

I'll answer your first question on the goals. So for goal setting, I like to write things down. In my head, everything sounds like a dream. But once I write, or once I list the things that I need to do, especially what my step one is, then I know that it can be a reality. So the way that I manage these goals would be to organize it in maybe four or five steps, that will be realistic steps that will be time bound. And then the plan for the future is well apart from finishing my course in March 2023, I would love to go to New York. And this entails financial planning on my end, because it is not cheap. It will be flying to New York with these goals in mind, whether it will be professional or personal. The way to manage it would be to list down things. But the most critical thing to remember, take step one, make it happen.

Mebrat Bekele 

So you would say planning is very key, and leadership?

Nadia Dua 

It is, it is. We could plan down to the very last detail. And then one other thing if I could add is to be flexible. Because sometimes there's this thing called Murphy's Law, when anything that can go wrong will go wrong. But hopefully, you have all the Plan B's and C's and D's.

Jacqueline James 

Nadia, from your life experiences, what would you say is one of your greatest strengths?

Nadia Dua 

My one great strength would probably be how I always look at the silver lining, like there would be many times where they'd be in one situation, nine out of 10 will be a negative. But my mind will be focused on that one positive, that one more shot to give it my best. One more chance to redo everything, just that always, always, always think positive. Very good.

Jacqueline James 

Great advice.

Mebrat Bekele 

Always think positive. Yeah. But it's hard to stay positive, especially if things are not going your way. And you intentionally set yourself out to be a positive thinker. And I think that helps you get to where you are today.

Jacqueline James 

I agree with you. It's a great piece of motivational tool to have, too. When you think positive you get great results, the results and the outcomes what you hope for just by being positive.

Nadia Dua 

Exactly. You got it, Jackie.

Mebrat Bekele 

You wanted to share something about one of your organizations earlier? What was it?

Nadia Dua 

Apart from being active in Toastmasters, I'm also a part time staff in CCSAI in the street team, so I have a general shift. And if ever there are events, I could sign up for helping out with pre or post production, and it's fun, too, because CCSAI even if it's separate from Centennial, it's also a very meaningful organization where you learn from the students, you learn from the staff, and you're exposed to how corporate Canada is, if I could say so.

Mebrat Bekele 

Would that give you like a great networking opportunity as well?

Nadia Dua 

Yeah, yeah, you could do that. Yes.

Mebrat Bekele 

What advice would you give to students that want to take more on, like a leadership role within their school or within their own personal lives? What would you advise them?

Nadia Dua 

I would advise them to think of why you want to take on this additional role, and figure out what could be your deeper purpose, and why you want to be involved with this responsibility? And then you'd find out if this is what you really want.

Mebrat Bekele 

Well said, that's all we have for you. We kind of went through our questions very fast. Thank you for making the time to speak with us about your journeys and your experiences.

Nadia Dua 

Thank you for this opportunity. I'm really happy you reached out.

Mebrat Bekele 

Thank you so much. Is there anything you want to add? Before we wrap up?

Nadia Dua 

I hope that a lot of people who are listening would also be given the chance to share their stories if they want to, and when they realize that leadership could take them to places, go take that step one.

Mebrat Bekele 

Well said, Thank you so much.

Jacqueline James 

Thank you for joining us for episode seven of this Leadership Vibes podcast. In the next episode, we are coming back with our guest, Michelle Solomon, to hear about her leadership journey and experience. Make sure to subscribe to the Centennial College podcast on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Spotify.