Latest / Chatting with The Experts with Paula Okonneh / My Journey As Neurodivergent
Transcript
- 0:00Hello everyone and welcome to Chatting with the Experts, the show where I speak
- 0:05with amazing women from Africa, from the Caribbean, and in the diaspora.
- 0:10These women are professionals and or successful entrepreneurs, and they
- 0:16share my mission, which is to educate, empower, and inspire women globally.
- 0:23Today our show is called How Autism and ADHD Made Sense . I'll
- 0:32tell you a bit about my guest who will be joining me in a minute.
- 0:37She was diagnosed with autism and ADHD at the age of 49.
- 0:43And in this episode she's gonna reflect on growing up in a neural divergent
- 0:47family, raising an autistic son and building a career that honors her wiring.
- 0:54And understanding her own self, her mind brought clarity, confidence
- 1:01and leadership purpose to her life.
- 1:05She's a speaker, she's a leadership coach and a TEDx storyteller who helps
- 1:11people lead with confidence, clarity, and authenticity, and has built
- 1:17her career through a series of bold pivots, beginning as an award-winning
- 1:24actress, rising to managing director in corporate finance and eventually
- 1:31launching her own leadership development company called Elias Presence Ventures.
- 1:40And with that, I welcome Naeemah Elias to the show.
- 1:49Hello.
- 1:51Good morning.
- 1:52As I told you offline, when I read your bio, I was like, wow, I'm
- 1:56privileged to be speaking with you.
- 1:58Hahaha.
- 2:00Yeah.
- 2:01Thank you for saying yes.
- 2:03This is such an impressive bio, but is there anything that I left out that
- 2:08you would like me to touch on that I omitted, forgot didn't elaborate on?
- 2:14I'm a mom of three.
- 2:16And that sort of threads through everything I do and how I think about
- 2:20my life and how I approach my work.
- 2:22And I've learned a lot through parenting to help me with my leadership journey,
- 2:28my management journey, and a lot of different things in my life and even my
- 2:32autism story, and we can talk about that.
- 2:35Like getting to my own diagnosis for autism and for ADHD came
- 2:40through my journey with my children.
- 2:42So they are center focused in my life at all times.
- 2:46Yeah.
- 2:46Well that's, I really do wanna touch on that, on why did you decide to
- 2:49seek, you know, an assessment of autism and ADHD at the age of 49?
- 2:55You know, that's significant.
- 2:57Yeah.
- 2:58So it's something that I had been thinking about.
- 3:00Mm-hmm.
- 3:00And I think, you know, when I think about like my childhood
- 3:04journey, I was a weird kid, right?
- 3:06My whole life, everybody always just said, well, you know,
- 3:08Naeemah is a little bit weird.
- 3:09We just sort of accept that Naeemah is a little different.
- 3:12And I think I got used to being weird, right?
- 3:14And then as we went through the journey with my children and all three of them
- 3:20are neurodiverse in some way, I started to notice how I was able to communicate with
- 3:27my son in ways that his teachers couldn't.
- 3:30I was able to help him to understand things when he couldn't get it
- 3:36from, you know, from his teachers.
- 3:38At some point, it just occurred to me.
- 3:41I'm like, well, what if my brain works the same way that his does?
- 3:44Mm-hmm.
- 3:45So I got myself on a list and I was on the list.
- 3:48I was on a few do lists for about a year and a half, and I think it's really hard
- 3:53as an adult to find an assessment, right?
- 3:54I think most places are interested in studying children and, you know,
- 4:00our generation, I'm a Gen Xer.
- 4:02We didn't have this right?
- 4:03Like this wasn't part of our childhood experience.
- 4:05I think I started to be aware of ADD when I was in high school and
- 4:10they were looking at little kids.
- 4:11And so for me, like it wasn't a part of my childhood journey
- 4:15'cause it wasn't really possible.
- 4:17And so then I finally had a conversation with a friend and she mentioned that
- 4:22she had just gotten her diagnosis and that she'd found an organization
- 4:25that specifically focused on adults.
- 4:28And I was like, okay, this is it.
- 4:30Like I'm doing it.
- 4:31Like, let's make it happen.
- 4:32And so finally, you know, got the diagnosis and there were no surprises.
- 4:37Right?
- 4:38What was interesting was the language and beginning to understand like where my
- 4:44challenges are and where I need support.
- 4:47And I think for most of it, I kind of knew.
- 4:49I just felt like this part's really hard and so getting some clarity
- 4:54on that, getting some language around that was really vital.
- 4:57But really again, it came through my kids, it came through
- 5:00understanding their experience and then starting to question my own.
- 5:04I love that.
- 5:05I love that.
- 5:05And I'm happy that, you know, you're able to, as you say, have the
- 5:08conversations with your children, with your son in particular, that the
- 5:12teachers couldn't and then you know, understanding him helped you to understand
- 5:17even yourself and your childhood.
- 5:18Mm-hmm.
- 5:19Yeah.
- 5:20So, I mean, but through that discovery, is there any way that you can see that
- 5:24it's connected in, you know, you're an actress, you're a TEDx speaker.
- 5:28How has that now raveled into or unraveled to do that.
- 5:33Oh, that's why I've, you know, I've been successful at certain things
- 5:37like acting in the corporate world, in leadership and now entrepreneurship.
- 5:42So I, I am really, really good at masking.
- 5:45Mm.
- 5:46I'm really good at performing.
- 5:48Mm.
- 5:49At the age of around eight, I started performing.
- 5:52I started pretending.
- 5:53I learned that if I wanted to feel safe, then I needed to be
- 5:57what other people needed me to be.
- 5:59So learning really early, how do I behave so people don't get mad at me?
- 6:05Mm-hmm.
- 6:05How do I behave so that people feel like I'm, you know, normal.
- 6:09Mm-hmm.
- 6:10That was a through line in how I interacted in the world.
- 6:15Mm-hmm.
- 6:15So really, really young I started figuring out how to pretend.
- 6:19Mm-hmm.
- 6:19And then I discovered theater and this was a space where I
- 6:23really kind of honed that craft.
- 6:24And so I think I was really successful.
- 6:27Or you know, more successful than a lot of other folks at masking,
- 6:30because I had the theater training to kind of help me to do that.
- 6:35And I had a driver, like the internal driver was the safety right?
- 6:38Feeling like I needed to get this right, if I wanted to be safe.
- 6:44And so that fire made me much more intentional about getting that right.
- 6:50So then jump forward into my adult life, at this point I've been masking for years.
- 6:56I had been, we moved around a lot when I was a kid, and so I had to
- 6:59learn how to step into new spaces and build a persona and create safety and
- 7:04create relationships really quickly.
- 7:07And so I'm great at jumping into new things and creating what
- 7:11this particular situation needs.
- 7:14And then you, you know, you look at me climbing the corporate ladder.
- 7:19Well, I was, I think better able to figure out how do I behave
- 7:24in each one of these situations?
- 7:25How do I behave in this environment?
- 7:27How do I deal with this manager?
- 7:29Mm-hmm.
- 7:29All of those things, because I had been masking and I had been learning how to
- 7:33understand people and figure out what they needed from a very early age.
- 7:38So I think it was really helpful for me playing through right
- 7:43in every step of the way.
- 7:45And the theater supported it, but then maybe I also had a little bit more
- 7:49of a natural inclination towards it.
- 7:50So it was cyclical, right?
- 7:53And you know, and then now you know, here we are.
- 7:56Right?
- 7:56So I've done a lot of leadership training.
- 7:59I've trained people on how to navigate spaces, but that training
- 8:04comes from all of my years of having to figure that out myself.
- 8:08And so boiling things down to rules and tips and tricks and like, what's the
- 8:14quick, like efficient way to get to the best possible outcome, all of those things
- 8:21mean that I have a different perspective on how I interact in the world and I can
- 8:26help other people to kinda shift their perspective and navigate in similar ways.
- 8:30You know, Naeemah, I love what you're saying and I, it's also because
- 8:34that's something, I mean talking about and even pondering on, you
- 8:38know, that no journey's ever wasted.
- 8:40Like I'm listening to you saying that you as a child, you moved many places,
- 8:44you had to adapt and, you know, get familiar, look at the situation, the
- 8:48new environment, and adapt accordingly.
- 8:50And that's my story too, and I didn't like it.
- 8:52And from listening to you, and one of the threads that we're running through
- 8:57your recounting your childhood is that that safety, you know, wanting to feel
- 9:02safe, learning to mask and I guess during your childhood, that childhood
- 9:09period, you didn't like it, but it has come into, you know, come to be helpful
- 9:14to you and to others because now you can help others, you know, navigate the
- 9:20corporate world because you understand, you're able to assess the situation very
- 9:24quickly and come up with quick tips.
- 9:26So in some ways it's been an advantage, even though it has been hard.
- 9:31That's right.
- 9:32And there are challenges to it as well.
- 9:34I spent some time with my family last week and we were talking about this, right?
- 9:39We were talking about like what it means to have moved around so much.
- 9:42And our collective superpower for all of us is that we're really good at
- 9:47stepping into new environments and establishing ourselves really quickly.
- 9:52What we're not good at is maintaining relationships, right?
- 9:56What we're not good at is that through line, that long term, that
- 10:01maintenance over long periods of time.
- 10:04It just wasn't part of our foundation.
- 10:06We moved so often that you didn't have to learn how to keep a relationship
- 10:10going for more than a couple of years, because you're gonna have to go make a
- 10:14whole new group of friends and you're maybe never gonna see those people again.
- 10:17Mm-hmm.
- 10:18And in my adult life, I changed jobs every year and a half to two years.
- 10:22And so I was constantly moving around and for part of that time, you know,
- 10:2513 years I spent at one company.
- 10:28Mm-hmm.
- 10:28So while I moved around, you know, jobs every year and a half in that company.
- 10:33I was in the same company, and so a lot of those relationships I was able to
- 10:36maintain throughout the time, even if I didn't work with the people day to day.
- 10:42But the same thing happened that happens whenever I leave a company,
- 10:45and that was when I left it.
- 10:47It was a lot harder to maintain those relationships because I
- 10:50didn't have the built in day-to-day.
- 10:53That I had when I was at the company.
- 10:55And so what that translates to, you know, as I get a better understanding
- 10:58of how my brain works, is that I have a deficit in object permanence.
- 11:02Mm-hmm.
- 11:04And so for little kids, if you cover their eyes, they think you've gone.
- 11:10Yes.
- 11:10Right?
- 11:10They can't see you.
- 11:11They don't know that you're still there.
- 11:13And that's why Peekaboo is such a fun game for little kids.
- 11:15Mm-hmm.
- 11:16When you take your hand away from their eyes and they can see you, it's like
- 11:19you appeared and it's kind of magical.
- 11:22Well, imagine having a little bit of that left in you as an adult.
- 11:26Mm-hmm.
- 11:27Where the object permanence, it exists when the person is in front of you,
- 11:32but you don't necessarily, like, you're not thinking about them in the same
- 11:36way when they're not in front of you.
- 11:38So that becomes really challenging for maintaining friendships,
- 11:41maintaining relationships and it's not intentional, right?
- 11:44Like, and that's the thing that's been a challenge for me, is that
- 11:46I think people get offended.
- 11:48They get really upset because I don't do a great job of, you know, of maintenance,
- 11:54but it's not an intentional thing.
- 11:55It's a side effect of how my brain works in the world.
- 11:59Yes.
- 11:59And I get it because...
- 12:02mm-hmm.
- 12:02In a way, I'm similar to you in that, like, I've moved quite often and it
- 12:07is not that I forget my friends, but I don't need, like, I have a niece
- 12:12who's like, auntie, don't you wanna just, you know, go back or don't you
- 12:15want to go out and make new friends?
- 12:17And I'm like, you know, actually I'm peaceful where I am, you know?
- 12:21Yes.
- 12:21And I'm okay where I am.
- 12:24But as talking with you as I talk with you, I mean, I'm recognizing
- 12:27some things in myself too, you know, in the sense that, yeah.
- 12:31I keep in touch, but at the same time, I don't hold on to things for too long.
- 12:35Mm-hmm.
- 12:35I'm very adaptable and as I've told my family, I can live anywhere.
- 12:39Yeah.
- 12:40But that took years to understand and be comfortable in that space, you know?
- 12:45Yeah.
- 12:46So, wow.
- 12:47So everything else in life, there are pros and cons and the pros
- 12:54in some way has worked for you.
- 12:56It has enabled you to help others to, you know, move up the
- 12:59corporate ladder to... your acting.
- 13:03It came, it was almost like it was a innate because you didn't have
- 13:06to really put on too much or learn too hard or work too hard at it.
- 13:10You worked at it, but it was innate.
- 13:13'cause you developed it over the years, you know?
- 13:16So about what about some of your other family members?
- 13:19I mean, have they also had similar experiences to you?
- 13:23Because I was saying to actually I was talking to my children and saying
- 13:28it took me years to realize that the family I grew up with, everybody looked
- 13:33at their parents in a different way, even though we had the same parents.
- 13:37Yeah.
- 13:37But our experiences were different.
- 13:38Did you find the same thing with your family?
- 13:41Oh, absolutely.
- 13:42So I have five siblings and...
- 13:44Like me.
- 13:45Yeah.
- 13:46And one of the things I think we realized after my father's
- 13:51funeral, we were all together having lunch, talking, sharing stories.
- 13:57And I think that was the point that we realized that we each had a different
- 14:00relationship with him and he had shared different stories with each person.
- 14:05So when we started to share stories, we realized that we each had a different
- 14:09aspect of his life and we're like, we at some point need to put all this
- 14:13together and tell this story because he had such a rich life and he shared
- 14:19different pieces of it with each of us.
- 14:21I think my father had a whole journey with mental illness and with addiction,
- 14:28and so depending on birth order, you got to see different pieces of that.
- 14:32I think my older siblings from his first two marriages saw a very
- 14:38different person and by the time he found my mom he had settled.
- 14:44He had become the adult that he was aspiring to be.
- 14:48And so they got a child, they got an evolving person, not a fully formed adult.
- 14:56And my mom got the fully formed adult.
- 14:59And so we had a very different experience than our older siblings
- 15:03did you know, with our dad.
- 15:06But we did see sort of the tail end of him really settling early in my childhood.
- 15:14And then we also saw how he began to lose, you know, unravel and lose
- 15:20the, you know, the connection to his sobriety and his sort of ownership of
- 15:24his sanity as his life wore on, right?
- 15:28Mm-hmm.
- 15:28So we had a sweet spot.
- 15:29And so there's six kids.
- 15:31My mom's six kids.
- 15:33And the oldest and the youngest I think had different experiences with my dad
- 15:37than the four of us in the center.
- 15:40We also, I think all have our own varying degrees of challenge with, you know,
- 15:46physical and mental, you know, illnesses.
- 15:48So I have one brother who has ADHD just like off the charts
- 15:53and as kids, it was really fun.
- 15:55He was the one that.
- 15:57Would bring really interesting chaos and we'd have great adventures together.
- 16:02Okay.
- 16:02And as an adult, I imagine that it's really challenging for him
- 16:05because he needs to be steady.
- 16:08He is a father and a husband, and a businessman, and it's necessary for him
- 16:13to maintain a steady center in order to be able to provide for his family, be
- 16:22a good husband, and be the person that he needs to lead, be in his family.
- 16:25And so I think he has a lot of, you know, a lot more challenges with that.
- 16:29I have another brother that really kind of struggles with depression and that's,
- 16:34you know, really difficult for him.
- 16:35And so I would say, you know, when we sit and we talk about it and we think about
- 16:38it, it is hereditary and we've got mental illness challenges throughout our family
- 16:43and I've dealt with a lot of different things over the course of my life.
- 16:47And I have been, you know, my choice was to not be medicated and I made
- 16:51that choice really young and I studied behavioral psychology and I learned
- 16:56how to use behavioral tools to manage my energy and then more recently I've
- 17:04learned about food and how food affects my energy, my mood, my psychology.
- 17:10And so when I am fueling my body properly, I'm healthier mentally and physically.
- 17:17And when I'm eating junk, I spiral.
- 17:20Yes.
- 17:21Right?
- 17:21And so I think we're all on our own journeys of figuring out how do we manage
- 17:28the various different challenges in the, you know, in the deck that we've
- 17:32been dealt and we talk openly about it.
- 17:36That's really important.
- 17:38We share our experiences with each other and our challenges with each other.
- 17:42We go to each other for guidance and for feedback as we are figuring
- 17:47things out and we are close enough.
- 17:51And trust each other enough that we give like the hard feedback, right?
- 17:56Like I have one brother who he'll say to me occasionally, you go dark.
- 18:01And I'm reminded that, you know, when I'm in the world, part of my mask is
- 18:06that I need to bring positive energy.
- 18:08Mm-hmm.
- 18:09And not that I'm a negative person, but I bring positive energy.
- 18:13I think that that's important.
- 18:14I think when I share positive energy, then I receive positive energy, and
- 18:17that's really strong and helpful for me.
- 18:19Mm-hmm.
- 18:19But when I'm in a safe space, hanging out with my siblings,
- 18:23talking about our childhood, talking about things, you know, that have
- 18:26happened, I've got some dark memories.
- 18:29I've got some sad memories.
- 18:30I've got some relationships that feel, you know, really negative.
- 18:33Really?
- 18:34Yes.
- 18:34And so he'll say to me, you know, you always go dark.
- 18:38Like keep it light.
- 18:39Keep it light.
- 18:40But there are spaces where you talk about the things that are
- 18:43a little bit more difficult and family tends to be that space.
- 18:47And so he gets a little bit of a darker side of me than
- 18:50the rest of the world gets.
- 18:51Wow.
- 18:52Wow.
- 18:53Yeah.
- 18:54I could understand that.
- 18:55'cause as you say, it's a safe space.
- 18:57So you let down the mask and you're you.
- 18:59Mm-hmm.
- 19:01Yes, yes.
- 19:02Yeah.
- 19:02And so, listening to you, it seems like, these experiences have helped you,
- 19:06like, as you said, when you're in the world helped you kind master your way or
- 19:10navigate your way through the world as a leader, as a coach, and even as a parent.
- 19:16Mm-hmm.
- 19:17Yeah.
- 19:19So, whoa.
- 19:20I know you're a TEDx speaker.
- 19:23Yes.
- 19:23Before we round up, just tell us a little about how did you get
- 19:26into that space, because that's.
- 19:31Yeah.
- 19:31One of the things that I realized a while ago that I do is that
- 19:36I declare something, right?
- 19:37I decide on a goal or, and sometimes it's even a whim, right?
- 19:41And I'll just say it out loud like, I'm gonna do this.
- 19:44Mm-hmm.
- 19:44And then once I say it, I create accountability.
- 19:47Both self-accountability, but also accountability because somebody else
- 19:50is like, Hey, have you done that yet?
- 19:52Mm-hmm.
- 19:52You said you were gonna do that.
- 19:53Like, it's that happening.
- 19:55And so I create this space of both myself and other people checking
- 20:00in and saying, did this happen yet?
- 20:02Because I've said it out loud.
- 20:04And the TEDx is one of those things.
- 20:06Mm-hmm.
- 20:07I started thinking about it, it was kind of back of mind.
- 20:10I did a like this upgrade your life in business challenge.
- 20:14And one of the things that they asked us in the program was,
- 20:19what are your goals for 2025?
- 20:22Right?
- 20:22Like, what are the things that you're going to accomplish?
- 20:26And one of mine was, I just said, I'm gonna do a TEDx.
- 20:30And then once I, it just came out and I didn't realize I was thinking about it.
- 20:34I didn't realize it was a goal, I just said it.
- 20:37And maybe people had mentioned to me, oh, you should do a TED Talk and you
- 20:41know, and I'm like, ah, I don't know.
- 20:42We'll see.
- 20:42Right?
- 20:43And then once I said it, it started to feel like a real thing.
- 20:48And then I did a goal setting program and in the goal setting program,
- 20:51again, they were asking like, what are you gonna accomplish next year?
- 20:55And I said, I'm gonna do a TEDx.
- 20:57So I did some research.
- 20:59I went to the TED site and I did research into all of the TED organizations
- 21:04around me, which were the ones that I could get to really easily, and that
- 21:09was important because my assumption was that there was a physical component
- 21:12that I was gonna have to go to, like a weekly rehearsal or something.
- 21:15And so I found the ones around me.
- 21:18I went to all of their websites and I signed up for their
- 21:20newsletters and then that was it.
- 21:22I was like, okay, I've done that and now, you know, we'll figure it out from here.
- 21:26And then the first one happened and they sent me the application link.
- 21:32And I thought about it and I thought about it, and I went in and here what's
- 21:35funny, I went in and I looked at the first two questions and it was a form.
- 21:39So there were questions on multiple pages, but I didn't realize that.
- 21:43So I looked at the first two questions and then I sat and I spent some time
- 21:46with it, and I wrote my concept and I, and my concept was around this
- 21:50idea of thriving as an outsider and I didn't talk about the outsider concept
- 21:55through the lens of neurodivergence because I wasn't there yet.
- 21:58Mm-hmm.
- 21:58At that point, I was just thinking about all of the spaces in the world
- 22:02that I've occupied as an outsider, and what that means for me in terms of how
- 22:06I show up in the world, but also what it means in terms of lessons for how
- 22:09other people can show up in the world.
- 22:11Mm-hmm.
- 22:12So I really like workshops.
- 22:14The answer to this question, I sent it out for feedback and
- 22:17got really intentional about it.
- 22:19And then about two hours before the deadline I was like,
- 22:21oh, I gotta get this done.
- 22:22Oh my gosh.
- 22:23ADHD like it I need the deadline.
- 22:25And so I sat down and I put that answer in and I was like, okay, I'm gonna be good.
- 22:30And then I go to the next page and there's four more questions.
- 22:33Oh, no.
- 22:35So these questions got no workshopping, no outside feedback, anything.
- 22:39It was just this intense focused like, how do I want to answer these questions?
- 22:42What does this mean to me?
- 22:44And I just, you know, I got through them and submitted the application
- 22:49literally two minutes before it was done.
- 22:51Are you serious?
- 22:53And this is, you know, I had an hour long hour and a half long
- 22:57workshop on thriving as an outsider.
- 22:58I had been talking about it in the world.
- 23:00I had been coaching about it.
- 23:01So it wasn't like the content was new.
- 23:04Okay.
- 23:04But I definitely had to just like rapid fire, like organize it in a way
- 23:09to be able to answer these questions.
- 23:11So, got that done, got it submitted, and then and then I got an email.
- 23:19About a month and a half later saying that I had made it through the first round.
- 23:23And the next step for this application process was that they wanted us to
- 23:27do like a movie trailer style video.
- 23:30And so we were supposed to do, I think it was like a two to three minute video
- 23:34where we kind of jumped through some segments of what we wanted our talk to be.
- 23:40And so that meant thinking about now, what does it look like?
- 23:44Sort of beginning, middle, and end?
- 23:46What are some of the lessons that I think I want people to learn?
- 23:49How do I think it closes?
- 23:51That kind of thing.
- 23:52And again, last day, so I had written the script and workshop the script and
- 23:58thought about what I wanted to be, and on the final day, I got up that morning
- 24:04and did a bunch of recording, right?
- 24:06All the different pieces of it repeatedly, and I said, okay, I'm ready for this.
- 24:10And then I went out and like did a movie marathon with a girlfriend.
- 24:14Okay.
- 24:15So now again, 10:00 PM and the deadline is midnight.
- 24:18I've gotta edit this.
- 24:20And I had to figure out some editing techniques and there were some
- 24:23things that weren't working, and of course, technical difficulties.
- 24:26Tell me about it.
- 24:26And finally got it done and didn't process that it was gonna take
- 24:30time to upload into YouTube.
- 24:32Oh my gosh, yes.
- 24:34So again, a minute before it's due.
- 24:40I'm hitting submit, but I work really well under pressure.
- 24:45That's that, that's a feature of how I show up in the world.
- 24:48Mm.
- 24:48And so I got it done.
- 24:49I got it submitted, and then I was selected, right?
- 24:52So for my first one.
- 24:54I was selected and and then we went through this whole amazing process.
- 24:58We had, you know, weekly meetings.
- 25:00I worked with a coach and a partner and we sort of went through the journey together.
- 25:04Our cohort was eight speakers, and so we built relationships with that
- 25:08entire community, and we had two months where we worked really closely
- 25:12together to build out all of our talks.
- 25:14And it was an incredible experience.
- 25:17It was so invigorating.
- 25:18It was just like, like it filled my heart.
- 25:21I learned more about myself and how I show up in the world.
- 25:24I learned about my fears and the challenges that I face.
- 25:28I learned about you know, the techniques that are necessary and
- 25:32the feedback that I need to be able to show up as my best self.
- 25:36I also learned what it looks like to do preparation.
- 25:38Mm-hmm.
- 25:39Like I said, my application process was all very last minute and I did some prep
- 25:42work, but it was all very last minute.
- 25:44And the TEDx prep for this organization was two months.
- 25:49So a month of writing and a month of practice, and I'm not used to
- 25:53putting that much time into a talk.
- 25:55I generally write them much closer to the date that I'm actually delivering them.
- 26:01And so I got to feel like what it felt like to be a little bit more
- 26:06prepared, a little bit more solid on the content and the memorization part.
- 26:10I hate memorizing.
- 26:11I generally deliver based on bullet points and notes and
- 26:15not like a fully scripted talk.
- 26:17And so that was an interesting experience for me having to memorize and having
- 26:21to fully rely on my brain because I always feel like my brain's gonna
- 26:25let me down and I wanna have notes.
- 26:29I wanna be able to just kind of go with the flow a little bit more and not feel
- 26:32like perfect memorization is a goal.
- 26:34'cause that's always scary.
- 26:36I can get you that.
- 26:38And here we are, ladies and gentlemen, speaking to a TEDx speaker.
- 26:42Oh wow.
- 26:43That's why I said I was blown away when you said yes.
- 26:46Alright,
- 26:50but as we wrap up here, what message, therefore, because ladies and
- 26:53gentlemen, you can see in spite of being diagnosed with ADHD and autism.
- 27:00Naeemah is here talking with us.
- 27:02As you can see, knowing too that, you know, these things can be a diagnosis
- 27:08that you can either be sad about or you can use it to your advantage.
- 27:12And so what message can you leave with the viewers and listeners now
- 27:15about embracing their own wiring and seeing neurodivergence not as a
- 27:23hindrance, but more as a possibility?
- 27:26Because I mean, just listening to you and I'm so excited to hear that, right?
- 27:31Yeah.
- 27:33So I'll say one thing, and that is that I think a lot of mothers
- 27:38discover our neurodivergence journey through the journey of our children.
- 27:43Mm-hmm.
- 27:44So as our children navigate these challenges, we start to see the
- 27:48similarities in how they interact in the world, in how we are.
- 27:52And so that was what guided me.
- 27:54That was what sort of brought me to this conversation, I would say.
- 27:58I think it's really important to talk about your mental health journey.
- 28:02I think therapists are amazing and psychiatrists are incredible, and
- 28:06it's really important to be able to have open conversations about our
- 28:09mental health journeys because it's gonna be really helpful for you in
- 28:14realizing that you're not alone.
- 28:15Right?
- 28:15Yeah.
- 28:15That I'm not alone piece is really important.
- 28:18Yes.
- 28:18The other piece of it is that, our brains are wired... in theory, our
- 28:22brains are wired in such a way that we should be able to figure it out, right?
- 28:27Mm-hmm.
- 28:28And so it's not a, you know, it's not a plus or a minus, it just is, right?
- 28:32And I've been able to figure out, how do I make this work
- 28:36because I didn't have a choice.
- 28:38I'm the oldest girl of six kids, and we know the responsibility
- 28:42that falls on the oldest girl.
- 28:43And so I was always expected to figure out and make it work.
- 28:46And so I did, I think.
- 28:50My journey is unique in that I kind of figured a bunch of things out
- 28:55and then later I was able to put labels on it and understand why
- 28:59things worked the way that they did.
- 29:01I think knowledge is power and the more you know and understand about
- 29:06yourself and how your brain works.
- 29:08The more peace you have with it, right?
- 29:11So I'm not changing my life because I got this diagnosis, but the language in
- 29:17this report and the language from the psychiatrist gave me a lot of insight
- 29:21into why things are the way they are, and my reaction to it was very similar
- 29:27to my son's reaction, and that was, there are places where I'm hard on
- 29:31myself and there are places where I'm mad at myself, and this is giving me a
- 29:36better understanding of why I work the way that I do, and I have more patience.
- 29:42And having patience with yourself creates a level of calm and capability that
- 29:47was actually very surprising for me.
- 29:50So the diagnosis doesn't need to make you upset.
- 29:55It should bring you calm.
- 29:57It should help you to understand why you've navigated your life
- 30:02the way that you have, why things operate the way that they do.
- 30:06And that for me, brought me calm and it brought me a lot of peace.
- 30:11Yeah.
- 30:12And as you said, so I just jotted down and that patience with yourself brought peace.
- 30:18Yeah.
- 30:18Within yourself, I'm sure.
- 30:20Yeah.
- 30:21Yeah.
- 30:23Naeemah, this has been fantastic and woo, I could talk with you forever,
- 30:27but we have to leave room For those who've joined us, as guest members can
- 30:31get an opportunity to speak with you.
- 30:33But for someone who's looking at this later or listening to this
- 30:38and who would like to engage with you, how can they find you online?
- 30:43Yeah, so the place that I generally operate is LinkedIn and so Naeemah
- 30:47Elias on LinkedIn, that's my happy space and I'm on there every day.
- 30:51And so you can message me, you can connect to me, and I'd love
- 30:55to continue this conversation.
- 30:56As I said, this is new for me.
- 30:58I just got my diagnosis a couple of months ago, and so I'm exploring it with
- 31:03new eyes, and that's pretty exciting.
- 31:04And so I would love to continue the conversation with folks and
- 31:08get, you know, learn more about.
- 31:10Other people's experiences and how people have navigated this journey.
- 31:15I'm also on Instagram as Lady Elias, and if you want to look
- 31:21at my parenting stuff, right?
- 31:23So I've got a whole YouTube channel about parenting.
- 31:26That's Lucky Mommy.
- 31:27So we'll have all of that in the show notes so that people can
- 31:31follow and can connect and have more conversations in this space.
- 31:35Thank you so much Naeemah, and just as Naeemah said, LinkedIn is my happy space.
- 31:41So if you'd like to connect with me and be a guest on the show, reach out
- 31:45to me first and foremost on LinkedIn and then you can also message me.
- 31:50I'm going to the contact page of my website, which is
- 31:52Chatting with the Experts.
- 31:54I'm also on Instagram.
- 31:56My business handle there is at chat_experts_podcast.
- 32:02I'm on Facebook.
- 32:03My business page is Chatting with the Experts and I'm on YouTube.
- 32:09Please subscribe and like the videos that I have on YouTube.
- 32:15It's not primarily about me.
- 32:17It's about these amazing women, professional women, successful
- 32:22entrepreneurial women from Africa, from the Caribbean, and in the
- 32:25diaspora who have a mission.
- 32:28And that mission is to educate, to inspire and empower women all over the world.
- 32:36Thank you so much, Naeemah, for being a guest on Chatting with the Experts.
- 32:41And now we'll open up the floor to all those who joined us.
- 32:45And I say this every week so that they can ask you questions that I forgot to ask.
- 32:49I didn't even think of asking.
- 32:51And so that we can continue this conversation.
- 32:54Thank you again.