Vaishali Joshi

Transcript

At just 17 years of age, I took a plane from Kenya to Canada. My parents taking one of the biggest risks of their life, sending me halfway around the world with a pretty clearly defined notion of better future. Blue air mail envelopes plastered in stamps became my connection to my past as well as a non-stop reminder that I could not fail. Five years later, in the midst of a deep recession, I'm talking 13% prime rate type of recession. I wasn't just surviving and freezing and struggling.

I was thriving and freezing. But luckily, I had nabbed a pretty good job. So, 6:30 in the morning, I'm plugging away at my computer when this deep voice behind me says, "Good morning, Alicia. Why so early?" I looked at the screen. It was my reflection of my boss's boss, Steve. I swiveled that chair with his fake it till you make it confidence. Hi Steve, it's two-year forecast day today. Steve was already preoccupied with the envelope on the desk. That's a lot of stamps, Alicia.

Is that from Kenya? I happily said, "Yes, it's from my grandfather." He picked up the envelope, looked at it, studied it closely, and the interrogation began. Who is Vish Vishalah? Vishali, is that you? Instantly, I was transported to the day of my final interview where the recruiter on campus struggled to say my name over and over, turning it into all kinds of things like Michelle, Shelley, Alicia, Joshy, and I, after some time just stopped correcting him because as far as I was concerned, he could call me George.

I just needed the job. But then it got weird. The offer letter had came to the attention of Alicia Joshy and I quietly signed it away. So now I had to own it. I had to be Alicia Joshy. So the name plate on my cubicle said Alicia Joshy. And the day I got my Canadian citizenship, the red and white banners dawned Alicia Joshy. So here I stood right beside Steve. That blue envelope staring right back at me. my grandfather practically shouting at me to speak my truth.

And through the buzz of my father's voice saying, "Play it safe. Play it safe. Don't lose this job." I stepped back as my conscience completely overtook my fear. I lifted my eye gaze and I looked at Steve and I said, "It's me. I think it was a mistake. It was at that interview on campus." And and of course, he slashed right through it. Are you telling me that nobody called you Alicia until we interviewed you? I was nauseous. I think my grandfather was sitting in my lap smiling back at Steve and I wanted to run and find my own little parachute, but instead I found myself racing to save Steve from jumping off his own cliff.

It's okay, Steve. It was a mistake. I'm sure he didn't mean it. He placed the envelope back on the desk, looked at me squarely. What do you prefer to be called? No breath to be found. I dug deep into my throat and pulled out the last word. I choked Vishali. He put the envelope back on the desk, disappeared, and next thing I knew, same day, the name plate was changed to Vishali Joshy. An email from Steve reintroduced me to all of my colleagues of many months.

That was weird. And then the office rumor mill, well for weeks after sold everything from humor to wit to bewilderment to anger and even guilt. But just like that, Alicia vanished and a boulder vitali was in the room. At 22 years old, I was too young to take that risk. Some dim corner of my brain convinced me that it was better to bring Alicia to life than to correct somebody about my name. just one more time. But the reward I got that day paid forward in droves because as I went on to lead hundreds of people through organizational change, I paid close attention to people's identity and value systems.

And when you couple that with understanding how much well-being means to them, how much their growth means to them, they were willing to take risks with me. They were willing to win and lose with me. And together we flexed over and over until we made positive change together. In a world where millions of us are going to have to reskill, upskill, and reinvent ourselves just to remain relevant, it is our agility of mind that is going to keep us anchored in who we are and still be able to fully belong to others.

So when you take the risk of letting go of your past, your plight, and your reason to be right, you actually invite the reward of freeing yourself from those limiting small stories that make you do strange things like let somebody rename you or not stop the show to get somebody's name right. So ladies and gentlemen, my name is Vishali Ramishchandra Jooshi.

Transcript generated from the recording and lightly cleaned. Some names and wording may differ from the spoken speech.