How great leaders grow others through mentoring and inclusion
Shownotes
In this episode Neha Samar, Founder of the Flamingo Project, shares the power of mentoring and her passion for creating pathways for women, who aren’t on the leadership track or who may not have available financial resources, to access the skills and advice of wise elders.
Neha is an Indian migrant who lives in northern Victoria and we discuss her experience of being a woman of colour in regional Australia. She talks about the practical strategies leaders, organisations and businesses can implement to be more inclusive and the wonderful benefits that result.
Cultivate is also the title of Cynthia Mahoney’s first book, it’s about how neuroscience and well-being can support leaders to build happier, healthier teams who are ready to thrive.
Links:
Website: www.theflamingoproject.com.au
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theflamingoprojectbyneha/
Transcript
Hello everyone and welcome to the Cultivate podcast, the podcast for leaders who want to cultivate healthier, happier, and more human workplaces and lives. I’d like to acknowledge that I’m recording on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation, and I pay my respects to their elders past, present and emerging. And I extend my respect to any First Nations people we might have listening today. So I’m very excited today to be interviewing the amazing and wonderful Neha Samar. And Neha is a resident of Greater Shepperton and she works for a federally funded organization that supports young people to reengage with education. And I asked her to come on board and have a chat on the Cultivate podcast this week to talk about her special project, The Flamingo Project, of which she’s the founder and it’s a no cost mentoring program for women living in the Goulburn Valley.
Cynthia
Neha is a board director for Goulburn, Local Learning and Employment Network and the Greatest Shepperton and Foundation. She’s a fairly fellow from 2021 and that’s the leadership program in the Goulburn Valley, the Fairly Leadership Program, which is a terrific community leadership program. And she’s on committees such as Greater Shepperton Women’s Charter, the L G B T I Q A plus committee and the Victorian Regional Multi-Cultural Advisory Committee for the Hume Region. Neha welcome and I’m very pleased to have you on board. Would you like to just introduce yourself and let us know what you’re up to currently and what you are doing in the Goulburn Valley?
Neha Samar
Sure. Thank you Cynthia for having me today and it’s an absolute pleasure to be on this podcast with you and yeah, having a chat. So my name is Neha Samar and I’m from Shepperton and I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land, which I am on today. So I worked for a federally funded organization, which is called the Indie College and Indie School. I’m also a mom to two beautiful boys, Rys two and Asher is five. He starts school next year, which is a whole lot of emotions which I’m not ready for but we’ll get there. And I moved to Shepperton in 2015 and early 2016 and it’s been quite a journey since then. I’ve been in different roles and I’m really lucky to be in the education space because to work with young people and to actually understand the challenges that our youth face and how do we make that better. So one of my roles involves also working with the schools in these schools all over Australia and understanding that what can we do better to cater to our young people.
Cynthia
So this brings us up to the Flamingo Project. Obviously one of your passions is young people and so you founded the Flamingo Project. I’d just love it if you could tell us more about it and what it is that you are really proud of about the Flamingo Project.
Neha Samar
So I spoke a bit about my Babies Flamingo Project is my baby as well. I <laugh> and the reason I started the Flamingo Project, it wasn’t out of want, it was out of need when I moved to Shepperton being a regional place in Australia. And I really didn’t know that what lies ahead for me because I thought I had heaps of experience working all over the world and I had my education qualifications and I thought, you know what? It’s not going to be that difficult for me to find a job because here I am, a person with decades of experience but I was wrong. And then some <laugh> when I first moved here I had to really struggle for a job. I walked down door to door from house to house, from shop to shop, hand my resume in to whomever that would gimme a chance would hire me.
Neha Samar
But that didn’t happen unfortunately. And it’s not to blame anyone or to say that moving to regional Australia was the wrong choice. No, but it was just because I’ve realized that it’s people would give someone who’s already living here a chance before, someone who’s just entered for the region. But I didn’t stop there. I started to talk to people as I go, as I went and I met this lady at the library and I told her that I was looking for a job and she kept me in mind when something came up and she gave me a call and this was totally out of the blue and I landed my first job cause of her. And that’s a time something I realized it’s not about what you know it’s about who you know. And then when I did my leadership program of a leadership program, I came across so many women who were coming in talking about their lives and their experience and how they have reached a certain position in their work while being moms, while being everything that I was at that stage and I thought, what’s stopping me from being where they are and how they got there.
Neha Samar
And when I reflected upon it, I realized that what’s actually me is getting to know these people, talking to them, realizing how they did that and having that conversation with them. And then upon more in reflection I realized that I was in a fortunate position to do this leadership program to actually meet these leaders to talk to them. But where I was a year ago, I would not have imagined coming across these women, being in a workplace from nine to five, coming home watching something on Netflix and going to bed was my life. It still is in many ways, but that one unfortunately opened up so many doors for me to make that connection. However, I did also realize that I was in a position of privilege because I was able to pay for that leadership program. And many others like me in the program were either in a position to be sponsored by their organizations, were already in leadership positions or were already at a certain point in their lives where that opportunity was either given to them or they have applied for it and they got it because of the position they were in their professional life.
Neha Samar
But why wasn’t this available to anyone specifically women to access why these connections were made into something that was you had to work for it not in the way that you know, go up with them and call them and ask them if they would be able to meet but work for them in a way that you have to be in a leadership position at your work. That’s what really got me thinking about starting a mentorship program locally that wasn’t really hard for someone to achieve, for someone to be a part of that did have strings attached to it that didn’t have fees attached to it. It was purely based on tell me what you wants and I’ll connect you to the person. If I don’t know that person, I’ll find that person for you. And I wanted to make the best of my fair leadership experience and the connections that I made through it, I didn’t want it to stop right there.
Neha Samar
And I was like how do I make this into an ongoing thing and how do I make the best of the people I’ve met here? And when I started the Flamingo project in 2021 in October we had about 10 people who we started with five mentors and five mentees. All of the five mentors and mentees, they are still in contact and they have made such good relations. And the overwhelming feedback that I received was cause it wasn’t very structured, it wasn’t like didn’t have to follow everything that was in plans for them. It’s a very basic concept that I wanted to start with that I’m going to connect you to somebody you think might help you and someone who is in a position to say that yes, I can give my dime to someone to build them out. And the whole idea about this was they can meet when they have the time they set the times, they set their goals, I was there for the moral support and give them the initial sort of paperwork. And the paperwork is basically just for them to have as a guideline if they feel like they’re lost and they want to redefine their purpose or why they’re here. So I’m there for that. But they have stepped into this mentorship program knowing that they are responsible for meeting each other where they want to, how they want, what their goals were and after six months where they would like to be.
Cynthia
So it was a little baby flamingo in 2021. Yeah. So what’s the one year old flamingo looking like now and what’s really stuck with you about the impact and what do you feel really proud about?
Neha Samar
I got a call two days ago to say one of the mentees who has joined has gotten a job because of a mentor. And I don’t think I deserved the credit because all I did was connect them, but she was in tears on the phone telling me how thankful she was for that connection that I had for me.
Cynthia
Oh that is so wonderful. I bet you had some tears too.
Neha Samar
You try to fact, I have goosebumps now talking about we tried to gather on the phone and I’m like, this is exactly why this gives me all the happiness in the world. Because the whole purpose of starting was just to connect people but it resulting into jobs, it resulting into making new networks. And one more like pair from last year’s first batch. And I think I can use their names because they wouldn’t mind Aspen and Angela , they’re really good pair and they used to meet every month or every fortnight when Aspen started the program, she wanted to be nominated for one of the local awards that she wanted to be nominated for and she did get nominated and Angie helped her out to build those connections and she was there step by step. And when that did happen, she gave me a call and she told me about it as well. She’s like, Yes, we did it. <laugh>.
Cynthia
Yes, I’ve just reading an article that I posted on LinkedIn about the Flamingo Project and it was the young professional of the year.
Neha Samar
That is correct, yes. The young professional award of the year. That’s correct. When Aspen joined the Flamingo, that was her goal in mind and she with her vast experience of the region and her connections helped her out step by step and build her name in the she region when it comes to volunteering or any sort of help that Aspen needed. So that was really a beautiful thing to see. And there was this other pair Rutu and Sonya was an aeronautical engineer once upon a time before she started nursing and she approached me, she said that I’m looking to change my careers but I have no idea where to start. She was new to Shepperton as well and she said, Look, I do want to go into nursing but I’m apprehensive. I don’t know, I’ve heard that there’s a lot of pressure in the whole medical industry and all of that.
Neha Samar
So I connected her to Sonya who is a prosthetic cancer nurse and she’s been doing that for 30 years and very experienced person today is Sonya,Rutu and Sonya’s like family now Rutu by with her paperwork and anything she needs and now they work together as well at TV Health. So Rutu is in her second year of nursing now she’ll be finished another year and a half. And when I see her, she always has so much gratitude for her mentor and what Sonya has done for her and how much she’s helped her throughout her nursing journey so far. And the thing about mentorship is right, it’s the name is Betty Cliche, it’s used over and over again. But it’s so much more than that. It’s about having someone, a person you can just call at me like now what do I do? Can I please weigh in on your experience and what do I do?
Neha Samar
And this is exactly what in the year that we have come has we’ve been able to achieve it’s one person at a time. It’s about helping somebody who does not have the platform that they can access. If you Google mentorship programs now they are worth thousands of dollars. Why would you want to pay so much for that one connection and for someone who’s actually willing to give that experience, willing to help you out from the ness of their heart. And it comes back to my initial days when I came to she and coming to a regional place was a disadvantage. However, Flamingo, I’ve realized that it’s such an advantage of being in regional place because it’s a small place, it’s well connected. People are willing to help you out from the ness from their heart. You just need to be able to say that I need help. Especially women realize that are hesitant to say that I need help. And that’s how we are we want to do everything by ourselves and yeah, go out of our way to do things. But there are so many women out there as well who say that, Let me help you out and let me be the shoulder you step on.
Cynthia
Absolutely Neha. And so what’s really struck me so far from our conversation is that your astute observation that in the leadership program, the community leadership program that you participated in, which is a absolutely terrific life changing program. And it’s one pathway into leadership, isn’t it? It’s one pathway and your observation that a lot of people, it was either you needed the financial support or you needed the organizational support or a sponsorship, which meant that you already needed to be at probably a certain level in an organization and have a job already have a profile already or the financial means to get in there. So I love that you have seen the gap for the need for another pathway to help women who aren’t at that point be able to get on the leadership road and start developing and improving their network in a different way to the established leadership programs.
Cynthia
And so your program also is very accessible, which is again about the no cost factor for accessibility to take away those barriers. And the other thing that strikes me obviously is your passion and the way that you light up when you are sharing these amazing stories. And so the impact of your program is yeah, it’s profound and life changing as it was for you when the woman at the library gave you a job. So congratulations on that. Now I’m really interested also to hear a little bit about your background and journey because you’ve already mentioned that you’ve got numerous qualifications, you’ve worked around the world and so when we were chatting in preparation for this podcast, you shared that you came to Australia from India in 2015 and you ended up in Shepperton. So I’m just interested about that. And you also shared some of your experience as being a migrant in Shepperton and you, you’ve referred to that at the start of the podcast, but just you talked in our chat about just how much work it takes to fit into a new culture. And I think for a lot of people who grow up in Australia and in rural Australia, that is just something that we are blind to the work that it takes to fit in or get established. So there’s sort of a few questions in there over to you.
Neha Samar
So positively when I do get into deeper into this, I would like to acknowledge that people who have been brought up in a place, how much deer it is to them. And it may feel like when someone new is coming into their space, it may feel like that this is my space and this is how much space are you asking for? Will there be enough space for me or my kids or whoever it is we are talking about. So I see where that thinking comes from and I am not opposed to that thinking and when I say I’m not opposed to the thinking, it’s because I understand, but it takes both ways. There has to be also space for the other person or for keep someone who has lived here to understand the other side of the story as well. That’s where I want to share my experience.
Neha Samar
I think I’ll go back to when I started the Flamingo Project. When I did start the Flamingo project, I was undergoing some consultations with some people to get an idea about what they think about this. Do you think that I should go ahead. Is there anything that you would like to share with me? Anything I can improve on? This particular model that I have in mind? Overwhelmingly the response I got, the first question was, is it only for migrant women? Which I don’t have a problem with, but it was so well that it made me reflect that why is it that people keep asking me, is it for only a certain group of people? Why can’t it be for all women? That was the whole idea about this. When I did say no, it’s for everyone. There was a bit of negative replies to that in the sense that one of the replies I got was, But you don’t need to do that for everyone, for all women, you know, can only make it for migrant women. And that’s when I realized that it’s so much about stay in your lane thinking that people want you to do good but just not better than them. We want you to succeed but you need to stop when they think that it’s going to get more than you. So
Cynthia
They were totally okay for you to do a program for migrant women.
Neha Samar
That’s right.
Cynthia
But when it came to a broader it was, what did you think was potentially underlying that? Oh, hang on. No, that’s not a great idea.
Neha Samar
I think it goes back a lot to the upbringing of people and I can’t speak everyone, but if I speak for myself, right Cynthia, when I was young, when I was growing up, especially as a woman, there’s so many times that you’re put under pressure to perform better than the others. You have to work twice as hard to be somewhere. To get somewhere. You have to challenge the norms of society that are placed on you by being a good mom, by having a job, by performing in your job while having the pressure of saying that, okay, I’m going to leave my kids with somebody while I’m not the break from my career, the pressure that has been put on a woman. And then we have to work twice as hard and then when we do get there, we feel like the other person shouldn’t have a shortcut to get there where we had to work twice as hard. Most of the time it’s not even a conscious thing to be like, don’t do better than me. You feel that it’s unfair, then why did I have to work twice or twice as hard where you can just get up tomorrow and create something and get that recognition and be known for something that I’ve been working 10 years of my life.
Cynthia
And I think there’s also too, just in terms of that unconscious stuff, that there are some people who have benefited from the current system potentially have a conscious or an unconscious desire to keep that system in place because it’s benefited them and they can’t understand. It was easy for me. Why wouldn’t it be easy for you to, you’ve just got to toughen up.
Cynthia
And then sometimes too, when people in a minority group, and I’m going to, even though women are 52% of the population, I’m going to put women in that sometimes when a minority like women get to a point of power, they actually want to protect their, that’s where I belong. I’m in this space and there’s not enough, as you said, there’s not enough room for other people. So I want to maintain my position rather than what I talk about in my book, which is six keys to being a cultivating leader, A leader that grows and develops others. One of those keys is that cultivating leaders build other leaders. And that includes leaders who they look around and go, Oh, you are not like me. I need your voice at the table. Yes. How can I encourage you and support you because there actually is enough room and potentially even I need to step out of the way because there’s enough people like me in order to create room for other people. It’s very complicated.
Neha Samar
But when the negative reaction still happens, Cynthia, instead of just reacting to it instantly, it’s always good to have the reflection where that reaction came from, what might have instigated for the person to react in that way. And more than often it comes down to their journey of what they’ve faced in their life and instinctively they might react on something that they shouldn’t be removing it on somebody else. But that happens. We are humans. I feel like everyone should be given a chance to have that conversation, to clear the air. And with this person, when they reacted in a negative way to me saying, I know it’s for everyone. I did have my reaction why I didn’t want to feel like the victim at that time, but then I sat, I had to take a deep breath and I’m like, why is this person feeling the way they’re feeling?
Neha Samar
And it was because this person is in their mid fifties or sixties and they have worked very hard to be where they are. And they do feel for lack of a better word, threatened for a younger person to just come in and be on the front page of the newspaper about an initiated business started. I can see where they’re coming from. I can, but it is also very important for it to be a two-way conversation. I’m 33 today, someone from a 20 year old person, they might come to me and say that I’m starting this. And in that moment I want to with all my heart, tell them that I want to support you. Tell me what you need. I’m going to be your shoulder. I’m going to make those connections for you. I’m going to help me with whatever I can because you are the future.
Cynthia
Oh Neha, that is just gold. The cultivating that is a cultivating leader right there who is encouraging of others and just given that we are humans, as you’ve said, we’re animals, we’re wired to notice threats and respond to threats that sometimes our default when we’re not at our best, we can react in a way where we’re threatened and we really need leaders to be developing those emotional intelligence skills so that they are able to be this cultivating leader and also an optimistic leader that also sees that, again, it’s an attitude of abundance, isn’t it? That there is room for everyone and we’re actually better off with a range of views and perspectives and voices rather than an attitude of scarcity. And scarcity comes from fear. So that’s what I love about your Flamingo project is it really is that we’ve got an abundance of skills in our community. Let’s tap into those and also let’s, as we’ve talked about before, create this range of pathways and remember that everyone’s experience is a different and we need, there’s not one way to build the next generation of leaders.
Neha Samar
Absolutely. And it’s all about being open, like you said in your book, making the space for someone to share with you and the world belongs to the next generation and the next and the next. So if we are not supporting someone who is looking to grow, looking to have that experience, then we are doing a disservice to the world, to ourselves, to our region, to our neighbors, to our families, <laugh>.
Cynthia
And they have, I just really like to discuss, we’ve sort of been going around this topic, but as a young leader and a woman of color living and working in regional Australia, just a little bit more about your experience of stepping up and when we had a chat earlier that you’ve noticed something often that for women it’s referred to as the glass ceiling, but you’ve actually referred to it as a bamboo ceiling for women and people of color. And I’m just really interested to explore that a little bit more with you because for someone that works in agriculture a lot and rural, I see a lot of people of color in our workforces, particularly in agriculture. But when I look around at the decision making bodies, I don’t see them represented anywhere much. Their voices, they’re not at the table. So I’m just always struck by anyone who is a leader in today’s modern world thinking that if they’re not looking around the table going, who’s not here and therefore who’s in our industry and who do I see when I’m going around my industry, are they at the table? And if they’re not at the table, there’s something really wrong And I just see an acceptance of the status quo that, oh well that’s just the way it is and I don’t think it’s good enough. So it’d be really great for our listeners to just get more of an understanding about your experience from a woman of color perspective in Australia, regional Australia.
Neha Samar
So I like reading, so I read a book and it spoke about the glass ceiling and it spoke beautifully. I think it was by Cheryl Sandberg.
Neha Samar
And she spoke a lot about the glass ceiling now glass ceiling. The concept itself is about being in a position as a woman where you know, can see things, you can hear things, but you can’t touch it or you can’t be there. That glass ceiling is avoiding you from getting to a place. But as a migrant person, someone who has moved to a completely new country trying to build your life from scratch, it feels more like a bamboo ceiling. You can’t see anyone at the top. You can’t see anyone where you can aspire to be like them. You can’t have anyone looking like you or sounding like you or have an accent, you who’s actually in that particular position. For me, I didn’t even see myself in a leadership or an executive position. I still don’t. Because there’s no one in the region who is a person of color in big organizations, in the CEO position or in any way besides the point. But
Cynthia
Yeah, sorry. But she is one of the most multicultural regions in Australia and it is renowned for being so that’s
Neha Samar
Interesting. That’s right. Yeah. So the bamboo ceiling basically is that you can’t even see that. You can hear people saying that, you know, can hear people from the cities being in those positions, but here you cannot, cannot see them. And then comes a concrete ceiling. The concrete ceiling is something that you can’t see, you can’t hear. And these are women or people who are coming from the refugee backgrounds. They are coming here fleeing their countries and they’re moving to a completely new place where they’re not coming here out of choice, but they’re coming here out of the need to save their lives. And that’s where the concrete ceiling comes, where they have no idea whatsoever what’s beyond that ceiling. So the glass ceiling is a privilege for a person of color to actually be there and be like, Oh, I can actually see somebody there who looks like me.
Neha Samar
So I think that’s where I am with my analogy of ceilings and coming back to the whole she point, we do see board members now, but you would see that two or three board members are the same everywhere. And I hate to use this word, but it almost comes across as the token brown person being sitting on every board membership out there. And we are grateful to have a brown counselor. And I would like to acknowledge her actually. See Mark, I felt amazing when I saw her there. I felt like when, if SMA could do it, so could the other brown people also, could the other migrant women especially aspire to be in a counselor’s position or in politics in parliament that it took one person to break that, right? It took just one person to be in that position to put her face, to be there for others, to be motivated, to feel like, yes, I belong here as well.
Neha Samar
So that’s what we need to break in the regional communities and organizations and especially the bigger organizations that speak for whole region. They need to start promoting people. They need to start employing people in leadership positions and not just make us like a gap filler. So we are not just here to fill the skills, but also to take up roles that are challenging, that oversee multiple people that oversee strategic leadership roles. And organizations really need to go on their websites and have a look at their leadership and see are they representing the region that they claim to be looking after. If it’s not, then something needs to change.
Cynthia
I am nodding furiously <laugh> behalf for those who are listening. I’m no in furiously in agreement. So just the power of it is that saying that if you can’t see it, you can’t be it.
Neha Samar
Absolutely. Yes.
Cynthia
So for organizations in regional Australia and employers, you have such a huge role to play in shaping the future of our regions because if you are employing people in of color in significant roles, it’s profound.
Neha Samar
Absolutely.
Cynthia
So leaders in regional Australia and everywhere do not underestimate the power that you have inspiring in the signals that you are sending by who you have at the table. And I can remember when Julia Gillard became Prime Minister in Australia, and as a woman it was profound. It was just like, oh my goodness, exactly as you said. Now I can be that. Yep. I just wonder if sometimes organizations leaders, et cetera, they just don’t, they’re not aware of the power that they have in shaping and by their actions.
Neha Samar
Absolutely. I think organizations are also afraid of change and the unknown, but they wouldn’t know if they won’t give it a shot. They need to start employing people who look different. They need to have that diverse representation. If their organization doesn’t look like the people that represent, they’re doing something wrong. When I look at the parliament, right, our parliament and when I don’t see somebody who may be on the wheelchair, if something happens to me, if I’m in the wheelchair, I’m not able to see somebody like me over there. So can I even dream about being there? I can’t.
Cynthia
Yeah, it’s very powerful. One of the green senators, Jordan, Jordan, I can’t remember his surname, but he’s in a wheelchair and a person of disability, which is again, yeah, very powerful. And one of the rural women of the Year award finalists this year, Josie Clark has a project called Ability Ag and it is all about raising the profile of people with a disability in agriculture because her father was in an accident and he’s now in a wheelchair. And she had just noticed that she never saw anyone like him in any of the glossy photo shoots about regional Australia. And also from an accessibility point of view out on, he’s a farmer, but he couldn’t go to so many field days because there wasn’t wheelchair accessibility. So that’s one of her passion projects and I’m hoping to get Josie on either this series or next series. And she’s a young woman as well, Neha. So all power to you for stepping up and creating these opportunities for other women. Just in admiration for you, I would also like to know, cuz you’ve already started to speak about this, so what’s your advice to organizations and leaders about actively creating pathways and to seat at the table for people from different cultural backgrounds?
Neha Samar
I think one thing that organizations do when I see on the seeks and everything, they do say that they want to employ people from diverse backgrounds, I think, which is a good start. However, the other practical thing that the organizations can do is not just hire people from divers backgrounds, but give them an opportunity to be in a leadership position. Then there’s always making themselves aware of how cultures work. And I’m not saying to go in the details about it, but maybe get a general idea about the festivals. So there are big festivals for Hinduism. There’s one big festival for Muslim people. There is one big festival in the there are three big religions that rule the world basically, or I shouldn’t say that, but if the major religions, if they’re taking one holiday, if they’re considering maybe giving people cultural leave, that’s something that I’ve heard it happens in bigger cities, but it doesn’t happen here. So I think cultural leave should be something that the organizations should be looking into maybe once a year if someone wants to take a day off on E or Holy or they should be able to do that. I think that’s my two biggest tips to start
Cynthia
With. And you spoke again in our pre-chat, just something that happened at school that just showed what happens when there isn’t an understanding of some of the people you have living in your community.
Neha Samar
Yes. One of the biggest schools in she, they had their photo shoot like a class photo shoot scheduled on E and of course the Muslim students couldn’t make it. And when the parent did ask them that, why did you schedule it on the day of the biggest festivals of Muslim, they said that, Oh, because the moon can be either of the days, can be Monday or Tuesday. So we had to pick a day, but there are 363 other days that they could have picked from, but they said that it could be either Monday or Tuesday. So we couldn’t. And that got a bit of a heated discussion, literally this last either, so it wasn’t that long ago. And that created a debate or a discussion in the community to say that we are one of the biggest multicultural places in Australia or whatever we want to call ourselves, but you couldn’t take into consideration one holiday or one festival of one of the biggest religions of this multicultural space.
Cynthia
It’s so simple. And I guess it’s that also that concept of we need also to own your very understanding person. So I don’t think they’ll ever do that again. But it’s the conversation that it creates, isn’t it? It’s learning together and it’s also, as long as we don’t repeat it, we can learn from it together and grow together. And it’s been a great opportunity hopefully for more people to understand the role of that festival and the importance in that part of the community’s life. So be really conscious of that when planning events for anyone.
Neha Samar
That’s right. And I think it’s a two way street, Cynthia, even I feel like as my part as a person who’s moved here, my part is to be comfortable with answering questions and not being offended at everything or anything that I might feel like it’s offensive, but other person might not know that I feel my responsibility is to have a conversation, is to make someone understand that what it actually means. I can give you one very quick example. In one of the places where I worked on my birthday, they gave me a birthday card, but it had a brown child on it, it had a curry on it, it had a temple on it, and it had a picture of, I think it was something to do with an Indian train station or something like that. So it was a very thoughtful in a way that they wanted to make me feel good about having a curry and a brown child on the card.
Neha Samar
But it was everything wrong with that. You can’t do that <laugh>. But instead of getting angry or getting mad about it or taking offense about it, I had a laugh and I said, Okay, can you please tell me why? What was the reason of doing that? And then she was really nice. She was this older lady who wanted to make my day nice by giving me that card. And then I sat down with her and I explained to her that, okay, that you’ve done this, but it might come off as offensive to someone who might not understand where you’re coming from. And I gave her an example about how it would’ve happened if I did something stereotypical to her. And then she had my point and she’s like, Oh yeah, I did see it that way. I’m really sorry. And I’m like, No, no, no, you don’t need to apologize. But it’s a good way to start that conversation. So it’s important to not feel offended and important to start having the conversation about what might be offensive, what might not be offensive, and what’s okay and what maybe not. Okay. So yeah, I think I’ll just leave you with that <laugh>.
Cynthia
And just also though, to acknowledge that then if everyone can be more open to learning and asking questions, but also doing their own research, then that takes the burden of you needing to explain and do all that work. So all that burden shouldn’t be on you either. Now you’ve recently applied for the Rural Woman of the Year Award, which is run by Westpac and a Features Australia, and I’m really thrilled about that, Neha, and congratulations for stepping up and putting your voice forward as part of that application process. And I’m just interested, what have you learned by just going through that process to apply for an award like this?
Neha Samar
I think I’ve, the most important thing that I learned while doing the application is it wasn’t as difficult to answer all those questions because they came from the heart and it almost felt like I’m writing about my child <laugh> and I’m writing about their success, about how good they are and not about what I have done. So it was a very easy application because I was coming from the heart. But also it’s important to participate and to put your voice forward in things like these. And this award is such a prestigious award. I think one of the most important things as well is that the idea of the plumbing project needs to be more out there because it shouldn’t take a program for women to help each other out. It should be done regardless of their being a formal program to connect people. Women should be more confident to go up to someone and say, I need some help. And with experience in the particular field of they should be more willing to say that I’m going to give my experience out to someone who needs it and not to hold onto it. It’s some kind of big treasure, although it is <laugh>. So a FL AFL is more than what it is at the moment. It’s an ideology that needs to be practiced more often in any place, regardless of being a small place or a bigger place. It should be something that people should be willing to do with from their heart.
Cynthia
Aha. At the moment, the mentors and mentees come from the Goldman Valley, and as I know, as part of the process for the Raw Woman of the Year Award, they encourage you to really think about your vision. What is your vision for the Flamingo project?
Neha Samar
My vision is to have the Flamingo project in different parts of rural Australia, in regional Australia. If everything was fine, I want one or two people volunteering their time from other places and start something similar over there. Connect people together. And what we will do is just form a platform for women to apply and then we’ll connect them together. So my ultimate vision is to have Flamingo pop up in various parts of Australia and it being a hub of connection, a place that people can connect for free and building those relations.
Cynthia
And why is it the Flamingo Project?
Neha Samar
Okay, so there’s a story to it, <laugh>, and I’ll make it wake up. So Flamingo. So my husband and I, we went to this place and we saw Flamingos, right? And they were beautiful, beautiful creatures, but although they are ma and they look like they can’t fly, they can really fly. Cynthia, they could fly such height, they’re not even visible by our naked eyes. And just in that moment we got speaking and I’m like, You know what? Women are like this. We do so much. We look logistic, we look like we have the world in our control, but when we fly, we fly to such great heights that you can’t even imagine. And that’s where the word just stuck with me. And when I thought about this program I could think of was Flamingos. And that’s The Flamingo Project.
Cynthia
<laugh>. Ah, that is so beautiful. <laugh>. Golly. I love it. I love it. Neha,
Neha Samar
Thank you.
Cynthia
<laugh>. Oh, I just don’t think we can top that <laugh> that brings our conversation to a really beautiful inspirational close. And I would like to thank you so much for participating in this interview today and sharing your skills and perspectives with us. It’s been just such a pleasure to talk to you.
Neha Samar
Thank you so much for this for its been lovely talking to you today.
Cynthia
Thank you Neha, and thank you everyone for tuning into the Cultivate podcast for this episode. If you’d like to keep the conversation going and connect with other like-minded people, please hop on over to the Cultivate podcast Facebook group. Just search for the Cultivate podcast where you can ask questions, share information, and keep up with the latest news on the Cultivate podcast. You can also check out the Flamingo Project on Facebook as well. Neha has created a page for the Flamingo Project. You can also go to my website, www.cynthia.com au to listen to other episodes of the Cultivate podcast. You can subscribe to my blog, check out my leadership team and coaching programs, and even by my book, Cultivate How Neuroscience and Wellbeing Support Rural Leaders to Thrive. Although it’s actually way broader than rural leaders, if you are just a leader, you would be really interested in my book Next time on the Cultivate podcast.
Cynthia
I will be speaking to the founder of Solution Underwriting Agency and Anita Lane Solution Underwriting Agency is an insurance underwriter operating in Melbourne. And they’ve been one of my clients that I’ve been working with for a few years now. And Anita has put a lot of work into transitioning and supporting staff through covid and in the after return to work to create a really fabulous hybrid work experience. And I know a lot of people are still navigating the hybrid work experience and how to keep teams connected, keep addressing all the variety of needs of staff now and honoring those needs, yet also keeping the sense of culture going as well. So Anita and I are going to be chatting about that in the next episode of the Cultivate podcast. So thank you so much for tuning in, remember to stay happy, healthy, and human, and I’ll look forward to our next conversation on the Cultivate podcast.