Sihame El Kaouakibi

not able to learn no you keep on learning engage in sports so important and and if you're really in a dark period of course you need therapy of course you need to understand and manage your mental health through professional help but all these little things it's compounding it's compounding to change it's compounding your transformation and it's i can assure you it works it didn't only work for me it works for all these amazing women i work with for sure

not able to learn no you keep on learning engage in sports so important and and if you're really in a dark period of course you need therapy of course you need to understand and manage your mental health through professional help but all these little things it's compounding it's compounding to change it's compounding your transformation and it's i can assure you it works it didn't only work for me it works for all these amazing women i work with for sure

Yeah, exactly. Oh, pleasure. It was really nice. It was really, it was lovely to do this. It was one of my first podcasts was in English. So sorry for my maybe some mistakes, but I love doing this and to share some, I think just real stories. Like I said, I think it should be part of impact to contribute to people's stories and people's journey. So it's always a pleasure to contribute in this way.

Yeah, exactly. Oh, pleasure. It was really nice. It was really, it was lovely to do this. It was one of my first podcasts was in English. So sorry for my maybe some mistakes, but I love doing this and to share some, I think just real stories. Like I said, I think it should be part of impact to contribute to people's stories and people's journey. So it's always a pleasure to contribute in this way.

Hello, hello.

Hello, hello.

All right. What an opening. That's quite a story, right? So, for the people listening, my name is Sihem. I was born in 86 to Moroccan immigrants in Belgium. I was raised there, studied there, worked there. In the past 20 years, I was an entrepreneur, actually a five-time founder, former member of parliament. And yeah, I actually have to just be very honest.

All right. What an opening. That's quite a story, right? So, for the people listening, my name is Sihem. I was born in 86 to Moroccan immigrants in Belgium. I was raised there, studied there, worked there. In the past 20 years, I was an entrepreneur, actually a five-time founder, former member of parliament. And yeah, I actually have to just be very honest.

As a young woman of color, I did face a lot of adversity. And my milestone started there, I think, because I found a way through education, hard work and luck to transform adversity into a sort of resilience. My experience really sparked for me a super deep desire to turn these societal hurdles into driving force for change. So my milestone is there the nonprofit work.

As a young woman of color, I did face a lot of adversity. And my milestone started there, I think, because I found a way through education, hard work and luck to transform adversity into a sort of resilience. My experience really sparked for me a super deep desire to turn these societal hurdles into driving force for change. So my milestone is there the nonprofit work.

I founded, designed, implemented award-winning empowerment programs, education programs for youth and women. But simultaneously, I did enter the entrepreneurial world, co-founded several firms, especially focused on next-gen inclusion and diversity. Yeah, that was like the first 15 years. And then five years ago, I entered politics as a member of parliament.

I founded, designed, implemented award-winning empowerment programs, education programs for youth and women. But simultaneously, I did enter the entrepreneurial world, co-founded several firms, especially focused on next-gen inclusion and diversity. Yeah, that was like the first 15 years. And then five years ago, I entered politics as a member of parliament.

And that changed really everything, but more the worse. where entrepreneurship is a positive sum game, I can assure you politics is a zero-sum game. It became this toxic work environment. And yeah, a couple of years ago, three, four years ago, I went through a very difficult burnout. Period of burnout, diagnosed PTSD. So it forced me to slow down.

And that changed really everything, but more the worse. where entrepreneurship is a positive sum game, I can assure you politics is a zero-sum game. It became this toxic work environment. And yeah, a couple of years ago, three, four years ago, I went through a very difficult burnout. Period of burnout, diagnosed PTSD. So it forced me to slow down.

During slowing down, what is a privilege today that you can slow down, I healed, started pivoting. And actually, I really went from being burnt out, confused, overwhelmed, even bankrupt to now being back in the best shape of my life, physically, mentally. I'm resilient, but actually more than resilient. I love to say I'm antifragile. I really find strength in adversity and

During slowing down, what is a privilege today that you can slow down, I healed, started pivoting. And actually, I really went from being burnt out, confused, overwhelmed, even bankrupt to now being back in the best shape of my life, physically, mentally. I'm resilient, but actually more than resilient. I love to say I'm antifragile. I really find strength in adversity and

I'm in a career that I'm more proud of than ever. So I can probably say that today I'm a skin in the game consultant. Impact and innovation is my thing at the intersection of people, prosperity, planet. And actually it's about converting SDGs into tangible results. And besides consulting, I love coaching high-performing women because we can relate. And I think that's also the way we met, Vince.

I'm in a career that I'm more proud of than ever. So I can probably say that today I'm a skin in the game consultant. Impact and innovation is my thing at the intersection of people, prosperity, planet. And actually it's about converting SDGs into tangible results. And besides consulting, I love coaching high-performing women because we can relate. And I think that's also the way we met, Vince.

Yeah, I love the question again, because like you said, mental health is something a lot of people deal with today. It's not only about measuring mental health and having more assessments and having more people going to therapy or talking about it. It's really an issue that in this

Yeah, I love the question again, because like you said, mental health is something a lot of people deal with today. It's not only about measuring mental health and having more assessments and having more people going to therapy or talking about it. It's really an issue that in this