A lot of women should be owning their voices and using their voices and expressing themselves. A lot of the ways in which we are operating today are in a space where we are not really able to express ourselves authentically and be vulnerable. So being able to get rid of some of those armours and being yourself really can change the way people experience you or connect with you, and of course, the way you impact others in your leadership.
farah ismail
Today’s episode is with an entrepreneur from Bangalore, India, Farah Ismail. She is the founder of Interact Consulting and calls herself a courage catalyst, coach, facilitator, and speaker.
Farah has more than 25 years of experience in the field of leadership and cross-cultural competence from her years abroad and working across countries and cultures. She began her career in the aviation industry in the Middle East, returning to India during the IT and services boom to work in the business and learning development sectors.
Farah started her company in 2006 with the belief that everyone has the potential to make a difference and she says her role is to inspire change and realise this potential. When they work with her, they can reimagine their business with clarity and confidence.
This quote by Mary Daly encapsulates her thoughts: “Like you learn to swim by swimming, you learn courage by encouraging”.
How can I make it refreshingly different or I can experiencing experience something that in my lifetime I want to? So there are lots of things I wanna do in my lifetime, right? So I feel that so much time has passed. There are so many things I want to do to create a legacy, to make a difference. So I think that’s what drives me.
In this episode, we spoke about seeing gifts in the adversity that life throws at us and having a sense of adventure in our lives. Farah also encouraged women to own their voices and express themselves fully. As a coach, Farah’s desire is to make a difference in people’s lives, continuously growing as she develops others. She spoke about choosing oneself and being courageous to set our own agenda and here’s what I like most, factor playfulness in our daily agenda. At the heart of what we spoke about are choices and courage.
She became an ICF PCC coach in 2022, deepening her mastery of coaching. Her team won the IAF Gold Facilitation Impact Award for an impactful 18-month Facilitation Project in Saudi Arabia in 2021. She also served on the IAF Board as the Regional Director of Asia 2019-2021.
Everything is like an opportunity and there’s a gift. So when I talk to my clients and talking about a tough situation, and once we finish that and I ask them, So what have you learned from that? What’s the gift from this? What’s the lesson in this? And it’s so hard to look for a gift through adversity or tough situations, but in that space when you fail, when you are struggling when you’re having tough experiences or tough conversations, are the biggest experiences.
She says that she is “surrounded by inspiration – sometimes by nature, by people, by images, by mindsets.”
Her favourite book is Dare to Lead by Brene Brown. Musically, she gravitates towards The Bee Gees, Scorpions and Dire Straits.
Farah says she has lots of personal milestones, living a full, integrated life and especially “restarting my life and my business from scratch”. She says she is constantly disrupting herself and is now focused on speaking to impact more lives.