Yasmine Sadri - "Same, Same but different"

A few years ago, I connected with AIELOC, which was founded by Kevin Simpson, who has been a guest on this show. If you don’t know, AIELOC stands for Association of International Educators & Leaders of Color. An organization that exists to both amplify and support educators of color in the international school spaces.

I have had the privilege of speaking at this conference a few times and one of the best parts of it, is the people that I have met within the organization, including my next guest – Yasmine Sadri

Yasmine is a Swiss-based leadership transformation coach with a specific interest in diversity, equity, inclusion and justice. She also works on DEIJ efforts within an international context.

In this episode, the Iranian-Belgian discusses her highly mobile childhood and how her work with marginalized populations was partly inspired by her family’s own immigrant movement story. We discuss specifically the themes of class, immigration, identity and religion as she lived across borders. We also discuss how she’s currently using her voice to highlight and speak on behalf of those who don’t have the platform or the freedom to do so.

My dad came to one of my talks in Belgium. My dad never, first of all, would have said anything because also there's a whole thing around Iranians being followed. Everyone is scared that someone's going to show up and film you. And so my dad was going to not come, and then he came with a mask. After we were done, I was in a panel with these wonderful women and he raised his hand and he's like, "That's my daughter. And what I want to say is, I'm not happy about it, but I never told my kids about where I'm from and what happened to my country. So I'm telling you all, anyone who's listening, talk about where you're from and tell your kids everything. Tell them everything... because when they know.... it's a revolution.
Yasmine Sadri