In The ZOUD
In The ZOUD is where we stop avoiding the hard conversations about Equity, Diversity and Inclusion - and start saying the things people usually whisper, avoid, or soften.
Hosted by Sylvia Stevenson, this podcast takes you into the Zone of Uncomfortable Debate - the place where real learning happens, assumptions get exposed, and leadership is tested. No sugar-coating. No corporate gloss. Just direct, meaningful conversations with people who are willing to name the truth about culture, power, race, identity and inequality.
If you’re tired of performative statements, tick-box strategies and safe conversations that change nothing, this is your space. Here, we ask the questions that make people shift in their seats — because that’s where change begins.
Welcome to In The ZOUD — if it doesn’t challenge you, it won’t change anything.
In The ZOUD
7 Things My Mother Gave Me: Day 2 - Community
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In Day 2 of the 7 Things My Mother Gave Me series for International Women’s Day, I reflect on another Jamaican proverb my mother often used while I was growing up: “Han wash han mek dem clean.” When hands wash each other, they both become clean.
This simple saying carries a powerful reminder that none of us moves through life entirely on our own. Progress, opportunity, and growth often happen through the ways we support and uplift one another.
Sometimes giving means sharing knowledge, opening doors, or creating space for others to move forward.
In this reflection, I explore how the wisdom behind this proverb connects to the theme of Give to Gain — and how the strength of our networks and relationships is often shaped by what we are willing to give to others.
Because when we help one another rise, everyone benefits.
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Until next time, keep leaning into the conversations that matter.
Welcome to day two of this seven-day series, Seven Things My Mother Gave Me, and this is in honor of International Women's Day. I'm sharing some of the wisdom that my mother gave me growing up through the simple Jamaican proverbs she often used. Yesterday I shared one of the first things my mother taught me, which was all about patience and learning to wait. Today's reflection turns to something just as important: community. You know, my mother would often remind me about giving for the greater good, and she would use this very simple proverb that has stuck with me until today. Hand wash hand, make them clean. In other words, when hands wash each other, they both become clean. Now she was reminding me that none of us move through life entirely on our own. The paths we walk are often shaped by the ways people help one another along life's journey. And sometimes the most powerful thing that we could ever do is to simply give, even when it costs us something. You see, there are moments when giving requires sacrifice, when it asks something of us. Yet that willingness to give may be the very thing that allows everyone else to benefit. And it's true, we rarely know what seeds we are planting in the moment. What we give today may take root in ways we only understand much later. And therein lies the truth that sits at the heart of this year's International Women's Day theme, give to gain. So today, why not think about whose hand you might wash? In other words, whose path you might make a little easier, whose opportunity you might help open. Because just like my mother said, hand wash hand, make them clean. Come on, let's give to gain.