Un-Migrant me with Pratishtha Purohit

This week, we sat down with Pratishtha Purohit, founder of EduventureNZ, corporate trainer, social impact advocate, and mum,  to talk about her journey to New Zealand, the challenges she’s faced, and the generational ripple effect of her work.

Pratishtha’s story is one of courage, grit, and purpose:

- She moved to NZ after a life changing head injury left her partially deaf and without her sense of smell or taste.
- She carried the weight of her parents’ painful migrant exploitation experience and came determined to prove it could be different.
- She began her career here teaching second-chance Māori and Pasifika learners, eventually working across communities to bridge cultural understanding.
- She founded EduventureNZ to give international students and migrants the truth about life in NZ, no sugar coating, so they could be better prepared for the challenges ahead.
- She also runs Prana Inspire, helping solo mums from rural communities find pathways into high-paying, sustainable careers.

Key Learnings from this Episode:

• Labels matter, being called a “migrant” can unconsciously place people on the back foot. True inclusion begins with “I belong.”
  
• Community connection is power, understanding Te Ao Māori and working across cultures opened deeper perspectives on what NZ really is beyond the surface.
  
• Tell the reality, not just the dream, preparing migrants with honest expectations can protect mental health and prevent disillusionment.
  
• Impact is generational, helping one person often changes the trajectory of entire families and communities.
  

Listen now on Spotify or YouTube for a raw, inspiring, and thought-provoking conversation that will change how you see migration, belonging, and the ripple effect of our actions.

Episode Transcript

(00:04):
Hey everybody, it's Prajesh herein Tana here.
Welcome to our podcast, Passes of knowledge chats with a
difference. In our podcast, we invite guests
from around the country and around the world to talk about
how they got to where they at the moment.
It's about a journey, it's aboutan experience, it's about their
life. Keira Kotturi, welcome to

(00:27):
another episode of Baskets of Knowledge.
Today's just me, Tony's away anddoing something pretty exciting
as always. And as always, whatever I put
into my basket of knowledge overthe last week since we've last
recorded, I think the biggest thing that I have put in into my
basket is that the the concept of bias and inherent bias that

(00:48):
is out there, but also the virtual response to bias that is
out there. And this comes through what
happened recently with the announcement of the new CEO in
New Zealand and the reaction that had.
It also got me thinking, it's very easy for me to cite things,
but also got me thinking about my own bias.
And we all have our own biases. And you know, it's easy to call

(01:08):
people out, but also got to callmyself out.
So my question, I guess, if you were listening to things, what
are your biases and are you openenough to actually acknowledge
them and, and address them? Because sometimes it's easy to
call things out, but not easy tocall ourselves out.
So that's my, my piece of knowledge over the last week,
which has got me thinking, but it's not about me today.
Today I'm very lucky, very privileged and very, I'm excited

(01:31):
to invite our guest. This is someone that I connected
on a few months ago. Yeah, a couple of months ago on
LinkedIn. Again, LinkedIn seems to be my
common thread. And why I think this person is
really interesting is because when we connected and had a chat
a few months ago as well, was just the, the vision they have,
you know, the experiences they have, but also how they wanted
change the way people look at internationalism specifically,

(01:53):
but also the way people look at how when you come in with your
own talents and your cultures, how to stand in your own
confidence, Because sometimes wefind that when you come up
different places, you, you, you lower your own reality.
But actually, hey, let's own that.
Let's bring it up and let's, let's show the world who you
are. And there's a lot more diff to
this person that we're going to uncover over the next 45 minutes
an hour. So it is my privilege to welcome

(02:17):
to bast of knowledge. Prashita, Welcome to the bast of
knowledge. Thank you.
Thank you, Prajesh, and really nice to be here.
I've listened to your earlier sessions and very informative
and very insightful before I begin, and I'm glad you shared
this what's happening right now.But before I begin, I want to
start with just one thing that everyone needs to keep in mind,

(02:40):
that judgement and curiosity. It can never be in the same
room, right? And we as migrants, we often
face this bias and we're constantly judged.
No matter, no matter how well wedo, it's always being judged.
So yeah. And, and I've, I've had my, I've
been in New Zealand for almost 13 years now and every

(03:03):
profession, every job that I've had, I've faced racism.
I've faced racism and silent, that silent look, that raising
of eyebrows, rolling of eyes, It's it's very common, but we
tend to ignore it. We have to move on, right?
But yeah, I've taken this as a lesson and I've taken this as an

(03:23):
opportunity to raise awareness for our people, for every
underserved community. And I'll just give you a big
background about me. So what what brings me to New
Zealand? So one of three reasons I moved
to New Zealand. First one was mom.
My parents were in New Zealand when I was in school and they
came here to start a new life. And unfortunately, they faced

(03:45):
migrant exploitation. So they had to come back, pack
their bags and come back within two years.
So there was a lot of unfinishedbusiness and a lot of hurt
already there that no, I'm goingto go to New Zealand and prove
that, you know, we can do it better and we can fulfill our
dreams. The other reason was I wanted to
be a farmer and unfortunately I did not get admission in

(04:07):
agriculture because I had no, noeducational background in it.
So I came here to do my masters based on my work experience.
And third one was the third one was to recover.
So I met with a head injury thatwas a brain injury, which left
me bereft of three senses. So I'm partially deaf, I can't

(04:27):
smell and I can't taste. So that was one thing that was
like, OK, I need to start a fresh.
And where else? The New Zealand's.
I've always wanted to come here.But yeah, back in India I had a
very high profile and a very successful career.
So my last role was as a regional director for High
Design, which was which is a luxury brand.
And I had around 300 people working under me.

(04:49):
And before that, I LED international brands like
Chiwanshee, Kathir Esimiaki in India and the Middle East.
But after my losing my sense of smell, I couldn't do first you
that. So that's like different life
all together. I have a Ted talk on that so if
you get a chance, you can listento that.
So I always say that I lost my 3senses and I got common sense.

(05:10):
So here I am. Maybe the 6th sense, you call
it. So yeah, I've been here for so
long and I started my career as so when I completed my master's
in business, my first job I got was as a tutor, which was very
fortunate that I got my job before I even got my work visa.

(05:31):
And my job was working with second chance Maori and Pacifica
learners, right? So these learners either didn't
have a chance to study, were school dropouts, or come from
underprivileged backgrounds witha lot of officials somewhere
back from prison somewhere just trying to stay out of trouble.
So my job was to work with them on building their business

(05:53):
skills and being my first job. You have to, as a migrant,
you're like, OK, you have to prove yourself because
everything depends on this. Your residency depends on this.
And that time onwards, I had a lot of racism happening with me
in the classroom. And eventually I realized, and
then I myself learned about the Treaty of Waitangy.

(06:15):
I took up a course, I understoodthe Treaty of Waitangy and I
brought that into my classroom and I realised that the students
were racist. The students were calling Curry
and all these names in the background, but they had no idea
about what India is, what what where.
We come from this history of India and we kind of started

(06:36):
doing these lessons around the knowledge about colonisation and
how it happened. It was just not New Zealand.
It was many other countries. It was much worse in other
countries and very interesting that they did not even know that
where these countries exist and history was not compulsory in
schools. History is not compulsory in
schools. Like till 2023 in New Zealand

(06:58):
did not have history as a compulsory subject.
So there is no way that young people will know or even older
generation would know anything about outside of where they're
living. Like, oh, this is an opportunity
to kind of raise this awareness.And I had a class of, I remember
19 year old and 20 year old girls.
So I had around 18 to 19 girls in my class.

(07:21):
And they would often miss class on a Monday, Tuesday because the
weekends were very heavy with, you know, all our
extracurricular activities. So one fine day and I got in.
I asked them to do some researchon Malala Yusufi, right?
I asked them, tell me what? Let's find out who she is and
what is the Nobel Prize. And they kind of got into this

(07:42):
conversation. Then they were like, wow, we
didn't know that she was shot inthe head for education.
We didn't know that this is and we get, you know, we get this
opportunity to study and, and you know, after that, the whole
dynamic changed. We kind of I had a very good
attendance. I had like the highest
attendance in class. And since then, I had a very
smooth sailing and I got to be so with with these young people.

(08:04):
I actually got to be the person I needed when I was young.
So I've had a troubled youth. I've had a lot of issues and I'm
a suicide survivor myself. And just getting along and
working with this youth was kindof life changing for me, for
myself. You know, your healing journey,
sometimes you heal by giving. And I found I said OK.
So I changed my pathway from business to education and

(08:28):
teaching. And when I was teaching, I
realized one of my students was,you know, she got into addiction
and I couldn't get her bag and which, and which led to her
suicide, which kind of was very heartbreaking for me.
I changed and I wanted to study further.
So I did my study in adult education.
So I did a postgraduate study inadult education.

(08:48):
And since then I've been in thisfield.
I've become a career practitioner and I think it's
one of the most rewarding careers that I've had.
I've so far had 23 different careers in my life and becoming
a career practitioner kind of gives me a very good lens to see
that all these different careersand how they play a role in
life. So yeah, this is this is where I

(09:08):
am. And since then I have worked
with government organizations, the Territory Education
Commission. Then after that, I, I worked
with the TC for 4 1/2 years where I, I was responsible for
helping migrants and international students get their
first break in New Zealand. So which was a project funded by

(09:30):
the Ministry of Business and I looked after mostly the Hamilton
region. So I got an opportunity to work
with so many international students and migrants.
And the best part was I worked with them when they completed
their study, right? So there was this big mismatch,
like every student, like at least 70% of students, they

(09:50):
would say that we wish we knew this before we came here.
Like we were not, we were not aware of this.
Just one minute, OK. Yeah.
And many of them were not prepared mentally.
Many of them were asked to do a study because of whatever
reason, because A, we come from collectivist societies and
people, other people make decision for us.

(10:11):
So there was this huge gap into the reality setting the
expectation and what is, you know, what is happening.
So Eddie Venture was born in 2017 and I've been working with
international students with the truth, what is the reality as is
it's no sugar coating and I haven't made much money with it,
but I have been able to help a lot of people.

(10:34):
And yeah, and that was always inthe in the background.
But the work that I did, becausea, it was the purpose of my
business was not to make money, was to create awareness about
you should be knowing what, where you're coming.
And it's not what you see, it's not what you're told, it's
different, but you should be ready for it.
So how do you prepare for it? So yeah, that's how I got into

(10:55):
Eduventure NZ and, and I've beenand Eduventure NZ now is the 1st
and the only organization company that has a phone mark
license. So I'm officially the ambassador
for the New Zealand story, whichmeans the workshops that I
deliver are authentic, are quality and are approved and

(11:16):
certified by the government. So which gives, which gives me
that, you know, it gives me thatpride that yes, it's, it's a own
thing. And are you ensure it's just me,
this one person? So it was, it was an, it's a
very interesting journey. I was in India recently and
yeah, it was a very interesting journey to come through that and
come out on this side. And on the other hand, I also

(11:39):
have another business which is called Prana Inspire.
That business was is primarily again, more of a social impact.
So where I work with solo moms from small regions.
So I work with, I worked in likevery small villages and
communities where solo moms don't have access to anything.
They don't, they only think the minimum wage is the only way to

(11:59):
go ahead. But I introduced them to high
paid employment, high paid careers like engineers.
So three moms I worked with, onehas become a electrical
engineer, one is studying marketing and sales, one is
studying to be a youth worker. So kind of helping them find
pathways into high paid employment.
And this is all on my own. So I haven't been paid by anyone

(12:21):
for this. I've done it with my own love
and so far I've helped I think 9mums get into full time work,
which is 9 mums and 16 kids so far.
Their lives have changed and Soprana Inspire does this.
And I was also lucky enough thatin my career, I was shoulder
tapped for a lot of opportunities, which which is

(12:44):
what I try to teach migrants that, hey, you know, for for us,
for inclusion begins with I belong.
You know, when you go somewhere,you need to feel I belong.
And the more we have that confidence in ourselves, the
more we shut the noise. I think that is the opportunity

(13:06):
for us to truly shine and show who we are as persons rather
than constantly thinking of ourselves as migrant.
Because I really want every migrant and I dislike this term
migrant. I'm going to start this
revolution called unmigrant me because I am not a migrant.
You know, I can go to any country and settle.
I am not here for the money because I was making way more

(13:27):
money in India than I'm making over here.
And there is a reason I'm here. And you see the reason, it's
behind me. And this is what I came for and
this is what I want. And since the time I've been
here, I'm not just involved in work which is giving me money,
I'm involved in a lot of volunteering, lot of activities.
So I've been a chair for a youthorganization called Seed Waikato

(13:48):
for almost a year. I've served on the board for
many years. I've volunteered in many
organisations. So yeah, as a migrant, I think
I've added a lot of value to NewZealand and I'm proud to, Yeah,
I belong here, yes. I love that, I love that I love
first of all, thank you for sharing all that.
There's so much there to talk about and so much to unpack, but

(14:09):
I love the way you ended that with with I belong.
And I guess also the other thingthat we all face is just the
label migrant straight away. By adding the the label migrant,
it just mentally puts us in the back foot as well.
And also it allows someone else to have that hierarchy.
You know, as, as you said before, you know, I, I think
about my parents, I'm from Zimbabwe and my parents live

(14:33):
there still. And I still remember they, they
were looking to come to New Zealand many, many years ago
when I first came. And my mother's a doctor, my dad
is a mid lab, a mid lab scientist.
And both of them were told that the qualifications would not be
recognized in New Zealand because of whatever and because
they're migrants. So they both chose not to come
because, OK, we've been practicing in our fuels for

(14:53):
20-30 years and now we've been told by a policy somewhere that,
you know, you're not, you're notworthy.
So, you know, you think about that and you go like, how many
times do these labels actually affect?
Because for them, they're like, OK, cool, we're not worthy,
we're not going to come back. Why would we do that there?
And like I said before, they hada choice and they chose just to
stay, stay back in Zimbabwe and live the life that they want.

(15:16):
So labelling is really powerful,really powerful.
Thank you. Yeah, yeah.
And the other thing I want to talk about is one thing that I
noticed has come through really with everything that you have
shared is the work that you do is causing generational ripple
effects. And I'm like, this is a term I
like to use when I work with young people, when I work with
in coaching. I'm like, what is your

(15:37):
generational ripple effect goingto be?
Is it going to be positive or isit going to be negative?
And I just do people sit in thatthere.
And as you think, as you speak with all the things you've done,
you know, you mentioned the three women that you've helped
that are doing stuff at the moment, but it's not 3, it's
three times whatever is going tobe coming through in their in
their lives, which is really beautiful, which is really
beautiful. Yeah.

(15:57):
So thank you. Thank you for that there.
Thank you for that there. But I want to go right back to
where you spoke about your appearance and the migrant
exploitation that happened to your appearance.
What made you want to come to New Zealand to go actually, hey,
I want to actually change that. You know, you could have gone
anywhere in the world. You could have been anywhere in
the world. But you know, your parents are
your parents and you see them struggling.

(16:20):
What was the fire that that little you could take with the
other two things of being a farmer and about, you know,
about recovery, seeing your parents, seeing your parents
basically been told, hey, you were working hard.
What made you want to come back to this country, the two of
them, so badly? Thank you for thank you for
going back to that. So my parents were here when I

(16:42):
was 19. I have two younger siblings.
And obviously they were here or through family connections, you
know, you don't have someone youknow, has invited you here, you
work with us and blah, blah, blah.
And that's how they came here and they lived in a garage.
They, they kind of did all the odd things that didn't get paid.
And then when it was time to renew, it didn't happen.

(17:05):
So they came back and that actually led to their
separation. So that led to the separating
and a family kind of it was destroyed because of that, you
know, and when, when and there were a lot of things.
And that's when I tried to commit suicide.
That's when I was lost as a teenager and I had two younger
brothers. So I after that, after I

(17:26):
recovered from that, I kind of went to a hill station.
I'm not sure if you know, heard of Mahabaleshwar in India.
So when I was 23, I eloped aloneto a hill station by myself.
And I lived there for two years in a, in the forest.
And there was an elderly couple and they had a farm.
And I said, OK, I'll go to, I'llwork on your farm and I'll stay
here. And they were pretty nice.

(17:47):
And then eventually I got a loan.
It was just random, like I applied for a farmer's loan so I
could build a small tiny house there on their land.
So I don't pay them rent and when the house is built, they
will keep the house after I leave.
So it was really nice. It worked out very well.
And I lived there for almost 2 years.
I was doing strawberry farming and I spent my days there and I

(18:09):
hardly made any money. Probably nothing, you know, but
but I, I was, that was the best time of my life.
I'm like, this is who I am. This is for me, staying close to
nature is everything, you know, this is where I would like to
be. But then I had to come back.
Obviously you want to earn moneyand come back and you can't live
like a farmer forever in India that time.
So yeah. And then the reason why I

(18:30):
decided to come to New Zealand was my mum, my mum.
And I would say she said, oh, you can't, you know, I wanted to
do my masters. And after my head injury
especially, I had to look at doing something different
because I was deaf. I was, I was just questioning
myself. Like, you know, sometimes when
you come out of a head injury, you, you're lost and living in a

(18:52):
living in India. The job that I had, they made me
redundant because I couldn't go back to work for almost a month
or two months. So I was like, OK, I need to
look at something. So I said, OK, let's sell the
house, let's pay some fees and where should I go?
And US never appealed to me. US was never appealing.
Canada was never appealing to me.
Australia, no, because they're snakes and I'm very scared of
things. Yeah.

(19:16):
And New Zealand was always there.
Like I'm going to prove it, you know, that you can go without
anyone's support. And I'm not going to call any
family member here and not goingto get anyone's help.
I'm just going to go there by myself and see if I can do it.
So yeah, I got my admission. I said cool.
And I applied for my residency on my own without any help.
And I got it within three weeks.And I said cool.
That's when I called up all the extended family and say, hey,

(19:37):
I'm in New Zealand. I'm now a resident.
So, you know, nobody can say that we helped you in that kind
of way. So yeah.
And it was, it was actually for my mum, for my mum, because she
always wanted to live here. And she had a dream of she, she
was, she was a makeup artist, a bridal makeup artist.
And yeah, she wanted to come here.
But unfortunately, she passed away two months after I came

(19:59):
here. And she was just 52.
And it was so sudden. It was so sudden, like she had a
stroke. And I thought, no, she, she
dropped me to the airport like 2months ago.
She's very healthy, fit. And within a week I lost her.
So I couldn't even go back to say goodbye to her.
So yes. So then it was like, OK, I'm not
going back. I'm going to stay here because
that was my only link to so close to India.

(20:21):
And you. Yeah.
So that's why I chose New Zealand and to recover,
obviously from my brain injury because the doctor said that I
need extra oxygen for my brain. So I'm like, OK, New Zealand
takes all the boxes right now, so let me go here, yeah.
Well, thank, thank you for sharing because you know the
obvious story, there's a there'sa strong why and I you know the
strong why for you was your was your mother.
You know, this is all the other things are they happen and we go

(20:43):
right kill. You know, the strong, which is
really beautiful to share and a good testament to her watching,
you know, watching down and you're going actually, hey, look
at my daughter, She's here. She's getting oxygen, but also
just changing lives, you know, which is really, really, really
awesome. So thank you for sharing that
there. And as you as you think about
your journey, you've had, you know, lots and lots of different
experiences. What would you say was is your

(21:03):
biggest highlight over the last 23 careers?
Plus the one maybe Don't they care?
Just you being you? My biggest highlight, yeah, As
in keeping me on. I think for me, it's always when
I I feel my life is like a trampoline.
You know, the lower I go, the higher I go.
Yeah. So I think, I think I use that

(21:24):
as an experienced, OK, this is the lowest.
Like now it's only going up. It's not going to be any more
lower than this. And I think my biggest highlight
of my life so far is my daughter, which she was very
unexpected and a surprise baby, but she teaches me lots of
things. She in fact only learning so

(21:45):
much about communication from her and you know, there are so
many things and, and I also feelas now that I'm in this place as
a migrant, I feel quite proud ofmyself that when I get shoulder
tapped for opportunities, when Ihave roles that are created for
me, I feel it's it's a great, it's not just a win for me.

(22:08):
It's a win for a lot of lot of us.
It's a win for all of us. So those are some of the things
that I really look up to. Yeah, I love.
That you know, Sorry. Sorry.
And one more thing. So I've been, I've been involved
in corporate training recently. So I'm working with one of the
companies as a subcontractor. So I get invited to, I get, I

(22:30):
get to train a lot of big companies and leadership teams.
And you know, one interesting thing I can't, I can't, I cannot
ignore that is I'm the only Indian in most of the rooms.
And I in fact, I walk in and I say I'm, I'm very brave and
everyone laughs and I'm the onlyIndian.
And I do ask them. I say, would you have asked me

(22:50):
to train if you if I was not coming to this, you would have,
would you have chosen me to train you?
And the answer was no, right? Would you choose me to train
you? Like hell yes.
So you know that judgement is always there.
I'm teaching communication skills, I'm teaching leadership
skills and I'm teaching is basedon my experience, my knowledge,

(23:12):
my passion and my obviously my qualifications.
But it's all ignored because I'man Indian, right?
But once they have seen how I'm doing, once they see how I
connect with them, they want me to train them.
So this is one thing that you know, this is and I actually
openly challenge them and I tellthem this, that this is how it
is. I said, next time, don't do
that. Don't judge someone by their

(23:34):
name or by their ethnicity. Yeah.
Yeah, that that's so true because, you know, it's so
powerful that you say that because there's these two
questions, they're like, hey, would you have chosen me?
No. Would you choose me?
Yes. So what is disconnected?
And as you said before, it's a it's a bias, it's a prejudgment
based on whatever. It could be the fact that you're
engine, it could be the fact that you're a woman as well.

(23:56):
You know, there's the other, there's the other angle that
comes in, right. So the double whammy off women
and and personal colour which can affect so many so many
judgments. Yeah, yeah.
And one thing you asked me, whatis very proud moment for me is,
yeah, I have a very, I'm in a very interesting intersection of
life, not intersection, I would say experience where as a
migrant, not only do I work withinternational students and

(24:18):
migrants, I equally work that closely with EVs and
communities. So I work very closely with
Maori Pacifica and Attangata Fenua and I'm very well
connected with the community. So I bring this lens of Tawiri
from both like I'm seeing this and I'm teaching about the
Treaty of Waitangi from a multicultural perspective.
So it's a very interesting blendbecause I see to New Zealand, I

(24:40):
see Altirawa and I see New Zealand, right?
Because as an outsider, we only see, oh, it's white New Zealand.
But when you come here, you still don't see the collective
part of New Zealand unless and until you are a part of it.
Like how I am involved in the community because if I'm not
like majority migrants are not involved in the community, they
will always see that the superficial as you know,
there's. Yeah.

(25:00):
So that is one thing that I really, really feel that has
been a very good learning experience and a privilege to be
to be known in. In fact, I, I was very honoured
to be a guest speaker at the Marai and I had a proper
welcoming at the Marai and I wassuch a honourable thing to Yeah.

(25:21):
So yes, I I get to see both sides of New Zealand.
Yeah, that there was, that was my next question, you know, is
Tangata Tiriti, you are, you arenever getting 2 wells, you know,
and, and whenever I think about my, my, my Maori colleagues that
I work with, they teach me so much.
But I also, I think about there's so much similarity
between to Al Maori and Indian culture.

(25:42):
In fact, to Al Maori, Indian indigenous culture, there's so
many similarities, but also, as you said right before, the same
challenges through colonization that has affected every Indian's
culture around the world. It's, you know, it doesn't
matter where you are. And you know, as you said
before, if you're not educated, not told about it, you just
think your world is the only world that has that.
But actually, if we submit it out, it's actually happened

(26:05):
probably. Yes, it is.
It is So one thing I can say proudly that so far I've worked
with 250 plus Maori students andthere is two things that I tell
them to do when we finish is as a gift to me is they will send
up against racism and they will look after animals.
So yeah, there are two things they promised me.

(26:26):
So I think they will they will be doing that because see, you
cannot, there are people, these educated people who are racist.
Like I was at a networking eventlast last year in Hamilton and I
was with Arroha. In fact, arroha means in in
Sanskrit, which is the ancient language of India, Arroha means
ascending with knowledge and in Maori it means love and

(26:46):
compassion. So I kept her name as Arroha.
So I was at this networking event and this gentleman asked
me, So what brings you here? And before I could answer, he's
like, you must be in the cleaning business.
I'm like, yes, you cut that right.
How how did you get? He was so happy because he
guessed it right. And I was like, because I said,

(27:07):
I clean people's mentals blocks,you know, I clean them, I clean
the clean the but that kind of biases, you know, it's, it's
everywhere. Like another networking event I
went to and I'd recently we got a job as a workforce development
lead for the entire Waikato region.
And I go to this networking event and these two ladies who
work with the migrant services, OK, these they have been career

(27:29):
counsellors and the white careercounsellors, they teach English
language to refugees. And the first question they
asked me was how did you get this job?
You know, And then the other onehad to just elbow her and sit on
us. We mean to say it's really nice.
Congratulations. I said you've done the damage
already. It's OK.
Thank you very much. So it's everywhere.

(27:51):
And that's, that's, that's, that's the thing, you know, with
my LinkedIn post yesterday, I posted, I've had so much
comments about it. And somebody sent me a message.
She is Irish and Irish and Scottish.
And she says she faced this, she's white.
But she goes, I face the same racism because of my language.
The language, as soon as people hear me speak, they go, oh, we
don't want to talk to you because you're not from New

(28:13):
Zealand. You know, you are not one of us.
And I was like, this is so, so interesting.
But the, the labelling probably happens, you know, it could be
skin colour, it could be the tone of your voice, it could be
whatever it is, it just, it justcomes through.
And how did you, how did you getthis job?
How did you get this job? How did you get this job?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And we have 5 layers for for me
as a brown woman, I have 5 layers. 1 is the for white male,

(28:34):
white female. And then obviously we had
Tongata Fenua, which full respect it should be.
And then we have our brown men, which have their own little
pods. You know, they they're very,
very much about the masculine energy.
And then last you get, you get your turn.
So if in that turn where I am today, I feel I've booked five
times harder than an average white male, it's to get where I

(28:57):
am today. Yeah, Yeah.
And I love those layers because,you know, we think about where
do we sit in that layer? You know, we do.
I sit there as a male, as a brown person, Where do I sit
there? And what do I, what biases do I
bring in from the world that I come in, plus the the media that
I intake of whatever it is. And then the conversation that I
have is going to fit. Yeah, every one of us.
But how many of us actually stopand think about it?

(29:19):
Yeah, we don't. Yeah, we don't.
Yeah, You know, we just go, OK? Yeah.
No, no, we're all good. We gave them a chance.
They went. Gave them a chance.
Isn't that condescending? Straight away I gave somebody a
chance. Yeah.
Do you know? That's no it's not giving a
chance like I've worked in so many government organization
I've applied for internal promotions.
I've never got it. Yeah, Yeah.

(29:41):
And I've and see, you know, whenpeople apply for jobs, they
apply, they don't get it. They just say bad luck.
What I have been doing is every time when I apply for a job, I
keep a track of it and I will check on LinkedIn who got that
job. OK.
And 95% of the time it is to a white person who is less
qualified than me, who does not have the skills.

(30:03):
And yes, so it is. It is.
It is. It is so clear.
They just don't say it, but it is there.
Yeah, but hey, what have you done?
You've created your own businessand you're creating, you're
creating your own generational effect, which is really, really
beautiful. But as you as you as you
navigate, you know, you work with with migrant students, what
is the one thing that you see? Why do they come to New Zealand?

(30:24):
You know, I know why I came to New Zealand as you think about.
And it's always fascinating because the world is the world
is open right now. You know, if we if we take away,
obviously cost is a big thing. And when you when you talk to
your migrant students, what, what brings them here And, and I
guess what is the, the most random answer you've received?
This is a very fun thing, like when I go to students and you

(30:46):
know, everyone has to write a statement of purpose before you
come in, why do you want to cometo New Zealand?
And every student will have the same.
I want to expand my horizons andI love the outdoors, so I want
to be in New Zealand. Then I asked them after six
months, how many outdoor trips have you made?
And you know, so, so there is no, there is a big mismatch of
why they want to come here. The, the, those who want to come

(31:09):
here after having a successful career, like, you know, all
central, they've left their job as project lead or project
manager. It is because they want a good
work life balance. They're frustrated.
They, they, it's too fast, you know, and I just went to India
and last last month I've returned.
It's very fast. It's very fast.
And you don't have time for yourself.
You don't have time for your family.

(31:30):
So I think majority of those whocome here, it's not for money.
Remember, New Zealand is not formoney.
You can make way more money at the other places.
In fact, nowadays you can make India a salary of 7080 lakhs,
which is what, 100,000 New Zealand dollars in India with
more support and less expenses. So it's not mostly for money,

(31:50):
it's the quality of life and theway of living.
So that is what brings people here.
And also sometimes there's falsedreams of path to residency
shortage skills. Yeah, yeah.
So that plays a big role. But I think mostly it is all
about getting the work life balance and the quality of life.
Yeah, yeah, The quality of it's quite funny said that because I

(32:13):
might write my own personal statement when I moved to New
Zealand and I reflect back aboutwhat I wrote.
Like do I actually do those things?
I probably do that. Probably we're into that now
after living here for 20 years, but when I first came, I just
need to survive and pay the bills.
That's all I need to do. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's so.
Crazy. Yeah, and.
You know, we spoke, we spoke about the highs and I loved your
analogy of the the trampoline. And I'm going to ask the

(32:36):
question that you know that it'swhat is the biggest challenge.
You mentioned the racism, you mentioned that, but any other
challenges that that's that are even bigger than that that
you've faced as you have navigated your time doing all
the awesome things that you do? Sorry, how do I navigate my
time? You mean what?
One of one of the biggest challenges and I, we spoke, we
spoke on racism, we spoke on about those.
But is there any other challenges that that you've had

(32:58):
over the last, you know, 13 years of being, well, just in
New Zealand? But I guess in your, in your
life, you know, you've had your head industry, you've had your
appearance, you've had things happen in your world.
And you know, if we put, if we do a scale of life, what is the
the biggest challenge that you've had to overcome?
I think the biggest challenge that I had to overcome was my
loss of my senses and living with it because, you know, it's,

(33:21):
it's being deaf. I take it lightly now, but it's
not how it was 13 years ago. Not being I've, I had a career
half my life I spent in trainingpeople on perfumes.
And you know, I could identify if you're mixing 2 perfumes,
what's the top note? What's the heart note?
What's the base note? And now I can't smell.

(33:41):
And I think that's very challenging.
So right now I'm so lucky. Like arrocha is my nose.
So I take 2. I said, does this need washing?
Does this need washing? So you know, so many things that
I am so independent, so dependent.
Like I'm just guessing. Like I have a gas alarm because
if the gas is off, I can't, right?
If the house is on fire, I will never know.

(34:03):
So I think those were my biggestchallenges.
I said hearing loss is my biggest challenge even now.
But then I take it as OK, I don't, I can't hear what people
talk behind my back. So it doesn't matter anyways,
you know, and, but it has given me, I, I often, I often say
that, you know, becoming deaf has made me a better listener.
You know, it, it or when you talk, normal people talk, it's

(34:25):
like you're looking at your phone when you're writing.
But when I, it's for me, it's like I have to look at you.
I have to look at your lip movement.
I have to look at what you're not saying, how you're saying
it, how you're sitting. Did you just slouch?
Did you cross your arms? So that really helps me to
connect on a very on a differentlevel.
And I think those were some of the challenges and also having a

(34:47):
baby being here on my own and nosupport system, which is quite
challenging, quite challenging. And I think I think we as a
community can do better. You know, we we can do better.
And I love how I see the Maori community.
You know, they have their amazing support system, they
back each other up. They have these networking, they

(35:07):
have these awards. I think we could do some more of
that rather than having competition within within the
communities, you know, which is very.
Yeah. Yeah.
So I think those are some challenges that I think every
person who's a solo parent wouldface in New Zealand that you
just can't. Like I know that if I would have
support, I would have done at least 10 times more than I'm

(35:30):
doing right now. I have so many things that I can
do my brains like we got this and this, but I said practice,
hang on, who's going to look after aroma like, OK, forget it.
So, you know, those kind of things that kind of yeah, yeah,
that's the biggest challenge. Yeah, and the reason I come back
to that is because, you know, you know, we mentioned the
challenges of racism and all theall the isms, but in the day,

(35:50):
we're all we're all humans in our own journeys.
And you know, the fact you have the physical challenge is a
reality for you, you know, and the fact that the support as
well as a real challenge for you.
And as you say, as your own words are, you could have done
10/10 times more, you know what you're doing.
And that's that's the reality. But what I, what I, what I've
loved is you've accepted the fact, hey, I, I can do what I
can do here. And your daughter is, is now #1

(36:14):
but also your #1 teacher, but also your number one
communicator, which is, you know, strip everything away in
life, what's the most important thing, right?
It's your loved one, the one wholoves you the most.
Yeah. That's it.
I think that's what matters the most.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And.
I'm going to shift focus just a little bit.
Edu Ventures. What made you start that day?
And I really like the name and Ireally love what you've done

(36:36):
with that day. The reason I ask is because
that's such a, it's like a nichein the market.
But also the fact was that, you know, everyone gets told the
dream, but no one, no one gets told the reality until they
arrive wherever, wherever that place.
And and I say this and I and I this parallels here because when
I was working in my last role and I would guide people to come
to university in maybe 2 years into my role, I shifted the

(37:00):
focus from Hey, universe is fantastic to actually, hey guys,
university is hard. Universe is very hard.
You're going to crow high. You're going to the reality of
university is not the pictures, the awesome ad campaigns that
you see. The Cathedral Co in the beach,
No. Yeah.
So what is the real? Yeah.
So yeah. You know, if we, if we, if we
just, you know, if we think about, you know, what made you

(37:21):
go actually let me talk about the reality of what moving to
new countries like. Oh cool.
So what happened when I came here?
And so I started my study after 10 years, after it was a break
of 10 years and I failed during my bachelor's three times
back-to-back. I kept failing very bad for the
comps. I got my masters based on my

(37:43):
work experience. Also, I did finish my
bachelor's. But when I came here, what I
started doing was for me, I started understanding how to
write, how to understand the your, your academic life.
Because we come from a banking pedagogy in India or any Asian
country where the teacher talks,you write and you have a
multiple choice question, you memorize, you rotate culture.

(38:04):
And New Zealand was very different.
It asked me critically analyse this.
I'm like, I have never thought about it like this.
So for me to break it down, I actually broke down the words
like what does it mean by summary?
What does it mean by critically analyse?
And then while I was doing that,I started teaching my fellow
classmates and there was a pointI taught them how to reference.
And there was a point I had like50 students in my classroom and

(38:26):
the actual classroom was empty, right?
So, and these students were like, we should do it everyday.
They said I don't get paid for it.
So they created my first role inNew Zealand was created for me.
It didn't exist. So they created a role of a peer
tutor, which was a part time role where students, I would
teach students how to how to understand basics, how to do
referencing. So this was students from

(38:47):
Malaysia, from Russia, from Vietnam, every nationality and
they had all enrolled for masters, but they were in my
class to understand what is the meaning of critically analyzed,
How do I even start this? You know?
So that's when I realized that there is this basic gap of so
many small things, you know, whodo you go to?
And that's when after a few years, I said I need to start

(39:09):
something where I can actually ask people.
Like people can ask like, what do I do?
How do I need to succeed? And then you know, part time job
is not easily available. You're told from India that oh,
part time job but you don't get jobs.
So many people went back. So that is 1 main purpose of
eduventure is to give the reality, the truth of what is
there so that you're better prepared.

(39:29):
It's not to put anyone off, it'sto be that this is going to
happen to you. These are the tools you will
need. So here it is.
So be better prepared. And that is why it answers your
question. Because my first job, I went to
my community, Indian community for a job and they gave me a job
at as a dishwasher in one of thebakeries.
I went there at 5:00 AM in the morning.

(39:51):
I remember it was at Brutomart for one week and after a week I
asked him for pay and they said you don't get paid for training,
right? So I'm like nobody told me this,
you know, nobody was explaining this to me.
So who do I go to? I went to my community.
People say, oh, go to go to meetGujarati community.
They will help you. I went to meet Gujarati
community. He didn't pay me.
So which means that there is this.

(40:12):
There is this reality, this truth is missing from anywhere.
How will I get who will give me my first job?
So I was like, no, I'm there needs to be some truth told
because I saw so many of my colleagues had to go back home
because they couldn't find a job.
They couldn't pay their bills and they had sold their land and
homes and they had come here. So it is, it is not a joke.

(40:35):
You know we charge 5060 thousandfees.
It is not a joke. In fact day before yesterday I
was in the train, the Hoya from Auckland to Hamilton.
I had five students with me, 5 international students and we
were talking and these international students had
studied, are studying the green list of occupation healthcare,
construction quantity surveyor. And they don't have money to eat

(40:57):
food. It's been a year and they are
not getting a part time job. The only job they got was
picking up strawberries point $0.70 to pick up 1 box of
strawberry. I'm, I'm going to write a post
on that anyways. But there is.
And when I told them, like, you know, every, every student that
I finished my workshop with and I asked them, would it, would

(41:17):
this have helped you? They said this would have been
so important for my mental health and I would, I would stop
doubting myself because right now I'm doubting myself.
I'm not good enough. But it is not me.
It is the. System here.
Yeah, yeah, the system here. So I think that is one of the
main reasons for Eddie Venture NZ that yes, to raise awareness.
And I'm not very fondly acceptedby people because I ruffle a lot

(41:39):
of feathers with the reality check.
But yeah, that's what it is. Yeah, I mean, facts are facts,
right? Facts.
Yeah, facts are facts. Yeah, yeah, yeah, facts are
facts. Yeah, yeah.
And I love that because, you know, we have all these roast
into glasses here and we take them off we go actually, this is
the reality. Talk about Rose Rose to the
classes. I want to talk about something
that, you know, we spoke about racism, which is great.

(42:01):
But the thing that we don't speak about often is the
exploitation of our own communities.
You know, you spoke about it right now and he said actually
you were exploited by your own community.
And it's really easy for us sometimes to go the others, but
also internally, our own people are doing the same thing, if not
worse sometimes. And, and I retrospect because as
spoke about it reminded me when I first moved to New Zealand, I

(42:23):
also started to get a job. I went to work at a an Indian
restaurant And and as you do, and here's the crazy thing, I
didn't even know what Indian restaurant.
I grew up in Africa. I was like, hey, this is not a
real thing. I didn't know what butter
chicken was. So they're like, hey, don't even
know if they're going to hire you.
You're going to be off. I went and yeah, they would pay
you like $5 or something ridiculous.

(42:44):
And at that time you just go, OK, whatever.
I just need money because I've got to survive.
Yeah, but I love your thoughts about internal exploitation.
Internal exploitation is the worst thing.
And this happens with every community.
The Chinese will exploit the Chinese, the Philippines, it's
always the case. And and those who exploit are
fully rich. They have so much.

(43:05):
Obviously they've done it the wrong way, but yeah, it happens.
It happens and you don't think twice because if you don't have
food on your table you don't care if it is wrongly bought or
you want to feed your kid, you will go work for $5.00 because
you need that money. Yeah, yeah.
And I and I think that's the onething we need.
I mean, we see in the media being, you know, we're going to
get caught. But I think, you know, maybe

(43:26):
it's on those communities to call them as well, to call out
their own communities to go actually, hey, what are you
doing? You're actually making things
worse, which is why is the people there start doing things
that the others start stereotyping and you go, all
right, cool. This is it's humor.
This is ridiculous. Yeah.
And we have a role in that. We play a role in that, you
know, but internally, but there is racism in within the
community as well. 100%. 100% ifI if I go to the Indian temple,

(43:50):
I will not have many Indians smile at me.
They look at me as if I asked them to pay my mortgage, you
know, like, like smile, be, be nice.
Like, why do we, why do we be, we need to be with each other,
you know? But yeah, so there is a lot of,
yeah, racism within the community.
So many layers, right? So many layers.
I mean, if humans, humans are complex, you know, humans.
Are complex complex, complex humans complex?

(44:12):
Yeah. Yeah, which is.
But hey, this is. It also makes us exciting and
interesting and different and allows us to break rules.
Yeah. Yeah, which is, which is which
is fascinating as you are a rulebreaker, which is great, which
is why you ruffle a lot of feelers.
How do you look after yourself? What is your, what is your
downtime? How do you just like the world
is doing all these things here. What is your for?

(44:35):
Me, it's always nature and I've got this new found passion for
I'm learning Sanskrit right now and you know, I used to always
get pissed with how the western world looks at my culture.
You know, it's like, but, but then it's it's very selective.
It's not always for everything. It's like for yoga.

(44:55):
If you say yoga, Oh, I'm a Yogi.That's from my culture, by the
way, and you cannot be a Yogi eating your medium rare shake
and a wine glass. That's not a Yogi, first of all.
And I was, you know, so I am right now wanting to, I
obviously downtime is yoga and I'm learning to meditate because
it's ADHD meditation is the like, it's crazy.

(45:18):
So I am connecting with my own culture.
I'm understanding where I come from and I want to know my
roots. And I'm planning to become a
yoga teacher. I'll be going very soon to India
to get my teacher training so that I can teach yoga the way it
is supposed not teach. I will learn yoga the way it is
supposed to be learnt, not the downward facing dog.

(45:41):
It is not called the downward facing dog.
It is Parvatasarma and there is a meaning behind it.
So I want to skip the English version and straight learn from
yeah, yeah, the the where it comes from.
And yeah. So that's what I want to do for
me animals. So looking after my, my dream is
to and that's it's my dream and I will, I'm working towards it.

(46:03):
I'm very much close to it now. So, you know, sometimes my end
goal was to be a farmer. So I, I found this property so I
have my house and city. I'm such a crazy person.
I just rented it out to someone and I rented this place because
I wanted to stay in the countryside to experience how it
is. So I'm like, I quite like it.

(46:23):
So I think I will move to the countryside and I dream to have
a sanctuary, animal sanctuary. I used to, I used to volunteer
for chained dog awareness, whichwas helping rescue chained
animals, which was again one of my biggest achievements in New
Zealand, to go to people where Ifind chained dogs and ask them,
request them to whatever, you know, whatever can be done for

(46:46):
them. So I would like to have a animal
sanctuary where I rescue animals.
Yeah. So that's my long term dream.
Yeah, that is, that is where I want to be.
I love that because of so many parallels.
The 1st parallel is that learning what your own culture,
you know, because I, I, I often to many people that you know, I,

(47:06):
I learnt Yamori, I learnt Yamori.
But to actually know my own culture, my own, my own Hindu,
Hinduism, my own culture, my notthe religion but the culture,
the actual, what does it actually mean?
You know, what does it actually mean for me as my identity?
So many pals there. And also the second one is my
grandfather was a yoga teacher from India.
And, and I, I remember I always think about this, that when I

(47:29):
was 12 years old, he came from India and him and my grandmother
and he sat us in the room and hewas teaching us yoga.
Like, you know, the yoga with the sensory terms and
everything. And, and I remember as a child,
I was like, yeah, whatever, thisis ridiculous.
And now I think back and I was like, you know, this is it's now
modernized. It's a way of life.
It's. Been practiced so many years and

(47:50):
my grandfather was well beyond good times.
And I still remember also growing up, my, both my parents
would have cold showers in the morning, you know, since I was
at 4:00 in the morning and now it's a popular thing.
I was like, you know, our parents, our grandparents knew
these things. But we for some reason like
whatever. But now it becomes, it becomes
westernised. You go out.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Everything is Westernised,

(48:11):
everything that the Western culture talks, it's intermittent
fasting and all that. It's, it's been there for ages,
you know, we've, we've already held it.
So it's like, I want to cut that, that English part of it
and just do it how it's done. So that is my aim at the moment.
And as I said with Arroja, I'm 10 times slower than I would
actually be. So yes.

(48:31):
But you're also you're also 10 times more more lucky to have
someone who's going to be learning from you and, you know,
carrying it on forward, which is.
It. Is fantastic almost an hour
we've been talking and I guess you know there's so much we can
unpack and so much we can talk about that I'm mindful of time.
We have a question that we'd like to close our podcast with.

(48:51):
Well, before I do anything else you'd like to add before I,
before I close off anything, anystrong boss?
Yes. I would love for this message
for every migrant, every student, is to stop doubting
yourself, you know, and stop doubting yourself.
And if you're writing a LinkedInmessage, what others are
thinking of you, if you're speaking somewhere, what others

(49:13):
will think of you, stop doing that because it doesn't matter.
Just don't think about what others are thinking.
Just think about how you make them feel.
That's all. If you have that in control,
nothing else matters. So stop doubting yourself and
knowing English. English is your second or third
language. Don't doubt yourself.

(49:34):
You should be proud that you canspeak two or one or two other
languages, which makes your brain even more intelligent than
an average brain who speaks onlyone language.
So yeah, be proud of yourself. Yeah, I.
Love that, I love that and I love that because also when I do
my coaching, I always tell people that everyone is going to
have an opinion no matter what. Everyone, everything you don't

(49:56):
like, you have an opinion and it's you choose to accept it or
not. And when you choose to accept
it, you are limiting yourself. But if you choose to ignore it,
then whatever, you know. So I love the way you put that
there. It's, it's, it's a great segue
to, to our last question, which is, you know, you've, you've
shared so much here and our podcast is called Baskets of
Knowledge. And if there's any piece of
knowledge you'd like to share with our listeners from your

(50:19):
world, any part of your world, what would that piece of
knowledge be to put into our Kitty and our baskets?
I would say always focus on these three things in life is
leave a person happier than theymet them, leave a place cleaner
than you found it, and leave a project more productive than you

(50:39):
started. So if you have these three
things, success is going to be yours.
Yeah, I love that load. Amazing.
Those those three points are so beautiful.
Nothing. I should all implement those
into my world. Thank you so much for jumping
into our podcast today. It's been really beautiful.
And so much to unpack, but so much also that you've just let

(51:00):
me to think about, you know, this, this is not to think
about, you know, your world, what you've gone through, but
also the world that they see. And I really love your last
three messages. They're really, really
beautiful. They're making me smile.
But hopefully, hopefully by you jumping on the podcast, you are
living happier than you are whenyou guys come on.
Fingers crossed. Awesome I am.

(51:20):
Awesome. And and also, I guess people
want to connect with you or people want to do some stuff
with you. Where can they, where can they
do that? LinkedIn would be the best
place. Yeah, LinkedIn and we'll put,
we'll put your profile into our show show notes as well.
And keep doing what you do really need it.
Baskets of knowledge is really needed.
In fact, one of the things that I do in my workshop with with I

(51:43):
focus on the TAFA re TA buffer. And I have these different
baskets from different countries, the jute baskets in
South Africa, India, Maori and these are your baskets.
So thank you for doing that. Yeah.
No worries, thank you for jumping on and you know this is
just a platform to come and share the loved experiences.
You know it's a loved experienceand you share it's amazing loved
experiences and come wait, come wait for your book one day.

(52:05):
I am looking forward to it. But I know it's gonna come.
When Aloha is a little big and Iam it, yes, I will be writing a
book for sure. Oh, fantastic.
Again, thank you so much for your time.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
Well, this is out there. Hopefully you have found this
podcast not just interesting, informative, but also to get you
thinking about your own, your own world, but also the people

(52:25):
that you live in the world with.Because you don't live in an
individual world. We live in a community.
So think about how you live in that community.
Till next time, don't forget to leave the place happier, leave
the place cleaner. And if you work in a project,
leave the project more productive than it was when you
started. Don't make time, Take care.
Bye. Take your day.
Bye buddy. Peace.

(52:45):
Bye. Thank you for listening to
Bastards of Knowledge. Yeah, we hope that you found
something useful to put into your bastard knowledge.
And as we said before, remember to put something that'll into
your Bastards of Knowledge everyweek.
And as always, feel free to like, comment and share this

(53:07):
podcast. Thanks everybody.
Bye.