“I met Mother Theresa when I was just a little girl. I’d go and collect a bag of clothes or a packet of biscuits and bring the clothes home and wear those huge knickers which used to start at our waist and end at our ankles… But from there to get this Mother Theresa award and stand in her room and to be able to touch her bedsheets and her slippers and her table… it’s a time I will never forget. They allowed me to put the Indian flag on her tomb and it was very special.”
In this episode of The Idealists. (formerly Grit & Grace), host and entrepreneur Melissa Kiguwa interviews Jillian Haslam, an internationally bestselling author, philanthropist, entrepreneur, and motivational speaker, who grew up in the slums of Calcutta, where she faced a bruising childhood of extreme poverty, discrimination, abuse, and disease. Jillian’s gift of seeing beauty amongst the grit led her to rise to success as President of Charity at India’s Bank of America and launched her career as an internationally renowned motivational speaker. She has been honored with a growing list of awards, including the prestigious Mother Teresa Memorial International Award, The True Legend Award from The Telegraph, and the Asian Woman of the Year Award by The Independent.
In this episode, Jillian uses her story to show how to derive meaning from hardships and how to find grace in adversity. She shares how she integrated her darkest moments in order to find her light.
about the episode.
Jillian begins the episode by describing her childhood and the adversity those living in third world poverty experience.
She then describes how she was able to become the Executive Assistant to the CEO of Bank of America and later the President of Charity at Bank of America.
Jillian then shares her take on the canon of female leaders like Mother Theresa, Florence Nightingale, etc.
At the end of the episode, Jillian shares her audacious vision for the world.