Say It Skillfully® OUR VOICES–Shalimar Adorno poverty+possibility
September 7, 2021
Hosted by Molly Tschang
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Guest Information
Episode Description
Say It Skillfully® is a show that helps you to benefit from Molly Tschang’s expert guidance on the best possible ways to speak your mind at work in a positive and productive manner. Episode 96 is the 16th monthly feature of “Our Voices,” intended to accelerate social change, level the playing field and help everyone live to their full potential. This may present a very different experience of... growing up, going to school, struggling, working and living; Molly hopes you’ll better appreciate and embrace our differences, so that we’re stronger for them! Her friend and special guest, Shalimar Adorno grew up knowing that she had to be great in life. It is remarkable that she saw “endless possibility”... Would you have seen if this had been you…? Born to a 17-year old mother in the South Bronx, Shalimar recounts not knowing where their next meal would come from, and not being able to safely play outside. She speaks fondly of 18 months living in Puerto Rico, where she could ride her unicycle outside, and food could always be found. Despite growing up in poverty, she highlights the richness of family ties and necessity of fearlessness and hope, and how her parents moved them always in search of a different beginning for a better life. Education was paramount—her mother sold her food stamps to enable Shalimar to go to a private school, knowing this was to be her lifeline. She talks about pivotal people without whom pivotal doors wouldn’t have opened, a dark decade after her brother was brutally killed and how she came to peace with it. Shalimar shares how she went from Spanish major and cohesive Hispanic community at Penn State to investment banking, and found her way to a life-changing role at the World Bank. She implores, “vulnerability is courage” and “bring your own folding chair when there isn’t a seat at the table.” Don’t miss this story of heart, grit and resilience—from a life not knowing abundance to the deepest appreciation of it. Tune in and be inspired to know no boundaries and for ways to take action so that all can be safe, seen and heard, and our true and best selves. Molly’s thought for the week: Strength isn't about how much you can handle before you break. It's about how much you can endure after you've been broken (unknown, adapted from Robert Tew)
Say It Skillfully®
Tuesday at 8 AM Pacific Time/11 AM Eastern Time on VoiceAmerica Business Channel
Molly Tschang's Say It Skillfully® is a show that helps you benefit from Molly's guidance on the best possible ways to speak your mind at work in a positive and productive manner. She helps everyone from CEOs to interns to recognize that we are all both part of the problem as well as the solution, and that the path to solving any problem is to say what needs to be said.
Molly is a rare breed: tough enough to advise CEOs and company boards, but empathetic enough to understand the human costs of not allowing talent to shine. She has helped dozens of management teams navigate the human after-effects of mergers and acquisitions, and her show brings her expert guidance to a wider audience.
Say It Skillfully® every Tuesday at 8 AM Pacific Time/11 AM Eastern Time on the VoiceAmerica Business Channel.
Molly Tschang
Molly Tschang helps her clients' organizations gain the skills to Win As One, which most other companies never even try to do. She starts at the top, guiding management to commit to each other’s success and lead as one cohesive unit.
Molly is Founder and CEO of Abella Consulting, a New York-based leadership development and business advisory consultancy that helps senior leaders cultivate the collaborative capacity to elevate individual, team and organizational performance resulting in accelerated sustained, profitable growth. She created and hosts the “Say It Skillfully®” video series on LinkedIn, making it easier for all members of an organization to say what needs to be said in a constructive and productive manner.
Prior to launching Abella, Molly held executive leadership positions at Cisco Systems and U.S. Filter, where she led the integration of over 80 acquisitions. She holds a BS in chemical engineering from Cornell University and an MBA from UCLA. In 2017, Molly was selected from among 12,000 applicants to be a protégé of Marshall Goldsmith through his 100 Coaches initiative. In her downtime, she enjoys tennis, yoga and cooking with family and friends.
