Loneliness, Oneliness, and Growing Your Business with Monika Jiang

Loneliness, Oneliness, and Growing Your Business with Monika Jiang

This conversation with Monika Jiang was an absolute delight. My first encounter with Monika was when she worked with the House of Beautiful Business.  Since then, she has done many remarkable things, including the creation of The Oneliness Project. I was lucky to attend her workshop at Society 5.0 in 2024, if you ever have the chance to be part of one of her events - say yes immediately. Monika is a writer, speaker, and community builder with Chinese-German roots, developing Oneliness — a philosophical lens on loneliness, relationality, and the world we share. In Monika's words, "Loneliness is not a crisis. It is a natural response to the world we have constructed — the systems, structures, and stories that reward self-sufficiency, pathologize need, and outsource intimacy to platforms and products. The crisis is not loneliness itself but the fear of it, and the exhausting lengths we go to in order to avoid it. Oneliness is a way of being. The recognition that we are always alone and always in relationship, simultaneously — with ourselves, with others, with the more-than-human world, with something that exceeds all of us." Discover what Oneliness is and how Monika got the word out about her work in this conversation. You can learn more about Monika and her work here at her website [https://www.monikajiang.org] which also includes a links to her Substack, Instgram and LinkedIn. And this is a link to her TEDx talk, Finding Connection in a Disconnected World [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TETU-nTgYmg]. What was your biggest takeaway from our conversation? Share in the comments below, I respond to every single comment. For even more advice, as well as ways I can support you with your business or with your Meaningful Third Act, head to my website ⁠⁠⁠⁠fireflycoaching.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://fireflycoaching.com]. Make it meaningful, Stephanie

How Not to Use AI with Abi Awomosu

I first discovered the work of Abi Awomosu [https://abiawomosu.substack.com/p/start-here] from a post on LinkedIn from Cindy Gallop [https://www.linkedin.com/in/cindygallop/] (eternally grateful, Cindy).  After reading one of her articles, I was deeply intrigued. She was sharing ideas and concepts that felt familiar and finally made complete sense when she explained them in the way that only she can. I bought her book and kept reading her articles. Her voice is one that must be listened to, so I was beyond delighted when she agreed to be a guest on my podcast. Abi Awomosu is a digital griot, cultural researcher and data leader – a storyteller whose work is to listen to a community, carry its memory, and return patterns that help people recognise themselves and what comes next. After nearly two decades helping big tech and advertising companies read the internet, she realised the interesting question wasn’t “How do we get AI to generate more?” but “What happens when we let it help us listen better – and refuse the extractive, colonising script we were handed?” Now she works with challengers, misfits and quietly radical leaders and creatives who want to build from that place. If you’ve been looking for a third path with AI – not AI worship, not AI rejection, but a clear‑eyed, self‑authored, and sovereign relationship with a new kind of listening medium – this is what follows. There are three ways you can work with Abi, 1. Speaking 2. AI Literacy Training and Masterclasses (I took her course, highly recommend it) 3. Consulting and Advisory. They are all explained here [https://abiawomosu.substack.com/p/work-with-abi]. What was your biggest takeaway from our conversation? Share in the comments below, I respond to every single comment. For even more advice, as well as ways I can support you with your business or with your Meaningful Third Act, head to my website ⁠⁠⁠fireflycoaching.com⁠⁠⁠ [https://fireflycoaching.com]. Make it meaningful, Stephanie

Following Your Heart in Business with Daphne Laan

That question, "What would happen if you followed your heart with everything you do?" is the one that Daphne Laan has continued to ask herself for years. Have you ever asked yourself this question? It's a big one and potentially confronting to how you *think* you're supposed to run your business. I met Daphne almost eighteen years ago at an event and we've been in touch throughout the years. Recently, I reached to her to invite her to be on the Meaningful Ambition podcast, she said yes. You're in for a whirlwind ride that includes everything from DAVOS to meeting the drummer for Guns N' Roses and loads in between. Learn more about what Daphne is up to here: The Board Whisperers [https://www.theboardwhisperers.com/en], Planetir [https://www.planetir.org], and House of Wonder [https://www.houseofwonder.nl]. What's your biggest takeaway from our conversation?  And if you'd like my support in creating your Meaningful Third Act, find out more here. For even more advice, as well as ways I can support you with your business or with your Meaningful Third Act, head to my website ⁠⁠fireflycoaching.com⁠⁠ [https://fireflycoaching.com]. Make it meaningful, Stephanie

What Kind of Ancestor Do You Want to Be with Ada Parris

This is the essential question that Ada Parris has for us. What kind of ancestor do you want to be? Ada Parris is a futurist, artist, and relational ecologist, recognised by Forbes Brazil as one of the world’s most influential futurists. Through The Presence Lab™ and her frameworks, she bridges ancestral wisdom with innovation, helping leaders navigate complexity with integrity and presence. I saw Ada speak at an event in Amsterdam a few months ago and wanted to hear more so I invited her to be a guest on my podcast. Ada shares with us her journey in three acts and how she gets the word out about her business (and how that has changed over time). And the fact that she didn't have a marketing strategy. Some key takeaways. The value of knowing what you're really good at. The power of truly seeing someone, valuing them and creating a connection.  Because of all of the connections she created during her first act, when she shifted to her second act which focused on community building, those people followed her because they were interested in her and what she was doing. Shifting into her third act the last two years she had to slow down to write her book (link below). Which included a huge unmasking of who she is and who she thought she was. She discovered she is much more than her biography and all of the things she does. The way she is getting the word out about her work now is something she calls, 'vulnerable authority.' And realizing it's OK to change your mind. It's OK to unmask, and let go. "People pleasing is manipulation with a smile." Author unknown She finds her work so meaningful because injustice has always made her cry, even as a child. The world is not binary, there are paradoxes. We can be part of the problem and part of the solution. Supporting people to fully be themselves at work and in life. What if curiosity is the antidote to fear. Remember that we are not separate from nature. We are nature. What we are creating is creating us. What we are destroying is destroying us. Watch or listen to our conversation below. Check our her work on her website [https://www.adahparris.com] and her work as an artist [https://www.adahparris.art]. And buy her new book, Leadership Legacy: A Manifesto to Create a Mindful Future and A Thriving Planet [https://www.adahparris.com/writing]. And watch her two TEDx talks, Finding our future in ancestral wisdom [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkoIgVFBHxk] and What type of Ancestor do you want to be? [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJIaKsCtG78] To wrap up Ada shared the quote below to give us all reassurance. "Nature loves courage. You make the commitment and nature will respond to that commitment by removing impossible obstacles. Dream the impossible dream and the world will not grind you under, it will lift you up. This is the trick. This is what all these teachers and philosophers who really counted, who really touched the alchemical gold, this is what they understood. This is the shamanic dance in the waterfall. This is how magic is done. By hurling yourself into the abyss and discovering its a feather bed." Terence McKenna What's your biggest takeaway from our conversation?  And if you'd like my support in creating your Meaningful Third Act, find out more here. For even more advice, as well as ways I can support you with your business or with your Meaningful Third Act, head to my website ⁠fireflycoaching.com⁠ [https://fireflycoaching.com]. Make it meaningful, Stephanie

What's a Meaningful Third Act & How You Can Create Yours

Meaningful Third Act. What is it, who is it for, and why does it matter. In case you're curious, in the previous podcast episode I explained the evolution of this podcast from the Meaningpreneur Podcast to the Meaningful Ambition podcast, which now includes Meaningful Third Act. Here is the link to the list of SDG's I mentioned if you want ideas: https://ourworldindata.org/sdgs And if you'd like my support in creating your Meaningful Third Act, find out more here: https://www.fireflycoaching.com/work-with-me/meaningful/ For even more advice, as well as ways I can support you with your business or with your Meaningful Third Act, head to my website fireflycoaching.com [https://fireflycoaching.com]. Make it meaningful.