Ciara Gogan sits down with Minessa for a wide-ranging conversation about identity, trauma, decolonization, creativity, and what it means to build a gentler life while living inside oppressive systems. Minessa shares how they moved from survival mode and assimilation toward deeper self-awareness, and why joy, boundaries, and specificity matter in healing and in public work.

Connect with us:

Subscribe to Minessa’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@minessa.konecky

Follow Minessa on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/minessam

Connect with Minessa on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/minessakonecky

Connect with Ciara on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ciaragogan13/

Follow Stumbling Through Growth on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stumblingthroughgrowth/

Work with Ciara (Coaching) - https://calendly.com/ciara-upliftinclusion/uplift-30-minute-call

Ciara's Inclusion Coaching & Consulting - Uplift Inclusion: https://www.upliftinclusion.com/

SUPPORT THE SHOW

If you enjoyed this episode, please take a minute to support it.

Follow & Subscribe: Hit follow so you never miss an episode.

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star rating to help others find us.

Share: who do you know who needs to hear this conversation? Text this episode link to them.

Thanks so much!

Key Topics

In this episode: Minessa explains their core shift from “what I do” to “who I am becoming,” describing identity as something that can calcify if it is never questioned.

We discuss: how colonialism, capitalism, racism, and the patriarchy shape self-worth, and why unlearning those systems is lifelong work rather than a one-time breakthrough.

Minessa shares: a story about growing up in Pakistan, moving to the US in their twenties, and realizing how deeply assimilation had shaped their sense of belonging.

We discuss: trauma, including war trauma and childhood experiences, and how those experiences can be part of a person without becoming their whole identity.

Minessa shares: how a difficult period in 2018 became a major turning point in their healing.

We discuss: the difference between carrying trauma and using a stage or platform to process it, especially in speaking, coaching, and teaching settings.

Action items

• Notice where you may be confusing survival, trauma, or conditioning with your identity.
• Identify one small “drop in the pond” you can make, rather than trying to do everything.
• Tell one person, while they are still here, what they have meant to you.
• Check whether your words are reinforcing what you want or what you are trying to escape.
• Spend time in your body in a way that feels accessible, whether through movement, nature, or rest.