Last week I was lucky enough to get 2 hours of Natalia Albert’s time to interview her. (It was supposed to be 1 hour but after the first interview I realised I had forgotten to press record!!!! Arghhh!!! Can you believe it!? Fortunately Natalia agreed to stay for a second take. And I think the second was almost as wonderful as the first - perhaps better!
This interview has a back story…. I first met Natalia in 2015 when I was part of an event she was leading - TEDx Wellington Women. I often tell people that event was my first genuine experience of feminism in action - I can thank Natalia and the amazing team she pulled together for that.
During the process of preparing my talk, I was paired with a male coach who I really didn’t vibe with. Every time we met I got a little more lost! I struggled for weeks, but it wouldn’t come. A couple of days before the big event my coach declared my talk was not “TED quality” and advised me to pull out to save my own embarrassment. I was devastated and ashamed - I knew I had something important to say but whenever I was around that coach I lost my confidence and felt paralysed. I remember trying to sneak out of the building before anyone saw me. But Natalia spotted me first. Seeing her smiling face, I burst into tears. She took me aside and through sobs I told her what had happened.
“You forget what that man said!” she replied with full conviction. “You’re going to get up there and be fantastic. This is my event and I don’t care what they say.”
Oh My God! I’ve never experienced such a contrast of emotions in such a short period of time. Total doubt - that feeling of being entirely inadequate under the male gaze - followed by total belief sweeping in with power and warmth and telling me I was enough. Natalia had given me the central message of my talk - the power of belief over doubt! I went on to talk about how Science is based on doubt, which divides and makes sense of the world. Science is good - but belief is even better.
I managed to write my talk in a day (with the help of my Mum) and it was a big success! It was also a turning point in my career where I started to back myself. I have Natalia to thank for that.
I hadn’t seen her much since then so I was delighted to see her face up large on posters as a Wellington Central candidate - I imagine she could hold the same kind of encouraging space in the political sphere as she did for us. Seeing her prompted me to get in touch and let her know how much I appreciated her influence back then. That’s how we reconnected and how this interview came about.
I loved this conversation! I learnt about Natalia’s childhood, growing up in Mexico with her single Mum and moving country several times as a young child. She spoke about how having dyslexia helped her develop a strong sense of self and how her difficulty finding work when she arrived in New Zealand fuelled her passion for accessibility. She’s a passionate advocate for the rights of marginalised groups such as migrant women, disabled and trans people.
Natalia described her big vision of an accessible and transparent government and how making accessibility a measurable goal would improve the government’s impact across the board.
We talked about the idea of fostering lots of different economies that meet the needs and skills of different communities - rather than talking about “the economy” as if it’s one big amorphous thing.
She shared her appreciation for the fierce advocacy groups in New Zealand and the many role models and heroes she’s met here. She also shared some personal thoughts on her relationship with culture and community and how we could become a country that feels genuinely inclusive to all our citizens.
What if our economies and political processes included everyone?