Ep. 19 | Transformation Through Travel with Nishant Badami
Release Date: 06/29/2025
Feedback at Work
Ace of Pentacles
n this episode, a short bonus episode, I share some tips on navigating feedback at work. I talk about: how to reframe how to respond and not react to feedback when and how to get curious and how to help your manager shift their perspective on your performance. I hope this is helpful as you integrate feedback at work (and maybe even in life)! If you'd like extra support: avra.as.me
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Ep. 28 | Breaking the Burnout Script for High-Achieving Asians with Tian Tian (Mary) Li
Ace of Pentacles
In this episode, I sit down with my friend Tian Tian, who is a holistic transformation coach. We discuss her journey from working on Wall Street, tech, earning her MBA from Harvard, and the breakdown that showed her how disconnected many of us are from our wisdom. This sparked her desire to heal and then help others heal. Work with Tian Tian: Follow her on IG: Connect with her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yanmaryli/
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Ep. 27| Embracing Life's Plot Twists with Justin Oliver
Ace of Pentacles
In this episode, Justin Oliver shares his powerful transition from a career in higher education to his new path as a communication and intimacy coach. After years of professional success, Justin realized he was craving deeper fulfillment and began a journey of self-discovery that reshaped his life and work. Through candid reflection on burnout, personal healing, and confronting sex addiction, Justin explains how rigorous honesty, therapy, and emotional awareness transformed his relationship with himself and others. These experiences now inform his coaching, where he helps...
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Bridging the Gap Between Your Inner and Your Outer World
Ace of Pentacles
A little reintroduction going into 2026! Here’s who I am and what I do - through my coaching, consulting, writing, speaking, and teaching. If you’d like to meet: If you’d like to stay connected: saramirza.com
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The Back Seat
Ace of Pentacles
In this episode, I share a reflection on my year, and some important questions for you to consider as you roll into 2026. The cover photo is from a time in my life when I finally got into the driver’s seat of my own car.
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The Psychology of Employee Engagement & Motivation
Ace of Pentacles
Traditional employee engagement surveys don't work, but there's another way for us to think about employee engagement -- through the lens of motivation. This episode is for leaders, HR, workplace experience designers, AND individuals who might be considering a career change! 🗓️ Need support designing an employee engagement strategy that's rooted in the science of human behavior? Book a Workplace Consult:
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Designing Your Next Chapter
Ace of Pentacles
Great product design starts with deeply understanding the user and building for their experience. Ultimately, the products people keep coming back to are the ones that consistently exceed expectations. And isn’t that exactly what we’re doing when we design a life we’re genuinely excited to live? In this episode, I talk about a specific tool that can help you design your life and work experience more intentionally. For more help with designing your life / career or workplace experience, visit: ; set up a meet & greet and we can design a coaching package that...
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Activating Self-Schemas
Ace of Pentacles
Our environments are constantly activating our self-schemas. In this very short bonus episode, I talk about what that means, how I’ve used this psychological concept intentionally, and how you can use it too, especially as the holidays approach. Need research-backed strategies and support to step into the next version of you? Let's chat: avra.as.me
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The Middle Passage: A Threshold to Second Adulthood
Ace of Pentacles
Midlife is when many people have a profound psychological awakening that James Hollis calls the Middle Passage. Around age 40- 50, we move from first adulthood, defined by external roles, achievements, and societal templates into second adulthood, where the soul demands authentic self-expression. I think that because we don’t have rituals or support for this transition, it often shows up as restlessness. In this episode I look at the middle passage through the lens of the stages of grief, reframing midlife struggles as a necessary grieving process and an invitation to shed false...
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The Desk with the Best View: A Story about Power, Privilege, and Perspective
Ace of Pentacles
If your life feels like it’s in a strange moment, maybe even an absurd one, take a listen to this episode. And if you need some help figuring out how to work with that moment — reach out. Because that’s what I do. I help people turn moments just like these into keys that unlock another chapter of their lives and other version of themselves.
info_outlineIn this episode, Nishant Badami, founder of Ubuntu, shares her journey and the philosophy behind creating soulful, transformative travel experiences. She explains that transformation isn’t about changing who you are, but how you see yourself - a distinction shaped by her own evolution through travel.
Nishant debunks common myths about personal growth and emphasizes subtle inner shifts over dramatic reinventions. Ubuntu treats each journey as a living, evolving experience.
Nishant designs these trips to create space for reflection, connection, and vulnerability, encouraging travelers to engage deeply with themselves and others.
Travel, she says, is a unique catalyst for mindset change - it breaks routines, challenges beliefs, and opens people to new perspectives. Community and honest connection play a central role, as does ensuring cultural immersion is respectful and reciprocal.
About Nishant:
Nishant Badami is a creator, communicator, and connector. As the founder of Ubuntu, she creates meaningful experiences that help bridge cultural gaps and connect people with the world as well as themselves.
Nishant studied history and then went on to become a copywriter, working in the world of print advertising and later writing for television programming. Travel started as a deeply personal passion for Nishant - something she designed with love and intention for her family and herself.
In time, this passion was recognized and transformed into a profession, an opportunity she remains profoundly grateful for. As her journey progressed, Nishant came to a realization: lasting change requires a shift in how we perceive the world and each other. Her involvement with the Transformational Travel Council gave voice to this belief and reinforced her conviction that travel can be a powerful tool for transformation and connection.
Today, Nishant designs conscious travel experiences rooted in the principles of transformational travel. She is also a painter – what began as a passion has evolved into a professional pursuit, with her artworks being sold and commissioned.
Is she someone different outside her professional life? Not at all. As a mother, daughter, wife, friend, and sister, travel and art are interwoven into every version of who Nishant is.
Set up your next travel journey with Nish at: https://theubuntu.life/