loader from loading.io

Years of Being Called "Hardworking and Quiet." How Revolut's Head of Strategy Daisy Rewrote Her Professional Brand

Speak Your Mind Unapologetically Podcast

Release Date: 04/24/2026

Your Odds Change The Moment You Take Action| Sanjay Manandhar show art Your Odds Change The Moment You Take Action| Sanjay Manandhar

Speak Your Mind Unapologetically Podcast

Most of us check the odds before we try something big. MIT-trained engineer and serial founder Sanjay Manandhar, author of The Why Not Advantage, says that’s the wrong number to look at. A statistic describes the crowd, not you. At 16, Sanjay applied to US schools from Kathmandu. He needed a full scholarship and airfare, and his friends asked if he was nuts. In this conversation, he shares the formula he uses to rewrite his odds, what a Nobel Prize winner’s 40 years of persistence teaches about timing, and why your odds change the moment you take action. In this episode, you’ll learn: ...

info_outline
How to Influence Senior Leaders When You Disagree show art How to Influence Senior Leaders When You Disagree

Speak Your Mind Unapologetically Podcast

How do you disagree with a superior or your boss when you see a problem in a decision you still have to deliver? How do you influence senior leaders when you don’t have the final say? In this episode of Speak Your Mind Unapologetically, Ivna Curi explores managing up and upward influence through two real workplace stories from her book, Unapologetic Voice. Amy spent six months building a business case after senior leaders dismissed a gap she saw in their plan. Rebecca challenged a leader’s approach to restructuring by proposing an alternative that addressed his concern about...

info_outline
Are You Kind at Work? 12 Signs You're Not show art Are You Kind at Work? 12 Signs You're Not

Speak Your Mind Unapologetically Podcast

Being kind at work is easy when things are going well. Smiling, saying thank you, listening, remembering birthdays. The real test is what you do when there is a problem, a conflict, or a disagreement. This episode is a self-assessment. Twelve everyday workplace moments that look polite on the surface and cost someone else something real. Escalating to a manager before ever telling the colleague what the problem is. Staying silent in a meeting, then criticizing the decision privately afterward. Calling someone disrespectful instead of naming the behavior. Saying yes when you mean no. Redoing a...

info_outline
How to Challenge Your Boss Without It Feeling Like a Challenge | Nita Patel, VP at Otis show art How to Challenge Your Boss Without It Feeling Like a Challenge | Nita Patel, VP at Otis

Speak Your Mind Unapologetically Podcast

Most people who challenge a superior's decision get it wrong. They oppose. Nita Patel, VP of Engineering at Otis, says the people who have changed her mind did something else: they stayed curious. They asked what happens after step two. They wanted to understand rather than object. By the end of the conversation she is the one asking them what they think, without realizing she was challenged at all. That works because of the larger skill underneath it. Nita calls herself a translator, estimating 30 to 40% of her time goes to it: working out why a meeting matters, what the goal is, and which...

info_outline
She Submitted a Conference Paper in Portuguese. She Didn't Speak Portuguese. She Had Three Months to Learn. Software CEO Katherine on Persistence, Pivots, and Never Giving Up show art She Submitted a Conference Paper in Portuguese. She Didn't Speak Portuguese. She Had Three Months to Learn. Software CEO Katherine on Persistence, Pivots, and Never Giving Up

Speak Your Mind Unapologetically Podcast

Two Ways to Fail: Give Up or Die." How Sigma Software CEO Katherine Built a Foreign Office, Completed a Half Ironman, and Learned to Lead on One Rule "There are only two ways to fail: give up or die. And neither is a reasonable option." That is the saying Katherine's team uses to remind themselves who they are. She means it literally. When she was trying to open Sigma Software Group's first Latin American office, she tried recruiting agencies, acquisition targets, universities, and different countries for an entire year. Nothing worked. Then in a brainstorming session, someone mentioned...

info_outline
They Called Her a Trouble Candidate for Asking for Equal Work. She Won the Company Award That Quarter. Aditi on Speaking Up Without Apology show art They Called Her a Trouble Candidate for Asking for Equal Work. She Won the Company Award That Quarter. Aditi on Speaking Up Without Apology

Speak Your Mind Unapologetically Podcast

Her first year in corporate. She noticed her male peer was getting more technical work than her. She raised it with her supervisor — not loudly, not aggressively, just directly. Instead of addressing it with her, the supervisor took it to a broader forum and told others there was "a trouble candidate in the team." The message filtered back to her. She had asked for fair treatment and had been labeled a problem for it. What happened next is what makes the story worth hearing. A senior leader stepped in, routed someone to talk to her properly, understood what she actually needed, and gave...

info_outline
She Spent Five Weeks Getting Stonewalled Before Landing One Lunch. By the Time the Hiring Manager Called, Three People Had Already Been Talking About Her. Equifax SVP D'Lovely on Networking That Produces Results show art She Spent Five Weeks Getting Stonewalled Before Landing One Lunch. By the Time the Hiring Manager Called, Three People Had Already Been Talking About Her. Equifax SVP D'Lovely on Networking That Produces Results

Speak Your Mind Unapologetically Podcast

She Stopped Leading With Her Title and Started Saying "I'm a Technology and Business Diplomat." People Immediately Wanted to Know More. Equifax SVP D'Lovely on Networking, Personal Boards, and Career Infrastructure She was laid off twice. Both times, by the time the hiring manager called her, three or four people at the company had already been talking about her. Not because she got lucky. Because she had spent months having breakfasts, following up on cold contacts, asking questions instead of pitching, and making it easy for people to pass her name along. One of those contacts had been on...

info_outline
She Names the Three People Who Changed Her Career and Exactly What Each One Gave Her. Director and Venture Partner Nancy on Building Your Personal Board of Directors show art She Names the Three People Who Changed Her Career and Exactly What Each One Gave Her. Director and Venture Partner Nancy on Building Your Personal Board of Directors

Speak Your Mind Unapologetically Podcast

She credits three people with transforming her career trajectory at AWS and beyond. Tatiana got her into AWS. Wayne sponsored her advancement within it. Dan helped her break into venture capital as a partner at Felicis Ventures. She did not stumble into these relationships. She built them intentionally, maintained them with discipline, and gave back at every stage — even when what she could give seemed small compared to what she was receiving. Nancy was Director and General Manager at AWS Data Protection when this episode was recorded. She has since been promoted to CTO. She is also the...

info_outline
A Junior Employee Publicly Questioned Whether She Was Being Overpaid. She Stood Up and Said: A Junior Employee Publicly Questioned Whether She Was Being Overpaid. She Stood Up and Said: "I Believe I Am Appropriately Compensated." Dr. Monique, CIO at Cal State Chico, on Advocacy, Bias, and Leading With Confidence

Speak Your Mind Unapologetically Podcast

She came to the United States from Cameroon almost 30 years ago with a master's degree in education, almost no exposure to computers, and a goal to pursue a doctorate. Her two sisters, both already in IT careers, redirected her. She thought she could never succeed in the field. She became an IT help desk worker. Then a network administrator. Then an IT manager. Then a director. Then a CIO. Then a COO in Spain. Then a Chief Technology and Innovation Officer. Then a Vice President and CIO at a California State University. Her PhD — the original goal from 1995 — she completed in 2019....

info_outline
Before Accepting the Offer, She Asked to Meet Her Manager's Manager. It Could Have Cost Her the Role. Coverys CITO Saadia on Courage, Bias, and Bold Career Moves show art Before Accepting the Offer, She Asked to Meet Her Manager's Manager. It Could Have Cost Her the Role. Coverys CITO Saadia on Courage, Bias, and Bold Career Moves

Speak Your Mind Unapologetically Podcast

Her Peer Kept Misattributing Statements to Her Team. She Let It Slide Once. The Second Time She Confronted Her Directly. She had a verbal offer within four days. They were eager. Before she accepted, she called HR and said: "Before I accept, I want to speak with my manager's manager." That request could have cost her the role entirely. She had already weighed it: if they say no, that tells me everything I need to know about this culture. If they say yes, I make a more informed decision. Within 24 hours, the executive cleared his calendar during a conference lunch and took a 30-minute call. He...

info_outline
 
More Episodes

For years, Daisy's performance reviews said the same things: hardworking, great team player, result-driven, quiet. Cycle after cycle, different managers, same words. Then she realized: those were her brand hashtags, and they were never going to get her to where she wanted to go. She wanted "confident," "influential," "driven," "leadership." And nobody was going to give her those labels. She had to earn them by using her voice.

Daisy is Head of Strategy and FP&A at Revolut, one of the world's fastest-growing fintechs. Originally from China, she built her career navigating the cultural expectation that hard work and results would speak for themselves. They didn't. In this episode, she breaks down exactly how she changed that, and what she now teaches every junior person who reports to her.

You'll learn:

  • The performance review pattern that finally made her realize she was building the wrong brand, and the specific words she decided to own instead
  • Why she stopped being the silent note-taker in every meeting, what she lost by doing it, and why AI has made that role completely obsolete
  • The 4-phase framework for asking questions in town halls and large meetings, from canned questions that still get you seen, to strategic dialogue that opens collaboration doors with senior executives
  • The "golden three months" strategy: how to use your newness as a security blanket to ask anything, map broken processes, and deliver visible value before anyone expects it
  • Why there is no such thing as over-communication at work ,and how staying quiet to avoid being "too much" is actually the riskier move
  • The one mandate she gives herself and every person she mentors: say something in every meeting, even if it's just a rephrasing

If you've ever been called "hardworking" but not "leadership material," or if you have great ideas that only come out in one-on-ones but never in the room, this episode is the blueprint.

About Daisy: Head of Strategy and Financial Planning & Analytics at Revolut, Daisy leads strategic and financial operations at one of the world's largest fintech companies. Originally from China, she coaches and mentors junior professionals on speaking up, building visibility, and translating strong technical work into leadership presence.

Stop Taking Notes, Start Getting Noticed: Revolut Head of Strategy Daisy on Building Your Brand Through Your Voice