Championing diversity and inclusion with Advita Patel

Meet the Mancunian-8.9-Advita Patel transcript

Intro

Welcome to Season 8 of the Meet the Mancunian podcast: social impact stories from Manchester. A warm Mancunian welcome from your host, Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe. Thank you for joining me today.

Every Tuesday, I bring you the stories of Manchester's unsung heroes, the individuals who helped to create positive change in our community. My aim is to inspire you, dear listener, to follow your own passions, whether through volunteering or working in the social impact sector. I'm also keen to spotlight good causes and create more awareness and support for them.

Whether you are tuning in on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or on my website, www.meetthemancunian.co.uk. Get ready for a season filled with inspiring tales of social impact within our beloved city.

Intro to Advita Patel

Welcome to the ninth episode of Season Eight of the Meet the Mancunian Podcast: social impact stories from Manchester.

Passionate about diversity and inclusion, we hear from Advita Patel, founder, Comms Rebel in this episode.

In Advita's own words.

[00:01:13] Advita Patel: And I thought, you know what? We need a list of people who can put themselves out there, who want to speak and want to have conversations. So, I messaged a few of my friends, asked them to put their names on the list and then spread the word. And that's how the Underrepresented Speaker list started.

[00:01:30] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Thank you so much, Advita, for taking the time today.

[00:01:33] Advita Patel: Thank you Deepa, I'm excited to be here today.

Passion for inclusion

[00:01:37] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: I really want to hear all about your story, but first tell us about your passion for inclusion. When did that start?

[00:01:42] Advita Patel: My passion for inclusion probably started about 10-15 years ago. I was born in Manchester and I have lived here all my life. But I grew up in a very racist area of Manchester and I suppose I felt excluded from a very young age. And I realised in order for me to feel like I belong in the community, I had to change my character and my personality to be accepted amongst these people who felt that I wasn't one of them.

I rejected my culture and my heritage and my religion in order for me to belong and feel included. And I went through this for a very long time. And I suppose all the way through, university and my early career, I really didn't talk about being Asian or being Hindu or being a woman in that space as well.

I was always trying to adjust and adapt as a bit of a chameleon in order to belong in that space. And my passion and obsession, I would also say for inclusion, came about when I was in my late twenties, when I witnessed some really poor behaviour towards a colleague who was different.

She was a black woman. She worked in the world of communications. First time I'd ever met somebody like me in the world of communications. There are not many folks who look like us in the industry.

But she was treated really poorly and that really made me realise that actually how unfair life is and can be just because of someone's skin colour and race. They were instantly disliked by the dominant culture. And because I adjusted myself so much and I didn't talk about my background, I was accepted.

I was like the model minority. I kept my head down. I didn't make a scene. I nodded along and said yes to everything. I did what people told me to do. I came in early. I finished late. I was committed. And I just kept myself to myself.

And that's the advice when I was younger, my parents gave me, keep yourself to yourself. Don't cause a scene. We're guests in this country. Even though I was born here, but that's a narrative that they'd been told for a very long time when they moved to the UK. And that's what I had, and I knew that if I ever was different, then other people would not accept me.

So when I witnessed what happened to my colleague, and then sadly, she passed away because she was diagnosed with cancer. But just before she did die, she told me that one of her things that she's going to do when she gets better was to prove the people in the organisation wrong. That she was good at what she did, and she deserved to get the credit in that space.

And when I found out that she did pass away, I realised that I didn't help her in any way. I wasn't the ally that I should have been, I didn't support her. I didn't interact because I didn't want to be attacked myself. And I said to myself, and I promised myself at that point, I was about 28, that I would no longer sit by and allow other people to be treated differently, just because they are different from the dominant culture.

And that's when I started to speak up. I supported others who were different. I became an ally for other folks. I challenged status quo. And I asked curious questions about why certain things were happening and why those decisions were made. And that's what led me to where I am today.

[00:05:23] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Thank you so much for sharing that, Advita. I can understand that it would have been a very difficult choice because if you didn't culturally adapt, you were afraid of being discriminated against as you were seeing for other people. And that is a really difficult situation to be in. So, I'm so glad you took that difficult situation and the situation your friend went through to start something really important.

Starting Comms Rebel

Tell us about how you got involved with Comms Rebel and what does it do?

[00:05:52] Advita Patel: Comms Rebel started in January 2020. And I never really expected to ever work for myself, to be honest, Deepa. I saw my parents and the struggles that they went through in their own business. And I just wanted to have a steady role, get a regular salary, turn in to work, do a good job and go home.

 I'd grown up with so much uncertainty with businesses and what it's like to run a business, I never really had the ambition to start my own business. But after 20 years of working in corporations predominantly in Manchester, I realised that if I want to see change, I have to be that change. And I couldn't make the impact I wanted to make in cultures being stuck in one place.

[00:06:42] Advita Patel: And I realised that I had a greater purpose to help more organisations globally understand what it's like to communicate effectively with inclusion front of mind. And that's where Comms Rebel started. And the reason I called it rebel, which at the time was quite contentious. A lot of folks said to me, wow, rebel is something that's going to really turn people off from working with you because, rebels are seen as disruptors. Rebels are seen as mischief makers and trouble troublemakers. How are you going to get past that? So organisations trust you with their work.

And I wanted to re-iterate once again, why change needs to happen. And sometimes you do need to be a bit rebellious. And I always say that I'm a positive disruptor in that culture. I will be that voice that some people are scared to be because of the consequences that they may fear. I will ask those questions that other people may not see because of the biases that they may have. And, go against some of those status quo's that we just get so used to.

And that's why I always see rebel in a very positive light. Because you do need rebels amongst law abiders as well, in a way. You need people with different thinking and different mindsets and are willing to put themselves out there and take the hit. That can sometimes happen. And organisations need a bit of a shake up, I would say.

And that's where Comms Rebel specifically came from. That's how we help organisations revolutionise how they communicate with each other. So people are always included in the work and feel that they can contribute effectively to the purpose of the organisation.

[00:08:20] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: When I think of rebel, I think of innovation. And you have to innovate, you have to challenge the status quo or otherwise you'll be stuck in, 1982 or whenever the thinking is.

[00:08:30] Advita Patel: So true.

Introducing A Leader Like Me Underpresented Speaker's list

[00:08:34] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: You're really passionate about equity, diversity, inclusion, and you set up A Leader Like Me Underrepresented Speakers list that is still doing wonders across the UK. I personally benefited from that as well. Tell us about that and what's the aim of it?

[00:08:49] Advita Patel: Aligning to my value of being a bit of a rebel, I questioned an event organiser about four years ago, actually just probably a few months after I started Comms Rebel, about their speaker line up. And their speaker line up wasn't very representative of the people in that community that they were serving.

So I questioned them, and I received a DM from one of the organisers who said, it's not for the want of trying. There just isn't enough diverse talent for the topics that we want to talk about at our events. And we've chosen people who we believe are the best or good in this space.

And now there's two challenges there, Deepa. One is who determines what good looks like. Or what best looks like, and where have you done your due diligence, and where are you basing that authority from? I question the who judges what good looks like, and who, what best looks like, and often the best in good is determined by an homogenous group, often from a dominant culture, who aligns good and best practice compared to themselves. Which is peppered in bias already.

So when you're surrounded by people who look like you, think like you, behave like you, you're going to compare best to that. You're not going to look outside of that circle. And then if you're only asking your circuits and your community for recommendations, then you're only ever going to get recommended as people that are similar to you, unless you have a very diverse community, which is rare.

And if I ask the listeners who are listening to our podcast episode today, look at the top 10. 12 people that you communicate with on a daily basis and connect with. How diverse are they in terms of their characteristics and background? And I can almost guarantee they're probably not as diverse as you think they are. And the reason I say this is because when I did this exercise of, 10 years ago, I recognised that even my community was quite one dimensional and very similar in terms of not only characteristics, but also politics and beliefs and values and social stuff. And I had to make some, conscious effort to change that.

 In my usual standard of being slightly passive aggressive, I went on to LinkedIn and got a list of people who had shared that they are experts or specialists in the topics that this individual said to me that they couldn't find talent from diverse backgrounds to speak about. And I sent it to them and said, here you go. Here's 12 names of individuals who are from diverse backgrounds who can support you and talk about these topics because they've shared this on their LinkedIn profile. And they were like, Oh, wow. Amazing. I had no idea that these individuals existed.

And I thought, you know what? We need a list of people who can put themselves out there, who want to speak and want to have conversations. So I messaged a few of my friends, asked them to put their names on the list and then spread the word. And that's how the Underrepresented Speaker list started.

There's no terms on what you think underrepresentation looks like. I say that if you believe you're not represented fairly on stages, on podcasts, at events across the UK and globally, then get your name on that list. And that's how it's grown to nearly 200 names on there from people from all over the UK and globally. We've got people from all over the globe with their names on there and event organisers use it frequently.

I get emails from people like yourself all the time to say, thanks so much for that list. I've just got my first ever speaking gig, or I've just been approached to talk on this podcast. People found me on that Underrepresented Speaker list of yours. So incredible work.

[00:12:29] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: It's amazing because especially for people like myself, who've just moved to a new country and had 20 years in another country. It's hard to carry that network and that credibility to a new place. So this is really great way to get read. I think I've had three different speaking opportunities through that. So I really appreciate it.

[00:12:48] Advita Patel: Oh, that's amazing. And now see, we, no one should ever be fearful for asking for help but people need to know where to go. And when I spoke to that event organiser, they were like, I just asked my community, I asked around people that I know, these are the ones who are recommended. And I didn't know where else to go, right? And that's a fair comment from them. I have to admit, they didn't know where to go and they couldn't get that.

But again when I go back to look around the people that you talk with on a regular basis, and you do have to be very intentional about expanding your community and connecting with people who are different from you. The world is rich, full of such great individuals who have such interesting backgrounds and stories to share that why wouldn't you want to be involved and connect with different people?

[00:13:36] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Absolutely. I think that's the thing, right? You learn more from people who have a different perspective.

Overcoming challenges of identity and confidence

Tell us about some of the challenges you've had to overcome. I'm sure you've had quite a few to overcome besides the name itself of the organisation.

[00:13:53] Advita Patel: Personal challenges have definitely, when you don't belong to the dominant culture and you don't really belong to any culture. When you're first born generation in the UK, and I was straddling between Eastern and Western. I was trying to be, everything my parents wanted me to be as a South Asian woman and also try and belong, as I said to you at the start of this conversation. And I suppose my identity got lost in all of that, and I didn't really know who I was anymore.

And that has been a challenge, to try and articulate who am I? What are my values? What do I want to stand for? And my confidence was knocked, really badly. After about 17 years of working in corporations, I lost myself a lot. And my confidence was not to the extent where I was going to leave the entire PR and communications industry and try something different, take some time out.

And then one day I just decided to do a little bit more research in confidence and self esteem and why do we suffer from it so much and why do we stop ourselves from doing things? Because we believe that we can't do it. And as many things, when I get obsessed with it, I do go the other level and do as much research and training and stuff that I can and trained myself in understanding confidence. And I already was a coach prior to all of this. So I was an executive coach helping leaders, communicate more effectively with their teams.

But I transitioned into a confidence coach and that helped me help others build their confidence and address their challenges. But people, never saw me as someone who was struggling with confidence because I was never a wallflower. I never sat there quietly and I got involved. I contributed. I was happily, stand in organisations in front of colleagues and tell them about what's happening. And so when I did share with individuals that my confidence was not there. People made huge assumptions and always said to me, No, absolutely not. No, you don't struggle with confidence. What are you talking about?

And that in itself is a bit of a, it can knock your self esteem a little bit as well, because you're a bit like who am I? If they don't see the true me, then have I spent so long in pretending to be somebody else that I've forgotten?

 That has been my biggest challenge Deepa in finding my identity, understanding who I am, what type of legacy do I want to leave behind the risks of starting a business like Comms Rebel and then nine weeks later, the pandemic starting, if I didn't have the community around me and if I hadn't done all that work in confidence, I probably would have gone back in house because it was tough.

It was tough time. Not only are you a business called Comms Rebel, for one thing. Not only are you talking around inclusive cultures and belonging and equity and diversity and those words that sometimes cause a lot of fear, but you're also different from the dominant culture.

You're different. First of all, you're a woman in the space, then you're a South Asian woman. And then to top all of that off, I'm from the North of England which causes, as we know, the North-South divide, the gap, the challenges in, getting work from clients who are not based in this part of the world. They have their own assumptions about Northerners.

And I refuse to move. I've always been like that. People told me that if I want to get into the dizzy heights of senior executive, Directorship I'm going to have to relocate to London to do that. But I'm a proud Northerner. I'm a Mancunian. I love Manchester. I adore the city. And I will do everything in my power to drive the economy as much as I can with the work that I do. And that's really important to me.

[00:17:26] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: And I think Manchester is now, fairly well connected to most parts of the world, so it is possible to work out of here in today's virtual world,

[00:17:34] Advita Patel: Generally, yes, I see ourselves as a, an incredible hub of activity, and we've got international airport, we have got great when they work, trains, trams, transport links. And, since the pandemic, I think we've all realised how much smaller the world actually is. And you can actually do great work virtually as well. So that's been really helpful.

[00:17:58] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Oh, and I can totally understand these struggles with confidence. I've gone through that myself, especially coming to a new culture. We moved here during the pandemic. Just reestablishing yourself, helping people understand that you're not like somebody who doesn't understand communications just because you haven't lived here all your life.

[00:18:16] Advita Patel: Gosh, I can imagine.

Impact in the community

[00:18:20] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: What's the impact that you've made so far? You've made a lot of impact, and I know that you're also going to be taking up the chair of CIPR shortly, but what would you like to do?

[00:18:30] Advita Patel: To help my loneliness and isolation, I decided to volunteer for the Chartered Institute of Public Relations in 2012. And I remember going down to London with a good friend of mine called Gemma and volunteered at the CIPR, as we shortened it Internal Communications Committee. And I became a volunteer for them, and I've stayed with CIPR for those years.

And then last year, in 2023, towards the end of last year, I decided to put myself forward to become president for the institution. So after, nearly 14 years of volunteering 12, I decided that it was about time I did something. More to see change happen.

And someone told me that in the 75 year history of CIPR, there'd never been a person of colour in the president's role. Which was just baffling, but not surprising. So I put myself forward and was elected to become president for CIPR. So I'll be the first. A woman of colour, first person of colour to be president in 2025. I'm currently president elect and all that's volunteering, right? And I want to give back to the industry.

I also want to demonstrate that we have made incredible change in PR and communications over the last, few years. We're definitely more inclusive than we have been. Me to do so much more work, I would say, as well and there's still a lot of biases systemic barriers that we need to address, and being in the role of president would allow me to do that, I would hope, in some way, or at least raise awareness of what we're doing and the transparency behind it.

And volunteering for me is a way to give back, and it's a way to support, and it's a way to help, and it's something that I owe a lot to CIPR. They gave me the confidence, they gave me the support, they gave me the community, they allowed me to take risks on certain things and develop my skills over the years.

 I've supported them as a volunteer, but they've supported me as an institution. So that's been a great gift for me, and I'm hoping that my role as president elect and president will help others see that they do belong in this industry as well.

[00:20:41] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: We're very excited here at the CIPR Northwest. I'm a committee member, and we're all looking forward to not just a person of colour, but somebody from the North well.

[00:20:51] Advita Patel: Definitely outside of London.

Myth busting

[00:20:53] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Is there a myth you'd like to bust about your area of expertise?

[00:20:58] Advita Patel: One of the biggest myths I want to bust is that the work that I do is hard and complex. And it can be hard and it can be complex, but I'm a big fan of micro steps personally and professionally.

And in terms of when we have a goal that we want to achieve and we want to deliver against our objectives, we wouldn't eat like the entire massive cake in one go, right? You take slices of that. And that's the way I look at life. You've got to take little bits and you've got to be 1 percent better than what you were yesterday.

It's Maya Angelou's quote, where she said if you don't know, fair enough. But when you do know you need to be better. And that's the quote that I remind myself every day.

And I think a lot of folks in this space, in the world of inclusion and the ones who feel that they can't say something or don't know what to say, overcomplicate it a little bit more. And I always think to break it down into simple steps and learn and build your community, educate yourself, and then try and add on to that next day and the next day.

And before you know it, you've created this incredible community around you and you've got the knowledge that you need to have about some complicated things that you felt were complicated. And I think a lot of people convince themselves it's too hard and often have excuses about why they're not paying attention to certain things.

But ultimately, I feel that we all have a role to play. When I think back to my childhood, those children who were mean and unkind and made my life and my sister's life very difficult in order for us to belong, what would have happened if they were just a little bit more educated?

In that space, what would have happened if their parents were actually said to them, this is not how we treat people. This is how we need to work with others. This is a difference that we can have when we have a multicultural environment.

Would my life have been different? Maybe. I don't hold any grievance against those individuals. They made me who I am today. They've given me resilience and they've given me passion and they've lit that fire in me that helps me understand that everyone deserves to belong in the world that we're in and no one should ever feel excluded just because they are different from the dominant cultures.

[00:23:14] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Thank you so much for sharing that. I like that about bite sized, you can do so many things if you just do it a step at a time, test and learn, check in with lived experiences and, progress on.

[00:23:27] Advita Patel: Kind to yourself, right? God, life is hard. We're not saying it is easy for everyone. Everyone's dealing with their own challenges, their own struggles, but we all have privileges over others.

Whether that's your education, whether that is you've got a safe home to belong in, whether that's you've got a good job. We've all got a different type of privilege compared to other people. Understanding what that privilege is, recognising what we have and what others may not have, can make a big difference to how we may work and communicate with other people who may look different from us, may behave differently from us, may have different opinions about things. That we need to be able to understand that not everybody is the same because how boring would the world be if we were,

[00:24:08] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Exactly. Really, that would be the case, right? We'd all be doing group think and not advancing at all.

[00:24:16] Advita Patel: God, yeah. And there'd be no innovation. There'd be no progression. There'd be no stories. There'd be nothing like these podcasts because everyone's exactly the same. We learn from differences and we learn from individuality and that's the power in being a human race.

We thrive on differences and I think a lot of people fear difference because they don't want things taken away from them or they've got this scarcity mindset or they're worried about something, but ultimately, there's something for everyone out there and I think we just need to recognise that a bit more.

Advice for starting similar movements

[00:24:50] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Really important. What advice would you have for people looking to start a similar movement in their local community? As we said, there are people from 50 countries listening, so where should they start?

[00:25:01] Advita Patel: So start with understanding what's missing for you. So when I volunteered for CIPR, I trekked down to London every so often to be in the community committee meetings, but I also realised that there was something missing in the community that I was in and that's where the started.

The Comms Hive is an event that I pull together Where people within my profession get together in the region that they work and live in, and we have dinner together. We get together and have some food and some chat in different regions across the UK. So I've got some coming up in the next few weeks, and I created that from my desire to belong again, and my desire to create something where other people felt safe and included.

Again, micro steps Deepa, I think I put a message out on LinkedIn. And I said, I'm curious and interested if anybody would be willing to come along to this dinner I'm hosting in Manchester. Only eight to 10 people. We'll have some food. We'll have a chat. It'll be in a safe space, in a private dining space. Who wants to come along?

And that's how it started. And I was inundated with DMs from individuals who were like, Oh my goodness, can I, can you put my name down on that list? And then I had emails from people from Leeds, Liverpool, London, Newcastle and Cardiff, Scotland asking if I would do the same in their town or city. And that's how it started.

I started with one community, then started another one. And it became this vibrant space where people could support each other and connect with each other. And we created a WhatsApp group from there. Then I did an app. from all of that as well. But it's micro steps.

It all started with a conversation with a friend in a coffee shop. Bridget is also a proud Manc. I chatted to her about this idea collectively. She helped me come up with a name for the Comms Hive.

I put a message out on LinkedIn. Vulnerably, because you're putting out yourself out there. I expected two or three people to get back to me and I thought that'll be fine. But I had, 20, 25 messages and carried on from there and just involved people and started to have those conversations and didn't really fear failure.

Because I thought if no one responds, not a big deal, not lost anything, I'll try something else. But people did respond. And I think that's the fear of failure can hold people back. But failing is learning. That's the way I always look at it. I don't see it as failure. It's failure if you don't learn. But every time we fail, we learn something right on how we do things differently and how we may change certain things.

So if anyone's listening who wants to do something like this, but is scared of not having any interest or not quite sure what to do, give it a go. The worst thing is that no one is interested, but then you just change it and find something that people may be interested in.

[00:27:45] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Like that about thinking about what's missing for you and just giving it a go and then figuring it out and, learning from that experience. Either it's a huge success or it isn't and that's okay too.

[00:27:56] Advita Patel: It's just like what you do with this podcast. You had an idea, let's give it a go, and now you're on, what, nearly a hundredth guest,

right. And two and a half years down the line, you've met some incredible people with interesting stories. That never would have happened if you didn't take that risk and you didn't put yourself out there. And that's what I mean, like you, you never know where it may lead you, and that's really exciting.

[00:28:17] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: It is very exciting.

An opportunity for you to talk about anything. I haven't asked you, but I know there's a whole bunch of things you're involved in.

[00:28:24] Advita Patel: I've got the Comms Hive dinners that are coming up. I also wrote a book in 2023 With Priya Bates, who's my co-founder for a leader like me. So we've got a few workshops around the book that we're doing as well.

All this is always on my Instagram if people are on Instagram or they can find if they follow me on LinkedIn. I’m always posting where I’m talking and what I'm doing. I'm also doing a few things for CIPR. So I'll be doing an event for CIPR Wales in the next few weeks. And the Excellence Conference.

There's always something that I'm involved in, and I'm always talking. So I also own host my own podcast and we've interviewed some incredible guests who work in the world of inclusion. So we've got guests from Kellogg's formerly known as Kellogg's, Calanova, Pepsi, Green King, Obama Foundation. So we're going to be doing some more interviews of that as well over the next couple of months. People can check out those kind of episodes, if they're interested in how you can cultivate a culture of inclusion in your workplace.

[00:29:27] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Thank you for sharing those.

Signature questions

Signature questions that I ask all my guests is where I come to now.

 If Manchester was a colour, which colour would it be?

[00:29:37] Advita Patel: Oh, a vibrant pink.

[00:29:39] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: I love it.

[00:29:40] Advita Patel: 100%.

[00:29:42] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Do you want to talk about why?

[00:29:43] Advita Patel: Oh, it's just because it's just full of such interesting characters and stories and every part of Manchester is so different. You've got the kind of the Manchester boroughs, Bolton, Bury where you can see incredible markets and the sites and the hills, you can go into the countryside quite easily.

You've got the city centre where you turn a corner, you're in Castlefield, then you're in the nice part of Spinningfields, or then you're in Ancoats, or you're in the, near where Debenhams used to be, where you can go to Affleck's Palace and see different types of things.

The food scene in Manchester is incredible. It's changed so much over the last 10 years in terms of what it offers, it used to be a very club scene, as music has always been its heart, but now it's transitioned to this restaurant space, and you never run out of things to do. It's so vibrant, it's so much energy, there's always something going on. I always see it as this kind of quite accepting city where people find their own path.

[00:30:39] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: It is a lovely city, I must say, and I don't think I could have been running a podcast like this anywhere else because there's so many amazing Mancunians like yourself to talk to.

If you could choose a famous landmark in Manchester to represent you, which one would it be and why?

[00:30:54] Advita Patel: I would say Central library because it's full of knowledge. I would like to think that I do my diligence and help people with my knowledge that I have gained. I'm a lifelong continuing professional developer.

I never believe that I know enough. I always feel like it's more to know. And it's a sturdy building, it's dependable. It's had lots of refurbishments over the year, and I feel like that's my life where I've been refurbed and been rejuvenated in different ways. And I see Manchester Library as the central point for people to get together and anyone from all walks of life can feel safe and belong in that space. And I hope that anyone who ever meets me would feel that way when they're in my company as well.

[00:31:42] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: I've got it on my vision board as never stop learning. I like to learn.

[00:31:47] Advita Patel: Oh, I love that.

[00:31:49] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: It's really important.

If you could trade lives with someone in Manchester for a day, who would it be with and why?

[00:31:56] Advita Patel: I think I would like to trade lives for a day only with Andy Burnham. I'm quite interested in what he gets involved in, the conversations that he has about making Manchester a better city, and what type of involvement he has, and I do know Andy as an individual.

 I've had the privilege of listening to him talk a few times at various events and stuff, and I do, even though he's a Scouser, I do feel that he does have Manchester's best interest at heart. So I think I would change lives with Andy.

 I'm not really into politics, I have to admit. And he wants to be nowadays, to be honest with you. But I'm curious about the passion that politicians have around the work that they do. So I'd like to just spend a day understanding that and maybe get a little bit of that passion for that area.

I feel like I need to have more passion for politics, and I think Andy would hopefully help me find that. So yes Andy Burnham. An odd one, but I feel like it'd be an interesting day.

[00:32:52] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: A lot of people want to trade lives with him. Maybe I need to get him into the idea.

[00:32:57] Advita Patel: You should get him on your podcast, Deepa.

[00:32:59] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Possibly.

What's the most important life lesson you've learned so far? I

[00:33:03] Advita Patel: Never fear change. I feel that's been one of my biggest life lessons. Don't fear change. Actually the other two life lessons if I can. So never fear change and don't allow other people to share your narrative on your behalf. You need to find your own story and you need to walk in your own story.

And don't let other people dismiss you, like I did for the good 15 years of my life where I depended on other people telling me who I was. I think everyone has a right to own their story.

[00:33:34] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Think it's really important that authenticity and that perspective only you can bring, right? Only your lived experiences, only your knowledge comes to bear here.

What's the most important personality trait you need to be successful in your role?

[00:33:49] Advita Patel: Think you need to be curious. I think you need to be kind. I think you also need to be observant in what's happening around you. I think that's really important and also a good listener.

[00:34:04] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Really important personality traits. There's four, but really good ones.

[00:34:08] Advita Patel: Sorry, but you can tell I'm a rebel and I never follow instructions well.

Getting in touch

[00:34:14] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: How can interested people reach out to you and learn more? Where can they find you?

[00:34:18] Advita Patel: Am on all the platforms. But I would say if you really want to follow the kind of stuff I share, Instagram and LinkedIn are the best places. Or you can visit my website, which is commsrebel.com.

[00:34:29] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Is there a funny or a heart warming story you'd like to share with listeners to end the podcast?

[00:34:33] Advita Patel: You know what, my heartwarming story is definitely the community that I have around me. I felt alone and lost for a long time in the world of communications and PR, and I didn't really have anyone that I could work with or reach out to.

And the community around me, especially the Comms Hive community have been there for me, every step, they champion me, they talk about me in rooms when I'm not in there. They'll ask people to connect with me and that's been really heartwarming for me, knowing that people have my back and knowing that I will always have someone's or somebody or team support.

And working for yourself, it can be quite lonely. So knowing that there's this community of individuals who are always celebrating you, regardless of what's going on, they'll always be celebrating you, is quite heartwarming, and I'm so grateful for my community, and they have 100 percent made me who I am.

[00:35:31] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: You invest in so many people, so I'm sure they're very happy to invest in you. It's very pay it forward, isn't it? That's just how the world works.

Thank you so much, Advita. It's been a real pleasure to talk to you today.

[00:35:43] Advita Patel: Thank you so much Deepa, I really enjoyed our conversation.

Outro

Advita. I really enjoyed learning about diversity and inclusion today.

Dear listener, thank you so much for listening to the ninth episode of the Meet the Mancunian podcast Season Eight.

Tune in every Tuesday for a new episode or log on to meetthemancunian.co.uk to listen to all the episodes and learn more about my podcasting story.

Next week on Tuesday, 6th August 2024, I speak to David McLenachan about volunteering in the community.

Thank you for joining me on the Meet the Mancunian podcast: social impact stories from Manchester. I hope today's conversation has sparked new ideas and inspired you to act in your community.

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