NAMES with Hetal Jani
Julie and Casey sit down with Hetal Jani, founder of SPEAK Mentorship, to discuss the power of names, and the power of saying your name with pride, what we lose when people don’t try to get it right (and gain when they do). Along the way we’ll get into Bollywood, growing up between two cultures, and what her organization is doing to support, prepare, and empower aspiring kids.
TOP TAKEAWAYS
Our names hold immense power - they’re not just a collection of sounds, they’re a representation of our identity. When someone gets your name wrong, you almost become a different person.
Growing up between two cultures is not unusual in the US - but it’s particularly tough on teenage children of immigrants when they and their families don’t get access to the unspoken “Culture Code” of how to succeed in the dominant culture.
If you interact with someone with an “unusual name” (and really, what’s unusual? But we digress.), taking the time to ask them how they’d like it pronounced and PRACTICE getting it right is one fundamental part of creating psychological safety and true inclusion in any space. By getting it wrong (especially repeatedly), you telegraph that you don’t care. Don’t be that person.
All languages have a “library” of sounds within them - often where we trip up on names is when they include sounds that our lips, teeth, and tongue aren’t used to. The good news is that you can learn how to make these sounds - it’ll just take some practice!
Your name - like your body, your voice, and your ideas - deserves to take up space in the world. Join us, Hetal, and the #speakingmyname campaign on June 16th, and post a video of you pronouncing your name on social media.
HETAL JANI (she/her/hers) is a first generation South Asian American and New York City native, which has colored her experience as an educator and her interest in how culture, society, and interpersonal relationships affect people’s development. As the Founding Executive Director of SPEAK Mentorship, a nonprofit that ensures all individuals have the means to achieve personal and professional goals, Hetal develops youth of diverse backgrounds into future workforce leaders by bridging social support and opportunity gaps in their lives and giving them the tools to lift up their communities. For this work, she was honored as a 2019 L'Oreal Paris Women of Worth and a 2020 Daily Points of Light. She also holds a Bachelors in Behavioral Neuroscience from Lehigh University, a Masters in Psychology from Queens College of New York, an MBA from IE University, and a Masters in Education from Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she received the distinguished Intellectual Contribution award . Her life’s work involves developing a person’s unique voice and empowering marginalized communities to achieve whole person success. She proudly furthers this mission by serving on the board of the New York Chapter of the New Leaders Council, and as a Council of Urban Professionals fellow and Coro Leadership New York alum.
Episode cover photo by Nilaya Sabnis for L’Oreal Paris USA