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In this week’s episode, Josh chats with Nargis Mardani, a member of the Future Leaders Advocacy Group and QPASTT’s Youth Voice and was a finalist of Soroptimist International Women Empowering Others Award in the 2023 Queensland 7NEWS Young Achiever Awards.
She has actively participated in a wide range of community activities spanning various sectors, driven by a profound passion for community advocacy and affecting positive change. Her involvement has been extensive and diverse, including membership in the Future Leaders Advocacy Group and QPASTT’s Youth Voice. Moreover, she took the initiative to organize the 2022 Hazara Genocide Rally in Brisbane, aimed at raising awareness about the issue. To educate and inspire the younger generation, she visited primary schools on the Gold Coast to share her refugee experience. Additionally, she has been privileged to serve as a guest speaker on the Women’s Resilience Panel and as an organiser and Master of Ceremonies for the Youth Voice Cultural Night. Her commitment to education led her to participate in Government Round Tables for Education and previously part of the Interact group during her high school years in 2021. Furthermore, she has actively contributed to various fundraisers and worked as a Cultural Support worker with Multicultural Australia, providing vital support to newly arrived Afghan families and youth during the resettlement process. These experiences have been profoundly rewarding, allowing her to make a tangible difference in the lives of others and strengthening the sense of community.
Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts.
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Transcript
00:00:08] Nargis
Welcome to
[00:00:09] Nargis
inspirational Australians, where we share
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stories of Australians making a difference in their communities and in the lives of others.
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We are inspirational Australians acknowledge the
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will one
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day and
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vulnerable
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people of the pool and nation
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as their traditional
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owners and custodians of the lands and
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waterways on
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which this podcast is produced.
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We pay our respect to elders, past and present, and those who are emerging
[00:00:36] Nargis
and extend our respect to all
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Aboriginal
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and Torres Strait Islander peoples,
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and inspirational
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Australians. We are inspired by the
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world’s oldest
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living culture and pay homage to their
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rich storytelling history. When we share stories on our podcast
[00:00:58] Josh
Hello and welcome to the inspiration Australians podcast for your weekly dose of
[00:01:04] Josh
inspiration. For those playing at home at the moment. And I’m forecasting to the future
[00:01:09] Josh
a little bit. But I’m imagining we’re in the middle of our seven year young achieve awards program,
[00:01:15] Josh
getting nominations from young people right around the country. So if you know
[00:01:20] Josh
someone who should be part of the awards, like our guest who’s joining US today,
[00:01:24] Josh
and please take the time two minutes,
[00:01:27] Josh
I reckon it will take you to go to young achiever awards dot com. Click on your
[00:01:31] Josh
state or territory and hit the refer someone button. Like I said two minutes to popping
[00:01:35] Josh
a few small details. And we take care of the
[00:01:38] Josh
rest. So really encourage you to do it. And I think after listening to nargis his story,
[00:01:45] Josh
I think you’ll be inspired to do that and I hope you will. So on to today’s guest,
[00:01:50] Josh
speaking with nargis madani, women’s resilience event, panellist nargis,
[00:01:55] Josh
previously organised protests to raise awareness about the Afghan crisis. A new
[00:02:00] Josh
initiative that nagasu is working on eight young refugees and promotes women’s
[00:02:04] Josh
solidarity. It seeks to strengthen connections and overcome challenges faced by refugees. Tell US more about that and
[00:02:11] Josh
a lot of other things that nargis has worked on. Like welcome to the podcast today, nargis, how you going?
[00:02:17] Nargis
I’m good. How are you? I’m glad to be here.
[00:02:19] Josh
Yeah, I’m good. Thank you. Been a busy week,
[00:02:22] Josh
so it’s actually nice to kind of sit down and take a moment to stop in and have
[00:02:27] Josh
a bit of a chat like this.
[00:02:30] Nargis
Indeed it is.
[00:02:31] Josh
So where are you joining US from today?
[00:02:33] Nargis
I’m joining you guys from Brisbane. My right to be here currently in the
[00:02:40] Nargis
process of moving to Melbourne actually. So we’re just passing worth and packing up.
[00:02:45] Nargis
But this time say goodbye to Brisbane and then hello to another state, Melbourne.
[00:02:49] Josh
There you go. That’s new. So it’s quite exciting. What have you got lined up for when you arrive?
[00:02:58] Nargis
To be honest, it’s mainly not much because I’ve got everything in Queensland universities here
[00:03:05] Nargis
work is here as well. And I guess family and Friends are here as well, but I feel like there’s
[00:03:12] Nargis
a limit in Brisbane in what depends on your career as well. But for me personally,
[00:03:17] Nargis
I think it’s just for me to take
[00:03:19] Nargis
a big step in my career and who I am personally. It’s just the time for me to get
[00:03:24] Nargis
out of my box and just try something and just put myself out there,
[00:03:28] Nargis
which is something I’m not comfortable with,
[00:03:30] Nargis
especially meeting new people. So I’m very keen on that and hopefully working with
[00:03:36] Nargis
other people as well in the same areas I’m working and I’m just keen on to see how that goes.
[00:03:43] Josh
Well, we’ll get into it shortly because there’s
[00:03:44] Josh
a lot of stuff that’s really exciting about your future and I didn’t even know that
[00:03:48] Josh
you were moving to Melbourne. So that really kind of ties in with the,
[00:03:51] Josh
some of the things we’ll talk about before we get to the future. Good to start with
[00:03:55] Josh
the past and kind of your journey as you’ve progressed through and you know,
[00:04:02] Josh
one of the things that you’ve been passionate about is, as I mentioned in the intro there,
[00:04:07] Josh
raising awareness about the Afghan crisis. And you know,
[00:04:10] Josh
a lot of people who may not be fully aware of that can give US a bit of a,
[00:04:14] Josh
an intro or a background on what that exactly is.
[00:04:20] Nargis
After the fall of Afghanistan, what had happened is that it were, I was back in year twelve back then,
[00:04:26] Nargis
which was two thousand twenty one. So it was just
[00:04:29] Nargis
a huge shock of US troops being in class and all of a sudden just seeing news,
[00:04:33] Nargis
couple of the girls broke down in tears and the teacher was not. She was kind
[00:04:37] Nargis
enough to let US out of the room just for US to take
[00:04:39] Nargis
a deep breath of what had happened. And we have family back home from uncles and cousins, same,
[00:04:46] Nargis
same story with everybody else in Afghanistan. We all have someone to look after and just know family,
[00:04:53] Nargis
but Kabul Afghanistan is where I was born and raised till I was six. So,
[00:04:58] Nargis
pretty much home for me, and it was just a huge shock. And
[00:05:03] Nargis
a couple of Friends were organizing a protest,
[00:05:06] Nargis
and then I just help them organize and then I got into it and then I ended up
[00:05:10] Nargis
emceeing for that event as well alongside with another good friend,
[00:05:13] Nargis
Adina Ahmed. So it was nice to see that we could do something in terms of
[00:05:20] Nargis
asking government for help and just seeing where we could support the communities
[00:05:24] Nargis
here as well. But for me back then,
[00:05:26] Nargis
a protest didn’t really feel like much because there’s so much we can do from here.
[00:05:30] Nargis
There was absolutely nothing. It was just by standing day by day,
[00:05:35] Nargis
by the news to see what’s the next news that’s about to come forward? What’s going to happen next?
[00:05:39] Nargis
What are the laws that are going to be set up in Afghanistan?
[00:05:42] Nargis
So I guess it was just inexplicable. It was very odd, unexplainable feeling. When you can’t do anything,
[00:05:50] Nargis
your hands are tied and there’s so much you can do.
[00:05:52] Nargis
And then family here,
[00:05:54] Nargis
also family back there. It was just a horrific time. But as time Went passed,
[00:06:01] Nargis
things settled down, settle down a bit. And,
[00:06:04] Nargis
but there’s so much we can do. There’s one thing, the public argues,
[00:06:08] Nargis
and then there’s the media and then there’s what’s actually going on grounds when
[00:06:11] Nargis
you hear from family where they promised that they will let Females and girls go
[00:06:16] Nargis
back to school, but they shut it down with a six months. So people,
[00:06:20] Nargis
I guess the public were trying to calm US down, saying it’s going to be fine,
[00:06:23] Nargis
they’re looking forward to it. But we knew the truth, which what it is today.
[00:06:30] Josh
Yeah, well that’s, you know, that’s classic politics, isn’t it? Just from what happened is saying, Oh, you know,
[00:06:38] Josh
it’s all going to be fine. We’re going to do this, this and this,
[00:06:40] Josh
and then just wait for the immediate, you know, attention to decide and
[00:06:45] Josh
a little bit. And then they just go straight back to a to the negative thing. So,
[00:06:51] Josh
you know, being so young, being part of organising that and as an emcee,
[00:06:55] Josh
did you come across any obstacles, you know, people regarding your age or you know,
[00:07:02] Josh
was it just because you were so passionate about it, you were able to push through
[00:07:07] Nargis
Well, the community was very supportive, nobody questioned my age in most matters,
[00:07:12] Nargis
but it’s just with communities obviously. And I believe this with any ethnic communities,
[00:07:16] Nargis
a lot of young people who works in sectors like this. We do kind of face backlash
[00:07:20] Nargis
sometimes here and there due to the age being in elders meeting, which is one thing that I had
[00:07:26] Nargis
a bit of trouble with connecting with elders in the community in terms of being
[00:07:32] Nargis
invited or going to these meetings, you know, held as accountable because they say, Oh, they’re young,
[00:07:36] Nargis
they don’t understand which truly we understand more in and out than they do. Which
[00:07:42] Nargis
you can’t really say due to the respect of our background,
[00:07:46] Nargis
we just got to say yes and move on. We can’t really push ourselves. But during that
[00:07:51] Nargis
protest, not a lot of people thought that it was organised by young people. So
[00:07:54] Nargis
a lot of other communities just sort of said, Oh like they were backed up by the communities,
[00:07:59] Nargis
but truly it was just good people with good intentions, supported US and
[00:08:03] Nargis
a lot of good Friends our age that support US as well. So there’s
[00:08:08] Nargis
a lot of peer credit that I want to give out to waitresses while she was an
[00:08:12] Nargis
organizer and she helped US out through and,
[00:08:14] Nargis
and some of these people I didn’t even know. I just literally met them in
[00:08:18] Nargis
a zoom meeting. We spoke about how they want to run things and then one of the
[00:08:22] Nargis
girls gave me a call. She goes, would you like to emcee with me? I was like, perfect,
[00:08:25] Nargis
like I literally do anything that I can support you guys with and her and I and her
[00:08:29] Nargis
sister ended up meeting the next day. Went out for a coffee, got the everything,
[00:08:33] Nargis
got a plan together. And then it was just forty five days of running,
[00:08:37] Nargis
no work. I was a year twelve no school they were in Uni. They just completely,
[00:08:42] Nargis
everybody just stopped what they were doing. And then everybody was just hands on posters,
[00:08:46] Nargis
inviting community members doing the marketing. So in and out it was just go, go,
[00:08:51] Nargis
[00:08:52] Nargis
So it was definitely something that a lot of people supported it. And
[00:08:55] Nargis
a lot of people attending some people looked at a bright Side of my saying, Oh,
[00:08:59] Nargis
she’s young and she’s involved in this type of work. But also some people saw the
[00:09:02] Nargis
negative Side of it. So I guess everybody has their own cup of opinions. It just
[00:09:07] Nargis
really matters at the end of the day is always something I would say to people who
[00:09:11] Nargis
are my place or people who come for advice. Someone like clean heart and
[00:09:15] Nargis
a good intention gets you far. It doesn’t matter what I think, because if you have good intentions,
[00:09:19] Nargis
you will get far and the ball always comes in your court. But if your intentions are different, you have
[00:09:23] Nargis
a different agenda. That’s when things will take turn when you self. Yeah.
[00:09:28] Josh
Yeah, yeah, I truly agree and resonate with that as well about good intentions because,
[00:09:33] Josh
you know, for example, everyone makes mistakes. We’re human, that’s part of,
[00:09:37] Josh
of Human life is mistakes and we get things wrong sometimes. But if you go in with
[00:09:41] Josh
those good intentions and you know, a genuine nature it’s, it’s not
[00:09:46] Josh
a problem to own up to those mistakes and say, hey, yeah, that was
[00:09:48] Josh
a mistake. I had an absolute best intentions and this is how we can try and remedy
[00:09:52] Josh
- So I feel like, yeah, that would have held you in good stead.
[00:09:57] Nargis
It did and, and that’s why I always say to people when they’re like, Oh,
[00:10:01] Nargis
you work with community because of Community our community, the most has really
[00:10:05] Nargis
a lot of politics in them as much as our politics. But that’s also I like it from
[00:10:10] Nargis
a distance. I don’t like it from the clubs, so I’m like,
[00:10:12] Nargis
I like to hear about it. I’m like, Oh, that’s very interesting. But I wouldn’t, I’m not
[00:10:16] Nargis
a tough person who likes conflict for poor. Like putting myself in the middle of
[00:10:20] Nargis
something that I know that it’s not in my nature to be around with. So that’s what
[00:10:24] Nargis
was tell people I’m like, good,
[00:10:26] Nargis
intentionally hot gets you far in sometimes in my you might be in rooms are,
[00:10:30] Nargis
you might not like. But if you just keep your good intentions and like truly stay
[00:10:36] Nargis
true to your values in morals, that’s very important. And that’s one thing that I’ve learnt coming to Australia as
[00:10:42] Nargis
well as a refugee. No matter who you are, where you from, how old you are,
[00:10:47] Nargis
how young or old. It always comes down to morals and values as
[00:10:52] Nargis
a human being is how you treat people every day that comes to you or strangers, is how you act,
[00:10:59] Nargis
your actions all comes down to morals and values as well. That’s why I always tell
[00:11:03] Nargis
people, I’m like, don’t judge people by where they’re from or how old they are,
[00:11:07] Nargis
judge them by their character in how they speak or how they action things. Because
[00:11:12] Nargis
that speaks louder than anything because a lot of people just very fast to be like,
[00:11:16] Nargis
Oh, she’s from that country, X, Y, and Z. But I’m like,
[00:11:19] Nargis
it’s never about the person. There’s always good and bad in every community. It’s
[00:11:24] Nargis
about the person himself of what they show and how they act and how they run things says
[00:11:30] Nargis
a lot more about them than they where they’re from because that’s why we always categorize
[00:11:34] Nargis
people. There’s like, Oh she’s from there. So they’re people like that. I’m like,
[00:11:37] Nargis
it’s never like that. It’s just a character. You just happen to meet
[00:11:41] Nargis
a bad person instead of Community doesn’t. It doesn’t make you labelled as a whole entire community as that label.
[00:11:49] Josh
Yeah I’ve, I’ve had so many conversations like that and you know, when there’s
[00:11:56] Josh
a really bad experience with a white person or Caucasian person,
[00:12:03] Josh
the top of the conversation doesn’t go up. It’s a white people. So I mean,
[00:12:09] Josh
they don’t do this. So they really need to have
[00:12:12] Josh
a look in the mirror before they start saying those things, but it’s true. Well,
[00:12:17] Josh
another thing that can be controversial is the word protest really and,
[00:12:19] Josh
and you know, not so much the word, the action,
[00:12:21] Josh
but some people can’t wrap their head around why that’s important, what’s needed,
[00:12:27] Josh
how it can actually bring community together. Did you face people saying, you know, shouldn’t be organizing a protest?
[00:12:34] Josh
It’s wrong. How do you explain, you know, why a protest is needed? Sometimes?
[00:12:40] Nargis
I think with the situation, particularly everybody had so much build up,
[00:12:45] Nargis
build of emotions, build up of anger, build on
[00:12:48] Nargis
a Side and build on of how some people’s families passed away during this time as
[00:12:52] Nargis
well. And for them to come back and if which I actually met up with one of the
[00:12:57] Nargis
because I was doing a lot of volunteering back then one day,
[00:13:00] Nargis
all the refugees came to Australia I spoke to face to face. And one of the seven
[00:13:04] Nargis
year old girl she goes, Oh I passed out in the airport because there was obviously no oxygen. There was
[00:13:08] Nargis
just too much crowd and too many people.
[00:13:11] Nargis
So from hearing from her perspective and
[00:13:14] Nargis
then hearing another friend all my family passed away during that because
[00:13:17] Nargis
a lot of people there passed away, a lot of kids got stopped over
[00:13:20] Nargis
a lot of older people. It was just horrific hearing the stories, but then meeting,
[00:13:25] Nargis
meeting some people in real life face to face and actually experience it is just
[00:13:31] Nargis
twice as more of an emotion, shit. So I guess they needed the community really needed this to let,
[00:13:40] Nargis
let the anger out and let the sadness out. Because even when we were there,
[00:13:44] Nargis
we were in and we were expecting around to three hundred people because that’s what
[00:13:47] Nargis
the Facebook views were at. And then when we Went in person, almost,
[00:13:51] Nargis
we got audience from gold coast North Side hull Brisbane,
[00:13:55] Nargis
Logan. But we were estimating it to be around one thousand to two thousand people
[00:14:00] Nargis
hall. Brisbane city council was filled,
[00:14:02] Nargis
packed with Afghans. And you can see the emotions on everyone’s faces as well. You
[00:14:07] Nargis
can see young children, a lot of families, a lot of mums and dads, pretty much everyone was
[00:14:12] Nargis
a lot of people were there and you could just feel the emotions to everybody as
[00:14:16] Nargis
well. So I guess they really needed this to just let it out where they feel like
[00:14:20] Nargis
they are doing something for the people is just about showing up. And to Afghan people,
[00:14:26] Nargis
I guess being somewhere in person and showing you support means more than them doing something online or signing
[00:14:31] Nargis
a petition. So I guess for everybody there to be in person and just know that they
[00:14:37] Nargis
are the people we’re all going through this,
[00:14:39] Nargis
this is one. And I guess that’s what made the it was really necessary to have that.
[00:14:45] Nargis
And I guess we tried our best to demand the government for more visas,
[00:14:50] Nargis
getting those who are on their own temporary visas to permanency visas as well.
[00:14:55] Nargis
So we were demanding
[00:14:56] Nargis
a couple of things on during that time and just seeing the community coming
[00:15:00] Nargis
together where they just, I would say trauma, bond bonding, I guess,
[00:15:05] Nargis
feel each other’s shared pain during that time was really needed and for them to
[00:15:10] Nargis
just come and let it out and feel like they are doing something. We’ve got
[00:15:14] Nargis
a lot of good feedback and of course some bad feedback,
[00:15:16] Nargis
but then you can never please everyone but mercy was good feedback. So fingers
[00:15:20] Nargis
crossed. But I guess I’m glad we did what we did. And I would never regret that,
[00:15:25] Nargis
but it was nice seeing the community and especially with our communities,
[00:15:29] Nargis
it’s just so diverse and there’s different ethnic minorities seeing them come together one in hand during
[00:15:34] Nargis
a time like that. It was nice to see that we can bring everybody in one room
[00:15:39] Josh
in working on organising that and obviously being an emcee as well. Did that spark
[00:15:45] Josh
a bit of a passion for you to keep being involved with community events?
[00:15:49] Josh
? Because I noticed that you’ve done quite a few events and panels and things like that in the time since
[00:15:56] Nargis
I was in community before that actually I worked in the community sector,
[00:16:00] Nargis
but I was more of like behind the shadows, doing workshops here and there where I could help out,
[00:16:05] Nargis
but I guess the protests really brought out the bigger passion. Yeah. And just
[00:16:12] Nargis
seeing that there’s more to it, but I guess it’s just finding ways,
[00:16:16] Nargis
how can you actually make a difference instead of just running a couple of programs here and there?
[00:16:21] Nargis
Because I always like to see the bigger image and things like these things are
[00:16:24] Nargis
great, but how long can you hold, hold on to it, or how long can you actually run it?
[00:16:29] Nargis
Because a lot of people call protest rational. They were like, well,
[00:16:33] Nargis
you guys just Went too far. Nothing Went out of hand. Everything was in mind. But I
[00:16:38] Nargis
guess it’s just for me too when I set certain goals, or if I would want to see
[00:16:42] Nargis
a change or creating a change. There’s a quote that says if you, if you want to create a change,
[00:16:48] Nargis
you start by the closest person next to you. But holding in,
[00:16:53] Nargis
hoping that not everyone is going to be open to changes,
[00:16:55] Nargis
not everyone is going to be open to opinions. So I guess it’s finding ways to speak
[00:17:00] Nargis
different people’s language because not everybody. They agree with your opinion,
[00:17:04] Nargis
but it’s just the way you opinion comes across how you word. It also means
[00:17:08] Nargis
a lot. That’s one thing I’ve learned as well,
[00:17:11] Nargis
but it’s finding a way, or a sort of
[00:17:15] Nargis
a system or some sort of an organization that you can actually create that big change. Because with protest,
[00:17:20] Nargis
you can only do so many protests and slowly it’ll die with you actually do only
[00:17:26] Nargis
a certain amount and it gets to certain people how many words of mouth as you go
[00:17:30] Nargis
around, I guess is just finding the right way to take things. But also create, it’s like
[00:17:35] Nargis
a business where you have to build the right foundations and the right base in
[00:17:39] Nargis
order to sustain something in opinion or change only so far. So I guess that’s one
[00:17:45] Nargis
thing I struggle with community is just Okay, if we want to create a change,
[00:17:48] Nargis
how do we go about it? And how do we get the voice? Not only interstate, but internationally?
[00:17:55] Nargis
Because opinions can only go so far. A change can only go so far by what are you,
[00:17:59] Nargis
how willing are you to push that through to actually make it something that
[00:18:03] Nargis
everybody can recognize. So I guess that’s something that I want to like find out
[00:18:07] Nargis
from myself and see if what I,
[00:18:10] Nargis
where I come up with the math that matters in it. That’s why I guess I’m moving to
[00:18:14] Nargis
Melbourne as well to just see how big of
[00:18:17] Nargis
a state it is. They’ve got way more community than we do in Queensland. So I guess
[00:18:22] Nargis
I’m testing the waters now. Yeah, so we’ll see.
[00:18:25] Josh
Well, speaking of a big move, you mentioned earlier that at the age of six,
[00:18:28] Josh
you moved from Afghanistan to Australia. So have you, it was that to Queensland, is that where you moved?
[00:18:36] Nargis
No, so we had a bit of
[00:18:37] Nargis
a journey. We had to evacuate Afghanistan back in all circumstances. And then we evacuated to Pakistan for two and
[00:18:46] Nargis
a half years and then from Pakistan we came to Australia. So straight into Brisbane.
[00:18:51] Josh
Yeah.
[00:18:52] Josh
So yeah, what was the situation like in Pakistan where you know, and the circumstances around that
[00:19:00] Nargis
I guess being so young, I just didn’t realize how much. That’s one thing when people are still like,
[00:19:07] Nargis
how did the like, how was the process of the story for you?
[00:19:10] Nargis
I’m just like, I was young oblivious. I was like, okay, we’re moving places as young people,
[00:19:16] Nargis
there’s only so much you can observe from your family stress and panic. Two verses
[00:19:21] Nargis
like one minute you’re like, Oh, they’re panicking. Next thing you see a doll and like, okay,
[00:19:25] Nargis
I’m going to go towards that. So I guess I didn’t I didn’t really look back
[00:19:32] Nargis
that much in terms of because I was too young to really pick up on things true. Yep.
[00:19:36] Nargis
So there’s not much I can say,
[00:19:38] Nargis
but I did learn the language. Kind of forgot it. Now I can understand it,
[00:19:42] Nargis
but I still, I actually did go to Pakistan, Afghanistan, sort of this year. So it was just
[00:19:48] Nargis
a nice experience to go back home and see how far and how time have changed and how
[00:19:54] Nargis
far I’ve came in life. And everybody else in the world,
[00:19:57] Nargis
how much has changed versus life there just time feels very slow,
[00:20:02] Nargis
whereas Australia feels so fast and every day you’re like it goes by. But time back
[00:20:07] Nargis
home is just go so slow, everything’s going to come paced. Whereas Australia is just like you go, go, go,
[00:20:14] Nargis
you forgot ten steps behind. I was gone for like two or three weeks and I felt like
[00:20:18] Nargis
I was three years behind when I came back,
[00:20:20] Nargis
I would just go fifty six miles and I’m just like, Oh my God,
[00:20:22] Nargis
off it clear of US. So it was an experience.
[00:20:27] Josh
And so, you know, going back to Afghanistan, you know,
[00:20:30] Josh
in light of everything that’s happened and the crisis that is happening there,
[00:20:35] Josh
what was it like for you was, I guess in light of that,
[00:20:40] Nargis
Um, going back to Afghanistan though, where do I start?
[00:20:45] Nargis
So since I don’t remember what originally Afghanistan was like, so,
[00:20:50] Nargis
so young. But I have brief memories here and there. I guess it really depends where
[00:20:57] Nargis
you are as you start.
[00:21:00] Nargis
One thing I’ve noticed with different types of families I’ve spoken to in Australia,
[00:21:03] Nargis
and then I’ve spoken to back in Afghanistan and as well as Pakistan, the ritual always says,
[00:21:08] Nargis
Oh that there’s nothing wrong with Afghanistan. Afghanistan has been the same. It’s
[00:21:13] Nargis
just didn’t change of laws, and I realize that same conversation with
[00:21:17] Nargis
a couple of guys in the airport because I Went by myself to Afghanistan,
[00:21:21] Nargis
so sitting down with the whole airport. So for the some families,
[00:21:24] Nargis
when they saw me by myself, a female travelling to Afghanistan, the came to approach because they were like,
[00:21:30] Nargis
Oh she you can tell she’s Afghan. So they came like, Oh are you Afghan?
[00:21:33] Nargis
? I’m like, yes I am. And then they were like, Oh like,
[00:21:35] Nargis
what are you doing here by yourself? Are you saved? You need US to like support? I was like,
[00:21:39] Nargis
Oh not perfectly fine. As I was speaking to them more and more because it was my
[00:21:43] Nargis
first time going back home since ten years. And then I asked them I was like,
[00:21:47] Nargis
Oh have you guys Went to Afghanistan after before they were like,
[00:21:49] Nargis
Oh multiple times. I’ve guess it’s been the same. And then the more they spoke,
[00:21:54] Nargis
the more they revealed that they were in high status of saying, Oh,
[00:21:57] Nargis
like Afghans as fighters because their families already had
[00:22:00] Nargis
a job from Afghanistan and overseas. So they’re getting good incomes in U.S.
[00:22:04] Nargis
dollars where their families assist and what they would probably have to do three
[00:22:07] Nargis
properties. Whereas the poor in Afghanistan, you go to region areas,
[00:22:11] Nargis
they’ve struggled from the Start and they’re still struggling really bad. So I
[00:22:16] Nargis
guess it’s just who you talk to will give you different information based on how
[00:22:20] Nargis
their families are in Afghanistan. So me going back see picking from that
[00:22:25] Nargis
conversation and picking conversation from family Friends some around the community
[00:22:29] Nargis
here when I was helping them out. They were saying the families are struggling,
[00:22:32] Nargis
there’s no jobs for them. There’s no support in terms of food and the kids are
[00:22:36] Nargis
starving. So they have to send money from here to support them over there. So when
[00:22:40] Nargis
you hear different stories from different people,
[00:22:42] Nargis
you can just tell how much everybody has different views on where Afghanistan is.
[00:22:46] Nargis
And today, a lot of the rich people, they like it because they’re like,
[00:22:49] Nargis
Oh there’s laws put in place. There’s good stuff in place.
[00:22:51] Nargis
I’m just like, okay,
[00:22:53] Nargis
it’s great that we have laws but to what extent that the kids aren’t going to
[00:22:58] Nargis
school there or the make up schools are down in Afghanistan as well. They completely cross everything out there,
[00:23:04] Nargis
limiting Females day by day. The media is not speaking about it,
[00:23:09] Nargis
it’s not being spoken about it at all. We have family Friends who are on business in Afghanistan,
[00:23:13] Nargis
mostly are Females. Their business has got shut. So me seeing that I’m just like
[00:23:18] Nargis
and then there’s no media release and then it was like, Oh it’s all good. I’m like okay,
[00:23:22] Nargis
but what’s actually going on grass versus what you see on media are two different
[00:23:26] Nargis
things. So I guess it’s just where people are, as you start with any other country,
[00:23:35] Nargis
is where you’re at is how much world problems will affect you. But what I feel
[00:23:40] Nargis
really bad, the poorest is the poor,
[00:23:42] Nargis
and the ones who got like when bad from the Start, are still in
[00:23:46] Nargis
a bad position still today. That’s why would like we support as many families as
[00:23:51] Nargis
much as we can here. And they do a lot of donation runs between family, Friends,
[00:23:56] Nargis
and Friends that are Friends with US. So we’d like to support these people. We just
[00:24:00] Nargis
collect and send it all at once to them. Mosques over there in the Mosques,
[00:24:05] Nargis
sometimes creates food and then just gives it to the public or they buy them stocks
[00:24:09] Nargis
of rice and stuff we, they care to support the really, really poor families because as much as
[00:24:17] Nargis
a lot of people don’t like to touch bases on it,
[00:24:19] Nargis
hazara ethnic community. hazaras are ethnic minorities that get targeted the most
[00:24:24] Nargis
in Afghanistan and during the Taliban. But the ones that were so it’s just
[00:24:29] Nargis
a lot of different things that’s actually going on and seeing where you can support
[00:24:34] Nargis
and where you can’t. But it’s just knowing people that has genuine information from
[00:24:39] Nargis
gun grounds and as well as it’s I guess that’s the most important part is who you
[00:24:45] Nargis
speak to that has genuine information from there because seeing where it is now
[00:24:50] Nargis
versus where it was four or five years ago is completely different. What’s there
[00:24:55] Nargis
pretty much all being shut down. So it’s day by day getting more modest and just
[00:24:59] Nargis
more conservative than ever because the whole idea of religion is actually the
[00:25:04] Nargis
cross to seek out more knowledge. The Quran never said to,
[00:25:09] Nargis
for Females to not study in the Koran to receive stop,
[00:25:14] Nargis
to seek to seek for more knowledge. It means growing. Get yourself educated,
[00:25:18] Nargis
go study, learn a passion. It’s never said to shut people out, shut up,
[00:25:24] Nargis
shut Females out, stop them from studying.
[00:25:27] Nargis
Because one thing I always say,
[00:25:28] Nargis
I’m like, if they were truly following Quran, it would,
[00:25:31] Nargis
their laws of Afghanistan would truly not be the way it is today. Because if you really follow it,
[00:25:37] Nargis
it falls into your character. The chronic falls into how you treat people. How is
[00:25:43] Nargis
your character and how you personality you having to make someone’s day bad?
[00:25:48] Nargis
? That’s also a sin. So small, minor stuff that they’ve taken,
[00:25:52] Nargis
they’ve flipped the one ending and then they did the opposite. So I can talk about it all day,
[00:25:58] Nargis
but I’ll stop about it right now.
[00:26:01] Josh
Crazy is so many layers of so many complexities to it. And you know, from my perspective,
[00:26:07] Josh
it’s tough for me to get to come to terms with it because it’s so against what you
[00:26:13] Josh
know, my beliefs are. So it’s hard and you know, I’m an outsider. You know,
[00:26:18] Josh
I can only imagine the difficulties for you and did you have to like walk
[00:26:22] Josh
a fine line or anything when you’re in that country to follow the certain rules
[00:26:26] Josh
that you may not agree with?
[00:26:29] Nargis
I did. There were absolutely no rules that I didn’t agree with because I guess
[00:26:35] Nargis
being with family there I didn’t really see it that much but it was just only once
[00:26:40] Nargis
or twice my hijab did fell off because it was really windy and I did notice it in
[00:26:44] Nargis
not wearing it here, wearing it over there,
[00:26:47] Nargis
it was just going back to it. I wasn’t used to it. So because in Afghanistan,
[00:26:51] Nargis
Kabul where my family never wear it, because Kabul five years ago,
[00:26:55] Nargis
in the most of the places you don’t have to wear it, it was never
[00:26:59] Nargis
a must to wear back then we didn’t wear it. We didn’t work here,
[00:27:05] Nargis
price was perfectly fine and then we going back to wear now my hijab fell off once
[00:27:09] Nargis
or whether one of the Taliban that approached US and then they were like all like
[00:27:13] Nargis
pull it forward so I was like, Oh my apologies. A pullback it and then again it just
[00:27:21] Nargis
happened to slip and then I put about the moment I was pulling it forward. He made
[00:27:25] Nargis
another stop.
[00:27:26] Nargis
And what they normally do, if you don’t abide by them,
[00:27:30] Nargis
they take them whoever the man is with you. Whether that’s your cousin,
[00:27:33] Nargis
your Brother and they they go and they take them and for
[00:27:37] Nargis
a couple of days pretty much beat them and then send them back home like Bruce
[00:27:42] Nargis
saying that you didn’t teach your woman, right?
[00:27:46] Nargis
That’s why they’ve taken the hijab off or they didn’t follow the laws,
[00:27:50] Nargis
right. Which was something very shocking which I wasn’t aware of. And very shocking.
[00:27:56] Nargis
So I was, I wasn’t necessarily scared,
[00:28:00] Nargis
but it was just more of like seeing what was back when I was, I guess, five,
[00:28:04] Nargis
four years old, six years old compared to now. It was just like
[00:28:10] Nargis
a one eighty change again. So I guess it was a delightful experience going back home,
[00:28:17] Nargis
but it’s not the back home we had back then I couldn’t go half the shops. I
[00:28:21] Nargis
couldn’t go to most of the places because they were open. Females weren’t allowed
[00:28:25] Nargis
to enter.
[00:28:26] Nargis
I couldn’t even go to the zoo, I wanted to go to
[00:28:28] Nargis
a zoo and they said all Females are allowed, and then I just, my just,
[00:28:32] Nargis
my face just was shocking. I’m like, what’s going to happen to
[00:28:36] Nargis
a couple of animals. So I guess certain minor stuff which affects you a lot, but they’ve banned women from
[00:28:43] Nargis
a lot of places. So they’re just prohibited from pretty much anything. Just go shopping, go back home, I guess,
[00:28:49] Nargis
and just buy grocery stores. That’s pretty much all Females can do nowadays. Yeah,
[00:28:53] Nargis
so I was shocked that they banned all Females from the zoo.
[00:28:57] Josh
Yeah, the control is quite shocking. As you said, Well I can’t think of a good Segway to be honest,
[00:29:07] Josh
but I do want to ask you as well about, you know, because you’re doing
[00:29:11] Josh
a lot of work with people, refugees, but also, you know, we talked about it briefly before we Went live
[00:29:17] Josh
a elderly Afghan and other people as well,
[00:29:22] Josh
connecting with younger people. I think it’s great. So in the intro I did kind of
[00:29:27] Josh
allude to it if you will, the new initiative that was mentioned called warrior connect. Give US a bit of
[00:29:34] Josh
a background on what that is, how it started, and I you, your trilogy,
[00:29:38] Josh
its shape shifted so many times and I guess where it’s heading towards today.
[00:29:44] Nargis
We initially came up with it when we did the first protest when the young people,
[00:29:49] Nargis
the young people there helped US organize it. All of US sat down and were like,
[00:29:52] Nargis
all the community wasn’t really supportive about some stuff. And so that’s where
[00:29:57] Nargis
we’re like, well, how will we create an organization like between ourselves?
[00:30:00] Nargis
Because we realized how many young people came on occupied by families that were
[00:30:05] Nargis
just seventeen eighteen year olds, who were evacuated Afghanistan to Australia,
[00:30:08] Nargis
where they don’t have any family. Friends have no family, no Friends,
[00:30:14] Nargis
and the language barrier as well. So we kind of sat down and then we were talking
[00:30:18] Nargis
about it were like, okay, let’s start an organization. Went forward a little bit,
[00:30:25] Nargis
then everybody got busy with life and families. It died down, the conversation came up six months later,
[00:30:32] Nargis
again spoke about it. So we all saw how we could fit in this organization. Again,
[00:30:38] Nargis
it died down. So it has been shape shifting since two thousand and twenty one till
[00:30:42] Nargis
twenty. Twenty three isn’t until this year. Now, finally,
[00:30:47] Nargis
everybody else fell out and I made the final executive decision to just completely
[00:30:52] Nargis
change it. We were first, I guess a focus was on youth because I guess that’s where we struggle with
[00:31:01] Nargis
a lot of elders in our communities connecting with them. And then just having
[00:31:05] Nargis
a normal conversation, it was just not happening. There’s not
[00:31:08] Nargis
a lot of connection building and is due to multiple reasons as well,
[00:31:11] Nargis
where they go into politics. We don’t like to look into the politics. So we’re like,
[00:31:15] Nargis
okay, how can we make this work? Where the conversation died in
[00:31:18] Nargis
a couple of months and then back then I was working at ccw customer support worker.
[00:31:23] Nargis
And when I was working I was working with top three clients,
[00:31:26] Nargis
which is the more severe clients. So some really all the people that were here by
[00:31:30] Nargis
themselves or families in the lot and a lot of struggle.
[00:31:34] Nargis
So in seeing that,
[00:31:36] Nargis
a lot of people that were most, I guess a rope to their foot was
[00:31:41] Nargis
a lot of old people. They couldn’t go out, they couldn’t study the language barrier. In self-isolation at home,
[00:31:49] Nargis
they were having trouble in terms of understanding their kids and how kids go out.
[00:31:54] Nargis
We have Friends, we have social media, so it’s
[00:31:56] Nargis
constantly go, go, go for US, it’s
[00:31:58] Nargis
a lifestyle. We enjoy, but whereas other people they, whereas a mom and dad and
[00:32:02] Nargis
a grandparent could not understand or they couldn’t understand US and they couldn’t
[00:32:06] Nargis
understand the different types of personalities and how we are growing up here. So
[00:32:12] Nargis
I guess what made me realize is that we are so focused on the young generation,
[00:32:16] Nargis
we’re constantly trying to feed into them. But also young people have this stage of
[00:32:21] Nargis
growing up, going through ego come building up their own character. I’m like,
[00:32:25] Nargis
instead of focusing on that because it will be taken care of by school,
[00:32:28] Nargis
they’ll be taken care of by University. They already have
[00:32:30] Nargis
a path that they can follow and they know the resources and tools where to access
[00:32:34] Nargis
them. Whereas other people, on the other hand,
[00:32:36] Nargis
they’ve already given up on themselves and which is a sad story for
[00:32:38] Nargis
a lot of refugees, and anyone that has migrated to Australia,
[00:32:42] Nargis
they all feel like that they feel so self isolation where they are always locked up
[00:32:46] Nargis
at home. Then I’ll do anything they don’t know who to contact the language barrier as well, which causes them
[00:32:52] Nargis
a lot of headache in terms of re learning another language. So pretend you’re sixty
[00:32:57] Nargis
of the year and you go to a completely different country. You can’t get out because you’re speaking English.
[00:33:02] Nargis
You can’t even use your phone to like direct yourself towards a library or
[00:33:06] Nargis
a park.
[00:33:07] Nargis
And if something happens to you, God forbid,
[00:33:09] Nargis
you don’t even know who to call. If you call emergency line,
[00:33:12] Nargis
they don’t have translators on the line either. So there’s so much broad stuff to
[00:33:17] Nargis
does into it. So in order to, I guess, be that I was like, okay,
[00:33:23] Nargis
how can we make this work? Because they were having struggles in terms of relationship wise with their
[00:33:28] Nargis
children and grandchildren. They’re always at home. I’m like these young people.
[00:33:32] Nargis
They’re kind of losing kind of losing their roots in their core child, the language,
[00:33:38] Nargis
the tradition as well. So it’s like how can we beat this all is thinking,
[00:33:42] Nargis
intersecting both trends into one organization, which I have not seen done before. So I guess it’s a new opportunity,
[00:33:51] Nargis
a new place in something new to expand experiment with. Because I always love
[00:33:55] Nargis
a good challenge when it comes to this kind of stuff. So I’m like,
[00:33:57] Nargis
how can we make this work? Is okay,
[00:34:01] Nargis
doing workshops within I guess I think stories depending on which community that
[00:34:08] Nargis
from so I was thinking about experimenting with Africa as far as just in terms of
[00:34:11] Nargis
seeing if we hold a little chat Chai, like a Chai time,
[00:34:15] Nargis
way everybody comes together to have a little bit of tea will pick them up,
[00:34:19] Nargis
take them out, go to a park, have a little picnic together, see what they want from
[00:34:23] Nargis
a service in terms of getting out. Do you guys want to go into knitting something
[00:34:28] Nargis
that is a bit artistic and appropriate for their age and taking out,
[00:34:32] Nargis
I guess those young people who are willing to volunteer for some time into,
[00:34:36] Nargis
or the older people in the community and having them around the workshop because
[00:34:39] Nargis
they will be soft skills and they don’t need any mainly certificate or
[00:34:43] Nargis
qualifications or soft skills in terms of running a program. And I guess having
[00:34:47] Nargis
a facilitator as well to just supervise and make sure if things run well and having
[00:34:51] Nargis
them by US volunteers to come and help out. And just pretty much bring the youth
[00:34:57] Nargis
back into the culture and back to the people and back into the community. And I
[00:35:01] Nargis
guess something while, I guess a lot of young generations today struggle as well if they don’t understand
[00:35:05] Nargis
community, everybody’s thirsting, dying after getting the next thing in terms of running around hustling. I really
[00:35:13] Nargis
get that I understand it. But in order to see where you truly are happy,
[00:35:19] Nargis
is why finding something that is heart filling for US. And then from there you
[00:35:24] Nargis
slowly build up on your character,
[00:35:26] Nargis
on yourself and on your professional career. And that’s the one thing I learned I
[00:35:31] Nargis
was just always going to go type of person, but I’m just like, okay,
[00:35:34] Nargis
sometimes you need to hold back. Sometimes you need to go back to community.
[00:35:37] Nargis
Sometimes you need to do things that will fill up your, I guess fuel in terms of just having
[00:35:43] Nargis
a heartfelt warming to helping out and not everything has to be a bit like
[00:35:48] Nargis
a transaction.
[00:35:48] Nargis
It goes both ways, sometimes giving things and then just letting the universe bring you back to you.
[00:35:53] Nargis
And I guess that’s something a lot of young people nowadays have
[00:35:55] Nargis
a hard time finding that out. Or they have a hard time understanding it. So I guess that’s
[00:36:01] Nargis
a way I’m sort of envisioning putting it together. I’m still in the process of
[00:36:04] Nargis
shapeshifting it. So just seeing what works and what will work out.
[00:36:09] Nargis
So obviously if
[00:36:10] Nargis
we get in the first run, happy days, but if we don’t get in the first one,
[00:36:14] Nargis
it gets this trial and going to where works and which community,
[00:36:17] Nargis
what For and where do we need to change it from which community and make sure that
[00:36:20] Nargis
we cater to the appropriate cultures and seeing it fit because not every
[00:36:25] Nargis
organization is going to fit all sizes. So I want to make sure that we try our best
[00:36:29] Nargis
to cater for all.
[00:36:31] Josh
So nargis, we reconnect, you know, it sounds like such an interesting concept. Interesting idea and you like to
[00:36:39] Josh
describe the intersection is it’s, it’s merging business with community and is that, you know, I know that you have
[00:36:47] Josh
a real, passionate interest in business. Is that kind of where you’re shifting your focus now?
[00:36:53] Nargis
I think so because to a lot of people it might seem like,
[00:36:57] Nargis
Oh like she’s quite in business with community work,
[00:37:00] Nargis
that’s not how community to community work is community work just people out of
[00:37:04] Nargis
your height and passion just because you want to do it, but I see through where we are today. Twenty,
[00:37:09] Nargis
twenty three. The world runs really differently. How we run things. Now we don’t
[00:37:13] Nargis
run back ten, fifteen years ago. We run things differently now and I guess with,
[00:37:17] Nargis
depending on what age you are and how you see things and what you have passion for,
[00:37:22] Nargis
you will find ways to incorporate and fit both in one.
[00:37:25] Nargis
So I guess for me it was
[00:37:26] Nargis
personally putting ROI in a business perspective and just actually getting registered in as well as just
[00:37:32] Nargis
looking at it to make it legitimate,
[00:37:34] Nargis
just for myself to hold myself accountable for it and actually show up every day
[00:37:38] Nargis
when you’re not getting paid and you’re just putting hours and days out of your
[00:37:41] Nargis
week voluntarily when I knew doing University and as well as other work. So I guess
[00:37:48] Nargis
for me to Sam for me to how hold myself accountable was in order to make it
[00:37:53] Nargis
legitimate and just make everything like a Pro, back to what I was saying in order to sustain something. Well,
[00:38:00] Nargis
you need to have right,
[00:38:00] Nargis
Foundation and base. So I guess for me to start was registering it as an NGO and
[00:38:05] Nargis
seeing where it goes in my now goal in six twelve months. I not be interested in
[00:38:09] Nargis
have someone else come over and take it and it might be something that I hold on
[00:38:12] Nargis
for a very long time. So I guess it’s just,
[00:38:15] Nargis
we don’t know what tomorrow holds. We don’t know what next year holds. The only
[00:38:18] Nargis
thing we can look forward to is a vision and image where we have built for ourselves a business future,
[00:38:23] Nargis
a life friendships, a family. So I guess for me the image is just to create something sustainable that
[00:38:28] Nargis
is well for community and as well as to create jobs opportunities for other people like myself,
[00:38:35] Nargis
which I was in the previous position. So I guess it’s just seeing where it goes,
[00:38:40] Nargis
whether that goes well or it might not, but it’s just about,
[00:38:44] Nargis
I guess building the foundations and holding myself accountable and really putting myself to it because it has been such
[00:38:51] Nargis
a long time shapeshifting for so long. Because we never really did something
[00:38:55] Nargis
legitimate and I guess since I’ve done that, it’s more of like
[00:38:59] Nargis
a no choice. You just got to keep going forward whether it’s good or bad. So I’m
[00:39:02] Nargis
glad I did it. And I guess it’s just about seeing what the next six twelve months was for US.
[00:39:09] Josh
Well, speaking of, you know, what’s on the horizon. I understand that you’ve got another business that you have
[00:39:15] Josh
had previously and kind of looking to relaunch. So tell me a bit about prestige marketing solutions.
[00:39:22] Nargis
Precision marketing solutions was actually a business I was doing. Social media is basically digital marketing,
[00:39:29] Nargis
social media marketing. I was doing it all last year with
[00:39:32] Nargis
a business partnership and the normal partnerships always work out and I guess it’s
[00:39:37] Nargis
about trial and error. So after it did not go well in terms of around January,
[00:39:43] Nargis
December last year we decided to separate ways. And that’s when I had to go
[00:39:48] Nargis
overseas and I came back and then Went overseas again. So it was just coming back working on it,
[00:39:54] Nargis
but also having Uni and other life commitments on Side and then coming back and
[00:39:58] Nargis
going it shifted a lot. But I also opened my eyes to
[00:40:02] Nargis
a lot of different types of other businesses as well. And just sort of seeing what
[00:40:04] Nargis
fits well for me, but I always found myself to have
[00:40:07] Nargis
a new life for the social media marketing and digital marketing. And of do I do
[00:40:11] Nargis
want to vouch for myself that I do
[00:40:13] Nargis
a well go on that path. And so I guess I didn’t want to continue it because in it
[00:40:20] Nargis
for me, in a way helping people out has always been something that I always hold on my heart.
[00:40:23] Nargis
I always will because I always,
[00:40:25] Nargis
that’s why I’m not into numerology by the number eight. How is this is common to
[00:40:31] Nargis
common about what goes around comes around. It’s something that I always say as
[00:40:34] Nargis
well is that if you do a good deed, always finds
[00:40:37] Nargis
a way it’s way back to you. But if you do bad, it always finds
[00:40:39] Nargis
a way back to you as well back to what I was saying in terms of
[00:40:43] Nargis
a good intention actually high. So I guess for me to help people out and see
[00:40:47] Nargis
a genuine smile and see them succeed is to succeed for me. So I guess incorporate
[00:40:51] Nargis
into the business or social media and digital marketing because you’re getting
[00:40:56] Nargis
themselves, you’re getting them more customers, they’re happy. But inside, you’re happy as well,
[00:41:00] Nargis
and I love all sorts of businesses and I’ve worked in different types of businesses
[00:41:04] Nargis
as well, real estate restaurant corporate areas, laws. So I guess having so many different types of experience,
[00:41:10] Nargis
I’ve always wanted to be in every sort of business, but having only one mind and one body,
[00:41:16] Nargis
I could not physically be at all of them. So I wanted to find
[00:41:20] Nargis
a way that I can incorporate my ideas for all sorts of businesses,
[00:41:23] Nargis
which is whether they were e-commerce or community or restaurants, or pretty much anything, retail stores,
[00:41:32] Nargis
coffee shops. So I always saw and vision for every business. So I’m like, okay,
[00:41:35] Nargis
how can I incorporate that into a business that I can support all these businesses? Because I’m also being
[00:41:39] Nargis
a part of their team in terms of you marketing. You strategizing how to sell,
[00:41:44] Nargis
how to bring more people in. So I guess for me marketing was the right job and I’ve
[00:41:48] Nargis
been doing it for so long. I loved it.
[00:41:50] Nargis
But I guess that overseas gaps kind of
[00:41:54] Nargis
pushed our launch really back, but I’m planning to hopefully launch it within September or next month. I’ve really
[00:42:00] Nargis
got clients on the line because I’m well connected with some business people,
[00:42:04] Nargis
but I guess the official launch of the soft launch I would like to call before I go
[00:42:07] Nargis
to Melbourne having a team dinner with my team this Friday and then saying my goodbyes. To everyone,
[00:42:12] Nargis
but I’ll be going between Brisbane and Melbourne because I’ve got clients here and
[00:42:16] Nargis
there. So it’s nice to see it flourish back up again. And for me,
[00:42:21] Nargis
I’m not the type of person of a title I’d I liked. When I say a team,
[00:42:25] Nargis
we’re all in this together, so if I fail everybody else we’re going down. But if we go out,
[00:42:30] Nargis
we will go out together. And that’s one thing that I always like to say is that if
[00:42:34] Nargis
I do well,
[00:42:34] Nargis
we’re all doing well and I want to make sure that I run around me is well taken
[00:42:38] Nargis
care of and catered for whether that’s my team. Family Friends is ensuring that
[00:42:42] Nargis
everybody can rely and use me as a backbone because that’s what I’ve always been. People,
[00:42:48] Nargis
people always come to me with trouble. I always give them
[00:42:50] Nargis
a solution. So I was like that.
[00:42:52] Nargis
So I guess businesses falls into the same sector as
[00:42:55] Nargis
well as helping businesses stand back up again. Whether that’s rebranding graphics, logo website,
[00:43:01] Nargis
we pretty much take care of it all. So it’s nice to see that we’re helping them as
[00:43:06] Nargis
business owner, but as well as you create relationships and friendships,
[00:43:09] Nargis
long term relationships as well. So I guess I’m really keen for that.
[00:43:13] Josh
Yeah, well, successful business can mean so many different things and some people are so
[00:43:19] Josh
focused on, you know, scaling, maximize profits, but at what cost, you know,
[00:43:25] Josh
to me successful business is about so much more than that and you touched on
[00:43:29] Josh
a whole bunch of those things just before,
[00:43:30] Josh
so I’ve got no doubt that with those clear intentions there in your heart that your
[00:43:35] Josh
businesses will be fantastic. And I’m interested to actually, you know,
[00:43:40] Josh
I hope is I guess bringing this back to the young achiever awards. I hope to see
[00:43:45] Josh
a renewed entry in nomination for, you know, I guess in a couple, you know, in
[00:43:51] Josh
a year or two years because it’s going to be so different to your previous
[00:43:55] Josh
nominations. So, you know, we kind of skipped over it at the start,
[00:43:58] Josh
which was my focus. I was just so keen to get into the conversation. But you were
[00:44:03] Josh
a finalist in the seven new young achiever awards for Queensland in the soroptimist,
[00:44:07] Josh
international women, empowering others award. You know, we can understand what with everything we’ve talked about,
[00:44:13] Josh
the work that you’ve done in community. You have been empowering others so you know,
[00:44:18] Josh
I can just imagine in two years time, the nomination is going to be about business success and,
[00:44:23] Josh
and those kind of things. So, going back to the,
[00:44:27] Josh
the awards. How was your experience being part of it and what stood out to you?
[00:44:33] Nargis
Um, because I did get semifinalists for the multicultural resilience award in
[00:44:39] Nargis
a nominee for one of the other awards. I guess seeing those were three awards for
[00:44:43] Nargis
me personally. Having something is
[00:44:45] Nargis
a piece of paper just feels more of an achievement that you really did something in
[00:44:48] Nargis
your work actually counted when you work with community and you want,
[00:44:51] Nargis
you do volunteering for hours on end and some people are appreciated.
[00:44:56] Nargis
Some people
[00:44:57] Nargis
don’t, it doesn’t really get recognized in a way,
[00:45:00] Nargis
but you don’t really do it for the recognition. You do it for the solely out of
[00:45:03] Nargis
good heart. And I guess finally seeing the work you’ve been doing for two to three
[00:45:08] Nargis
years hours on end, getting burnt out because the last protest had
[00:45:13] Nargis
a massive burn out where I had to quit real Estate. And I guess that’s why I
[00:45:18] Nargis
stopped really sad as well as that. I was just so burnt out and I did see real
[00:45:22] Nargis
estate being my put my like career down the line. So it brought me some realizations,
[00:45:29] Nargis
but it also brought me back to where I stand the most. So I guess seeing your work
[00:45:34] Nargis
being recognized by the public, I’m sure everybody felt
[00:45:39] Nargis
a bit of good in themselves like I did it. It’s not for you,
[00:45:43] Nargis
but it’s mainly for the people you’ve done it for. Yeah,
[00:45:46] Nargis
and that’s the way I see it. But as well as seeing family being proud of you and
[00:45:50] Nargis
for them. Because sometimes family agree and disagree to what extent,
[00:45:54] Nargis
how much you help out and how much you work for them. I was just,
[00:45:56] Nargis
I lost my voice after the second protest. I could not speak for
[00:45:59] Nargis
a month because I ripped my tonsils. I was screaming too loud and seeing what
[00:46:03] Nargis
really happened.
[00:46:05] Nargis
So I guess for them to see that they’re like, okay,
[00:46:07] Nargis
your heart and work and your passion is where you got,
[00:46:09] Nargis
where you got yourself today. This is, it’s also it’s a really nice to have built
[00:46:15] Nargis
a name for yourself as well. So when you do approach certain people for projects
[00:46:19] Nargis
and helping out in terms of business is that you have started
[00:46:23] Nargis
a Foundation because I’m glad I didn’t go straight into business. I’m glad I’d
[00:46:26] Nargis
negotiate hardcore copper work without having that Foundation of humbleness within the community. First,
[00:46:32] Nargis
and then after that happened I Went into corporate. So I guess I am glad I had that
[00:46:38] Nargis
balance, but overall the community awards event was really nice,
[00:46:43] Nargis
seeing you hard work actually being paid off. But as special as it was,
[00:46:48] Nargis
that’s also how much I didn’t really minded that much because I knew at the end of
[00:46:53] Nargis
the day we all Went in with good intentions going forward. So I wasn’t really
[00:46:57] Nargis
looking forward to getting anything out of it myself because one of my Friends
[00:47:00] Nargis
actually nominated me for the award. I didn’t do it. She’s like,
[00:47:03] Nargis
you should definitely sign up for it. I think you do well, I was like,
[00:47:06] Nargis
I don’t have the time, but I was like, you want to go apply on my behalf,
[00:47:09] Nargis
go ahead and do it. And she actually did. And she actually did,
[00:47:13] Nargis
she asked for my photos, could she ask for my photos and she applied on my behalf?
[00:47:18] Nargis
? So I was just when I was overseas,
[00:47:21] Nargis
when I received the three emails and I was just like where these emails come,
[00:47:24] Nargis
prosecutions and it’s how she goes, Oh my God,
[00:47:26] Nargis
like you got it and congrats and I was just like, what’s going on?
[00:47:29] Nargis
So I guess coming back and seeing having good people around you is really important.
[00:47:35] Nargis
Sometimes you don’t need big events or big celebrations or an award or some sort of mechanization is having
[00:47:41] Nargis
a supportive family and Friends that are around you. That will be there to celebrate you,
[00:47:47] Nargis
but is also there for your downfalls.
[00:47:49] Nargis
And the days you doubt yourself was where it
[00:47:51] Nargis
was really important for me. And it was really nice to celebrate the night with
[00:47:56] Nargis
them and having them close by because they saw where I started and they see where I
[00:47:59] Nargis
am today. So it was really lovely and it was an opportunity to meet all the people
[00:48:03] Nargis
in the same kind of fields and seeing how others success story inspires you so much
[00:48:08] Nargis
inspiring different projects. So definitely ten out of ten. It was a, it was an amazing night.
[00:48:14] Josh
That’s fantastic. Well before we wrap up, now,
[00:48:17] Josh
guess I do have one final question for you. And I guess the lead up to the question
[00:48:24] Josh
is that we’re on the obviously we, you’re on the inspiration. I’m sorry guys,
[00:48:28] Josh
I’m asking the questions. I’m hearing your story and it’s been fantastic. I’ve been
[00:48:32] Josh
inspired by it because to gain a slight understanding, I say,
[00:48:37] Josh
slight because as we said it so many layers and complexities to the situation in Afghanistan,
[00:48:44] Josh
you coming over everything you’ve been through empowering others and using that and having, you know,
[00:48:52] Josh
the wisdom that you have at your age with so much of the insight you’ve shown is
[00:48:57] Josh
that is inspiring to me and shows me that is
[00:49:01] Josh
a big misunderstanding in my personal opinion, around Gen, Gen Z, Gen Z and,
[00:49:07] Josh
and what people you know, are like, and I think Yeah,
[00:49:12] Josh
it’s just been great to hear from you and so I’ve been inspired by you,
[00:49:16] Josh
but I want to know what is it that inspires you? I guess
[00:49:22] Nargis
I’ll touch bases back on the Gen said the stuff that she said I don’t I
[00:49:27] Nargis
struggle getting along with people. My own age as well. That’s why I always hang
[00:49:30] Nargis
out with older people. So I do understand what that is. One of those things is when
[00:49:36] Nargis
you outgrow some groups too fast, it’s just best to move on to the next cool thing. To be honest,
[00:49:43] Nargis
I don’t know what inspires me and it’s just one of the quite one of those questions
[00:49:47] Nargis
where they’re like, who is your favorite celebrity?
[00:49:48] Nargis
? I never had a favorite celebrity. I just like whoever Went past and I’m just like onto the next
[00:49:56] Nargis
I guess so was that it? Oh, I don’t know. To be honest.
[00:50:00] Nargis
Every project I did was always,
[00:50:03] Nargis
somehow I related to it or doing it for those who are close to me that were
[00:50:08] Nargis
struggling. And it was just about being there and pulling through and actioning
[00:50:13] Nargis
something instead of just words of comfort. Because words of comfort,
[00:50:17] Nargis
we can all like talk till tomorrow, giving someone like you will be fine,
[00:50:22] Nargis
they’ll be fine.
[00:50:23] Nargis
Your family’s going to be fine. Everything’s going to be fine. But
[00:50:26] Nargis
actually actioning it in doing something for them, for them to see some sort of
[00:50:31] Nargis
a change in action is, speaks
[00:50:34] Nargis
a lot louder. Like J Cole said actions speak louder than words. That’s one thing I
[00:50:38] Nargis
always stand close by and I’m just like we can only do so much by talking. But when
[00:50:44] Nargis
you action, I guess it shows you true character and how much you are as
[00:50:48] Nargis
a person. And I guess that’s one thing for me is that I always pull through because
[00:50:53] Nargis
I saw people struggle. And that’s it. To be honest,
[00:50:58] Nargis
I don’t have anyone that is inspiring to me. I guess partially,
[00:51:03] Nargis
my family’s been our biggest support. They’ve always supported whatever decision I
[00:51:08] Nargis
made or supported, whether it was dumb or good, I would just be like, you could just do it,
[00:51:13] Nargis
hit your head on the wall and then you turn right
[00:51:15] Nargis
back. I was like no problem. So I guess having
[00:51:17] Nargis
a supportive family is what my and supportive Friends I’m so grateful to be at such
[00:51:23] Nargis
a young age and finding people that I can lean on. Because I know that
[00:51:27] Nargis
a lot of people do struggle with that in terms of struggling,
[00:51:30] Nargis
having the right people around them. So I’m grateful for the people around me and having
[00:51:36] Nargis
a really supportive basis. And so I guess they inspire me to do better and they
[00:51:40] Nargis
believe in me in times that I don’t believe in myself. So I doubt myself and I’m
[00:51:43] Nargis
like, is this a good decision or we’re making the right decision?
[00:51:45] Nargis
? Will the community be happy with This is so many thoughts and I guess having the
[00:51:49] Nargis
right group around you to just really balance your energy out is the best thing
[00:51:53] Nargis
because Hoda and I have been Friends since grade seven. So her and I are yin and
[00:51:57] Nargis
Yang. On fire, she’s calm, so we balance
[00:52:00] Nargis
each other out in the perfect way.
[00:52:01] Nargis
So,
[00:52:02] Nargis
and a family on top, having supportive systems, I guess is what I look forward in,
[00:52:08] Nargis
I guess they supported me in there because of them. I am where I am today,
[00:52:13] Nargis
but is also initiating things and just doing it. You don’t always have to have
[00:52:17] Nargis
someone to look up to. You don’t always have to have a role model. You be
[00:52:21] Nargis
a role model of your own because you all come with different characters and unique
[00:52:24] Nargis
personalities. I don’t look forward. I don’t look up to anyone. I guess I look, to be honest,
[00:52:30] Nargis
I don’t look up to anyone. So I guess it’s just about being someone you can look up
[00:52:35] Nargis
to for yourself, like that’s what washed up. And I’m like,
[00:52:37] Nargis
look up to yourself. To be honest, I guess
[00:52:39] Nargis
I look up to like I look up to myself, I’m like if I did X, Y, and Z,
[00:52:42] Nargis
I can do the rest as well. It’s just about doing it where they hit your head on
[00:52:46] Nargis
a wall or you go right through it.
[00:52:49] Josh
Yeah, I like it. It’s a. Yeah, certainly a unique answer but in
[00:52:52] Josh
a really good way. I think sometimes we do need to look inwards that way and,
[00:52:57] Josh
and draw that strength I guess and confidence from ourselves. Yeah. And in
[00:53:01] Josh
a way that’s a lot more powerful because you kind of say, well either I believe in myself, you know,
[00:53:07] Nargis
exactly, because a lot of people, when you look in to, when you look up to people,
[00:53:11] Nargis
it’s really great. You have someone to like, be like
[00:53:14] Nargis
okay, they did X, Y, and Z,
[00:53:15] Nargis
I’ll do that. But sometimes when they do X,
[00:53:18] Nargis
Y, Z, why would you do that?
[00:53:20] Nargis
So that also comes into question. And when I saw some people that were like, okay,
[00:53:24] Nargis
I really like what they doing and then you see they do something that is out of
[00:53:28] Nargis
line for you. You’re like,
[00:53:29] Nargis
Oh you hold yourself back on. That’s not how I want to be. I don’t like my
[00:53:34] Nargis
characteristics, I don’t like that type of personality. First of all, I always say,
[00:53:38] Nargis
look into from every conversation you get something and you leave them with
[00:53:43] Nargis
something. And as well as looking at people picking on the good character traits is
[00:53:49] Nargis
something my mom always said is if people’s could happen,
[00:53:51] Nargis
but then pick up other bad ones. That’s for sure. Just tell me as
[00:53:54] Nargis
a child. So I guess growing up when I was inspired people I would pick up on the
[00:53:58] Nargis
stuff that I liked about them, whether they were confident they used to speak really nicely. Or they did community
[00:54:03] Nargis
work or they did X, Y,
[00:54:04] Nargis
and Z. How they dress and how they looked and
[00:54:06] Nargis
look okay. I like that. How can I incorporate that in my way?
[00:54:10] Nargis
I didn’t like copying things and that’s how I am with lifestyles. But I’m just like,
[00:54:14] Nargis
I like things done my way and micromanaging that aspect. But I’m like,
[00:54:18] Nargis
if the world, if I guess it’s almost like blending of the ships,
[00:54:23] Nargis
is something that I always didn’t like. And I wasn’t like that from the Start when
[00:54:27] Nargis
I was younger. So being now where I am and understanding how world works,
[00:54:32] Nargis
I still don’t want to look up to anyone because I’m like you need to look up to
[00:54:35] Nargis
yourself because you should be your biggest role model. Only that can boost your
[00:54:39] Nargis
confidence only that can be like betraying insecurities. And only that can be people if you’re in
[00:54:44] Nargis
a room that you need to dominate yourself and be like this is who I am.
[00:54:48] Nargis
Whether
[00:54:48] Nargis
people like it or not. And only that way,
[00:54:50] Nargis
I feel like you can stay true to your morals and values because that’s really true.
[00:54:54] Nargis
That’s how you built your morals and values is seeing what’s good and seeing
[00:54:58] Nargis
what’s bad and deciding between those things. So
[00:55:02] Josh
well now I guess if people want to
[00:55:04] Josh
stay connected with you and follow your journey, how can they do that?
[00:55:09] Nargis
I don’t focus much on Facebook,
[00:55:10] Nargis
but on Facebook or Instagram. So I’m planning to get back on the social media stuff.
[00:55:17] Nargis
As long as I’m a social media manager and I do digital Side, it’s a bit of
[00:55:21] Nargis
a shame for me to say,
[00:55:22] Nargis
I don’t work on my stuff. Sometimes I come on when I do like so it sounds like
[00:55:26] Nargis
a bit of a hypocrite and feels like, why don’t you have that much follow this out,
[00:55:29] Nargis
but I’m just like, that’s not good. I generally don’t work on myself. I just like doing it helping
[00:55:32] Nargis
others. You can follow me on Instagram,
[00:55:35] Nargis
Nuggets dot madani.
[00:55:36] Nargis
And same thing with my Facebook knocks madani. And I’m hoping
[00:55:40] Nargis
to plan more and post more of my personal stuff and connect with each one of you.
[00:55:45] Nargis
And I guess build a community of my own and see if we fit we fit if we’re doing
[00:55:50] Nargis
a reading. And that’s that. But you can also follow the prestige marketing
[00:55:54] Nargis
solutions on Instagram as well. If you want to learn about marketing or digital marketing, or if you’re
[00:56:00] Nargis
a business owner and want to get in contact to see where I could best support you,
[00:56:03] Nargis
I’m happy to do that as well. So
[00:56:05] Josh
brilliant. Thanks again for your time and all the best for this next chapter. Soon to begin in Melbourne.
[00:56:11] Nargis
Great, thanks so much. Thanks so much for today’s time and as well as having this,
[00:56:15] Nargis
giving this platform to US young people and to other business owners and to other
[00:56:20] Nargis
volunteers in the community to really have
[00:56:22] Nargis
a saying and I guess come on board and help out other people and inspire those who
[00:56:26] Nargis
want to take that step into whether that’s business or volunteering or community work and just,
[00:56:32] Nargis
I guess just do it and then you will later find out whether you were right or wrong.
[00:56:36] Nargis
It’s about just doing it actioning it. Yeah,
[00:56:39] Josh
that’s it.
[00:56:40] Josh
That’s it. The inspirational australian’s podcast is brought to you by awards, Australia
[00:56:50] Nargis
we recognise,
[00:56:51] Josh
celebrate and share the stories of the inspirational Australians through our awards programs across the country. To find out more,
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to nominate
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an inspirational Australian in your life,
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or to partner with our awards, visit awards, Australia, tor.com. If you enjoyed today’s story, we’d
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And
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stories. stories.
