Analiza: Welcome to the Women of Color Rise podcast. I'm Analiza Quiroz Wolf, proud Filipino-American executive leadership coach and former CEO of a nonprofit and Captain in the U.S. Air Force. I'm also the author of The Myth of Success: A Woman of Color's Guide to Leadership. It's based on the lessons learned by many women of color leaders, including those on this podcast. We talk with successful CEOs and C-suite women leaders of color and learn about their leadership journeys. I'm on a mission to support having more diverse leaders at the table. If you're a woman or a woman of color who wants to sit at that table, you're in the right place. Now let's get into today's show.

Everyone, I'm so excited to be with Angira Sceusi. We've been together, Angira, I know how many years it's been wonderful to see how Angira has risen in impact and leadership. She's currently the Executive Director of redefine Ed Atlanta. It's a local education nonprofit, and it focuses on ensuring that every student in Atlanta can attend a great K 12 public school. Angira has had this incredible career. She's been one of the founding members of this organization, as well as in different organizations like YES Prep. And she actually, if you go back, even had a corporate career at the Royal Bank of Canada, at the US oil and gas administration business. I mean anger. You covered it all. Angira also has a bachelor degree and a master's degree from Carnegie Mellon. She also has a master's degree in Educational Leadership from Broad which is at Yale at this where I got to meet anger. And it's so awesome to celebrate on gear and that you have been named to Atlanta's top leader list recently, to the 2025 Atlanta 500 and to the 2026 class of leadership Atlanta. Congrats. Angira, so excited for our conversation and for you to share his story.

Angira: Thank you. I'm so excited to be here.

Analiza: Angira, we always ask this question about identity, racial identity, how do you identify, and how has that shaped you in your career?

Angira: Yeah, I would say I probably first and foremost identify as a third culture kid and an immigrant in the US. So I am Indian by descent, but I spent most of my childhood in Hong Kong, and then I came here at 16 for boarding school, and have been here since. So that third culture kid thing is very, very relevant. It's this idea of basically spending your developmental years outside of your parents culture, and how that impacts you and kind of influences how you grow up. So as a third culture kid, not really growing up in the United States, I think I would say I grew up really thinking of America as this land of opportunity, where anything is possible. I thought a lot about class and race in Asia, but I didn't really give any consideration to it in the United States until I was much older, and as I got older, I would tell you what I see in terms of like race and class and ability, those same tensions and those same kind of experiences that exist everywhere, but with different flavors in some way.

Analiza: Angira, you grew up in Hong Kong, and your parents are so, so what would you say Indian, right? So, so you had this, this cultural background. You're living in Hong Kong. You moved to the US when you're 16, and it's a boarding school. So I imagine you're on your own, is that? Right? Yes. Okay, so you're immersed into American culture at 16, when all the teen Mean Girls, you know, all of that happened? Yeah, and I'm trying to and now you're looking back, right? We're looking back together at this upbringing and how it shaped you, and realizing that there's similarities, that regardless of the context, there's both racism and classism, and imagine sexism too.

And so I wonder, as a third culture kid, what, what? What can we like these, these inequities, the work that you're doing, the work you've done throughout your life, what about your experience? How has it also shown the uniqueness, maybe, of the American context, considering that there is a theme of inequity everywhere. What is unique about this American Opportunity? Yet, when you look inside, there's darkness when absolutely what do you say about that?

Angira: Yeah, I think you bring up a great point. I think what feels different about the American story is that we pretend that it's not a we pretend that race, class, gender, ability, don't have the impact that it really does have in society. We tell ourselves the story of this land of opportunity, and in reality, we have a lot of structural and systemic things that don't make it a land of opportunity for everyone. But we, we've tried, we kind of put our blinders on as a society and try to say that's not true a lot. And working in the education space, you very clearly see, no, we can't be a land of opportunity when we have large swaths of our community in schools where our reading proficiency is 5% we're doing. We're not creating opportunities for our children. We're not doing a disservice to them.

Analiza: Angira, you and I have shared stories coming from Asian backgrounds of this land of opportunity, looking to the US and our parents shared that story with us. My parents moved here and had me to say, we did it for you to have this land of opportunity and now go forth right waiting. I want to name it because for me personally, it took a while to realize that it wasn't the land of opportunity, even as I was experiencing, I don't even know it's a microaggression full of microaggressions. What are you doing here? Right? Like, where are you from? And when you say Stanford, do you mean Stanford? Like, you don't really mean Stanford. So yeah, I guess for you, was there a moment when you thought to yourself, Mama, Dada, this is not, it's not as you shared it with me. It's actually not the land of opportunity. Was this something in terms of experience, maybe at boarding school or somewhere else where you were just like, wow, there's, this is not what. This is not what I yeah,

Angira: That's such an excellent question. I would say for myself, I was probably late to recognize that I know you named kind of for yourself. If I think back through that boarding school experience, college onwards, they were 100% were there microaggressions? Absolutely, I just sort of put blinders on and ignored them. I saw things occur with my friends, like one of my closest friends in boarding school was Puerto Rican. Another close friend was black. I saw things, but it was in this, like a little microcosm bubble, and so I didn't really give it the weight of everything around it.

I would say for myself, the real kind of glass shattering moment of something's not okay for me came about a decade into my career on Wall Street. I was doing some volunteer work, and I was volunteering at Big Brothers Big Sisters at the time, as a big sister, that for me was probably a very transformational experience. I was a big sister to this little one of mine. She was zoned to one of the lowest performing schools in Houston, and I don't think I understood the educational discrepancies that existed in America until I kind of saw it firsthand through her experience. She was this incredibly bright little girl. She lived with her grandmother. She had all the potential in the world. And every single month, every single year, the ceiling was being put on her, and that ceiling was getting lower and lower and lower, and this girl had all the light in the world. There's nothing about her that said she could n't have an opportunity. She shouldn't have access to the exact same things that every other child has, but for the circumstances that she was growing up in.

And that made me realize, like, oh, all of these things kind of came crashing down at once for me. So that little girl was black. She was in this lower income school. She had an incarcerated parent. How did that play out in her experience? Her grandmother was incredible, but her grandmother worked a lot to try to support her like they did. Things that were you started to see the impact. Like the lack of economic resources impacted her in these different ways. Her race impacted her in these ways. Like the fact that she had an incarcerated parent impacted her in these other ways. And all of that kind of was coming together in a way that this incredible child who, through no fault of her own had a ceiling that was being put on her, and I didn't think that that was possible in America.

I was honestly blind. I shouldn't have been, but I was, and for me, that was really that kind of glass shattering moment of this isn't okay. And then I thought about just my own kind of access and privilege. I've been very lucky with parents who've always supported me, always kind of looked out for being able to and had the knowledge and the expertise to kind of guide me into things that would help support me in whatever career it was I chose. And it made me realize that if I've been given all this privilege and opportunity, like, what is my role to do kind of like paying that back? Like, what is my role when I've had this thrust upon me? Because it can't just end with me like it has to be true for others.

Analiza: I love that story so much. Angira, and I'm, I'm thinking of this parallel of your little and I had, I was also a big sister. So I appreciate your calling with little and bigs and how that moved you to say I actually want something different for not just me, but for all people. I want to take this concept Aguirre of this land of opportunity. And we were talking about education, and let's bring into the work world about you, but I thought that you work hard, right? Anger where we care. We both care. We have stories, tear jerker stories about why we care and And yet, there are also ceilings that women, women of color face. Was there a moment or realization of, Wow, this is different than I expected, maybe a miss or something that had you reconsider, this is not what I thought. Maybe not fully the land of opportunity.

Angira: Yeah, I think that's a great question. I definitely can tell you. I'm thinking back to so I studied Information Systems in college, and perhaps this is much more a gender thing. When I studied Information Systems in college, there were maybe 15 women in my program and 100 plus men in the program. I noticed it, and I felt an incredible sense of like, well, I need to prove my worth here. If that makes sense, I don't mean to say that someone else didn't feel that way, but I felt especially so I have to prove that I belong here. I have like I'm setting an example, not just for myself, but for the women that are coming behind me, right?

And I think that oftentimes, especially as an Asian woman in spaces that don't have a lot of Asian women in them. That was true when I was in university studying Information Systems. That was true when I went to the trading floor. A trading floor is not notoriously an environment that is like lots of Asian women are in there, right? And so I felt what I would call this added pressure of it wasn't just about myself. It was about like I felt like I was representing what came after me, and that is undue pressure that I don't think anyone should have to put on themselves. And I didn't recognize it at the time. This is sort of as I've gotten older, and oh yeah, I did put that on myself, and I felt this huge sense of obligation when new analysts came in to try to say, hey, I need, I need their path to be easier than mine is

Analiza: Angira , you have this sense of obligation to help make, not just the education experiences of all children, right, equity, yeah, also the staff, the team, the workers who come after you. These are big, big goals. And so did you have the goal to be sitting in this seat as Executive Director, leading this organization, or just leading an organization? Was that your plan?

Angira: No, it was absolutely not part of my plan. I know we know each other outside of this podcast, I can very honestly say I've never aspired to be the CEO or to run the thing. I think I've if I aspired to be like in a Chief of Staff type role, which is what I did before. I think of it as the person behind the scenes doing the work. That is what I love to do. Don't see myself as a leader or the face of the org, which, you know, I'm having to ask myself and really reflect on, well, why not? There's no reason I shouldn't, right? And so, you know, being super vulnerable, yeah, I've had to ask that question, why don't I see myself that way? Why don't I see myself being in the spotlight, if I'm honest, like, there is a small part of my brain that holds some real estate with some imposter syndrome in there, and I know it doesn't belong there.

And I think that one of the ways that this idea of like, is race, class, gender, all that. How does that play when you have when you are, when you've worked so hard to make it to where you are, you still hold that there, right? Like when you are one of the 15 women in an Information Systems program you have to, you feel this need to prove yourself, right? So even now, it's that idea, and I know it doesn't belong there, if I can intellectually tell you, Oh, that doesn't make sense. And yet it can creep up in unexpected ways. So it becomes really important to recognize that and then reflect on it, ask yourself the tough questions, and kind of say, Okay, wait, no, I can do this anyway.

Analiza: Okay, I want to map it out, because, yeah, you got the credentials, I mean, Angira, yeah, Wall Street, you've got boarding school to all these Ivy League and at not only that, but in your very tough majors, you're successful in your career, yet it never was something that you aspire to do, even though you wanted to change The education for all students in the country, and even though you wanted to change the pathways for for all women, for for people of color afterwards, but yet I don't dawn on you. Well, then obviously I should take up that role, because that will help me to get to my broader goals. I want to just put that together. You're so smart and then there's that nagging feeling, right? So it's like, yeah, I want to make a difference. I don't want that top role. I've now got that top role, and yet, there's this nagging little you know, devil on your shoulder. So you said three things, right? It's to recognize, to ask questions and then to have, like, actually walk me through what those three steps mean for you. What do you recognize? What are you asking yourself? What do you answer for those questions?

Angira: Yeah, yeah. I think the biggest thing that I found myself doing in those moments of that nagging kind of question, I kind of like repeating a mantra to myself now. It's like, I am enough. I am worthy, right? Like That in itself. I don't think that women and women of color hear that for themselves enough, or say that to themselves enough, and that is true for every single one, right? And so when I find myself doubting myself, putting that in there, I am enough, I am worthy. So I'm deep down an introvert. I don't. I don't love the spotlight, even if it is important to be in the spotlight. But reminding myself I am enough, I am worthy helps me kind of say, well, no, I need to be in the spotlight because I care about this thing. And I need to say this thing I care about.

Analiza: Okay, let's talk about that. Because you had said I didn't aspire to be CEO. I'm going to practice my mantra, and then you laid on top of it, I'm an introvert. Yeah, again, I've gotta be in the spotlight to actually further my mission. So how does this work? And you're and you're the face of the organization, which is also something you said you're not particularly excited about. How does one say to you, Angira , I've got I'm similar, I'm also introverted. I don't want to be the face. I really like the bad behind the scenes. I am so good at that, and yet I need to do what. What would you tell me to do so that I can step up and be the face and, yeah, deliver for the impact that I want? What would you think? What would your advice be?

Angira: I think I would say a couple things. I think, well, first, the biggest one, I think underneath the I'm I don't see myself as the face of it. I don't see myself in the spotlight. There's a little bit of self doubt there, right? So hence it is important to name that you are enough. You are worthy. That's number one. Number two, I think that, why? Why don't you see yourself as Why don't you want to be the face, or why don't you want to be in that spotlight? I think there's a couple different things, right? Like, everyone has their natural tendencies, and I think showing up as your authentic self, like your authentic self and the leader that you are, is important. I'm never going to be a showman. That's not who I am, but I can show.

Up and how I show up, which is, I'm a pretty cerebral person who thinks deeply, and so when I show up, that's how I have to show up. I think that we often create an archetype of what a leader should look like and how they should be, and you think of that person being the preach from the mountaintop kind of person that's not who I am. And so reminding myself that I'm enough, I'm worthy, becomes important, because I can be in the spotlight as myself, and that's like the real key here. And if I'm in the spotlight as myself, it's okay. I can be introverted. I can say I need time to myself. All of that's okay, but you gotta remind yourself that how you are is enough, and the ideas that you have are important. You wouldn't you're in your seat because you've got important ideas and important things I need to do.

Analiza: I love that Angira, the grounding for us is I'm enough, I'm worthy, therefore the rest happens. Yeah, and when in doubt, because we will all have doubts, we just come back to our mantra. So I appreciate that it is simple yet, yet groundbreaking, right? And that we hope that not just you and me, but others too, will take on this groundbreaking move, which we don't hear from, really anybody.

Angira: To be honest, I actually got this from years ago. You led a Boss Mama's training, and you remember, you made us all come up with our own daily mantra. Yes, that's where I got this from.

Analiza: Angira, that makes me so happy. It truly is, I mean, the things we talk about, the things we preach as this is effective. These are things that we can learn from each other, and I appreciate it, because it will carry us forward. And I, I have talked with not just clients about this, but my own children, yeah, because if we don't source it ourselves, we really can't expect media teachers, anyone, yeah, so we are our best feeder. So thanks for sharing that gear. It makes me so happy. Are you ready for lightning round questions?

Angira: Oh my gosh, yes. I love it.

Analiza: Okay? Angira , chocolate or vanilla.

Angira: Chocolate all day, chocolate.

Analiza: Cooking or takeout.

Angira: Takeout. I do not like to cook.

Analiza: Climb a mountain or jump from a plane?

Angira: Climb a mountain. I'm risk averse, so jumping out of a plane would terrify me.

Analiza: How do you rate your karaoke skills on a scale of one to 10,10 being Mariah Carey.

Angira: Probably one I cannot hold a tune. It's pretty comical how bad I am, probably made funnier by the fact that my youngest is a singer.

Analiza: What's a good book you've read, or a recent book you've read?

Angira: Yeah, I just finished a great book. It's called Free Food for Millionaires. It's by, my goodness, who's it? By Min Jin Lee. I think it is a phenomenal book about a Korean American young woman and her journey. And it really, really fleshes out so many different characters so completely in this great microcosm and it explores race and class and gender and all of these other things through the lens of these different characters. And it makes them really authentic and whole like they are unique individuals, not because they're Korean or Korean American. They're unique individuals because they're unique individuals, and some of their experience is shaped by being Korean American.

Analiza: Love it. What is your favorite way to practice self care?

Angira: I love reading like I love, love, love reading fiction. So I like curling up with a book and reading or taking a walk with Audible, which to me, is like my healthy version of reading, because I'm still listening to a book, but I'm taking a walk with it.

Analiza: What's your definition of a Boss Mama?

Angira: Oh that's a great question. So I think I think of a Boss Mama as a leader who's really comfortable in her own skin. So she is able to inspire others. She's able to really own her power. And I think of, I don't think of a boss mama as like, work life balance. I think of it as a woman who really integrates her life so she's got motherhood as like, integrated with her work, with other parts of her life. And I, I think that, I think others might think, but. Lost Mama is like this person who has everything handled, and that's not really what I think of it as. I think of it as like a person who, deep down, knows how to prioritize, because nobody can do everything right. So it's a person who knows how to prioritize, who knows how to trust others to take things on, to lead, and then, probably most importantly, also knows how to ask for help. Like and be is okay asking for help

Analiza: So beautiful. Angira, this is so connected to our Boss Mamas course, because, as you mentioned earlier, that the mantra is the first class, right? Like, how do you ground yourself when things get unsteady? And there's a ton of practices that we've practiced together, and you're really showing up, and I'm so proud to know you. What would you say beyond the mantra? Were there some takeaways that you got from the class?

Angira: Yeah, I would say definitely the mantra is the thing I practice to this day, like that has probably been the most transformative thing. And the other thing that I found unbelievably valuable was the morning routine. And so one of the things that Boss Mamas has talked a lot about is like being really intentional in that short little morning routine, and how that sets the stage for the rest of your day. And so for me, I don't, I no longer journal and, like, put in the I don't actually, like explicitly write out. Here's what I'm grateful for. I'm lazy and do not enjoy handwriting things out or putting it in, but I take five minutes every morning, just quiet time to think about what I am grateful for for the day before. What am I looking forward to on this day? And that really sets me up in the right mind space to tackle like every day that comes ahead, like the challenges, the good stuff, all of it.

Analiza: Thanks for stressing that. Because often, on your own, we think, Oh, it's got to be some complex routine. It's got to be perfect. In actuality, some core, very short moves make a huge difference. So I'm so happy you're practicing these things that we learned. Okay, what advice would you give your younger self?

Angira: Oh, good question. I would probably say define success on your own terms. I think I spent a lot of my younger years thinking I was supposed to aspire for this thing or that thing, and that thing might have been title money, what others might define as success. And it took me a long time to realize that at the end of the day, like I am most proud of what I have defined as my own version of success, and my own version of success doesn't have anything to do with a corporate ladder.

Analiza: What is it I have to ask you, Angira , what is your definition of success?

Angira: Yeah, I think my deep down definition of success is I want to create opportunity for others, right? And so for me, that's how I'm trying to define my success. So a lot of the work that I do on my day to day job, like I believe education is a creator of opportunity for others. And so the reason I work so hard in creating access to great public schools, and they think of that as my way of systemically trying to create opportunity for others. Had I thought about as a 20 year old, if you had asked me, what was success, I would have told you it was becoming a managing director at like the bank I was going to go work at, and that is not at all where it is for me.

Analiza: Beautiful. Where can we find you? LinkedIn, anywhere else?

Angira: I would say LinkedIn. I am not. I'm not really on social media all that much, but I'm definitely on LinkedIn. So that would definitely be the best place.

Analiza: And last question, do you have a final ask recommendation, parting thoughts to share?

Angira: I would really recommend, if there's only one thing you do or one thing a woman of color takes away from this, it is like creating that short mantra to tell yourself and to be able to tell yourself in the morning, whenever you are nervous, whenever that thing is, mine is I'm enough, I'm worthy. I hope yours is something similar, because every single woman in this work is enough and they are worthy

Analiza: Angira, thank you so much for sharing your story and being so open about real practices that get at that imposter syndrome. I really appreciate you.

Angira: Thank you.

Analiza: Thank you so much for carving out time to hear today's podcast. 3 things before you go. First, if you found it helpful, please leave a five star review. Second, you can get a free chapter of my book, The Myth of Success: A Woman of Color's Guide to Leadership at analizawolf.com/freechapter. And lastly, if you're interested in executive coaching, please reach out to me at analiza@analizawolf.com. Thank you so very much