In the first episode of the Leadership Insights I Wish I Had Known at the Start series, Julia speaks with Aramide Kayode, a 24-year-old educator and founder of a free school in Nigeria.
Aramide shares the eight lessons she’s learned about leading, starting with the power of believing in people before they believe in themselves. From listening fiercely and celebrating growth, to standing by your mission and helping others find themselves in their work, her insights are grounded, simple, and deeply human.
She also speaks about leading in resource-limited settings, where love, safety, and dignity are often as essential as strategy. Her leadership is deeply shaped by the reality of her students’ lives and her commitment to making a tangible difference.
Listen to this episode to discover crucial insights on leadership – the kind that are rarely found in textbooks but often learned the hard way through lived experience.
About the Guests
Aramide Kayode
Aramide Kayode is an education advocate and social entrepreneur committed to transforming the lives of children in low-income communities. She is the Founder and Executive Director of Talent Mine Academy, a free school in Nigeria providing 12 years of high-quality education to underserved children. Aramide’s mission is to empower young people as community leaders and changemakers, and her students have already impacted over 5,000 residents through social initiatives. A graduate of Harvard Graduate School of Education and Covenant University, Aramide currently serves as a Youth Representative at UNESCO and sits on the Youth Advisory Board at RIVET. Her work has been featured by Global Citizen, Malala Fund, Harvard Magazine, and more.
About the Host
Julia Middleton
Julia Middleton is the host of the Women Emerging podcast and a best-selling author of “If that’s leading, I’m in” as well as two previous books: “Leading beyond Authority” and “Cultural Intelligence”. She is deeply committed to helping people from all backgrounds to find their own approach to leading.
In 2020, Julia launched Women Emerging and in 2022 she lead an expedition of 24 women to find ‘an approach to leading that resonates with women’. She now leads expeditions with women all over the world based on 4Es methodology, discovered in the first expedition.
Prior to that, Julia was founder and, for over thirty years, Chief Executive of Common Purpose, which grew to become one of the biggest leadership development organisations in the world.
Julia is also an Ambassador for the Aurora Prize based in Armenia, on the boards of Alfanar Venture Philanthropy in the Arab World and Equality Now, which operates globally, and on the Advisory Councils of Fundacao Dom Cabral in Brazil and Synapse in Pakistan.
Born in London and brought up in New York, Julia was educated at French Lycées and graduated from the London School of Economics. She is married, with five children and lots of grandchildren.
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