223. I Thought My Leadership Journey Would Never Happen

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In this episode of the Women Emerging podcast’s Journey to Leadership series, Julia Middleton speaks with writer, social entrepreneur and Obama Leader Europe, Mevan Babakar, about a journey she never imagined would be described as leadership.

Born in Baghdad, Mevan spent five years as a child refugee after her family fled Saddam Hussein’s genocide of the Kurds. As she moved across borders and languages, she found herself translating not only words, but systems, cultures and opportunities for the people around her. Looking back, she can now see those moments as acts of leadership, even though she did not recognise them as such at the time.

Together, Julia and Mevan explore what leadership looks like beyond titles and hierarchy. They discuss community, belonging, trust and the many ways people step forward when something needs doing. Mevan reflects on her work in technology, fact-checking and democracy, and why some of society’s biggest challenges require more than quick fixes.

The conversation also explores the relationship between intellect and instinct, and what happens when the work we do no longer aligns with what we know to be true. Drawing on her experiences at Full Fact and Google, Mevan shares why paying attention to both mind and body can be essential when making difficult decisions.

Throughout the episode, she returns to a powerful idea: leadership is not reserved for a select few. It is something people step into every day, often long before they recognise it in themselves.

About the Guest:

Mevan Babakar

Mevan Babakar is a writer and technologist born in Baghdad to Kurdish refugee parents. She built award-winning AI fact-checking tools as Deputy CEO of Full Fact and later led information quality work at Google. In 2023, she she was named an Obama Leader for Europe. Her debut children’s book, The Bicycle, was inspired by reuniting with the aid worker who gave her a bike as a refugee 25 years earlier.

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.