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Episode Description

In this episode of the Women Emerging Expedition Podcast, host Julia Middleton dives deeper into leadership within movements with guests Melissa and Uma. Melissa, a seasoned nonprofit leader, explores the transformative power of storytelling, emphasizing the need for narrative change to drive movements. She highlights the importance of listening deeply, understanding diverse perspectives, and crafting stories that resonate universally. Uma, a passionate movement leader, discusses the critical skill of pacing in leadership. She shares how leaders must balance energy, purpose, and power dynamics, knowing when to pause, regroup, or accelerate. Uma’s reflections on aligning desires, beliefs, and actions reveal the magic of leadership that inspires collective transformation.
These insights encapsulate this episode’s focus on narrative and pacing, offering profound lessons for anyone leading or dreaming of leading transformative movements.

About the Guests

Melissa Berman

Melissa A. Berman is a global leader in philanthropy, serving as the founding President and CEO of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (2002-2024). She built RPA into a premier advisory organization, facilitating over $500 million annually and launching initiatives like the Philanthropy Roadmap. An adjunct professor at Columbia Business School and board member of Candid and Equality Now, Melissa is a renowned expert, shaping global philanthropy and advancing the pursuit of a just world.

Uma Chatterjee

Uma Chatterjee is a social justice advocate and founder of organizations like Sanjog and Change Mantras, focusing on empowering survivors of sexual violence and human trafficking. With over a decade of work supporting marginalized communities in India, she emphasizes healing through shared vulnerability and collective support. Known for her compassionate leadership, Uma navigates complex issues of identity, gender, and sexuality to inspire meaningful reflection and action.

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.