Riada talks about mental health, art and well-being with Aida Murad, entrepreneur coach, artist and passionate connector

Dignified Resilience with Riada Akyol

This beautiful conversation - published now but recorded a few weeks ago at the end of May - feels like an instant evergreen! It was an absolute pleasure to talk to Aida Murad, a champion for mental health philanthropy and a visual artist. Raised in Jordan and currently residing in Los Angeles, she is an Arab-American entrepreneur who is working on systems change within mental health. She is also an entrepreneur coach focused on founder well-being, an artist and passionate connector. She has worked for over a decade building social enterprises in the U.S. and MENA region in education, fashion, food, health and technology industries. Her involvement with creative industries is also geared towards creating social change; in the past she also organized the first festival in the US to celebrate refugees talents in the creative industries. Previously, Aida co-founded a sustainable fashion company, managed over $300m in philanthropic and development funds for the public and private sectors as well as designed youth and entrepreneurship programs globally. She is also a writer for Thrive Global, and the Co-Director of Nexus MENA & Arab Diasporas and Mental Health Council, bringing impact investors, philanthropists and social entrepreneurs together. I hope you also enjoy this meaningful exchange of uplifting thoughts and soothing advices by a thinker of moving emotional intelligence and animating spirit. Aida creates truly gorgeous art (which you should definitely check out on her personal website!) and is a wonderful human who's experienced many adversities in her life, and reinvented herself each time graciously and excitingly. During the time of uncertainty filled global pandemic, it was a true joy for me to talk to Aida and hear her share many ideas, including on contentment as resilience, forgiveness to self and surrender to things we cannot really control. Enjoy!