Season 1 · Episode 08 — Sita Proud · Sales & technology leader

The Torch

Content note: This episode includes discussion of suicide, self-harm, trauma and brain injury. Please listen with care. If you need to talk, free-call or text 1737 (NZ) any time.

A leader in sales and technology on surviving a brain aneurysm and craniotomy that changed her identity overnight — and the year she lost, and rebuilt, the ability to love her three children.

Healing from an invisible disability, the real state of mental health in tech, women supporting women, and the hope she now carries as a torch for others.

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In this conversation

The curveballs — single mum, homelessness, a brain aneurysm — and “I’m still here.”
Losing, and slowly rebuilding, the ability to love.
Finding the counsellor who finally understood her.
The torch — hope, not just resilience.
The invisible disability — “if I’d lost a leg, you could see it.”
Soft skills as a superpower, and “don’t underestimate the power of believing in someone.”

Moments worth holding onto

“I want to be a torch — not to show my resilience, but to show people hope.”— Sita Proud

“It’s an invisible disability. If I’d lost a leg, you could see it.”— Sita Proud

“Don’t ever underestimate the power of believing in someone.”— Sita Proud

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